Cranes, fish gifts, and that life continuing

Two cranes walking below the Satakunta Osprey #3 nest. They're a bit hard to see without movement, but one is next to Nuppu's head and the other just at the edge of the frame on the left, at the middle height-wise. N2 is napping under Nuppu here.

Also a shot of N2 last night.

And a bit later today, stretching a wing and a leg.

The now empty nest #1 seems to have caught someone's eye. An unbanded female osprey visiting today.

Soon followed by Ossi (left) carrying a fish. He lands, and chirps instead of trying to chase her away.

 

Ossi takes off with the fish, but circles back and brings it for the female, who claims her gift. Ossi leaves her with it, and soon lands on the other side of the nest to keep guard.

Then they both leave one after the other, with the female carrying the fish somewhere else to eat.

Looks like courtship for the next season! This may seem like very soon, but animals live in the moment, and a mourning period after losing one's mate and chicks can be pretty impractical in the wild. Ossi has no one to raise now and no one to nest with, so his instincts tell him it's time to work on fixing that. Having just yesterday said I hope everything goes well for him, this is great news. This new female may or may not end up being his mate; there will probably be at least a few other females checking out him and the nest over the course of the rest of the summer, and we'll only know for sure once they return from their migration next spring, but looks like Ossi wants to keep the territory, so hopefully we'll be seeing more of him, and of these candidates for next season's Lady of the Nest.

Also some snacking at the nest, at Cornell Red-tailed hawks. K-3 in the nest with mom Big Red who is eating something, K-1 perching on the railing. Will she share or are they expected to try and steal it? With dad Arthur bringing plenty of food the chicks aren't going hungry even if they miss the chance to mantle a delivery sometimes.

K-3 doing a big wing stretch this morning, having spent the night at the nest platform.

And K-1 in the light tower next to the one the nest is in. Looking at something insteresting.

Could be something moving in a way that looked like prey. Could be K-3 doing more stretches in the nest.

Mom and dad perching together.