(Colorado) Parenthood is a 24-hour job despite rain, lightning, thunder, or hail!
A Boulder County Parks and Open Space camera captured video earlier this week of a female osprey protecting her three eggs during an onslaught of hail. The mother bird received significant pelting from the ice balls but never left the nest.
The mother and eggs weathered the storm and are doing well.
An osprey is a large, fish-eating raptor that nests near a body of water. Ospreys usually mate for life, going their separate ways during the winter and returning to the same nesting site every spring.
A female will lay two to four eggs in a large nest weighing an average of 400 pounds made of sticks, driftwood, seaweed, trash, and other things collected nearby. The osprey pair at the fairgrounds in Boulder County have been nesting there since the spring of 2003, and their current nest is east of Cattail Pond.
You can follow the pair's journey into parenthood with live video footage of the nesting platform here. The chicks should be hatching in the next few weeks.
There are two cameras with microphones, one below and one above the nest, with 24-hour video and audio coverage. A solar-charged infrared light illuminates the nest at night providing unique footage of this fascinating pair.
The journey to parenthood can be challenging and fraught with obstacles for all species. Thank goodness for resilient, adaptable, and tough mothers who ride out the storm!
Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mom's in the world.
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