"The Osprey is a powerful and agile flyer. Its keen eyesight enables it to spy fish from 150 feet in the air, and its razorsharp talons are edged with rough scales to hold slippery prey. The latter feature sometimes works to the bird's disadvantage since a hooked fish cannot easily be released. If the fish is too heavy, the Osprey may be pulled under and drown. Some large fish actually have been caught with the remains of Osprey skeletons still attached to their backs." 1
"An Osprey nest is a stupendous affair of branches, sticks, driftwood, cornstalks, seaweed, and what have you. The same pair will return to it year after year, adding more and more junk in their repairing operations until the whole mass ultimately weighs several hundred pounds and can be seen against the skyline for a mile or more. There are instances of small birds of several kinds nesting in the crevices of osprey castles, quite unmolested, which speaks well for the big fellows' tolerance." 2
Osprey have been nesting in Westmoreland County since 1995. The first pair on record to do so was at a man-made nesting platform at Loyalhanna Lake. In 2006 there are three young in the nest. No young were fledged in 2005 & 2004. One young was fledged in 2003 (a second nestling didn't survive), 1 young in 2002, 1 in 2001, 2 in 2000, 3 in 1999, 3 in 1998, 2 in 1997, 3 in 1996, 1 in 1995, for a total of 20 as of 2006. Currently in 2007 there are two nestling Osprey at Loyalhanna Lake and three nestlings at Donegal Lake.
The original pair of Osprey to use the Loyalhanna Lake platform, according to a wildlife biologist with the Army Corp of Engineers, was a male fledged from the Corps Tygart Lake Osprey hacking site in July 1988. The female was also hacked at Tygart Lake in August 1991, the last year of a reintroduction program. Tygart Lake is in north central West Virginia. Both birds came from the Choptank River near Cambridge, Maryland.
In 2001 a pair of Osprey raised two young in a platform nest at Donegal Lake in Westmoreland County, just west of Rt711 north of the village of Donegal. Three young Osprey were fledged at the Donegal Lake nest in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Two adult Osprey are present in the Donegal nest in 2006, but no young are present.
The Loyalhanna Lake nest and the Donegal Lake nest have produced 34 Osprey since 1995, as of 2006.
In 2000 a nesting platform (wire basket) was installed at the Latrobe Reservoir in Ligonier Township, west of Rt259 a couple miles north of Rt30. The Latrobe Reservoir platform has not been occuppied. The platform was placed at a location convenient for people but is probably not a good location for Osprey or Eagle to use. A better location would have been where a platform had been erected before, in a cove of the lake further away from human intrusion.
In 2005 the Osprey pair at Loyalhanna Lake failed to produce young, for the second year in a row. It is most likely the Osprey pair at the Loyalhanna Lake nest are not the same pair that began using the nest in 1995. That original pair raised young successfully for many years. Three young have fledged at the Donegal Lake nest. On July 9 a third adult Osprey intruded into the home territory of the Donegal Lake nest already occupied by the family of two adults and three young. The intruder attempted to land in the nest several times. On the last attempt the intruder came to within inches of landing in the nest from directly above. One of the resident adults guarding the nest leapt upward, turned upside-down and locked talons with the intruder. They both tumbled straight downward from the nest, toward the water, and out of sight behind vegetation blocking part of our view from the road. It was an intense episode. Neither of the two osprey in battle were seen again during the rest of our stay at the lake that evening, between 6 & 8 PM. Only one adult Osprey was present the rest of the summer.
Osprey nest at Somerset Lake in Somerset County, sw PA. Two young were present in the nest in the summer of 2005.
The first reported Osprey sighting for 2008, in Westmoreland County, is March 21 at Donegal Lake.
Osprey migrate south for the winter, to the deep south of the United States, Central and South America. They are gone from Westmoreland County by mid-November and arrive back by mid-March to early April. January 2006 was the 8th warmest January on record in Allegheny County (record keeping began in the 1880s). The warm month kept waterways unfrozen. An Osprey was reported at Lake Wilhelm in Mercer County on 1/30/2006. In Westmoreland County Osprey eggs are laid by the end of April, the eggs hatch by early June. The young take their first flights from the nest by mid-July. In 2001 the young Osprey at one of the nests fledged sometime during the last week of July. Young Osprey return to the region of their birth after spending 2-3 years in Central and South America.
Osprey dive feet first into the water to catch fish, flying slowly or hovering high over the water, or from a high perch. The dives can be quite spectacular, especially if the dive is from high and a large fish is taken from well below the surface. The Osprey might completely submerge. A struggle can ensue between the fish & the Osprey, the fish fighting to stay in the water and the Osprey straining to get airborne with the catch and to keep from being pulled under and drowned. The Osprey will spread its wings across the water's surface for added bouyancy. Once the Osprey leaves the water the fish is positioned headfirst into the direction the Osprey is flying. The Osprey will do a characteristic in-flight shudder to shake off water clinging to its feathers. The movements of a large, strong fish will cause the Osprey to jerk in flight. The Osprey will fly to a favored spot to eat the fish, on the branches of a large dead tree which may or may not be near water, or on the shoreline. The head of the fish will most likely be eaten first. Osprey will adjust their dive to a slow descending hover or braking glide to delicately pluck a small fish from shallow water at shoreline. Osprey are adept fish hunters.
(below)
A collage of two photos of the Osprey at Donegal Lake, June 24 2005,
two adults and three young. The young are down low in the nest.
(below)
Osprey at Loyalhana Lake, June 25 2007,
two young being fed.
Bald Eagle
In 2003 a pair of Bald Eagle established a nest at Beaver Run Reservoir, the first Bald Eagle nest known to be in Westmoreland County. Two eaglets were hatched. The adult male Eagle was shot by a turkey hunter on April 29 during the spring gobbler (bearded turkeys only) hunting season. The criminal investigation went unsolved until late August, when a police officer from Jeanette, Shannon Stacey Binda, was identified as the culprit and charged by the Pennsylvania Game Commission with the shooting of the Bald Eagle. The injured Eagle was taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center for examination and treatment. The eagle lost eyesight in the right eye, so chances of him being released back into the wild is unlikely. The adult female Eagle managed to successfully raise and fledge the two eaglets. The PA Game Commission helped the female by leaving deer carcasses near the nest site as a source of food. On March 13 2004 two adult Bald Eagles were reported seen at Beaver Run Reservoir. The next day three Bald Eagles were seen, two adults and one first year immature. On March 20 an adult Bald Eagle was observed sitting in the nest. It is assumed that the female Bald Eagle from 2003 has found a new mate for the 2004 nesting season. The Bald Eagle are nesting in 2005.
Quoted text from: 1. Wildlife America A Collection of U.S. Commemorative Stamps, USPS. 2. Our Amazing Birds by Robert S. Lemmon.
Related links: Osprey | Osprey | Eagle | Eagle | Bald Eagle nest | Bald Eagle nest in Harford County, Maryland, along the Susquehanna River