Born To Fly

By April 15th, 2024 Stewart (on the left) and Hope (on the right) had returned to their nest site, at the University of Washington, IntraMural Activity field number three (i.e. IMA3), north of Union Bay, in Seattle, WA. This is their sixth year of egg-laying at this site and their sixth and a half year of nest building. Click Here to read more about their early efforts.

Assuming no fatal accidents or illnesses, they are most likely the same two individuals that we observed attempting to build their first nest, at this location in 2018. The fact that the Osprey have a strong sense of site fidelity and generally live 15 to 20 years helps to support this assumption.

Females on average weigh nearly twenty percent more than males. Their size alone implies that Hope, on the right, is the female. Also, with mature Osprey the females typically have some dark brown streaks or spots on the chest and males usually don't. These characteristics are also apparent in the photo. In addition, they have different reproductive roles, which are generally gender specific.

The male is expected to deliver fish to the nest, and both genders work on nest building, although the males may initially do more, and ultimately, the female spends much more time at the nest, laying eggs, incubating, and later feeding the young.

In this photo, Stewart was taking to the air to go find food. Osprey typically dine on fish. I have heard they will occasionally eat other small creatures but so far I have never seen that happen.

You might want to notice the size of their nest. In mid-April, it was still primarily confined to the area between the second and third lights from the right.

I remember hearing Hope begging Stewart for food. It would not have surprised me to see Stewart bring back food and use it to inspire Hope to mate with him. Click Here to see how that was done by the previous pair that historically nested just to the south in the Union Bay Natural Area.

However, when Stewart returned with his catch he seemed indifferent to Hope's hunger as he settled on a nearby light pole he looked over at Hope with his catch in full view.

Then he turned his back and proceeded to carefully consume his fish. 

I do not understand his logic. Maybe he needed to keep his strength up and was preparing to make another run to secure food for Hope. However, if that was the case, why not eat somewhere hidden from Hope? Clearly, Stewart does not think like me. 

Three months later, here is Stewart bringing a fish to the nest for Hope and one of their offspring. Evidently, Stewart successfully managed his relationship with Hope because they created offspring.

During the intervening months not only were eggs laid, incubated, and hatched but the nest also grew, dramatically.

Last week, Hope was still bringing sticks to the nest.

Also last week, one of their young could still be seen flexing its wings, gaining strength, and preparing to fly. Counting how many young Hope and Stewart produce is always challenging. Their nest is large and positioned on top of a very tall light pole. Young ones resting in the middle of the nest are completely hidden from the ground.

This time of year the young birds of most other species have already learned to fly and are learning to find their food. 

Since Osprey migrate, from Mexico, in the Spring their nest-building, egg-laying, etc. typically happens later than it does among our larger resident birds. As a result, the young of the Common Ravens, Barred Owls, and Bald Eagles are all out of their nests by now. On the other hand, when this photo was taken on August 14th, this young Osprey was still doing flight prep.

The young one is smaller than Hope. In addition to its size, there are other clues to its youth.

Update: My friend Martin Muller has pointed out that at this stage, when the young are ready to leave the nest, they are full-grown. In which case its size does not indicate youth but rather that it is a male.  

One of the most beautiful is the color of its irises. I find the orange coloring of a young bird's eyes particularly appealing.

The young bird's wing flaps close to Hope's head, but does not scare her into moving away.

However, Hope is smart enough to close her outer eyelid. 

Unlike ours, the eyelids of Osprey close from the bottom up. I suspect this arrangement is particularly helpful when a fish is wiggling about and hoping to make a last-second escape. I would think closing their eyes from the bottom up protects them a split second sooner than our top-down approach.

With enough food, patience and practice young birds learn to lift off and fly. 

However, learning where to land is another challenge. This young one quickly exchanged feet on top of this slender snag as the wood wiggled back and forth. It rapidly and repeatedly reached out and retracted its wings, trying to find a peaceful balance.

However, after a few seconds of intense effort, the young one departed, apparently aiming for a more stable substrate.

Here is another example of a young one trying to land on one of the slender wires surrounding the soccer field just below the nest.

Finally, here is one a few days later trying to perch on a wire on the south side of the U-Village parking garage. It eventually hopped over and stood on the top of the building. Clearly, figuring out where to land is a learning process. This type of behavior is another indicator of youth.

In flight, when viewed from above, the dark brown feathers on a fledgling's back and wings display long rows of white tips that show where each layer of feathers ends. The layering looks and functions similar to shingles on a roof. Since the arrangement of bird feathers is far more ancient than shingles, I suspect shingles may have been inspired by feathers.

Among mature Osprey the white tips on their feathers have worn away or been replaced with totally dark feathers, which makes the layering much harder to see.

When looking at the underside of the young ones, you may notice a tawny tinge of color on their white feathers. 

With adults, their white feathers are much "cleaner". The contrast between their light and dark coloring is quite crisp.

When the more mature young, who had already learned to fly, noticed Stewart heading toward the nest with a food, they quickly returned.

It was almost a family reunion...

... and when Stewart arrived, momentarily, the full family of five was reunited.

Seconds later a Great Blue Heron happened to pass over, high above the nest.

When Stewart took to the air, the Heron realized its mistake. It tried to speed up and change course, but Herons are not particularly quick.

Soon, Stewart caught up and chased the Heron away to the south. I lost sight of them when they both dropped below the tree line in the direction of Husky Stadium. I doubt Stewart attacked the Heron, but I suspect the Heron will not fly near the Osprey nest anytime soon.

One lucky youngster was "hand-fed" bite-sized pieces by Hope.

My friend Ronda, who watches the nest daily, sees the young more clearly than I do. She has named them Celine, Cyril, and Carmel. We saw Celine and Cyril flying about and playing chase with each other last week. Just this week Ronda reported Carmel is finally flying too.

In the early Fall adult females are usually the first to head south, they are followed by the adult males. Curiously, the young migrate south all on their own and without any previous experience. Click Here to see how the annual Osprey migration plays out on the animated eBird weekly abundance map. (Push the white arrow on the bottom to get it moving.)

If you want to see the young in flight or test your ability to pick out the young versus the adults, I would suggest visiting the IMA3 field soon. A month from now, the whole family could be gone for the Winter.

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city and Black Birders are welcome!

Larry

Going Native:

Each of us, who breathes the air, drinks water, and eats food should be helping to protect our environment. Local efforts are most effective and sustainable. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and the local native creatures. Even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. 

I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors, and local businesses to respect native flora and support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.

2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (When native plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)

3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.

4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants. 

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Keystone native plants are an important new idea. Douglas Tallamy, in the book "Nature's Best Hope ", explains that caterpillars supply more energy to birds, particularly young birds in their nests, than any other plant eater. He also mentions that 14% of our native plants, i.e. Keystone Plants, provide food for 90% of our caterpillars. This unique subset of native plants and trees enables critical moths, butterflies, and caterpillars that in turn provide food for the great majority of birds, especially during the breeding season. 

Note: Flowering plants and trees, i.e. those pollinated by bees, are also included as Keystone Plants.

This video explains the native keystone plants very nicely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5cXccWx030

The Top Keystone Genera in our ecoregion i.e. Plants and trees you might want in your yard: 

Click Here

Additional content available here:

https://wos.org/wos-wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Native-Plant-Resources-10-7-22.pdf

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In the area below, I am displaying at least one photo with each post to help challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms. 

One of the following two flowers is native (Common Yarrow) and one is not (Queen Anne's Lace). Can you tell which is which?

Is this a native flower?

Is this a native flower?

Scroll down for the answer.

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Thank you to Whitney for pointing out the differences between these two plants!

Common Yarrow: (In the first photo.)

Yes. It is a native plant. There are records of a wide variety of medicinal uses which you can read about by Clicking Here. This same USFS post is also my source for learning that it is sometimes referred to as Milfoil. This must stem from the second half of its Latin name, "Achillea Millefolium" which means "having a thousand leaves." I think the frilly little leaflets in the photo certainly reinforce that definition. Click Here to see information from the Burke Museum.

This can be found south of the Friends of Arboretum Creek visioning site along the Loop Trial in the Arboretum, i.e. north of Parking Lot #19.

Queen Anne's Lace:  (In the second photo.)

This plant was introduced from Europe and is considered a weed by King County. It can be found around the IMA3 field below the Osprey nest. While very similar to Common Yarrow one easy difference is the relative sparsity of leaves. Click Here to see information from the Burke Museum.

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The Email Challenge:

Over the years, I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements. As of 2021, Google has discontinued the service.

In response, I have set up my own email list. With each post, I will manually send out an announcement. If you would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Something like:

                Larry, Please add me to your personal email list. 

My email address is:  

                     LDHubbell@comcast.net

Thank you!

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The Comment Challenge:

Another common issue is losing your input while attempting to leave a comment on this blog. Often everything functions fine, however, sometimes people are unable to make it past the robot-detection challenge or maybe it is the lack of a Google account. I am uncertain about the precise issue. Sadly, a person can lose their comment with no recovery recourse. 
Bottom Line: 
If you write a long comment, please, copy it before hitting enter. Then, if the comment function fails to record your information, you can send the comment directly to me using email.

My email address is:  

                     LDHubbell@comcast.net

Sincerely,

Larry