Osprey usually remain south for their first several years. Most do not return to the breeding grounds (north) until their 3-5th year. I think the youngest to return was about eighteen months old. So I think it is unlikely that the "extra" osprey were from last year's brood. Maybe from previous years though. Many of the less experienced adults do not succeed in breeding their first year and there are often individuals or pairs without young in the area.

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: C.B. <bolen_carolyn at hotmail.com>
To: Tweets <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, August 10, 2002 5:59 PM
Subject: Osprey question


Osprey fledglings seemed to be making their first big flight yesterday! (I think)
We have an Osprey nest just a few blocks from our house and have watched fledglings make their first big flights before. They usually make quite a fuss about the whole affair, chirping away and flying in circles. The odd thing about yesterday was that we saw 3 of them which is quite normal for this nest, only 1-2 fledglings per year so we figured 2 adults and 1 chick. But then we saw 2 more circling! Then after watching for a while we saw a 6th Osprey!!! 3-4 were chirping, one that I could tell for sure that was an adult (as it was at a lower altitude) had a pretty good sized fish.
I'm just trying to figure out where these other Osprey came from and why they all gathered around at this one spot! I've never seen 6 of them at a time, I'm not aware of any new nests in this area (Although I have located 2 new nests visible from 2 different Loomis Lake access areas.)
Anyway, if anyone knows anything about this I would be very interested about this kind of behavior. Could they have been last years fledglings by any chance?
On a separate note, I saw a few Cormorant flocks yesterday aswell, couldn't tell which kinds. I am in the process of moving and didn't have my bins handy for either occasion......... They seemed to be flying from the bay side of the Peninsula to the Ocean side. I'm guessing they might have been influenced by tide changes to move from one side to the other. Altogether I'm estimating that we saw well over a hundred of them. Quite a sight!
Happy Birding,
Dan Williams
Klipson Beach,
Long Beach Peninsula
bolen_carolyn at hotmail.com


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.381 / Virus Database: 214 - Release Date: 08/02/2002
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20020810/5c3d5490/attachment.htm