Observations & Images
3 June 2006
Post-Nesting
THE NEIGHBORS
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Observations & Images
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| A quiet late afternoon after more rain found a general silence around the Osprey nest. Only a careful search of the pines turned up the two Ospreys who were being very quiet for a change. The female Osprey has a wing extended as she preens. | |
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The male Osprey flew out of the pines and around to a new perch. |
| At his new perch, the male Osprey also preened himself. | |
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Viewed from a different angle, the male has stopped preening and is now observing something in the water below that the branch extends out over. Based on his head movements, he was quite interested in following whatever was below him that could not be seen from where I was at. |
| The male Osprey abruptly took wing. | |
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He landed on his usual late afternoon perch where he sat through nightfall. |
| The female flew off over the Lagoon just as the Sun was dipping below the horizon. | |
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Before long she returned and flew to a perch near the male. |
| A shot of the nest while the Sun was still out shows the Ospreys are continuing to add to it. | |
THE NEIGHBORS |
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At least six, but probably more, Great Crested Flycatchers were being very vocal while they flew in short flights together in and around the Mangroves. The birds appeared to be having a grand time chasing each other around. |
| A Grackle scratches furiously at an itch. Note its white-looking eye caused by the closing of the nictitating membrane. According to Christopher Leahy in The Birdwatcher's Companion: An Encyclopedic Handbook of North American Birdlife, the nictitating membrane is under the eyelids "....and is drawn obliquely or horizontally across the cornea to keep it moist and clean. Most birds blink with their nictitating membrane and close their main eyelids infrequently except when asleep." | |
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The iridescent feathers Grackles are noted for are sadly muted here in this bird still wet from the rain. |
| A Great Atlantic Land Crab at the entrance to its burrow. | |
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A relaxed Anhinga viewed from the Centennial Trail at Pelican Island NWR. |
| A Pileated Woodpecker nestling contemplates the distance from the cavity to the ground. The two nestlings are so large now they can both barely fit together in the entrance. Even in the growing darkness at dusk the adult Woodpeckers were observed feeding the young. | |
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A Great Egret passes over the Woodpecker tree at dusk. |
| There is still a chance for a young Osprey to fledge from Pelican Island NWR. Viewed from a distance is the remaining active Osprey nest in the area which contains one nestling which can be seen perched at the edge of the nest on the right just after being fed by the female. Coincidentally, this nestling is about the same age the lost nestlings would have been if they had survived. The male Osprey of this group is perched out of view just above the nest. | |