Adults with PTT transmitters:

The Great Race - Fall Migration (15 Aug - 15 Nov)

See the 2013 Winter map for subsequent data.

23 March - 1 April

In the PTT (satellite tagged) flock, we have three birds on the wing and no adults (either satellite or cell-tower) left in South America. Belle (Martha's Vineyard 2010 juvenile) got her earliest start this year, leaving the Rio Madeira on 14 March. In her first trip north in 2012, she left on 13 April. The next year she headed home on 25 March. She crossed the Amazon on the 16th and the Rio Negro on the 17th. On the 18th she was in northern Brazil just short of the Venezuelan border. By the 21st, she had reached the southern edge of the eastern arm of the Andes mountains. She was about 1,300 miles into an approximately 4,000 mile trip back to her natal range in Martha's Vineyard. She crossed the Caribbean on the 23rd and arrived in Haiti on the 24th. She made her usual detour east (the wrong way) to a lake in the Haitian Rift where she has stopped for a top-off all three years she's migrated north. Our next signal from her should be somewhere in Cuba.

Ron (DC) started his trip home on 19 March and flew right past his neighbor Rodney (they nest on opposite sides of a bridge across the Anacostia River in the shadow of the DC baseball stadium). His trip through the Caribbean was rather unexceptional, other than hitting Hispaniola at Cabo Beata, which is the major launching point for birds heading south in the fall and rarely visited by north-bound birds in the spring. He's now in Florida fishing some canals at the edge of the Everglades (zoom in on the end of his track).

Rodney won this year's "last one out of South America, turn off the lights" award this year. He left his wintering area on the 24th. He broke with the usual pattern of going north all the way to one of the peninsulas on either side of the Gulf of Venezuela and kicked off into the Caribbean about 9AM on the 27th. He was heading northwest. After 9 hours, he made a strange turn west and flew that way for a couple of hours before his GPS unit stopped collecting locations. He then corrected for that turn and headed northwest all the way to the Cayman Islands. As he approached Grand Cayman, he had flown 775 miles and been on the wing for at least 32 hours. Did he stop and rest? Heck no! He even deviated to avoid Grand Cayman and flew another 9 hours until he got to Cuba, winning some sort of Macho Award to go with his other one. He spent the night there and then pushed on north. Then, rather than push on north and cross the Florida Straights, he took a very strange turn southeast and headed back down the typical fall migration route! Just when we thought we'd seen it all!

Donovan (NH) is the leader of the pack (vroom-vroom). He started north on 10 March. He followed the typical path north to Cuba. Oddly, he overshot the turn to the Florida Keys and went all the way to Havanna. He spent He left Cuba in the midmorning of the 22nd flying a bit west of north and thus missed the Keys. He then had to fly across the whole Gulf of Mexico, making landfall on the Florida panhandle on the 23rd.

North Fork Bob started his 4th spring migration that we have followed on the 23rd. In previous years, he started migrating on the 21st, 20th, and 15th. He's in the middle of Cuba as of March 30th.

Snowy (Martha's Vineyard) has not started his second migration north from his wintering area in Cuba. He surprised us last fall by short-stopping his migration and spending the winter in an area he discovered on his first trip north from Venezuela, where he spent his first winter.

(Older updates are in chronological order)

31 August

Not much going on with our adult birds carrying PTTs. The one bird that is moving was a big surprise. Snowy, tagged as a fledgling on Chappaquiddick Island in 2011, came back to his home on Martha's Vineyard and commuted back and forth between the Vineyard and Cape Cod. Earlier in the summer he(?) moved down to a small reservoir in southwestern Connecticut. He spent a few weeks there and then, on 14 August, surprised us by starting migration.

When we tagged the bird, we thought it was a male, but it was a borderline call. It was large for a male, but small for a female. With an August initiation of her(?) second migration, we're thinking Snowy is a female. Adult female Ospreys start migrating in August. Adult males usually head south in September.

Snowy wasted little time getting down to Cuba. She went past a spot where she spent a month on her first trip north this spring and circle back to it. It obviously is a good fishing spot. Birds on their way south in the fall are in no hurry. If they have a good fishing hole, there's no reason not to stop and fatten up.

Nobody else is doing much of anything. North Fork Bob is spending some time at the nest pole that he's been trying to take over for a couple of years--probably because the resident pair has taken off.

Belle has continued to commute back and forth between the Vineyard, Cape Cod, and the eastern shore of Buzzards Bay.

There's a cold front expected next week, so that should get some birds moving.

7 September

Apparently, not one of our adult males was inspired by the nice cold front that has brought us fabulous fall days here in early September. Rodney (DC) moved south into Virginia, but seems to have stalled there. We may have missed some movement, as we only hear from these guys every three days, so one or more of them could be further south. We'll find out when they next text home.

13 September

Still not much movement from the adults. Snowy is still in his marsh in Cuba, and Rodney (DC) is now southeast of Snowy, leading the pack of satellite-tagged adults. Looking back at the records for our veterans, North Fork Bob doesn't usually get going until about the 1st of October, so no surprise there. Sr. Bones started his previous fall migrations on September 10th, 15th, and 16th, so he's ready to go. The cold front coming in this week should get him moving.

18 September

We finally got our birds in gear. Sr. Bones started his 4th migration south with a transmitter, leaving Nantucket on the 14th. In previous years he started on the 10th, 15th, and 16th--a creature of habit. He's now in South Carolina, along with Ron (DC), who jumped on the migration bandwagon on the 14th as well. His neighbor Rodney made the jump from Cuba to Hispaniola and should be ready to cross the Caribbean any day. The weather is perfect--no storms anywhere on the horizon, which is a very good thing!

Up in New Hampshire, Donovan got going on the 17th and was in CT when we last heard from him. Belle, our 2010 juvenile from the Vineyard, started her 3rd southward migration on the 17th. Along with DJ and Icarius she took a shortcut I've never seen before from Martha's Vineyard to Virginia out over the Atlantic. Our last signal from her was out over open water, but not far from land so we're not too worried. Nonetheless, the 3-day gaps between downloads always make us nervous!

Mack, up in northern NH, and North Fork Bob (Long Island) have yet to get a move on. This is the first year for Mack with a PTT, so we don't know what he normally does, but Bob is always late. Some years he's waited until October to get going. He, once again is camped out at a marsh where there's an active pole. He keeps trying to get established there, but always gets run out of town in the spring. This is what happens in dense Osprey populations, where the average age at first breeding can be upwards of 6 years old.

Snowy is having so much fun catching fish in his big marsh along Cuba's north shore that he is apparently in no hurry to get moving, which seems to be his style.

20 September

Huge news here. Belle made an amazing 56-hour non-stop flight from Cape Cod to Cuba! She was going over 40 mph for the first 11 hours, then flew over eastern Virginia and North Carolina at night and kept right on going until she got to Cuba--1,590 miles in the air. Wow. She's my gal!

Sr. Bones started his 4th migration south with a transmitter, leaving Nantucket on the 14th, and is poking his way down the east coast. Ron (DC), who jumped on the migration bandwagon on the 14th as well, is in FL. His neighbor Rodney made the jump from Cuba to Hispaniola and has crossed the Caribbean. Well, we assume he has. Our last fix from him was just north of the South American coastline. The weather is perfect--no storms anywhere on the horizon, so we expect he made it. Lots of cliff-hangers this time of year with our satellite birds, who only text home every three days.

Up in New Hampshire, Donovan got going on the 17th and is now west of D.C. His fellow NH male, Mack, is still way upstate, waiting for who knows what to get going.

North Fork Bob (Long Island) have yet to get a move on, which is par for the course for him. Some years he's waited until October to get going. He, once again is camped out at a marsh where there's an active pole. He keeps trying to get established there, but always gets run out of town in the spring. This is what happens in dense Osprey populations, where the average age at first breeding can be upwards of 6 years old.

Snowy is having so much fun catching fish in his big marsh along Cuba's north shore that he is apparently in no hurry to get moving, which seems to be his style.

30 September

We lost Mack, one of the adult males we tagged this spring up in northern New Hampshire. There's no real way to know what happened to him, but I call this "death by sleeping in the woods" and always suspect Great-horned Owls.

The rest of the "flock" is doing fine. Sr. Bones (Nantucket) is back in his mountain valley retreat in Colombia. North Fork Bob (Long Island) left late for an adult male (Sept 23rd) but early by his standards (one year he didn't start south until Oct. 1). Once again, in late summer he settled down at a marsh with an Osprey pole. I think he spends all winter just hoping that the resident male will not return from his vacation. It's really fascinating to watch this process--something we could never observe without the technology of the satellite transmitters.

Both Bob and Bones are record setters. They are on their 4th trip south with one of our radios. Rodney (DC) has apparently settled down in a very Osprey-friendly looking spot along the northern coast of Colombia, just north of Barranquila at a place called the Swamp of the Little Beaches (Cienaga de las Playitas) at the mouth of the Magdalena River. His neighbor Ron is still up in Cuba. The remaining adult male, Donovan (NH), is in Haiti. Rodney is about 20 miles northwest of where Coley, an adult male from Long Island's Jamaica Bay tagged last spring by Bob Kennedy, spent his winter.

Our two surviving juveniles from earlier years are doing fine. We're really excited that Belle (2010 Martha's Vineyard juvenile) has successfully crossed the Caribbean for a record (for our juveniles) third time. We really, really want her to make it through this cycle and find a mate next spring! Belle flew 2,040 miles (4,050 km) from Cape Cod to South America in 4 hours less than 6 days. I'm pretty sure that's a record that can't be beaten!] Snowy (2011 Martha's Vineyard juvenile) is still having fun catching fish in his swamp on the north shore of Cuba. He spent a month there on the way north in the spring, and is in no hurry to get back to Venezuela, so he's just hanging out.

7 October

In the PTT (satellite tagged) flock, Sr. Bones was the first to find his way back to his winter range. He left Nantucket on 14 Sept and got to his regular winter spot on 5 Oct. This was his fourth trip south with a transmitter. Rodney (DC adult male) is in Venezuela. He arrived in South America on 19 Sept. He then went south and ran into the eastern chain of the Andes. He went all the way north to Lake Maracaibo before he found a way across the mountains. He followed the same path that Belle used to get to "the other side." Belle is the first bird tagged as a juvenile to make the fall trip across the Caribbean three times. You go, girl!

Rodney's neighbor Ron made it across the Caribbean and is now in Venezuela. The weather looks good, so he shouldn't have a problem. North Fork Bob (Long Island) has settled down in Cuba for a while. Snowy (2011 juvenile, Martha's Vineyard) is still(!) hunkered down in the swamp in Cuba where he spent a month or so on his way north this spring. He arrived there this fall (he actually had to backtrack to get to his favorite rest stop) on 26 August. Donovan (NH) is in the Dominican Republic. He overshot the turn to the south that would have gotten him down to Cabo Beata, where almost all adult Ospreys launch for their trip across the Caribbean to South America.

Osprey CSI

My colleague in New Hampshire Osprey work, Iain Macleod, and his wife Susan went to the woods where we last got signals from Mackenzie, an adult male tagged this spring along the Connecticut River in northern New Hampshire. Iain and Susan found a huge pile of feathers, Mackenzie's leg with the band still on it, some other bones, but no transmitter. So it was clear that a predator had taken Mackenzie.

So, who killed Mackenzie? We usually ascribe these "death-by-woodlot" disappearances to Great-horned Owls. But this one seems different. Owls don't usually do this much plucking of their prey. Accipiters (short-winged, long-tailed forest dwelling raptors) do. So, the crime scene had the talon-prints of an Accipiter. But which one. The only Accipiter big and strong enough to take down an Osprey would be a Goshawk, and just when Mackenzie died, Goshawks had started to show up in the New Hampshire woods, migrating south from somewhere up north. Goshawks are big, strong, ferocious birds. Ask anyone who's climbed up to a Goshawk nest. They are fearless and more than capable of taking down prey larger than themselves.

We'll never get a conviction, but we certainly have a prime suspect in the case. A Great-horned Owl is still certainly a "species of interest" in the case.

14 October

One thing hasn't changed here - Snowy (2011 Martha's Vineyard juvenile on his 2nd trip south) seems completely uninterested in leaving his swamp in Cuba. OK by me if he bucks the trend and stays there all winter. It's a proven safe and productive spot. If he stayed, he wouldn't have to deal with the crap shoot of crossing the Caribbean in the fall. Most likely, he will eventually get up and head south across the Caribbean to the Venezuelan llanos.

Sr. Bones (Nantucket) skipped a download date, which suggests he died or his transmitter failed. This is his 4th year, so I won't rule out transmitter failure. We may have to wait until spring to find out. Donovan (NH adult male) made it all the way to the Virgin Islands and then headed south but aborted his Caribbean crossing and retreated to Puerto Rico. We've had one other bird start across the Caribbean and bail on the trip, but he didn't get as far south. I suspect Donovan will try again. North Fork Bob (Long Island male 2010) is in the D.R. He's always late getting to his winter home, so I'm not surprised. Our 2 DC adults tagged this spring, Rodney and Ron, are on their way south through Venezuela, following in Belle's (2010 Martha's Vineyard juvenile) slipstream. She's already south of the Amazon, 300 miles north of her winter range on the Madeira River at the southern edge of the Brazilian Amazon.

28 October - 19 November

One thing hasn't changed here - Snowy (2011 Martha's Vineyard juvenile on his 2nd trip south) seems completely uninterested in leaving his swamp in Cuba. OK by me if he bucks the trend and stays there all winter. It's a proven safe and productive spot. If he stayed, he wouldn't have to deal with the crap shoot of crossing the Caribbean in the fall. Most likely, he will eventually get up and head south across the Caribbean to the Venezuelan llanos.

Sr. Bones (Nantucket) hasn't sent data since around 9 October, which means he died or his transmitter failed. This is his 4th year, so I won't rule out transmitter failure. We may have to wait until spring to find out.

Donovan (NH adult male) made it all the way to the Virgin Islands and then headed south on 9 October but aborted his Caribbean crossing and retreated to Puerto Rico. We've had one other bird start across the Caribbean and bail on the trip, but he didn't get as far south. Donovan's trip was really interesting. After bailing out on his crossing, he settled down in Ponce, Puerto Rico, for a while. On 17 October he started again, passing over St. Croix (again) and then made it across the Caribbean in a straight shot. He's now in the strange sand-dunes of west central Venezuela, where so many of our birds have been, although most of them have been coming in from the northwest after landing in Colombia and working over the eastern cordillera of the Andes. View detailed maps for Donovan (and our other New Hampshire birds Artoo and Bergen) on the Squam Lakes Natural Sciences Center's website.

North Fork Bob (Long Island male 2010) surprised me by going all the way to the eastern end of the D.R. before heading south. He's a seasoned veteran and knows by now that the quickest route south is from Cabo Beata, about midway across the island of Hispaniola. Very few adults miss this turn. He left the D.R. on his Caribbean crossing at exactly, and I mean exactly--to within minutes, the same time as Artoo, one of our New Hampshire juveniles on 19 October. We expect juveniles to "miss the turn" and not go south where all the adults do--this is their first time and they don't have a map. When Bob and Artoo left the D.R. they were about 20 miles apart.

Our two DC adults tagged this spring, Rodney and Ron, are both safely across the Caribbean in South America. Ron followed Belle's (2010 Martha's Vineyard juvenile) track across the rainforests of Amazonia and seems to have settled down on the banks of the Amazon River. Rodney is in Venezuela, moving around quite a bit. More than we usually see when an adult arrives at its wintering location. I won't be surprised to see Rodney move again.

Belle is safe and sound in her winter hide-out along the banks of the Madeira River at the southern edge of the Brazilian Amazon. She followed a similar route to the one she took in her first trip north in the spring of 2012, and her second trip south in the fall of 2012. She is our first juvenile to make three trips south.

In this map, we see all of Belle's tracks since her first trip south in 2010.

9 Feb 2014

North Fork Bob, as usual, took a while to get up to his winter range in the Guianan Shield highlands of southern Venezuela. He arrived in the Venezuelan llanos on 22 Oct. After a couple of weeks there, he climbed up into the highlands in southern Venezuela on Nov. 4. We figured he was settled down for the winter. But then on 16 Nov. he returned to the llanos (did he forget something?). After 18 days down there, he flew back to his regular spot, where he's been ever since.

23 March 2014

At this point, Belle, Ron, and Donovan were the only birds heading north and not much going on with our other birds. Sr. Bones' transmitter occasionally sends us a sign of life, but it seems to be on its last legs. (Although sometimes transmitters will turn back on for months at a time.) Maybe this year we'll be able to retrap him and get the transmitter back.

The first birds should be heading north in a month or so!