Thursday, March 22, 2007

As The World Turns



I suppose there isn't much to complain about in a week when you leave the monkeys one day but celebrate the return of the osprey the next. They are back in the nest. No pictures yet, just confirmed sightings.

Best I can tell the nest took a good beating over the winter so I expect to see my buddies working dillegently for the next coupla weeks. With some luck I'll get a snapshot. Time to start carrying the binos and cybershot at all times.

Above, minus the captured fish, is almost precisely the thrilling sight I had yesterday when I realized what I was looking at was NOT some large seagulls and that my buds had returned from their winter habitat.

6 comments:

buddy larsen said...

If it had turned to be "some large seagulls", your header would have been "As the World Terns" ?

Knucklehead said...

Dang, Buddy. Do you work at it or does it just come to you?

Whichever, you've got it goin' on as people younger than me sometimes say.

BTW, in my defense, I don't see so good as I once did and it isn't immediately obvious to me, when seen from below at a distance, whether I'm looking at osprey or gull.

The shape of the wings is a giveaway when comparing ospreys to other raptors but they share that shape of wing with other birds fond of seafood.

Anonymous said...

Knuck:

Greetings from the shores of Puget Sound. Good to see you. We have some ospreys and a few eagles flying over the greenbelt near our house. Haven't seen any nests yet, though I imagine that in a day of walking around I would find some. If I do, I'll post the results.

Rick Ballard said...

Knuck,

Any idea when the '07 model Ospring I will peek over the side of the nest? I've been waiting for this post and I want to mark my calendar.

Maybe we should run a Flares pool on the appearance?

Knucklehead said...

I'm guessing about a week or so of running trips to Home Depot for nest repairs then about a month till first hatchling. Probably spot the first Ospring poking its head up maybe a week or after that. Figger very early May.

BTW, have a gander at the site the good folks at Barbee's Mill have put up. They got me thinkin' I should lead an effort to get an OspreyCam installed on our tower. But darn, the mill's tower is a steenking 100 ft. My osprey nest in a real tower of 180+ ft.

Unknown said...

knucklehead:

Love your birds.

I don't have anything that exotic here. But the barn owls are making a comeback.

Keep the pictures coming.