All three Boulder County Fairgrounds osprey eggs have hatched as of Sunday, and County Parks and Open Space officials say they are looking healthy.
After the hatch of the first egg last Thursday, the second egg quickly followed on Friday. The third egg hatched Sunday afternoon.
“It is a blessing, and we’re all just soaking it in and so happy,” said Jasmine Finks, a moderator for the osprey camera website.
Finks said that all the chicks are displaying healthy traits and are being fed “what they need.”
Two of the younger chicks are currently in a “bonking” stage, where they fight for food from the parent ospreys by hitting their heads together. While some commenters have expressed concern for the chicks, officials said that the behavior is a normal survival process that only lasts about a week in this nest. None of the chicks is at risk of starvation at this point.
“This mom is very experienced, she even air feeds them,” Fink said, referring to when the mother osprey puts her beak inside her chicks’ beaks to subdue the urge to eat. “She knows all the tricks of the trade.”
Baby ospreys nest for about eight weeks. In that time, Finks said, these chicks will grow quickly. The first chick has already begun to shed its down. Between the mother osprey’s experience and the abundance of fish nearby, hopes are high that the chicks will make it to their fledge — or their first flight.
“You can just tell the chat is just so happy the chicks are well,” Finks said, later asking the community to “keep watching and keep watching them grow and keep asking questions.”
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