September 22, 2010 - To Everything There Is A Season
A web cam watcher passed on the following message to me this week. "The last time I saw any activity on the nest was noon time Wed Sept 15. The youngest osprey was on the nest for awhile. He did not show up at his usual 4 -5 visit o'clock that day and no sign of anything since. Even the magpies have quit coming to the nest to clean up scraps."
Clearly, its time to say goodbye for this osprey season. I'd like to thank everyone for your observations, calls and e-mails this year. Its been a pleasure watching the nest with you. Hope to see you back here next year!
Lisa McDonald
September 17, 2010
Fall is quickly approaching and bringing with it short, cool days. The rain we’ve endured all summer will soon turn to snow.
The cool weather in Calgary has made it difficult to follow the ospreys, but based on previous years, we know that soon they will leave Calgary for a warmer climate. We may have one more update before they begin their journey.
In watching the ospreys this year I was struck by the intensity of the nesting experience. Each phase of chick development is critical and there is little time to adapt to change. If the young can’t cope, they die.
With that in mind, this has been a very successful summer for the ospreys at the Zoo, two of their three eggs hatched, fledged and are now honing their fishing techniques in the Bow. What an incredible story to witness via a webcam.
We hope that you’ve enjoyed following this journey with ENMAX and that you’ll join us again next year to follow the ospreys that return to this nest.
Lisa McDonald
September 9, 2010
Thank you for your patience during some recent challenges with the web cam.
Mum and the young ospreys are still at the nest. Yesterday, one of our web cam watchers saw mum bring a fish to the nest and also made some great observations on the birds’ development.
The top marking on the oldest has gotten smaller and melded into the bottom diamond. His markings are almost identical to Mom's now but the youngest still has the two distinct diamond markings. Twelve days have sure made a difference in their appearance.
While I write this, the oldest is feeding on a fish at the nest. We'll keep watching the birds and sending updates until we've confirmed that they've begun their migration.
Lisa McDonald
September 2, 2010
I’ve migrated south this week to sunny Boston to learn about penguins at the International Penguin Conference in the midst of scientists and zoo staff from around the world. There are some amazing birds here, including petrels and gulls, but no osprey.
This week in Calgary the two young ospreys were sighted at the nest, actively vocalizing. Tanya Hope, Interpreter Coordinator at the Calgary Zoo believes that this is a sign that the adult female may have begun her migration. Migration allows birds to choose the best habitats for rearing their young and for feeding, but it also poses many challenges and new dangers, including weather and predators. This is especially true for young ospreys during their first migration when their inexperience makes them even more vulnerable.
An added danger to the millions of migrating birds this year is that many of them will pass through the large Gulf oil spill in the coming weeks. We will wait and see what impact this may have on these birds' long journey.
Lisa McDonald