{"id":10746,"date":"2012-05-12T10:44:27","date_gmt":"2012-05-12T15:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10746"},"modified":"2012-05-12T10:44:27","modified_gmt":"2012-05-12T15:44:27","slug":"aggressive-ospreys-evict-great-blue-heron-nesting-pair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10746","title":{"rendered":"Aggressive Ospreys Evict Great Blue Heron Nesting Pair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Great Blue Heron Nesters<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Osprey Pair That Evicted Herons<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

An aggressive pair of ospreys evicted a heron couple from their nest in the Great Blue Heron Rookery in Marion, Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 The herons\u00c2\u00a0had arrived in late March and began to assemble their nest in a dead white pine tree at the edge of a freshwater pond.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal documented building of\u00c2\u00a0this heron nest in a video that can be seen by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(See also\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Great Blue Heron Rookery on Massachusetts South Coast<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>and Nest Building at the Great Blue Heron Rookery<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Osprey Pair Guarding Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ospreys\u00c2\u00a0employed aggressive harassment to\u00c2\u00a0force the heron couple to leave\u00c2\u00a0and to take\u00c2\u00a0position of\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0nest for themselves.\u00c2\u00a0 Once in control, they significantly reinforced the existing heron nest.\u00c2\u00a0 We observe that both\u00c2\u00a0ospreys frequently leave the nest, presumably to fish.\u00c2\u00a0 One often lingers on the top of a nearby tree where it can observe its own nest, as well as activity in\u00c2\u00a0neighboring great blue heron nests.\u00c2\u00a0 Two heron nests still remain occupied within fifty feet of the osprey pair.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Several other heron nests are scattered in tree tops\u00c2\u00a0around this woody wetlands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Blue Heron Gets Attacked by Osprey<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

While watching on Friday, Turtle Journal observed another harassment incident.\u00c2\u00a0 A great blue heron (as pictured above)\u00c2\u00a0returned to one of the nests close to the osprey pair.\u00c2\u00a0 He had a stick in his claw to reinforce\u00c2\u00a0his nest.\u00c2\u00a0 An osprey zoomed from its watch perch and swooped down directly at the heron; it\u00c2\u00a0slammed on its air brakes to hover face-to-face within feet of the heron, screeching at full volume.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The heron squawked, dropped the stick and flew away toward the far end of the pond … with the osprey zigzagging\u00c2\u00a0over him all the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Osprey on Former Great Blue Heron Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This osprey pair\u00c2\u00a0remains\u00c2\u00a0firmly in\u00c2\u00a0control of the former great blue heron nest and in command of the entire surrounding area.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Osprey Brings Home the “Bacon”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As we watch,\u00c2\u00a0ospreys often return\u00c2\u00a0to the nest\u00c2\u00a0with “takeout” food (usually a\u00c2\u00a0fresh fish) that they pick up in nearby Sippican Harbor to\u00c2\u00a0eat in the comfort of their commandeered home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Great Blue Heron Nesters \u00c2\u00a0Osprey Pair That Evicted Herons An aggressive pair of ospreys evicted a heron couple from their nest in the Great Blue Heron Rookery in Marion, Massachusetts.\u00c2\u00a0 The herons\u00c2\u00a0had arrived in late March and began to assemble their nest in a dead white pine tree at the edge of a freshwater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[654],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10746"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10798,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10746\/revisions\/10798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}