Subject: Fw: OSPREY SPRING ARRIVAL DATES
Date: Feb 27 15:02:59 2001
From: David Beaudette - drtbrdr at earthlink.net


Greetings,

I just checked my records for Skagit, Snohomish and King Counties. Beginning
in the winter of 1995 - 1996 and every winter since, I started seeing
Ospreys and hearing about other sightings. They are rare but regular
[annual] now in winter. My first spring arrivals are usually around the
first week of April and they are widespread by the end of April.

Good Birding,
David Beaudette
Shoreline

-----Original Message-----
From: WAYNE WEBER <contopus at home.com>
To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Cc: EUGENE HUNN <enhunn at home.com>; RACHEL LAWSON <rachellawson at uswest.net>;
HUGH JENNINGS <hughbirder at aol.com>
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 1:33 AM
Subject: OSPREY SPRING ARRIVAL DATES


>Tweeters,
>
>It is evident that, on rare occasions, the occasional Osprey will show
>up in western Washington or southwestern BC as early as the last week
>of February. The bird seen at Tradition Lake by Rachel Lawson on
>Sunday and by Hugh Jennings et al. on Monday is clear evidence of
>that. However, my best information is still that Osprey sightings any
>time prior to mid-March are very rare and unusual.
>
>In the Vancouver, BC area, I have Osprey spring arrival dates for 22
>years. The average (mean) arrival date is March 30, although most of
>the arrival dates were in early April. There are four exceptionally
>early arrival dates: Feb. 21, 1971; Feb. 27, 1980; March 5, 1992; and
>March 6, 1988. Other than these 4 years, the earliest arrival date I
>have for Vancouver (where several pairs nest) is March 23.
>
>In "Birding in Seattle and King County" by Eugene Hunn (1982), the
>bar-graph for Osprey shows records into late December, but no January
>or February records, and no spring records earlier than mid-March. The
>text comments that Ospreys arrive "each March" at the Carnatian Marsh.
>
>It may be that quite a few early arrival dates for Ospreys-- prior to
>mid-March-- have been recorded for King County or elsewhere in western
>Washington since 1982. (Gene or anyone else-- do you have details of
>any such records?) However, all the information that I have suggests
>that Osprey records in February are very unusual in Washington or B.C.
>That is why I questioned the 7 Ospreys reported in Washington on the
>Great Backyard Bird Count.
>
>Wayne C. Weber
>Kamloops, BC
>contopus at home.com
>
>
>
>
>