Bird Watching: Growing in an Osprey's Garden #8, 1 by MargaretK

MargaretK wrote:
I won't start a new thread because things are really winding down at the nest. If I ever see anything really exciting, I'll start one then.

Iris, in answer to your question, ospreys will fly to sometimes as high as 200' and hover before diving in on a fish. They have incredibly sophisticated eyesight. Down at the ocean a few months ago I was watching an osprey as it was trying to fish - it wasn't easy has it had an entourage of querulous seagulls trying to drive it from the area. It would fly up and down, then hover before pulling its wings in and quickly flipping itself beyond the vertical before coming out of the dive prior to hitting the water, which they do feet first, talons out. That one was too far away for me to be able to tell if it caught a fish.

I went to the nest yesterday afternoon. It was the first time in nearly three weeks that I'd seen Harmony, although Madame X reports regular sightings. She says that when brought a fish these days, Harmony gets all hunched over with wings out to shield it and then shoo's the deliverer away. Does it think that its parent will snatch it away after it has just delivered it? Kids!

Harmony turned up after I'd been there an hour and a half. I knew the nest was still in use as a feeding platform because an unkindness of ravens came along to see if there was anything they could scavenge - and they could.



This message was edited Feb 19, 2010 2:51 PM

This message was edited Feb 19, 2010 7:58 PM