A Remarkable Bird

     Take a guess:  what bird mates for life, returns to the same nest every year, migrates up to 3500 miles in autumn and again in spring in a state of semi-sleep, and can spend forty hours in the air at 25-30 mph without stopping?

   

Nest on Westport River, Massachusetts

Nest in shallow water on left

     The answer?  An osprey.

     In both Florida and Massachusetts, we live near osprey breeding grounds. We see their nests, the size of queen beds, made from anything the scavengers can lift. They balance on platforms at the top of high poles or on man-made structures like bridges. Some of the platforms have been erected by the Audubon Society.

Osprey nest on Westport River. Note piece of scrap iron hanging from bottom right.

     The Intracoastal Waterway in Florida and branches of the Westport River, Massachusetts (leading into Buzzard’s Bay below Cape Cod), provide supplies of fish, the birds’ only diet.

Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts

     Their curved talons and an under-surface on their toes consisting of short spines allow them to hold squirming fish while flying. Once when my mother was visiting us in Massachusetts, a foot-long, wet fish landed next to her on the deck. "Why were you throwing a fish at me?" she later asked her son-in-law (Charley).   
      “Evelyn,” Charley said, laughing, “I was working on the other side of the house and wouldn’t have had the strength to throw a heavy fish that far. Besides, I would never throw anything at you! An osprey probably let go.”

     Twenty years ago, the osprey became endangered in the U.S. The pesticide DDT caused the birds’ eggshells to become thin. As a result, the young exhibited symptoms of pesticide-poisoning or never hatched. After DDT was banned in the 1970’s in the U.S., the osprey population rebounded. The population worldwide today is estimated at 460,000. 

Adult osprey in flight

      Typically, two to four eggs are laid in April, always in the same breeding ground and in the same nest. Incubation lasts approximately 38 days. Fledglings may leave the nest at 44-59 days, but will still rely on parental care for six weeks. Sexual maturity isn’t reached till age three. A typical lifespan is seven to ten years, with their only known predators the great horned owl, golden eagles, and bald eagles.

Juvenile osprey in flight

     In shallow inland or coastal fishing waters, winter brings ice in northern regions. Fish head away from the surface, making it almost impossible for osprey to spot them from the air, despite their dense and oily plumage for diving feet-first. The larger-bodied mother leaves the nest first in late August through November, to migrate from North America to the shallow waters of Central and South America. Those residing in California and Florida don’t migrate.The Westport Watershed Alliance, Massachusetts, has placed transmitters on a sample population, allowing GPS signals to trace the migration thousands of miles.

     Ospreys can rest half their brains en route, shutting one eye and letting half their brain sleep. They fly in hot air rising (thermals) for hours without flapping their wings. When they start to lose altitude, they drop, glide, and search for another thermal. Their high-pitched chirps mingle with the wind.

     The father leaves the nest second to join his mate, and finally the juveniles. In late March or early April they make the return trip to breed.

A lone juvenile staring down at me in October from his nest on the Westport River, before leaving to migrate 

    

    

    

    

    

Our Date on the Wild Side

     During our recent trip to Ireland, Charley and I had an experience we won't soon forget.  We had a date with birds of prey.

     It was something I'd wanted to do since a dear friend, now departed, described her experience bonding with a falcon as full of wonder and joy.  We tried to book with a falconer while staying at Ashford Castle in Cong, but our itinerary was too tight. We tried to arrange another date in Kenmare, near Killarney National Park, but the falconer was totally booked. We finally succeeded with "Willie the Birdman," a traveling falconer outside Waterford.

Willie the Birdman 

     Falconry has been around since 2000 B.C.  It became the most popular form of hunting in the aristocracy, both for sport and for supplementing the table. An aristocrat's status could be determined by his bird of prey - a king had a golden eagle, for example; a duke, a falcon.  Other birds used by falconers today are hawks, kites, and owls.  Owls, however, are very difficult to hunt with because they find their prey with their hearing and hunt at night. They are mortal enemies of diurnal (daytime) raptors.

     We met Willie outside the mews he'd built for his birds, their chambers where they remain tethered unless they're in the falconer's house. The mews looked like over-sized open cages. Eagles had blocks or stumps on which to stand; owls and falcons had limbs or branches.

     There are stringent laws regulating falconry in the U.S. A falconer must pass an exam, build facilities, get them inspected, serve a 2-year apprenticeship, keep records on the birds, catch a wild bird, and get it licensed.  In the UK there is a lack of laws regarding the birds' mews. The only regulation states their mews must accommodate their wingspan.  Taking a bird from the wild is illegal in the UK. However, the survival rate of wild immature falcons is only 10-20%, compared to 90% for those captured and trained.

     One by one Willie introduced us to the owls, starting with an immature barn owl called a passager, which he tethered with a leather leash (jess) from the baby's anklet to my gauntlet by wrapping the jess round and round my little finger and securing the end into a ring on the gauntlet. The young one just sat there and stared at me. I stared back at him.  After a few minutes of mutual admiration, he started swiveling his head around in a circle.  "You can touch his back," Willie said. Touching his feathers was like sinking my hand into a bowl of white cotton.

 
     I wanted to take him back to the States with me, but Willie reminded me these are NOT pets, but birds of prey.  A full-grown owl eats mice, rats, or quail each day. Willie stocks three-month supplies in a freezer, along with shredded raw chicken for the larger species. The falconer must measure each bird's diet to control its weight. If it gets too heavy, it can't fly high and fast; too light-weight, it can't pick up the prey. Their beaks are hooked and their feet are either three or four talons, depending on the species.  Those with four have two talons facing forward and two backward.

Coming in for a landing for food on my glove

     The birds are trained to accept the falconer as a hunting partner who will facilitate his hunting for food, since birds of prey are carnivorous.  The falconer creates positive reinforcement with his voice and with offers of food in small bits at the blow of a whistle. When fully grown, the bird is given freedom from the glove while the falconer helps flush out prey and lets the raptor dive, sometimes up to 200 miles an hour. A bell on its leg alerts the falconer as to its position. At times the raptor is so high the falconer needs a radio tracking device. Sometimes the raptor doesn't come back at all.

     As each owl was released from its mews to my glove, my arm got heavier and heavier, especially with the Snowy White.

          "You don't have to hold your arm out straight," Willie said. "You can bring your elbow against your side." The snowy got jittery, so Willie put him back in his mews.

     Charley was given the great horned owl, who put on a show after he was released by targeting fresh pieces of chicken on Charley's glove from across an indoor hanger when Willie called.

     Finally Willie took out a kestrel (small falcon) and removed its leather hood . Willie tethered him to my gauntlet while I stared at his beautiful yellow eyes and beak.  He wore an ID band and bell on his leg.  He just sat there immobile, as if he were waiting for me to ask, "What's up?"

   
     The time had arrived!  Willie took a lure (a simulated dead animal) and swung it round and round on a little lasso, then let go. That's when he released the kestrel's jess from my gauntlet. That falcon was in the air in a blur.  Within seconds he had the lure in its beak as Willie whistled him in.  He landed just where he'd begun, on my gauntlet, and was fed the real thing.

     What a thrill!  Nature is truly remarkable. That's my idea of a date on the wild side these days.

Red-tailed hawk, one of two species allowed trapped for falconry in NY State.
Photo courtesy of Alamy

   

   

   

   

For the Birds

Monk Parakeet
Photo courtesy of Christopher L. Wood

Let's talk birds. I never had one for a pet, but I know people who have loved them, cooed to them, stroked them, and paraded them.  I recently learned some things about them.

First, according to an article by Marc Morrone in the Providence Journal (May 17, '15, Sec. H2), there is no way a bird can have any idea of the sex of a human, as we are just too far removed from their species on the evolutionary scale.  That means that although you may think a parrot squawks at you because he is a male and you are a male threatening his space, it "just ain't so, Joe."

A bird may prefer the company of men to women and vice versa, but the choice is based on the bird's interpretation of human actions, voice, or appearance.  Not whether it shares the same estrogen or testosterone.  Sounds like a good plan for humans!

If you are searching for the sex of a bird, you needn't peek "down under."  There is a test to determine that, and it's not the kind you think.  Pluck a few feathers from its breast (male and female) and mail them to a laboratory.  You will be charged a fee, but the lab can extract the DNA and within a few days answer your crushing question.  An example of a lab is Research Associates Laboratory at vetdna.com. Wouldn't want to have two female birds in a cat fight in the cage as you sip your morning coffee, would you?

White-headed woodpecker
Photo courtesy of Dick Tipton

Ladder-backed woodpecker
Photo courtesy of Gerrit Vyn

Here is an interesting fact about woodpeckers.  Woodpeckers sing.  Not with their throats, but by pecking on a piece of metal or anything that makes a ringing sound. This is again according to Marc Morrone, not me.  The noise makes a sound that's bigger and stronger than other male woodpeckers, who use mere trees made of wood. The bigger the sound, the prettier the mate and the better the nesting area.

If you have a woodpecker that's disturbing you during mating season, you'd better determine first whether it's causing damage to the wooden frame of your home.  If not, get on a ladder and cover the woodpecker's favorite pecking area with cloth secured by duct tape. Or Marc suggests taping a few children's pinwheels with long ribbons to the spot the woodpecker loves.  As the wind blows, the pinwheel ribbons in the wind will chase him off. Either that, or they'll chase your neighbors off!