This is going to be the final web log post for this 2008 Osprey Cam season. Our osprey pair is long gone, and most of the ospreys in the Mid-Atlantic Region have begun migration. In fact, many have already finished migration and are now in Central and South America where they will spend the winter. We expect to see ospreys reappearing at Blackwater Refuge in March of 2009, and hopefully our returning parents will have better luck at the Osprey Cam in the new year.
I just updated our Eagle Cam and Osprey Cam galleries. We’ve now closed the 2008 Eagle Cam Gallery, and in the final update you’ll see some interesting shots of our parents returning to the nest to check things out. The parents aren’t there much right now, but it’s nice to see that they’re still watching over their home nest.
You can still see the Eagle Cam on our partner’s website at WildCam.com, but note that the cam is now showing a DVD recap of the 2008 Eagle Cam season (the DVD is actually playing on the monitor at the Blackwater Refuge Visitor Center, but WildCam picks up the feed on their website). So if you see images of eaglets on their cam, just remember those are images from earlier this year.
I also updated the Osprey Cam Gallery with photos that were sent before the cam went down (when the road was being worked on beneath the cam) and also photos that were sent in recently. I wanted to point out a few of the more interesting shots here.
When the bald eagles are sitting on the Osprey Cam platform, we often see them calling out, and folks wonder if they’re yelling at each other or at other birds. It’s hard to know since we can’t see what’s going on around them, but it’s likely they’re calling out to other birds that might be near the platform. Sometimes we also see them calling out after they’ve brought in a fish, to announce their catch and the fact that it belongs to them.
Cam watchers have also noticed that sometimes a fish is left uneaten in the nest, and an eagle is sometimes there watching over it. It’s possible the fish is meant to be an offering for the female, and the male is leaving it there for her.
Also, cam watchers have seen both the bald eagles and the turkey vultures holding out their wings while perched on the platform. The birds might be trying to dry their wings or expose their feathers to the sun, which can help remove parasites and help with feather repair.
We did see a couple good turkey vulture shots in this last update. Here we see what looks like a squabble between the vultures, and here we get a great close-up of a turkey vulture’s face. He probably saw his reflection in the camera lens.
Final Osprey Migration Update
Finally, I wanted to offer an update on the latest news we’ve heard about migrating ospreys that were outfitted with satellite transmitters. First, we’ll look at the Mid-Atlantic ospreys that Rob Bierregaard (from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte) tagged.
Duke was last in Panama, having crossed the Caribbean Sea, and he appears to be safe. Penelope made it to South America, and Rob is reporting that she is about 50 miles into Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana). And Goody, Meadow, L.R, and Mittark are still up north, and haven’t made a serious move south yet.
In Scotland, we’ve been following the adventures of European ospreys as they make their way towards Africa. From the famous Loch Garten nest in Scotland, we have good news and bad news about the young siblings Nethy and Deshar. Nethy appears to be close to moving into Africa on her first migration, but Deshar appears to have been lost in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Deshar headed out on a strange course away from the mainland (possibly blown out by strong winds), and although the Loch Garten fans were hoping the young bird would find the Azores (a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean) or a ship on which to land, on September 30, the Loch Garten blog was reporting that his readings were zero altitude and zero speed, indicating that he apparently crashed into the ocean and was lost. The blog reported the last moments of Deshar as the following:
He started to show signs of movement at 9am on 26th September, he started at a course of 220 degrees at a speed of 67kph at 238m above sea level. If he had been at 210 degrees it is likely he would have hit France, I suspect the course was very much due to the weather conditions which showed quite a strong north-easterly wind on that day. He flew for 104 hours non-stop before unfortunately plunging into the North Atlantic Ocean at 17.00 on 30th September, on his 104 hour flight he covered 4,185kms (2600 miles).
At the Highland Foundation for Wildlife in Scotland, they are also following several ospreys tagged with satellite transmitters. They lost the signal for Logie, their adult female, early on and they’re not sure if something happened to her or to her transmitter. The also lost contact with Logie’s chick named Glen and another bird named Thistle, who appears to have been lost at sea. Logie’s other chick — Moray — was found dead in a ditch in September. Their blog reports the following about Moray’s condition and death:
Martin Scott emailed to say the young osprey weighed 870 grams, which is very light - he weighed 1446 grams in July and should have gained a little weight post-fledging, but his journey was very difficult in bad weather and he probably failed to catch fish sufficiently to feed himself and his weakened condition may have caused him to be hit by a vehicle. As can be seen from the map above, Moray left the nesting area in poor weather and was then subject to the vagaries of the weather, being blown in different directions by prevailing winds and migrating blindly in overcast wet and windy conditions. Unfortunately he did not find a sheltered place to rest and fish, and wait for clear weather. This shows the difficulties for migratory birds leaving Scotland when the weather is against them.
As for the good news, their young osprey Heather appears to have successfully made it to Spain, and their male adult Nimrod appears to be in France.
As we can see from these accounts, migration is a very tough business for both young ospreys and adults. Weather plays a big role in their success, as does the ability of young birds to stay safe and feed themselves on their first migration. In addition, human activities — such as shooting of raptors (especially in parts of Europe, Africa, and Central and South America) — can also play a big role in whether ospreys survive to return for another breeding season.
Having said that, some folks might naturally wonder why anyone would ever shoot a beautiful osprey. Possible reasons include: 1) for food or sport, 2) because the ospreys are taking fish from a fish farm and 3) because in some areas, all raptors are seen as a threat to domestic animals — even if they really aren’t.
So even while we enjoy watching our bald eagles on the Osprey Cam (where they can perch now that our ospreys have migrated), we still think of our ospreys, both from this year and from years past, and we hope they have found a safe place to spend their winter until they can return to us next March.
I want to thank everyone for tuning in this year, even though our osprey pair didn’t produce any young. And although the web log is closing, I will keep the gallery open, so feel free to send in your photos from the cam. If you’ve never submitted photos from the cams before, you can visit our instruction page to learn how.
Thanks again!
Lisa - webmaster
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Tags:
ospreys, eagles, wildlife refuge, osprey cam, migration, Blackwater Refuge, Maryland
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