Blog # 297 Osprey Spring Migrations

Tired Osprey returns from spring migration, courtesy of Andy Morffew. 

Ospreys are arriving at their nests in the Cayuga Lake Basin, looking ragged, hungry,  and exhausted—and they should. The birds have just completed a rugged northward  marathon migration flying thousands of miles nearly nonstop into storms, high winds,  and through hazardous situations.  

Osprey, flying north from South America (see map below), make long-distance  overwater crossings of 400-700 miles across the Gulf of Venezuela before resting briefly in Haiti, Jamaica, or Cuba. This tiring flight typically takes 25–40 hours and  involves risky nighttime travel. The birds travel as much as 5,000 miles from the  Amazon basin, across the Caribbean past Cuba and the Florida keys, and up the  Atlantic Coast before they end up at their breeding sites, which can be as far as  northern Canada. This is an incredible winged migration that normally takes two to three  weeks from start to finish.

Route of Spring Migrations for a number of Ospreys returning to Massachusetts and Maine. 

Spring migrations are short and fast paced compared to fall migrations as there’s great  competition for prime nesting sites. Timing is everything if you want to acquire a healthy 

mate and a first-rate nesting site. Coley, an Osprey equipped with a solar-powered GPS  tracking device, demonstrated how fast an Osprey is capable of flying during their  spring migration. Coley was clocked flying from Colombia, South America, to Jamaica  Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. That’s 2,600 miles over 15 days —173 miles per  day.  

Migrating Osprey grabbing a bite to eat en route home, courtesy of Andy Morffew. 

Even though Ospreys generally mate for life, their primary loyalty is to their nest. If their  established mate dies or disappears during spring migration after a week or so on the  nest the resident Osprey’s pair bond with its mate weakends prompting it to accept the  advances of another Osprey. This is where an unmated intruder or “floater” Osprey  steps in. 

A would-be mate-takeover was illustrated by another male, Coley II, who took 20  days—five more days than Coley—to migrate north to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. When he arrived, he found his long-standing mate being courted by another male  Osprey, with designs on his nesting platform. Fortunately, Coley II arrived just in time to  retrieve his long-standing female partner and reinforce their pair bond. Another day or 

two of absence and the outcome may have caused Coley II to locate a new mate and a  new nest. 

Along migration, Ospreys have many dangerous issues to deal with. One major hazard  is weather, especially when crossing large bodies of water. The birds can be blown off  course by a severe thunderstorm or windstorm. This event will drain limited fat reserves  (fuel) and put an Osprey at risk of being too weak to continue. Ospreys cannot land on  the water to rest like a gull. If an Osprey gets tired over the open water, it will  drown. According to researcher Rob Bierregaard, one tired Osprey attempted to rest  and “ended up on a ship that took it to Portugal.”  

Cover of Rob Bierregaard’s book, a true story about Osprey migration. 

To get a more intimate view of the migration, read Rob’s Belle’s Journey, an Osprey Takes Flight. From 2010-2017 Belle completed 6 migrations from Massachusetts to the  Amazon Basin in South America, with a total distance traveled of 82,961 miles (more  than three times around the globe), and a total migration distance of more 50,000 miles.  Along the way, Belle survived a major hurricane and several storms and avoided  numerous threats from humans and other animals, including a hungry alligator. It’s a  good read.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PROTECT OSPREYS:  

• AVOID GETTING TOO CLOSE TO NESTING SITES DURING THE BREEDING SEASON. IF AN ANIMAL  VOCALIZES WHEN YOU'RE NEAR, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE! BACK OFF IMMEDIATELY. 

• CARRY BINOCULARS TO VIEW WILDLIFE FROM AFAR. 

• RESTORE, CLEAN, AND PRESERVE LAKESHORE AND WETLAND HABITAT. • HELP KEEP LOCAL WATERS CLEAN, HEALTHY, AND SAFE. 

• RECYCLE USED FISHING LINE, WHICH CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO OSPREY.  

• JOIN THE CAYUGA OSPREY NETWORK AND VOLUNTEER TO HELP MONITOR OSPREY NESTS. WRITE TO: CEC222@GMAIL.COM. 

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace  

Candace E. Cornell  

Friends of Salt Point  

Lansing, NY  

cec222@gmail.com  

EYES ON OSPREYS 

WATCH! 

Coming Soon! Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam 2021 

READ! 

On Osprey Time Ospreys of Salt Point 

VISIT! 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail

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