Ospreys are back at Whitfords

two adults on the nest

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Despite yesterdays punishing winds, with gust of 90kmph recorded in the vicinity of this nest, the ospreys survived. This years two adult birds have been present on the same nest as last year. I'll be keeping an eye on progress and posting reports as the story unfolds. Last year they raised one juvenile.

Ospreys at Whitfords

Male osprey brings in a fish

I'm monitoring the osprey nest at Whitfords Nodes Beach Park near Hillarys in Perth. The nest is on top of the mobile phone tower there.

Last Sunday the male osprey flew up to the tower with a fish in his talons, and later brought the fish up to the female at the nest. The female then proceeded to feed one juvenile, which you can see in this photo. The juvenile is on the left, female in the middle and male osprey on the right, watching the proceedings.

Three ospreys at the nest, juvenile on the left

This juvenile is already quite advanced in growth and there may be more than one juvenile. It's quite hard to get a good photo with all the mobile tower contraptions obscuring the view.

Another shot of the osprey wrestling with a fish.

osprey with fish

Osprey nests around Perth and the Swan River

Birdlife Western Australia is interested in knowing about osprey nests around the Swan River and at other spots along the Perth coast.

 

Known osprey nest sites around the Swan River are: 

1. Salter Point, Mt Henry, Aquinas

2. Claremont Peppermint Grove, Devil’s Elbow

3. Old Swan Brewery, Riverside Drive

4. Radio mast, Garrett Road Bridge, Ascot Waters

5. Ron Courtney Island, Garvey Park, Ascot

6. Alfred Cove

7. Pelican Point, Nedlands

8. Comer Street overpass, Como

If you know of any other sites please contact Marcus Singor at msingor at bigpond.com

Here are photos of a nest I found on top of a mobile phone tower at Whitford Nodes Beach Park, north of Hillarys Boat Harbour. 

The telltale signs that there are ospreys around are the sticks and of course you can see the osprey in the top photo.

Eggs are generally laid from mid August to late October. Incubation takes 36 days and the nestling period around 50 days.

Ospreys were nesting at this site last year too. I will be keeping an eye on this nest over the next few months

The North Beach osprey is still around

The North Beach osprey which I wrote about and photographed in December 2007 is still around in exactly the same area. It's fairly common for the young male ospreys to roam around the coast in their younger years, so I'm not sure if this one has a mate.

This morning he was having a great time feeding on what looked to be an Australian Herring (aka Tommy Ruff). Now that the Autumn waters of the Indian Ocean are cooling down, the Herring are running and the local fishermen are trying their luck.

Osprey Revisited

Again today the osprey was around North beach. These photos show how close he is to the the beach front houses.

Osprey of North Beach

This osprey is a frequenter of the rocky headlands around North Beach in Perth Western Australia.

A pair of osprey established a nest around Trigg Island this year. This individual is one of that group. I've seen him there several times in the last week, often on this same stump which is not far from the bike and walk path along West Coast Drive.