After monitoring the eagles of New York for so many years I saw very few Ospreys and knew less about them. After spending this nesting season watching many nesting pairs of ospreys I could see a very familiar pattern within the nesting of both species but I could not tell a male from a female with the osprey. I had a good chance with the eagles, as the beak on the female is different besides her being the larger.
As I monitored the osprey from when I was sure they were incubating egg/eggs/ I noticed the one that spent most of the time on the nest had a bracelet like marking about the neck (and seemed larger than the mate) while the other who was spending the time hunting and just roosting on a T-Post by the nest pole had an almost pure white breast. I was sure the one with the bracelet marking in the plumage was the female. It just did all the nesting things a female raptor does. Still not being completely sure of my findings I ask several experts in the field about this condition and so far I got the two below back. I also noticed the eyes were more yellow on the adults while the young looked orange.
Lou
Hi Lou,
You're right about the adult female having the necklace of brown feathers but sometimes it’s faint enough to not be noticeable from a distance. It tough to tell on juveniles besides their size. I guess the adults in your area should be leaving around Sept. and the fledglings a month or so after for migration.
Bobby
(Bobby Horvath is a rehabber and friend on Long Island N.Y.)
You nailed it Lou: the female has the "breast band".
Pete
(Pete Nye is the leader of the endangered species unit and a friend in New York)
genemiller wrote:
Thanks for posting a very interesting topic, Lou. From your observations and experts, the female has the necklace, and the male has a clear chest. The pair of Ospreys that I have been monitoring at Jamaica Bay WildLife Refuge both display a necklace/chest markings. The female is obviously the significantly larger bird displaying sexual dimorphism. I am enclosing 2 photos showing the markings on both birds. I would appreciate your comments as to the necklace/chest markings on this pair.
GENE
Thanks Gene you surely have a pair there that my good friend on Long Island states in his reply to me about (See above) I am sure this is what he is saying as to the closeness of some birds. I would have a tough time telling the one from the other in this photo with only a guess ventured and that’s not a great way to ID a bird for future reference. (I'll guess the bottom is the female)
If your working Jamaica Bay you may want to look up Bobby as he lives out on long Island and I had the pleasure to meet him back years ago when he brought an immature eagle up to the Delaware Valley Raptor Center where he was rehabbed for a release. Always good to know where you can find a good rehabber. Here is a link to the release of that bird
Lou http://www.loubuscher.com/jakes_rehab.htm
Thanks for the reference link, Lou. From the photos I posted, determining the sex by the chest markings would be very difficult. However, from the size difference, I believe the larger bird (on the right,upper) is the female.
genemiller wrote:
Thanks for the reference link, Lou. From the photos I posted, determining the sex by the chest markings would be very difficult. However, from the size difference, I believe the larger bird (on the right,upper) is the female.
GENE
I agree Gene and to me the bottom one looked larger but then maybe the pole is hiding most of him. Like I said a bad way to ID a raptor for good info is a guess. I think the one doing most of the nesting work is usealy the female but again not 100%. These are tough for me.
Lou
genemiller wrote:
Lou, the previous photos of the Osprey pair were useful for portraying the necklace/chest markings on the birds. I am posting another set of photos which more clearly depicts the size difference between the pair. The upper Osprey is the larger and therefore, I believe, is most likely the female.
GENE
Yeah you right on this call Gene as I also can see the dirrerence in the size here. Good capture
Lou
Good stuff. I just love the Osprey and have been photographing them for about 1 1/2 years now and trying to learn about them - when I started getting into wildlife photography.
Due to DDT - the pesticide used extensively in the past, Osprey were becoming endangered because the DDT was caused their eggs to be too thin.
The Osprey are a very traditional family. Dad gets the food while Mom stays home with the kids. There are times if something happens to Dad that Mom will still not leave the nest. Thankfully with the two families I have seen raised, all are safe to my knowledge.
This is an image of Dad hunting for food. You can see the colors or lack of spotting on his chest:
It's looks so exhausting watching him dive as he becomes completely submerged, and then rising out of the water with this large fish. They can actually carry a fish up to about 4 lbs! Eagles in comparison skim across the water - they don't dive head first.
The babies are older now and Mom needs to stretch her wings. She is taking off here. Notice the difference in the coloring of the chest/neck area. Dad is on nest watch:
Here is one of the "babies" that has fledged and is eating a fish. Note the white on the ends of all of her feathers. When they become an adult the white goes away like her parents. The difference in the colors helps to camouflage the babies when they are in the nest. The Mom will squawk and the babies will lay flat to blend in with the sticks.
deedee4re wrote:
Good stuff. I just love the Osprey and have been photographing them for about 1 1/2 years now and trying to learn about them - when I started getting into wildlife photography.
Due to DDT - the pesticide used extensively in the past, Osprey were becoming endangered because the DDT was caused their eggs to be too thin.
The Osprey are a very traditional family. Dad gets the food while Mom stays home with the kids. There are times if something happens to Dad that Mom will still not leave the nest. Thankfully with the two families I have seen raised, all are safe to my knowledge.
This is an image of Dad hunting for food. You can see the colors or lack of spotting on his chest:
It's looks so exhausting watching him dive as he becomes completely submerged, and then rising out of the water with this large fish. They can actually carry a fish up to about 4 lbs! Eagles in comparison skim across the water - they don't dive head first.
The babies are older now and Mom needs to stretch her wings. She is taking off here. Notice the difference in the coloring of the chest/neck area. Dad is on nest watch:
Here is one of the "babies" that has fledged and is eating a fish. Note the white on the ends of all of her feathers. When they become an adult the white goes away like her parents. The difference in the colors helps to camouflage the babies when they are in the nest. The Mom will squawk and the babies will lay flat to blend in with the sticks.
Sorry if I have made this post too bandwidth challenging.
DeeDee G.
...Show more →
Nice photos DeeDee and I see in the one photo there is a band showing and I wondered if you are in a preserve or the area you are photographing in is banding ospreys?
The ban on DDT was in 1972 and it had a big effect on the bald eagle in the lower 48 see my link still soaring and all other top feeders. Shame but there is some trouble brooding again with song birds eggs in Maine and now I read it has been found in raptors eggs also. It appears to be arsenic and they find it is coming from spiders but now they don’t know where the spiders are getting it from.
BTW if you can read the band you should report it to the F&W Service or whoever is in charge in your State as it is always nice to get a history back on a bird.
Lou http://www.loubuscher.com/Still%20Soaring.htm
"In this part of the country, arsenic is primarily naturally occurring. New Hampshire’s bedrock, along with the right combination of pH and low dissolved oxygen levels, make it prime quarters for arsenic formation."
"In this part of the country, arsenic is primarily naturally occurring. New Hampshire’s bedrock, along with the right combination of pH and low dissolved oxygen levels, make it prime quarters for arsenic formation."
Perhaps it's the same in Maine.
DeeDee G.
Dee Dee Here is the first two paragraphs from the article. It was written in the Boston Globe on 3/11/08 and I received the info on that same day at 9:ooAM. If you would like to read the entire article PM me with your email and I will foward it to you.
Lou
New crop of chemicals is found in birds' eggs
By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff | March 11, 2008Eggs from an array of Maine birds - from lordly bald eagles to timorous piping plovers; from swallows snarfing insects in suburban backyards to storm-petrels feeding hundreds of miles at sea - contain 100 industrial and household contaminants, scientists will report today.
According to research to be presented to the Maine Legislature, all 60 eggs tested by biologists and chemists - taken from 23 wild species, inhabiting every major ecosystem in the state, from Kittery to Calais - carried at least trace amounts of the 100 chemicals, occasionally at levels believed to be harmful to the birds.
PS That is a tought one for the tea drinker Sara but having lived most of my life in the Catskill mountains and having a drilled well of 307 feet it was always good water but due to the fact that I tested it every 5 years for a bacteria count it remained fine till one day when it changed and it required a UV filter to kill the bacteria. Saras fault is she never had her well tested and that is a No No for any drilled well no matter where it is. Had she done that she could have taken the proper methods to clear the water. I would say it would be an entire different story if Sara had Town water and this happened. BTW here where I now live on the Cape I do have town water.
Lou
