Grand Lake resident Kent Roorda, who runs the livestream of Grand Lake’s osprey nest, wrote in an email to camera watchers that the chicks have been growing quickly. The chicks are almost the same size as their mother, although they are not yet ready to leave the nest.

The two chicks have what Roorda called camouflaged feathers, which help protect them from predators, but over the coming weeks, they will replace them with adult feathers. As the birds prepare for their migration in the fall, they will start to exercise their wings and prepare to fly and fledge, Roorda wrote.

The mother osprey will soon leave the chicks alone more often as they become more capable of protecting themselves from predators, and the father will continue to provide them with fish to eat. 

Roorda noted that, unlike other birds, osprey chicks will stay in the nest after they fledge, or develop wing feathers suitable for flight. The chicks will go with their father to the lake and learn to fish so they will be ready to migrate on their own.

Check out the osprey nest livestream at SkyHiNews.com.