0729 Photos

July 29th - C37: Then and Now

I thought our readers might be interested in C37's background.

He is a male osprey chick who came to the Kensington Hacking facility on July 13, 2001. At that time, he was approximately 40 days old. He was raised by his parents in a nest on the S1 platform in the Pike Marsh area of Houghton Lake, MI. The US Fish and Wildlife band on his right leg is number 1207-78871. The bright green hacking band on his left leg is C37.

This picture was taken of him in the right nest cage of the hacking facility with his two nest mates, C33 and C35, on the day C35 was released.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

C37 and nest mate C33 successfully fledged on July 31, 2001. This picture of C37 shows him perched on one of the perch poles adjacent to the hacking facility on August 3rd.

You can clearly see the antenna (black wire at rear) of the radio telemetry transmitter that was attached to his central tail feather. We used that telemeter signal to track C37 as he flew around Kensington Metropark and the surrounding areas. He would sometimes venture as much as 10 miles from home.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

C37 is getting his telemetery transmitter attached in this photo.

The grey module holds the transmitter and batteries. We could hear the radio signal at a distance of 1 to 10 miles depending on the type of receiving antenna being used. The telemeter has a lifetime of about 6 months and is lost when the bird molts it feathers for the first time.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

One of the things young osprey have to learn to become efficient at catching fish is to get comfortable with entering and exiting water.

This photo shows C37 after dragging his talons in the water to get "the feel" of it. On this same flight, he did a slow entry into the water to try out that skill also.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

This photo show C37 (yellow) and C35 (pink) perched near the hacking tower. The paint was used to visually mark the chicks for easier visual identification by the Osprey Reintroduction Program volunteers.

These two chicks and the other 4 that were part of this 2001 class stayed until late September, and then one-by-one, left for their first migration flight to South America. We knew we would not see them again until 2003 at the earliest, and more likely 2004.

It wasn't until C37 appeared at the Lapeer, MI cell tower this spring that any of these chicks were known to have survived.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

C37 became very efficient at catching fish. On our many visits to the Lapeer, MI cell tower, he seemed to be in constant motion, bringing in fish for his mate and the two chicks, fetching more nest material, or arranging the nest material that is there.

This fish is over a pound in weight, and was taken to the nest for the chicks after C37 ate a small amount.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission

Here one of the chicks is trying out its flight skills and almost fledged. But, it got out over the antenna array, could see the ground 190 feet below, thought better of the situation, and applied the air brakes to return back over the nest. It repeated this flight plan minutes later, only to abort the 2nd attempt also. The other chick was seen flapping and hopping about the nest, precursers to fledging.

This picture was taken on July 27th so both chicks have probably fledged by now.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.

The last photo of this set is of C37's family.

He is sitting on the lower antenna, his mate on the upper antenna to the right of the nest, and the two chicks, a male and a female, both in the nest.

The chicks are full grown, ready to fly, and hopefully, both will survive their long, dangerous migration flight to South America in late September or early October. With luck, the male chick of this pair will return to our area in two or three years and successfully nest as his father has successfully done.

Jim Kortge photo; used with permission.