BET, that sure looks like 3 eggs.....I'll put my computer on screen record and check after work...

I can't get the cam on iphone...but I can read posts

JAZZEL

6:10pm EDT

Dad had been brooding for awhile. Mom came home to perch and observe. Certainly not take over incubating. I've known of canines that do not want anything to do with their young, and have read a number of zoo human relations articles about various animals abandoning their young - but a female bird not wanting to have any thing to do with her eggs!!! My head is trying to cope with that anomaly.

Intruder flew into the area - judging by Mom and Dad's behavior. Dad flew off leaving the eggs exposed. So here is the latest view after Dad had been incubating for maybe an hour and had moved about. The two eggs and ? are in the same relative position as earlier in the day. The third ? could be an egg half buried in the bedding, or a shell? I am still not ready to commit.

Sunday, May 23 2:15pm EDT

I logged on about noon Eastern time. Now what are they doing? Mom (I think) just standing in the nest bowl and one brown egg visible. Where is the white one and the questionable white item?

Last night when I logged off, Mom was covering the eggs with straw. Dad flew in and Mom took off. Dad took up incubating right on top of the straw.

At least Dad has the right instincts. Mom - She leaves a lot to be desired. I can not believe she has raised chicks before. She seems to have no idea what to do except stand guard.

So this morning what is there? A new rope decoration and one brown egg. Not even a trace of shell pieces of the white egg.

I can't run this cam all day. Takes up to much of my screen and to much of my digital internet capability. Interferes with my other cam streams. I will check off and on and see what is new - or rather what is gone.

5:30pm May 23

Well, Dad is off and about, Mom perched as far from the egg as she can get and only one egg visible.

Thanks, BET! I've been trying to catch up and don't have pictures ready to post - but I think they covered up the white egg - and the initial reddish egg - either last night or this morning and then she laid this brown egg this afternoon. Mom was actually sitting in the nest bowl as if to incubate for a while (virtually unknown behavior for her), and then the next time I looked she was standing over the brown egg, and remained in that position for quite a while.

Since then, Dad has incubated it a couple of times, and Mom has been Mom.

I agree that it's a hard cam to watch if you want to do anything else. I usually have it running on my netbook at the side of my desk while I do other things on my regular computer. I do love the large high res screen when I want to see something, but wish there was a smaller version I could keep open in the corner the rest of the time.

I thought this was a nice s'cap.... click for bigger!

I'm very sure, now, after comparing countless pics of head markings, that these are the original resident WHOI Cam Ospreys. It's very difficult to compare pics from the old cam and new cam.

The intruder issues on the WHOI nest, this season, have been well documented by many cam viewers…both in commentary and pics.

This is Dr. Rob Bierregaard's answer to questions I had about the intruder issues Hilton Head, SC, Cape Coral, FL, this season and Conanicut, RI, Cape Henlopen, DE last season. I posted this on the Hilton Head blog.


"I don't know exactly how long they have to get going. We've had young fledge in mid-late August on the Vineyard, so that pair probably didn't lay until late May. It may have been a renesting after a lost clutch, or it could have been one of these turn-over in the breeding pair situations, which very often result in no nesting for that year. I suspect that most of the intruder situations occur when one of the adults doesn't return and the fight to fill the vacancy is really protracted because none of the contestants has the psychological advantage of having been there the previous year. "Home-court advantage" is really a big deal in birds.
Eggs are produced about 2-3 days apart (more if the female is not in really good condition). I suspect that they could recycle only if it's really early in the nesting season. Whether they recycle or not would depend on physiological condition, and what the levels of estrogen were in the female's blood."

PICS COMPARING HEAD MARKINGS
http://s321.photobucket.com/albums/nn37 ... D%20MARKS/

POSSIBLE INTRUDERS
http://s321.photobucket.com/albums/nn37 ... IDS%202010


Looking back at nest caps, I don't believe there was a third egg….but I have more screen recordings to check….


JAZZEL

ma incubating and pa perched. beautiful sight

both parents slighty ducked their heads a little bit


male perched eating fish