Osprey and Kestrel updates - Tuttle

E-mail from Dick Tuttle:


Hello Everyone,

    In Delaware County there are four pairs of Osprey that have claimed platforms and are working on nests and are acting out "trust landings" where males land on the females' backs during an early stage of courtship. The exception is the Delaware nest where I have only seen one bird. I report the following:

    Delaware Lake. On two short visits, each time I have seen only one Osprey at this location, once a female stood on the perch. However, the nest shows a new layer of material, evidence of an active pair. 

    Hoover Nature Preserve.  Dick Phillips, Troy Alpeter and I straightened this platform for the most part. It leans just a few degrees to the West. A willow tree provided an anchor point for 150 feet of rope as we worked from a wide canoe and a kayak with two winches and multiple knots.

    A pair of Osprey appreciated the adjustment and have been working on their nest. Today, I witnessed something for the first time; one of the birds excavated a "grab" of material from the core of last year's nest.

    Alum Creek Lake. After an ice flow wiped out No. 4 and 14 of 16 signs, five volunteers reinstalled No. 4 at a location just to the west and south of its original site. Hopefully, future ice flows will have a lesser chance to collide with this platform. 

   Some signs were located and reinstalled during winter drawdown and I installed six signs and four sign posts from my canoe after storms filled the lake to above summer pool level.

    Presently, five Ospreys are claiming nests and a soap opera is in progress.

 First, news of the earliest pair. The earliest Ospreys, both have bare legs with no bands, started out on No. 4 on March 21. After building a good base on No. 4, they moved their activity to No. 2, and during the last several days, they moved back to No. Four.

    At times, Canada Geese try to claim No's. 4 and 2 as the Ospreys have done a good job building a good foundation for goose nests.

    TM, the transmitting male, returned from migration on March 27 and immediately had a new barelegged mate on No. 1. His 2006 mate wore an old dark blue band that could not be read by anyone. No animosity between the Osprey pairs has been seen by any of the observers on site.

    Today, at 1300, much chirping alerted me that something was wrong near No. One. A third bird, that turned out to be a female, was competing with the new female for the nest. TM delivered several sticks as the females had an aerial cat fight (Am I politically correct here?) over the lake. Occasionally, TM would join in but the hostility was definitely female/female. 

   Has the 2006 female returned? I tried to see a band as the birds cruised above the road but no one was allowed by the other to land on the perch or nest long enough for me to see. Time will tell. 

    American Kestrels.  Dick Phillips and I checked the fifty-mile-long roadside nest box trail on March 25. Our mission was to add a 20 inch wide strip of aluminum flashing below each box to make the electric pole safe from climbing raccoons. Our mission was accomplished and we found that 16 of 18 boxes showed evidence of falcon activity by having "kestrel cups" in the bedding. A kestrel cup fits the shape of a roosting kestrel. 

   Two of the boxes had been excavated clean by starlings and we added white pine bedding to them. Most boxes held pellets of mouse remains and several had bird remains, including one with bluebird feathers.

    Many locations had kestrels, most were pairs. The boxes will be checked again during the second week of April. 
    
    This concludes a very condensed report (for me). I will report on winter-killed bluebirds later. 

    Raptor on,   Dick Tuttle