[texbirds] Summer Ospreys
- From: lmj6464@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 22:15:44 -0400 (EDT)
Dear Texbirders,
There has been enough comment on summer Ospreys on the coast that I decided to
do a little research on this rather than shooting from the hip as I did in this
morning's post.
The 2004 edition of the TOS Handbook of Texas birds states that Osprey "is a
very rare and local breeder in the Pineywoods and along the upper coast,
typically near larger reservoirs. Nonbreeding individuals are rare summer
visitors along the coast...." I can confirm that Judith and I saw an Osprey on
a nest at Toledo Bend Reservoir in Sabine County last Friday.
Oberholser lists two old nesting records, one from Jefferson County (Port
Arthur) in 1925 and one from Cameron County (Port Isabel) in 1908-10. He also
shows several sight records all along the coast during summer. His records
were pretty sparse because at the time of publication the Osprey population had
crashed due to the chlorinated hydrocarbon problem.
In his 2007 checklist for the South Texas Brushlands (a TPWD publication) John
Arvin lists Ospreys as "uncommon" from early May to late September on the lower
coast (from Kenedy County south).
There is no question that one or two Ospreys can be found with a little
searching in the Cayo del Oso-JFK Causeway-Laguna Madre area in Corpus all
through the summer. I have never seen any nesting, although there have been a
couple of nesting platforms built. As Mark Barosik suggested, I assume these
are immature birds that have not gone north. However, nesting Osprey seems to
be a good thing to keep a lookout for anywhere on the coast.
Larry Jordan
Corpus Christi
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