Posted on FB:
Hi all,
Well it looks as if Stanley is not going to return this year. Dang!! There has been another osprey flying low over the nest the last few days, but I have not been able to get a good enough look at it to see if it might be Stanley. I suspect not, since if it was Stanley, I think he would would be much more persistent about getting back on "his nest."
So I suspect that Stanley died over the winter. We have no idea how old he was, but when he first showed up he certainly seem to know the ropes: he was already very accomplished at nest repair and remodeling, an expert copulator (no mean feat - none of this falling off Iris' back mid-copulation), an expert incubator, and above all, and outstanding fisherman. So Stanley might have been fairly old and caught his last fish this last winter.
I suspect that the new male is probably fairly young, and this could very well be his first breeding attempt. He has some learning on the job to do, but it is very encouraging that he finally got the hang of incubating the eggs today. Thanks to camera operator extraordinaire Grandad Rufus for snagging this great video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AwbcFWT10As long as the new male keeps bringing in the fish (one of the MAIN requirements in the osprey dad job description) this nest may be successful this year.
Cheers,
Erick Greene
Also, here are the dates of the eggs;
5-9-16 #4
5-5-16 #3
5-2-16 #2
4-30-16 Raven took egg #1
4-29-16 #1