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Blog #461 Sneak Peek at Osprey Season 2024

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  Orpheus (L) and Ursula at their Salt Point Nest March 26, courtesy of Cindy Sedlacek. The following is a sneak peek at what this Osprey summer will entail. Our northeastern Ospreys return to their breeding habitats just after the early spring thaw. This year’s first Osprey was seen in Cayuga Lake Basin on March 15, an early date many attribute to  the mild winter. Most nest occupants will have returned to their nests and reunited with their mates by this weekend. These returning Ospreys have just completed their 2,000–4,000-mile migrations from their wintering areas along the coasts of South America and in the wild Amazonian tropics. The range of landscapes that a cosmopolitan Osprey can experience in its lifetime is staggering. In general, the older breeding males arrive on their nests followed by their mates in a few days. After that first wave of older Ospreys arrive, unmated adults and second-year birds migrating north for the first time after spending two years in the South, wil
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Blog #460 The Cost of Migration

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  A female juvenile on migration, courtesy of Cynthia Sedlacek. When the urge to migrate calls, overwhelming instincts steer each Osprey to fly south. This fall migration is primarily triggered by dwindling daylight hours and colder temperatures driving the Osprey’s prey— fresh and saltwater fish—to warmer, deeper, and inaccessible depths. Impending hunger drives the birds on these fantastic journeys. Ospreys are able to perform their remarkable long-distance migrations by alternating between two types of flight methods—gliding flight which is ultimately fueled by solar energy and energy-intensive flapping flight. These diurnal raptors begin their southward flights in the morning as the sun warms the cool night air forming thermals—rising columns  of buoyant air that transfers heat energy upwards.   Ospreys and other gliding birds catch thermal up-drafts close to the ground and ride the rising air currents hundreds of feet aloft. When they reach the peak, the birds soar forward and gli
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Blog # 459 A World of Ospreys

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  Map 1. World-wide autumnal migration patterns of Ospreys, courtesy of Roy Dennis. Where in the world are our Ospreys? Can we say that an Osprey breeding on Cayuga Lake is “our” Osprey or does that honor go to the South American country where they over-winter? Personally, I think the honor goes to their natal site, where the bird was born and returns to breed. Ospreys have a global distribution although many countries have only a few breeding pairs.  Ospreys are evolutionarily far removed from all other raptor species, and placed in their own family,  Pandionidae . The scientific name of the Osprey is  Pandion haliaetus.  There are four subspecies listed below: two are migratory and two are not. North American Osprey, courtesy of Birds of the World. •  North American Osprey,  Pandion haliaetus carolinensis ,  breeds from Alaska to Nova Scotia, south to the Great Lakes states, and along both coasts of the United States. In Minnesota, they are common on northern lakes and along the St.
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