The Osprey Saga

Week 8: We Have Eggs

Hooray! We have eggs! the only question is how many she will have, two or three. As close as I could tell, she started incubating last Sunday morning. From my window I can just barely see the top of her head. This now begins the quiet days. Day will follow day, and she will sit, fair weather or foul, 24/seven, for about five weeks, when the fledglings will crack their eggs and appear.

Oliver is now very attentive to her, sitting beside her for long periods, and he brings her a nice big fish twice a day and takes her place on the eggs while she takes it to a nearby piling to eat. Sometimes she remains on the eggs while she eats. Ollie is always nearby now, ready to fend off anyone or anything that would disturb his mate.

The wait begins ...

Thus continues Michael Koblos’ 26-week saga of the doings of his nearest osprey family. A 78-year-old retired naval officer, Koblos lives in a small cottage on the water, Home Port, in a place called Cobb Island, located in the wide Potomac River about 50 miles south of Washington, D.C.