A few birds from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Osprey:Osprey Angllurayuli I remember the first time I saw one of these so-called "fish eagles" near Marshall back in the mid-1990's. He was hovering above a clearwater creek just off the Yukon River, searching for grayling or whitefish. Suddenly, with his wings above his body, tail outspread, and legs and head craned forward, he plunged down from about 40 feet into the water with a tremendous splash. Almost disappearing from view, and with only the tips of his wings showing, he struggled under water for about 15 seconds until finally he rose to the surface with a huge fish gripped in his talons. With a mighty effort he thrust his wings down, then up and down again, lifting himself and his prey into the air. Pausing for an instant in midair, he shook the water from his plumage, turned the fish around in his talons so the head pointed forward to reduce wind resistance, then flew off probably to feed his mate who was incubating eggs on her nest. What a show that was, and as the Yupik name, Angllurayuli, attests, this fish eagle is indeed "very good at diving under water" to catch its food. The reason the Osprey can hunt in this manner is because of its compact body feathers and its oily plumage. Barely a drop of water soaks into its feathers and, since oil is lighter than water, it allows the Osprey to easily bob back to the surface and, prey in talons, resume flying. Another unique trait evolved over millions of years of adapting to hunting for fish in lakes, rivers and estuaries, are the spines it has on the pads of the soles of its toes for holding on to slippery fishes. Watch the way an Osprey turns a fish around in midair, and you'll appreciate this adaptation. I wish I had a few of these spines on my fingers when I handle slimey fish. The Osprey is actually not an eagle at all. It is a distinct kind of fish-eating hawk that is often placed in its own separate family, Pandionidae. Its scientific name is Pandion haliaetus. Pandion was a Greek king of Athens and the father of Philomela and Procne, two tragic daughters who at their deaths were turned into birds. Found nearly worldwide, Angllurayuli nests almost everywhere in Alaska. This wasn't always so. It was seriously endangered by the effects of DDT and related pesticides from the 1950's through the 1970's. Only since the ban of these pesticides in 1972 has the Osprey made a comeback, especially in Alaska. Now wherever fish are plentiful you'll see a lot of these birds. This includes the Lower Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. As soon as the ice melts in Spring and fish can be hunted, Ospreys return from their wintering grounds and enter into courtship displays, which include soaring and circling together high in the sky, swift pursuit of the female by the male, dodging and turning and rapid swooping, and the male diving repeatedly in the vicinity of the nest site, often carrying a fish or stick in its beak. From the onset of the mating game the male feeds the female to cement the pair bond. Feeding continues during construction of the nest (by both sexes), which is usually located on the dead or broken top of a large tree not far from water. It is built of sticks and other materials, and over many years of continual use by the same pair can become quite bulky and huge, sometimes weighing as much as 1000 pounds. Feeding of the female by the male goes on during egg laying when the female lays up to four brown-blotched, creamy white-cinnamon pink eggs. She begins brooding immediately after the first egg is laid and does most of the incubation. The male occasionally helps out, and about 38 days later when the eggs have hatched he hunts for both his mate and hatchlings while she protects them from sun, rain and predators. After bringing a fish to the nest, the male presents it first to his mate who feeds it in turn to the young. They follow the same routine, more or less, for just shy of two months, when the big nestlings finally fluff up their oily-smelling plumage and prepare to leap from their nests into the great unknown. During the summer of 2006, while canoeing down the Kobuk River in N.W. Alaska, I watched scores of young Ospreys practicing their newfound skill of soaring round and round in the air with their parents. For a few days the parents would continue feeding these newly fledged birds, but soon the time would come when they, too, would have to take the plunge into cold water to learn to become angllurayulis, thus continuing the eternal quest to survive and carry on their own kind into the indeterminate future.  |
