Went to visit “my” Osprey family again. Tom still isn’t flying. His sister, Jeri, has been flying for almost 3 weeks! Bam Bam brought Tom a fish; Jeri protected her brother from a passing by Great Blue Heron; and I saw a couple of beautiful Mississippi Kites on my way home. Come on Tom … Fly!!!
Glad you made it out to take these wonderful photos! Quick question, is it normal for one baby to be flying 3 weeks earlier than the other? If not, is Tom taking longer than usual, or is Jeri just precocious?
You ask as if you think I’m an expert!! I’m just a dude with a camera and a passion!! :0)
Seriously, though, this is only my second season of shooting Ospreys. I learned a lot last year with George, Martha, and Baby Huey, but that was only one baby. Tom and Jeri are my first experience with “twins”. I speculated that Tom was a male and Jeri a female when they were very small, due to the shapes of their heads – and I was right! The male’s head is smaller and rounder. The adult male is about 20% smaller, too, by the way.
Mature females also have a brown “necklace”, which helps distinguish them. Tom was always much smaller than Jeri. It’s possible that she hatched earlier, but it couldn’t have been more than a week, because I saw two within the first week of seeing the first one. I’m guessing that females mature more quickly, much like humans (did I really say that???), and that Tom is building his strength and his courage. That said, Jeri just may be precocious as well!
Glad you made it out to take these wonderful photos! Quick question, is it normal for one baby to be flying 3 weeks earlier than the other? If not, is Tom taking longer than usual, or is Jeri just precocious?
You ask as if you think I’m an expert!! I’m just a dude with a camera and a passion!! :0)
Seriously, though, this is only my second season of shooting Ospreys. I learned a lot last year with George, Martha, and Baby Huey, but that was only one baby. Tom and Jeri are my first experience with “twins”. I speculated that Tom was a male and Jeri a female when they were very small, due to the shapes of their heads – and I was right! The male’s head is smaller and rounder. The adult male is about 20% smaller, too, by the way.
Mature females also have a brown “necklace”, which helps distinguish them. Tom was always much smaller than Jeri. It’s possible that she hatched earlier, but it couldn’t have been more than a week, because I saw two within the first week of seeing the first one. I’m guessing that females mature more quickly, much like humans (did I really say that???), and that Tom is building his strength and his courage. That said, Jeri just may be precocious as well!
Did you get all that??
Thank you Tammy!!