History

The Story of Ricky & Lucy

2013 The arrival of Ricky & Lucy, Tree #1, Nest #1
Ricky & Lucy arrived in May of 2013. This was the first time I had ever watched, admired or even noticed an Osprey, and I immediately fell in love with them. They built 1/2 a nest then flew away in mid July/no chicks. I thought that was that neat & never expected to see them again.

2014 Ricky & Lucy came back! Tree #1 Nest #2
They returned Feb 16th, 2014. They completed the nest, made it big and strong and had 3 babies! Mom and Dad left as soon as they were flying good. Then 1 by 1 each baby left. I think the last sighting was mid August.

2015 Tree #2 Nest # 3
05Mar15. Ricky arrives, just as their nest is destroyed. Ricky arrived & within hours, a storm blew in and knocked down their home. The video of the tree falling down is posted on the Video tab. I was worried they would go someplace else to build a new home, but they picked another dead tree a little closer to our house. They had 3 babies. Approx dates for last sightings, Lucy/07.18.15 Ricky 07.27.15 Baby1 08.27.15 Baby2 09.01.15 Baby3 09.22.15. The 2015 season came in with a bang and went out with a bang too….12.25.15, Christmas Day, a storm takes out their second home! Tree #2 is destroyed. Two trees in one year. I’m running out of dead trees for my little darlings! Maybe time to erect an actual Osprey Platform.

2016 If you build it, they will come. Tree #3 Nest #4
Ricky and Lucy had a pretty busy year in 2015. Their first home Tree #1, Nest #1&2 and Tree#2, Nest 3 are both gone. I have 2 months to figure out a new home/structure for them. My husband and I thought for a skinny second about constructing one our of our own platforms, but what, who, how much, no expertise of costs, logistics, etc…I am now down to 2 weeks before they arrive. If we just had another dead tree….thats when we decided to make them a dead tree, that wasn’t so dead. It was a long shot, but what the heck, we had nothing to lose but the $250 cost for the tree people. I was willing to give it a go. And it worked!!! We picked the tree right beside Tree #1, best shot to the water. I drew a make shift map/diagram of the limbs I wanted removed and the limbs I wanted to stay. The tree guys came and did a perfect job. I couldn’t be onsite for the tree job, but one of their guys offered to use my camera and record the event. I was shocked to watch the video later that day and see an Osprey actually flying over the tree! You have to watch the two videos! So Tree #3 is ready to be Nest #4, if they want it and they do!!! The tree was done on March 2, 2016. Happily they choose the tree to be their 2016 Nest! They started working on a new nest right away. Ricky & Lucy built their new nest in record time and had 2 babies. Approximate dates for their departures this year, Lucy 06Jul16 Ricky 17Jul16, Baby #1 20Aug16 Baby #2 01Sep16. I’M THINKING MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, I MIGHT INVESTIGATE INSTALLING A LIVE CAM FOR THE 2017 SEASON? Get a cam they said, it’ll be fun they said…….

2017 Tree 3, Nest #5- Lake Murray Osprey Live Cam, Lucy & Ricky.
02.10.17 Cam 1 Install #1-02.17.17 Cam 1 Install #2
02.19.17 First sighting of Male Osprey-02.21.17 Cam 1 Install #3, picture and sound all working!
02.25.17 Lucy lands in the nest and stays, imposter male arrives. 03.01.17 Ricky arrives and sends the male imposter on his way. 03.26.17 1st egg laid (hatched 05.02.17)
03.30.17 2nd egg laid, hatched (05.04.17) 04.02.17 3rd egg laid, (hatch date unknown) 4.05.17 Cam 1 FAILS for the first time
04.19.17 Cam 1 Install #4, new cam is installed. Back in business.
05.02.17 First Chick hatched-05.04.17 Second Chick hatched
05.04.17 Cam 1 FAILS again. Cannot repair or replace due to location of the nest. It would be dangerous to the newly hatched chicks. The only option is to install a 2nd cam at a distance safe to the nest. 05.25.17 Cam 2 install, NO SOUND/NO VIEW of chicks in the nest. 2 chicks fledged. Not sure what happened to the third? We named the chicks Dawn & Staley after the USC Gamecocks Ladies Basketball Coach, Dawn Staley. They won the ladies NCAA Basketball championship that year. Lucy left early August. Ricky stayed till mid September. Staley left end of Sep. and Dawn left a few days later.

2018 Tree 3- Nest #6  The first successful year for the Cam & Stream Lucy arrives 02.25.18 Ricky arrives 03.01.18 First egg 03.20.18 Second Egg 03.23.18 Third egg 03.26.18 – First hatch _____ Second hatch______ ONE non viable egg. Lynn Fledged _______Liam Fledged______Lucy last seen 08.14.18  Lynn Last seen 08.20.18 Liam last seen____ Ricky last seen 09.05.18.

2019 Tree #3-Nest #7 Lost the cam AGAIN on June 7th, 2019                  Chick 3 passed away due to failure to thrive and/or sibilcide. On June 7th a storm took out cam1 again!!!  Using cam2 for the remainder of the season we watch both chicks successfully fledge. A nearby school, Prosperity-Rikard Elementary School (PRES) named the chicks Twinkle and Twilight! (insert last seen dates) Will have to make some major changes for the 2020 season. New cam pole and New Nest Platform are a must!

2020-Nest #8-NEW CAM POLE & NEW NEST PLATFORM                                  Lucy arrives 02/28/20  She seems to be ok with the new platform. We placed a few scattered sticks around just for her to realize this was for her! She gathers a few more and meets a new male, Duncan. They bond for about a week before Ricky returns on 03/08/20 and sends him packing!  Lucy & Ricky get busy on building a beautiful nest and laying 3 eggs:  Egg #1/03/31/20 hatched on 05/07/20.  Egg #2/04/03/20 hatched on 05/08/20.  Egg #3/04/06/20 hatched on 05/12/20.