Osprey Status: Responses Regarding Protection Policy

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Hi All:

I received responses from ODNR's Management/staff Dave Sherman and Donna Daniel regarding my concern about "removing" the Osprey from their current protection status in Ohio. Recall the "Poster Child Photo" message of July 28, 2007. Thank you for your responses Donna & Dave.

Here is Mr. Sherman's response:

"Jim: Just wanted to let you know that I did submit the paperwork to get the osprey switched from state endangered to state threatened, but it will still be protected.

Thanks,

Sherm"

Mrs. Daniel's response was similar stating that the Osprey would continue to have protective status under the "Migratory Bird" regulations. Donna also stated that having their status changed was a good indication that the reintroduction program is working well.

The attached photo is of two youngsters from Platform #4 sitting on Platform #3.

Best Wishes,

Jim Martin.

Harvest Moon in July

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Just for the fun of it - Take a peek.

Jim M.

Empty Nester

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

This is platform #1: Empty Nester Mom.

Jim

Platform #1- Osprey Landing Attempt

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Hi:
Here is a photo that shows a young Osprey "missing" his landing spot as Mom & sibling look on.

Jim Martin.

Bald Eagle Visited Hogback Area - Alum Creek

E-mail & photos from Jim Martin:

Hi All:

The top of the local Avian food chain visited the Alum Creek Hogback Rd. area this morning. I snapped a few photos of this Bald Eagle from a distance before it spotted me and flew to the North. I searched all the way to Delaware lake with no sightings.

Jim Martin

Fly, Fly, Little Osprey, Fly!!!

Both youngsters Fledge from nest #1!!!

Friday at 5:25 PM, 1 of the 2 youngsters was flying from nest #1 on Hogback Road! I left work early hoping to see a fledge. Jim Martin, Dick Tuttle and a few other observers have spent a lot of time watching nest #1 since last Saturday, the fledge day had been calculated to be Monday July 23.

The second youngster fledged Saturday AM, while the Delaware Preservation Parks was having it Osprey Observation Program. (I showed up late, I had to wait till latter to watch the young one fly). Jim Martin will have more details and photos latter.

Frank Germann

The "Poster Child" for the Osprey Reintroduction Efforts

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Hello All:

I could not resist sending this photo to the people involved and interested in the Osprey Reintroduction Progress in Ohio.

With the last two years showing good results, the folks that closely follow the Alum Creek - Hogback Road site hope that the Osprey will not be removed from the threatened/protected species list.

Best Wishes, Jim Martin

Still awaiting takeoff from platform #1

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

The two youngsters on Platform seem to have stalled-out a bit. Observers have seen they do everything necessary to take off yet they have not. It will not be long.

Jim M.

A view of the Osprey wingspan

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

The young Osprey do not seem so young when we look at the wingspan that they have acquired after just six-seven weeks. To estimate their length look at the longest 2"x4" board going across the front of the platform (#1) - it is 40 inches long.

Jim Martin

Nest #4, Hogback Road -empty sometimes!

As can been seen in photo, Nest #4 was empty Saturday while we observed from the cliff in the parking lot on Hogback Road while at the Delaware Preservation Parks program. The young and adults were coming and going from the nest.

We have been watching Nest #1 close for the last few days. They are to fledge today, Monday July 23, 2007. Maybe tonight!!!

Frank Germann

White Egret - Alum Creek and Osprey Platform #1

E-mail & photos from Jim Maritn:

Hello:
While watching and waiting for the young Osprey to make their first fledge this White Egret stopped by to do a little fishing.

As seen in the second photo (7/22/2007), the Osprey on Platform #1 are getting close to flying.

Best Wishes, Jim Martin

Moon Photo etc.

E-mail & phote from Jim Martin:

Howdy:
Last night was a unique evening for me. I was a captive audience to two scientists (Mr. Phillips & Mr.Tuttle); both retired BW School science teachers.

Here is what I learned from these fellows.

• The planet that I have been calling Saturn is really Jupiter. We viewed it through my spotting scope and 4 of it's several moons were clearly visible on the Southern horizon.
• The Evening Star, Venus, was in a crescent stage, also viewed clearly with the spotting scope along the Western horizon.

I was able to get a decent photo of the near Half-moon which I attached.

Cool eh! Jim.

Dick Tuttle Collecting Prothonatary Nesting Jars

E-mail & photo form Jim Martin:

Howdy:

The attached photo shows Dick Tuttle near the end the morning, on July 20, 2007, collecting some 19 Prothonatary nesting "Jars" for Winter keeping & maintenance. Dick slugged it out in the muds and bugs, and waters along Alum Creek in his canoe to bag the jars shown in the canoe. The jars are a personal design that makes for ease of deployment and periodic inspection during the breeding season.

Another reason for collecting the nesting jars at the end of the season is to discourage Wrens from taking-up housekeeping. Wrens are known to cause great harm to nesting Prothonatary and other species.



And to quote Dick Tuttle from a e-mail received at 6:56 PM Friday:

"Hello Everyone,

.... I can only evict sticks, or "starter," or "dummy" nests that
male wrens deposit to claim territories that includes their preferred nest site.

I removed the Prothonotary Warbler Nest Jars since their nesting season is over and I do not want to raise wrens. Also, I had to retrieve the jars before the stream and lake "ran out of navigable water" since the level has dropped over 1-1/2 feet in the last two weeks - so Columbus can survive.

I had to wade in lots of mud."

Warbler on, Dick Tuttle

Best Wishes,
Jim Martin.

Observatins this week & Photos

Hogback Road Osprey nest #4 had two youngsters fledge on Sunday or Monday July 15 or 16, 2007. (Just as Dick Tuttle had calculated.) The smaller of the three young has had the nest to it's self, he/she should join it's brothers or sisters flying soon.

The mom and pop Osprey have been busy bringing lots of fish to the nest as the young have been feeding themselves.

As seen in one of the photos taken in the very large tree at the top of the hill from the parking lot at the big cliff, there will be many great photo opportunities in the next couple of weeks. You will not need the worlds largest lenses to get good photos. Keep your eyes on the trees near the edges of Hogback Road.

Don't forget that Saundra Sklar from Delaware Preservation Parks, ((740) 524-8600, ext. 6) will be up on the cliff in the parking lot at the top of the hill on Saturday July 21 & 28 at 9:30 am til about 11:00. She will have spotting scopes set up for all to "get up and personal" with the Osprey! Look into their eyes!

www.preservationparks.com

Nest #1 young are due to fledge next Monday, July 23. The two young have been exercising their wings the last few days.

Also note the the water has been dropping about a inch a day for two weeks. You will see a lot more of the mud flats appear each day. Lots of killdeer and yellow leg shore birds can be found near platform #1, as well as ducks, geese, King Fishers, cliff swallows and Big Blue and Little Green Herons.

Also, it seems that the 5th wheel is still around. I'm pretty sure she was being chased by the two males this morning.

Frank Germann

14 July 2007 - Delaware Wildlife Area (DWA) and More - Tuttle

E-mail & photos from Dick Tuttle:

Hello Everyone,

I have monitored the nest boxes at the DWA five times since my last report of 27 May 2007. Here is a summation of events since then.

The Panhandle Road Grid - Twenty-five nest boxes are evenly spaced in rows at 25 yards apart for nesting Tree Swallows. Two additional boxes are mounted in front of the eagle nest viewing lot.

The Leonardsburg Road Grid is five rows of five nest boxes each.

All 52 nest boxes have been active with nests and eggs this season and it looks like all but one box will fledge young. At this date, 46 nests have produced 213 Tree Swallows for an average of 4.63 fledglings per nest. Four nests remain active with 13 swallow nestlings.

One nest box in the Panhandle Grid has raised two Eastern Bluebird families of five and three fledglings, respectively. Bluebirds now occupy a nest box with eggs in the roadside row of boxes at the Leonardsburg Road Grid. They use the electric wires to hunt insects from the road and berm.

During the 2006 season, one of four grid nest boxes raised two broods of Tree Swallows, a rate unheard of in the scientific literature.

This year, only one nest box houses a second brood of swallows. I blame a cold spring for a late start to the swallows' egg-laying period and drought-like conditions afterward for this year's drop in productivity.

The Green Tree Marsh - This season, the marsh's nest boxes raised three families of Tree Swallows (11 fledglings) and two families of House Wrens (12 fledglings). Unfortunately, this wooded wetland is no longer home for 15 nest boxes offered to Prothonotary Warblers. I removed the boxes from their T-posts on July 8, and I used my T-post puller to remove posts on July 14.

Unfortunately, eggs were laid in two prothonotary nests this season but disappeared, most likely, do to the actions of House Wrens. I conclude that after three years, and after five nest attempts by Prothonotaries laying eggs, and after only one family fledged in 2005, that a "sink population" exists in this otherwise, splendid habitat.

Prothonotaries have been a common sight in this marsh and I conclude that they do not need my offerings. Natural cavities are common, having been whittled by Redheaded Woodpeckers in dead cottonwood trees. I will miss my visits to this unique world but I look forward to applying my energy as I expand my effort for warblers along the creek and lake shoreline at Alum Creek. Propelling my canoe is much easier than wading over submerged tree limbs in deep water, etc. The physical effort would be worth it if I could count fledgling warblers, but for the last two seasons, that has not happened.

I have also removed nine of ten nest boxes from the Kilbourne Swamp north of Alum Creek Osprey Platform No. One. The swamp boxes have produced one family of six swallows and an equal yield of wrens. The nest box left standing holds six wren nestlings.

The Alum Creek Nest Jar Project was a success after three of 20 nest jars at ten locations produced two families of Prothonotary Warblers (three and five fledglings) and one family of five Tree Swallows. I used a canoe to monitor this "water trail." I look forward to expanding this project for the 2008 season.

Conserve on, Dick Tuttle

American Kestrel Update - 17 July 2007 - Tuttle

E-mail & photos from Dick Tuttle:

Hello Everyone,

Dick Phillips and I checked ten of 18 kestrel boxes that hang from utility poles along fifty miles of country roads in Delaware County to confirm fledging in eight boxes, attached U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leg bands to a family of four, and counted four hatchlings and an egg in the latest kestrel nest of the season.

Presently, 59 falcons have flown from 14 nest boxes for an average of 4.2 fledglings per nest. If all goes well, the remaining two families will leave their nests around July 30 and August 13, respectively, give or take a day or two. Fledging kestrels leave behind nest chambers sprayed white with excrement. Feathers, insect wings and regurgitated pellets of bones and rodent hair cover the floors - not a pretty sight.

Since the project's beginning in 1993, we have never recorded such a successful season. So far, none of the 16 nest attempts have failed unless you count a strange happening at Box No. 16 at Gallant Woods Preserve where at total of ten eggs were laid in two separate stages. Two eggs were found on the ground, four did not hatch, and four matured to fledge. Was there a squabble between competing females? Was a female or male replaced by another? No one knows. Whatever happened, in the end, the nest box produced four kestrels.

Adding aluminum flashing to the poles below the nest boxes before the 2007 season defeated the kestrels' masked nemesis, the raccoon. Scratches on the poles are proof that raccoons are still interested, but they are no longer a negative factor since the metal sleeves are too slippery for them to climb. In the past, several nests were lost each year to climbing predators.

An earthworm hanging from a kestrel nestling's mouth was today's thought-provoking observation. We surmised that a parent falcon had snagged the earthworm from a watered lawn or garden in the rural neighborhood since the crop fields are too dry for such a moist morsel. Two homes with gardens are close enough to help feed this young family.

It is raining as I write this and that is a good thing.

Raptor on, Dick Tuttle

Osprey youngster landings

E-mail & photos from Jim Martin:

Frank:

The two photos shows 2 different Osprey youngster landings along Hog Back Rd.

Jim Martin.

Osprey First Fledge - Platform #4

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Hello Fellow Naturalists & Conservationists:

Today (July 16th, 2007) was the day Mr. Tuttle predicted the "First Fledge" from Platform #4 along Alum Creek, Hogback Rd. He was correct. The attached photo shows the youngster just stepping off the nest.

Mr. Germann and I also saw the three youngsters feeding themselves for the first time.

It was an exciting day as two youngsters eventually fledged.

Best Wishes, Jim Martin.

7/14/2007 11:15:29 AM

E-mail & photos from Jim White:

• Warrior Princess with young. 12:00 pm.
• Young Osprey testing it's wings. They did this several times today.
• Adult Osprey on perch, while young look over the edge of nest. 12:30 pm

Two Day Scare - No Problem

E-mail from Jim Martin:

For the past 48+ hours Tuttle, Martin, Germann, and Phillips had not seen the Male Osprey (with the transmitter) anywhere near platform #1 on Hogback Rd. along Alum Creek. We were very ready to ask Mr. Sherman & Ms. Daniel to request a telemetry reading last night, but decided to await until this morning. I am pleased to say that the elusive Male showed-up, albeit still "elusive". He was poised near the roadway on Hogback, very noisy and very sprite. He flew over the nest on platform #1 (his Mate & 2 kids all well) and again disappeared into the woods across the lake. His behavior is new to his observer; likely typical.

All good news. The three youngsters on # 4 are getting huge, near the size of their Mon & Dad and exercising their wings and will soon fledge - Perhaps tomorrow.

The two on Platform #1 are a full week behind and doing well.

Best Wishes,
Jim Martin

Osprey Exercising it's wings - Platform #4.

E-mail and photo from Jim Martin:

Hello:
We had an Observer tell us of a possible fledge from platform #4 on July 11, 2007. That would have been nearly a week earlier that best estimates. I have been watching that platform (#4) along Hogback Road nearly every morning and evening since. I am convinced that there was no fledge and that the Fifth Osprey (Female, also called the fifth wheel) was mistaken for an Osprey youngster. Also, I have examined four photos taken by the Observer and I could not confirm the predicted fledge.

The attached photo shows the "highest" any youngster has flown during wing exercise. It will not be long now!

Best Wishes,
Jim Martin

Check out the Purple Martins at Delaware State Park

E-mail & photos from Dick Tuttle:

Hello Everyone,

Have you ever sat in a lawn chair and watched a Purple Martin colony go about its business of raising its young? An opportunity to do so exists at Delaware State Park where Kenny Fecker of Waldo maintains three large martin hotels that will most likely raise more than 275 martins this season.

Last Saturday, 7 July 2007, Kenny lowered one of his hotels in order to show members of the Ohio Bluebird Society the finer points of being an effective martin landlord. Vinyl "skirts" protect the martin hotels from raccoons and other climbing predators. Fencing protects the nest chambers from Great-horned Owls and hawks, and special entrance holes stop European Starlings from claiming valuable nest sites.

An aluminum tray sits in each nest chamber and can be removed for nest inspections and data-taking. Also, when the nests are found to contain parasites, old bedding is dumped so new wood chips can be added. One family of five nestlings impressed those of us that raise Tree Swallows since martins are nearly three times as massive as their smaller cousin.

Seventy breeding pairs of Ohio's largest swallow put on an exciting show as they arrive at their nests overlooking the boat launch area east of the Marina. Watching with binoculars is best, but sometimes with the naked eye, parts of large insects such as dragonflies, moths, butterflies, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers, can be seen sticking from parents' bills.

Kenny expects some of the later families will occupy his martin hotels into mid-August. Presently, the chatter of a large colony of martins is a welcomed sound in Central Ohio. This is the largest martin colony on public land in the area. It is fun to watch the energetic birds work hard to prepare their offspring for a life that includes winters spent in Brazil. Not a bad idea!

Conserve on,
Dick Tuttle

Belted Kingfisher photos

Correction E-mail from Tom, received July 18, 2007, 9:55 AM:

Frank, I forgot to include the information about the photo of the Belted Kingfisher, that I sent to you on July 12th. It was taken May 6, 2006 from the cliff overlooking the Osprey platform #3, on Hogback Rd. The bird was on one of the signs at platform #2.

Regards, Tom

E-mail & photos from Tom Domin:

Frank,
These are the photos that I mentioned, when we talked a few days ago.

Regards,
Tom Domin

Alum Creek Hogback Rd. - Osprey Platform #4: Update

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Hello Fellow Conservationists and Naturalists:

The three youngsters on Platform #4 along Hogback Rd. are progressing very well as the attached photos shows. With the equivalent of a 1,800mm lens I was able to get up-close and personal.

Since my last update on platform #4 (June 20th) these Osprey have grown considerably and were banded. The new blue and silver bands are visible on the bird on the left.

I saw two of the three youngsters testing the wings today (July 7, 2007 - Morning). Their fledge-date is approaching fast as Dick Tuttle estimates they should fledge around July 15th - 17th. I hope to be there with camera in-tow. For me that is the most exciting time of all.

Best Wishes, Jim Martin.

5 Osprey Chicks Banded Hogback Road

This Tuesday morning, July 3rd 2007, the twins on platform #1 and the triplets on platform #4 were banded by the ODNR.

A very good crowed was there to see the youngsters get their new bracelets. The parking lot was overflowing.

To see more pictures of the morning click on this link:

OspreyBanding07

The next big event will be the young learning to fly!

Frank Germann

July 3, 2007 - Alum Creek Osprey Banding, Awards

E-mail & photo from Jim Martin:

Fellow Naturalists and Conservationists:

Today the five Osprey youngsters along Alum Creek were banded (2 bands) by the professionals from ODNR. With press coverage, numerous photographers, and 150+ local residents attending the banding proceeded without a hitch.

A very special moment was set aside to present awards to Dick Phillips and Dick Tuttle. These plaque awards, as shown in the attached photo, were richly deserved as no-one has done more for the Osprey reintroduction program in central Ohio than these two gentlemen.

CONGRATULATIONS Gents.

Notes: There was one "unhatched egg" on platform #1. Both sets of Osprey adults returned to the nest inside 30 mins. Feeding commenced on platform #1 inside 30 mins. ODNR proceeded to the Delaware nest site to band those youngster(s).

Best Wishes,

Jim Martin.

Photos by Jim White -Hogback Road - Sunday PM

E-mail and photos from Jim White:

1. Warrior Princess with the 2 young. 4:00 pm
2. family meal time. Male Osprey tearing apart a fish. 4:30 pm
3. mom/dad & kids at the nest 4. 1 Osprey chick testing it's wings