June 05, 2007
Osprey Adults
As I mentioned on the cam page, we seem to have a technical issue with the cam where the image blurs, then it clears, then it blurs again. We're trying to find out what is causing it, since it doesn't seem to be caused by poop or moisture/dirt on the lens. Thanks for your patience while we work on it.
Also, one other announcement -- local government agencies are very interested in hearing from anyone in the Chesapeake Bay or Delaware Bay areas that sees a Chinese Mitten Crab. These Asian crabs are an invasive species that could be harmful to resident wildlife. Read this Chinese Mitten Crab PDF file to learn more about how to identify the crab and how to report it. Thanks for your help.
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On Tuesday, we had the unexpected sight of two ospreys mating on the Osprey Cam nest. It's really too late for new eggs at this point, so we hope that they were just bonding. Not all mating leads to eggs, and it would be best if none came now, or the chick would be at a serious disadvantage with migration only about three months away.
As for which ospreys are on the nest, we're not always sure since they don't always face the camera. Basically there might be at least four ospreys: our resident female (necklace hard to see), our intruder female (necklace slightly darker), resident male (if he's still around) and the new male we've occasionally seen on the platform. The new male has a dark patch on his forehead, which makes him easier to identify when he faces the cam. We're not sure if this new male is a potential partner for our female or if he's just been checking out the nest. We'll keep an eye out to see if we can identify which birds have been mating.
Other Osprey Cam Nests:
Without chicks of our own this year, we've naturally been looking around the Web to see what's happening at other osprey cams. In Scotland, bad weather has been plaguing their poor birds. Nothing is more destructive to an osprey nesting season than a long, cold spring, and in Scotland they've been having some nasty weather that brought about the demise of one of the three chicks at the Loch of the Lowes Osprey Cam. In addition, we hear that the famous Loch Garten Osprey Cam pair of EJ and Henry got hit with a hailstorm. EJ bravely protected their eggs during the storm, but got hit in the eye by a piece of hail. Then she proceeded to eat a few of the pellets, so I guess she was okay. :-)
Here in the US, we had to deal with Tropical Storm Barry on the East Coast, but from what we can tell, the cam chicks did all right. In Long Island, New York, the two chicks are doing well at the Puleston Osprey Cam. And at the Wilmington, North Carolina Osprey Cam the heavy rain washed away a lot of the poop that had been sprayed on the lens, so you can get a little better view of their two chicks. At the Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota Osprey Cam we hear they just had two chicks hatch. I sometimes have trouble viewing this cam, but I keep checking in because the view is great when it works. At the Woods Hole Osprey Cam in Massachusetts they have one chick and possibly more on the way. And at the Kentucky Osprey Cam, the three resident chicks are really making progress and look like they're getting their tan-tipped feathers already.
Finally we have the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam where they saw the most dramatic effects of Tropical Storm Barry. Check out these before and after photos showing how much the water rose in their wetland home. Good thing the nest has some height to it.
Another thing worth noting about the Connecticut nest is that the chicks are just now starting to enter what is called their reptilian stage. This is the second down stage before they begin to grow their feathers, and this is where they take on a darker, woolier down that makes them look almost like little dinosaurs. :-)
Osprey Books:
Although our 2007 osprey season has not turned out as we had hoped, that doesn't mean that we aren't still big fans of our ospreys. Ospreys -- or fish hawks -- are very intelligent and interesting birds that have become a favorite for many birders around the world. One of the reasons for this popularity is probably the fact that ospreys don't mind nesting relatively close to humans and will often nest on artificial structures that we put up for them.
If you're interested in learning more about ospreys, I can point you toward three books that are excellent for getting some new insights into these entertaining raptors. First, for the younger crowd, is Awesome Ospreys: Fishing Birds of the World. According to our web store description, "Donna Love enthusiastically shares her knowledge of ospreys and their life cycle, from courtship, nesting, and raising their young to their yearly migrations. In beautiful colors that evoke the ospreys’ aquatic world, illustrator Joyce Turley brings these birds to life in a book that will appeal to readers both young and old. Suggested activities to try with teachers or parents give kids the chance to explore what it’s like to fly, live, and fish like an osprey. An appendix with osprey physiology, a range map, index, and lists of Web sites and suggested readings point young naturalists toward further research." This book is recommended for ages 8 and up.
And for adult osprey fans, a must-read is David Gessner's Return of the Osprey: A Season of Flight and Wonder, where Gessner follows several osprey families in the Cape Cod area during a full nesting season. Gessner observes both the joy and heartbreak that comes with watching osprey chicks hatch, grow, and then venture out into the big world.
Also, Gessner has just published a follow-up to his first book, and the new book is called Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond. In this second osprey-centered work, Gessner follows young mid-Atlantic ospreys during migration as they head down into Cuba and over into South America. These are the same birds that Rob Bierregaard (with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte) had tagged with satellite radio transmitters. These are also the same birds that were in the BBC/Animal Planet special called "Incredible Journeys: Osprey Odyssey." One of the most amazing moments of this new book is when Gessner describes a mountain valley in Cuba -- at La Gran Piedra -- where ospreys funnel through by the hundreds as they work their way through the Cuban mountains in preparation for their long journey across the Caribbean Sea into South America.
What's incredible about the idea of ospreys traveling in large groups is that for many years, students of osprey behavior believed that ospreys were mostly solitary on their migration. When the birds leave the nest for migration, the mother usually goes first, and the father stays with the chicks until they are proficient at catching their own food. Then the male leaves on migration and the chicks soon follow -- all independently.
But in Gessner's book we discover that in Cuba, ospreys exhibit flocking behavior. Gessner has raptor expert Keith Bildstein (Director of Research and Education at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania) describe the flocking instinct: "They were doing this for the very same reason that other hawks do...Partly to identify the updrafts and thermals. But partly for safety. Here you are in Cuba, at the end of the land line, and now they're going to make a three-hundred-mile journey across the Caribbean. These are storm-infested waters, and for juveniles, traveling in the company of potentially experienced birds makes a lot of sense."
Keith also reveals another amazing revelation: When flying through the Cuban clouds, the ospreys talk to one another. "When they moved up into these clouds, and I'm talking abut groups of ospreys -- and this was something I would not have believed had I not heard it myself -- they actually called to one another in the same kind of way and for the same purpose that nocturnally migrating birds call to one another: to remain in contact...This suggests that they are working to be together. Calling out to each other to stay in touch."
It's always very exciting to discover new behaviors for an animal that is as well studied as the osprey, and Gessner's new book does just that by providing a fascinating look at migration season, which is a part of the osprey's life that still has some mystery to it.
If you are interested in any of these three osprey book offerings, you can find out more in the Store section of our website.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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