Lovely birds.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Nesting Osprey
This weekend marks the third year I've been doing this blog. I've found some new friends, and invited others to do guest posts. I've enjoyed sharing things with readers, like my idea for my new book, "Say Cheese Before You Die" and exposing my inadequacies in "The Earnestness of Being Important." But mostly I've enjoyed sharing my precarious relationship with the wildlife.
A couple of weeks ago I lugged a sixteen pound bag of cat food across the parking lot at the Jantzen Beach Shopping Center and heard the insistent call of a bird. I looked up in time to see an Osprey gliding overhead. But the desperate command continued, and I looked around the parking lot until I found it.
The Osprey nest, on top of a light fixture in the middle of the parking lot, was occupied. I used to see Osprey when I kayaked on the Northwest rivers, watching as they circled the river in search of a tasty fish dinner. The Osprey is a large raptor, though not as big as an eagle. Their nests are huge, and they like to use flat surfaces. I would think it would get warm on top of the light fixture. Will the branches catch fire?
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That is so cool! I wonder about the heat of the lights, too. We have osprey here, too, and love to see them carrying their dinner - my sister actually found a large fish in her backyard one day (several blocks from the ocean) and determined a large bird - probably an osprey - had dropped it! The pics are great!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it didn't drop down and get the fish again. Dogs in the yard, perhaps?
DeleteI love your pictures, Melanie. I decided to peep inside an Osprey nest at the end of a small private pier on the Potomac River where my mother used to live. As I got to the middle of the pier the bird was sailing in close circles around me. Before I got within two arm lengths of the nest it swooped within inches of my head. It was a HUGE bird with talons *this* long and I knew if I took one more step it would snatch my scalp off like an Indian on the warpath. I left.
ReplyDeleteWell, it IS a bird of prey, you know. You are braver than I. Still, I may have tried it, too, even at my age.
Delete...and I went back and read "Say Cheese Before You Die" and "The Earnestness of Being Important." (Somehow I missed them before.) Oh Melanie, Melanie, Melanie--you are a treasure. <3<3<3
ReplyDeleteThanks. You are so sweet.
DeleteI had no idea Osprey would nest on top of light poles. So used to seeing them on their specially prepared platforms jutting from the Chesapeake Bay. I just assumed they waited for someone to build them a platform . . . oh, wait, that's what they thought the light pole was, huh?
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteAnd as you say, they return to the same nest year after year. They might as well just disconnect that light standard.
Cheers for years of blogging.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peaches.
ReplyDeleteso cool! I'm always glad like a child when I see the nest, when with a bird - aaawesome!
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting. Gave me a smile.