ANN, don't mean to be rude to you OR the experts, but even the professionals know only so much. There is a recent post on the "blog" tab that makes as much sense to me as anything I have read, more than most. Have you read that yet?
during the 10 years I have watched this nest and off & on a few others, osprey behavior has always seems to me to be logical. That is, it makes sense according to other observed osprey behavior.
They brood eggs so they will hatch into chicks. By not giving her egg the care it has to have to survive, she is assuring that it does NOT hatch into a live chick. And yet she stands over it in a "protective" manner. Which is it? Keep the potential chick or reject it? She seems to be doing both. This does not seem like logical osprey behavior.
This answers my unspoken question as to whether the egg was partially covered accidentally by blowing moss or(as I suspected) intentionally by EJ herself.
EJ is back.
The wind has dropped somewhat from the previous 12-13 MPH. Before that it was 25 MPH for a while. We would be grateful here for your nice springtime temps of 62F/30C. We presently have freeze warnings here in southern Ohio.
DU seemed to think differently, that she had not eaten. All speculation, all interesting. I value and enjoy your speculation too, ANN , and appreciate your expressing it here.
My speculation is all questions. I have no answers at all.
One faithful long time osprey watcher has informed me that she expects Ej to lay more eggs within a day or so.