THE OSPREY. 



129 



AMERICAN OSPREY NOTES AT GARDINER'S ISLAND, N. Y. 



HENRY R BUCK, WETHERSFIELD, CONN. 



LAST summer I camped with the Connecticut them lay flat on the breast, with the neck stretched 



Naval Battalion at Gardiner's Island. As out, the head lying on the nest, and the wings partly 



this is at the eastern end of Long Island, opened. They usually stiffened up a little when I 



Ospreys are, of course, common; and I had a chance climbed onto the nest, and the larger ones stood up, 



to watch them and make the accompanying photo- but they were too weak to support their weight long, 



graphs. The island is some six miles long by three AH the occupied nests had fresh seaweed on them, 



wide, and perhaps a quarter of its area is covered always damp, often soaking wet. The birds prob- 



by white oak woods with a few elms and other trees, ably use it for the same purpose that Red-shouldered 



The rest is dry, rolling pasture land with many soli- Hawks and others use green leaves in their nests — 



tary oaks and cedars. The island has been owned by for what I do not know. All the nests smelled strong- 



the Gardiner family since about 1640, 

 but the shooting rights are leased to a 

 club which has stocked it with Deer, 

 Wild Turkey and Pheasants, and keeps 

 it strictly policed. 



The Ospreys were always in sight. 

 There must have been 75 nests on the 

 island. They are built anywhere, but 

 more often perhaps, in the solitary 

 trees and on the edges of the woods. 

 By far the greater number were near 

 the tops of the trees, but most of the 

 trees, especially the isolated ones, be- 

 ing low, the average height would be 

 certainly under 30 feet. 



The nests have been often described. 

 They vary here from three to six feet 

 across and from one to four feet thick. 

 There were none of the gigantic ac- 

 cumulations which have been described 

 from Plumb Island, (Charles S. Allen 

 in Auk, 1892, Vol. 8, p. 313,) but sev- 

 eral would easily support four or five 

 men They are masses of miscellan- 

 eous sticks, driftwood, turf, seaweed, 

 cornstalks, heavy grass, and, in fact, 

 almost everything the birds could pick 



ly of fish, and one with two young, per- 

 haps ten days old, had a fresh cunner, 

 partly eaten. 



The primaries and feathers of the 

 spinal tract appear first on the growing 

 chick, among the gray down in which 

 he is hatched, and the body feathers 

 seem to come out pretty evenly after 

 that. The wings are so large and heavy 

 that the young birds have practically 

 no control over them, until otherwise 

 well grown and fully feathered. The 

 largest birds I saw in the nest could 

 raise them to their sides only for a 

 moment and had to let them hang 

 when they stood up. This odd droop- 

 ing of the wings is well shown in an 

 accompanying illustration. Some sail- 

 ors from the "Cincinnati" took these 

 two birds from the nest, intending to 

 take them to the ship for pets, but the 

 game warden would not allow it. He 

 wanted them carried back to the nest, 

 but the boys left them on a fallen tree 

 near it, where the old birds probably 

 took care of them. The ground about 

 the pair was dotted with downy feath- 



up. They are nearly flat on top, usually osprev nest in rhode isl.and. ers which they seemed to be shedding 

 lined or rather covered with seaweed ''"°^° ''^ "■ "• hathaway. _their baby dress, probably, 

 and grass. It might be interesting to know that the The old birds show a great deal of solicitude for 

 "Jolly Tar," posing for his picture beside the large the nestlings. On our first day at the island half a 

 nest in the accompanying illustration, is over six feet dozen birds were screaming overhead all the time 

 in height. anyone was near the woods where the nests were 

 We were camped at the island from July 11 to the thickest. If anyone climbed to a nest all the birds 

 17th. The breeding season was about over, many of in sight "went wild," and we could tell, a mile away, 

 the nests being empty ; but I saw one nest with well when anyone was bothering them. Toward the end 

 incubated eggs. Out of about a dozen nests I ex- of the week, however, they paid less attention to us, 

 amined, which held anything, one had two dead ^-^^ sometimes when I climbed to a nest only the 

 young a week old ; two held single birds ; and the proprietors of that particular nest would make a dis- 

 others, two and three birds of all ages, the average jy^^ance. That pair, however, always did: scream- 

 being at least two-thirds grown. Most of my visits . •, j- • t » ui 1 „ ti,^„„v. fV,«„ 

 ^ - , J , ing and divmg uncomfortably close, though they 

 were made after some of the sailor boys had been on , 1 j 



u . 1 . * u ^ .V, * i^ T I, „vi never actually struck anyone to my knowledge, 



an egg hunt, but from what they told me I should -^ ■' 



,,- , . c ^■\ ^ \ ui ~™ „ In taking one picture I had to wait over half an hour 



thmk mfertile eggs were remarkably common. ^" lai^mg un^ y .- 



The heat just at this time was intense, and the before one of the birds quieted down enough to settle 



young birds seemed to feel it very much. Most of on the perch near the nest, even for an instant. 



