September 05, 2005
Watching for Lightning
Hurricane Katrina Update: I wanted to post one more link related to the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina. The Petfinder.com website is offering information about animals that were left behind or lost during the hurricane. If you know of any residents of the area who might need that information, be sure to pass along the Petfinder website link to help them track down their animals. And as a reminder, you can help in the animal recovery effort by visiting our info page.
Nest Update: My Gallery email provider has been down today, so I haven't received any photos from Monday, but I'm told the emails will arrive eventually. Based on our photos up to Monday, it appears that Lightning is still gone and Thunder is still the only chick at the nest. This has been the case since last Tuesday, when the two chicks quarrelled over a fish that Thunder had and wouldn't share.
Last Thursday we briefly saw a second osprey attempt to land at the nest, but Thunder seemed to immediately chase it away, and the bird did not return, so it's not likely it was Lightning.
As for the adults, when our cam technician replaced the cam battery last week, he reported that an adult dropped off a fish at the nest for Thunder, so it's possible that the father may still be around delivering food. Also, one of our cam watchers sent in this photo of a mystery adult that briefly stopped by the nest, but we're not sure if it was one of ours.
We didn't expect Lightning to be the first chick to leave, but there's a possibility that he became frustrated with his inability to get much of the food when Thunder was at the nest. Lightning could still be in the general area, fishing and begging food from other adults, or he could have started migration. If Lightning has left for migration, then once Thunder leaves, the father will leave, too.
As for the migration of other ospreys, Hawk Mountain is now reporting that 76 ospreys have passed by their ridge this migration season, so the numbers are beginning to grow.
And speaking of local migration sites, if you'd like to follow the movements of some tagged ospreys, be sure to check out the 2005 Migration website for the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. For several years, biologists with the school have been tagging ospreys from the Martha's Vineyard area of Massachusetts and following their migration paths via satellite technology. The biologists have three birds that they're following this season and when they get readings from the birds' locations, the biologists post maps so visitors can follow the ospreys. You can visit the 2005 Migration section of their website to see this year's team of tagged birds.
In the next Web Log, we'll post a desktop wallpaper image for our cam watchers in celebration of our wonderful 2005 osprey season.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster