WILDLIFE WATCHING — While bald eagles have move into the Lake Coeur d'Alene area for a winter feast of kokanee, the ospreys that put on a fishing show all summer long in the area left the area by early November and are migrating to warmer climates.

Last winter during a visit to Mexico, I observed dozens of osprey perched near a village on the Pacific Ocean side of Baja.  Indeed, they find as much bounty in saltwater as they do in Inland Northwest waters.

The video above shows detailed and instructive footage of ospreys fishing, including the underwater sequence of an osprey taking a flounder.

Ospreys normally begin returning to the Inland Northwest in late March.

See eBird data for Idaho for Osprey.

See eBird data for Washington for Osprey.

(“WA data are probably biased toward the west side of the state,” says INW birder Charles Swift.) 

WHERE DO OSPREYS GO?

COEUR D'ALENE OSPREY IN CUBA

 

An osprey hatched along the lower Coeur d'Alene River is basking in the tropical warmth of Cuba this winter.

 

The osprey is one of 20 hatchlings that were captured last summer in North Idaho so they could be introduced to South Dakota. Wayne Melquist, a North Idaho wildlife biologist and osprey expert, attached GPS devices to four of the 20 birds before they were put taken out of state as part of a migration research project.

 

The birds were put in man-made nests, called hack boxes, and fed until they fledged on their own.

 

“These birds didn't have any parents to tell them where to go for the winter, but that's true no matter what, since the parents naturally leave for the winter before their young do,” Melquist said.

 

Of the four chicks with transmitters, one is in the New Oreleans area and one got to the coast and then made a beeline for Cuba. Melquist is not sure at this point whether the other two are alive.

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Ospreys are going to grab a little of the spotlight Sunday (Aug. 5) during the popular Festival at Sandpoint musical extravaganza.

Biologist Janie Fink, founder of Birds of Prey Northwest, will present a program with live raptors during the Festival’s Family Day Concert.

The Festival's two-week concert series is held at Memorial Field, right below the nests of two osprey pairs that have delighted Festival-goers for decades. When the light poles were replaced last fall, nesting platforms were included on two of the new poles and a webcam was focused on one of the nests.

Birdwatchers have had the privilege to watch online video streaming as the osprey family advanced through courtship, nest building, egg laying, hatching and rearing of the young birds.

At Sunday’s Family Concert, featuring a day of activities for kids and a performance of “Pinocchio” by the Spokane Youth Orchestra, Fink will be giving a 30-minute program on Idaho raptors. She’s bringing live birds that her center is rehabilitating after injury — including an owl, eagle, falcon, hawk and osprey — for kids and adults to see up close.

The Family Concert activities begin at 4:30 p.m.; admission is $6.

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Ospreys nesting above War Memorial Field in Sandpoint hatched their first chick Monday, and a web cam is giving viewers an up-close and personal view as the adults feed the bird.

The emergence of another chick could happen any day — or hour.

The first chick to hatch was being fed this morning around 9 a.m. The camera is positioned perfectly to see the action as though you were in the nest.

With a web cam fixed above the nest platform, the public was able to watch the ospreys arrive on April 10 to begin building their nest and go through courtship.

In late April, the camera caught skirmishes between the pair that adopted this nest and a second osprey pair that was attempting to hijack the nest. (The field on Lake Pend Oreille has two osprey nests.)

The Sandpoint Osprey Cam is a collaboration of the City of Sandpoint and Sandpoint Online with corporate support by Avista and Northland Communications. Consulting biologist is Jane Fink of Birds of Prey Northwest.  Moving the nest and puting up the web cam was no easy task. Read about the project.

The Sandpoint Online web page includes a chat feature for osprey watchers to trade observations, plus  Fink is providing an interpretive blog.

The number of daily page views grew into the thousands on May 7, when the female osprey laid the pair's first egg at 12:48 p.m.  (above left). That egg hatched on June 18.  The second should hatch any hour or day.

The parents will be feeding fish to the birds every few hours for weeks.  Enjoy the show.

Meantime, check out this incredible osprey fishing video and brief yourself with Fink's answers to osprey FAQ»

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Things have been looking up for a pair of ospreys since groups in Sandpoint organized to relocate a nest that had to be moved at Sandpoint’s War Memorial Field during renovations.

With a web cam fixed above the nest platform, the public has been able to watch the ospreys arrive on April 10 to begin build their next (see photos above) and go through courtship.

In late April, the camera caught skirmishes between the pair that adopted this nest and a second osprey pair that was attempting to hijack the nest. (The field on Lake Pend Oreille has two osprey nests.)

The Sandpoint Osprey Cam is a collaboration of the City of Sandpoint and Sandpoint Online with corporate support by Avista and Northland Communications. Consulting biologist is Jane Fink of Birds of Prey Northwest.  Moving the nest and puting up the web cam was no easy task. Read about the project.

The Sandpoint Online web page includes a chat feature for osprey watchers to trade observations, plus  Fink is providing an interpretive blog. The number of daily page views is in the thousands and growing especially this week:

Monday at 12:48 p.m. the female laid their first egg (above left).

Soon we'll all be able to watch the hatching and raising of a brood.

Meantime, check out this incredible osprey fishing video and brief yourself with Fink's answers to osprey FAQ»

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Tundra swans are flocking to the region, enjoying the  fields and sloughs flooded with our record March wetness.

But while the swans will continue north in their spring migration, other birds are moving in to say all summer and raise broods in our midst.

Among the recent arrivals:

Brad & I found our first osprey of the year on the dike road between Silver and North Silver Lake in Spokane County on March 28.

—Fran Haywood, Spokane birder

WILDLIFE — I have not been able to track down the source of these November photos that are making rounds on the Internet, but they tell an intriguing tale in the world of predators and prey.

Apparently a paddler pulled from the water an osprey that had tried to make a meal of a snake.  But the snake was able to wrap itself around the osprey's neck and lock into a choke hold.

The rescuer reportedly is shown untying the snake from the half-drown bird and letting it loose, while the osprey stood, drying in the sun and trying to recover.  That's all I know.

See for yourself. Click “continue reading” for the unattributed text in the email describing the rest of the fascinating photos.

BIRDWATCHING — Ospreys were late to arrive in the Inland Northwest this year, and some of the fish-eating hawks are hanging around longer this fall, possibly because they got a late start producing their young.

According to Coeur d'Alene Audubon Society Records, ospreys usually arrive to North Idaho in mid- to late-March. This year the first sighting was April 4, probably owing to the lingering wintery conditions.

Normally, the ospreys begin leaving in late September and are usually gone by late October, as they migrate to far-flung summering areas. (See below) But area birders have been reporting late-stayers this week:

• “I saw an osprey Nov. 1 on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge,” said refuge wildlife biologist Mike Munts. “It was a first for November of the species for me.”
• “Observed a very late pair of osprey (near Spring Valley Reservoir on Monday), said Terry Gray of Moscow, noting that they were near a nest with a fledgling that appeared to be ready to fly. When he saw them last, they were leaving the reservoir about noon: “They were catching the thermals and were almost out of site.”

See a revealing video, including slow-motion aerials and underwater footage, of the remarkable way ospreys fly and dive for their food.

See eBird data for Idaho for Osprey.

See eBird data for Washington for Osprey.

(“WA data are probably biased toward the west side of the state,” says INW birder Charles Swift.)

WHERE DO OSPREYS GO?

Here's a blurb from Out & About on the S-R Outdoors page, Feb. 13, 2005:

COEUR D'ALENE OSPREY IN CUBA

An osprey hatched along the lower Coeur d'Alene River is basking in the tropical warmth of Cuba this winter.

The osprey is one of 20 hatchlings that were captured last summer in North Idaho so they could be introduced to South Dakota. Wayne Melquist, a North Idaho wildlife biologist and osprey expert, attached GPS devices to four of the 20 birds before they were put taken out of state as part of a migration research project.

The birds were put in man-made nests, called hack boxes, and fed until they fledged on their own.

“These birds didn't have any parents to tell them where to go for the winter, but that's true no matter what, since the parents naturally leave for the winter before their young do,” Melquist said.

Of the four chicks with transmitters, one is in the New Oreleans area and one got to the coast and then made a beeline for Cuba. Melquist is not sure at this point whether the other two are alive.