The Osprey babies stuck their heads above the top of the nest several times today. I could not get them in sharp focus. This is with a zoom lens and heavily cropped. When they grow bigger I hope to get some better images. Most of the time I was looking at the nest I did not see them, and sometimes I saw one head. I have a few images where two heads were visible. They are very small. Have a great Monday!
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 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!
Kudos to the photographers who can get good shots of this bird in flight. They move around too erratic for me. Luckily this landed close enough to me to get a shot or two off. It was a dark day and this was lightened a bit.
Have a great weekend!
After missing out on the delivery of another fish due to the unexpected direction from which the parent came, I waited around and within maybe 30 minutes or so after the dad went out again he snagged another.
This time he came from the direction I expected him to. How nice of him. It is hard to get pictures of the fish coming in and delivery in the nest. The above picture I believe is the mother with one eaglet clearly visible and two heads down low closer to the mother. This nest has three eaglets that they appear to be doing a good job taking care of. The last two years this nest has lost an eaglet each year.
By the time this photo was taken it was close to sunset. I had to lighten it a bit. Luckily, he flew right towards me and over my head. Another orangey fish. This one appears small. Once again it looks like dad could not help himself. He may have eaten part of it. Have a great weekend!
Due to some trees obstructing my view, I did not see the osprey dive into the water to get this fish. However, I saw an encounter between the osprey and a crow.
The osprey went from catching the fish to one of its favourite perching trees.
Shortly thereafter, a crow came and landed on the same tree very close to the osprey. The osprey then looked in my direction. It looks like the osprey is peeved while the crow is trying to plead for a scrap. I am wondering if the osprey is thinking can you believe this? When I entered this image to identify the crow, Merlin only suggests a fish crow for it.
The crow gave up and flew off to sit on the rocks nearby and the osprey ate probably more than half of the fish.
Then off it flew towards the nest with the leftovers. Here’s hoping it shared with it’s mate. Happy Friday!
I finally saw the osprey go down to get a fish. Unfortunately, the pictures of him going in the water and coming out did not come out well because that happened behind a little scraggily bush on the other side of a very tiny island. These, however, came out okay.
It actually caught the fish right next to the shore. It started carrying it in the direction of the nest.
At this point I think it spotted another fish under the water and looked down for a while when flying. It did not appear to be looking at the fish it was carrying. When taking these shots it looked like he was going for a second catch on one run.
He took this fish to his perching spot near the nest and ate the whole thing himself. He did not share with his mate in the nest. These were taken at quite a distance with a zoom lens and are heavily cropped. Have a happy Wednesday!
When one adult bald eagle is on nest watching duty, they at times fly nearby to grab a stick, small branch, grass, or pine sprig to add to the nest. Today was no exception.
The eagles from this nest tend to grab grass from the field below and branches and sprigs from nearby trees. The parents lost an eaglet each of the last two years. Here’s hoping the three in the nest grow up to reach adulthood. The parents are keeping them well fed and are doing their part to try to keep them safe. Fingers crossed.
Get out and enjoy the nice days! Have a great Monday!
