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Sanford's and Gunny's Newest Movements |
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June 15 - June 30, 2010
Take a look at the movements of Gunny and Sanford over the past couple of weeks. Sanford has been moving around quite a bit, continuing to visit Naragansett and spending quite a bit of time at the North and South Watuppa Ponds. Gunny, on the other hand, has stayed pretty close to home. If you've been out and seen any of the Osprey nests on the river you may see some ospreys in their nests on the edge of fledging.
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Sanford Takes Day Trips to Rhode Island, Gunny Holds Steady |
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June 4-June 17, 2010
Sanford seems to be spending more and mo
re time over in Rhode Island. You can see he's made quite a lot of trips over to Naragansett, Little Compton, and Tiverton over the past couple of weeks, but he always comes home to Westport.
Gunny has stuck to pretty much the same areas that he has been visiting since he has arrived. It looks like he's found a few good fishing spots and isn't being tempted to explore much.
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Sanford Covers the West, Gunny Covers the East |
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May 6 - June 6, 2010
Sanford has been travelling around quite a bit since we last checked in with him. He has been visiting a lot of the ponds to the west of the Westport River, and has taken a few trips out to Naragansett.
Gunny, on the other hand, has been staying mostly in the east branch of the Westport River and has been visiting locations to the east of the river. He has gone to Slocum River, Apponagansett Bay, and Clark's Cove several times.
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Sanford and Gunny Get Their Transmitters |
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On May 6, Rob Bierregaard, Alan Poole, and Becky Cushing, with John Van de Graaff as photographer, trapped the adult male on W32 and installed a transmitter on him. He was named Sanford because his nest is located on Sanford Flat in the West Branch. Click here to see photos of Sanford getting his transmitter installed. On the same day the team, after failed attempts at two other nests, was also successful in trapping the adult male on E32 in the East Branch and installing a transmitter on him. He was named Gunny because his nest was near Gunning Island. A video of Gunny's release can be viewed here, where you can see his newly instally transmitter if you look closely at the beginning of the video. |
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May 16, 2010
Two new ospreys in the Westport River are now carrying radio transmitters. Gunny, whose positions are highlighted with the blue markers, has the transmitter recovered from Hix last year. Sanford, whose positions are highlighted with orange markers, has the transmitter that Hudson wore over the past year. Hudson had his transmitter removed, but you may be able to spot him if you keep an eye out for an osprey with a blue band on his left leg. We will be giving lots of updates as we watch Sanford and Gunny, so keep checking back to see what they are up to!
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Tracking Westport's Osprey |
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Westport is home to one of the more significant breeding populations of Osprey in North America. Building on the legacy of Gil and Jo Fernandez, who, over 40 years, installed nearly 100 breeding platforms in the Westport River and Allens Pond, the Westport River Watershed Alliance and Mass Audubon’s Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary have joined forces to maintain those platforms and monitor the breeding activity of some 80 pairs of Osprey since 2002.
Now these two organizations are launching a new initiative to learn more about where our Westport Osprey catch their fish locally and where they migrate in the winter. By putting small transmitters on the backs of three adult male Ospreys, we will be able to track their travels on an hourly basis. The information will be posted on this website and will be available not only to interested Osprey fans, but also will be incorporated into local school programs to teach about migration and wildlife behavior.
This website provides links to many sites relating to Osprey and to Westport. We invite you to explore with us and see how you can participate in this fascinating 21st Century learning adventure.
 
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See Hudson's and Ozzie's Travels |
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See the paths that Ozzie and Hudson during their 2009-2010 migrations by clicking here. |
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April 18, 2010
Here is Hudson's path since the last posting. He has been staying pretty close to home, but also frequenting certain areas such as Nonquit Pond, Cockeast Pond, and Quicksand Pond. You can see that his path and destinations are pretty similar to the last posting. We'll have to see if he keeps fishing the same spots. 
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Last May a transmitter was placed on the back of an adult male Osprey in the East Branch of the Westport River, and he was christened “Ozzie” the name chosen by the students at the Westport Elementary School.
The transmitter made it possible to track Ozzie’s movements hour by hour as he flew around the Westport/Tiverton area catching fish and bringing them back to his nest for his partner to feed to their newly hatched chicks.
In late September Ozzie had finished looking after his young offspring who were now able to feed themselves, so he headed south for the winter. He travelled down along the coast to Florida and then across to Cuba where he spent the winter. We were able to track his movements there on the south coast near the city of Cienfuegos. In February he moved west a bit, still along Cuba’s south coast and appeared to hang around for a time hear some rectangular ponds that appear to be fish farms.
Suddenly, on March 20, his transmitter stopped sending signals. We don’t know why. It is possible, but not likely, that his transmitter fell off. It may also have stopped functioning. So we have waited to see whether he would reappear at his old nest on the southern tip of Big Pine Island in the East Branch, but as of April 15 he still had not returned.
This leads to the conclusion that something must have happened to Ozzie. Rob Bierregaard, who put the transmitter on Ozzie last May, has had similar experiences with young Osprey outfitted with transmitters who spent too much time around fish farms in the Dominican Republic. Four of these birds have vanished. Rob has travelled to the Dominican Republic to launch an educational campaign to encourage fish farm managers to try to scare off the Osprey without killing them. Perhaps we can try to do the same thing in Cuba.
Messages have already been sent to some bird specialists (ornithologists) in Cuba to see if they can figure out what happened to Ozzie, and perhaps recover his transmitter. So far we have had no response.
So, for now we have to accept the possibility that both Ozzie and his transmitter have been lost. But we will continue to keep an eye out for him at his nest and hope that we can hear some news from our contacts in Cuba.
Next month it is planned to remove the transmitter from Hudson and put his and one other transmitter on two different adult males to track them for the coming year. We will track where they catch their fish this spring and summer. Then we will see when they leave and where they go in migration in the fall. Hopefully they will stay away from fish farms and other Osprey hazards so that both of them will return next spring. |
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Here is a great picture of Hudson with his mate on their nest. You can see the antenna of Hudson's transmitter sticking out from his feathers. You can also some of the different materials they use in their nest.
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