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Monday, August 29, 2011

It is time to wrap up the 2011 Osprey Project. Again, I feel like an empty nester. All of the birds are out and surviving on their own. Vultures continue to be the only birds I am feeding, and I am not quite as fond of them. With that said, this will be the last blog of the season. I have not seen or heard the osprey since August 24th. I imagine the will be close by until the middle of September. By then they should start their journey South. It will take them around 4-5 weeks to make it to their winter home in South America. These birds may be back in Iowa in the spring of 2013 or 2014. Next spring we hope to se our first year birds back as adults!

Many thanks to everyone who donated their time and money to the 2011 Osprey Project, and to all who have taken an interest in these amazing birds. A special thanks goes out to Marta, Jeremy, Jake and Sarah Snow. Without the Snow family’s commitment to this project to help me feed and spot birds, I don’t know how I would do it.

The fun starts again next July, but the webcam will stay up all year (as long at the lightning stays away!). A wonderful way to enjoy the sights of the seasons without leaving home!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

No sign of birds today, not even vultures. I am sure they will be around later today to clean the fish off of the tower. We will feed through Monday and keep you updated.

Friday, August 26, 2011

We moved the webcam to the top of the tower yesterday morning so I can better monitor who is eating the fish. If we are just feeding vultures. I will close the carp café next week.

We went on a wild Osprey chase during the afternoon. While looking at the Hooper Wildlife Area to the south of the nature center and the nature center property all we managed to do was run out of gas. No birds to be found.

We also got an update on Stripe, the injured Osprey from last year. He has been going through a feather molt. He has all of his wing feathers back, but sadly only has 4 tail feathers. Six more to go before he may get the taste of freedom. I will keep you informed of his progress.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Blue has been hanging out at the wetland all day today. He seems to prefer perching on the observation tower on the northeast part of the Nature Center property. He did a couple of small flights from there this morning. At 10:00 a.m. he flew from the tower to the property south of us. He circled back and perched on the nesting platform where he has been since. I traveled to Hooper Wildlife Area and Lake Ahquabi today looking for the other four birds and came up empty handed. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

When I went to feed this morning, Blue decided to perch on the branch. Fun to watch him do it live instead of on the webcam. Yellow and Blue both ate before we dropped the gate at 10:00 a.m. Blue was first to leave. He flew within 5 minutes of dropping the gate. It was a good flight, but shorter than what we have seen out of these birds this year. He flew over to the observation tower and has been quite content to stay there. Yellow flew about 15 minutes after the gate went down. He flew quite fast but landed in the prairie grass by the nature center. We grabbed him and took him to the grass at the nature center where he flew from the top of a picnic table. He flew all the way down to the wetland where he has found a log to perch on in the water. Purple also made a flyby while we were looking for Yellow. Everyone looks good. We will move the camera to the top of the tower sometime this week although the only thing we have seen there have been vultures. Videos are available on the Annett Nature Center facebook feed (use the link at the top of the left colum).

Blue, the smallest of the five 2011 osprey, takes flight.

Yellow showed some indecision, but finally took flight as well.

Yellow takes off after landing in the ANC prairie, only to land in the grass a second time, and then

posture as WCCB naturalists Joel Van Roekel and Missy Smith kept a watchful eye on the bird.

Eventually, Yellow returned to the wetland and perched on a partially submerged log.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Today I fed late. No sign of Purple, Orange or Green, but plenty going on inside the tower! Yellow has been flying from high perch on the East to high perch on the West all morning. When I did make it up to feed, he flew down. Blue also got excited and did a bit of flying. Both are capable and would be fine if released. We are going to give them their big break tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. I believe that Yellow will go but Blue is another story. He just doesn’t show a lot of initiative. Until tomorrow.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Purple was perched on the nesting platform this morning watching the vultures eat the food we left on top of the tower. She didn’t seem concerned or hungry, just watched them from afar. No sign of Orange or Green after looking on the nature center grounds and Lake Ahquabi.

Yellow was perched on the branch yesterday afternoon and again this morning. He will be ready to release on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Maybe Blue will surprise us as well.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

There were about 25 Vultures letting their wings dry out this morning in the tree outside the hack tower and watching them all from the nesting platform was PURPLE! He flew right over us while we were on the wetland bridge. He looked good.

Everyone inside the tower is pretty calm today. They are preening and sitting on the water track.

Friday, August 19, 2011

No sign of our flighted birds today. The vultures have successfully cleaned the top of the tower of fish. There is lots of movement inside the tower today. Yellow seems to be restless and is doing a lot of flapping. He has been moving from the water bowls to the front of the tower and back all day. He has yet to perch but is rarely sitting still. Blue is doing a lot of flapping, but is not nearly as driven as Yellow is. Hopefully Yellow will be ready to go by Tuesday.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Yesterday was the last day I had my trusty volunteers the Snows. They have fed with me every day of the project, and came up at night during the hot spells to spritz the birds. It is back to school for them. They will be missed… at least until the weekend.

Yellow and Orange had a hearty appetite this morning and were quite talkative. The vultures are lurking about the wetland, but no sign of Purple, Orange or Green. The day is still young and I hope to see them this afternoon.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

No sign of Green before the release. I can hear the tap dance of the turkey vultures above the tower eating all of the blue gill. It has the 4 youngsters pretty stirred up. No one is perching, but there is a lot of flapping going on. Hopefully someone will fly at 10.

Purple perched at about 11 a.m. this morning. At 12:15 she decided to perch on the gate. She didn’t look too sure of herself and ended up loosing her balance and flying back into the tower. Orange is perched on the branch. We will give her a chance until 2 and see what happens.

About 1:30, purple took off from the gate. When we got down to the tower, she was perched on one of the arms that jut out from the front of the hack tower. She sat there for about fifteen minutes and then took off. Her first few wing beats were unsteady, but she was soon soaring and flew for ten to fifteen minutes before heading for Lake Ahquabi.

When we started to close the gate, orange bolted as well. She, too, looked a bit unsteady, but quickly got stronger. She flew and soared for quite a while, finally settling into a dead tree at the south end of the wetland bridge. The gate is now up for the day, with yellow and blue remaining in the tower.

Purple in the tower and on the gate, ready for flight. Videos are posted on the Annett Nature Center facebook page.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Orange perched at 2:00 p.m. yesterday on the high end of the branch. I didn’t see how she got there. At about 4:00 p.m. she would go back and forth from the top of the branch to the green perch at the other side of the tower. She then flew down from the perch to the ground to feed. This morning she was perched up high again but is down on the floor now. Everyone looks like drowned rats and they are not very active this morning. We are going to drop the gate for Orange in the morning at 10:00 a.m.

Monday, August 15, 2011

No sign of Green this morning. Everyone in the tower has been fired up. They are flapping a bunch and very vocal, but still no perching. We thought we might open the gates tomorrow but that is not going to happen. I would like to see them perching before I drop the gate. Hopefully another week will motivate them. Time will tell.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Green was on the platform this morning and was reported hanging out at the wetland last night. There were still bunches of bluegill on the top of the tower this morning when we went to feed. I wonder if Green is protecting it. I will have more time to check into this situation tomorrow. Everyone inside the tower is still on the ground. No signs of anyone being anxious to perch. Until tomorrow…

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Yesterday Green was spotted on the nesting platform with the wild adult Osprey that has been hanging around the area. I have had two reports that he has been seen pooping, which may not be exciting to most, but it tells me that he has been eating.  This morning everyone in the tower is squawking quite a bit. Purple has taken a fish onto the water track to eat but no one is perching. I am not sure that we will have a release on Tuesday. I would like to see them perching on branches before we let them out into the real world.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Green was back on the nesting platform around 8:00 p.m. last night and there again this morning when we went to feed. All of the blue gill was gone from the top of the tower this morning which leads me to believe that the vultures have found the fish. That was just confirmed. There are about 5 of them up there right now and the birds in the tower are in an uproar. Green has yet to feed this morning from the tower but looked good earlier. Time will tell if he is spirited enough to kick the vultures off of his fish. Tomorrow I have volunteers feeding so there will be no blog. Until Saturday…

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

I posted some video on the Annett Nature Center facebook site this morning. Everyone was active and flapping before we went to feed. Blue was the most active. There is also a clip of us feeding. It was time for Green to perform at 10 a.m.. There were about 20 people gathered to watch him take his first flight and he did not disappoint. About a minute after the gate went down he took off. He flew over the wetland, went over the bean field, circled over the road. He soared a couple of times for good measure and settled on the nesting platform. When watching the webcam this afternoon, I can hear him calling, so he is staying close. I threw a handful of bluegill on top of the tower for Green when he gets hungry. Orange is reacting to Green’s calls. She just went from the floor to the top of the closed gate and back down to the ground. I wish she would have been more motivated this morning. She will be perching on the branch by nightfall with that flight. A great day at the hack tower!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today was full of excitement and it is only 11:30 a.m. We went up to clean today and Green was on the branch. As soon as we opened the door he flew to the ground but apparently Orange looked like a better perch than any of his other options. He soon got off of Orange’s back, went down to the floor and then back up to the low perch. About a minute later he flew to the high perch on the other side of the tower. With this display, he is ready to go. He needs more space and fewer birds to land on. We will try to release him tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Orange, Yellow and Purple also flew low in the tower and I am convinced they are also capable of flight, however they lack the drive. We are hoping by midweek next week at least two more of them will be ready. Blue is our late bloomer and will most likely be the last one out of the tower. My guess is it will be at least two more weeks for him. Here’s to an exciting Wednesday!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Everyone is pretty calm today. Green is still yelling at everyone but they don’t seem to pay him any mind. Orange and Yellow continue to flap with a lot of power. They are both capable of perching but don’t seem to care about flying to the perch. They are content with the water bowls for now. It is looking more like we won’t release anyone until next week at the earliest.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

We had some interesting weather here last night. Lots of wind and rain. It knocked the webcam out, but it has been rebooted. Green’s attitude has not changed today. His focus is not just on Yellow anymore. He seems to call at any of the birds who happen to be eating below him. He reminds me of the book Yertle the Turtle.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

We thawed a short bag of fish for today, so the birds ended up with a frozen chunk to make sure they had their full allotment. When we fed, Yellow immediately pounced on the large frozen hunk claiming it. He then realized he could not really eat it yet and walked off. Green has been very vocal from his perch on high. It looks like he is trying to figure out how to get down but as we watched, it looks more like he is yelling at Yellow while Yellow eats. He is getting grumpy from his perch.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Yellow and Blue didn’t want to wait for fresh fish this morning and were eating when we went up to feed and clean. They are getting more rambunctious everyday when we disturb them — a sure sign of being teenagers. Green has again taken up residence on the branch. Yellow has been exercising his wings and pacing the tower all morning. He seems frustrated, yet unwilling to try to fly to the perch. They are all enjoying the cooler weather. Hopefully we will have an exciting weekend.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Everyone was at the water track this morning. When we opened the feeding door, Yellow and Green immediately flew to the front of the tower. Green then flew on top of Blue’s back. He finally settled on the low green perch. Purple and Orange have really been working their wings today. It would be nice to see Yellow and Orange hit perches by the end of the weekend so Green, Yellow, and Orange could all be released at the same time. I think the earliest Green will go is Wednesday of next week. Time will tell.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Green was perched high for most of the day yesterday but never made it back up to the perches today. Spent the day hanging out on the water track with all of his buddies. There has been an unidentifiable adult osprey in the area since the weekend. Yesterday, it was spotted perched in the dead tree in front of the hack tower.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

While tossing in fish today, Green flew from the left side of the tower to the lower right perch! Then later, after we had fed, Green was up on the branch. Blue flapped from the floor to the water track today. Green is quite content up on the branch watching the others from above. Orange flew from the water track to the floor and landed on and grabbed a fish to start eating. Yellow is doing a lot of preening. Yellow hop/flapped from the water track to the front of the tower.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Today is going to be another hot one. Expect to see spritzers running at 12, 4, and 6. We are trying to give them as much relief as possible. This morning Blue perched on the water track with a fish. Everyone else seems to be operating as usual. I hope for some excitement out of Orange and Yellow this week.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Green revealed his talents today. He is the bird responsible for taking fish to the water track and eating from that spot. He took a fish from the middle of the tower and drug it to the water track, perched and ate for about 5 minutes. Fun to watch and he had impressive balance. The heat is back, but the birds seem to be handling it well.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Green revealed his talents today. He is the bird responsible for taking fish to the water track and eating from that spot. He took a fish from the middle of the tower and drug it to the water track, perched and ate for about 5 minutes. Fun to watch and he had impressive balance. The heat is back, but the birds seem to be handling it well.

Friday, July 29, 2011

When we went up to feed this morning one of the birds had left us a surprise. There was a chunk of skin and bone from a fish in the water bowl. Someone is starting to drag his or her fish and perch with it. A great sign! Everyone with the exception of Purple was really active and flapping. Purple finally decided to wake up around 10 a.m. today. She perched on the water track and then got down and did a lot of flapping. It looks like everyone but Blue really has power in their wings. They are all getting a lot of air. Blue is still working on his power. Here is a video from Wednesday of Orange displaying his flapping abilities.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Blue was on the water track again this morning. Good to see that he is off of the floor. The birds all seemed to be moving a bit slow. Seems like they are loafing about, taking advantage of the cooler temps and lack of sun. Off to the fair this morning to do an owl program. Hopefully the birds will liven up this afternoon.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Blue was on the water track again this morning. Good to see that he is off of the floor. The birds all seemed to be moving a bit slow. Seems like they are loafing about, taking advantage of the cooler temps and lack of sun. Off to the fair this morning to do an owl program. Hopefully the birds will liven up this afternoon.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

After a relatively boring day yesterday, they were all revved up today. Green was really exercising his wings. In years past when we would clean the tower out, the birds would flap at the gate in “run away” mode. This year’s birds do the exact opposite. Both Orange and Yellow attack the squeegee. Orange is really getting her wings under her. She would flap/fly her way to the squeegee and land on the bottom of the handle. They don’t want us taking away their nasty old fish. Fun to watch. Makes me think they have the spunk and demeanor to survive the life they have to come. My bets are on Orange making it to the green perch first.

Monday, July 25, 2011

I think everyone had a case of the Monday’s today. It was a pretty calm day in the hack tower. Today can be summed up in eating and flapping. No real excitement.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A morning full of excitement today. Two vultures were at the tower to greet us. The tower was especially smelly so it makes sense that the vultures would have been attracted to the area. When we went in to clean the fish out of the tower Blue was being quite territorial. He would not let us in with the squeegee to clean. Once we finally got in, Yellow would jump on and off of the handle of the squeegee. Once we left, it calmed down again. Everyone was eating with the exception of Purple. Purple was on the water track again and working on flapping. She came off of the track to flap some more and got a little air. Most exciting was watching Orange. She was flapping with a lot of power, settled, and then flew from a spot on the floor to the water track. An awesome sight! Maybe the second perch for her tomorrow?

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I have a Norwalk scout group here today to help feed so the birds are eating about an hour late today. Both Orange and Green were feeding before we headed up to the tower. Purple was on the water track when we went to feed. That is the first time I have seen her perch. Now they have all hit that benchmark. Just waiting on one of them to figure out the next perch.

Friday, July 22, 2011

When we went to feed and clean today, Green was eating and Blue was on a fish. He did not under any circumstances want to get off of his fish. Everyone is eating well today and exercising their flapping muscles. We have noticed that Blue tends to try to beg fish from his nest mates before he goes to get fish on his own.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

I think everyone enjoyed a reprieve from the heat today. They were all alert and active this morning. Purple, Orange, Yellow and Green all showed strong flapping. Blue is mimicking, but doesn’t have any power behind it yet. They are all finding their favorite spots in the tower. Green has claimed the water bowl. Blue and Purple can almost always be found on the floor by the door. Orange and Yellow float between perching at the water area or can be found up at the gate. By next week we should see at least one of the birds try to perch up a bit higher.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Blue and Green were eating this morning before we fed. Blue jumped at a piece of fish that was tossed nearby and showed a lot of interest in it. Orange, Blue, and Purple all ate soon after we fed. Yellow and Green were perched on the water bowls. Blue and Purple were walking around and towards the front of the tower today. Purple and Orange are flapping well today.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Blue and Purple are having a hard time dealing with the heat, but the occasional spritzing of water throughout the day seems to help them. Orange and Yellow started eating right after we got back to the Nature Center to observe them. Green joined them shortly after and Purple picked at some fish a little bit. Yellow was dipping its beak in the water bowl today like it was cleaning its beak off. Yellow and Orange have had very strong flaps and Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple have all been preening. They all moved to the back of the tower by the water bowls and out of the direct sunlight after they got done eating.

Monday, July 18, 2011

When we went to feed toady, Orange, Green and Yellow were all on the water track. Yellow hop-flapped off to the front of the box. He looked strong. Purple doesn’t seem to be handling the heat well, if that is possible. She tends to sit back by the water and rest her beak on the water bowls. She is eating ok, but we have our eyes on her. We are going to run the misters 3 times today to try to give them all some relief. Everyone is eating and getting along well At about 10:30 this morning Blue got himself up on the water perch, wavered and got back down. He will be perching with everyone else soon!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Snows spritzed the Osprey for about 10 minutes last night. Purple especially seemed to enjoy the relief from the heat. All five youngsters hung out by the water bowls yesterday afternoon. Yellow and an unidentified bird (probably Orange) were perched on the water bowls while Green was perched on the water track. 

This morning everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Orange was eating when we arrived. Yellow was again perched on the water bowls. Green and Purple were on the water track with their beaks resting on the water bowl. We cleaned out the tower of all of the old fish and threw new, fresh fish in. They all dined from about 8:30–9:15 am. Everyone has now taken position back at the back of the tower again by the water bowls where there is shade. Hopefully we will get some heat relief by midweek.

Saturdday, July 16, 2011

All the birds made it through yesterday’s heat well. They all looked alert and well this morning. Green is already perching on the water track. Yellow and Purple have both been flapping. Blue is definitely about a week behind the other birds. His coordination is not as advanced and he is content to sit down in the tower. Everyone else likes to be up on their talons. To help the birds cope with the heat, our volunteers, the Snow family, will be turning on our misters in the late afternoon through the weekend.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Approximately 30 people came out to meet the 5 newest residents of the wetland. After a short talk the birds got settled in at the hack tower. Blue is our smallest and probably youngest bird. He came from the same nest as last year’s Stripe. Orange and Yellow are siblings and came from a site next to a grain bin. Green and Purple are also siblings and came from a nest in-between two bean fields. Although I did not personally see the activity in the tower, due to programming, I was told that they were quite active. Yellow and Green are already flexing their wing muscles and flapping away. They all seemed to handle the heat well. Thanks to everyone who came out and watched from home!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

This year’s trip to collect birds from Hayward went off without a hitch. We left Monday afternoon to make our journey. Tuesday was collection day. Our birds came from three separate nests. The first nest we arrived at was Stripe’s nest from last year at the Hunt Hill Audubon site. XT, our smallest 2010 chick, came from this location. Our next group came from a new site which I have fondly nicknamed the grain bin site. There are two giant grain bins at this location. The mother at this site was quite protective. She dove toward our pole climber, Fud, many times. She never quite touched him, but definitely displayed her maneuverability. We have siblings from this site. The last site of the day was the bean field site. We collected two more youngsters here while watching two sandhill cranes graze in the field beyond. All in all, a great trip. Can’t wait to introduce you all to them tomorrow, Friday, July 15 at 9:30 am at the hack tower!

WCCB Conservation Technician Doug Gaumer acting as support staff for…

FUD, seen here banding one of the chicks.

One of five osprey chicks for the 2011 Osprey Project.

WCCB Naturalist Missy Smith feeds sucker minnows to one of the new Iowans.

Each chick received a check up at the Minnesota Raptor Center.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Osprey crew has collected the chicks for this years project and is headed home from Wisconsin. Join them at the Annett Nature Center hack tower on Friday, July 15th at 9:30 a.m. to welcome this year's birds.

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