The Osprey nesting season is starting to wind down now as we approach August. Some pairs have fldged chicks already, others are still raising chicks and the remaining pairs failed for one reason or another. The total number of nesting pairs has not cahnged in the past 2 months - there are 36-40 pairs from East Boston to Salisbury. It is too early for a true assessment of productivity, but based on reports from our nest monitors and my own observations, I think we will reach a new high total for fledglings this year. We have banded 34 already, which is well above the previous high of 20 chicks banded last year.
There are also many reports of "extra" adult Osprey hanging around active nests and interacting with the resident adults. Not at all surprising to me, since we have a growing population with a lot of young Osprey as part of it. these 2-4 year olds are not necessarily nesting but they are curious and attracted to active nest sites. We were banding chicks at a nest on Tuesday July 19, and there were 5 adult Osprey overhead.
My next blog will have final numbers for pairs and fledglings.
In the meantime, our friend Flow has been back in Essex County for a couple of weeks now, residing along the Merrimack River in Haverhill as well as some other large lakes in the Merrimack Valley region. He has made a few journeys, including one up to Great Bay in NH. At last check he was on Foster Pond in North Reading. His MO is just to find food and freshwater pond and lakes are easy pickings, which is why he is there and not on the coast, where tides and other factors actually making hunting for fish a greater challenge. We hope Flow will venture back to Essex. check out Flow's whereabouts at:http://www.ecga.org/what_we_do/osprey_research