They're back!

A sign of spring is the arrival of ospreys from their wintering areas to their breeding grounds. Here in New Jersey multiple sightings of birds have come in throughout the Atlantic Coast, from Avalon and Stone Harbor to Ocean City and north to Pine Beach and Berkley Township.

Have you seen any ospreys show up? Share your photos and sightings on our Facebook page.

Migration Begins!

A juvenile osprey in Ocean City, NJ.

Many different things may indicate that summer is ending, labor day parties, less tourists, cooler temperatures, sour gum leaves turn red, shorter day length period, and southbound bird migration....For ospreys, it marks the beginning of the annual fall migration period back to their wintering areas where warm waters support high numbers of prey. This year all osprey young produced in New Jersey have fledged (529 young were observed this summer) and after they fledged they relied on their parents for food for several weeks. Now, many are on their own, using instincts and learned tactics to catch fast moving and cryptically colored fish. Many juvenile ospreys are dispersing from their nest sites and beginning there migration south to Central America, Northern South America, and the Caribbean Islands where they will spend the next two years and will not return to NJ to breed until late March 2011.

Route (red lines) typically followed by ospreys during fall migration. Most follow
landmasses south from Florida through Cuba into Hispaniola,
then fly directly south into Venezuela and Columbia.

Fall migrants can be seen as early as mid-August in New Jersey. Juveniles begin migration before adults. Sometimes juveniles fly completely in the wrong direction before they eventually turn and fly south. Satellite tracking studies are being conducted by on several juveniles and adults near New Bedford, Massachusetts. The data that is collected from the tags is great information and very interesting to follow where each of the birds goes during migration. Check out the link to follow the birds from Massachusetts.

This year volunteers and biologists banded 348 osprey young. In a typical year we usually get around 10 bands that are recovered. In 2008, 16 banded ospreys were found. Unfortunately almost all recoveries we get are from dead or injured ospreys. We do get great information from band recoveries. We can study survival/mortality rates, migration routes, and behavior.

Here are where bands were recovered in 2008:

Cayman Islands - Alive, was rehabilitated and released. Banded in 2006.

Mauricetown, NJ - Banded 2004.

Mauricetown, NJ - Banded 2003

Wildwood, NJ - Banded 2006

Hollywood, MD - Banded 2006

Margate, NJ - Banded 2008

Cape May, NJ - Banded 1991 - 17 years old!

St. Croix, USVI - Banded 2006

Vero Beach, FL - Banded 2008

Miami, FL - Banded 2008

Hollywood, FL - Banded 2008

Tolima, Columbia - Banded 2008

Cauca, Columbia - Banded 2008

Little Egg Harbor, NJ - Banded 2008

Mauricetown, NJ - Banded 2004

After a cold front moves through and winds are coming from the north, look up and you may notice the spectacular event that occuring all around you! If you want to get the best views of raptors and other birds during migration visit one of these locations:

Cape May Point State Park - Peak viewing period for ospreys is early October.

Higbee Beach WMA - A diverse wildlife management area in Cape May that has many different habitat types.

Hawk Mountain, PA - "Hawk Mountain is the world's first refuge for birds of prey. Open year-round, visitors enjoy scenic vistas, 8-miles of ridge and valley trails, a Visitor Center, Bookstore, and native plant garden, and each autumn, the chance to observe large numbers of hawks, eagle and falcons as they migrate past our lookouts. Operating as a non-profit eco-tourism site, your trail fee or membership dues directly support scientific research, public education and Sanctuary maintenance."

Kiptopeke State Park, VA - "Since 1963, Kiptopeke has been the site of bird population studies. Sponsored by the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory and licensed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, volunteers capture, examine, weigh, band and release resident and migratory birds each year from mid-August through November. In the raptor research area, hawks, kestrels, osprey and other birds of prey are observed and banded from September through November. Kiptopeke’s hawk observatory is among the top 15 nationwide."

For more information about raptor migration and birding in New Jersey visit: http://www.birdcapemay.org/hawkwatch.shtml

Keeping an eye out

As mid-March approaches, so does the Osprey. Usually along the Maurice River the first ospreys are seen pretty early in the month, but I have not heard of on being seen yet. Usually along the Atlantic Coast, most arrive mid to late March. I usually always see the first one driving to or from work along the G.S.P. from exit 50 to exit 25.

Otherwise, I've been busy working on various projects, especially the Peregrine Project, where I've been installing new "prototype" predator guards to replace the very old ones. The old ones always required annual maintenance; now there will be very little maint. to do. Click here for a link to Conserve Wildlife Foundation's blog where I posted a story and links to pictures.

Platform installed on Manhassett Creek, Monmouth Beach on Sunday.

I've also been busy installing, repairing, and in some cases moving platforms before ospreys arrive. Over the last two days I've installed one Monmouth Beach for a pair of ospreys that tried to nest on a power pole last year and we finally got permission to place a platform on private property, so I jumped on the opportunity. It'll be interesting to see if the pair returns and if they will use the platform.


View Larger Map

This week I'll be transporting and installing 10 osprey platforms inside Great Bay Blvd. WMA. Stay tuned for photos from this project!

Keep you eyes open and you might see one of the first ospreys to return to New Jersey for the breeding season!

Migration Revealed!!!

Since this past summer when myself and our volunteers banded almost 80% of the young (357 out of 454) that were produced we have gotten several recoveries of those bands. When a band is recovered, it is found on either a live or dead bird. So far we have had 5 bands recovered from this year's fledglings. Most of the time the bird is found found dead. In this case the bird was found dead and the USGS Bird Banding Lab was notified by the finder calling the phone # that was on the band (1-800-327-BAND).

This bird originated from a nest on a channel marker in West Wildwood and was banded by one of our volunteer banders, Hans Toft. Amazingly enough, this juvenile actually lost it's mom due to being entangled by monofilament. The adult was found dangling from the nest and had its legs bound by the line. Luckily a bulkheading crew that was passing by cut the bird free and got it to us so we could transport to our rehabilitator, Don Bonica of Toms River Avian Care. Tragically the adult did not survive, but we do know that the adult male was successful with raising its two young to fledge, and one of those young survived enough to make it to it's wintering area in South America.

The bird and band was recovered on 10/28 and was found near Tolima, Colombia in the town of Ibague. This recovery shows that this juvenile osprey traveled around 2,300 miles to its wintering area. Ospreys normally spend the next breeding season in that area then return to NJ the following year. So young that were produced this year will most likely return to NJ in late March, 2010.
However, not many young survive during the first year of life. A young osprey faces many difficult challenges and the mortality rate for most birds of prey including ospreys is around 80%. So of the 454 fledglings from NJ, only 91 may survive to return to breed in NJ in 2010. Not a very optimistic statistic.

While in their wintering areas ospreys face many perils that they do not see here in the U.S. In South America, many countries still have not banded DDT (however it isn't used as heavily as it was here in the 1960's) and other harmful chemicals which eventually runoff and make their way into the water table (where ospreys find food). Also, in many areas in the Southern Hemisphere there are large fish farms. These fish farms are bound to attract the attention of young ospreys and when they do, the farmers probably do not hesitate to shoot them! Other major causes of death are impacts with many man-made structures including buildings, power poles, and radio guide wires. Electrocution is another cause of death when an unsuspecting bird perches on a power pole.

I'll post more maps of where we have had other recoveries from this years young soon. If you'd like to see more detailed accounts of other fledglings from Delaware and Massachusetts, click here for a link to a satellite tracking project with UNCC.