Blog #340 One Lunar Cycle

Early breakfast at the nest. Rosie is eating with Olan on her left, Lilibit on the right.

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Just think, it’s only been a month—one lunar cycle—since Rosie came out of her shell!  The nearly helpless, downy newborn, unable to hold up her head, resembles her  parents now and is learning to flap her wings. Life at the nest is laid back for Rosie and  her siblings Olan and Lilibit, one day blending into the next, as the chicks transform into  full adult birds. In two weeks they will be full-grown. Days revolve around meals with  little awake time in between. The chicks are literally maturing as they lay there napping  in the nest, increasing in size and mass, and filling in their adult feathers.  

Orpheus (on perch) and Ophelia guard the nest against an aerial intruder. 

Ophelia stands guard over her brood in the mombrella pose, holding her wings partially  out to create shade for her offspring. As the weeks pass, the chicks are outgrowing her shadow. From the outside, their days are uneventful, but the morphological changes the  chicks are undergoing are progressing at a phenomenal rate. Orpheus has done a  stellar job of supplying protein-rich fish to his family this summer, bringing home large specimens of white sucker, catfish, trout, carp, perch, and other fish species.

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All three chicks are stretching and about to open their wings, making for a very crowded house. 

Nest life has a languid quality, as the hot weather limits activities. The chicks are steadily increasing their muscle mass and developing coordination, which is evidenced  by their increasingly sophisticated movements. It is a marvelous process. Young chicks,  such as Lilibit (28 days), demonstrate this in their body mechanics. When about to rise,  the little ones stretch, putting their heads down while propping up their torsos on their  bent wrists, and raising their rumps as if to defecate. From there they swing backward  and into an upright position. Rosie is developmentally past this stage and is also able to  stand up directly from a prone position. Olan, three days behind Rosie in age and  development, is just starting to try this. Rosie is also able to walk around on her feet as  adults do, while her younger siblings still walk on their forearms.  

Such coordinated movements require interrelated organs and structures to function  harmoniously. Flying, for instance, requires far more than just wing muscles. It involves  many systems of the body, which will be addressed in the next installment, Blog 341  Adaptations for Flight 

The young birds have also been exercising their wings more often as they learn to  control their body movements. Outstretched wings can be over four feet wide making for  a crowded nest when all three young ones stretch out. Rosie has added

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Winged chaos on the nest. 

flapping to her wing exercises and not a moment too soon, as fledging is a little more than two weeks.  Much wing development and control must be gained before then. Rosie and her siblings know  instinctively the mechanics of flight; the subtleties of steering, banking, and landing can only be practiced once the birds have taken to the air. If the fledgling misses the  nest and lands on the ground, it may have initial difficulty getting back in the air.  However, the young birds practice jumping up and flapping (called helicoptering by nest  cam watchers) in the nest in preparation for such difficult land takeoffs.* 

During the next two weeks, observing the activity in the nest should reveal many of  these preparatory exercises of the young all geared toward maximizing their muscle  strength and coordination for flight. When it comes time for fledging, typically the eldest  sibling is the first to fly and the smallest is the last. Statistically, however, it is the male  chicks that fledge first in part because of their lower mass.

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Ophelia feeding Rosie with Olan ready to grab a bite. Lilibit waits his turn across the nest. 

Some years we have two siblings fledging in the same day, but this is atypical. When it  is close to fledge day, the parents may slowly fly around the nest calling in low chirps,  as if demonstrating circling techniques and encouraging the chicks to join them. I look  forward to them fledging this year as it is the most entertaining time at the nest. 

Go out to Salt Point in the next few weeks to observe the comedy in the nest as the  young birds struggle to gain control over their long wings. See the action up close on  the Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam. 

* Well-meaning people often think that grounded fledgling birds needs their help: the  preferred course of action is to simply leave the bird alone as long as it is not in  immediate danger. If there seems to be a reason for concern, observe the bird from a  distance to see it is able to fly. Give it plenty of time to relax before deciding to interfere.  

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace  

Candace E. Cornell  

Friends of Salt Point 

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Cayuga Osprey Network Lansing, NY  

cec222@gmail.com 

EYES ON OSPREYS 

WATCH! 

Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam 2021 READ! 

On Osprey Time—A Blog on the Ospreys of Salt Point 

VISIT! 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail 

HELP PROTECT OSPREYS 

• STAY 100-300 FEET AWAY FROM OSPREY NESTS DURING THE BREEDING SEASON. IF THE BIRD CRIES  BACK OFF IMMEDIATELY! 

• CARRY BINOCULARS TO VIEW WILDLIFE FROM AFAR. 

• RESTORE, CLEAN, AND PRESERVE LAKESHORE AND WETLAND HABITAT. 

• 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.