July 27, 2007
Fledging Time
I apologize for the delay in updating the web log. I was on a beach vacation with my family in beautiful Nags Head, North Carolina, but now we're back, so it's time for a raptor update. :-)
Galleries
First, I wanted to say that we finally finished off the Eagle Cam Gallery with some last photos. Thanks again to all those who submitted their photos throughout the season. This gallery is now closed, and we'll start a new one in December once the Eagle Cam goes live again.
Also, we've updated the Osprey Cam Gallery with new photos of our birds at the nest, as well as with photos of visiting birds including crows, a vulture, a Great blue heron, and red-winged blackbirds. In the Gallery update you'll also see a photo with a tractor in the background. Our helpful ranger Tom Miller said that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the tractor to break up the soil for future planting -- planting that is done to benefit the migratory waterfowl that comes in the fall. So what exactly do they plant? Tom said they will likely plant Japanese millet -- a fast-growing grass, which produces a lot of edible seeds, grows well in marsh areas, and is favored by migratory ducks.
Blackwater Osprey Cam
Things have been relatively quiet at the Blackwater Osprey Cam. We occasionally see a male and female on the nest, but of course these birds are without chicks this year, so they come and go as they please. Often the adults show up to eat a meal, tidy the nest, or announce to the rest of the Refuge that the nest is taken and trespassers should stay away.
We expect our ospreys might leave for migration a little early since they have no young. This might mean that they will be gone before the end of August. If this happens, we should see bald eagles on the nest not long after they leave. Some cam watchers have asked if the eagles would ever nest on the platform, and the answer is no. It's too close to people (on the Wildlife Drive), it's too shallow, and it's not in a tree. The eagles can find a lot of nice loblolly pine trees in and around the Refuge, and these trees would be the eagles' first choice for a nesting location.
Something worth watching for on the Osprey Cam in the next few weeks is visiting immature ospreys. Newly fledged osprey young sometimes make visits to neighboring nests, either to rest on the nest or to solicit a free meal from the resident adults. Often adult ospreys will not chase off the strange young and sometimes will even feed them. In the past, we have caught a couple brief glimpses of what was clearly an extra chick on our nest, although the youngster didn't stay long. The best way to spot immature ospreys is to look for light tan coloring on the end of their brown wing tips. Adults do not have the tan tips but instead have solid brown wing feathers.
In the following photos from the Finland Osprey Cam you can see the difference in the adult and immature feathers.
Other Osprey Cams
All over the Web we're seeing young ospreys fledge. Two osprey chicks have fledged at the Puleston Osprey Cam in Long Island. All three chicks have fledged at the Kentucky Osprey Cam. Both chicks have fledged at the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam. And two chicks have fledged at the North Carolina Osprey Cam. The NC cam has had some bad luck this year -- their camera got hit by poop, and then a bad drought in the Mid-Atlantic kept their camera from getting cleaned by a good rain, so they're still struggling with a clouded view.
At Sturgeon Lake in Minnesota, it appears that the two osprey chicks are still nest bound, but they will probably go soon. The same is true for the two chicks at Montezuma NWR in upstate New York. And at the nest we follow at Spring Point in South Portland, Maine, the one chick is getting close to fledging time. [Note that fledglings in northern areas usually begin flying a little later than fledglings in southern areas.]
As for European nests, at Loch of the Lowes in Scotland, both chicks have fledged and are doing well.
As for the Finland Osprey Cam, we had mentioned on our cam page that we heard that one cam chick had been found dead when they went up to band the birds. No word on what might have been wrong. Normally if a chick is not going to make it, the nestling dies in the first few weeks of life, so it was a little odd to lose a chick this late. But the bird might have had problems that we couldn't see on the cam.
One of our cam watchers did catch a photo of the bander going up and also a shot of the mother feeding the remaining chick after the bander had left.
At the second Finland Osprey Cam (where the resident couple didn't breed) we did see some handsome hooded crows on the nest. (Hooded crows can be found in Europe and Asia.) One of the best things about bird cams from other countries is that sometimes birds show up that are unfamiliar to us, and it's fun getting a chance to see such different species.
Finland Osprey Gallery
Speaking of Finland, someone recently alerted me to an incredible online photo gallery showing shots of an osprey fishing in Finland. These are some of the best osprey action photos I've ever seen. Especially amazing are the shots of the osprey catching two fish at a time.
It's worth noting that the fishing skills that this osprey is displaying are the same skills that all osprey fledglings must attain over the nest month if they are going to survive to adulthood. Ospreys are known as possibly the best anglers in nature, but these skills take time to develop, and the osprey chicks that develop them the fastest will have a better chance of surviving migration and the difficult path to breeding age.
Miscellaneous Eagle Note
As we mentioned in a recent Eagle Cam Web Log entry, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to remove the bald eagle from the threatened and endangered species list. In recognition of this event, the nonprofit environmental law group Earthjustice has posted a nice eagle tribute video on YouTube that I thought you might enjoy. It offers some great footage of eagles flying and fishing, and since our Eagle Cam is now offline, it's nice to once again see eagles in action.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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