Eggs removed from the Port Lincoln Osprey barge

14 October 2025

Hello Everyone,

Bazz Hockaday took some fish to Mum and Dad and removed the three eggs from the nest and left his hat!

This is incredibly kind. Why do I say that?

Many years ago, I observed a raptor sitting on her eggs for more than a month. We know that Shadow incubated eggs for at least sixty days, hoping they would hatch. We have seen others. Time is up for these eggs and Mum knew there was something wrong as she sat on the rim of the nest looking at them. Mum can now go and fish and get her health back.
A female osprey can lose between 10–15% of her body weight while feeding her chicks. Some have lost as much as 30%. Why do the females lose weight? It is because the female will incubate, often not getting much fish. Yes, incubation is sedentary but still there were issues at Port Lincoln with Dad not providing fish in a regular (aka stable) delivery pattern. Sometimes there was one fish, sometimes three. Then there is the nesting period. This is when the greatest amount of weight loss occurs. She is feeding and caring for the osplets feeding them first and sometimes not having enough fish for herself. This is when you want a really good mate who continues to bring excess fish to the nest. In some instances, the fish deliveries are not good enough and the female will begin to lose more weight, often up to 40%. At that time, the female will, more than likely, abandon the nest to save her own life. This certainly happened in and around the Chesapeake Bay this past summer.

I am reasonably certain that Fran Solly will post the results of any tests done on the eggs so that we know what happened this season.

For now, I wish Mum and Dad well.

Thank you, Port Lincoln Ospreys and Friends of Osprey, South Australia, for the streaming cam on the barge where the images were captured.