Look for 2 adults on the nest. The adult pair will show pair bonding behaviors such as vocalizations, aerial sky dances, and the male feeding the female fish. You may see the pair copulating, which typically begins 14 days before laying eggs.
Females will lay 1 - 4 eggs at a rate of one egg every 1 - 2 days. After laying, incubation starts. Look for adults taking turns sitting low in the nest incubating eggs. The incubation period can last 35 - 43 days.
Chicks hatch ~39 days after incubation begins. Look for adults bringing food to the nest and making "head bows" into the center. Chicks typically can't be seen until they are 2 - 3 weeks old, so feeding behavior is the only way to know chicks are there.
Around 4 weeks after hatching, look for the heads of chicks to show over the rim of the nest, particularly when adults bring food to the nest. Other times they lie flat and are harder to see. Count the number of chicks in the nest before they learn to fly
Chicks begin flying around 7 - 8 weeks old, and are still fed by the adults. Count the number of chicks who have successfully fledged the nest and are observed flying.
Chick Last Observed
4 - 10 weeks after fledging, chicks begin leaving the nest area to migrate south, once they have learned to fly and feed themselves. Record the date that the last chick left the nest.
Look for signs of nest failure like adult abandonment, adults no longer incubating eggs or feeding young.
Observed carefully this a.m. I'd seen what looked like a nest here before but had never seen any activity here. Today, saw 2 Ospreys in the nest and initially thought both were nestlings. But then one took off. It was either an adult or a fledgling. I couldn't tell. The other was clearly a nestling. It stayed in the nest, kept flapping its wings, and kept rising up and settling back down. It did this a number of times.
Visited the area again in pm and with spotting scope. Good news. There's a brood! I was able to make out at least 2 wobbly nestlings. There may be three. The adult female(?) left the nest briefly, but returned (with food?). She stayed on the rim of the nest. Exciting development!
Observed in am. I need more reach to see this nest well. Female still hunkered down and still incubating. If that's the case, and egg laying occurred late March/early April, hatching could be just around the corner.