Osprey Tales

Hello Mr. bluebird,
It’s very nice of you,
to grace my yard with beauty,
And that of your lady too.

Several years ago, before The Doctor and I developed our unique form of telepathy, he would leave his office window open so I could use his keyboard.

At the time the female H. sapiens that lives with The Doctor was unaware of our arrangement. Fortunately she is a sound sleeper and never did pick up upon it.

Now, I’m not bragging but, I can hunt and peck, and click and shift, backspace and delete, and click, click, tab, #, punctuate, back click, forward click and Ctrl-Alt- Del with the best of them. I know what you’re thinking. You only have four talons, but I can pic/peck with my beak faster than you can blink your eyes.

Well, as some of you know, The Doctor has a bad knee which is taking him away from his obligatory osprey reporting. To compensate, he has left his office window open; so I will be communicating directly with you.

A few facts:

Age at first breeding: 3-5 years

On average, the period from first mating to egg laying is:
1st Egg 16 days
2nd Egg 19 days
3rd Egg 22 days
Number of eggs: Usually 3
Size of eggs (mm): 62 x 46

Incubation period: 35-42 days

Fledging period: 53 days

I hope to lay my first egg this week.  Keep a look out!  And thanks for reading.

Harriett O. Raptor

Camera # 1

http://northriverdeckcam.axiscam.net:9000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=686

Camera # 2

http://northriverosprey.axiscam.net:8000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=221

Doctor’s Platform

North River Carteret Co.  NC

Latitude: 34.7286515079363

Longitude:             -76.6212389981747

hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com

Adult male Ospreys arrive at their nesting sites a few days before the females.  Together they build or rebuild their nest from last year.  After a brief courtship,  the female settles into her nest and continues to make it comfortable.  If all goes well, eggs are laid.  There will be only one brood each year.

Incubation
Incubation begins when the first egg is laid.  Subsequent eggs are laid one to three days apart; clutches have 2-4 eggs.  The female usually takes on most of the responsibility of incubation, seldom leaving except to feed. The male then takes over incubation until her return. Incubation takes from 34 –  40 days.

Nestling Period
50–55 days
The first chick to hatch has an advantage over the siblings which hatch a day or two later.  The first chick grows quickly and can dominate the nest.  In years when the food supply is low, the dominant first chick can usurp the available food supply to the peril of the smaller siblings. This insures that at least one of the year’s brood might survive. The chicks are brooded by the female for approximately ten days. The young are too large to fit under her by this time.  She will continue to protect them by covering the young with her wing.

Condition at Hatching
Capable of limited motion. Covered with down and with eyes open.

Division of Labor
The male, dedicated to providing for his family, does all of the hunting until the chicks are six weeks old.  The male delivers the fish to the female on the nest who tears off pieces to feed to the young. At three to four weeks of age the chicks start to exercise their wings by holding onto the edge of the nest and flapping their wings. Mom then moves to a near by perch to guard the nest.  The female may leave the nest to hunt when the chicks are six weeks old. The young start to feed themselves at this time.

Fledging
At seven to eight weeks of age the young will take their first flight. They spend their days practicing flying and perching near the male’s feeding perch calling when the male returns with food.  Two weeks after fledging the young will start to follow the male on hunting trips.  Four to eight weeks after fledging the young Osprey will start to emulate their parents and begin to hunt fish on their own.

Camera # 1
http://northriverdeckcam.axiscam.net:9000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=686

Camera # 2
http://northriverosprey.axiscam.net:8000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=221

Thanks for Reading

Harriett O. Raptor
Doctor’s Platform
North River Carteret Co.  NC
Latitude:                34.7286515079363
Longitude:             -76.6212389981747
hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com

“Wow! Where did this cold weather come from? And the wind! Hey, it’s blowing 12-14 miles per hour here at the Taj Mahal. If you’re watching the camera, you can see we’re hunkered down. See how we always face directly into the wind; our bodies are like a wind vane. Notice the platform is moving a bit too. But the nest is just as secure as it can be. I give Ozzie the credit for bringing such perfect sticks with which I can work. Ozzie is sweet. He gives me credit for constructing the perfect nest.”

The Doctor’s first platform

Ospreys have traditionally nested in the bare branches of dead trees. Typical nest sites are dead or relatively open live trees, in or within a few kilometers of open water.

Regarding dead trees, ospreys have a penchant for tall trees devoid of their upper branches. They settle on top of the exposed trunk, giving them 360 degrees of visibility.

Channel markers are favorite osprey nesting sites.

Any place, high, safe, with a wide field of vision and plenty of fish will do:

Camera # 1

http://northriverdeckcam.axiscam.net:9000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=686

Camera # 2

http://northriverosprey.axiscam.net:8000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=221

Harriett O. Raptor

Doctor’s Platform

North River Carteret Co.  NC

Latitude:                34.7286515079363

Longitude:             -76.6212389981747

hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com

http://northriverdeckcam.axiscam.net:9000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=686

http://northriverosprey.axiscam.net:8000/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=221

“Can you believe how quickly we constructed our nest this year? We had the foundation, structure and shape completed within 10 days! Ozzie and I sure know how to build a nest. This comes from several years of practice. You may remember our first few attempts. :-). We sure have come a long way since then. Today, as you can see we have started putting in some soft grass and seaweed. Ozzie really seems intent to give justice to the Taj Mahal.”

Ospreys require nest sites in open surroundings for easy approach, with a wide, sturdy base and safety from ground predators (such as raccoons). Nests are usually built on snags, treetops, or crotches between large branches and trunks; on cliffs or human-built platforms. Usually the male finds the site before the female arrives.
Osprey nests are built of sticks and lined with bark, sod, grasses, vines, algae, or flotsam and jetsam. The male usually fetches most of the nesting material—sometimes breaking dead sticks off nearby trees as he flies past—and the female arranges it. Nests on artificial platforms, especially in a pair’s first season, are relatively small—less than 2.5 feet in diameter and 3–6 inches deep.

Wow! I don’t know what has gotten into Ozzie this year. He is acting a bit strange. Just think about it. He arrives three weeks early; he is obviously glad to see me, puts on a lack luster Sky dance, then practically has our nest built in a week. And it’s not even April!

And good grief, the kisses. Those fabulous cloacal kisses. He is all over me. Not that I mind; he is really good at it, and I can’t help admitting that I like it. But for goodness sake, enough is enough! If I’m not fertile now, the cow never jumped over the moon.

Ozzie’s sky dance was almost perfunctory this year. Already he has won me over, has my heart, and he knows it. Unfortunately, he also knows I’m crazy in love with him. He hasn’t put on much of a show this year since, but we both know it is not necessary; I know he loves me too.

However, compare that to last year, and the year before that and that!  Whew!

Those first few years, he really put on a show. While trying to impress me, Ozzie can fly directly up, over the remnants of our old nest and put on an aerial display unequaled to any other.

When he is really in the mood, Ozzie can fly straight up 600 feet or more at great speed, beating his wings rapidly, often carrying a fish or piece of nesting material. At that height he hovers five, maybe ten minutes, with his tail fanned and talons dangling. Then he dives like a rocket down varying distances and quickly ascends to repeat the hover-dive senerio several more times. He usually screams out “creee” or “cheeerk” as he performs.  It fills our territory, alerting any other suitors to beware..

Sometimes Ozzie the will catch a huge flounder or trout and fly circles around our nest. “Cree! cree!”, he calls attention to himself. What a braggart! I can’t blame him though. He is the most expert fishermen, far and away, up and down the Atlantic sea coast. And he’s not modest about it either! He is an unabashed, cocky, show off when he boastfully dances in the sky.  But hey, it’s a lot of fun and providing plenty of food is the sort of thing I like in a mate.

Great News!
The cameras are up and operational. If you want to follow Ozzie and me, go to the blog page and “Subscribe by email.” The link to the cameras are just below the “Subscribe by E-mail”. You should be able to get to the Blog page anytime from https://ospreytaleteller.com/

The cameras are there, so is the story.
Wish me good luck! I love you all.

Harriett O. Raptor
Doctor’s Platform
North River Carteret Co. NC
Latitude: 34.7286515079363
Longitude: -76.6212389981747
hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com

Many H. sapiens don’t realize how perilous migration can be for birds.  They just chalk it up to something we do and go about their business. Bird migration is usually not even on the minds of modern-day H. sapiens.  But, I want to tell you, there are many deadly threats along the way. Here are a few of the dangers my species and I face twice a year:

• Exhaustion: We fly hundreds of miles during migration, often covering large distances without rest. Exhaustion can make us less wary of potential threats, and tired birds are more apt to collide with obstacles or falter in flight. This is especially true if the birds’ flight path passes through storms or unfavorable wind patterns, or if we are migrating later in the season and must cover more ground each day to reach our destination.

• Starvation: Inadequate food supplies cause starvation among many migrating osprey every year. This can be caused by habitat destruction that effectively strands us without food along our route, or it may be a result of greater feeding competition among large masses of other migratory birds.

• Collisions: Many of us collide with obstacles in mid-flight during both spring and fall migrations, and the majority of these collisions cause fatal injuries. Even if we are not killed on impact or from our injuries, stunned we are more susceptible to predators. The most common obstacles that are hazardous to migrating osprey include tall buildings, electrical wires and poles, wind turbines and similar structures. Birds that migrate at night are more likely to collide with lighted windows or other light sources. We don’t fly at night.

• Predators: Predators kill many of us each year. During migration, we are often unaware of local predators at stopovers during our journey.

• Disease: When migrating birds gather in large flocks, a disease outbreak can be devastating. This can be even more detrimental when surviving birds carry the illness to either breeding grounds or densely populated winter ranges, when more birds may become infected and the overall population can be decimated.

• Pollution: Pollution such as lead poisoning, oil spills and DDT is not only harmful to locally affected birds, but to migratory birds as well. Polluted habitats provide less food, and birds that ingest toxins during migration may continue to suffer from the poisonous effects longer after leaving the area. Furthermore, heavy pollution will reduce available food supplies and suitable habitat, making it more difficult for birds to complete their migration successfully.

• Natural Disasters: Hurricanes, blizzards, wildfires and other natural disasters can destroy crucial stopover and rest sites as well as destroying food sources birds need to refuel along their journeys. Osprey that are caught in these disasters can suffer other effects that cause injury, debilitation or death, such as singed feathers in a wildfire or freezing in an early or late blizzard.

• Hunting: Many hunting seasons coincide with migration periods, making this perilous time even more threatening for birds. Illegal hunting and poaching are also a threat at this time, and even legitimate hunters may make mistakes and inadvertently shoot an osprey that they have misidentified in flight.

• Inexperience: An osprey’s own inexperience with migration can be a great threat to its success and survival. Many juvenile birds make these long journeys without guidance from adults, and they may not be able to complete the trip if they are unsuccessful in finding adequate food or if they stray too far from the typical migration route. Straying far off course is a death sentence for a young osprey.

I have made this round trip seven times and I’ve seen more than I want to have seen.  I can give you many specific events/tragedies, but it is all very depressing. I must keep my spirits up until I get home. I can’t wait to see Ozzie; I really love that bird. It will be nice to be near The Doctor too.  He always has something interesting to discuss, and he likes to tell me how his winter months have been.”

Harriett O. Raptor

Doctor’s Platform

North River Carteret Co.  NC

Latitude:                34.7286515079363

Longitude:             -76.6212389981747

hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com

                                                                  Harriett O. Raptor

8-year-old mother of five, lifelong mate of Ozzie Raptor, fluent in telepathy with The Doctor and possessor of genetic memory.  She is an intellectual, a scholar, philosopher and thinker; a wise, learned osprey especially distinguished for her expertise on the H. sapiens problem.

Ozzie is Home

“Wow, I can’t believe it! Ozzie’s already there? My goodness, I’m way behind. One moment please……….

Ah ha!  You are right. I better get a move on.  Heck, I haven’t even gotten to the Caribbean Sea.

“I sense the doctor is distressed about something. Is he having pain? Perhaps in his right knee? Or is it he just has not gotten the cameras working yet. He’s hard to read some time when he’s not telepathically engaged.”

Harriett O. Raptor

Doctor’s Platform

North River Carteret Co.  NC

Latitude:                34.7286515079363

Longitude:             -76.6212389981747

hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com