On Osprey Time

A male or “tom” turkey in full breeding display, courtesy of Ryan O'Keven.  “I don’t remember seeing wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ) as a kid,” is commonly  heard these days across rural New York. Large bands of up to 50 females travel around  fields and woodlands in search of food and males. But like many hawks and other game  birds, turkeys were almost wiped out in the 19th century due to rapid habitat destruction and over-hunting. Their recovery was slow and we’re lucky they didn’t vanish entirely.   Originally, wild turkeys occupied the southern portions of New York, Vermont, New  Hampshire, and Maine and were a valuable food source for Native Americans, who first  domesticated the birds, and early European colonists also hunted turkeys for their meat. Turkeys were abundant in eastern woodlands until the mid-1800s, when settlers cleared  forests for agriculture, real estate development, and railroad construction. Unregulated  hunting and rapid loss of forest habitat led to

Young female black kite and chick with a small amount of white plastic in nest, courtesy of F. Sergio.  Plastic debris is ubiquitous in bird nests worldwide with functions we are only beginning  to understand. Often thought of as silly nest decorations and a sign of urbanization,  plastic debris, especially plastic grocery bags, are a commonly found in the large nests  The decorated nest of an 11-year-old black kite, courtesy of F. Sergio.  of crows and hawks like Ospreys. In Spain, white grocery bags have a special,  defensive meaning to black kites ( Milvus migrans ); it’s a warning to intruders that the nest is fiercely defended.  Spanish black kites collect white plastic bags by the dozen for territorial defense. The  birds shred the bags into pieces and wedge them into their nests. A breeding pair will start scavenging for the bags about 20 days before laying eggs. Studies have shown that this conspicuous display of plastic warns rival kites not to venture closer into the   territ

Stuffed toy being brought to Osprey nest, courtesy of njwildlife.  Ospreys have a long history as a vital indicator species : the health of their populations is directly linked to their surrounding environment. When we poisoned the land with persistent pesticides, the ospreys told us. When we overfished menhaden, the primary prey of coastal ospreys, the ospreys told us. When we use and discard plastics carelessly, the ospreys tell us.  Birds worldwide began incorporating anthropogenic materials (hereafter referred to as ' debris ' ) into their nests when the first use of natural fibers such as wool, flax, and cotton appeared by humans millennia ago. Since the development of plastic fibers in the 1940s, they have been strewn across the landscape, making their way into bird nests around the globe. Is the sight of garbage in nests just an annoying sign of the times or is there a concern about the long-term consequences of these novel nesting materials on osprey behavior, natural h