It was a hazy day, but I figured I would try my luck with the osprey. We are supposed to have more rainy days this week. Despite the haze, I saw a lot.
The babies are starting to look more like Osprey. They are also peeking their heads above the nest more.
These are all taken at a distance with a zoom lens and are cropped.
Even hazy days can be good days! Have a great week!
A lot of different animals can live in tree holes. Owls, wood ducks, opossums, and squirrels are some that do. I passed by this tree and saw a fuzzy ear sticking out one day. I decided to go back and it turned out to be a home for a raccoon family.
This was near sunset after a rainstorm with thunder and lighting. The light was not that great.
I am assuming I could be seeing the babies. People think raccoons only raid your garbage. They look cute, but they prey upon other animals like barred owls and screech owls and their young, or steal their eggs. They will go after mice and rabbits as well.
Have a great weekend! Here’s hoping you will get some good weather out of it.
Incoming! This appears to be the dad with a fish. The two babies are visible in the nest by the mom. One young osprey is looking away while the other youngster is looking towards the camera.
This was today. After work and an appointment I stopped by for a short time to view the nest. We had some sun today, but also clouds. In the later afternoon/ early evening facing towards this nest is almost facing the sun. It makes for bad light. Someday maybe I will get photos like this in the morning.
Stay safe! Have a happy Tuesday!
We continue to have a lot of rainy days. I did view the osprey in between storms. No baby osprey heads visible yet as of Friday night. This nest is deep.
In the above picture it appears the female osprey is sizing up the fish the male is bringing in.
The above piture appears to be the male. He has some white areas on his wing. I wonder if that is normal or batle scars from chasing off eagles and other osprey or them chasing him.
The fishermen wanted to see what fish the osprey was bringing in, so I showed them the back of my camera. I think it was this image. They thought it was a herring based on what they saw in the back of my camera. The one fisherman said he was using herring as bait to catch stripper.
Here’s hoping we get some clear days. Here’s hoping we will get a clear night or two. They are saying here that Sunday night has a possibility to be a great night to see the Northern Lights, if it is not cloudy and everything pans out as they are thinking. Happy Sunday!
The black-bellied whistling-duck lives along the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America and small slivers of Texas and Arizona. Which location did I see this duck? None of the above. I saw this in New York.
According to All About Birds these are the locations these ducks should be in the shaded areas of the map.
It is going back and forth between a river and a pond like area. It is not alone but with a few others of its kind. Why is it here? Did a storm blow it all the way up here? Is this a result of a dwindling food in its normal spots? Are birds loosing their directional sense? Do they have wanderlust? Is it getting too hot in the areas they normally are? Did someone capture these or buy them to have in the US and they successfully staged a group escape? It is a mystery.
If they nest up here, nest predators would be raccoons and rat snakes. Great horned owls could take the adults. There maybe a great horned owl family nearby and I almost stepped on a what looked to be a black rat snake. Being near a river, there are bald eagles close by.
These pictures were taken from a road with a zoom lens and were cropped. I will not go where I am not supposed to be. I do not go on private land without permission. It was a cloudy, dark day. We have had a lot of those. Maybe in the future if these creatures are still there, I can capture them in better light. Expect the unexpected. Happy Thursday!
This little one was watching me watch the osprey.
I still have not seen a baby osprey’s head yet peeking over the nest. The male is bringing in more sticks and fish to the nest.
According to All About Birds the incubation period for the eggs is between 36-42 days. We have experienced some very windy days, so more sticks may be for repairs due to weather.
It is said the females are the ones who primarily incubate the eggs while the males bring in the fish for the female. They say the male will watch the nest when the female goes out to wash. I have see her do short circle flights where it appears she is stretching her wings. Hopefully soon we will see the young osprey. If you are in the US have a great Memorial Day weekend.
I thought two adults were already in the nest I was watching today. People kept stopping to talk and ask questions, so maybe I missed the mate leaving. However, this adult coming to the nest was an intruder, probably from the other nest that was within sight.
From the pictures you can see the one osprey in the nest looks quite perturbed. The other adult osprey was laying low in the nest. The intruder actually landed on the nest for a few seconds.
Then one of the adults from the nest went in hot pursuit. Luckily for me some of the action was fairly close, and I was able to capture some shots.
The adult from the nest chased him in circles in front of me. Meanwhile the mate in the nest was loudly protesting, or were they cheering their mate on?
Although it appears they got fairly close at some points, it does not looks like from any of my images that any blood was shed. Not sure if they even actually touched each other.
Eventually they flew farther away over land chasing each other in the direction of another body of water. I thought these two nests were getting along, but there was drama today. I hope your week is drama free.
I finally got to go down to view this nest in the morning. It was a sunny day with little clouds. Early morning in those conditions can make for some good light.
Did not see him catch a fish, but had some nice fly-by shots.
As the temperatures get warmer, get out and enjoy the weather before it gets too hot. Have a great Tuesday!
The is the first morning I made it to this location. I usually stop by this spot on the Hudson River on my way home from work. I am usually facing the sun at those times when I face the nest. In the morning the sun is behind you. I was really hoping to get a shot in good light of an osprey bringing in a fish. In the 4 hours I was there no fish were brought in. I did see a stick brought in multiple times. I guess they were doing DIY (Do it yourself) nest repair.
Both of the sticks I am showing they picked up floating in the river. We have experienced a lot of rain lately and some flooding. There is a lot of debris in the river.
I like the above picture because it appears he is looking right at me. You can see the head of the mate appearing just above the nest on the right side. The nest is deep and so far I am not seeing the heads of any young osprey, so I have to assume they have not hatched yet. I hope you had a great Mother’s Day if you live in the U.S. Have a great week.
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