Osprey

In contrast to last year’s eventful start, Audrey returned to the nest on March 18 with her arrival confirmed by Mrs. COM. Tom arrived about a week later the morning of March 25. With both birds home, the two can begin to rebuild their nest and incubate some eggs! On Monday, April 4, Audrey took a leave of absence from the nest. In her absence, a female visiting osprey dubbed “New Lady” began making appearances on the nest. However, on Friday, April 8, Audrey returned to the nest and kicked off “The New Lady” after a brief scuffle. Way to go Audrey!

On April 19 at 12:22 PM, Audrey laid her 1st egg. On April 22 aka Earth Day, Audrey laid her 2nd egg at 7:34 PM. Audrey laid her 3rd and final egg on April 25 at 9:59PM. However, Audrey began to take a leave of absence from the nest leaving the three eggs unguarded. In her absence, Tom took over incubation and guarding duties but it wasn’t enough. On April 29, an osprey intruder landed on the nest and broke one of the eggs. Though Tom chased the intruder away, the broken egg must have attracted a crow, which ate one of the other two eggs. On May 1, a crow broke open the remaining egg yesterday morning leaving the Osprey nest empty.

Following the loss of their first clutch of eggs, Audrey began to show signs of possible egg-laying. On May 31, Audrey laid an additional egg, officially starting a second clutch of eggs this season. A few days later on June 3, Audrey laid a second egg for the new clutch.

Following a month of incubation, a chick hatched at 3:41AM on July 8. Unfortunately, the second egg proved nonviable and was disposed of by Tom & Audrey. To add to a sad season, the lone chick expired unexpectedly on July 17. Though this was a tough and eventful season, we’re thankful for your viewership and support.

After a few initial visits by a visiting osprey, Tom officially returned on March 26. Several days later on March 30, an additional osprey returned to the nest. On April 1, 2021, Mrs. Crazy Osprey Man confirmed that the female osprey we’ve seen over the past several days is a ‘new’ Audrey, Audrey 3.

Following the arrival of a new Audrey, the pair built a new nest for the season. During construction, the pair managed to fight off a few other osprey that battled Tom & Audrey for dominance of the nest. After several weeks of anticipation, Audrey 3 laid her 1st egg of the season on April 28. However, the same day, Audrey 2 made a shocking return to the nest and kicked Audrey 3 off the platform! Tom & Audrey 2 uncovered Audrey 3’s egg, but the egg became reburied in the nest. On May 14, Audrey 2 laid her 1st egg of the season. Three days later on May 17, Audrey laid her 2nd egg. Another three days later, Audrey laid her 3rd egg on May 20.

On May 30, one of the eggs was damaged. On June 6, the damaged egg was destroyed and moved to the edge of the nest. On June 25 at 4:24am, the first Osprey egg successfully hatched. Welcome to the world!

Following a contest, the lone osprey chick was named CJ. On August 5, CJ was banded by a raptor biologist from the USFWS Chesapeake Bay Field Office and confirmed to be a female. CJ officially fledged on August 20 at 8:57 AM.

Our Osprey season began not with Tom & Audrey, but with an unknown female Osprey visitor, who began visiting the nest in mid-March. After some deliberation and confirmation, Audrey officially returned on March 20th to much fanfare and applause. Tom returned several days later on March 29th. Following a small territorial dispute with the female Osprey visitor (referred to as Visiting Lady) and an unknown male Osprey (referred to as Tramp), Tom and Audrey emerged victorious and began rebuilding their nest. Following reconstruction of their nest, Audrey laid her first egg on April 17 at 1:20pm. Audrey laid her second egg on April 20 at 2:54pm. Audrey laid her third, and potentially final, egg on April 23 at 7:05pm.

During the last week of April, Tom & Audrey began taking lengthy periods of absence from the nest, leaving the eggs susceptible to poor weather and predation. Unfortunately, one of the eggs cracked open during the night of April 30 or early morning hours of May 1. A combination of both bad weather conditions and predation may be to blame. While Tom & Audrey did return to the nest following this incident, it was not enough to protect the remaining two eggs. Early morning May 10, the crows returned to the nest, picked at the eggs, and took them off the nest. Tom & Audrey were away from the nest during this time, likely seeking shelter and fishing following poor weather conditions again.

Following the loss of their eggs, Tom & Audrey continued to call the nest their home. Soon after this tragedy, two visiting Osprey began to make appearances. Whether or not these were the same visitors earlier in the season is unknown. After several days of competition with the visitors, Tom temporarily left the nest and the visiting lady was scared off by Audrey. The visiting male attempted to court Audrey with fish deliveries, however she showed ambivalence towards him. On May 26, Tom returned to the nest (yet again) and the visiting male Osprey was scared off. Following an awkward reunion, Tom & Audrey were back and better than over. Despite technical difficulties which took the cam out of commission for several days (it was fixed on July 16), we received updates that Tom & Audrey were continuing to fend off visitors and keeping up residence on the nest.

In regards to raising foster eggs or chicks, it is too late in the season for Tom & Audrey to successfully hatch a clutch of eggs or foster any chicks. While this has been done in the past, it was ultimately decided to forgo this route this season. In August, Audrey left the nest and the Chesapeake Bay in order to migrate south for the winter. Several weeks later in early September, Tom also left the nest to begin his long migration south. We wish the two luck on their migration and we look forward towards their return in spring 2021!

Our season kicked off with the return of Audrey on March 18 at 7:04 pm, and Tom a week later on March 25 at 7:11 am. The osprey couple began to rebuild their nest following their reunion.

After she finished preparations on the nest, Audrey laid her first egg on April 14 at 2:04am, her second egg on April 16 at 11:05 pm and her third and final egg on April 19 at 11:40pm.

After 40 days, the first egg hatched on May 24 at 9:44am. Unfortunately, one of the other eggs became cracked on May 26 at 8:25am and was deemed non-viable. The third and last egg was also determined to be a failure and non-viable on June 7. An egg is determined as a failure for a variety of reasons. It may not have been properly fertilized, development may have stopped due to bacterial infections due to hairline cracks in the shell, or it may have been cracked at an earlier time.

After our annual public bird-naming contest, the lone Osprey chick was named Lil Bit on July 12. Lil Bit then fledged on July 17 at 9:08am EST. On July 29 around 3pm, another Osprey fledgling landed on the nest. This lone fledgling may have been from a nearby nest and didn’t return home. The additional Osprey chick was named Archie (the runner-up name in the bird-naming contest) and resided at the nest until the end of the season.

Audrey was last seen at the nest on August 24, while Archie’s last verified visit was on September 4, followed by Lil Bit on September 10. Tom’s last verified visit was September 21 at 10:20am.

We here at the Chesapeake Conservancy are glad to bring you another year of Tom and Audrey’s adventures, and hope you will join us again next year to once again watch one of the Chesapeake’s most fascinating and beautiful creatures. Thank you to the Crazy Osprey Family and Explore.org for hosting the Osprey webcams and for being such valuable partners, we’re grateful to have you! While the Osprey may be gone, the camera is still active in the off-season and allows us to take a unique view at other wildlife in the area, such as bald eagles, crows, cormorants and more. Stay tuned for our favorite Osprey pair to return in March!

The 2018 season kicked off when the first osprey returned in the evening of March 18, 2018. The next morning, the Crazy Osprey Family reported two osprey on the platform and later confirmed they were the same “Tom & Audrey” from 2017! On April 12, 2018 at 4:51 a.m., Audrey laid her first egg.

Watch the video!

The second egg arrived on April 15, 2018 at 1:21 a.m., and the third egg 79 hours later on April 18, 2018 at 7:57 a.m. Sadly, one egg became dented and was no longer viable. The first of the remaining two eggs hatched on May 21, 2018. The second egg hatched on May 24, 2018.

In our yearly naming contest, the chicks were named Meghan and Harry in honor of the royal wedding. To our surprise, the two chicks were identified as female when they were banded  by raptor biologist, Craig Koppie on July 13, 2018. Not long after their banding, on July 19, 2018, Meghan and the newly named Harriet, fledged. In early August, Harriet stopped returning to the nest. Thankfully this is not unheard of in the osprey world, sometimes juvenile ospreys fledge and move to a neighboring nest.

Harriet was last seen August 6, Meghan stuck around a little longer and was last seen August 27. Audrey also left to move south for the winter, last being sighted on August 22 and Tom was last sighted on September 13.

We here at the Chesapeake Conservancy are glad to bring you another year of Tom and Audrey’s adventures, and hope you will join us again next year to once again watch one of the Chesapeake’s most fascinating and beautiful creatures. Stay tuned for the wildlife webcam to be put back up in early March!

In the off season the Osprey Cam offers us a unique view at the other wildlife in the area. Often cormorants, bald eagles, crows, and various other birds can be spotted on the cam or even stop in at the empty nest.

The Chesapeake region’s favorite osprey pair, Tom and Audrey, returned once again to their home on Kent Island, with Audrey returning on time around Mid-March. Tom decided to stay in a warmer region a little longer and finally returned to suspenseful fans by the end of the month. After a few weeks of heavy labor nest-building, Audrey laid three eggs. Unfortunately, while fans were patiently awaiting for the eggs to hatch, crows came into the nest and destroyed and consumed two of the eggs and damaged the final one.

After weeks of waiting and constant questioning of our raptor biologist colleague, Craig Koppie, it was determined the final egg was no longer fertile. A few days after this announcement Audrey removed the final egg from the nest. Tom and Audrey remained in the vicinity of the nest all summer long until they migrated south in the fall.

We here at the Chesapeake Conservancy are glad to bring you another year of Tom and Audrey’s adventures, and hope you will join us again next year to once again watch one of the Chesapeake’s most fascinating and beautiful creatures. Stay tuned for the wildlife webcam to be put back up in early March!