Rama - The Young Osprey

This is Hope, feeding her new nestling. I am estimating the little bird is around 3 weeks old. Given the height of the nest, it took a while for the small bird's head to become visible to those of us below.

I am thinking the best name for this young bird is, Rama. Rama has both Hindu and Hebrew meanings, some of which may even seem appropriate. However, none of these definitions are my reason for suggesting this particular name.

By the way, this is apparently Hope's first successful nest and therefore her first parenting experience.

It might seem disappointing that Hope and her mate, Stewart, apparently have only one hatchling. However, on the positive side with just one in the nest, there will be no sibling competition. This young bird should get all the food it needs.

Even though the nest is near N.E. 45th Street, probably a quarter-mile north of Union Bay it does not seem to create any real issues for Stewart. I have read that Osprey can successfully nest many miles away from their fish supply.

After Rama hatched out, my friend Ronda and I were both surprised to see Hope restart her nest building forays. I looked it up in Birds of North America (citation below) and apparently, this is a common behavior among female Osprey. 

However, it does require a certain level of skill to safely add a four-foot-long forked branch to an active nest.

Apparently, this is a skill which Hope is still developing.

She ended up with the branch hooked under Rama's partially-grown left wing. Immediately, I started to worry. Would Rama get tossed out of the nest? Would the young Osprey be able to duck if the stick popped free? I remember as a child hearing, 'Be careful with that stick! You could put somebody's eye out.'

Since our local Osprey winter in Mexico, I often entertain the idea of giving them Spanish names. Since the Spanish word for branch is, Rama, it seems like a fitting name to me.

Two days later, on Thursday, I encountered another Osprey with a branch. When I first saw Chester, the male from the Union Bay Natural Area pair, he was calling loudly and circling above the University of Washington (UW) Baseball Field, with the branch in tow. Moments later he landed just north of their normal nesting platform. I wondered if he was intending to deliver the branch to the nest. (We still do not know for sure why Chester and Lacey did not attempt nesting this year.)

While Chester sat on the snag another male Osprey came south turned in a half-circle, around Chester, and then headed back north. I could not see the markings on the head but given the proximity and the lack of reaction from Chester I suspect it was Stewart.

The other day Ronda mentioned reading that second-year, male Osprey often return to the area near their parent's nest to set up their own territory. Since Stewart and Hope first attempt to build a nest was in 2018 that would imply the Stewart might actually be one of the two males from Chester and Lacey's original Union Bay brood in 2016. This also might help explain why Chester's reaction to Stewart was so low-key. You can read more about 2016 brood in the post called 'The Un-Snipe'.

After a few minutes to rest, Chester took off with the branch. Initially, he appeared to be headed toward the nesting platform, but if so he overshot.

Chester headed out over Union Bay before circling back as he rose higher into the air. The circling continued.

For close to five minutes he continued to circle and rise, circle and rise. He must have been well over a thousand feet in the air. I could barely see him with my naked eye and I could no longer see the branch, without help from my camera and lens.

Once he reached a sufficient height Chester began diving, straight down.

The dives were followed by momentarily turning horizontal. The gravitational pull on the long branch must have been quite strong when he hit the bottom of each dive.

None the less, Chester held on to the stick and used his speed to turn vertical. He stayed in the vertical position for so long I suspect he almost came to a stop. Then he repeated the same 'J' dive over and over as he approached the ground. Click Here to see a similar process recorded in a video by Martin Muller - from the Urban Raptor Conservancy.

Ultimately, Chester returned to one of the UW light poles which he had been circling earlier.

I checked the time stamps on my photos. He held on to the same branch for over fifteen minutes. Most impressive was that after resting on the dead snag he carried the branch in the air non-stop for over seven and a half minutes, while either climbing or diving. 

Last year, I watched him do a similar set of dives, which at the time I called an Air Dance. (Apparently, it is more often referred to as a Sky Dance.) Click Here to read that story. The previous air dance was different in a number of ways. It was in the Spring instead of Summer. He was carrying food not a stick and it was done directly in front of Lacey. It was clearly part of their annual courtship process.

This time, I did not notice Lacey in attendance, we are past the courtship time of year and he was carrying a stick not food. I am really uncertain what the Branch Dance was all about. However, male Osprey who have a nest which fails, like Chester and Lacey, are said to sometimes build a new nest in the area before heading south for the winter. I hope the fixation on the branch, and the display over Union Bay, indicates Chester will try nest-building somewhere close.

Flashing back to Rama and Hope, she ultimately wiggled the branch out from under Rama's wing, without doing any apparent damage.

Hope then turned and placed the branch on the east side of the nest. It sure is wonderful to see another young Osprey growing up near Union Bay, especially since Chester and Lacey will not have young of their own this year. Hopefully, this summer the fish will be plentiful and next year we end up with two successfully nesting pairs of Osprey.

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Speaking of fish, Friends of Arboretum Creek is hosting a Community Meeting this coming Monday (details below). We are hoping to enhance the stream with year-round water flow which will benefit fish, birds and the surrounding ecosystem. I certainly hope you are able to attend!

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Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city!

Larry

Recommended Citation

Bierregaard, R. O., A. F. Poole, M. S. Martell, P. Pyle, and M. A. Patten (2016). Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.683

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to respect native flora and to 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. (If natives 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.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

Are Raccoons native to the Pacific Northwest? 

These were seen, earlier this week, just south of the Conibear Rowing House.

Scroll down for the answer.

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Raccoons: They are native and they look cute but they can be challenging. If you want to see a delightful set of videos, including young raccoons and birds, please Click Here. The link will take you to visit Dan Pedersen's blog which this week includes some incredible videos of young creatures provided by his partners Craig and Joy Johnson. I promise the videos will make you smile!

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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 regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional workaround is to set up my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!

My email address is LDHubbell@comcast.net

A Father's Pride

Behind this beautiful young pileated woodpecker we see a hint of his hard working father searching for food. For all that separates humans and birds, we still have a surprising number of similarities.

This young bird took his first flight earlier this week. Unlike the owlet which we saw in last week's post, Pileated Woodpeckers take to the air with ease. Although I do suspect their parents sometimes withhold a little food to encourage them to make that initial leap. It would be much easier for the parents to find, feed and protect their young if they simply stayed in the nest, but the critical skills the young birds need can only be learned by observing their parents in the real world.

As they leave the nest, the endurance of the young bird's may be questionable. Also, knowing how to fly does not imply a complete knowledge of landing. They do start out with an innate ability to land vertically. They can latch onto the side of a tree without a hitch. However, a couple of years ago I watched one really struggle with a landing on pavement. It did a belly flop and then struggled to its feet. (This time of year, young innocent birds can be easily damaged by normally harmless pets - especially if Fido is off leash.)

While the young bird incessantly begged for food, Chip worked non-stop, excavating beetles, ants and their larva from decomposing logs. The comparatively pale crest on the young bird is an obvious sign of his youth, not to mention his diminutive size.

Not only is the young bird's crest much lighter than his father's, but his crest feathers are far more fluffy and downy. On adults these feathers hook together like velcro and usually look as sleek as the hair of a 1950's rock star. Also, the young bird's bill is not nearly as stained or worn as his father's. The same is true for all his feathers and virtually every other body part. From this little bird's conception until a week ago, he was inside his mother, in an egg or inside the protection of the hollowed out nest, curtesy of his father.

A young woodpecker fresh out of the nest is as close to pristine as a creature can get. No wear, no tear, no fuss or muss, perfectly equipped but mentally missing the wisdom and knowledge to survive.

For example, earlier in the week I watched him (or possibly his brother) calling loudly from this decomposing snag. By the way, I have seen both parents feeding here multiple times. With just the tiniest of effort this young bird might have found some of his own food, but apparently he still lacked the know-how.

He called so long and loud that he finally attracted a couple of American Crows. They were apparently irritable, probably from providing constant care for their own young. One of the crows dived at the youngster and even gave chase. The aggression sent the young woodpecker flying and squawking through the forest. Subsequently, his calls became a bit softer. 

This seemed like a dangerous situation or at best a harsh lesson, but compared to what a Barred Owl or a Cooper's Hawk might have done, the Crow was like a thoughtful adult chastising his neighbor's noisy offspring.

Off and on for most of March, I hunted for Chip. His absence made it obvious that he was not nest building in the same area where he and Goldie nested last year. On April second I finally found him. He was hard at work building a new nest. It was not an accidental sighting, that day I spent over four hours looking at every potential tree in the west half of their territory. I was quite relieved when I finally found him hanging from the entry way to this partially-finished nest.

Two months later, I once again found Chip at the same location, feeding his young. In this photo we can see one of the young is a male and one is not. Looking closely, you will notice that females have black foreheads. With males, the red of the crest comes continuously forward all the way down to the bill.

Chip's investment in the young is substantial. Starting sometime in March he began excavating the nest in this dead Red Alder snag. He probably spent close to a month working on the nest. After Goldie laid the eggs, Chip took turns sitting on the eggs. Plus, the males typically spend their nights incubating the eggs. Once the eggs hatched, both parents worked virtually non-stop to find food to feed the young. In addition, there was the ongoing responsibility to keep an eye on the nest to protect their progeny from predators.

A couple of week's ago when a second year Cooper's Hawk swooped in to investigate the noise of the nestlings clamoring for food, Chip immediately began calling stridently. The young knew enough to pull their heads back inside and after a few tense moments the Cooper's Hawk decided the potential reward wasn't worth the risk.

After the hawk left, Chip stationed himself on this Big Leaf Maple, and kept a close watch for quite some time. Even at this distance you can see he was agitated by the visit. He is holding his crest abnormally erect.

Here is a closer example of Chip with his crest partially erect. This was taken last week while he was securing food for the fledglings. He was rather close to a pathway with pedestrians, bikers and dogs passing by. Not doubt this explains his heightened awareness. 

At a similar distance from the path, the young bird appeared to be showing a little apprehension as well. Although I do suspect it may be harder for the young birds to get their fluffy little crests to lie down. 

This February photo, before any nesting began, shows Chip looking a bit more relaxed. His crest is laying down, giving him a more normal, slick-backed look. As the young birds grow so does their demand for food. Now, about three months after Chip started building the nest, he and his mate, Goldie, are both still feeding their young.

This is Goldie earlier this week, preparing to feed their daughter. The parents will feed any of the young, but after they leave the nest it does seem like the young of the same gender get fed a little more often. Originally I wondered if this might be a bit of bias on the part of the parents. However, it now seems to me that often the parents simply tend to feed which ever fledgling happens to be nearby. This makes me wonder if it is the young who create the perception of bias. Could it be that the young have an instinct to follow the parent of their own gender?

This little male certainly followed Chip around while Chip was finding food. Occasionally, the young bird would pick about among the leaves, but the learning process appeared fairly slow.

By the end of summer, all three young will be finding their own food. Soon after that they will stop following their parents and strike out on their own.

I am always impressed by the focus and precision of a pileated woodpecker's head and beak. The width of the beak, where it attaches to the head, must help transmit the full force of the strike. At the same time, the rapid tapering to the pointed tip must multiply the force of the impact. I may not be positive about the physics involved but the lifelong results are certainly impressive.

While Chip's hard work continued, the young bird watched, stretched and observed the non-stop foraging. After a few moments, he flew down closer to Chip, begged for food and was properly rewarded. 

I am certainly unable to read Chip's mind, but I would hope he is feeling a little pride in his offspring. This week the young have progressed from being confined inside the only home they have ever known, to following their parents and initiating their journey to independence. 

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives n the city!

Larry

ps: For seven year's in a row our local pileated woodpeckers have nested in a large, old, dead or dying Red Alder trees. The bark is thin and the decaying wood is fairly soft. The first five of the seven snags have already fallen. This emphasizes how important it is to have a steady 'crop' of these trees slowly aging and dying if we want to retain pileated woodpeckers in the city.

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. My hope is that we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to respect native flora and to 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. (If natives 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.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms.

Is this flowering plant native to the Pacific Northwest? Scroll down a little farther if you would like to see the flower as well as the leaves.

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Does this help?

Scroll on down for the answer.

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Oceanspray:

This Northwest native is currently flowering in many of our Union Bay parks and natural areas.

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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 regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional work around is to setup my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!

My email address is LDHubbell@comcast.net

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