Blog #284 Getting Ready

 O Orpheus brings a brown bullhead for dinner. Screen shot from Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

Hope (50 days old) and Lucky (47 days old) have been busy building up wing muscles  and coordinate their wing and foot movements. In just over a week or so, usually around  60 days old, the young birds will take their first flights. They have been practicing flying, 

but need to work on their wing coordination and power strokes. Flight training is a  serious business as they race toward fledging.  

Family gathered at evening, (L-R) Lucky, Orpheus, Hope, and Ophelia. 

Screen shot from Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

Hope and Lucky are now considered “fledglings” as they prepare for their first flights in a  week or two. Now the size of their parents with a full complement of adult feathers, the  only thing holding them back is their muscle strength. Normally the fledglings would be  spending much of their time practicing wing flapping in the nest, but the July doldrums  have set in with temperatures in the 90s.

Hope, at 40 days, is slightly bigger than Lucky, who tends to have more of a cinnamon  wash on the nape of his neck. Screen shot from Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

Despite their instincts to exercise their wings and practice flying, hot weather reduces  their motivation to exercise and increases the risk of overheating. Hope and Lucky practice their wing flapping in the early morning until the heat of the day and sleep takes  over. Weather reports call for days in the 90s, challenging the fledglings all the more. 

Hope practices flapping in the early hours of the day. Screen shot from Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam.

Lucky follows, playing the flapping game. Screen shot from Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

Lucky exercises after Hope, copy-cat style, which is typical of a younger sibling.  Whatever one sibling tries, the other follows suit. 

It’s common that a chance breeze lifts the Osprey fledgling while exercising off of the  nest a few inches. This can happen repeatedly, giving the young bird a sense of flying.  If the breeze is strong enough and the bird responds by rapidly flapping its wings, the  fledgling may take its first awkward flight. First flights are typically clumsy, end quickly, and, hopefully, with the fledgling landing back in the nest or on a nearby perch.  

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace 

Candace E. Cornell  

Friends of Salt Point  

Lansing, NY 

cec222@gmail.com

ALL EYES ON OSPREYS 

WATCH! 

Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam 

READ! 

On Osprey Time 

Ospreys of Salt Point 

VISIT! 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail

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