Project OspreyTrack: Juliet Map

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October 17, 2015
I’m sad to report that we lost contact with Juliet. Her last update was a little after 11am on October 10th. Her last points reveal nothing of her fate (all looked normal) but there has been no further data from her transmitter since. We assume that something catastrophic happened to her (something that destroyed the transmitter). There is very poor quality imagery in that area of Venezuela, so I can’t tell what exactly she was doing. I think there was a river there next to a road (which may tell the story of what happened to her). We’ll never know.

October 5, 2015
Juliet didn’t like the look of the mountains and headed to the west a bit and stopped at a nice looking river. What next? She doesn’t have a place to go to yet, so she is searching for a safe place to spend the winter. She could stop in Venezuela or go another 1,000 miles south into Brazil.

October 2, 2015
Juliet had obviously had enough of big water crossings after she completed her 24-hour trip across the Caribbean Sea. She skirted around the west side of the Gulf of Venezuela and then along the west shore of Lake Maracaibo. Along the way she crossed paths with Staddler, who arrived in Colombia on the 29th. They roosted within 20 miles of each other on the 30th. Juliet now has a new hurdle – the northern edge of the Andes! Some peaks are over 16,000 feet and most of our tracked Ospreys avoid going straight over – most head north and slip around the top. We’ll see what Juliet does, For now she is doing a bit of fishing along a small river.

September 29, 2015
Juliet is still leading the pack and has passed another milestone. She crossed the Caribbean from Dominican Republic to Colombia. She left the far eastern tip of D.R. at 10 am on September 26 and flew all that day and through the night. She arrived a little before 10 am on the 27th at the Macuira National Park in Colombia on the north side of the Gulf of Venezuela. She had flown about 460 miles in 24 hours on continuous flying. After a short rest she was on her way again by 11am on the 27th and was skirting along the north shore of the Gulf of Venezuela (seemed reluctant to take on another over-water crossing). She roosted about 40 miles from her arrival point in Colombia. At 10 am on 28th she had crossed into Venezuela and looked like she was about to head across the Gulf of Venezuela which is only about 52 miles (Juliet doesn’t know that). So far so good for our girl.

September 25, 2015
Juliet is still leading the pack. She crossed over to Haiti on the evening of September 22, arriving on Ile de la Gonave at 8pm. She roosted there and then headed over to the Haiti mainland on the 23rd. By the end of that day she was in the Dominican Republic and roosted near the town of Manuel Goya. The next morning she nearly started her crossing over to South America, but changed her mind and continued east along the coast on the 24th, ending the day near Arroyo Hondo.

September 22, 2015
Juliet arrived in Cuba and by 1am on 20th was roosting at a swanky looking marina called “Marina Las Brujas” on the island of Las Brujas. It looks like she actually roosted on the mast of one of the yachts. She was on the move by 9am and followed the natural route SW through Cuba. By the end of the day on the 21st, she had past Staddler and was “winning the race” through Cuba and was just west of Santiago de Cuba.

September 21, 2015
After tagging along with Staddler for the early part of her migration, they parted ways in South Carolina. Staddler made a 460 mile water crossing (through the night) straight to Cape Canaveral while Juliet took the safer land route. She must have gotten an early start on the 14th as by 9am she was 60 miles from her 1am roost site. She reached Florida later that day. By the end of the day on the 17th she and Gundersen were very close together. They roosted 10 miles apart east of Naples. She kept pushing south and ended the next day near Ochopee in the Everglades. On the 19th she pushed on and by 1pm, she had set off across the Florida Straits towards Cuba. Gundersen may have been close to her. A 2:30 doppler (non-GPS) point for him suggested that he too was crossing to Cuba.

September 10, 2015
Juliet and Staddler are still travelling close together. They ended the day of the 9th about 20 miles apart near Cape Lookout in North Carolina. The weather wasn’t very good yesterday, so they didn’t travel far. Today (Thursday) was lovely and clear so I expect they have both made good progress since the last data download. Let’s hope Juliet doesn’t make the rooky mistake and head south from the Cape over water. I know Staddler knows better.

September 9, 2015
Juliet is making great progress and has had a travel buddy on much of her trip south. Adult male Staddler (from nest in Seabrook Harbor, NH) has been following a similar route and he and Juliet have literally been with eyeshot of each other three times over the weekend. At 1pm on September 4, they were right together in Connecticut. They again came together over the famous hawk watching site at Cape May at 1 pm on the 5th and then again at the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula in Virginia on the 6th. Juliet was also photographed as she passed over the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia on Sunday. The photographer noticed her band and antennae. Juliet ended the day on Monday near Havelock in North Carolina, about 652 miles from her natal nest.

September 4, 2015
Juliet started her first migration yesterday. Shortly after noon she decided it was time to head south and ended her first day roosting next to Goss Pond near Ashford, CT about 113 miles from home. As far as I know her dad Donovan is still around (last data was from the end of the day on the 1st; more data to tomorrow will confirm that). She had been visiting the river nearby and perhaps had managed to start catching her own fish, so dad’s meal drops were no longer imperative. Fare thee well!

September 1, 2015
Like father, like daughter. Donovan and Juliet are still present at their nest in Tilton. I timed my brief visit yesterday perfectly. Within 5 minutes of arriving Donovan appeared with a fish and landed on the nest where Juliet was waiting and food begging. I snapped a shot of the two of them with their matching antennas. Donovan quickly left and Juliet flew to a perch next to the nearby pond.

August 27, 2015
Juliet has been sticking close to home and is still getting fed at the nest. She has made a couple of interesting day trips, including over to another Osprey nest near Franklin. That nest failed before hatch this year, so I doubt she was mooching fish over there (unlike our girl Lizzie). She stayed there perched on or near the nest for at least an hour before returning home.

August 13, 2015
Juliet was tagged on August 11 in Tilton. She is one of Donovan’s chicks and sibling to Jill (2012), Chip (2012) and Tilton (2014). The day she was tagged was very rainy and she wisely hunkered down a short distance to the north for the bulk of the afternoon of the 11th. On the 12th, she was off exploring and no doubt honing her fishing skills as she visited Knowles Pond, Pout Pond and Shellcamp Pond over in Belmont and Gilmanton (up to eight miles from the nest). This morning she was in the nest first thing, no doubt enjoying breakfast courtesy of her dad.