Osprey Tales

 
It’s not the size of the Osprey in the fight, but the size of the fight in the Osprey.

An inexperienced Ozzie flew straight into Ivan’s outstretched talons. They ripped the feathers off the left side of his forehead. He realized he had been lucky and that he must control his rage. Ozzie made a stupendous back flip aerial dive and like an arrow came up from below.

Harriett:

“When love is a unique relationship between two irreplaceable birds, comparison, competition, & replacement are impossible. When we become utterly unique avian beings, no other bird can ever replace us in our loving relationship. As we love more authentically, jealousy disappears.”

Ivan:

Ivan, single, and driven by young adult promiscuity, flew across the North River marsh. He spied Harriett as she was rearranging her nest in preparation for Ozzie’s next delivery. Make no mistake about it, Ivan is a bad actor. He has no scruples. And there was Harriett, alone, attractive as ever, setting up home in the Taj Mahal. It’s no surprise he chose their nest to attack this afternoon.

Ozzie:
“Oh yeah, Harriett. Those are nice words, but those nice words won’t keep that pervert from sharing a nest with you!”

The thought of that stranger in his nest with Harriett made him sick. Blindly furious, deliriously possessed, Ozzie set off to fight. Sometimes a character flaw exist for purpose.

The Battle
The battle took place Sunday. It wasn’t just a fight between the two males; Harriett fought alongside Ozzie the entire time.

The two males jockeyed for position for prolonged periods of time. Every 10-15 minutes one of the males would attack the other, but little damage seemed to occur. It looked like whoever could get an aerodynamic advantage, he would pecked the other.

“Peck?” Thought the Doctor.

“Is this just posturing and intimidation? Or is this a real life struggle?”

The fight was a rare spectacle for the Doctor and his female H sapien.

The Doctor caught bits of it on his new camera. He has a new lens, as you might suspect from these images.

The female H. sapien, that lives with the Doctor in his giant nest, on the bank of the North River, captured video images with her cell phone.

What will Harriett do if Ivan prevails?

Harriett doesn’t want to think about it. She does not have time to think about it. She is fully, actively engaged in the battle.

Coming up next: The Battle of The Taj Mahal…

The Intruder

“This morning, Sunday, Ivan the Terrible intruded into our domain once again.
He made a wide circle around the Taj Mahal, about ½ mile away. I could feel the early rumblings deep within Ozzie.

It’s scary to talk about. Ozzie has always kept it under control, well contained and under close guard. Just thinking about the unleashing of his insanely, irrational fury causes me to take a deep breath and exhale slowly through pursed beak.

This could turn into a bad situation.”

“Take it easy,” whispered Harriett.

But Ozzie could not take it easy. He watched Ivan the Terrible trespassing upon his newly declared fishing grounds and it made his neck feathers rise. Harriett kept as low a profile as possible. She was very much afraid The Brute might try to make eye contact. If Ozzie saw this, she knew it could trigger the unleashing of the monster.

The Brute is a big bird. He outweighs Ozzie by at least 3 pounds. Plus he has spent most of this infamous 5 years fighting and usually getting his way. Harriett breathed deeply. She knows the intensity of Ozzie’s jealousy. She is hoping that this situation might have a nonviolent resolution.

Sorry Harriett; Ivan the Terrible is clearly interested in you.

Oh, no!

Ozzie sees it. This is not going to be pretty.

Three’s a Crowd

“What’s going on out there?” The Doctor asked Harriett. “Who is that interloper?”
Harriet did not want to say, but she felt she must respond; you know, the Taj Mahal and everything. So, she sent a few telepathic thoughts his way. A quick summary:

“This particular bird is a large osprey who carries a bad reputation. He’s well known up and down the coast of North Carolina. His name is Ivan, sometimes known as Ivan the Terrible or The Brute.”

Ivan The Terrible

“Two years ago at the Cape Lookout lighthouse he broke up the home of a sweet, young couple on their first migration North. Rumor has it he killed that young osprey, although some say he barely escaped with his life and was able to find another mate. Last year he drove an older couple from their nest and settled there alone for the entire summer. Some say Ivan the Terrible is just not wired right. Word has it he is some kind of psychopath to be avoided at all cost.

Which brings us back to Ozzie’s weakness. To put it bluntly, if this guy even hints at an interest in me, Ozzie’s blood will boil. And now we have Ivan the Terrible flying around our Taj Mahal. This could be a recipe for disaster. I’m worried!”

“What can I do to help?” Thought back the Doctor”

There’s nothing you can do” Harriett responded.

“I can go buy a gun,” the Doctor’s brain waves were becoming erratic.

No, no, no! Stay out of this. This is our problem, nature’s problem, and we shall deal with it ourselves.”

When the female H. sapien heard of Harriett’s thought transfers, she also urged the Doctor to stay out of it.

“Ozzie has an Achilles’ talon,” says Harriett. “He tries to keep it secret, but of course I know.”

“You know, and I know, Ozzie is an enormously, caring, respectable and loving bird. He is rational, thoughtful and conscientiously lives up to his values. Only I know of this weakness. Ozzie also knows of it.”

“Why I have it, I know not why,” he once told me.
“Self-confidence? Insecurity? I really don’t know.”
“But I know it’s there and I do not want it to be hurtful, especially to you Harriett.”

“Ozzie knows it is dangerous and potentially uncontrollable. Sometimes I have to be careful not to awaken it.  Generally Ozzie has no problem living and interacting socially, and to any other osprey he presents as a well-adjusted upstanding member of the species. He is dignified in his comportment and mien. No one would ever suspect the Green Monster that he hides so skillfully.

I’ve never seen it fully unleashed, thank goodness, because I suspect it would not be a pretty sight. I’m worried about this interloper hanging around our platform. I think it may be Ivan. Ivan, “The Brute”, could easily awaken the monster, unleashing Ozzie’s volatile jealousy with all its blinding fury.”

I don’t want it to happen.”

(But it does)

To be continued…

Osprey are not strictly territorial, as in other fish-eating birds. Fish are a mobile resource, hard to defend, making efficient defense of feeding sites unfeasible.

Male osprey will defend their immediate nest site, sometimes reaching out as far as 0.5 km, but in some situations, where the fish are plentiful osprey will nests “colonially,” with others. (e.g., inland Florida; Lake Istokpoga).

On wintering grounds, individuals are known to congregate where fish are abundant, but are generally more spread out, averaging 0.7 Ospreys/km in coastal mangroves in southeastern Brazil.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ozzie is a little bit different. He has what some birds might consider a character flaw.

The Doctor is at work trying to relieve the pain and suffering of other humans.
The female Homo sapien that lives with him in his giant nest on the bank of the North River is at home. She is keeping nest, protecting family, gathering food, creating a social life, paying bills, making investments and generally eliminating stressors the Doctor does not want to hear about. However, this morning she made an observation that she felt the Doctor must know immediately. Here is a copy of her email.

This is going to be interesting……….we seem to have three ospreys. One on the lower, two on the upper platform.
Female H. sapien, MD, FAAP, CPC

A pleasant ring tone, “Dawn Chorus,” chimed upon the Doctor’s desk.

He didn’t hear it; he never hears the soft pretty sounds that are supposed to attract his attention, even if it’s an arm’s length away, intentionally placed so that he will stop missing important communications. Sometimes when the Doctor works he becomes so absorbed in a particular case, he is oblivious to external stimuli.  It’s like he becomes a humanoid or something.  This peculiar, idiopathic, characteristic has been noted by more than one of his associates.

Nonetheless, at lunch time the Doctor checked his emails.

“What? Three osprey on the Taj Mahal?”
“Oh, no!” Thought the Doctor. “This could be trouble.”
“Are you sure you saw three?”
“I saw three,” Female H. sapien responded coolly, perturbed by the Doctor’s skeptical query.

Osprey nests are large, built of sticks, and lined with bark, grass, algae. A sundry of shore line flotsam and jetsam are frequently found incorporated into their structures: plastic bags, pieces of plastic toys, fishing line and more. Ospreys have a strong desire to carry items back to their nest. They are beachcombers.

Looking at an osprey nest, one can tell how the world has changed. Writing in Ospreys: A Natural and Unnatural History, Alan Poole lists the oddities found in osprey nests in the nineteenth century: a rag doll; a small doormat; a toy sailboat complete with sail; a feather duster; barrel staves and hoops; a boot-jack; 20 feet of hem rope; a blacking brush; a remnant from an oilskin rain slicker; and bleached-out bones from domestic animals like cattle and sheep. Now, in the twenty first century we find: rubber boots; bicycle tires; Hula Hoops; sections of television antennas; bikini tops; styrofoam cups and plastic hamburger containers.

Here are some items used in osprey nest construction over the last couple of years.

Ospreys return from their winter grounds in late March/early April and begin to rebuild their nests. Last year Ozzie arrived March 8, 2014. This year he did not arrive until Pi day, March 14, 2015. And even more remarkable Harriet did not arrive for another 9 days. There has been much speculation among our osprey watchers; why such a difference in arrival times? It seems the consensus points to the exceptionally cold winter in North America December-March 2015.

Osprey like dead trees, and often build their nests in the very topmost branches. Besides tall trees, the birds like utility poles, billboards, communication towers, channel markers, and bridge infrastructure.

Males generally select the nesting sites, which are typically close to water, open to the sky and safe from predators. Ospreys space their nests about one mile apart. They add sticks and branches to their nest every year they return. The male returns first to checkout the nest and start reconstruction. He then waits to greet the female. When she arrives the male will begin a courtship dance to entice her to the nest. The courtship display of the osprey involves aerial acrobatics with the male making repeated flights over the chosen nesting site, whilst clasping nesting material or a fish.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Love Birds
 
O & H

Ospreys are monogamous. Pairs repeatedly return to the same nest site, and often remain together for many years, sometimes, for life. Older individuals and, in particular, pairs that have bred together previously, tend to be more successful than newly formed pairs.

Males return to the breeding grounds before females and check out the nest site. Some males perform aerial displays even before females arrive. The displays, which peak after the female arrives, allow the male to “mark” his territory and to solicit the attention of a female. So called “sky dances” usually begin and end at the nest site, and while performing the display, males usually carry a fish or nesting material and call repeatedly a “creee” or “creeek creee.”

“Sky dances” incorporate undulating flights, which sometimes reach heights of 300 feet or more. At the top of each undulation, males typically hover briefly with their legs dangling and their tails fanned, and then dive downward with their wings drawn in. They may repeat this sequence several times. During courtship, males also provide food for their mates, follow them closely, and chase away other males.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve never seen the Doctor so animated,” thought Harriett.
Ozzie and I were building the foundation for our new nest.

In a moment of spontaneity, Ozzie leaped off the platform and flew straight up, high over our new home.

The Doctor look surprised, but then suddenly he realized Ozzie was about to Sky Dance.
And what a spectacular display did Ozzie perform. He’s always been good at Sky Dancing, but today he provided a magnificent show.

The Doctor jumped up from his rocker. He began yelling for the female H. sapien with whom he lives.
“Come Female H. sapien! Come now!” The Doctor cried anxiously.
“Come now!  You’re going to miss it!” The Doctor yelled.

The Doctor was overly excited.  Ozzie put on a spectacular display of his aerobatic skills. Later he told me he was just bearing witness to his love for me. It was a masterful Sky Dance.

You know, I really love that bird.

Anyway, I was trying to keep one eye on Ozzie and the other on the Doctor.

The Doctor was hooting and hollering, and jumping up and down, and calling for the female H. sapien in such a way I could not help but laugh.

It has really been a wonderful afternoon.

Harriett

“Let me show you how it’s done.”

“Warning:  the last 30 seconds is rated R, for mature audiences only.”

Respectfully,

Harriett