Other birds visiting kensfen
2022-
Great Egret
Great Egret searching for food among the rack from Spartina alterniflora (aka, Sporobolus alterniflorus).
Click on the player below. If the video stream below is not live, you can see other videos by directly going to the kensfen YouTube channel.
The 2 ospreys returned on March 03, 2024. In spite of ongoing conflict with another male, the pair started rebuilding the nest on March 8, 2024.
Above is a live, streaming video from the PTZ camera looking at the osprey nest. On April 20, 2024, the female spent the first night in the nest rather than leaving it empty. We cannot see if there are any eggs in the nest, but perhaps this noctural behavior is an indication of their presence. As with 2023, after separate winter vacations in central or south America, the male returned to the nest again on March 1, 2024, with the female arriving two days later on March 3, 2024. Even during a leap year (2024) they returned to the nest within a calendar day and a day of each other. The pair produced no offspring in 2022 or 2023.About the week of May 10, 2023, the female's behavior changed and instead of 24/7 sitting on the nest, she started spending more time standing on the edge of the nest. Around May 31, 2023 the pair abandoned the nest.
Sadly the pair have abandoned their nest as of May 28, 2023. The cause may be shown in these two videos in which a hawk was sighted frightening the female to depart the nest. If you stop the video at 48 seconds (14:49:36) you'll see the hawk.
Here's a second video showing the same behavior on the part of the osprey/hawk. Look for the hawk flying through (blurry) about 1:40 (06:12:42) into the video. The osprey returns, then the hawk returns about 2:18 into the video (06:13:18).
Night video of nest with IR illumination. Osprey's eyes are not sensitive to the near IR illumination so their pupils remain dilated. Because of this, and like a cats' eyes, they appear very bright relative to the rest of the image. The female's head only is usually visible so you will see none, one, or two bright eyes in this video. Change from BW to pseudo-color red is a function of the camera which is set to automatic mode. Duration 4:35.
This video shows the transition from night IR to visual and is best viewed full screen because it is initially so dark. You will see the camera "hunting" for the right setting of IR or visual mode. The female is visible on the nest. Duration: 7:14.
Usually in the morning and evening the male brings one or more fish to the female. He bring it to the nest, she takes it, and flies to the perch to the right of the nest while the male stands on the periphery of the nest. Duration 15:33.
Here's the lunch meal. Duration 16:44.
Here's the late lunch meal. Duration 32:28.
Here's the evening meal. Note the inflowing higher tide. Feeding seems to be related to time of day rather than tidal activity. Duration 7:00/25:17.
A quick video tour of the marsh from the nest, to Little Tybee Island, scanning to the left and pausing at the Tybee Island Lighthouse before returning to a small scale view of the nest, thence to the Atlantic Ocean and back to zoom to the nest. Duration 1:16.
After 2 years of the platform being in place, the first pair of ospreys show up and take an interest on June 12, 2021.
Osprey landing on the platform in 2021.
The nesting pair 2022_05_02, ©Doug Stoller, used by permission.
Great Egret searching for food among the rack from Spartina alterniflora (aka, Sporobolus alterniflorus).