Yadkin Osprey Nest

Nest Maintenance

The chicks just got done eating lunch and Oliveea decided to tend to the nest. She brought in a large branch (practically dropping it on the heads of her brood).

We have decided to call the larger chick Olive. Most likely Olive was the first to hatch. She is the largest and most dominant.

And the winner is...

Say hello to Ollie, Olive and Oscar Jr! The winning names received 43.9% of the 40,867 total votes cast in our poll. I think Oscar Jr. is the perfect choice for our smallest chick. Don't you agree?

Thank you for participating in our first "Name the Alcoa Ospreys" poll. We would also like to thank all of the students from Badin Elementary School for their help.

Keep Voting!

Voting for the names of this year's osprey chicks will continue until Friday at midnight EST. As of this morning, we have almost 14,000 votes logged. Hunter, Fisher and Rey are in the lead followed by Ollie, Olive and Oscar Jr. Please continue to vote for your favorites and we will announce the winning names on Monday.

Busy Parents

The triplets are enjoying the warm sunshine today. Dad has been busy catching fish, while mom stays busy feeding her chicks and cleaning house. The larger chick requires more attention than the other two and makes sure he is first in line to eat! It looks like Oliveea needs a bigger house as the chicks are a little over 2 weeks old and have more than tripled in size. Both Oscar and Oliveea are such wonderful, attentive parents!

Time to Vote

It's time to to select the names for our trio of Osprey chicks. These names were suggested by the students from Badin Elementary School. They had a lot of fun and had some terrific suggestions. We are excited to see which names are chosen.

To vote, click on the circle next to your selection and click the "Vote" button. You may vote as ofter as you like!

Audio Working

Audio is now working on the OspreyCam, although you will hear a lot of background noise because of flood waters being passed. Oscar was very vocal earlier while other Ospreys were near the nest. The triplets are growing bigger each day and its seems that Mom is constantly feeding them! All look to be healthy and content as they enjoy a comfortable 75 degree day.

Three Chicks

It's confirmed, we have 3 beautiful baby chicks again this year. We were lucky to grab a picture. They are growing so fast! This weekend was very windy with rain and the temps were only in the 50’s. Not a typical May weekend for this part of North Carolina. There are storms in the forecast through Wednesday, but I know Mom and Dad will keep their brood safe and sound.

Naming Poll

We are happy to announce that we will be launching the "Name the Ospreys" poll next week. We look forward to your responses. Stay tuned for more information.

Peek-a-boo

I was lucky to catch Oscar and Oliveea switching places.  One little guy poked his head up in the process and I was able to catch the shot.  Mom and Dad are doing an amazing job taking care of their little ones.

Congratulations

Oliveea and Oscar are parents to twins, possibly triplets. Two chicks have been sighted, but we are not sure if another chick or egg is hiding deep in the nest. Thanks so much for all the amazing pictures you’ve sent in and awesome video! We are sharing a picture from celia duck and a video from Carolyn http://youtu.be/L9YlTNBIU1s.

Mama was feeding herself and the chicks breakfast this morning around 6:40am. Oliveea seems content today and looking more beautiful than normal as she keeps her babies warm and safe. The weather today should be warm with only a slight change of rain this afternoon.

Hang on

Hang on Oliveea, you're in for a rocky ride today! Strong storms and possible high winds through late afternoon.

A comment came in about spotting a chick. We haven’t been able to confirm, but will keep a close eye out. If you happen to catch a glimpse, please grab a snapshot and send it in. We love to share pictures from our viewers.

Oliveea or Oscar?

We had several questions come in asking how to tell the difference between Oliveea and Oscar. I was lucky to get a shot of Oscar this morning sitting on the eggs. When I checked back in, Oliveea returned and they traded places.  I am including a picture of them side by side. Oscar is much smaller than Oliveea and his neck is mostly white.  Hope this helps!

View of the nest

Oliveea appears to be happy and taking short naps. At some point, Oscar or Oliveea decided to bring in another stick for the nest. Hopefully they move it soon so we can get a better view of the eggs.

Every so often, you will see us zooming in or out on the nest. Sometimes we are looking for eggs and other times we are giving our personnel privacy when they are within camera range. We try to keep our distance as much as possible. Oliveea lets us know when we get too close! Once we start seeing the chicks, we will adjust the camera to try and get the best view. It should be another beautiful week with highs in the upper 70’s to mid 80’s.

Update on Audio

We have come to the conclusion that the existing microphone is not repairable. But the good news is, we with a solution. A new microphone and accessories can be erected without causing Oliveea too much stress. The new equipment has been ordered and hopefully be successfully installed next week. We monitor the nesting site daily and make it a high priority when problems arise. However, all technical difficulties and equipment failures are not always a quick fix.

Oliveea and Oscar made it though the storms overnight without any problems. I don’t think the storms were as strong as first projected (thank goodness!). They should have smooth sailing through the weekend with temps in the 70’s and a little breezy at times.

Audio Issues

As most of you are aware, we have been experiencing audio issues. We plan to install a temporary microphone, but it will be later on next week at the earliest. We appreciate your patience while we are working on getting this resolved. Also, the storm that knocked out the Eaglecam is coming our way and will be here later this afternoon. Hopefully this will be a fast moving storm and the winds do not get high enough to damage the nest.