Monday 16 June 2008

Anyway, three's a crowd!

Still only two heads showing from the nest so I reckon now we haven't got a third chick as hoped. The two heads were seen behind the wall of twigs this morning. The chicks are now 15 and 13 days old and are starting to look quite dark. This is when the chicks go through their "reptilian" phase. When they first hatch the chicks have only soft down for protection. As they get older they start developing their own flight feathers and as these feathers come in they almost look like scales. Thus, this scaly dark look along with their habit of crouching at danger gives them the appearance of reptiles. As their feathers come all the way through they start to lighten up and almost resemble the adults apart from the fact that their feathers have light edges giving them a more speckled look.

2 comments:

  1. Just to let you now that we are following the progress of our 'local' ospreys when we can't manage to visit the lodge to see the view of their nest. Thank you for letting us know all is OK - hope the weather improves for the ospreys now that we've had some much-needed rain.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for posting, its good to know someone is reading! If anyone has any questions please ask away!

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave your comments on the blog. We've got a few house rules:
1. We (Forestry Commission Scotland) will review all comments and reserve the right to not publish them at our discretion.
2. There will be a time delay between submission and posting. Comments posted on Saturdays or Sundays won't be moderated until the following Monday.
3. Please make comments appropriate and relevant.
4. If you've a comment or question about Aberfoyle Ospreys, you can e-mail cowal&trossachs@forestry.gsi.gov.uk as we might not be able to respond here.
5. We won't publish comments that are abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory; published comments may be removed at any time; and individuals are personally liable for the comments they submit.
Thanks!