Post-Morrow Foundation

Spring 2007 Newsletter

The Dennis Puleston Osprey Fund receives mail, e-mail, written correspondence and sometimes photos from all over the world. This photograph is a print of a digital picture taken by Melanie Lynch of Annapolis, Maryland during an Osprey banding trip on June 18, 2005. The nest is on Jug Bay, Patuxent River Park in Croom, Maryland.

A note from the Dennis Puleston Osprey Fund
Dear Friends,

Appended below is a very brief summary of the 2006 season at the Dennis Puleston osprey nest. Once again, it was a very successful year for both the ospreys and the watchers. The Osprey Cam has had a huge following, and has certainly achieved our most optimistic goals as an educational tool and a memorial to Dennis.

Thanks to the vigilant effort of a core group of experts, the camera and web site have performed almost flawlessly for four successful seasons. When we first went on line, in 2003, the Osprey Cam was absolutely unique in providing the technology to view the life cycle of birds with live streaming video on the internet. Since then, the technology has become more generally accessible, and there are now several excellent sites similar to ours for observing wildlife on-line in real time, although ours is still the best!

Sincerely,
Tom Ludlam
Chairman Dennis Puleston Osprey Fund

The 2006 Osprey Cam Season
The camera was installed for its fourth season on March 17, with several ospreys circling above the nest as we worked.

Four eggs were laid this season, and three young ospreys fledged. The camera was taken down October 7, after the birds had left the nest for their migration south.

The Osprey Cam website had over 250,000 visits during the season, averaging about 1000 per day during the peak months. The site's Observation Data Base recorded 7,631 entries over the season, as the worldwide community of observers monitored virtually every hour of activity. Our Guestbook has entries from 24 US states, as well as from Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Germany, France, Australia, China, Egypt, and Cuba.

Rick Mohlmann installing the web camera for the 2007 season. The prospective osprey watches from above.

The Observation Data Base and Guestbook entries can be viewed from the Dennis Puleston Osprey Fund home page, which can be accessed from the Post Morrow website at http://www.postmorrow.org/.

The site was part of the curriculum for many schoolroom classes. The Foundation has received cards and letters - both from children and adults - addressed to the young ospreys and wishing them well in their new life.

The Dennis Puleston Osprey fund received donations totaling $6,155.00 during 2006. Major donations came from the Gesso Foundation and from George Stoney's Community Foundation in memory of his daughter.

The current core group of volunteers led by Tom Ludlam, includes Tom Throwe, Rick Mohlmann, Dave Shore, Anne Meinhold, Connie Ludlam, Will Throwe, Emily Throwe, Betty Puleston. John Pokorny helped with the camera installation this year, as did Jen and Pete Clement. We are very grateful to this group of dedicated volunteers.