Project Osprey Watch
Citizen Scientists Tracking the Vineyard Ospreys

Newsletter - February 2000

It’s February – Do you know where your Ospreys are?

 Researchers at the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota can help you find out! The last of the Vineyard Ospreys leave the island some time in August, heading south. Where do they go? How long do they take on their journey? Do males and females go to the same place? Do birds from the east coast winter in the same areas as birds from Minnesota or even the west coast?

            We have an exciting opportunity to participate in a fascinating study of the migratory behavior of North American Ospreys.

            We can now put on an Osprey a small transmitter that will send out a signal to orbiting satellites. The satellites keep track of where the Osprey is and beam the data down to a computer for up to three years. The data are posted to the Raptor Center’s web page. You can log on and see where your bird is when it’s not on its nesting territory on the Vineyard or track any of the nearly 40 other birds currently carrying satellite transmitters.

            Last fall, for instance, a male Osprey banded in Maine left Bar Harbor on October 1 and 22 days later was in Florida, where he appears to be spending the winter--although he has changed his mind about which county he wants to be in.

            The cost is admittedly expensive -- $10,000 per bird outfitted with a transmitter. This includes the satellite time and downloads to computers back on Earth as well as travel time for project researchers to get to the nests and trap the birds. We’d like to raise enough money this year to outfit two birds from the Vineyard.

            Between all the people with nests on their properties, I hope we can raise the money. Donations will be handled by the Raptor Center and are tax deductible. Contributions of $7,500 or more earn the donor an acknowledgment on the Raptor Center's Web page. Please contact me if you're interested in contributing at any level.

            Visit the Raptor Center's webpage to see how this would work for Vineyard Ospreys. Their URL is: www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu

From their home page, click on the "Highway to the Tropics" icon on the left. (You can also track the movements of Bald Eagles and Swainson's Hawks.)

The 1999 Season

            1999 was another productive year for the Vineyard Ospreys. My spring trip revealed 61 active nests, with six pairs of "housekeepers." Housekeepers are usually young birds that are beginning to establish a territory. The number of nesting pairs was down from 64 in 1998, but I didn't count until a bit later in the spring of '99, so I might have missed a couple of pairs that failed and abandoned their nests early. Nonetheless, the six pairs of housekeepers and the continued reproductive success augur well for the Vineyard Osprey colony.

            With data still pending from 10 nests, the number of fledglings per active nest for 1999 was 1.19, almost identical to last year's figure (but likely to increase with a few more nests reported).

 Nests started:                62

Successful nests:          36

Failures:                         12

Data pending:                  9

No data:                            5

Young fledgled               57

 The 1998 Season

            When the data from the last few nests came in for 1998, the success of the Vineyard birds was even higher than I previously reported.  Of the 65 active nests in 1998, we know the outcome of 54. Those 54 nests fledged roughly 62 young, for an average of 1.15 fledglings/active nest. This is well over the break-even rate of rate 0.88 young per nest needed for an Osprey population to remain stable.

 Nests started:               65

Successful nests:          38

Failures:                          16

Data pending:                 2

No data:                            7

Young fledged:              62

Special thanks...

        I want to thank everyone who helped collect data this year, but in particular single out Debra Swanson and Kathy Hadley. Debra followed a number of nests in out-of-the-way corners of the island, making a very important contribution to the project. Kathy wins the

best data forms prize for 1999, for careful documentation of the fledging of the two young her birds produced last year on the Katama Plains and the detailed history of her nest since it was first used.

 1999 Highlights

        The fishing seemed to be good for the Vineyard Ospreys in 1999. Many spotters reported that the adults were bringing in more food and seemingly catching it quicker than in previous years. Three pairs fledged three young each, including the pair on the Ganz's property along the north shore, which had long been a nest with poor productivity. Some pairs continue to struggle--the Felix Neck pair, for instance, once again failed to fledge any young, while their perennially successful neighbors on Major's Cove fledged one young.

            We still have a lot to learn about the Vineyard Ospreys!

  Spotting Tips for 2000

Nothing really new here other than to reiterate the importance of writing down your observations as frequently as possible and paying very careful attention in July and August when the young are fledging.

            1. Record your observations at least weekly on the data form (enclosed) or in a journal or diary.

            2. Note the dates you first see the parents around the nest and, later in the spring, feeding their young.

            3. Watch carefully to see how many heads are popping up at feeding time throughout the season.

            4. Pay special attention at fledging time. When the young are ready to fly, they’ll be as big as their parents, so make sure your count of fledglings doesn’t include a parent sitting on the nest with its young.

            5. Volunteer to monitor one of the out-of-the-way nests.

 Ospreys nest in tree!

                        Thirty years ago this would not have been news, but last summer, Julie Ben David was kayaking on Edgartown Great Pond and flushed an Osprey off a nest in a tree. The last successful nest that we know of in a tree on the Vineyard was the Mink Meadows nest, which blew down in 1970-71, and was replaced by a pole that winter. In 1988 a housekeeping pair built a nest in a tree near Poucha Pond on Chappy but apparently abandoned the rustic approach in favor of the modern conveniences of a nest pole.

 Contacting “Headquarters”

            If you would like to enlist in the Vineyard Corps of Osprey watchers, have any questions, or want to send in early reports of activity at a nest that you know of, Rob Bierregaard can be contacted by mail at the return address on the newsletter, or by phone (704 333 2405);  fax (704 333 2404); or email: rbierreg@email.uncc.edu. Or you can also reach Gus Ben David at Felix Neck, at 627 4850.

 Interesting Websites

       Follow Ospreys via satellite transmitters on their migration to and from their wintering grounds in South and Central America at the website of The Raptor Center at the Univ. of Minnesota http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/. Click on the "Highway to the Tropics" icon.

            Learn more about "Citizen Science" at Cornell: http://www.birdsource.org

            Birding and ornithology in general: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/birdnet

            Rob Bierregaard's webpage: http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard/ (but you knew that already or you wouldn't be here!)