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Sanibel Island, Florida • www.ospreys.com March 2009

Veteran Raptor Researcher To Speak at TIOF Annual Meeting

Our speaker for The International Osprey Foundation annual meeting on Sunday, March 29 is Richard O. “Rob” Bierregaard, Jr., who teaches in the Biology Department of UNC-Charlotte, where he has been the major advisor for six M.Sc. students, past and present. Previously he managed the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project out of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History. Dr. Bierregaard was the original field director of the BDFFP in Manaus, Brazil. While running the project for eight years, he and his students collected data from over 50,000 mist-net captures of understory birds in continuous and fragmented rainforest habitat.

Dr. Bierregaard focuses on the conservation and ecology of raptors and neotropical birds. His many publications have appeared in Conservation Biology, the Journal of Raptor Research, Ornithological Monographs, The Auk, BioScience, and a number of other scientific journals. He co-authored the Osprey account for the Birds of North America Project, wrote the 81 species accounts for the Neotropical Falconiformes in the Handbook of Birds of the World, and edited Tropical Forest Remnants: Ecology, Management and Conservation of Fragmented Communities, and Lessons From Amazonia: The Ecology and Management of a Fragmented Forest.

He has presented papers as senior author at annual meetings of the American Ornithologists’ Union, Society for Conservation Biology, Brazilian Ornithological Society, International Ornithological Congress, Ecological Society of America, and International Association of Landscape Ecology.

His current research is focused on barred owl ecology in suburban and rural habitats in the North Carolina Piedmont, osprey population dynamics in Southern New England, and the migration of juvenile ospreys in eastern

North and South America.Bierragaard has also been

studying the osprey population on Martha’s Vineyard, Masachussetts since 1969. Beginning in 2000, in collaboration with Dr. Mark Martell of The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, he put satellite transmitters on seven adult birds, six on Martha’s Vineyard and one in Charlotte. Beginning in 2004 he began tagging juvenile ospreys. Through the end of the breeding season in 2008, he had tagged 22 fledgling ospreys.

“Tracking young ospreys on their first migration has proven to be a really exciting avenue of research,” says Bierragaard.

He’ll be talking about his research at our meeting.

The meeting will take place at the Sanibel Community House and will begin at 7 p.m. with a short business meeting and nesting season update, followed by the speaker. Admission is free to members; a $3 donation is requested of non-members.

Sanibel’s Ospreys Fledged 79 Chicks Last Year

Ospreys on Sanibel rebounded in 2008 and doubled the number of chicks fledged after a drought in 2007 which led to a poor nesting season when only 38 chicks survived. In 2008, a wet year, 109 nest sites produced 79 healthy chicks.

The International Osprey Foundation has painstakingly repaired and replaced more than 100 platforms on Sanibel, Captiva Pine Island, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and North Naples since Hurricane Charley in August 2004, thanks to volunteer labor and the Lee County Electric Co-operative.

Bob Bierregaardwith a barred owl

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Chicks Fledged

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008*

Photo by Jason Cheever

*plus 5 bald eagle chicks (2 behind the Dairy Queen, 1 at Wulfert and 2 in Gulf Pines).

In this photo by Eric Orkin, a nest at Pine Tree Drive, Sanibel, had two chicks last winter.

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Dear TIOF:

Here our stragglers are arriving each day. All the damage we had... is causing this to be a particularly bloody beginning to our season as they fight over the premier nesting locations. I have been surprised that I haven’t been spattered with their blood as I click away furiously below them. Sometimes they swoop so close I can’t refocus fast enough. Am attaching some pictures for you to enjoy.

So far, most of my return pairs are here, and a few new ones. Some of those nests were started late last August; and of course, all are gone now. One nest is so low to the side of the road, I have my doubts about it remaining a nest site. It’s a perfect tree, just way too low. I could reach it with an extension ladder. Another is built on a rather “spindly” tree to my way of thinking, considering the weight their nests can attain. These birds are youngsters, so may take a season to get the hang of it. My Hardluck pair on the SS3 nest site made it thru the winter. They were first-timers last year. They have matured beautifully. A picture of them side-by-side is one of those attached. Have seventeen so far I will monitor. Have spotted several others as well thru binoculars, but too far away to really be watched regularly. About a total of 25 so far.Bonnie Sattler,Gold Beach, Oregon

TIOF 2008 GrantsTIOF awarded one $1,000 grant and one $2,000 grant for two projects, one in Belize and Australia.

The recipients:

Paul Spitzer, of Trappe, Maryland, for Study and Conservation of Ridgeway’s Osprey, the distinctive white-headed sub-species of ph ridgewayi, in Belize; and Terry Dennis (second grant) in South Australia for his project, To Establish Ongoing Support for Research Initiatives and Field Trials of Artificial Nesting Platforms, to Benefit Isolated and Endangered Australian Osprey Population at the Extreme Edge of its Breeding Range in Australia.

To apply for a TIOF grant

Please, write a letter explaining in detail what you plan to do, where it will be done, who will be involved and when you plan to do the education campaign. We are always interested in knowing the estimated cost of the project and whether it is a one-year or multi-year project and what the other funding sources might be. The more you tell us about your project and your advisors, the higher the probability of receiving the grant. Mail applications to: The International Osprey Foundation ATTN: Endowment Fund PO Box 250 Sanibel, FL 33957-0250 Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2010.

Life membersMr. and Mrs. Porter GossDr. Eugene MajerowiczHarvey RothsteinCharles RubrightJim Fowler, San-Cap Nature CalendarMs. Margaret SmithMrs. Carmen SanchezMr. and Mrs. William AlquistDwight AndersonMr. and Mrs. David LaddJames and Martha KannryRobert and Rita SouthernRJW FoundationBrenda and Sam TischlerDon ScottTim and Carol GardnerDavid Loveland

An osprey bloodied in a fight over nesting sites last summer in Gold Beach, Oregon (photo by Bonnie Sattler)

This photograph of a baby osprey in nest on Bluff Point, Virginia, was taken by Karim Doumar, age 12, standing on his dad’s shoulders.

Greetings from deep South Texas,

My wife Dixie and I are residents living on Long Island, Texas. We are just next to South Padre Island, or about 20 miles north of Brownsville. We saw on your Web site how to build an osprey nesting platform, Ospreys are all over the place here, fishing our saltwater canals and generally wowing us daily. But our local newspaper tells us ospreys do not nest here in South Texas. So we decided to build a nesting platform to see if they are right.

We finished our platform yesterday (early December) at 10 a.m. By 1 p.m. we had a pair of ospreys working the nest, even moving some of the grass and twigs around, checking things out.They hung around until sunset. We are most hopeful.

Our nest is two 16-foot 4X4s with a 12-foot 4X4 extension. Getting it up was no small task, but we got ospreys! Would there be an easier way to do it for our next nest? How far apart should nests be? Anything you could send to help our effort would be appreciated.

Four of our neighbors helped to erect the nest and they are all very excited about this. We are retired and looking for new projects to keep us active and this nest is a lot of fun. We would be most grateful to see some osprey chicks come to pass.Thank you,

Tom Bergsma,Port Isabel, Texas

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OSPREY BASICSThe osprey is a large bird of prey found on every continent except Antarctica.

Scientific name: Pandion haliaetus

Nickname: fish hawk

Length: 21-25 inches

Wingspan: 58-72 inches

Weight: 2.5 to 4 poundsFemales are slightly larger than males. The female usually has a “necklace” of brown feathers across her breast while the male has a white breast.

Diet: Feeds almost exclusively on fish caught in either fresh or salt water

Habitat: Because of diet, ospreys live near bodies of water

Nests: Stick nests are usually built in dead trees and a variety of manmader structures (telephone poles or artificial platforms). Both male and female ospreys contribute to nest building.

Breeding: Monogamous breeders; ospreys lay three to four eggs a year.

Incubation: 38 to 44 days; the female does more while the male brings food. Young stay in nest 48 to 60 days. The parents care for the fledgelings until they are 93 to 103 days old.

This photo by David Webber was taken on Sanibel at a nest on Kings Crown Drive.

Three more mouths to feed

Eel was on the menu for these three hungry chicks.

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T-ShirTS AvAilAbleOur popular T-shirts in white, 100% cotton, feature a large osprey head in brown with yellow eye. Price is $15 each, including shipping.

Name _____________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________

City ______________________________________ State _________ Zip ______________

Quantity: Small ________ Medium ________ Large ________ Extra Large _________

Total T-Shirts ____________ Total Amount Enclosed $ ___________

Send with check or money order to:TIOF, P.O. Box 250, Sanibel, FL 33957

The InternationalOsprey Foundation

Sanibel

P.O. box 250Sanibel island, Fl 33957

U.S. POSTAGEPaID

SANIBEL, FLPERMIT NO. 2

Please Forward

MeMberShiP FOrM______________________________________________________Name

______________________________________________________Address

______________________________________________________City State Zip

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Country

_________Please enroll me as a member of TIOF_________Please renew my membership in TIOFCheck Membership Category:

_____ 6. Donor $250

_____ 7. Life $500

_____ 8. Student (to Under- graduate level) $8

_____ 9. Corporate: $25 or more

_____ 1. Individual $20

_____ 2. Family $25

_____ 3. Sustaining $30

_____ 4. Supporting $50

_____ 5. Contributing $100

MAIL TO: TIOF, P.O. Box 250, Sanibel, FL 33957, USA