Blog #346 Wind Beneath My Wings


The trio with their parents. Orpheus just brought a piece of fish for the family.


The Salt Point Two-Step—a new dance craze on Cayuga Lake. Pick up the right foot and flap the wings once trying to push yourself into the air. Next, do it with your left foot 


Life in the nest. Rosie almost gets air.


Ophelia takes off for a break while the fledglings sleep.


and flapping once as hard as possible and trying to get in the air. Rosie leads off with intense flapping sessions—the bird stands on one foot and hops to the next, hoping to get into the air. Stepping from foot to foot, she jumped in the air with each flap but did not get far off the ground—she’s got the footwork down, but not the third part of the "3 Secret Basics" of the country dance—where both feet go in the air after the second flap.


Flapping is contagious or so it seems. Ophelia, perhaps seeing that her offspring were stretching and getting restless, flapped her wings and flew to the nest box perch. It first appeared that she wanted more room, but she returned to the nest a few minutes later and repeated the maneuver twice more. Although she did not call attention to herself, it seemed like Ophelia was demonstrating the power of her wings. 


Soon after, Olan stood up and flapped her wings, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Rosie tried her luck again, spreading her wings and smacking Lilibit in the head in the process. Lilibit ducked as Rosie and Olan did their dance, alternating feet with 

Olan’s outstretched wing covers his siblings.


each wing flap. Lilibit watched but did not give it a try. Tired, the birds rested and tried several more dance sessions during the day.


Yesterday was another warm muggy day with stronger than usual southeast winds. Early in the morning Rose practiced lifting herself up flapping wings and jumping. She was more confident and lifted higher, which she did not seem to mind. Lilibit tried to flap his wings, but he was not sure about his ability to keep landing in the same spot. Moving too close to the nest edge could mean falling out of the nest. He was not inspired by his siblings and decided napping was the better course. 


This morning is cooler with a light wind and temperatures in the low eighties. At about ten in the morning, Rosie suddenly lifted off and flapped her wings strongly taking her about six inches above the nest. She dropped down and tried again, flapping furiously and rising a foot or more before setting down. The third try was the magic one. Rosie jumped just as the wind caught the undersides of her wings, lifting her higher and higher over the nest. She continued to flap, but not as furiously, and flew toward the cotton wood. Coming up to the branch, she instinctively slowed her wings, pushed her feet out, and used her tail to brake: she did a graceful soft landing on the branch. What a beautiful scene. Rosie had become a fully-fledged bird and returned to the nest a few minutes later. After Orpheus brought a fish to the nest and Ophelia doled it out, Rosie flew off the nest again, this time circling the nest several times and making a grand landing by breaking with her tail and rowing her wings backwards. She flew over to the cottonwood branch and back to the nest about ten times over the course of a few hours.


By this point Olan was flapping like a pro, sometimes jumping as high as two feet before landing in the nest as Rosie had done for the last few days. Later in the afternoon Olan took her maiden flight from the nest to the cottonwood and back with the same grace as her sister. She flew again and sat on a branch for about five minutes before returning to the nest. With all the excitement circling his two siblings, Lilibit is still not trying very hard to get off the nest, although she does practice her wing flaps and jumps. 


Rosie and Olan flew mostly around the nest platform before heading over the lake to make circles. Olan banked, suddenly heading toward a flock of ring-billed gulls on the Myers spit. Just in time she swooped, giving her body over to the wind, as an invisible thermal carried her skyward. Flying was becoming easier and easier for both Rosie and Olan. It was a feeling of freedom they had never known. As Olan flew past the nest, Lilibit looked up at her sibling gliding past. Rosie glided a few more times out over the water, but she was tired and had to return to the nest. Lilibit’s time to fly will come, but he was not quite ready.


This time Rosie was going to make a perfect landing. After circling the nest several times she tried to land on top of one of the cross bars, but her foot hit the back of the post and she could not stop. Spreading her wings to slow herself down, she put her feet forward, slowed herself with her tail, and landed on the same corner of the nest where she had taken off. She looked relieved to have made such a good landing. 



Eyes to the sky!

Candace 


Candace E. Cornell 

Friends of Salt Point 

Cayuga Osprey Network

Lansing, NY 

cec222@gmail.com 


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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.

  • volunteer to monitor Cayuga Osprey Network nests. 

Write to: cec222@gmail.com.

 


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