First, I wanted to thank all those who might have been checking our website to see if the Osprey Cam was back up. We’re having a large amount of work done on the Wildlife Drive (which runs near our Osprey Cam) and also along a water impoundment area that is near the base of the cam. This work is required to keep the local rivers from overtaking the road and other visitor areas, so it’s necessary work, although we wish it would move along faster.
I spoke with our ranger this morning about the work near the Osprey Cam, and he said the only thing that remains to be done near the cam is putting the Osprey Cam equipment back into place so we can get the cam up. It will take a few days to do this since some of the equipment is heavy (like the solar panel) and requires a couple people to do the work, but at least it looks like the road work around the cam is done and we’re almost ready to go live.
Our ranger said that this morning he saw eagles on the Osprey Cam platform, so it’s possible our osprey parents have begun migration. Normally if an osprey couple has chicks, the mother will leave for migration first around late August, then the father will stay until his young are ready to leave (usually in September). Then once the young birds strike out for South or Central America, the father osprey will leave too. All the family members will migrate separately, although the young siblings might start out together.
Since our 2008 osprey couple did not have chicks this year, it’s likely they will both leave early, since the male does not have any chicks he has to watch over and help feed. So when our cam comes back online, our birds might be already gone.
But regardless of whether our ospreys are still at the cam or not, the fact is migration season has begun. As I write this, Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania is reporting that they’ve already seen 28 ospreys migrate overhead since August 6. Be sure to visit the Hawk Mountain website to keep tabs on the numbers during their annual Autumn Hawk Watch.
Also, several websites are tracking young ospreys on their first migration. You can visit the Nethy and Deshar website to follow the two osprey fledglings from the famous Loch Garten osprey nest in Scotland. The birds have already begun their migration to Africa, and one of the siblings (Deshar) started out by heading over the North Sea, then realized it was a mistake and turned back toward land. Fortunately he’s now back on track and about to cross the English Channel — ahead of his sister — on his way to Africa for the winter. See the migration map.
You can follow the Loch Garten birds using Google Earth, which is an amazing piece of software that Google offers for free. Visit the Google Earth page on the Loch Garten site for instructions about opening their migration map in the Google Earth software.
Also in Scotland, Logie and her chicks are being tracked on Roy Dennis’ website. At this stage they have lost track of Logie, but they’re not sure if something happened to her or if her transmitter malfunctioned.
By the way, Roy Dennis — one of the world’s leading experts on ospreys (especially from England and Scotland) — has a new book out called “A Life of Ospreys.” You can order one by emailing the address on his website; you can also get one from Amazon or from a third-party bookseller in the U.S. (look for “used and new” on the Amazon page). It’s a beautiful book, and if you love ospreys, I think you’ll definitely enjoy it.
In addition to the Scottish birds being tracked, Rob Bierregaard, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is tracking a set of young ospreys from the East Coast of the U.S., and you can follow his tracking updates on his 2008 osprey migration web page.
As for other osprey nests, it was a bit of a tough year in some places. For those who remember me mentioning the two Finland Osprey Cams, one of the cams had an unfortunate tragedy. A white-tailed eagle (the closest cousin to our American bald eagle) came in and attacked the youngest chick. The next day it returned and took the chick away. Here is a photo of the eagle.
At the Woods Hole Osprey Cam nest in Massachusetts they also had some tragedy. A few days after Rob Bierregaard successfully tagged Sheri — one of the three fledglings at the nest — she suddenly appeared in the nest in some kind of distress. She was then found on the ground with two severely injured legs and had to be euthanized. The only guess is that while learning to dive for food, she misjudged her target and possibly hit some rocks or another hard surface.
Unfortunately even after young ospreys survive the tough competition in their home nests, they then have to face the dangers of learning to fish, learning to fly, and migrating thousands of miles to a distant land. It’s a tough world out there.
As for our nests, I did want to remind folks that for now, you can still see our Eagle Cam on the WildCam.com website (registration is free). We share our camera feed with them, and since they have a bit more money than we do, they’ve decided to keep the cam feed up for now. So be sure to check in occasionally. If you do, you might see one of our eagle parents checking in at the nest. We have no idea where the big weeds came from in the bottom of the nest, but they’ll probably be gone when we go live again in November. For now, it looks like the eagles have a little garden at their nest, which is 80 feet up in the air!
As a final treat, I did want to mention that photographer Bob Quinn was out at Blackwater Refuge earlier this month and captured some wonderful photos of our summertime wildlife. Thanks again to Bob for sharing his photos with us.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster
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eagles, wildlife refuge, osprey cam, osprey cams, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland
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