Friday, August 1, 2014

Awesome osprey

With so much water around, it's not surprising there are also lots of osprey - those fish hunting hawks. There are two platforms where nests have been built and eggs laid, sort of in my back yard. The parent osprey from the time of mating, wheel in the sky over my head and whistle warnings that danger is nearby.

The osprey in the photo is a fledgling and though I didn't get  video, spent a lot of time in the past weeks standing at the edge of its nest beating its wings as if about to take off.

Three or four days ago, it actually left the nest. It has a different cry from the adults, and the two birds now wheel above my head and those of my dogs... when we walk into their territory. Can't get to the other nest for photos, it's in the middle of a swamp. There are two youngsters there though - too far to photograph, but I can see them with field glasses.

There is another nest platform with a huge nest on a county road within 15-20 minutes of here with two young, and still another on a sideroad leading to Rice Lake and one of the many cottage fishing resorts around it.

Quite thrilling to have seen all this. And so neat that platforms have been constructed for their nests... means that many - if they care to look up - can see a beautiful bird up close.

Nature is truly amazing. We are blessed that so many people enjoy birds and welcome them to their environment. In my opinion anyway. Enjoy those around you today - look up - you never know what you might see!

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful. That someone gave this wonderful bird of prey a place to nest is wonderful. We have mostly bald eagles in this neck of the woods. Very few osprey.

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    1. It's taken me a while to get past that feral kitten's "vicious" attack - poor wee thing i scared it to pieces and it bit me... but I'm obviously allergic to that... so no writing for the past six weeks... but boy it feels good to get out now and see all the wonderful sights and sounds around. There is a juvenile bald eagle near by apparently - very rare in this part of the world... but quite a few osprey - must be the lakes... So good to hear from you Bill, hope you've had some good fishing this spring and summer...

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