Fred and Ethel Version 2023

At least one of my faithful readers was holding my promise of a Fred and Ethel post to the deadline. So today I will return to our osprey neighbors.  The very first time I posted on this family was in March of 2009.  You can go HERE in the way back machine to read it if you are even remotely interested.

In May of 2017, I did post on the "first family" that resided on the local osprey nest we had provided.

By 2021 the nest had become so filled with sticks and fish detritus that grasses started to grow on the platform.  That was the year that the geese discovered the possibility of nesting.  Since they arrive approximately two weeks before the osprey returned from down south, the geese were well settled and sitting on eggs and impossible to remove by diving osprey.  That year the osprey built a nest in a nearby tree.

This went on for a few years and then this year we hired a young man to clear off the platform entirely.  That I posted about HERE.  When the geese returned they were shocked to find their home had been burglarized and realized they needed new digs.

Thus the world returned to normal as I watched the osprey begin to build a nest again when they arrived near St. Patricks day right on time.  They did not seem like the Fred and Ethel I knew and I wondered if this was another younger couple.  They were awkward in nest building, awkward in mating and I was worried they might not be successful.

But I was wrong.  After weeks of sitting ever so patiently through hot sun or heavy storms and being reprieved by her mate in the late afternoon when she herself went off to hunt for food, the nest was successful!

Patience and then even more patience.  We can learn from these osprey.

It seems that there are two little ones that have hatched and are awkwardly moving in the center of the nest while Ethel stands to the side and watches for danger or Fred returning with food!  You may have to click on the photo to see the two little heads so well camouflaged by the nesting materials.