A trio of New Hampshire-born ospreys, an adult male named Art and juvenile male and female, Chip and Jill, are on their way to South America.

Researchers at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness launched the tracking project last year with financial and logistical support from Public Service of New Hampshire.

Science center executive director Iain MacLeod, who has studied the once-endangered osprey species for three decades, is heading the New Hampshire leg of the Osprey Project, which is part of a larger study spearheaded by University of North Carolina Biology Department Professor Richard “Rob” Bierregaard.

Eight other ospreys from Massachusetts, Delaware and New York have been outfitted with tracking devices. The tracking units, about the size of a Matchbook toy car, are GPS-enabled satellite transmitters, attached to a backpack, that allows researchers to download their flight paths and stopovers as they fly the 3,000 miles from New Hampshire to South America. MacLeod downloads the data every three days.

In the latest downloads from Tuesday, Sept. 25, the New Hampshire trio is making progress, with Jill already making the treacherous crossing over the Caribbean. Juvenile osprey Chip seems to be enjoying Rhode Island, where he he has apparently found a good fishing spot. The adult male, Art, who has made the migration seven or eight times already, is in Florida, where he seems to be taking the same course as Jill, who has already flown beyond expectations.

Go, Jill, go

“Jill is the most surprising to me,” said MacLeod Wednesday. “The fact that she went from being a sedentary 'lump' on the nest, long after Chip left, and then suddenly was off and has barely stopped since is fascinating,” he said. Jill departed her nest area Sept. 10 and only three days later was in North Carolina. To date, she has flown the farthest.

“She has done a picture-perfect migration so far, with not a single misstep or side trip along the way. She is a girl on a mission and has boldly followed her migratory instincts,” said MacLeod.

Last year, a young female osprey from New Hampshire, Saco, was lost over the Caribbean. MacLeod said he assumes Jill is seeing a lot of other ospreys along the way and is following them. “This is the peak migration right now and there are probably hundreds of ospreys heading across the Caribbean from the Dominican Republic every day, so hopefully she is not alone on her flight,” he said.

“I have heard reports of night-migrating ospreys vocalizing to each other, which is kind of comforting — for me!,” he said.

Art, the veteran

MacLeod said Art is a mature bird who has done this journey every year for at least seven or eight years.

Art, who was originally tagged in a nest in Bridgewater, is making steady progress.

“Art knows exactly where he is going and what is in store,” said MacLeod. “I would bet most of the places he has stopped off to fish are places he has been to before. He should make it look easy,” he said.

MacLeod's dispatches on the Osprey Project map and web links indicate much detail about the ospreys' paths.

Art started his journey Sept. 11. By the 13th he followed the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains through Pennsylvania. He crossed the Susquehanna River at 5 p.m. near Dundore and roosted on a ridgetop north of Mifflintown, then on the morning of the 14th, he started the day cruising over the Juniata River continuing southwest, exactly 400 miles from his nest.

Art is now following a path similar to Jill's through Florida. He ended the day on the 20th and began the 21st fishing along the Altamaha River north of Jesup, Ga. By 3 p.m. on the 21st he was over the border in Florida (just west of Jacksonville) and ended the day near a small pond called Silver Lake near the town of Fort McCoy in Marion County. He was perched next to Silver Lake for at least an hour on the morning of the 22nd (breakfast) and then was off again with a good tail wind. He ended Saturday near Sebring in Highlands County. He's now about 1,400 miles from his nest.

Chip, taking it easy

Chip, who was tagged in a nest in Tilton with sister Jill, is still fishing in Rhode Island. MacLeod said there are many reasons why one osprey would stop at a particular spot and others continue to make greater headway.

“Each reacts to different triggers and instincts. I feel pretty sure that Chip left the next area early because competing with his bigger sisters motivated him to be independent earlier. Why exactly he has stalled out in Rhode Island for so long we will never know, but we can assume that he has found an excellent food source and he is fattening up,” he said.

Last year, Saco spent six weeks in West Virginia, so resting or feeding in one area is not unusual. MacLeod is patient.

“At some point the instinct to head south will kick in again, and off he'll go. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. Hopefully, he will be heavy and fit and ready for the long journey.”

Much more information on the Osprey Project and frequent satellite-tracking updates are available through the science center website, http://www.nhnature.org/osprey_project/maps.html.

Rob Bierregaard's site showing his many years of osprey satellite tracking in New England is available at http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard/migration1.htm; and Public Service of New Hampshire's online Osprey pages including the Ayers Island osprey webcam, may be found online at http://www.psnh.com/Environment/Osprey-Online.aspx.

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Larissa Mulkern may be reached at LMulkern@newstote.com.