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Live action is available dawn to dusk as parent ospreys feed and care for their chicks. Osprey chicks increase in size rather rapidly, reaching 70 to 80 percent of adult size a month after hatching. They fledge between 48 and 76 days old. So to see them as chicks you should view the web cam sooner rather than later, said Jack Schneider, curator of animals and director of education at the Aquarium. However right now the chicks are small and colored much the same as their nest. Look for movement, especially when parents are feeding them, he advised. Ospreys, also known as fish hawks, are large birds of prey with a five-foot wingspan. Viewing the camera at the right moment, you can see one of the adults bringing a fish to feed the chicks and the other adult sitting on the nest. Typically the male osprey provides food to the female and the chicks, bringing three to 10 fish per day. However both male and female ospreys care for their young, providing food and protecting them from the weather and predators. After fledging, young ospreys begin to hunt on their own but often continue to return to the nest. Parents feed the young for up to eight weeks after they fledge. Different from most raptors, ospreys eat fish almost exclusively. They hunt on the wing, flapping and gliding above the water. When they spot a fish they hover briefly and then dive, throwing their feet forward and folding their wings back. It is a swift and dramatic display, Schneider said. Ospreys emerge from the water, rearranging prey in their talons so the fish is facing forward, presumably to make it more aerodynamic and thereby easier to carry. When you view the web cam, chicks may be hidden underneath their mother. Newly hatched osprey chicks cannot control their body temperature very well. The mother will brood the chicks nearly continually for the next two weeks and then off-and-on for two weeks more. If you watch closely, you may see some other, smaller, bird species such as grackles, starlings, swallows and sparrows sharing the osprey nest, flying in and out from underneath. The Maritime Aquarium monitors ospreys in the Norwalk area because as a predator at the top of the food chain, they are an important indicator of Norwalk River and Long Island Sound health. Widespread use of pesticide DDT caused precipitous decline of osprey populations from the 1950s to 70s. Ninety percent of breeding pairs disappeared from Long Island Sound. A ban on DDT and concerted conservation and repopulation efforts including nesting platforms like the one shown on the web cam make ospreys an ecological success story. Numbers are rebounding. Ospreys are active in our area from mid-March through late August or early September, Schneider said. © Copyright by NorwalkPlus.com. Some articles and pictures posted on our website, as indicated by their bylines, were submitted as press releases and do not necessarily reflect the position and opinion of NorwalkPlus.com, Norwalk Plus magazine, Canaiden LLC or any of its associated entities. Articles may have been edited for brevity and grammar. [an error occurred while processing this directive] CURRENT HEADLINES: [an error occurred while processing this directive] Top of Page
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