Kestrels
On April 7, 2010, Dick Phillips and I checked 18 American Kestrel nest boxes along a 50-mile roadside trail that runs mostly in NW Delaware County. All but one of the boxes hang from electric poles. We found 11 nests active with kestrel eggs, up from four two weeks ago. Four additional nests have oblong “kestrel cups” in the white pine bedding or in grass of usurped starling nests. Three boxes contain starling nests with round cups that measure three inches across.
One nest that held a female kestrel two weeks ago had a starling nest today. The site has the best kestrel habitat with grassy berms, and a high concentration of utility wires along a nearby railroad and an intersection. Also, several gardens and barnyards are nearby. The area is also prime Mourning Dove habitat. This failed nest is only 1-1/2 miles away from an inactive limestone quarry with 50-foot-tall walls that face south. Hmmm, what am I thinking??
Box #16 at Gallant Farm Preserve holds five eggs and belongs to a most vocal pair that constantly protests our presence. Box #17 on the Delaware Wildlife Area has been claimed by an active pair but the nest has no eggs yet.
Ospreys
Delaware Lake
On Good Friday, April 2, 2010, a female finally joined the male at DELAWARE LAKE. They are frequently seen on their platform, and they quickly removed or flattened two clumps of grass that had grown from last year’s nest. This nest is 16-inches high. The vertical nest supports on our platforms stand eight inches and can be used to scale objects on the nest.
Only the male is banded and he wears a blue band on his left leg, meaning that he hatched from an “Ohio egg” and was banded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODOW). An aluminum U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service band is always attached to the other leg. Bands have numbers but it takes telescopes and the proper light to read them. In time, watchers will read the bands.
Alum Creek
Platform # 1: The male wears a faded blue band on his Right leg, meaning that he was “hacked” in Ohio after he was taken from an out-of-state nest as a nestling. This bird was part of the re-introduction program by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. The female wears a bright blue band on her left leg, a sign that she is an all-Ohio bird.
A lone female with no leg band seems to have claimed Platform # 2, and she adds sticks to it daily. Dick Phillips spotted three pairs of Osprey on Tuesday, so the female had a mate for day, but he apparently was driven off by other males. Will he return?
Platform # 3 remains empty.
Platform # 4: Neither Osprey on this platform is banded. The male has earned the name “Tiger” since he occasionally floats to # 2 and mates with the lone female there. However, he delivers all of his sticks to his constant mate on # 4. These animals act more like people every day!
Hoover Reservoir
So far, only one pair is found at the reservoir at Galena. They have added to their nest on the original platform. Recent photos on the Internet show a blue band but it will take a telescope, and I have one, to see bands.
No Osprey pairs are incubating, but it won’t be long.
Raptor on!