Osprey Cam Web Log 2005

Wintering Grounds

Nest Update: Lightning has been the main osprey at the nest the last few days, although we've seen Thunder popping in and out, and she was there this afternoon. We haven't had a clear sign of the parents recently. I won't make any declarations about the parents being gone, because when I do they reappear! But it looks like the family might be thinning out.

On this day last year, during our 2004 cam season, one chick was seen at the nest, and two days later the eagles took over, as both osprey chicks had left for migration. But as we've mentioned before, our 2005 family started a bit late, so the chicks are still with us.

The Hawk Mountain website in Pennsylvania is reporting that 32 ospreys have already been spotted migrating past their mountain ridge since August 9, so it's clear that ospreys in the north are beginning their move to the southern wintering grounds. As the migration season officially starts, we can't help but wonder where our cam ospreys will eventually go once they decide to leave.

Ospreys are just as loyal to their wintering grounds as they are to their breeding grounds, so it's highly likely that the mother and father ospreys will head to the same places where they spent their previous winters. As for the chicks, they'll be picking out a winter home for the first time.

Technology, such as radio transmitters and satellites, have enabled us to learn a great deal about osprey migration. By putting a radio transmitter on an osprey, ornithologists can tell where the ospreys are stopping along their migration route and where they ultimately settle in for the winter.

Below is a hypothetical itinerary for our ospreys based on information taken from ospreys in the Martha's Vineyard area of Massachusetts that were tracked with a satellite during migration. In this scenario, the bird settles in the Orinoco River Delta of Venezuela, which is a popular area for ospreys; but keep in mind that mid-Atlantic ospreys could settle anywhere in Central or South America. Click on the map to follow the route:

* Leave Blackwater Refuge in Maryland in late August or early September

* Fly down the Delmarva Peninsula, across the Delaware Bay, and stop at Albemarle Sound, near Hertford, North Carolina

* Fly to Cape Fear, North Carolina and stop to rest and feed

* Leave the coast at Cape Fear, North Carolina and move out over the Atlantic Ocean

* Fly back over land near Osceola, Florida and the St. Johns River (a popular river for ospreys)

* Head down toward Miami, Florida and prepare to cross the Gulf of Mexico towards Cuba (Cuba is one of the major migration corridors for ospreys -- most breeding ospreys from eastern North America will make a stop in Cuba)

* Fly 120 mi. over the Gulf of Mexico to Cuba in less than a day

* Move slowly through Cuba, resting and feeding, and cross over to Hispaniola, northeast of Port-au-Prince (a popular spot for migrating ospreys arriving from Cuba)

* Fly almost 400 miles across the Caribbean Sea into South America and rest on the Guajira Peninsula in northern Venezuela

* Move gradually southeast across Venezuela -- resting and feeding -- and settle for the winter near the fish-laden Orinoco River Delta, which drains many of the rainforests of Venezuela

The ultimate destination will vary according to each osprey -- some will head west to Central America, some will stop as soon as they hit the South American mainland, and some will go farther south, possibly all the way into Bolivia.

Including side trips and time spent for feeding and resting, ospreys from the Chesapeake Bay area could fly 2000-4000+ miles during their individual journeys and take around 15-50 days to reach their final destinations.

One noteworthy thing about ospreys is that they are very powerful flyers -- even more so than other raptors such as eagles. The ospreys' strong flying abilities mean that ospreys are not reliant on thermals and updrafts for migration, so they are able to spend long periods of time flying over areas like the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, or the Sahara desert (for European ospreys), which is something other raptors can't do.

Besides increasing our admiration for the osprey's flying abilities, this itinerary also highlights something else important -- the need for bird conservation efforts in foreign countries.

When the ospreys are here in North America, we think of them as "our" birds and assume that they're relatively safe. But ospreys -- like most migrating birds -- spend much of their time in countries that do not have the political support or money for protecting migratory birds and their habitat. These are areas where habitat is being drained or overfished, where forests are being felled, where water pollution laws are weak, and where many raptors are shot because they are seen as a threat to livestock.

Over the decades, environmentalists have worked hard to use tools such as the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, neotropical research projects, environmental education, and events like International Migratory Bird Day to create the international support needed to ensure that all birds can move safely between their northern breeding grounds and their southern wintering grounds. We thank these groups and their volunteers for trying to provide a safe global home for so many intercontinental bird species, such as the osprey.

If you'd like to learn more about the lives of migratory birds, visit the interesting Migratory Bird section of the National Wildlife Federation website.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

The Need for Migration

Nest Update: We saw Lightning bring in his first fish on Friday. After landing he tried to keep the fish away from Thunder, and while his efforts worked for a while, Thunder eventually came over and took what was left.

One of our cam watchers pointed out that this now means the ospreys are appropriately named because as Mark Twain said, "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work." :-)

Now that Lightning is bringing in food, we hope he will soon learn that sometimes it's better to eat his food in a tree rather than bring it home to where his hungry sister is waiting for him.

Besides seeing Lightning fly in with a meal, we also saw a nice photo of the chicks watching their neighbors fly by -- this was a neat shot.

And we had something interesting happen on Thursday, in that some turkey vultures visited the nest while the chicks were out. Turkey vultures are also raptors, and they love to scavenge the leftover fish pieces the ospreys leave in the nest. Although the vultures are eagle-sized, they would never directly challenge the ospreys for the nest, as ospreys -- with their sharp talons and beaks -- would not be an easy match.

To see the vultures in more detail, click on the thumbnail to see a great photo of two turkey vultures residing at another Maryland refuge -- Eastern Neck NWR. Turkey vultures are carrion eaters, and they often place their heads inside carcasses to feed, so their heads are featherless to eliminate the chance of bacteria growth and disease. You can learn more about turkey vultures here.

Regarding our osprey chicks, we've had a couple cam watchers ask if there is any chance that Lightning -- our reluctant flyer -- would stay for the winter rather than migrate. While it's likely that Lightning will migrate a little late -- since the family nested late -- we do know that both chicks will eventually migrate.

First, it's important to point out that not all ospreys have to migrate. Those that live in milder climates, such as Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean, will not migrate; but most ospreys from North America, Europe, and northern Asia will migrate south in the fall (ospreys from North America generally go to Mexico, Central America, and South America, and ospreys from Europe and northern Asia generally go to Africa, India and southeast Asia).

The ospreys at Blackwater have to migrate, and the main reason they will migrate is food. Ospreys could likely survive the winter temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay area -- our ospreys' current home -- but the cold weather would either drive the fish too far underwater for the ospreys to reach or would freeze over the water completely. Check out this photo to see what the Blackwater River can look like in the winter.

Ultimately, our osprey fledglings will be driven to leave because of instinct. Those ospreys that are born in regions where migration is necessary have a built-in instinct to move south to the area where their parents have gone before them. The chicks may not go to the exact place where their parents have gone, but they'll be in the same general region.

A natural question at this point might be: Since it's warm down south and the ospreys can fish all year, why don't they just stay there during breeding season? The answer is because the southern wintering grounds do not have the space and resources required to support all breeding ospreys. Many raptors need space when raising a family (some need a LOT of space) and spreading the ospreys around the world means they're not in competition with large numbers of fellow ospreys looking for the same food sources and choice nesting sites during the crucial breeding season.

As for knowing when to leave, current research indicates that birds have a genetic component that tells them when they should leave and what direction they should travel. The sense of "when to go" can be triggered by several different factors, but is most likely triggered by the amount of sunlight -- known as the photoperiod. The photoperiod triggers other aspects of a bird's life as well, such as feather molting and production of sexual hormones, so the photoperiod is like an external clock that is in sync with the bird's internal biological clock.

While it's true that Blackwater Refuge is beginning to lose its osprey population as fall approaches, that doesn't mean that the Refuge will be losing all its birds during the cooler months.

Blackwater Refuge was created in 1933 as a refuge for migratory waterfowl. We are a major stop on the Atlantic Flyway, which is one of the avian "highways" that birds use during migration. Many types of waterfowl will either stop here for the winter or refuel here before heading further south. So while the ospreys will be heading out, many more birds will be coming in to take their place.

If you've ever thought about visiting Blackwater Refuge during the cooler, less buggy months, November and December are the months when the duck, swan, and geese populations are at their highest. It's also a great time to see bald eagles because during the cooler months, we host a large number of migrating eagles from other states. Who knows, maybe even Porthos -- our Eagle Cam eaglet that went to Vermont -- will come down here for part of her winter.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Ospreys & Fishing Line

Nest Update: In the last few days, the father osprey has been making very stealthy drops of fish for the young fledglings. If you aren't watching the cam at just the right moment, you might miss him. And sometimes he drops the fish off so quickly, the cam can't even catch him -- suddenly there's just a fish in the nest, like magic.

But it's clear our father osprey has been picking up the pace of food deliveries lately (did the mother osprey have anything to do with that?), so Lightning has been getting more fish. On several occasions, Lightning has been the first chick to get to the meal, and when that happens, Thunder lets him feed for a while, but then she reasserts her oldest-and-biggest-chick rights and takes the fish remains away from Lightning.

On one occasion when this happened, Thunder showed us a classic mantling posture -- wings spread, tail fanned, head down -- hiding the fish from Lightning. But Lightning's memory isn't that short -- he knew he was just eating a fish, and he also knows he's often going to lose any sibling altercations over food.

While we're on the topic of fish, one of the main reasons that ospreys, eagles, and waterfowl visit our Chesapeake Bay area is because of the large fish populations that swim in our shallow Bay and its many tributaries; and this also brings many anglers to the Bay. Unfortunately human fishing activity has the potential to interfere with successful osprey nesting -- but not in the way that you might think.

Ospreys have a dangerous habit of bringing almost anything to their nests. Several well-known osprey observers have reported seeing osprey nests that contained toy boats, hula hoops, bicycle tires, and even a Barbie doll (according to author David Gessner). To see one example, click on this thumbnail photo to get a close-up view of a Long Island, New York nest that contains a miscellaneous assortment of cord, rope, and plastic mesh that these osprey parents felt would make good nesting material.

Unfortunately this lack of discrimination in nesting material sometimes puts the osprey families in danger because in the Chesapeake Bay area, discarded fishing gear is abundant.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Chesapeake Bay Field Office has been trying to publicize the problem of discarded fishing lines, hooks, and six-pack plastic rings. The biologists have found that during annual osprey surveys in the greater Bay area, at least 5-10% of osprey nests contained fishing line. In addition, a 2003 survey on the local Patuxent River revealed that more than half the osprey nests contained fishing line, as well as other man-made materials. As a result, biologists found ospreys with entangled legs, beaks and wings. On some occasions, the material even led to the starvation or strangulation of the young.

The good news is that this is a problem that can be corrected, and the Fish and Wildlife Service is pursuing a public education program to educate anglers, and those who live near the water, about the need to retrieve broken lines, lures, and hooks, as well as to cut open the circles on plastic six-pack rings before throwing them in the trash.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has published this Fishing Line Can Kill PDF flyer (640KB) that alerts citizens about the need to retrieve fishing material that might one day endanger an osprey family. So help out the ospreys by passing along this advice to any family and friends who spend time around bays, rivers, marshes, and lakes, which are prime osprey habitat.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Mother Not Gone?

I hadn't planned on doing another web log post so soon, but the events of Monday seemed to require it.

Early Monday morning, Lightning was seen leaving the nest several times, which gave us hope that finally he was going to go out and try to catch a meal. We didn't see him actually eating, but still there was hope.

Then late in the afternoon, we briefly caught a glimpse of two adults -- looking like a male and a female -- land on the nest with Lightning. I'm not positive, but from the photos it looked like one of them brought the chick a fish, because suddenly Lightning was eating.

The male adult left quickly but the adult that looked like a female hung around while Lightning was munching on his fish. The female looked similar to our mother osprey in that she had what appeared to be a very light necklace.

Lightning did not respond to the adult and instead continued eating while occasionally showing a mantling posture ("mantling" is when a raptor spreads its wings, fans its tail, and arches over the prey to hide it from other predators). We can't blame Lightning for not paying much attention to the adult as he was likely very hungry and only interested in eating.

After a while the adult female left and then Thunder arrived. Thunder waited a bit and then tried to get a piece of Lightning's meal, but Lightning did a pretty good job of keeping Thunder away, again showing a mantling posture, although it looked like eventually Thunder got a piece. Evening then came, and we didn't see any adults on the nest again.

So the question is -- was this female-looking adult our mother osprey? Many of the female ospreys at Blackwater have likely started migrating, so that limits the number of females around, and not many females have the light necklace that ours has. In addition, the male osprey didn't seem to mind that this adult was sitting on the nest with Lightning, further indicating that it was probably our mother osprey.

Finally, I had a cam watcher who visited the platform Sunday report that she saw what looked like the father osprey "play" flying with another bird in the area of the nest on Sunday.

If these have been sightings of the mother, where has she been if she hasn't been heading south? We honestly don't know. We can guess that maybe disappearing for a while was her way of forcing the young to start taking care of themselves -- especially Lightning who in the past has been reluctant to leave. But are we giving the osprey parents too much credit? Or was this a bit of sophisticated osprey parenting?

Ultimately we may never know for sure. At this point we can only wait and see if she shows up again, and that may depend on how effective Lightning is at finding food. So we'll continue to watch and wonder if the mother osprey is hanging back but still keeping an eye on the young.

For now I'll save the migration post I had planned for a later web log since we're not sure if the family has actually started migrating. Thanks to all those who sent in photos of the parenting action -- we got good coverage. :-)

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Fledgling Update

We can safely say that the mother osprey has left the Refuge. Still no sign of her, and there is no way she would have stayed away from the chicks this long unless she was migrating.

As of today, both chicks are just over 10 weeks old. In the last few nights since the mother left, we noticed Thunder had taken to roosting in the trees at night, leaving Lightning at the nest alone. However, last night Thunder decided to come back and spend part of the night at the nest. Nevertheless, it's clear that Thunder is claiming her independence much more quickly than Lightning.

Speaking of the "her" -- if we had to speculate at this point now that the chicks are almost fully grown, I think we could take an educated guess that the oldest, Thunder, might be a female (based on her size and "necklace"), and the youngest, Lightning, might be a male (based on his smaller size and white chest).

Lightning -- our possible male -- is proving to be a "homebody" chick, meaning he's the kind that doesn't want to go out and claim his independence. It's frustrating to watch him because we worry that he is hungry, but it's important to remember that from what we can tell, he has it in him to go out and get his own meals. Learning to fish is instinctual -- just like learning to fly -- and chicks can fish from between two days to three weeks after they are flying. Unfortunately, Lightning is choosing to stay at the nest and beg dad (when he passes by) for food.

Although we don't want him to be hungry, hunger might be the only thing that motivates him to move his little behind out of the nest and into the marsh. Since dad is only bringing a few fish and since Thunder is not big on sharing, Lightning will hopefully get motivated by hunger to go out and develop the fishing skills he desperately needs before migration. We'll keep our fingers crossed that he does that soon.

On a slightly different topic, I was looking through the Galleries recently, and I noticed that the platform nest has gone through some rather remarkable changes this season. If you look at this Nest Evolution photo set you can see how the nest looked in four different months.

In the first shot we can see that when the adult ospreys arrived in March, the winter weather had removed most of the sticks. The adults added quite a lot of material to prepare it for the eggs, and then once the eggs hatched, the parents built up a small wall of twigs around the perimeter so that the wandering chicks wouldn't tumble over the edge. And finally, after the osprey young became fledglings, the nest no longer looked like a place where vulnerable little chicks lived but instead looked like a place where a fully grown family lived.

Also, one cam watcher has asked why the eagles would be interested in the osprey platform if it's not a place where they would nest. It's true that the bald eagles would never nest at the platform -- it's not in a tree, it's not deep enough, and it's too close to people -- but the eagles, and several other species of birds, enjoy using the platform as a perching place. It's the highest structure along that area of the Blackwater River, so it makes a good place to eat a meal and check out the Refuge. You can see some wonderful photos in our 2004 Gallery of the eagles taking over the platform in September of last year, right after the ospreys left.

As for this year's family, since the mother osprey looks like she is the first to leave for migration, in the next web log we'll talk about where she is likely heading.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Mother Gone?

Contest: First, we want to thank everyone again for participating in our Chick-Naming Contest this season. In case anyone missed our announcement, you can see the contest results here. And again, congratulations to Bonnie Kelley for being the winner!

Nest Update: We're hoping that the recharged battery has fixed our equipment problem. We weren't sure why the battery ran down on Friday, so we were a little worried that the solar panel we moved over from the eagle nest was failing us. So far so good though, so maybe it was just the battery.

Over the last couple days our Osprey Cam has suddenly morphed into the Attack of the Giant Spider! Cam. Of course, the spider is probably tiny, but on the web cam it looks huge. Initially the spider was only seen at night, but for some reason it's now making daylight appearances. On a personal note, spiders are the only creatures in the world that give me the willies, so the sooner a marsh bird flies by and eats it, the better I will feel. :-)

As for the ospreys, right now we're trying to determine if the mother osprey has migrated. If I was a betting person, I would bet that she has. Excluding our downtime on Friday, we have not definitely seen the mother osprey since late Thursday afternoon. She was not on the nest Thursday night for the first time since she laid the initial egg back in April. In addition, we didn't have definite sightings of her on Friday morning or Saturday. Also, our cam technician did not see her when he was beneath the nest replacing the battery. Naturally that makes us think that the mother osprey may have migrated.

On Wednesday and Thursday, before she disappeared, the chicks were away quite a bit. During the day on Wednesday, the chicks were missing for a few hours before the mother and father showed up, each carrying a fish for the family -- but there was no family to be seen. The mother osprey likely assumed that when she arrived with food, the chicks would come flying, but they did not. Dad didn't wait long and started eating his meal, but mom took off with her fish, presumably in search of the missing chicks.

Once dad had his fill, he left too, and then the nest was empty again. Not long after, a turkey vulture showed up and began to scavenge the remaining fish bits left in the nest. The vulture did not stay long, as it probably heard the male osprey calling for it to vacate the nest, which it quickly did. Finally the two chicks showed up a little while later.

It's possible that due to the chicks' extended absences on Wednesday and Thursday that the mother osprey interpreted this as a sign that she could leave. On Saturday morning, we did see what looked like the father osprey quickly drop off a fish for the chicks and then fly off. This was in line with his previous behavior of not hanging around to feed the chicks himself.

Then later Saturday, we saw another adult, sporting a light necklace, land and stay for only a minute. At first I thought it might be the mother because of the faint brown coloring on her chest, but then Lightning -- the youngest chick -- took a very submissive posture at the sight of the adult, and I had doubts it was the mother. The adult only stayed for a moment, then left and didn't return. These were among the most promising adult sightings we've had in the last few days.

Some other interesting developments: On the nest Saturday, we did see one of the chicks apparently defending the nest from a visiting osprey chick. Our chick took a defensive stance right before a fledgling landed on the nest; then it seemed to drive off the visiting chick. We know one of our chicks would not have acted this way toward its sibling, so we have to assume the bird was a visiting fledgling from another local nest.

We've also seen both Thunder and Lightning calling out and showing a defensive stance to objects we cannot see. We assume some of these displays are directed at bald eagles that have likely noticed that the osprey parents are not around. Our osprey chicks from last year also had to defend the nest against the eagles when the parents were absent, so this is normal behavior.

We'll keep looking for the mother osprey, but right now it looks like she is gone. At least we know that the father is still in town and is bringing the occasional fish. Now we just need Thunder to learn how to share some of its food, or we need Lightning to get more aggressive in demanding a piece of the meal.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

This is Home

As we reported yesterday, right before the thunderstorm on Tuesday afternoon, we saw our youngest take its first seemingly intentional flight and successfully return to the nest not long after. It was a very good sign because it looked like it was a more controlled and deliberate flying attempt than the chick's effort several days ago. Hopefully as the youngest gains confidence, the flights will become more numerous.

But both chicks are now fully capable fledglings, and in the coming weeks they will not only work on improving their flying skills -- learning to bank, to skim, to hover -- but they will also learn to do something else very important -- memorize their home area.

In his excellent book Return of the Osprey: A Season of Flight and Wonder, author David Gessner, who spent a summer observing ospreys in the Cape Cod area, offers these thoughts on the early flying days of the young ospreys:

"If instinct gives them the final push over the nest edge and into the sky, now comes the time when learning hones instinct. Each adjustment of their primary feathers, each bank and each glide, is new, and must be mastered...As well as learning to use their wings and bodies, during these midsummer weeks the young ospreys first begin to get to know their places. The local geography is imprinting itself on the developing osprey mind, and the fledglings spend these first weeks of flight learning the particulars of their home ground...One way of looking at what is going on out on the marshes is that the young birds are committing their neighborhoods to memory, so much so that when they fly back from South America two springs from now they will know just where to build. Now is the time the attachment grows, an attachment that will lead to an unerring pull to return, an instinct for home that is almost beyond human comprehension."

And so the young ospreys will venture forth to improve their flying and hunting skills, but also to imprint on their minds all that is Blackwater Refuge, so when the time comes to return from the southern wintering grounds, the fledglings will know that this is home.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Migration Must Wait

Nest Update: I was looking at the Web Log for last year, and on August 15, 2004, we announced that the mother osprey had migrated. Today our present-day mother is still trying to get the youngest out to fish, so that gives us an indication as to the tardiness of our current family. In the five years we've been running the Osprey Cam, this family is the latest, so we're not sure what will happen, but ospreys do migrate throughout September and even October, so we believe the family should have enough time to turn the young into independent ospreys before they leave for Central or South America.

As an illustration of the length of the migration season, here's a graph showing when ospreys have migrated over Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania (click on the thumbnail). And it's worth noting that Hawk Mountain is north of Blackwater and those birds would be coming from cooler climates.

One cam watcher has asked if we would intervene in any way regarding the family, and the answer would likely be no. At this point we don't see any reason why the youngest can't develop into a fledgling, so we would not want to interfere with the parents' efforts to raise the young. In the end, the parents know better than we do regarding how to prepare their chicks for migration, and we trust their wisdom.

As for the youngest and its evasive flying ability, I wanted to make a correction in my observations of the events of Saturday night -- the evening that the youngest osprey had its first flight. Several of our cam watchers mentioned that they thought the lone osprey we saw on the platform Saturday night was the mother, and after looking at the Gallery shots, and I think they might be right. The faint coloring on the bird's chest and the way it was sitting on the edge rather than laying in the nest seems to indicate it probably was the mother.

I still believe that the youngest was probably on the ground near the platform, which would explain why mom just stayed put until the youngest returned. The mother osprey has been very diligent in watching after the chicks, so I don't believe the chick was too far out of her sight.

As for the youngest chick, on Sunday and Monday we saw it do a lot of flapping but we didn't see any clear sign that the chick left the nest, so it's very likely its first flight on Saturday evening was accidental. The chick might have been taken out of the nest by the wind while practicing its flapping, since despite its disappearance the other evening, we haven't seen an empty nest since then.

But regardless of how the youngest became airborne, it seems that the bird is able to fly somewhat and that's the good news, but obviously the youngest chick is going to be a late bloomer this year.

As for the mother, she's been playing some interesting games with the oldest chick during meal time. We're not sure if the oldest is catching its own meals, but it looks like it might be since we sometimes see it with food but can't see where the fish came from. In any regard, on this Gallery page you can see the oldest with a fish that it's moving around the nest and hogging all for itself. The littlest tries to get some and that rarely works, and then the mother tries to intervene and that doesn't work, and finally mom just takes the food away so they can all share. She was trying to be patient, but enough is enough. :-)

And finally in the latest Gallery update, we saw a shot showing the father osprey eating the head of his fish. A father osprey will often deliver a headless fish to the nest after he's eaten the head for himself. There are several theories as to why the father eats the head: some say it's to kill the fish before delivering it to the family so it's not a danger to the chicks; some say it's because the head is a nutritious area and the father needs the energy for flying and hunting; and some say it's so the family will have an easier time tearing off the meaty inside pieces. Ultimately, we don't know for sure why the birds do it, but it's a frequent behavior.

Thanks to all those who took the time to send in their photos. The Galleries help us understand more about the ospreys' actions, and that makes watching the cam a lot more enjoyable.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Another Fledgling

The Contest: I know that the Fish & Wildlife Service staff members are still looking over the many names we got for the Chick-Naming Contest. I've asked them to give us a date for the final decision, and I'll pass that along when I have it.

Nest Update: We had some excitement and worry Saturday evening after the youngest chick took its first flight at around 7:15pm. The youngest was gone for a very long time along with the mother. Finally an osprey appeared, but it looked like the oldest chick with still no sign of mom. Then finally Sunday morning, the mother and two chicks were spotted together in the nest.

Normally first flights do not last very long, so we have to wonder if the youngest got stuck on the ground and had trouble getting back up to the nest. Sometimes young ospreys will rest on the ground if they have trouble immediately returning. The fact that the mother seemed to be gone the whole time, too, makes us wonder if she was staying with the youngest until it could return. But all was well this morning when we could clearly see that the three were reunited at the nest.

So it's good news that the youngest is flying, although Sunday morning the youngest didn't seem terribly eager for another adventure.

Speaking of the family, we did see a shot of the father on Saturday. He has been missing-in-action a lot these days, but occasionally shows up to touch base. Once the mother leaves on migration, we'll have to see if that makes him more attentive to the chicks since it will then be his responsibility to keep an eye on them.

As for migration, our cam family has been a bit behind in everything they've done this season -- they were late taking over the nest and they were late laying their eggs -- so it's clear the family will likely be late in leaving for migration. Normally the family is gone by the end of August, but it doesn't seem possible for them to stick to that schedule this year.

But while we're watching our ospreys catch up to the other families, we can still follow some of the migration action as it occurs elsewhere, and mid-August is when the migration season unofficially gets underway. On the East Coast of the U.S. there are a few places known for being migration bottlenecks, which simply means that due to their land and water features, they are popular aerial "highways" that many birds use to migrate south.

Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania is one of those places and is known for being a favorite "highway" for raptors including bald eagles and ospreys. Hawk Mountain's story is an interesting one. In the early part of the 1900s, Kittatinny Ridge (part of the East Coast's Appalachian ridge) became a hunters' paradise as the shooters would line up on the mountain to injure and kill thousands of unsuspecting raptors as they migrated south. In 1934, conservationist Rosalie Edge acquired land in Pennsylvania where most of the slaughter was occurring, and a few years later this land became Hawk Mountain Sanctuary -- the first raptor refuge in the world.

Hawk Mountain's "Autumn Hawkwatch" season begins on August 15. You can visit their website to keep track of the bird counts and to learn more about their educational and conservation efforts. And if you can ever manage a trip to Hawk Mountain during migration season -- during which the raptor count can reach 20,000 -- I highly recommend it.

But even if you can't go, be sure to visit their migration page to learn more about raptor migration and to see a calendar showing when the different raptor species are likely to appear.

For the record, in their 2004 "Autumn Hawkwatch" season, they counted 672 ospreys passing over the sanctuary, the first being spotted in mid-August and the largest amount (187) passing through during the week of Sept. 18, 2004, as the birds made their way to Central and South America.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Cam Up

Nest Update: First, thanks to everyone for their patience while we fixed the storm damage to our equipment. During the last week, we basically replaced every piece of field equipment that we had trying to get the cam back online, but fortunately it looks like we're finally up. Tropical Storm Irene is forecasted to miss the Maryland coast, so keep your fingers crossed that she goes out to sea, and misses the ospreys and our cam equipment.

Our cam technician -- who we thank wholeheartedly for his work this week -- said that when they were on the ground working on the equipment, the youngest osprey chick was staying in the nest but flapping its wings a lot. This seems to indicate it's not flying yet or maybe just started. Since migration is not far away, the littlest needs to get out of the nest soon and learn to fish. It's good to see that an adult has been at the nest (I assume it's the mother). Hopefully one of the parents will stay around for as long as the youngest needs them.

Also, I thought I'd post four photos that I took around the platform while the camera was having its problems. These photos were taken during a cloudy, misty morning, but they're clear enough to give cam watchers some perspective on the ospreys' whole environment.

Photo 1 shows the cam platform and surrounding shrubbery. An osprey is flying in low at the bottom of the photo. Photo 2 shows the oldest fledgling coming in for a landing. Photo 3 shows a lone osprey perched above a favorite fishing spot on the Blackwater River. I'm not sure which osprey this is, but it may be the father osprey from the cam platform. Photo 4 shows an empty osprey water platform located on the Blackwater River.

We want to thank everyone again for their patience as we worked through our first major hiccup this season with the ospreys. If we're lucky, it will be the only major problem we have before the birds migrate during the coming weeks.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Cam Fix

Nest Update: On Friday night the Blackwater Refuge area had a strong thunderstorm. We believe that during the storm, lightning hit near the Osprey Cam platform. We have the camera/platform grounded, but it's possible lightning hit nearby and was close enough to damage our solar panel and camera.

On Saturday the ospreys looked fine and the platform itself looked solid and unaffected.

We have a replacement camera ready, and we are going to move the solar panel from the Eagle Cam nest over to the osprey nest. The only delay at this time is in scheduling the bucket truck to come out to the Refuge so we can get up to the platform to perform the fix. We rent the truck from the local utility company, so we are at the mercy of their schedule, but we'll get the truck as soon as possible.

The ospreys are old enough now that they should not be overly disturbed by our brief visit to the nest. The mother and oldest will fly away until we leave and the youngest will just stay put. Once we leave, the mother and oldest will immediately return.

In the meantime, while I was at the Refuge Saturday surveying the damage, I took some video of the osprey family. I could see the oldest perching on the platform arm and I could also see that the youngest is still not flying yet.

In the video the mother osprey is returning with a fish dinner. Note that she's holding her prey headfirst. After she lands, you can see her trying to disengage her talon from the fish. Almost immediately the family begins calling out -- the reason for this is that I was out of my car and they weren't particularly happy about that. If you stay in your car on the Wildlife Drive, they don't really notice you, but once you get out they see that you're a human, and begin warning you off. I took the video and then left them to enjoy their meal.

The video has audio, so turn up your speakers. It's a Windows Media Player file (2MB). Right-click on the file link and choose "Save Target As" to download to your computer:

And previously some cam watchers had asked what the area directly around the nest looks like. Below are two photos taken from beneath the platform; these are shots of what we can’t see on the web cam.

The first photo shows what the ospreys see if they look to their left, which is the shallow Blackwater River, a wonderful fishing spot. And the second photo shows what the ospreys see if they look below and to their right. This water area often has birds and turtles in it, and in the distance are the trees where the eagles from my previous video were perching. Click on the thumbnails:

We thank everyone for their patience as we perform the camera fix. We'll try to get the ospreys back online as soon as we can.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Siblings & Foraging

Nest Update: We've seen some great shots of the oldest chick flying about the nest the last couple days. Here's a two-shot series where you see the oldest approaching the nest from the right and making a nice landing.

The youngest has been inspired by all the flying and has begun flapping more ambitiously now that the oldest is airborne. Hopefully it won't be long before the littlest is out of the nest, too, and working on its flying skills.

As the chicks achieve their independence, it's natural to wonder what will happen once they begin flying regularly. First, it's important to note that the osprey chicks will not completely disappear once they're both airborne. It's true that we'll see less of them over time, but in the past we've been able to observe the juveniles right up until they left Blackwater Refuge, around late August or early September, to migrate south.

Even though the chicks are now gaining independence, it's likely they will continue to use the platform for eating, landing practice, resting, and reuniting with one or both parents. Also the ospreys will continue to defend the platform from the eagles.

Although the chicks are too big to be taken by eagles at this point, we know from past experience that the eagles like to use the cam platform as a place to perch once the ospreys migrate, so the eagles will likely show an interest in the platform, especially if the chicks are there by themselves and seem vulnerable.

Last year we saw that after the osprey parents had migrated and the two chicks were on their own, they often seemed agitated, and we believe the bald eagles were harassing them. The day after the osprey young left for migration, the eagles immediately took over the platform as their river perch.

The eagles will also likely show an interest in any of the juvenile ospreys that catch fish, as eagles occasionally steal fish from ospreys, and the inexperienced juveniles might be easier mugging victims.

Something else to keep an eye out for is our chicks bringing their first fish catches back to the nest. Ornithologists have seen juvenile ospreys successfully catch a meal as soon as 2-3 days after fledging, although normally it takes about 2 weeks, and they should definitely be catching their own fish within 3 weeks.

The fact that our osprey chicks have a partner sibling might be initially beneficial to both of them. Back in 1985-86, a study was done in northern Florida where biologists learned that osprey siblings will forage together after they have fledged. The biologists believed that the social learning which took place when the siblings hunted together made them more efficient fishermen. In fact when compared to single young, the siblings had a better catch rate earlier in their fledgling days.

The biologists stated that while some fishing behaviors are instinctual, some are obviously learned, and osprey siblings integrated factors such as glare, wind direction, dive height, and water clarity into their foraging strategy at a faster pace than did single juvenile ospreys.

The biologists reported, however, that by the end of the season, the osprey young had similar success rates when foraging, so the juvenile ospreys that grew up in a one-chick nest were ultimately not penalized for not having any siblings.

Our osprey cam chicks will fly and hunt until the end of August or the beginning of September, then it will be time for them to migrate. We'll be talking more about migration soon, but basically in the last four years of our Osprey Cam, the mother osprey left first in August, and the father remained to watch over the chicks; then the father left and the chicks took care of themselves until it was time to go. At this point, our current father osprey has been a somewhat absent dad, so we're not sure how closely he'll look after the young once the mother osprey migrates.

Once the siblings leave for migration they may start out flying together, but ultimately all the family members will migrate separately. If they all survive migration, they will be scattered throughout Central or South America for the winter. The young will stay down south for about 3 years until they mature, but the adults will be back with us next March.

Being primarily eaters of fresh fish, ospreys must migrate to areas where they can fish in shallow waters throughout the winter. Cold temperatures can freeze water or drive fish to greater depths, so that is why the ospreys must migrate to a warmer climate. Eagles at Blackwater Refuge do not need to migrate because in the winter they can turn to waterfowl and small mammals as alternative foods.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Fledging Days

Nest Update: Lots of exciting events today. At first we believed we saw the moment when the oldest chick took its first flight. All morning the oldest had looked a little nervous, standing close to the edge, hunched over, with the others looking like they were waiting for the chick to go. Then suddenly we couldn't see it on the nest and the mother was looking around, then the mother left the nest, leaving the youngest alone. A few minutes later, both the oldest and the mother reappeared and she seemed to have a small fish, which the chicks began eating.

Now looking at the Gallery photos, I'm inclined to believe that the oldest was in the far left portion of the nest, which you can see if you look at all the shots together. Looking in the far corner, you can see its tail briefly appear.

Hope was not lost though, as later this morning, we saw only one chick in the nest for what appeared to be about nine six minutes, and we were more sure that the oldest is now flying. For the record, the oldest is 54 days old and the youngest is 53 days old. We're not sure when the youngest will likely fly because it's still somewhat behind in its growth, although sometimes chicks can surprise you.

The youngest also had a big day today as we saw it tearing off its own fish bites, an important step towards independence. Many cam watchers have commented on how inactive the youngest has seemed. The chick appears to be healthy and not injured, so we believe it is all right. Now that the oldest is flying, it should encourage the youngest to want to fly and become more active, too.

Be sure to take a few minutes and look through all the Gallery updates. Our cam watchers sent in some amazing photos that show the oldest and the youngest exercising their wings. Much thanks to our viewers for making our Galleries such a wonderful record of the life of an osprey family.

In the next log post we'll talk about what we can expect for the rest of the summer now that the ospreys are beginning to discover their wings.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster

Raptor Multimedia

Contest Update: The Chick-Naming Competition has officially ended. I haven't spoken with the FWS staff yet, but they normally take about two weeks to go through all the names and decide on a winner.

Nest Update: We saw the oldest chick briefly flapping above the nest on Monday. The oldest hit the 50-day mark over the weekend, so we should see a first flight this week.

We also saw some interesting feeding photos over the weekend. In one episode, the oldest had taken the fish for itself, since it can tear off pieces on its own now. The youngest approached to get some, but the oldest wasn't sharing. In the meantime, the mother stayed back and did not try to make the oldest share. After the oldest had its fill and abandoned the fish, the mother went over and began feeding it to the youngest. Then the oldest came back after a few minutes to get some more, so she fed them both.

What was most interesting during the photos was that the mother osprey stayed back and let the oldest finish with the fish before she tried to feed it to the youngest and even eat some herself.

And now onto our topic of Raptor Multimedia...Below I've posted a couple of miscellaneous items that I thought might be of interest to our cam watchers:

Platform Photos:
Another one of our talented cam-watching photographers was kind enough to provide us with two wonderful shots of our current osprey family on the cam platform. Click on the two thumbnails below to see recent photos of the mother osprey and the oldest chick (the youngest chick is lying down in the nest). We can see that the oldest is almost as big as mom.

These shots were taken by photographer Bob Quinn, and we thank him for the use of his photos. Be sure to visit his online photo galleries if you'd like to see more of his terrific Blackwater Refuge photographs featuring lots of beautiful birds and some cute foxes.

Osprey Call:
I thought I'd post an osprey sound file for those who have never heard an osprey calling in the wild. After you listen to it, you can compare it to the bald eagle sound file to hear the difference. Both files are in the MP3 format. Right-click on the file and choose "Save Target As" to download it to your computer.

Osprey Call (200KB) Eagle Call (35KB)

Raptor Watching:
When visitors come to Blackwater Refuge during the spring and summer months, they're likely to see bald eagles, ospreys, and turkey vultures in the air at the same time. However, if a visitor can't see the coloring of the birds as they're flying overhead, then it can be hard to tell what kind of bird it is from a distance.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has a wonderful guide on their website that points out the things to look for when trying to tell the difference between these three birds. Check out their tips and graphics so that the next time you're near water and you see a large soaring bird in the sky, you'll have some clues as to what it might be.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster