Ruidoso may become home to osprey fledglings

• After hatching, the young will stay in the nest for about six weeks before they fledge

The platforms went up in 2015, and then the waiting began to see if mating osprey would build a nest atop one of the two structures on the west side of Grindstone Reservoir.

The platforms were placed on the far side of the lake in Ruidoso to keep them away from the most heavily human-used areas. Interpretation signs were installed across the lake with viewing seating. The project was a joint effort of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Eco-Servants, the U.S. Forest Service, the Eastern New Mexico Wildlife Society and the Ruidoso Parks and Recreation, because the platforms sit on village land.

EcoServants built the platforms and a crew from the wildlife society and elk foundation installed them, all in one morning. They knew the prospect of attracting a mating pair was a long-shot. While osprey feed off the lake on their migration, their breeding usually occurs farther north.

“We’ve never actually had any nesting osprey that we know of here in southern New Mexico other than the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge near Socorro. There have been some reports in the Gila,” wildlife biologist Larry Cordova with the Smokey Bear Ranger District said during a trip to the platform area in early June.

“I’ve been here long time. They come in March and spend all this time here, but never nested,” he said. “I thought let’s see if we have the perfect structure for a nest if they will stay.”

He and district habitat specialist John Montoya were excited, because they spotted what appeared to be the beginning of an osprey nest on one of the platforms and a female sitting on the nest. But then the sightings dried up and Cordova worried that they may have been viewing a practice nest. To mature and be sexually active, osprey take three or four years, during which they sometimes practice building nests, he said.

Then last week, a mating pair was spotted at the platforms actively working on the nest.

“They migrate. They winter in South America, Argentina, and come in March to North America,” Cordova said. “Normally, they go to places like Canada and northern parts of the United State to nest. They pair-bound in March and April, and nest in late April and May. They’re on the nest about 35 days. The eggs hatch and the young will be in the nest for another five to six weeks before they fledge.

“Now that the lake is full and it is stocked, they have an ample food supply. Knowing that was going to happen, we think this is a body of water that can sustain a nesting pair. I’m hoping that’s the case.”

Some substantiated nesting occurs in Florida and in southern California along the coast, he said.  The eggs are white and about three inches across. Usually one to four birds emerge, but the one that hatches first has the best chance.

“They are neat raptors, one of the only who almost exclusively survive on fish,” Cordova said. “That’s 99 percent of their diet. The other one percent is rabbits, amphibians and reptiles, small lizards and that. But generally speaking, they are all fish and they are quite the fishermen.”

A hunting osprey circles or hovers over the water and then dives, Adults usually make off with a fish after two or three dives, but juveniles rarely catch their own fish until they set off on their first migration. As a result, most males do not leave their nest site until all the offspring have migrated. 

Osprey have many advantages, keen eyesight, oily plumage to avoid becoming waterlogged, light coloration for a less conspicuous silhouette, long legs to reach well below the water’s surface and huge, scaly feet with razor-sharp claws that give a tight grip on wet fish. Small spines on the underside of the toe pads enhance the grip and the birds’ outer toes are reversible, giving extra maneuverability when catching and holding onto fish.

If the mating and nesting is successful this year, Cordova hopes to pair with Eastern New Mexico University and put a camera above the nest to monitor what happens next year.

“We could monitor the next nest and the young,” he said. “I already talked to the university about that and hope we can put it together, if we have success this year. We could gather a following. We had that in mind and left some branching that goes upward where a cam would be attached.”

Coming from Washington state more than two decades ago, Cordova said on big lakes with ample food, multiple osprey nests were common, but probably only one pair would settle on Grindstone.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “Mescalero hasn’t notice any nesting there (on Mescalero Apache Reservation lakes). They have osprey who feed, but we put a lot of fish in Grindstone.”

The other nesting platform site remains unused.