Domestic squabbles in Osprey land

March 9, 2015

Golden Gate Bird Alliance member Lee Aurich turned his camera lens on the pair of nesting Osprey at a construction crane in Richmond… and found some avian domestic drama. Here are his photos and story.

By Lee Aurich

The Richmond Osprey are in the process of moving back into their nest atop the Whirley Crane. As you will see below, they seem to be having some problems with “married life.”

To set the stage, the heavy winds late last year rearranged the nest atop the Whirley Crane. The couple is in the process of rebuilding and extending.

The status of their work, in this cage perhaps 60 feet up at the end of one of the Richmond piers, is recorded in this photo:

A few minutes later, the male (on the right, above) rose into the air, hovered, drifted backwards…

and dropped slowly upon the female,

for one of the hundreds of their mating this season.

Afterwards, he flew and she remained behind in the nest. Later, he returned with additional nesting material,

to a surprising reaction:

My personal interpretation was “You IDIOT! I want breakfast, not more sticks!”

She continued to make her case:

However, like certain male stereotypes, he was a bit thick headed and continued to bring nesting material:

and again

and again…

“Watch out below” — this one the male dropped directly into the nest.

After that, he continued to bring sticks, but would drop them 50 feet before the nest.

And he kept coming, though in this case with dangerous results:

Another “You IDIOT!” moment is occurring as he pivots the stick in the nest:

She bites the stick, breaking it into two pieces as it rams towards her:

What a fast reaction time!

Undeterred, he continues to bring nesting material. Meanwhile, she departed over the bay, presumably in search of breakfast.

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Lee Aurich was introduced to photography in high school – many, many years ago. In recent years, his focus has been on the great outdoors with a particular love of Yosemite. His love of birds, particularly nests, nestlings and interesting behavior, began with his discovery of a family of very young ducklings. You can also see his photo essay about the mishaps of a Lake Merritt goose family on our blog. More of his work is at aurich.com/photos.