Osprey

The baby osprey are getting close to fledging.  The house wrens are already well into their 2nd brood, but the osprey are just finishing their first.  It takes a lot more food to make a baby osprey!  There are three babies in this osprey nest, although one is significantly smaller than the rest.  You can see one of the babies on the left side of the nest in the pictures below.

Some larger bird species frequently lay one more egg than they can typically raise successfully.  This extra egg acts as an insurance policy.  Usually this baby is too small to compete with it's siblings.  However, if something happens to one of the larger babies, the parents still have a chance to reproduce.  If it's a particularly successful year, the parents can raise an extra baby!

 The male osprey comes in for a landing

One fledgling on the left, adult female in the middle, and adult male on the right