RE: Ospreys in strange places....

[mjwestphal <mjwestphal@unca.edu>]

Bob Olthoff and I saw that stray Tennessee Osprey at Lake Junaluska a few 
weeks ago.  He had a big orange T on his breast.  Well, okay he didn't, but we 
did see an Osprey at Lake Junaluska (near Waynesville in the county west of 
Asheville) in mid-June and wondered what the heck he was doing there at that 
time of year.  Rob's explanation sounds like the logical answer.

By the way, the only responses I've gotten regarding the Breeding Bird Atlas 
were from a few people here in Western NC who said someone started one in the 
late 80's, but it didn't seem to get very far, at least in Western NC.  Since 
no one from the piedmont or east had any input, I take it that means that one 
was never completed.  Curious, eh?

Marilyn Westphal
Hendersonville, NC
mjwestphal@unca.edu

>===== Original Message From "R. O. Bierregaard, Jr." 
<rbierreg@email.uncc.edu> =====
>John Lindfors posted the following:
>
>>Just a note about an osprey that I saw soaring over the east side of Jackson
>>Park in Hendersonville, NC south of Asheville, NC.
>
>>I expect them during migration at our local lakes but I have never seen them
>at Jackson Park.
>
>>Ron Selvey told me that yesterday (Wed. 7/10/02) he saw Worm-eating Warblers
>>along the Nature Trail.
>
>>John Lindfors
>
>[end]
>
>I've collected data from Ospreys wearing satellite transmitters that
>shows that Ospreys whose nests have failed can do some very
>impressive wandering. Birds tagged on Martha's Vineyard would commute
>back and forth between MV and ne Connecticut routinely. One bird, a
>male, made several trips back and forth between MVY and the New York
>City area after his nest failed and before he took off on migration.
>(See the maps for last summer's movements for Ospreys KB, KD, and HX
>posted on the Carolina Raptor Center website:
>http://www.birdsofprey.org -> 'migration').
>
>So Ospreys seen in Hendersonville, or the one I saw last June over
>Whiteside Mt (!) in Highlands, are probably birds whose nests have
>failed and they could be several hundred km from their nests but are
>not yet migrating. There's a decent population in TN, so maybe these
>western NC birds have wandered over from there. (Were any of them
>wearing orange and singing that "Rocky Top" thing?)
>
>Rob Bierregaard
>Charlotte
>--
>
>Rob Bierregaard
>
>**********************************************************
>
>				Phones: 704 333 2405
>Biology Department			704 547 3499
>UNC-Charlotte			Faxes:	704 333 2404
>9201 University City Blvd.		704 547 3128
>Charlotte NC 28223-0001		rbierreg@email.uncc.edu
>
>	http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard/
>**********************************************************