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An Intro to OspreyZone

The Story of DDT

Osprey Rescue

2020 Clips

Bald Eagles Visit Nest

Ospreyzone Highlights: May 21-29, 2020

OspreyZone Highlights: May 15-20, 2020 - The Intruder

OspreyZone Highlights: May 7th-14th, 2020

OspreyZone Highlights: April 15-21, 2020

OspreyZone Yankee

March 18, 2016 Timelapse

The Summer of 2015 by GinaM

Osprey Rescue Extended - July 30, 2015

Osprey Zone Highlights - June 28, 2015

Osprey Zone Highlights - June 19, 2015

osprey 07/11/15 squirt

First Sighting

George and Gracie's First Baby

Eggs Over Easy

Changing of the Guard

Breakfast is Served

Upgrading

Feeding Time

First Love

Let's Hang Out

Hard to Get

Little Brother

Intruder

Dinner is Served

OspreyZone Montage

OspreyZone Highlights: George Returns

Tip:  If the nest is empty, use the red scroll bar to rewind the stream up to 12 hours

Please be advised that nature can be brutal – viewer discretion is advised.
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Special Thanks to Tommy and Christina: George & Gracie’s Landlords

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Belle’s Journey

Written by Dr. Rob Bierregaard & Illustrated by Kate Garchinsky

Take flight with Belle, an osprey born on Martha’s Vineyard as she learns to fly and migrates for the first time to Brazil and back–a journey of more than 8,000 miles.

Click HERE for more information!

IMPORTANT: Messages from osprey experts

Rob Bierregaard July 1, 2015 at 7:24 am
I haven’t seen the little guy yet this morning, but I would be very surprised if he survived the night. That sure was tough to watch yesterday, but that whole process is as much a part of the essence of being an Osprey as is eating a fish. It’s part of the life of Ospreys that was rarely seen before we started putting cameras in nests. As hard as it is, we should not label the behavior as mean or cruel. Being mean or cruel implies that there is intent to do harm just for harm’s sake. Those young were responding to a set of stimuli (very little food being delivered to the nest and the presence of a very small young) in a way that evolution has hard-wired into them. It helps ensure their survival. Nature is not cruel. It is harsh, unforgiving, and often random (had the little guy been born 1st, he would have been just as aggressive as was his sibling), but not cruel or mean.

4818eecc88292926c58414a82c884c71Paul Henry ospreyzone July 1, 2015 at 8:17 am
Thanks Rob for bringing your knowledge and experience to help us all gain perspective here. We are all saddened by the events that unfolded before our eyes and it’s only natural for all of us to feel and express our emotions appropriately. There have been many issues pertaining to intervention which have been discussed amongst us all. There is no doubt in my mind that the right decision was made, to let nature take it’s course. By the way, that doesn’t equate to heartless, on the contrary, nobody feels worse about this then the apparent decision makers. I say apparent, because when all was said and done, and all the issues were properly weighed, there really weren’t any other options. It was clearly pointed out, by experts, that intervening at this stage could have spooked the whole nest to the point of losing all the young. If the little one was saved, and nursed back to health, what kind of a life would it have had, perhaps caged up in a zoo. I remember when I was younger I saw a golden eagle in captivity, caged behind a wire mesh. I could practically see it’s tears. As far as placing the little one in another nest, such a low probability of success would never have justified the possibility of spooking the nest. There’s a piece of me, however heavy hearted, that believes that perhaps it is better to be born free and die free. We mourn for the little one as we marvel at the wonders of nature.

Reprinted with the permission of John W. Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Hello Paul,

Thanks for your query, and you have my admiration for persevering. We know very well how tough your job is, including dealing with an anxious public.

Our policy with our Bird Cams project is essentially “just say no” to pleas for interference. The behavior you are witnessing – while seemingly cruel and heartless to us – is natural for many kinds of birds, especially those that feed on variable, unpredictable food supplies. The little nestling does have a chance to survive, but if it does not then that result was “meant to be” by the nature of Osprey breeding strategy. The wonderful things about these nest cameras also sometimes yield the difficult things for us to watch. As you might know, we actually post a “siblicide alert” on some of our cams where we suspect the possibility exists.

I’m copying your note to Charles Eldermire, project leader for our Bird Cams. He may have some additional comments, and he would be the one to ask if we might be able to use your stored files for biological analysis.

Best wishes, and good luck,

John W. Fitzpatrick

Director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

In addition, Charles Eldermire, Bird Cams Project Leader, Cornell Lab of Ornithology Writes:

It’s also important to acknowledge that intervening can also cause problems of its own—depending on the ages of the birds in the nest, disturbing them can trigger an early fledge. We have restricted the scenarios in which we would even consider intervening to injuries or dangers that are explicitly human-derived. For example, 3 or 4 years ago we were alerted by viewers that one of the osprey chicks at the Hellgate Osprey nest was entangled in monofilament line. We consulted with our partners there (wildlife biologists, raptor researchers, raptor rehabbers) to determine if the monofilament was an issue, and if intervening was both likely to solve the issue AND not have bad effects on the other nestlings. In the end, a quick trip to the nest was scheduled via a bucket truck, the monofilament was removed, and the nestlings all eventually fledged. In that case, all of the permits were already in hand to be studying the ospreys, and we had already discussed how to approach issues in the nest.

Good luck to the young one—hope it all turns out well.

charles.

*******************
Charles Eldermire
Bird Cams Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Paul,

I’ve been to your site—great cam! And I noticed the runt in the nest. This is just normal Osprey reproduction. It happens all the time and you should not intervene. It’s tough to watch, but it’s how nature works. Ospreys almost always lay 3 eggs and on average fledge between 1 and 1.5 young each year. They stagger the hatch so there is a spread of ages in the young. That way, if food is short, the first-hatched (and therefore largest) will get enough food to survive while the smaller nest mates do not. If all three young were the same size and there was only enough food for 1 young, none of the young would get enough food and they would all die. If there’s lots of food, the smallest will eventually get fed and can survive. These nest cams can show some gut-wrenching scenes. The most infamous perhaps was one of the very first Osprey cams (on Long Island somewhere), where the smallest young died. One of the adults carried it out of the nest and after several minutes flew back into the nest and fed it to the other young. Waste-not-want-not at its goriest. At Hog Island up in Maine just last week a Bald Eagle came in and took the young out of the nest. Last year at another nest, cameras documented a Great-horned Owl taking young Ospreys out of a nest in NJ or MD. All of these things have been going on for millions of years and Ospreys are doing fine.

Rob Bierregaard
Academy of Natural Sciences
Drexel University
http://www.ospreytrax.com

“Interesting. They don’t often take over osprey poles—probably too small for them. They will coopt tree nests, which they can expand. We had a pair of eagles do this on the Vineyard. They built up the Osprey nest a lot and then the Ospreys came home and drove the eagles away, in a David v. Goliath story. The Ospreys successfully bred. They looked tiny in the nest, which sadly blew down this winter.”

    Leave A Comment

    52,566 Comments

    1. June c May 29, 2023 at 3:10 pm - Reply

      I am amazed at chick 4 at Patchogue nest…Mom found his little head and he is getting fed….

    2. Roberta May 28, 2023 at 8:04 pm - Reply

      Thank you, Mary Anne for your reply. Sorry about their privacy wall . Disappointing. I’ll keep checking.

    3. Roberta Schoenbrun May 27, 2023 at 11:11 am - Reply

      Hi all. Looking for George & whoever he hooked up with this year. Has anyone been to the nest yet?

      • Admin Mary Anne May 28, 2023 at 6:48 am - Reply

        Hi Roberta, George is with Lucy, and this is his third year with her. But they blocked the nest with sticks so it’s unlikely we will be able to see anything for the rest of the season. If they have chicks, we will be able to hear them.

    4. NANCY BORMUTH May 16, 2023 at 12:33 pm - Reply

      Sorry to ask this here, not sure where else to go…..Does anyone know what happened to the eggs on the Patchogue PSEG nest ? I thought there were 4 eggs, but I only see one little bobblehead. Thanks for any info or suggestions.

      • Admin Mary Anne May 19, 2023 at 11:18 am - Reply

        They all hatched, Nancy, there are 4 chicks.

        • Dawn Frazzitta May 24, 2023 at 1:33 pm - Reply

          Ooooofff – that 4th one is SO far behind the others. I thought the 3rd one was going to have an issue. I hope 4 is strong enough to hold his own and not go the way our beloved PeeWee did so many years ago!

          • Admin Mary Anne May 24, 2023 at 8:27 pm - Reply

            Looking good so far!

            • Matt May 25, 2023 at 4:05 pm

              I’m only seeing 3 on the Patchogue nest. As for the Oyster Bay nest, I only got a glimpse of 3 eggs.

            • Admin Mary Anne May 26, 2023 at 12:14 pm

              There are 4 chicks at Patchogue, keep watching, 4th is very small but is being fed. Yes, 3 eggs at Oyster bay.

    5. CarolV May 6, 2023 at 9:37 am - Reply

      Good morning to all!
      What was a random check in turned into a peaceful concert 🎶…. Our friend Mr. Mocker paused in his rounds to give us a listen to his repertoire . And Lucy chimed in! I think she spurred him on because he went on for at least 5 mins. You could just see her in that right corner with some wing flutters as she sang with him….. and then I heard G off in the distance.

      Yesterday I had a sparrow in the house. I saw
      movement in the corner of the livingroom and looked up to see her? Him? On the window molding.
      My bigboy, Harry, can open my old door and since it was so nice, I left it open to air out the house. Of course, never saw bird come in. Door got closed
      Anyhow, it couldn’t have gone better. Left door and windows open and with some gentle guidance little guy found a way out . Who’s the birdbrain now?

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