CALGARY ZOO OSPREY

This osprey nest is located just outside the Calgary Zoo fence on St. George's Island in the middle of the Bow River

The cam is run by Enmax in conjunction with the Calgary Zoo.

The osprey have reared young successfully in the past.

We began this season with an empty nesting platform after it was cleared of all sticks and debris.

The osprey have returned and rebuilt this nest.

The nest had 3 eggs laid May 9, 13 and 15.
There are presently 2 chicks on the nest.
Camera was down for a couple of days. On June 21 when the camera came up there was one chick but by evening there were two.
One egg never did hatch. It is speculated that because of that egg being covered in a piece of wet plastic debris for hours it likely became cold failed when the adult couldn't reach it for incubation. While the camera was off the zoo staff removed the plastic and the remaining eggs hatched without a problem.

Link to the camera Calgary Zoo Osprey Cam



Archives for the Calgary Osprey can be found HERE



Comparison shots contributed by BET

April 14

Enmax has already activated the cam - with sound too!

They(Enmax) cleaned out the nest so we will have the opportunity to watch the nesting process from scratch for the first time. Maybe even get to see a mating.




I went back through my records, but didn't find when the pair usually return, but to the best of my recollection it is in mid-April - correct me if I am wrong

Eggs in past were laid early May

Full incubation is about 34 days

Tuesday, April 20th

Cam isn't working. I contacted Enmax and found they are having technical difficulties.

Thank you for contacting ENMAX regarding the Osprey camera. Currently we
are experiencing technical issues and working with the 3rd party video
provider to resolve the issue. The camera is currently up at this time
but we still may experience outages until the company can resolve the
issue. The birds have not returned.

Shelley



I did see osprey on my local nest yesterday so not sure if that means bad news for Calgary or not. I'm approx. 200 miles further south.

A ground observed spotted Dad Osprey yesterday, April 21 at 5:00pm. He vocalized his return and the proceeded to catch and eat his dinner near the nest box.

Mom should arrive in a day or two.

I am going to try to keep a close eye on the cam all day today in hopes of catching Dad. Hopefully the cam transmission won't freeze up.

12:15am MDT

He's Here!



Cam transmission has been fine so far today. No sound though.

Quote by: BET

12:15am MDT

He's Here!



Cam transmission has been fine so far today. No sound though.

10:50 MDT

I don't usually log on to my computer 'til 9:00am PDT so have no idea of the early morning activities on any of the nests

At 10:00am MDT this am Dad was hunkered down between the near edge of the nest box and the support pole - same place he was yesterday. His feathers were being ruffled by the wind so I imagine it is a bit of a protected area. (later I will go back in my archives and see if I can find an image showing it).

He stayed there til about 10:30 and then flew off. Flew back on at 10:40


He stayed on the far edge for a bit, looking about and then flew to the near edge. The wind must have been gusting as he took several extra wing flaps trying to land on the edge


He stood there for a bit, then down to his perch area. I think he might be a bit puzzled by the condition of the nest. He looks at, looks down at the ground below, but then maybe he is just watching other bird/duck/geese activity

He hopped back up on the edge, looked down at the corner area for a bit and then flew off


I do not know if stripping the nest is normal each year as this is the first year we have had the cam on this early. The reason the nest was stripped this year was to oust a pair of Canada geese that were setting up housekeeping. I can not imagine what they were thinking. They must have left their brains (if they have any) down south. How did they think they were going to get goslings down to the ground?
I saw some Canadas cruising around down at the waters edge. Wonder if they were the ousted pair?

The cam went down at about 1:00pm MDT yesterday. I reported it. I have reported it several times and they are probably going to ignore me as being a pest. So if any of you watching notice it down, please report it to EnMax. Maybe they will get their act together this year and fix their problems. You can tell the cam is frozen if you do not see ripples from the river flowing down in the left hand corner.

1:50pm MDT

Cam was frozen for over an hour. I discovered it was back on line at 1:50. Dad was perched on the back side of the box, just watching the river. He is still there 20 minutes later. Not doing any thing about the nest as yet. Maybe looking for Mom to arrive and waiting her instructions!