So nice to see these birds successfully nest in such a public location. I'm sure cottagers and residents on the lake enjoy watching them catch fish!
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Friday, August 12, 2016
More Osprey
There are two Osprey platforms within a few miles of us here in the valley, and we stopped at both of them on the evening I described yesterday. The first platform is on a sideroad near what we call '6 Corners' west of Ceylon. It too was occupied this year.
This platform is close to what seemed like a maze of hydro wires to me; it was impossible to get a picture without them. One of the Osprey is sitting on the hydro pole, and the other bird is on the nest. At this location we saw no sign of young, but with both birds sitting near and on the nest, you would expect the young are there.
We drove slowly down the road, the bird on the hydro pole didn't budge. We got a good look.
Then the bird on the nest flew in a large circle and came back to land beside its mate.
Since it was entirely Mrs. F.G.'s idea to drive down this road and see if Osprey were present, I have to give her all the credit!
Having been successful at that site, we drove over to the causeway across Lake Eugenia, even though sunset was approaching. As I shared yesterday, two Osprey were sitting on the nest. This seems like a bigger, older nest, with a deeper pile of twigs to create it.
One of the birds flew, but the other never did, though it moved around a bit.
We saw no young in the nest, but there were two birds that looked like Osprey sitting in the tops of dead trees some distance down the shoreline. We suspect these were the young of the year, now nearly full grown, and learning to fish for themselves.
Meanwhile we had a really good look at the bird sitting on the nest, while it stared right back at us.
It feels like we're getting a bit of a break in this unpleasantly hot weather tonight and temperatures are forecast to stay at more seasonal levels (mid-20's) for the coming weeks. Not only is there rain in the forecast, there is a wide band of rain approaching from Michigan on the radar. Here's hoping; I've never seen it this dry here.
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We are very dry and inching up towards 30 C, which is WAY too hot for this Pacific Northwestern flower. Love the osprey pictures, and I suspect there is something in that nest. Or maybe not, I don't know if they only have one set per season. :-)
ReplyDeleteNice photos. There's a causeway across part of Lake Champlain that's paralled by an electric line. It seems that every one of the paired poles has an osprey nest.
ReplyDeleteLove the osprey photos.
ReplyDeleteIt's cooled off here. Hope you get cooler temperatures and rain soon.
How great to have this Osprey family to observe! It's been my experience that they do hang around the nest all summer, creating pretty reliable conditions for viewing them.
ReplyDeleteI remember a time when the only pair of nesting Ospreys in the UK were in the far north of Scotland and they were part of the reason for my visiting the Cairngorms in the mid-70s. Now they are a little more common and are to be found in various parts of the country. Nice that you have them too.
ReplyDeleteMore excellent Osprey photos, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, beautiful Ospreys!
ReplyDeleteThe ones we watch near us were successful in raising a chick this year.
The summer has been hot, but we have had rain.
Have a great week-end!
Lea
Hello, cool post on the Ospreys! I love the third shot and the shots of them on the nest. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteMore great osprey photos! Hope you get some of that rain.
ReplyDeleteYou wonder what the birds think when they're staring at you taking pics.
ReplyDeleteWe're getting the rain as well. It's been desperately needed.
I guess nesting really close to hydro wires probably makes a safe spot for Ospreys. Lucky you to see them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately in North London the biggest birds we have are many many Magpies (really noisy: their call is like a machine gun, and they take eggs & nestlings from song bird nests) and Ring Neck Parakeets (pretty but not native, a big population escaped over the last 30 years or so from some aviary somewhere in South London but they've worked their way up here now; very noisy - their call is a horrid screech, and I think they take nestlings too). We have Crows as well, strutting about all over the place. They seem to prefer to walk rather than fly. Another big predator but at least they are native.
It will be interesting to know if there are eggs there that are yet to hatch. It is good you can watch them in two different locations.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos . We get the Osprey and other prey birds like Bald Eagles down here in the valley as well as by the lake at Hawks cliff , interesting birds to watch thats for sure . We had some rain but not enough seems the clouds all go around us down here and still nasty humid to ! Hope it cool off for you up that way and the rains help with the dryness ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteNice Osprey photos and hope you got some big rains. We sure did.
ReplyDelete