2015 Spring migration

Edwin was once again the first bird to head north, and this year he left even earlier than last.

Like last year, he spent a while in Venezuela and the northern Amazon. When he started up again after a 24-day stopover, he crossed the Caribbean without a hitch and got to southwestern Cuba, where he visited two fishing spots he'd been to last year. He stayed at the second until the 21st of March and crossed into Florida on the 24th.

The rest of the trip up the eastern U.S., which was uneventful, included a visit to Phiadelphia where he passed a mile from Osprey Map Central, AKA my house.

He arrived in Connecticut on 2 April, 60 days after leaving his winter range in Brazil.

Scroll down for more maps (in chronological order) from the spring of 2014 onward.

For a more detailed review of Edwin's travel, see the Henry L. Ferguson Museum's blog.

Spring migration 2014

Back in 2014 Edwin got an early start from his winter range down in Brazil. He was the first of our tagged birds to move north. He got to the llanos of western Venezuela on the 21st and then settled down for 17 days before resuming his northward trek. (See the next map for details)

Spring Break 2014

Edwin took a break from his migration and spent 17 days in the Venezuelan llanos in the state of Apure. Lots of our birds spend time here going north and south and quite a few have wintered in the area.

Summer 2014

Edwin arrived either on the 24th or 25th (we're missing some data) of March.

Strangely, Edwin showed virtually no interest in his nest from last year and spent very little time on Fishers Island, where we trapped him in 2013.

This map shows his nocturnal roosts over the course of the spring and summer. During the whole summer he only spent the night on Fishers Island twice. Almost all his time was spent over in Connecticut.

It was interesting to see him visit Gardiners Island several times over the course of the summer. This is the site of the famous Osprey colony that once numbered over 300 pairs--before the DDT-induced population crash of the 1950s and 60s. The colony is one of the few areas where numbers have not regained anything close to former densities.

Maybe next year he'll try to settle down there. We've thought about tagging an adult on Gardiners. This would be a sneaky way to get that done!

Fall migration 2014: 17 Aug - 1 Sep 2014

Edwin, our dilettante male Osprey from Fishers Island, took off on 18 Aug. He got to southern Florida on the 24th and then dropped off the map. He has a cell-tower transmitter, so we didn't hear from him again until he got to Haiti. Then he found a couple of cell-towers down in Venezuela, and we last heard from him on 1 Sept, after he had crossed the Gulf of Venezuela. That's an unusual route. Most of our birds go around the Gulf, rather than across it.
     We didn't hear from Edwin until the middle of February 2015 when he was already on his way north. We're still hoping he will download the missing data for the rest of his fall and winter down in South America.

2015 Spring migration begins

Edwin is once again the first bird to head north, and this year he left a week earlier than last.

As expected, he spent the winter at the same spot where he spent last winter along the Rio Solimoes (that's what Brazilians call the Amazon River above Manaus).

As he did last year, despite his very early start, he wound up taking a break from migration shortly after starting.

12-19 Feb

Well, here's a bit of a surprise. Edwin got to the llanos of eastern Colombia on the 14th. After a day there, he turned around and flew back south for 4 days and has settled down along the Guaviare River. It's not totally out of character for him--he did the same thing last spring--but it's unusual for a bird to take a significant break from the northern migration.

Last year's rest stop not what it used to be

Here are some details for the brief visit to Venezuela. Edwin moved north into the llanos on the 16th of Feb (red track), spent a night and then flew south again. In 2014 (green track) on the 23rd of Feb he followed a river east for a while and then turned south to a spot where he spent 13 days in mid-migration last spring. That had the look of a bird going back to a spot he knew about from a previous trip. This year he went straight there, but location apparently didn't meet his standards and after a night there, he flew south again...

Spring Break 2015

Here's Edwin coming back to the Guaviare River in the Colombian portion of the Amazon rainforest after he checked out last year's rest stop in Venezuela. He's working a couple of ox-bow lakes.

Back in Florida

Edwin went "dark" after getting to the Paraguana Peninsula in northwestern Venezuela. This is what we expect from cell-tower birds, given that we don't get any data from them when they're crossing Cuba. Sometimes they'll check in when they get to Haiti, but Edwin blew through Haiti in a big hurry and didn't find a cell tower.

With a stopover (see below) he made it through Cuba in about 6 and a half days.

Favorite fishing holes

Like many of our birds, Edwin knows some spots along the way where he likes to fish. One of the cool things we see here is that they can find these known refueling stops from different directions, which means they have an amazing memory and navigation system. This year (red track) he stopped only briefly at the first indicated location and then moved on that day (17 Mar) to another spot where he stopped over in 2014. This year he spent 4 days there. He's now falling behind his schedule from last year.

Migration complete

Edwin worked his way steadily up the east coast and arrived "home" on April 2nd.

It's rather hard to say what home is for Edwin, who was trapped at a nest on Fishers Island in 2013. Last year he did not return to nest there and spent the summer wandering around southeastern Connecticut and eastern Long Island.

Edwin does Philly

Edwin arrived in the Philadelphia area on the 31st, turned north and did some fishing around Green Lane Reservoir, just north of Perkiomenville. On the 1st, he flew a mile west of our headquarters here in Ardmore, toured the Delaware River south of the airport, followed the river upstream, passed over the Walt Whitman Bridge and then exited stage east through Camden.

Prodigal Edwin does his thing

After arriving in the area on 2 Apr, Edwin wandered around the same areas he visited last summer. He spent a fair bit of time on the Niantic River, where he just about bumped into our Fishers Island male, Charlie, who is commuting between his nest on Fishers Island and the New London-Niantic area.

Edwin has visited the big Osprey colonies in the area. He spent a few hours on Great Island, the center of the Connecticut River Estuary (CRE on the map), and then flew over to Gardiners Island on 9 Apr. He was still there on the 12th.

Gardiners Island was the home of 300 pairs of Ospreys from at least 1800 through the mid 20th century when they were knocked back to a dozen or so pairs by our indiscriminant use of DDT.

We've long wanted to tag a bird in this colony. We're hoping Edwin will settle down there and get us a bird in the colony through the back door.