Our Osprey Have Migrated….
With a bit of sadness, it appears the end of our osprey family’s 2010 season with us is here. Since my last posting, I haven’t seen our last chick since last Saturday, and dad Ollie not at all. These last two days my instinct has been telling me they have all four left for their migration south. This morning while the sun was rising, I found this visitor on the nest.
He was a surprise and I felt our ‘sign’ that, yes, our osprey family are all officially enroute south. What makes them decide any given moment to up and leave? It isn’t exactly known but is guessed there is some type of magnetic pull, maybe from the sun’s solstice and the season’s change, that they feel; one day each feels it and just ups and goes without warning or a goodbye! It is also guessed that osprey have some type of inner ‘GPS’ that guides them on their long 4-5 week journey to South America. I can just imagine each of our family members are all now soaring the beautiful skies while they find new locations to fish and rest along the way. Let’s wish them a safe journey with the hopes of Ollie and Olivia’s safe return next March. If our two chicks succeed in surviving the many turmoils they will face in their migrations, they will stay in South America for a year and a half, returning two springs from now, most likely coming back to our general area to start their own families.
If you have a further interest in the osprey migration, Rob Bierregaard, Jr., a professor at the University of North Carolina, has been researching osprey since 1969. Since 2000, he has tagged 42 adult and juvenile osprey from Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Long Island, Westport, North Carolina, and Delaware with small satellite transmitters to track their actual migrations. The information they have learned is astounding. You can visit and subscribe to his website that shows exactly where each osprey and active transmitter are at the present. As we know, the osprey are on the move! In fact, don’t be surprised to see an osprey from the north come through our area as they fly down over the Chesapeake Bay in the next few weeks for a rest or bite to eat on their journey.
A quick recap, the Chestertown osprey cam has been taken down for the season, (what a wonderful livefeed local cam!), I will remention it next spring when their camera is back online. Blackwater’s popup cam is still running, with little Hope and her dad still around the last few days, but I’m sure it won’t be long before they have migrated as well. So check Blackwater NWR out for their final glimpses of their successful three-chick family!
As I promised, I am working on a photo gallery of this past season of photos prior to July, but I’m having a bit of a technical issue as I try to teach myself how to do it through trial and error! Quite frankly, I will admit I didn’t think I could even teach myself how to create a blog, let alone figure out how to maintain it. Gotta say, I’m tickled that I’ve been able to do what I have so far……and the awesome responses from all of you have told me I’m doing an A-OK job! 🙂 So a big THANK YOU to all of you for giving me the continued incentive and support to share our osprey family’s season and growth with you through words and photos. Now I’ll get working on those photo galleries!
