Observations & Images
3 March 2007
day 15 of incubation (approximate)
THE NEIGHBORS
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Observations & Images
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The female Osprey eyes her surroundings from inside the fortress like nest where she is incubating her eggs. |
| The male Osprey looks like he is pondering the vagaries of the weather which has seen it hot and dusty one day and cold and rainy the next. | |
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Sporadic heavy downpours and dark skies kept my visit short. But in that brief time I witnessed two male Ospreys vie for the attentions of a female. Here can be seen male suitor number one with a fish to entice his prospective mate. |
| Male suitor number two turned out to be last year's male who lost his nest. Without a fish to impress the female, he breaks off a branch from a nearby pine so as not to appear empty-handed. | |
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The two males and the female soar around together till finally last year's male, at left, drops his branch and returns to the nest he is building. The female goes right and lands in a distant tree. The male with the fish follows her to perform the fish flight/sky dance over her perch but she must have not shown enough interest in his entreaties for eventually he allowed the wind to blow him away and out-of-sight. The wind also brought another sudden downpour which sent me on my way. |
THE NEIGHBORS |
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| Blurred by the intervening rainfall, an American Kestrel fluttered back and forth amongst the branches at the old Osprey nest site. The bird seemed agitated by the rain. | |
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Over the course of the downpour it landed atop every branch up there but could find no relief. |
| A Red-Shouldered Hawk in transit through the morning gloom. | |
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A wet Mockingbird explores a Brazilian Pepper. |
| The Mockingbird made the most of the brief respite between rain showers. | |
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An Eastern Phoebe's drab plumage blends in with the dismal day. |