Woolwich, Maine

The osprey cam at the Taste of Maine Restaurant had been offline for a few days, so I went down after work to check on the chicks (I must confess that the fact that the restaurant does have an excellent lobster stew did play a part in my decision).

I was a bit worried initially, because one of the chicks (I think the younger one) was sort of scrunched up, and I wondered what that was about. I hadn't seen a lot of sibling rivalry before the cam went down - but that can change. However, I didn't see the other chick making any aggressive moves.

They did both do some flapping - and one of the chicks (whom I think is #3, though I'm really not sure - he does have a loose feather, which helps to identify him) moved to the top of the supporting post - but he(?) was still looking a bit scrunched. I took a couple of pictures of the area, and a couple more of the chicks on the nest, then went into the restaurant and took a picture of the view from the cam. And while I was waiting to be seated, the non-scrunched chick flew off!

Fortunately the person who was serving as host that night understands people who are addicted to nest cams - so he didn't even blink when I shouted "hold my table" and dashed out to get a few pictures of the chick in flight. The pictures aren't great - but the flying was. She(?) made several circles, soaring more than flapping, and ended up behind the row of trees across the road from the nest - which is a place I suspect the adults hang out in search of fish.

I went in for my dinner after that, and got a couple more s'caps of the remaining chick through the window - and did notice that he was standing up tall when he was the only one on the nest, so I do think he's doing just fine - and has learned that a bit of submissive behavior does encourage harmony on the nest.

The final picture was taken as I was leaving. It was dark enough that a close-up wouldn't work - but the older(?) chick was still off somewhere, and the little one was standing tall. Humanizing a bit, I'd modify that to say - proudly standing tall in his nest.

All pictures click bigger. They are a bit dark - I have a lot of pictures to post, so have done very little editing.

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If you'd like to see additional pictures from this nest, and from the osprey nest "around the corner" on the Sasanoa River, you can use the link for my Local Wildlife Home Page at the top of the page to see an index to all the visits.