Observations & Images
27 March 2006
23rd day of incubating
THE NEIGHBORS
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Observations & Images
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| The male Osprey took a long time to make an appearance but when he did show up he was carrying a fish for the female Osprey. Here the male has just landed in the nest while the tail feathers of the female can be seen as she gets up from incubating the eggs. The little touch of red at the right edge just below the center of the picture is another little marker flag. This is the second such flag to appear in the nest since 12 March when a flag was observed in the nest but, subsequently, was dislodged and fell to the ground. | |
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The female Osprey takes the small fish the male has brought her and flies off to her eating perch. |
| After consuming the fish, the female Osprey stretched her wings by flying around the nest. | |
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She settled on a perch below the nest and spent some time attacking her various itches. Here she uses her talons to reach a scratch. Surely a delicate maneuver given how sharp the talons are. |
| The female, in the foreground, flies into the nest for the changeover to relieve the male who is getting up out of the nest. They switched places again shortly afterward with the male taking nest duty as the last light of the day lit the scene. | |
THE NEIGHBORS |
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A Great Egret replete with the beginnings of its breeding plumage---the soft, hairy looking feathers hanging down its back---landed in a pine tree near the Osprey nest. |
| Several Belted Kingfishers were present all afternoon. This one has jumped backward off its perch as it takes wing. | |
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The Belted Kingfisher flew between me and the Great Egret. |
| The Great Egret took exception to the passage of the Kingfisher and cried out in protest. | |
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The Kingfisher and then the female Osprey flying by as she looped around the nest was too much for the Great Egret who took wing by simply dropping off the branch and gliding away. |
| The Great Egret flies away. | |
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The Otter worked the water near the nest looking for food. |