ospreys of Jordan Lake

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By Mom Osprey is a Sunshade

Jordan Lake. Osprey parents will stand up in their nest and make a sunshade with their wings when it is very hot. They help protect their chicks from the sun this way. Both parents will do this activity. In this case it is mom Osprey and in 2nd part of video she is feeding her chicks.

By Osprey vs Great Blue Heron

Jordan Lake. Dad Osprey definitely didn’t want the great blue heron to get anywhere close to his nest with mom and newly hatched chicks. As is usual in confrontational situations, the parent bird really doesn’t want to make contact because it does not want to get itself injured. It is better to bluff and threaten. The great blue heron made it safely past the osprey nest. Dad osprey landed triumphantly in the nest with his mate and chicks.

By Measurements

Jordan Lake. We can look at this photo in two ways. We can see that the female 3-year-old bald eagle has a wing length of ~7ft. The female osprey has a wing length of ~ 5ft. The fish, well, has a fin length of ~ 4 ins. Or we can look at the fact that the bald eagle weighs ~ 12#, the osprey weighs ~ 6#, the fish that the eagle wants to steal weighs about a pound… the osprey is carrying ~ a quarter of its own weight.