August 18, 2007
First Adult Eagle
A few days ago we spotted our first view of an adult bald eagle sitting on the osprey platform. He wasn't there long, but it was great to see him. We've also noticed our resident female (with the almost invisible necklace) has not been seen much, meaning it's possible she has started migration. We have seen another female or two on the nest, including one with a very noticeable necklace. We're not sure who these birds are exactly, but it's clear that as we get into late August, ospreys will begin moving around their home areas and then heading south, so we might see some different birds on the nest.
And speaking of migration, Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania is reporting that an osprey was seen last week flying past the South Lookout. Be sure to keep an eye on the Hawk Mountain website as their Autumn Hawk Watch has started, and they'll be keeping tabs on all the ospreys and eagles that fly over, along with other birds. For those who don't know about Hawk Mountain, it's part of a mountain ridge that is popular with birds on the East Coast during migration season, and the hawk watchers there see many ospreys fly over as the birds use the mountain thermals to make migrating a bit easier.
Things have been somewhat quiet on the many Internet osprey cams as the fledglings are now out and about, trying to master flying and fishing. Fortunately we have seen some entertaining interactions at the Connecticut Audubon Osprey Cam, including a photo of the two fledglings fighting over a fish, and a photo of one chick grabbing a fish from the parent (note that the parent also appears to have brought seaweed-like material to the nest). We also saw a great photo showing an osprey flying toward the nest with a fish in its talons. And we saw one photo with a sailboat going by; I don't think the ospreys were expecting company! Another photo showed the mother watching a chick that was eating a fish by starting at the head (a common place for ospreys to start eating). And we saw another photo showing a great close-up of the chick's face and orange eyes.
Several cam watchers have asked if the chest coloring on these two chicks means one is female and one is male. Necklaces on North American immature ospreys are not the best indicators of gender. There have been reports of chicks with necklaces migrating south and returning with adult feathers and no necklaces -- meaning they were male all along. Without a blood test, the best indicator of gender at this age is size. These immature ospreys are about full grown, so if they are as big as their mother, then they are likely female. If they're noticeably smaller, then they're likely male.
On the Finland Osprey Cam, we saw a nice shot of the immature osprey's feathers, as well as a photo of a parent coming in with a fish and the chick taking it and mantling over it. And we also saw photos showing a common crane in the background. In addtion, we just recently saw photos showing a moose in the background!
We also discovered a new osprey cam based in Jamestown, Rhode Island with a family of three young, which have all successfully fledged. One of our cam watchers happened to see this nest in person and sent us this wonderful photo showing the family. You can see the camera on the right, just beneath the perching father.
Finally, I wanted to mention that Rob Bierregaard, with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is now tracking a new set of immature ospreys as they begin migration. Rob is the person whose ospreys were featured in the Animal Planet special called "Incredible Journeys: Osprey Odyssey." The ospreys have transmitters attached to them and satellites will be relaying data back to Rob as the birds make their way south (two birds are from Delaware and three from Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts). You can follow the tracking updates for each bird on Rob's website. Click on the new birds' names to see the maps showing their migration patterns. Most of them are still just exploring their home areas at this point and have yet to take off down the coast.
Other Animal Cams
We normally focus on ospreys and eagles in our web logs, but now that ospreys are beginning to migrate and eagles have long since left the nest, I thought I'd mention a few other great animal cams that you might want to check out until our action picks up again. Here are just a few:
- San Diego Zoo Panda Cam -- a new panda cub was just born
- Pete's Pond -- features a waterhole in Africa
- Grizzly Bear Cam -- shows bears in Alaska
- Orca Live -- features audio of orca whales in Johnston Strait, Canada
- Peregrine Falcon Cam in Australia -- mother has just laid an egg
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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