I have seen turtles being tagged, but until a few weeks ago, I have never seen a bird being banded.
So on a nice sunny afternoon, an officer from the New Jersey State Fish and Wildlife Department (I hope I got this correctly) came to the Wetlands Institute and banded the 3 osprey chicks in the salt march just behind the institute.
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus), also known colloquially as sea-hawk, fish hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching 60 cm in length with a 1.8 m wingspan. The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. As its other common names suggest, the osprey’s diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It has evolved specialized physical characteristics and exhibits some unique behaviours to assist in hunting and catching prey. Despite its propensity to nest near water, the Osprey is not a sea-eagle.
- Source: Osprey @ Wikipedia
First, the officer climbs a ladder and reaches for one of the 3 chicks in the osprey nest. He then banded it and then passed the chick around so that we could go “Awww…” over it, while he gets the second chick, and then the third.
The chick looks fierce, huh? :D
And this is how the band looks like on the osprey chick’s leg. It was a pretty quick, harmless and painless way to band the birds, and the officer banded the 3 chicks in less than 15 minutes.
We were allowed to hold a chick and take pictures with it, and no doubt, that was what we did! The chick was extremely soft and fuzzy. And, no, it’s NOT dead :D
More pictures taken during the banding here.
That is very neat. A little different from turtles, I suppose. Nice pictures, too.
aww, the osprey chick is very cute… it still has its baby fluff!
Looking fierce in a positive and beautiful way, though.
I do like Ospreys, not that I live close to any locals nesting. I might have to check out the nesting Ospreys at Rutland Water in the UK (near where I got married).
This is the first time that I have actually seen the band from such close quarters. I had always wondered whether this would be comfortable for birds and am now relieved. Great photographs.
Great pics … I have never seen this before either
I think we have ospreys too in Malaysia… :)
I am not a birder too myself, so have not actually seen one in wildlife. The bird of prey I saw once (near some coastal or lake area, couldn’t remember) could be either an osprey or a close cousin, the eagle (Couldn’t tell from the distance). Checking on the net, it seems that ospreys do visit Malaysia and Southeast Asia. :)
Looks cool!