Savannah Osprey Cam Timeline

Review the main events, including nesting cycle milestones and other noteworthy incidents, in this historical timeline of the Savannah Osprey cam.

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2021
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2018
2017

Good things come to those who wait! The youngest sibling has finally fledged from the Savannah Osprey nest after 66 days (the typical nestling period for Ospreys ranges between 50 and 55 days). Watch the young chick follow the example of an elder sibling, who hovers over with a fish, as it takes off around the adjacent cam perch and out of frame. Good luck out there young one! It’s likely we’ll see more from the fledglings while they hang around their nesting territory as they hone their flying skills and learn to fish.

Two Osprey chicks have taken flight today! Watch the second chick make a confident first flight from the edge of the stick-filled nest, swoop around, and zip back onto the nest in high-speed fashion. The two eldest chicks fledged after 61 and 59 days post-hatch.

Then there were three! The Savannah Ospreys’ third and final egg hatched on the morning of April 16. Watch the female parcel out bits of fish to her nestlings just hours after the youngest hatched. The parents will have their work cut out for them over the next 50–55 days as they work together to keep their chicks well-fed and cared for.

The female feeds her two chicks in the nest on the same day her second nestling hatches from its egg after 36 days of incubation!

Enjoy the first close-up look at the first Osprey chick to hatch in the Savannah nest in 2019. This chick hatched in the late night hours of April 12.

Another three days means another egg for the Savannah Ospreys. The pair’s third egg was spotted in the nest around noon on March 12 while the pair were switching off incubation shifts. The eggs have been laid on March 6, 9, and 12. Osprey clutch sizes range from 1–4 eggs, and females typically lay every 1–3 days until the clutch is complete. 

The Savannah Ospreys now have a clutch of two eggs! With a nest bowl buried deep in sticks and Spanish moss, it can be hard to get a clear view at what goes on beneath an incubating parent, but viewers were greeted with a peek at two speckled eggs on the morning of March 9!

Egg Alert! The intrigue continues on the Savannah Osprey cam this morning. After multiple visits from Great Horned Owls in the past 12 hours, the Ospreys staked their claim to the nest with their first egg! Watch the heavily spotted egg appear this morning just before 8:00 AM.

Join a pair of Ospreys through the trials of the breeding season as they diligently work to raise a young chick into an adept fisher bird on the 2018 Savannah Osprey cam!

Skidaway Island welcomed its newest Osprey fledgling this morning at 7:36 AM! After spending 57 days in the nest, watch the Osprey chick from the Savannah Osprey cam lift off from the nest and make a confident, gliding flight around the cam site before returning to the perch. The young bird wasn’t done, either. Minutes later, it took off again, circled the nest site, and alighted on the cam perch. Now that the Osprey chick has fledged, the adults will continue to supplement the young bird as it hones its flying skills and learns to fish. Recent fledglings may stay in or near the nest for multiple weeks as they learn to become independent, so there should still plenty opportunities to watch this family grow!

After several hours of inactivity in the nest bowl on the morning of May 2, the youngest Osprey chick appears to have died. Ultimately the cause of death is unknown; however, it’s most likely that the chick succumbed to lack of access to food or to injuries incurred from sibling aggression over the previous few days. While it is unfortunate to witness such an event, nestling mortality is not uncommon in wild bird nests. In Ospreys, older siblings have a higher survival rate than younger siblings, and nestling mortality is higher for the first 2-3 weeks after hatch during the peak period of growth. Despite the loss of their youngest chick, the adults still have a chance at having a successful breeding season, and we hope that you continue to watch and learn along with us as they work to raise their oldest nestling to fledge.  

On the Savannah Osprey cam, the second egg hatched in the evening ours of April 18 on its 38th day of incubation. The third egg was deemed inviable after it failed to hatch.

After 38 days of incubation, the first chick has hatched on the Savannah Osprey cam! The hatching was first spotted in the early morning hours of April 15 and received it’s first meal shortly thereafter. 

As of March 14, three eggs share the nest bowl on the Savannah Osprey cam! In this clip you can clearly see two eggs, with the top of the third egg just poking out of the nest bowl.

The female has laid a second egg in the nest on the Savannah Osprey cam. How many speckled eggs will be laid in this nest in 2018? Only time will tell.  

The Osprey breeding pair in Savannah, Georgia have their first egg! Watch the female unveil the white and brown speckled shell for the first time in the late afternoon hours of March 8. Compared to last year, the Ospreys are getting an early jump on the breeding season. In 2017, the on-cam pair’s first egg didn’t arrive until March 27.

A crow alighted on the Savannah nest on May 25 and continued to break open and eat the contents of the two inviable Osprey eggs that remained on the Savannah Osprey nest.

Over the last two days, the Osprey pair on camera have been harassed and attacked by at least one aggressive Osprey. Following these recent attacks, the nestling appeared listless and didn’t respond to the parents’ attempts to feed it, and it may have been injured during the interactions. Unfortunately, despite our hopes that the nestling’s condition would improve, it appears to have succumbed to its injuries and died. The dead nestling was eventually removed the following day on May 15. 

The first Osprey egg has hatched in Savannah, Georgia! This young chick is right on time; it hatched on day 39—the average incubation period for Ospreys. Time will tell if the rest of the clutch should hatch over the nest 2–4 days, after which the adults’ sole focus will be to provide their chicks with enough food and warmth for the nest 50–60 days until they are ready to fledge.

It’s confirmed – a 3rd Osprey egg has been spotted in the Savannah nest! All three eggs can be seen when the male rolls them after delivering a fish to his mate. Egg #2 was laid on March 30, which suggests that this 3rd egg was laid sometime over the past weekend on April 2 or 3 (Ospreys lay eggs every 2-3 days until the clutch is complete). We’re lucky to get a peek at all three eggs because this Osprey pair has built a deep nest bowl that’s surrounded by mossy substrate on the sides, which blocks a clear view at the eggs.

Viewers received the first peek at the Osprey pair’s second egg this evening. The top of the second egg can be barely seen to the right of the other. It surfaces over the mossy substrate for just a moment when the male nudges it with his beak before settling in for an incubation shift.

Early in the morning on March 27, the Osprey pair that’s been inhabiting the Savannah nest laid their first egg! It may be hard to see when you’re tuned in, but the lone egg is nested deep in the substrate of the nest bowl. In this clip, we get a definitive peek at the egg when the male rolls it after delivering a headless fish to the female. Ospreys most commonly lay 3 egg clutches, although numbers can range anywhere between 1-4 eggs. Eggs are laid every 2-3 days until the clutch is complete, with eggs most often laid early in the mornings.