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Osprey raise their young


The Southern Ute Wildlife Division is pleased to announce the hatching of two osprey eggs at our nest at Lake Capote. The two chicks emerged from their shells starting on Friday, June 12, and the parent birds are busy feeding and tending to them. 
Photo Credit: Courtesy Jon Broholm, Wildlife Technician

After last year’s unfortunate nesting failure, the osprey are back in 2020 and have successfully produced two chicks.  Although the timing is about a month later than the nesting efforts in 2017 and 2018, both parent osprey are doing a great job of protecting the two chicks, and keeping them well-fed with fish caught out of Lake Capote.  Under the current schedule, Wildlife staff will likely apply leg-bands to the chicks in late July, and the young birds will then likely fledge from the nest sometime during the second week of August.  Then, with the onset of the cooler fall season, the osprey family will begin their southward migration to Mexico or Central America, where they will spend the winter.  The cycle should start all over when the same parent birds return to their nest at Lake Capote in March 2021. 

Check out lakecapote.com/osprey-cam/ to see all the activity at the nest. Get in touch with the Wildlife Division with any questions or comments. 

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