"If you build it ..."

In 2000, we went to great lengths — and heights — to attract ospreys. South County Museum has had an osprey family on its grounds for many years, but they were nesting atop a utility pole that was falling apart. So we put up another pole and, as shown here, hoisted the old nest to the top. It took the birds only about 15 minutes to decide the new quarters would be just fine, thank you.

Photos by Daryl Anderson

Osprey cams

Friends of Blackwater (Blackwater, Md.)

Every year, an osprey family makes its home atop a pole on the grounds of the South County Museum. It may be the same family year after year. Or it may be a new family each year. Only the ospreys know.

This graceful bird is distantly related to eagles and other hawks but is so distinctive that it is often placed in a family by itself. (Ospreys are often called fishhawks, but we prefer the more dignified term osprey, believed to derive from the Latin ossifraga.) They are widely distributed throughout the world, mostly the northern hemisphere, nesting along coastlines and rivers and in wetlands. They are migratory and return to their northern nests in the spring.

Ospreys feed almost exclusively on fish — striped bass and shad are their favorites around Narragansett.

The osprey is a large bird -- about 22 inches long with a wingspan of 54 inches.

The osprey has two enemies. One is pesticides -- the species was nearly done in by DDT and the like a few decades ago. It has bounced back and is now regarded, not as endangered, but threatened. The other enemy is the eagle. Eagles like fish and, when the opportunity presents itself, would rather take one from an osprey than catch one itself. Many observers have reported seeing eagles swoop down upon an osprey to steal the fish it is carrying. The osprey may drop its catch right away or it may try some evasive tactics. But dodging an eagle while carrying a fish is not easy, and sooner or later the osprey drops the fish and the eagle catches it in midair.

On the hunt, the osprey plunges feetfirst into the water from 30 to 100 over the surface, sometimes momentarily disappearing entirely beneath the surface. It emerges, holding its catch with both feet, stops to shake the water out of its feathers, points the fish head-on to minimize wind resistance, and takes off with its prize.

An osprey family produces one brood, usually two chicks, per year. Incubation is for about two to six weeks. The female does most of the sitting, while the male does most of the hunting. When very young, the hatchlings are nearly helpless, and will stay in the nest for seven or eight weeks.

For at least 250 years, ospreys have had the reputation in this country of being farmers' friends, supposedly because they are territorial and chase away hawks that might consider chickens to be talon-lickin' good. Many observers, however, say that so-called chicken hawks much prefer mice and other such fare to chickens. The legend may have arisen because at about the same the ospreys are raising their young, other hawks are retiring inland to raise their own families.

Ospreys are territorial to the extent that their distribution in a particular area depends on the fish supply. If the fish are plentiful the ospreys will live in colonies, though they are not generally regarded as a colonial bird.

Otherwise, as no less an authority than John James Audubon noted, the osprey is remarkably tolerant.

"Not only do these birds live in perfect harmony together, but they even allow other birds of very different character to approach so near to them as to build their nests of the very materials of which the outer parts of their own are constructed. "I have never observed a Fish Hawk chasing any other bird whatever."

It is quite likely the osprey family living on the pole on the museum grounds this year is the same one as in previous years. Ospreys show great attachment to their first home and generally to return the same one each spring. And they can live as long as 20 years.

The osprey has other qualities much admired by Audubon. In Birds of America, he wrote:

"During the incubation period] the male bird is now and then observed rising to an immense height in the air, over the spot where his mate is seated. This he does by ascending almost in a direct line, by means of continued flappings, meeting the breeze with his white breast, and occasionally uttering a cackling kind of note, by which the bystander is enabled to follow him in his progress. When the Fish Hawk has attained its utmost elevation, which is sometimes such that the eye can no longer perceive him, he utters a loud shriek, and dives smoothly on half-extended wings towards his nest. But before he reaches it, he is seen to expand his wings and tail, and in this manner he glides towards his beloved female, in a beautifully curved line. The female partially raises herself from her eggs, emits a low cry, resumes her former posture, and her delighted partner flies off to the sea, to seek a favourite fish for her whom he loves. "The young are at length hatched. The parents become more and more fond of them as they grow up. So truly parental becomes the attachment of the old birds, that an attempt to rob them of those dear fruits of their love, generally proves more dangerous than profitable. Should it be made, the old birds defend their brood with great courage and perseverance, and even sometimes, with extended claws and bill, come in contact with the assailant, who is glad to make his escape with a sound skin."

In the mid-20th century, newspapers in Rhode Island asked readers to vote on a state bird. The Rhode Island Red, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 1954, won, with the osprey and ruby-throated hummingbird being its closest competition.

As a consolation prize, perhaps, the osprey has become the official bird of Nova Scotia.

From a distance, the osprey can be mistaken for a gull. Its feathers are brown above and white below. The head is white, with a large black streak through the eyes. Females also have dark streaking on the chest. The wing has a distinctive bend at the wrist. Ospreys generally want to nest at least 30 feet off the ground. Dead trees are favorite habitats, as are poles erected by humans — which is how the museum acquired its pair in 2000. Ospreys are found in other parts of Rhode Island too. The Great Swamp has several families and is a favorite place for osprey lovers to observe them.