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Observations & Images
19 March 2006
15th day of incubating
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| As noted before, Ospreys are fastidious birds in keeping the nest clean. These Ospreys have never been observed eating in the nest and, as for relieving themselves, they take short looping flights around the nest to empty their bowels. Generally, it is the first thing the female Osprey does when the male flies into the nest. Today, the long absence of the male was too much for her. Even though she kept up long, plaintive cries, he did not appear so she was forced to make a solo flight leaving the nest empty which was the first observed time the nest has been unoccupied by at least one of the Ospreys since the eggs were laid. The total time she spent out of the nest was no more than 20 or 30 seconds. As soon as she landed she immediately resettled herself on the eggs. |
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Before long the male showed up with the remains of a fish which the female Osprey is seen holding here. |
| As observed yesterday, the female flew off with the fish in her bill forcing her to do a midair transfer to her talons. |
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After eating she flew to various perches. |
| Eventually she returned to the nest. The male Osprey's tail feathers are visible sticking up in front of her from where he is sitting in the nest. |
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The male took wing shortly after the female had taken his place in the nest. She is visible watching him fly away. After the Sun had set the male returned and they switched places again. She was observed in the growing darkness perched on a nearby pine tree. |
THE NEIGHBORS
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| The Otter put in an appearance today. He caught a very large Frog which he devoured in a gory mess. Then he caught a large Crab, seen here, which he brought up onto the fallen pine tree. The Crab's claws grasped futilely at the Otter's fur in an effort to repel the onslaught. |
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Opening its jaws wide, the Otter poised to strike giving the Crab a brief respite to collect its final thoughts which could not have been very pleasant with that giant maw filled with sharp teeth looming overhead. |
| The Crab never had a chance. |
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It was obvious the Otter enjoyed the meal. |
| An unexpected visitor appeared well after the Sun went down. An odd silhouette was seen walking down the road as the gear was being loaded up. Susan Boyd was with me for the day and identified the oncoming shape through her binoculars as a Turkey which surprised us both. Quickly setting the camera back up, this shot of the Turkey was taken under extremely low light conditions. |
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Susan and I stood motionless as the Turkey walked by within a few feet of us then crossed over the embankment at the side of the road to disappear in the tall grass. |
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