Osprey Cam Web Log 2007

Osprey Banding

It's mostly quiet at the Osprey Cam nest right now. We've been seeing the occasional appearance by a bird or a pair of birds but no more mating has been spotted. It looks like the ospreys will spend the rest of their summer defending their nest and waiting for migration. We'll likely know they've migrated in August or September when we suddenly see bald eagles on the platform.

Other Osprey Nests:

As we reported on the cam page, EJ and Henry at the Loch Garten nest have now lost the last egg of their second clutch as none of the chicks were hardy enough to make it, possibly because they were not as genetically strong as the first set. Hopefully EJ and Henry will both be back next year to give it another try.

At the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam they have experienced the same misfortune as the North Carolina Osprey Cam, in that their cam got sprayed with whitewash. Maybe they'll get a good driving rain soon that will clear it off.

Speaking of the Connecticut cam, they had some high drama at the nest about a week ago when one of the chicks got a piece of bubble wrap looped around its neck. The bubble wrap was brought to the nest by the parents as nesting material, but the chick somehow managed to get his head tangled in it, which can be dangerous. The staff at the Audubon Center alerted the fire department, which brought out a long ladder, and then a pair of canoes and a Zodiac boat were dispatched to reach the nest and cut off the plastic. You can see a video of the rescue, taken by our friend Paula, on YouTube.

Although the chick looks distressed in the video, he was eating earlier, so he wasn't near death. Both chicks in the video were likely laying low since their mother was calling out to them to stay down with an intruder near the nest. Good work by Audubon to get out there so quickly and fix the problem.

Speaking of man-made material in osprey nests, here in the Chesapeake Bay we have a big problem with fishing line. Sometimes osprey parents bring it to the nest as nesting material because it's shiny and attracts their attention, and sometimes the line comes to the nest because it is attached to a fish, but many chicks get tangled in the line and die. (In Scotland they even had a female adult osprey get tangled in fishing line and perish, leaving her mate to take care of the chicks.) The US Fish and Wildlife Service has been trying to educate anglers to properly discard their fishing line and not leave it around or in the water. Read the USFWS flyer for more information about this important issue.

Another cam I wanted to point out is the Kentucky Osprey Cam. When you visit the site, be sure to look at some of their videos including the one showing the mother shading the young. It can get very hot during the osprey nesting season, and the best way that a mother can help her chicks is to provide shade for them by using her wings. We have seen a lot of that behavior here at Blackwater during our very hot summers.

Osprey Banding at Patuxent River Park:

During the past week, I had the great privilege to go on an osprey banding trip at Patuxent River Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, with a group of fellow osprey fans. The trip was led by the park naturalist, Greg Kearns, who has spent many years putting up osprey platforms and banding ospreys in order to learn more about their migration behavior. For example, over the years Greg has learned that many of his Patuxent ospreys migrate to Colombia and Venezuela.

I'm posting three banding trip videos for you to enjoy. These clips have audio, so be sure to turn up your speakers. Left-click on the Windows Media Video links below to play the clips or right-click on the links and choose "Save Target As" to download.

In the first video clip, we see Greg visiting a nest where the chicks have hatched late. These are newborns and are very small. In the video Greg points out that they have a chance at making it, although their odds will be tough since they will have very little time to master flying and fishing before migration.

5.7 MB

In the second video clip we see Greg pull down a chick that is about four weeks old. In the background audio you can hear chirping sounds -- that noise is the parent scolding us for being at the nest. The osprey parents would normally fly away when we came to the nest and then immediately return when we left, but while we were there they flew around us and called out in protest. Greg was careful not to have the chicks out of the nest too long and all were safely returned once they were examined or banded.

5.7 MB

In the final clip, you can see the oldest pair of chicks that we visited that day. These siblings were male and female, and the birds were getting close to fledging. During the video, you'll see a bird fly by in the background -- that was one of the parents. One parent took off as we approached and carried off a fish that was in the nest, so it was flying around with the fish. Protect the food! :-)

6.8 MB

Also notice in the clip that when Greg starts to band the chick, you can see a predator guard on the platform behind him. Greg tries to maintain these guards since they keep raccoons and snakes from climbing up into the nests to get at the chicks.

The band that Greg puts on the osprey young is a silver-colored federal government band that includes a unique identifying number and a phone number for a person to call if they find the band or see it on the bird. The band information tells biologists a lot about where ospreys are going and how long they live. If the bird's condition is reported when the band is called in, it can also tell biologists a lot about how ospreys die. If you'd like to read more about bird banding, be sure to check out the web log entry I posted in 2005 when our eaglets were banded by Craig Koppie.

Patuxent River Park has an osprey cam on one nest at the park, and it transmits images back to a beautiful TV monitor at their visitor center. Greg told us that the female at the nest had been killed, and there was one chick left at the nest that needed tending to; the only problem was that while the male adult osprey might feed a chick, it will normally not shade a chick like the mother does. So in this nest, Greg built a little tiki hut where the chick could go to cool off during the daytime hours. While we were watching the TV monitor at the visitor center, we saw that the hut was a success. After the chick was fed by the male, the young bird hustled under the cover to escape the heat. Greg reported that the shade could be 15 degrees cooler than the hot spots of the exposed nest, and so the hut was a big help to both the remaining chick and the father osprey.

I want to thank Greg not only for taking us out to band the ospreys but also for his many years of dedication to the birds and other wildlife at Patuxent River Park. If you're interested in seeing the park, be sure to visit their website. It's certainly a great place to kayak and bird watch.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

Osprey Nests on the Net

Here at Blackwater Refuge, our ospreys are spending a lazy summer hanging out until migration time arrives. Adults that don't produce chicks often migrate earlier than those that do, so we're not sure when ours will migrate, but it might be around mid to late August. Once they leave, the local bald eagles will probably start using the platform as a riverside perch again -- something they like to do when the ospreys aren't around to defend the nest.

We did see a funny scene at the nest recently where an osprey adult was playing with the sod/marsh-root ball that was in the nest. The bird kept moving it around with his feet. Possibly a form of osprey soccer. :-)

A couple cam watchers have asked why the ospreys stay at the nest if they don't have chicks. The fish hawks probably feel compelled to defend the nest from other ospreys and from the local bald eagles. Even if the ospreys don't have chicks this year, they want the nest for future use, and they want to be sure that no other bird takes it over. So for now, they put in appearances at the nest to let the neighborhood know that the nest hasn't been abandoned and it's not open for business.

Something I have noticed that is different is that without chicks, the osprey adults don't seem to eat at the nest as much. They're obviously still fishing and eating, so that means they're eating most of their meals elsewhere -- probably at a favorite nearby perch.

Other Local Ospreys:

In case you missed it, I posted a wonderful photo from our cam technician showing a three-chick nest located in the water near his home. We have a lot of osprey nests around the Blackwater area and in nearby towns -- this is one of the local nests that appears to be doing very well. In the close-up shot, you can see that the chicks are getting their pin feathers, and you can also see the white camouflage stripe that runs down their backs (this makes them look like another stick in the nest to an aerial predator). Also, note that osprey chicks have red eyes, rather than the yellow eyes of an adult. These birds are in what is called their "reptilian stage," but they will soon have a set of feathers that will make them look more like their parents.

Ospreys on the Web:

I also wanted to mention some news from other osprey websites that are seeing new chick action. First, we had some sad news from our friend Bob Montanaro down at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Bob is an incredibly talented photographer who follows the ospreys there each season via his website called Osprey Watch. At the nest he's been photographing, the middle chick (who had fledged) disappeared right before Tropical Storm Barry arrived. The fledgling was too young to be independent but it has not been seen since the storm, so it seems we did have one storm casualty among our Net ospreys. Fortunately the two remaining fledglings at the nest are doing well. Thanks to Bob for maintaining his wonderful osprey website.

On the Osprey Cam at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York, we hear that one chick has definitely hatched and a second might have hatched. This nest was a little late in starting, but that is typical with nests north of us here in Maryland.

At the Puleston Osprey Cam, located at Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in New York, they have two healthy chicks. They did have some intruder problems recently, but the parents seem to be keeping the chicks safe.

At the Osprey Cam at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, they now have one chick. And not to insult the proud osprey parents, but this nest may qualify for the "Most Garbage Collected" award, as they seem to enjoy bringing large amounts of non-natural materials to their nest. That's not a problem unless they bring back something that can be harmful to the chick.

At the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam, the two chicks are doing well. Here's a photo showing that the parents brought a shell to the nest for decoration. And here's a shot showing an early attempt at flapping by one industrious chick. Well, he's either flapping or he's mooning us. :-)

Across the pond, we hear that EJ and Henry -- at the famous Loch Garten nest in Scotland -- now have their first chick. This is the nest where EJ laid a full second clutch after the first was destroyed. The first egg hatched in 33-34 days -- much shorter than the normal 38-40 day period. But then again, this couple doesn't seem to follow any rule books -- they just do their own thing. :-)

And at the Finland Osprey Cam they now have two chicks. In this photo from the Finland nest you can see the chick's egg tooth -- which is the device a chick uses to chip through the shell when it's hatching. The tooth is only for this purpose and will eventually fall off. And in this photo, you can see a feeding session where it looks like the father is on the lookout while mom feeds the chicks. Note that the mother is banded on her talon. Also note that she is using her nictitating membrane -- or transparent third eyelid -- while she feeds the chicks. Sometimes parents use this eyelid to cover their eyes so that they're protected from chicks that are jabbing at the food that the parents are offering.

Something else worth noticing in this shot is that the male osprey has coloring on his chest. Here at Blackwater, we know that most smaller birds with white chests are males. But in Europe, the males often have necklaces or brown/tan coloring on their chests -- just like the females. For example, here is a mating shot from another Finland Osprey Cam (the photo was from last year), and you can see the male has a very dark necklace.

I've never read a scientific reason for why European osprey males have necklaces and North American osprey males don't, so I'm not sure why it's this way. But it's good to remember that identifying a male osprey by his white chest might not work outside North America.

Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
(contact)

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.

----------------

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
(contact)