Osprey Cam Web Log 2006

Season's End

Nest Update: In the last few days, we've seen two brief views of an osprey on the platform, but we're not sure if it's one of ours. One female osprey that appeared on Sunday, right after the bald eagle left the nest, had a darker necklace than our cam mother. Our ranger says that there are ospreys still at other platforms around the Refuge, so the ospreys we're seeing may be visitors.

On Saturday we saw our first view of a bald eagle on the osprey platform, and in the past that has meant that our cam family is no longer around and is not defending the nest. The eagle was back again on Sunday, so he seems to be comfortable with visiting.

Right now it's still a bit warm, so the eagles are not staying on the nest (and out in the sun) for very long, but we hope to see more of them as the weather cools a bit. In the past, the eagles have also used the platform as a place to eat their fish, and the fish scraps will attract other birds, such as the vultures, crows, and herons. We also hope to get an evening glimpse of our Great horned owl again this year, as well as daytime shots of immature bald eagles and maybe some hawks.

Other Ospreys

Russ Yeaton, our photographer friend from Maine, sent us a couple more shots from his three-chick family at Spring Point Light in South Portland. This series of shots was taken after a young osprey attempted to catch a fish -- the bird missed the fish but got a good swim out of the experience. And Russ says that in this shot, a young osprey was walking through the saltwater and stopped to seemingly take a drink. We want to thank Russ for all the photos he's provided from his Maine nest -- they've given us a wonderful look at ospreys from a different region of the Atlantic Coast.

Also John Gudas, who is a cam watcher from our local South River, sent photos of a three-chick nest on the river. Here is the wide-angle shot of the family and their platform, and here is a close-up of the birds on the pier. Much thanks to John for photos of the handsome family.

And one last look at the Connecticut Osprey Cam, which had the nest with the little blue teddy bear that was brought in by a parent. Seems the bear is still in residence, but I guess it won't be going to South America with the ospreys. :-)

End of the Season

This is the last entry for the 2006 Osprey Cam Web Log. We'll continue to keep the Gallery open as long as the cam is live, so you can send in photos, and I'll update the message on the cam page with any interesting news we have about the visible wildlife.

Wildlife Refuge Caucus

I wanted to finish off the web log with suggestions for how you can help America's National Wildlife Refuge System, which includes our own Blackwater Refuge. Teddy Roosevelt created the National Wildlife Refuge System back in 1903, and today the system has over 540 refuges with over 40 million visitors annually. In addition, the Refuge System contributes over $400 million to local economies through activities such as hunting, fishing, environmental education, paddling, hiking, photography, and bird watching.

Friends groups (like the Friends of Blackwater) are nonprofit citizen support groups that help the refuges meet their conservation and public use goals. Friends' volunteers carry about 20% of the workload at wildlife refuges so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can offer adequate services to the public.

But these are tough times for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Budgets are being slashed throughout the federal government, and the Refuge System is feeling the effects. In response to the budget cuts, the Northeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the region Blackwater Refuge belongs to) is planning to close several national wildlife refuges due to lack of funding. Blackwater will not be closed, but other refuges will lose their staff, volunteers, and visitor services.

National wildlife refuges often do not have the political pull in Congress in the same way that national parks do. So in the House of Representatives, long-time refuge supporters Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) are forming a bi-partisan Wildlife Refuge Caucus, and they are asking other members to join so they can work together to help the Refuge System. The members will work to do the following:

• Raise awareness of our Refuge System
• Create a voice for refuges in Congress
• Support adequate Refuge System budgets
• Support the six priority activities outlined in the Refuge Improvement Act (hunting, fishing, wildlife photography, wildlife observation, environmental education and interpretation)
• Support strategic growth of the Refuge System

You can help by contacting your congressional representative and urging them to join the Wildlife Refuge Caucus. Visit the Defenders of Wildlife website where you can email a message to your House member asking them to join the caucus if he or she has not yet joined. (The website form will make sure your email is sent to your current congressional representative.)

We greatly appreciate your help in building a strong Wildlife Refuge Caucus in Congress.

Duck Stamps

In addition to urging your representative to join the Wildlife Refuge Caucus, another way to help is by purchasing Federal Duck Stamps. Since 1934, Federal Duck Stamps have generated more than $700 million and protected over 5.2 million acres of waterfowl habitat in America, and this habitat feeds and houses about one-third of the nation's endangered and threatened species. Consequently, the Duck Stamp Program is considered one of the most successful conservation initiatives ever created.

Nearly 98 cents out of every dollar collected from the sale of Duck Stamps (and Duck Stamp merchandise) goes directly into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System. Blackwater Refuge itself has benefited directly from this program, since Migratory Bird Conservation Funds have been used to purchase almost 20,000 acres for the Refuge.

Duck stamps today are federal licenses required for hunting migratory waterfowl, but they have a much larger purpose: Duck Stamps are now a vital source of funds for protecting wetlands, wildlife refuges, and endangered species -- especially in times of tight federal budgets. And since the number of hunters in America is falling, the program needs more conservationists and bird watchers to buy Duck Stamps.

Purchasing a $15 Duck Stamp is easy, and it will give you pride in knowing you're contributing directly to the protection of America's natural heritage. And Duck Stamps also give a valuable added benefit: if you are in possession of a current stamp, they give you free access to any U.S. National Wildlife Refuge open to the public. Visit our Duck Stamp page to learn more about buying a stamp or related merchandise.

Friends of Blackwater

And a final way that you can help is by supporting Friends groups such as the Friends of Blackwater. Visit our Support page to learn more about helping us accomplish our mission to protect and support Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. And if you are interested in supporting a national wildlife refuge in your neighborhood, visit RefugeNet to find a listing of Friends groups throughout the country.

Thanks to Everyone

I want to offer a final thanks to all our cam watchers for their time, photos, emails and enthusiasm. You've given us another great year with our Osprey Cam, and everyone at the Refuge greatly appreciates your support.

I'll be updating the Gallery later this week with some of our remaining osprey shots and any photos we get of the visiting bald eagles.

Until our next osprey season,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Osprey Navigation

Nest Update: We had some interesting photos on the nest over the last couple days that seemed to show two adult male ospreys on the platform. The bird nearest the camera might have been a juvenile, but we did not see the tan-colored edges on its feathers. Both birds had white chests and looked smaller than a female, which would indicate they were male.

Normally an adult male would not look kindly on another adult male "hanging out" at the home nest, yet our father osprey seemed to be okay with it. So if both birds really were adult males, what does this mean? I'm not really sure, but one guess could be that the other adult male is one of the father's offspring. When mature offspring return to the breeding grounds, sometimes the parents will allow them on the nest, although there have also been reports of parents chasing off their mature young as if they were a threat. So it's hard to say what this was, but it was an interesting surprise for so late in the season.

In addition to the two male birds, we've seen several shots of what appeared to be the mother osprey, so for now she's still in town although she'll likely head south first. As for our young -- Hunter, Skye Diver, Wind Runner, and Cloud Dancer -- we haven't seen much of them recently, and we continue to be impressed with how independent they became so soon after fledging. The only downside to this independence is that it means they aren't at the cam nest much.

For those who missed my earlier post on the subject, we would expect the whole family to be gone by around the second week of September. A sure sign that the father and last young have migrated is if we see a bald eagle on the platform -- which means the osprey family is no longer defending the nest.

A cam watcher asked me about when the bald eagles will retake the Eagle Cam nest. The eagles will begin putting in regular appearances at the Eagle Cam nest around the beginning of December, although eggs will not appear until the third or fourth week of January. We're working on a new camera housing for the Eagle Cam with the hope that it will prevent the eagles from knocking the camera out of position as they've done before. During our first two seasons with the Eagle Cam, we've watched five eaglets grow and fledge, and it's been a great experience for everyone involved, so be sure to check back with us in December for another year with our fantastic eagle parents.

How Do Ospreys Navigate

In the last couple web logs, we've talked about why ospreys migrate and where they might go when they leave for Central or South America. In this next-to-last web log entry (we'll close the web log in the next post), I wanted to offer some information on how the ospreys find their way to their wintering or nonbreeding grounds.

Despite the fact that biologists and ornithologists have studied bird migration for many years, there is still a lot that humans don't really understand about how birds find their way when they migrate -- it's a field of study that still has some mystery about it.

But what scientists do know is that migratory ospreys 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 changing length of daylight -- 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.

Once ospreys make the decision to leave, they must then use their inherent navigational skills to locate their wintering or nonbreeding grounds. Since adult ospreys return to the same nonbreeding grounds each year, it's believed that on subsequent trips, adults will use landmarks to help guide them. But fledglings are "flying blind" -- without the benefit of having "learned" what landmarks they should look for -- so young birds must use other clues to navigate, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars. In addition to sky-reading skills, birds also have at their disposal certain skills that even humans don't possess -- such as sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field and sensitivity to low frequency sounds created by wind and waves. During migration, ospreys frequently use their navigational tools in combination, so they can find their way through many challenging conditions.

Interestingly enough, radar technology has allowed humans to understand a great deal more about bird migration. Radar ornithology is the study of birds using radar, and it is a science that was started by the British Army during World War II. In the 1960s, radar ornithology caught on in North America, and since then it has helped the United States reduce the number of bird strikes by low-flying aircraft and has also helped bird conservation efforts by identifying popular stopover and roosting areas.

Today, both amateur and professional radar ornithologists use NEXRAD to study bird migration. NEXRAD stands for "NEXt generation RADar" and refers to the nationwide network of Doppler radar sites installed by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which provides almost complete radar coverage of the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Click on the thumbnail to the right to see an animated collection of images from NEXRAD that shows a large burst of birds heading north (this was recorded in the spring) as they fly from Cuba over water into Florida -- leaving en masse under favorable flying conditions on one spring evening. And note that this is a path that our ospreys will take on their way back in the spring.

If you'd like to read more about radar ornithology and the use of NEXRAD, be sure to check out these websites:

Tracking Bird Migration with Radar from eBird

NEXRAD and Bird Conservation

What is Radar from NJ Audubon Society

My next web log entry will be the last for this season, as the ospreys are getting close to migration time. Just as a reminder, we will be leaving the Osprey Cam on throughout the fall and winter, and we will continue to update the Gallery with photos of the different birds that visit the platform once the ospreys have left. So feel free to send in photos of anything interesting you see on the cam, and we'll put it in the Gallery and mention it on the cam page.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Heading South

Nest Update: A cam watcher saw a parent today that looked like the father. She said in another shot he was facing more toward the cam and was missing a necklace (brown chest coloring); this would indicate that it is the father. At this point in August, it's very possible that the mother osprey has started migration, since the young birds are very independent these days and seem to need little in the way of food. But we'll keep an eye out for any parents at the nest, to confirm that the mother is gone.

One of our cam watchers recently asked about my reference to the "chicks" and whether this was the correct term for them now. In fact, the young are now "juveniles." I use the term "chicks" as a nickname, much as a human parent would refer to the "kids." But for those wanting to know the correct biological terms, I can offer the following definitions, which were in a paper titled "Names of Age Groups of Young Birds" by Harold Wood:

NESTLING -- A young bird within and not ready to leave the nest.

FLEDGLING -- Normally ready or physically able to leave the nest and survive, and still being cared for by its parents.

JUVENILE -- A young bird out of the nest and able to take care of itself, but which has not completed the post-juvenal molt.

IMMATURE -- A bird after completing the post-juvenal molt, but has not acquired the complete adult plumage.

YOUNG -- A generalized term applied to the bird less than one year old, when a more definite determination of age cannot be made.

Young ospreys only take about eighteen months to acquire their adult plumage, and they do not have multiple feather stages, so with ospreys they are referred to as juveniles and then immatures until they get their adult plumage. Young bald eagles take about four or five years to acquire adult plumage, and during the process they go through several stages of feather development (as their head and tail slowly turn from brown to white), so when speaking of young eagles, biologists break those immature stages down into segments such as Basic I, Basic II, etc. (For a better description of the Basic stages and a look at how the bald eagle's feathers develop, check out this PDF article).

Migration Destination

In this web log I wanted to discuss where our osprey family will likely go when they leave us. Ospreys are one of the best-studied migratory species in North America as over the years many ospreys have been fitted with radio transmitters and tracked on their way down to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. In addition, many ospreys have been fitted with leg bands and then recovered once they showed up dead in these same areas. So biologists have a good idea as to where mid-Atlantic ospreys go once they leave for migration. We can't say exactly where each of our family members will stop, but we can offer a good hypothetical itinerary.

When an osprey is ready to leave Blackwater Refuge, it will likely strike out toward North Carolina, possibly stopping around Hertford and the Albemarle Sound to do some fishing and refueling. Ospreys stop to eat when migrating, but they also have been seen flying with a fish in their talons, which they munch on while in flight.

While tracking ospreys, biologists have found that some mid-Atlantic ospreys stay over the East Coast mainland while some head out over the Atlantic Ocean and follow the coast. Ospreys are very strong flyers and do not rely on soaring as much as other raptors (such as bald eagles), so ospreys do not mind crossing long stretches of water. (It's interesting to note that European ospreys may cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea).

Once an osprey leaves the Outer Banks area of North Carolina, it will likely head down to Cape Fear, North Carolina, where the Cape serves as a launching point for many ospreys that decide to strike out over the Atlantic Ocean and not regain land again until Florida.

After flying out over the ocean, the osprey might land in the area of the St. Johns River in Florida, which is the longest river in the state and a popular place for ospreys as it offers miles of quality fishing.

The osprey will then head down to the Miami, Florida area where the bird will prepare to cross the Straits of Florida and land in Cuba. Ninety percent of ospreys nesting on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. spend time in Cuba, and some even spend their entire winter there. But the majority will continue on to Haiti, and from the Port-au-Prince area, launch out over the Caribbean Sea and land in South America.

Making the 400-mile flight across the Caribbean Sea is the most taxing part of the ospreys' trip, so most birds stop as soon as they hit land (often around the Guajira Peninsula) and spend time resting and fishing. Some ospreys go no farther, while others fan out all over South America, with some going very deep into the continent. (On this map, look for the little houses to see some known destinations for migrating ospreys.) It's been reported that females tend to go farther south than the males, which might have something to do with the females' larger size. For those ospreys that travel inland, they will often hang around large rivers including the Amazon and the Orinoco River.

Ospreys will likely roam around their home area throughout the winter season, but most birds stay in the same general region until they are ready to head north again. Adult birds will start north in the following January, February or March; but juvenile birds will stay down south for an extra year before returning north. Ospreys are as loyal to their chosen wintering grounds as they are to their breeding grounds and will normally return to the same southern region each year.

Threats to Ospreys

One of the sad facts of life is that ospreys face many threats on their journey south -- a journey that could reach a length of 2000-4000 miles and take from 15-50+ days to complete. Common causes of death among migrating ospreys include electrocution; collisions with power lines, buildings, cars, and cell phone towers; storms; starvation (either from lack of fish, water pollution, or lack of fishing skills); drowning (from fishing lines); pesticides; and shooting.

In Latin America and the Caribbean countries, shooting is a major cause of death for ospreys. Many farmers in these regions consider all raptors to be a threat to their livestock, and so they shoot most birds of prey. But the main reason for shooting is that ospreys frequently hunt for meals at fish farms. Fish farming is a growing industry in Latin America and the Caribbean countries, and ospreys often use the farms for an easy meal, which frequently leads to the ospreys' death.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has funded a program called "Wildlife Without Borders" that has researched the problem of osprey shootings at fish farms. The research indicates that as many as 14,000 ospreys are killed by fish farmers each year within the seven Latin American countries surveyed. When the research is applied to the twenty-one Latin American and Caribbean countries that have fish farms along the ospreys' migratory route, the actual mortality rate for ospreys is probably much higher. In fact, one farmer surveyed admitted to shooting about 200 ospreys each year.

The USFWS report that, "farm owners spend millions of pesos each year trying a variety of bird deterrents such as noise-making devices, scarecrows, dogs and hired-man patrols. None of these methods has proven to be effective." Some farmers have reported success using lines of nylon twine, as well as nets to keep the ospreys away from the fish. The USFWS reports that many farmers seem genuinely interested in finding ways to protect the ospreys, and the researchers hope to continue working with the farmers to find better and more affordable solutions. You can read more about the USFWS' research efforts on their International Affairs page.

Meanwhile environmental groups are also working to educate farmers and citizens in an effort to decrease shootings and to increase appreciation for ospreys throughout Latin America and the Caribbean countries. National Geographic News published an interesting article about the growing enthusiasm for osprey protection in Cuba, which is THE major hub for migratory ospreys from the East Coast, and hopefully this trend will continue.

The difficulties that ospreys face during migration season serve as a reminder to humans that wildlife protection is often an international affair. Ospreys know nothing of human economies, artificial borders, international law, or shifting politics. The osprey sees the world as "home" and moves about as if it is welcome everywhere. We hope that one day the osprey truly will be.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

The Need to Migrate

Nest Update: We had planned to schedule the bucket truck to come out and clean off the lens at the end of this week, but a big thunderstorm Monday night did the cleaning for us, and now the cam looks great. A dirty lens shouldn't be a problem again this year as there is not much slicing going on at the nest now.

I wanted to thank everyone who sent in photos for our recent Gallery update. The Gallery now has shots that show us when our youngest chick -- Cloud Dancer -- took his first couple flights. We also saw one shot of a chick mantling his food -- mantling is when a raptor spreads its wings over a meal as if to indicate "Back off! It's mine!" Another group of photos showed a chick engaging in some nest maintenance -- good to see the youngsters learning those domestic chores. And finally, we saw several photos of fish crows on the nest scavenging for leftovers while the ospreys were away.

One cam watcher asked about Cloud Dancer's meals. The youngest might be fishing for himself by now, but if not, the parents will make sure the littlest has food. I saw a parent on the nest Tuesday morning with a fish. The one chick on the nest didn't seem interested, so the parent flew away with it. It was hard to tell if the adult was the father or mother, but once the end of August comes, the mother will likely be gone, and any adult we see will be the father.

Since Cloud Dancer fully fledged, we've seen fewer shots of the other fledglings -- Hunter, Wind Runner, and Skye Diver -- on the platform. I think when Cloud Dancer was nest-bound, it made the older chicks come back more often since the odds of getting a meal at the nest were better. But now that the youngest is actively flying, the older chicks don't have as much of a reason to hang around the platform.

I can't tell for sure, but the one chick we see spending the most time at the nest is likely the youngest. Cloud Dancer will get more independent as time goes on and he realizes that if he wants to eat more, he needs to go fishing.

And for those cam watchers who tell me that they have a hard time telling the difference between parents and chicks -- here is a photo that shows how you can tell: The parents' body feathers are solid brown, while the chicks' body feathers have a light-colored edge.

Why Do Ospreys Migrate

In our next web log, I'm going to post several images from Google Earth to show you where our ospreys will likely go when they begin their migration south. But in this web log, I wanted to talk about why the ospreys have to leave in the first place. At Blackwater Refuge, our adult bald eagles do not normally migrate from the area, but the adult and juvenile ospreys do. So why the difference?

Blackwater Refuge is located in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., and although we sometimes experience cold winters, the ospreys could actually survive the cold temperatures if they stayed here during the winter months -- just as the bald eagles do. But what makes the two raptor species different is that the ospreys' main prey -- fresh fish -- is very hard to find in the winter. Cold temperatures drive the fish into deeper water and out of reach of ospreys, and during some of our more harsh winters, the Blackwater River can actually freeze over (see photo). Since an osprey's diet is normally about 99% fresh fish, the ospreys would likely starve if they stayed.

Bald eagles are more flexible in their diet, which means that while they prefer fish, they can switch to other forms of prey during the winter. Those who watch our Eagle Cam remember that in December and January, we often saw the eagles bring ducks and rabbits to the nest. The ospreys do not have this option of switching to another meal choice, so they must migrate to an area where the fishing is good throughout the winter months. For mid-Atlantic ospreys, their wintering grounds are most likely South America, although some ospreys might stay in Central America.

But what about the ospreys that already live in warm areas? The ospreys that live in southern Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean will not leave their region once nesting season is done -- these are called "non-migrant" ospreys. These non-migrants might roam around their region during their non-breeding season, but they won't leave it completely. Also they will frequently nest earlier than our birds, with the ospreys in the Florida Keys nesting as early as November and December (ours begin nesting in March).

At this stage, it's natural to wonder why the Blackwater ospreys don't just stay down south where the weather is warm. Unfortunately for the ospreys, they do not have that option 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, and it would not work to have all the continent's ospreys in one area where they would have to compete with large numbers of fellow ospreys looking for the same food sources and limited nesting sites during the crucial breeding season. So instead, the ospreys migrate north and spread out around the continent when it comes time to breed.

Migration Hot Spot

Once migration starts (around mid August), birds all around the country will begin to move toward their winter homes, and our osprey family will be in that group. When discussing bird migration, you often hear biologists talk about the major "flyways" -- these are popular aerial highways that birds use to move between their summer and winter homes. Blackwater Refuge is a major hub on the Atlantic Flyway, and many birds either stop here to fuel up or spend their entire winter in our marshlands. When our ospreys leave, they will be on the Atlantic Flyway.

There are several areas around the country that are considered natural bottlenecks for migrating birds -- meaning these areas have a land topography that forces ospreys and other birds into a smaller area, making it easier for humans to locate and watch the migration spectacle. One of the best places to observe migrating ospreys on the East Coast is at the famous Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. Between August 15 and December 15, an average of 20,000 hawks, eagles and falcons pass the Sanctuary's North Lookout, where the birds are observed and tallied.

The reason Hawk Mountain is such a popular bottleneck is that the mountain is part of the Kittatinny Ridge -- the eastern-most ridge of the central Appalachian Mountains. The Kittatinny Ridge is one of the tallest and most continuous ridges in the mountain chain and attracts many raptors looking to take advantage of the updrafts of air, which help the birds cover more ground with less effort as they head down the East Coast during migration. Here is a photo from Google Earth where you can see the ridge and the Sanctuary.

Starting on August 15, you can keep tabs on the autumn migration at Hawk Mountain by visiting the sanctuary's home page where they will post the daily count every evening after 5pm. On the website's Migration page, you can read more about migration and the dates when the different raptor species are seen (scroll to the bottom for the dates). You can also subscribe to their email updates to receive news about the migration season as it develops. While Hawk Mountain does see quite a few birds during spring migration, the fall migration season is the one that attracts the largest numbers of raptors. In 2005, Hawk Mountain tallied 480 migrating ospreys.

If you're lucky enough to live on the East Coast, I highly recommend taking a trip up to Hawk Mountain during migration season. Besides getting a chance to see many species of raptors, you can also enjoy some people-watching, as well as some leaf-peeping as the mountain hillsides explode with color during the cooler weeks.

And if you don't live on the East Coast, you can still enjoy a quick aerial video of Hawk Mountain on the Audubon Pennsylvania website.

General Osprey News

Our friend Russ Yeaton reports that the three chicks at his local osprey nest at Spring Point Light in South Portland, Maine have all fledged. Here we have three photos from Russ: The first photo shows a pre-fledgling hovering over the nest; the second photo shows a fledged juvenile on a rock (notice the light-colored edges on its feathers); and the third photo shows a beautiful sunrise shot from Spring Point Light. Congrats to the new fledglings, and much thanks to Russ for his photos.

Speaking of Maine, I wanted to share an interesting cam link. The National Audubon Society's Project Puffin has put a Puffin Cam on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge in Maine, which is the only U.S. state with a population of Atlantic puffins. If you've never seen a puffin, be sure to check out the website's movie page where you can see footage of puffin chicks inside their rock burrows.

The Puffin Cam's live video stream alternates between two regular ground-level cameras and a new infrared "burrow cam." They move the cam view around, so you have to be a bit patient to see action, but it's an unusual project and worth checking out.

Vermont Eagle News

And on a final note, here is an interesting article about the Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative. They report that the last eaglet has fledged from their program. As our Eagle Cam watchers remember, birds from Blackwater Refuge were used in this hacking program to reestablish nesting bald eagles in Vermont. We're thrilled that the program has been such a wonderful success. Best of luck to all the fledgling eaglets!

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Contest Winners

Our 2006 "Name the Chicks" contest has come to a close, and we want to thank everyone who participated. We received many thoughtful and creative entries, and our staff had a hard time picking out just four names.

We had three winners this year, and they are listed below.

Congratulations to our winners:

Heidi Graser from Wooster, Ohio with the names Cloud Dancer and Wind Runner; Linda Pittsley from Boise, Idaho with the name Hunter; and Patricia Mishico from New Fairfield, Connecticut with the name Skye Diver

All our winners will receive an osprey prize from our gift store and also a certificate of appreciation for helping us name our record-breaking four chicks.

As for assigning the names, I think Hunter is an appropriate name for our oldest, which might be our missing chick. If he's safe and sound, then he must be a very independent osprey that learned to provide for himself rather early.

That would mean our middle chicks were the ones Bob Quinn saw playing out in the Refuge when he took the photos I posted in the last web log entry, so we'll name them Skye Diver and Wind Runner.

And for our youngest, I think the name Cloud Dancer is fitting as there were many times over the last couple months when we had doubts that the littlest would ever make it to migration age, but now the youngest will soon be dancing in the clouds as he heads to Central or South America for the winter -- a fantastic achievement for a fourth chick.

Our chicks are spending much of their time out in the Refuge now, learning to master their flying and fishing skills, and learning to relate to other creatures in their environment. The chicks are still several weeks from migration, but now is the time when they must develop the knowledge they'll need to look after themselves once they leave Blackwater and the safety of their family.

Our chicks are lucky, although they certainly don't know it. If you remember, our adult couple at the Osprey Cam platform this year returned to Blackwater Refuge in early March and set up nesting right away. (Biologists report that experienced osprey couples often return early to their nesting grounds, compared to inexperienced couples that often show up late.) As a result, all four cam chicks officially fledged before the beginning of August.

If you look at last year's inexperienced pair (we believe it was a different couple) they took over the platform late and hatched their two chicks late. As a result, last year's youngest chick did not fledge until the middle of August, and migrated only three weeks later. We don't know if the youngest made it to Central or South America, but sadly the odds were not in his favor.

This year's osprey parents have given their four chicks more than a month to prepare for migration, so the young are benefiting from the wisdom and experience of their parents, and they will have a better chance of surviving the flight down south because their parents have given them an advantage from the start.

Osprey migration is an interesting topic, so in the next couple web logs, we'll talk more about why the birds leave and what areas in Central or South America they might choose for their winter homes. Also, we'll talk about how the young birds find their way to a place they've never seen before, and what dangers might exist for them along their journey.

Once again, congratulations to our contest winners, and thanks to everyone for sending in their wonderful entry names. And we'll update the Gallery over the weekend.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)