On Osprey Time

Rosie, now a juvenile, is soon ready to migrate, courtesy of Cindy and Karel Sedlacek.  Pardon me for not posting since early August. I’ve been roaming the Adirondack  Mountains and studying the Osprey population on the NYS side of Lake Champlain—a  stronghold of about 60 plus nests. I will try to catch you up on the Cayuga Lake Ospreys  in the next few postings.  Since fledging in mid-July, the 3.5 month old Salt Point fledglings Rose, Olan, and Lilibit have demonstrated that they each have a mind of their own and operate on their own  timescales. All three birds developed rather quickly this summer, reaching the post fledging dependency milestones of flying and fishing at least a week ahead of schedule.  In Ophelia’s past broods, the fledge dates are spread out by a few days and the youngest  Lilibit, the runt of the brood, trying to break a branch, courtesy of Cindy and Karel Sedlacek.  chicks tend to be hesitant to fly. The runt tends to spend days looking over the nest edge  as if

Rosie and Lilibit playing in the sky, courtesy of Karel and Cindy Sedlacek.  Most of the Osprey young have fledged around the lake, except for a few stragglers like the Hangar Theatre nest in Ithaca that is a month behind. Activity in the nests are mostly limited now to meals and bedtime although the youngest fledgling sometimes hangs out there during the off hours. Lilibit has started fishing with the other fledglings,  which is atypical of the third fledge. Usually the third waits an additional week to be fed  before trying their luck in the stream. However, the fledglings are all are losing their  affinity for the nest already. This may be an early group to migrate south.  Several weeks ago, Orpheus, the adult male at Salt Point, reduced the amount of food  he brought to the nest to encourage the young to fledge. Once they did, mealtimes went  back to normal as the fledglings will take weeks to learn to fish. Occasionally during the  day, Ophelia or Orpheus will alight on the nest t

‘Fair, fair,’ cry the Ospreys, courtesy of Andy Morffew.   关雎 Guān jū   ‘Fair, fair,’ cry the Ospreys   On the island in the river.   Lovely is this noble lady,   Fit bride for our lord.   The distinctive cry of Ospreys fa-air, fa-air , transcends this excerpt from a 2,500 year old traditional wedding poem from the Shih Ching (Book of Songs). This love poem is  memorized by virtually every Chinese student. Depending on where you are in the  world, the bird above is called an Osprey, a Fish Hawk, a River Hawk, a Sea Hawk, or  even a Fish Eagle, and those are only some of its many English common names! Since  Ospreys have a world-wide distribution, you’ll find names for Ospreys in countless  languages. Scientists, however, stick to one name, derived from Latin, to describe this  magnificent species. The North American Osprey’s scientific name is Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. The Osprey’s genus, Pandion , is derived from a mythical king of Athens, Pandion,  whose daughters were turned i