Black 61

14 March 2024

Hi Everyone,

If you see a banded bird, most people want to be able to find out where did this bird come from? When did it hatch? Who banded it? How old is it? Is it a male or a female?

Currently there is no public list of all the band colours and band numbers for Ospreys. You can write to Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation if you see a banded bird and Tim Mackrill will get back to you. In the US, you can submit a sighting to the ‘Report Bird Band’ of the USGS. How long it takes to get a response from the latter is unknown. Tim was fantastic in getting back to Michael St John when we were trying to confirm that Blue KWO was, indeed, a Scottish bird in Barbados.

This past weekend, Francisco Borja got in touch with me about an Osprey he had photographed eating a fish near the La Jolla High School in San Diego, California. Could I help him find out any information about ‘his’ bird.

I got busy. These are Miss Marple puzzles.

Many bands are blue. However, this band is interesting. It is a Black band on the left leg of the Osprey. It has a distinctive white line around the band on the left.

I wrote to individuals that might have information and the general consensus was to turn the information into Report a Banded Bird and wait. Well, I am not very good at waiting. Anyone that knows me would tell you that waiting weeks or a month to find out information about this bird would drive me nuts. I personally believe there should be a public directory. Many have told me that there are too many banded birds to create such a listing. Well, that just seems silly to me. So what do you? Well, if you see a banded bird, do report it. Then get yourself on the Internet.

This bird was seen in Southern California. Unless something happened, like that with Blue KWO, it is highly unlikely that the bird was an East Coast or Atlantic Coast osprey that hatched and got ringed. Might have been Montana. I wrote them. Nope. Not theirs. They use blue bands. Then I found a tribe in Colorado, the Southern Ute, with black bands but they have a ‘C’ with the numeric. Well…I am a little like Jackie and Shadow and I don’t wish to give up. So I kept punching all manner of questions into Google – all focused on ospreys being banded in Southern California. Then I found an article about Black 62 and 63 and the Morrocoast Audubon. Logically, we might wish to assume that Black 61 could have been a sibling of 62 and/or 63 OR the banded might have had consecutive numbered bands. That was my hope.

The hunch was right!

Black 61 is an Osprey banded by Pete Bloom by Bloom Biometrics, Inc.  This is the information provided: “Black 61 was banded as a nestling at a Newport Beach nest (southern California) in 2018. There have been at least 36 additional resights of Black 61, which is one of the most frequently sighted and well-traveled OSPR banded in Pete’s southern CA research area.  They showed up in San Luis Obispo County (CA) in September of 2018, and appeared to remain in the vicinity of Avila Beach through at least December of 2019.  Then they reappeared in San Diego County in May of 2020, apparently staying in the La Jolla/Torrey Pines vicinity year round.  The most recent sighting prior to the one reported by Mary was in July 2023, also in La Jolla.  It’s good to hear Black 61 is still alive and well.”

The point of all of this is that you can find this information. You need to be tenacious and hopeful.

Thank you to Frank for seeking me out with this mystery to solve!

I am very grateful to everyone that answered my queries including Dr Peter Bloom, Nicollette Overby, Matthew Rogosky of Bloom Biometrics. Also to be thanked are Robert Domenech, Rob Bierregaard, and Steve Shubert from Morrocoast Audubon.