Ospreys on the Westport River



Nest Map

 I was allowed to accompany Becky Cushing, staff member at Allens Pond Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary and the Osprey Project Manager, as she went to check on the Osprey on the Westport River. Becky has been in charge of this project the last five years and I am sorry to say is leaving to further her education at the University of Vermont.
The project consists of monitoring the Osprey nests in the Westport River and Allen Pond Sanctuary area by keeping track of how many nesting pairs there are, number of eggs laid, number of eggs hatched and number of chicks that fledge. It also involved banding the new Osprey and selecting a couple to place GPS tracking monitor on. This year's birds were tracked down through the Caribbean to Venezuela them back through Cuba until they returned to Westport.
Because of the tides, we left about 11:30 AM to visit the nests and because the motor was sounding funny we only visit a few of the nests. On approaching a nest, the adults would take off and fly overhead yelling at us. We come in close to the nest, take the ladder and put it up and then Becky would go in and examine the nest. After examining the nest the data was immediately entered onto the sheet so that be Kept.
I wish I could say that we found live chicks and all of the nests, however, that is not the way that occurs in the natural world. They were empty nests and there was a nest with a dead chick and a nonviable egg.
however we did find some nice healthy in ks and some of the nests
There was also a dead duck floating in the water.

Great Egret

Willet

him A number of great egrets were feeding in the river and a Willet.
The toughest part I had in this trip was getting decent pictures because of the time of day and the absolutely brilliant sunlight. I try to photograph the birds in the air when the sun was a little behind me.
I want to thank Becky for all her kindness and to wish whoever takes her place continued success in this most wonderful project. You can follow the project at http://westportosprey.org/. The project and Allens pond sanctuary are always looking for volunteers on donations to help continue their work.