When I used to photograph the Bald Eagles at Mud Lock, I saw House Sparrows
within the Eagle's nest as well, so I wasn't too surprised to hear that they do
it to Ospreys as well. I'm glad to hear that the sparrows may provide some
benefit to the Ospreys, as well. I hate the House Sparrows because they are so
aggressive at the feeders and hog the bird houses. I tolerate them because they
eat lots of bugs in my gardens and yard. I've never had an insect problem
because the birds take care of them.
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 8, 2014, at 9:43 AM, Candace Cornell cec...@gmail.com wrote:
There is a family of house sparrows nesting with the ospreys again this year
at Salt Point. My Salt Point On Osprey Time blog #11
(http://www.lansingrec.com/parks/20-salt-point/salt-point-articles/27-on-osprey-time)
address this, but it has not been posted yet as our web master is in
Finland.
The fish-eating ospreys tolerate other species such as the sparrows, tree
swallows, starlings, and others to nest near them, usually under the
platform. It's probably some form of mutalism, but it has not been studied.
The smaller birds probably keep the nest cleaner with less ecoparasites for
the osprey to contend with. In exchange, the smaller bird get a sturdy
structure to build a nest on and the (passive) protection of the osprey
against predators.
I wish it had been a gnatcatcher. The house sparrows are ravishing the Salt
Point nest boxes, destroying the bluebird and tree swallow eggs that were
doing so well.
Candace
On Sun, Jun 8, 2014 at 7:50 AM, Karen Edelstein k...@cornell.edu wrote:
Last night, during our sunset walk at Salt Point in Lansing, Joe and I got
some nice views of the osprey pair sharing a fish on the platform edge.
When we were ready to leave (it was getting quite dark by then) one osprey
was down incubating presumably while the other stayed alert on the perch
(ha-ha... fish or pole or both). Some movement along the outside of the nest
caught Joe's attention. Although the light was terrible, I could see a
long, twitching tail with a slight notch and very quick movements. Blue
gray gnatcatcher I'm guessing. The little bird and the big osprey had to
have been aware of each other but unbothered by each other's presence. The
little bird worked its way around the edge and then into the nest itself
before it got too dark to see anymore.
What was going on? Gleaning bugs? Anyone else seen this? Could it have been
some species other than gnatcatcher?
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