Blog # 282 What it is like to be an adult Osprey? Part 3 Inner Messages

 Many of us look to the sky to see a flock of birds flying by assuming they were like  robots going about their business. Robots, indeed! Birds are living, breathing, thinking,  sensing animals not that different than for us humans in many ways. An Osprey’s  experience is far richer, more complex, more deliberate, and thoughtful way than  humans ever imagined. Their lives are filled with obligations and risks, posing  challenges to surviving and having a successful family life. 

Ophelia gently feeding fish to Lucky (left) while Hope waits (right).  

Screenshot from the Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

Ospreys interact with the environment and make decisions constantly. Nest building, for  example, is instinctive and even nestlings get into the act, moving sticks and grass  around. The decision of where to build a nest is based on numerous parameters involving food availability, visibility, available substrates, and protection from predators.  However, Ospreys constantly adapt their nest building to the environment, assessing 

the location, finding appropriate natural or human-made substrates, sources of available  building materials, and adjusting insulating grasses, moss and other insulating materials  with the temperature.  

Orpheus and Ophelia continue bringing building materials to the nest all season. Screenshot from the Salt  Point Osprey Nest Cam.

The word “instinct” to many people connotes a blind obedience. Instinctual behaviors  are passed down through generations by instructions contained in our genes, but these  do not make animals zombie-like automatons. Eating, sleeping, and providing for our  families are instinctual behaviors, but carrying out these behaviors involves a plethora of  decisions. The singular instinct to breed triggers a cascade of biological urges—to  choose a mate, establish a nesting territory, locate and build a nest, procreate, and  raise a family—that are modified by the individual animal, be it a human or an Osprey.  Instead of blind obedience, instincts are more subtle, allowing for the individual flexibility  and choices. 

We can only guess what it is like to be an Osprey by comparing it to being human.  Watching Ospreys, I am constantly surprised by both the similarities and differences  between the two species. 

Orpheus delivers a fish to his hungry family. Screenshot from the Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

A young fledgling from the Salt Point nest demonstrated the power of instinct two years  ago. After Orpheus delivered to the nest and flew off. Instead of eating the fish, the  young fledgling male took the bright goldfish and suddenly flew up into the air flapping his wings rapidly, hovering, dropping, and flying upwards again all the while screeching 

"eeeedle-eet". He was performing a sky dance—an early-season courtship behavior  performed by adult males to impress their mates or available females! The fledgling was  not imitating the dance, as he was not even an egg when this behavior was being  enacted by the adults. This is a behavior that is deeply encoded in his DNA. But there is  more to it. There was something about his excitement in having that bright gold fish that  made him want to display it, to be seen by other Ospreys. The fledgling was clearly  saying "look at me and my fish" with a degree of satisfaction. 

A look of “satisfaction” after catching a fish, courtesy of Kristofer Rowe. 

Researchers are investigating how instincts motivate feelings in birds, feelings that are  common in the animal world—satisfaction, attraction to mates, anxiety, pride,  happiness, fear, and sadness. This is anthropomorphic, of course, but it explains the  complex decisions that birds make every day as they balance competing needs such as  finding food while minimizing effort and risk. How would you describe the feeling of well being Orpheus feels while guarding his family as they busily consume the fish he  provided? I imagine he has an avian version of a sense of pride.

juvenile with attitude, courtesy of Andy Morffew. 

Instincts provide the instructions and suggestions, but the bird makes the decision  based on additional available information. We describe these feelings using human  words, but underneath the language they are all just feelings, just biochemical reactions  to stimuli. It gets particularly sticky when humans qualify feelings, with adjectives such  as “deep,” “over-whelming,” or “everlasting.” For the birds, it is a simple feeling—no  poetics—just an emotion arising from a chain of biochemical signals instigated as a  reaction to something in the environment. 

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace 

Candace E. Cornell  

Friends of Salt Point  

Lansing, NY 

cec222@gmail.com

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On Osprey Time (blog) 

Ospreys of Salt Point 

  

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