Blog #383 The Unknown Life of Floaters

Ursula tending her three eggs. 

Life at the Salt Point nest has been anything but restful this week. It began with the laying of the first egg.  For two days before the grand event, the pair stayed very close together and mated frequently. Both birds  were “nesting” by putting the finishing touches on the softly-lined eye cup in the nest. Wads of grass are  distributed throughout the nest and then worked into the structure by the constantly fussing of the pair.  Most of this time Ursula stays low in the nest, incubating the eggs, and fiddling with the nest interior and  will brings wads of grass to dig into the egg cup. Orpheus is almost as constant at the nest guarding his  mate. The day before and the day of laying Ursula stayed low in the nest as if incubating. The actual  laying of the first egg happened fairly quickly with no outward signs of stress as it occurred. Ursula sat  down, laid the egg, and stood up, all the while staring straight ahead. After she rose, she inspected the  egg and was joined by Orpheus. Not to be anthropomorphic, but both parents marveled at the egg and  looked rather proud of their accomplishment. You can see Ursula laying her first egg on the  Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam at 20220416 075040 20220416 081117. 

There isn’t much downtime for admiring their future progeny, however. The nest has been repeatedly  visited by an adult and immature eagle most likely living at Maplewood Glen. Both regularly case out the Myers Hill nest before heading over to the Salt Point nest. Typically, the eagles sail high over the Lansing  hills but dip down to a few hundred feet near the nests. As if testing the pair’s will, the eagle taunts the Ospreys by coming closer. After giving several rounds of alarm calls, both Ospreys will take off after the eagle, chasing it away. Leaving the eggs unattended on these chilly spring days is risky, but eagles are  the more serious threat. Within three minutes Ursa returned to the eggs and all was well, but tension  remained high as another attack seemed imminent—eagles don’t give up easily. 

Spring snow: Ursula sitting on her eggs with Orpheus guarding. 

Interestingly, throughout all this drama, no attention was paid to the goose nesting on the Salmon Creek  nest. Really? A goose in an Osprey nest? Canada geese usually don’t commandeer Osprey nests, but  

The Goose that claimed the Salmon Creek nest. 

it’s not unheard of and is occurring more often as the resident goose population has soared in the last  twenty years. Last year a nest on Portland Point Road was taken over by a pair of Canada geese.

Geese are normally ground-nesters where the goslings can waddle into the water. The goslings exiting  from the Salmon Creek nest have a long way to the ground, but they will bounce when they reach the  ground. 

Earlier in the week, Ophelia, having just claimed the Salmon Creek nest, returned from fishing to find a  gutsy Canada goose sitting in her place. According to one observer, Ophelia dive-bombed the goose with her talons open and screeching warnings. It would seem Ophelia had the advantage, with her  long, sharp talons and hooked beak, but it was not enough. Stretching her long neck to look bigger and  hissing angrily, the goose drove Ophelia away flapping her wings violently. Despite repeated attacks,  the goose remained steadfast, and Ophelia gave up. Canada Geese are two and a half times heavier  than ospreys and can present a formidable opponent. Perhaps Ophelia had not formed a strong  enough bond to the new nest to risk bodily harm for its possession. Later that day Ophelia disappeared. 

The pair chased an intruder (background) away from the nest. 

During this past week, Ursula laid two more eggs to produce a lovely clutch of pinkish randomly-spotted  eggs, which she has been incubating with great care. The eagles continue their morning surveillance of  the Salt Point nest. Adding to the danger, the Osprey pair have had to repel pesky intruders that threaten  the nest. One unwanted visitor is a female sporting a dense, dark necklace reminiscent of Ursula’s  necklace. Curiously, the other intruder is also a female, but with a light breast very much like Ophelia’s— could it be her? Photographs have been analyzed, and there is a strong resemblance. This intruder even  landed on the nest before Ursula drove her off. Despite her rude reception, the visitor remained in the  nest area for several hours sitting in the trees. On other occasions, Orpheus chased her away in a non threatening manner, and the two flew together leaving Ursula in the nest. These relaxed seemingly  choreographed flights together show no hint of tension, leading me to suspect that it is Ophelia. Her loyal bond to her nest of ten years is still strong. It is hard to imagine that such a deep attachment would not  persist and motivate her while she is still primed for breeding. Ophelia is the loser in this 3-way contest to  breed, but her story is not over yet. She appears healthy and hopefully will find a new home this year or  next. 

A second female (right) lands on the nest. Orpheus kicks Ursula (front) off the nest. 

Orpheus regularly feeds Ursula foot-long white suckers from Salmon Creek despite his many distractions.  He also spends much time incubating the eggs. Male Ospreys tend to vary in their desires to participate  in incubating—some do the minimum, relieving the female for meals. On the other end of the scale is  Orpheus who fights with Ursula for the privilege. He often shoves her off the eggs during the day when  the mood strikes. Such turmoil at the nest puts the fragile eggs at risk as one false step can bring  disaster.  

Orpheus is about to shove Ursula off the eggs. The pair continually switch positions.

Orpheus continues to bring nesting material home, especially clumps of grass to soften the egg cup.  Ursula integrates the grass into the bottom of the nest lining by spreading it with her beak  

Orpheus brings a clump of grass to the nest. 

and working the fibers into the shape of the egg cup. It can take hours of working and reworking the  pliable grass into the nest before Ursula is satisfied. Parents typically use their beaks when they roll their  eggs, today Orpheus gently rolled the eggs with his feet as if he was dribbling a soccer ball! 

Ursula integrates a clump of grass into the nest.

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace 

Candace E. Cornell 

Friends of SaltPoint, Lansing, NY 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Network 

  

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