Observations & Images
5 June 2006
Post-Nesting
THE NEIGHBORS
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Observations & Images
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| The female Osprey preens herself while perched over the nest as thunder from distant storms can be heard in the distance. | |
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The female flew from the perch above to another pine tree where she kept up a constant monologue seemingly directed at each roll of thunder that boomed over the area. |
| Continually perturbed by the thunder she flew off the perch and made two circuits around the nest area. | |
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She passes by with strong wing beats. |
| She was continually commenting on the thunder as she flew. Not really an alarm cry but one definitely edged with concern. | |
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She lines up on final approach to the nest. |
| With her landing gear deployed she stares in deep concentration at her intended landing spot. | |
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She did not land on the nest but spent some time looking down at it while continuing to voice her concerns. |
| When the thunder refused to retreat from her cries she flew off over the Indian River Lagoon. She gives me a good inspection as she passes. | |
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In an amazing coincidence, both the male and female Ospreys flew back together each carrying a fish. Here the male stands with his fish. |
| The female eats her fish. While I glimpsed them flying in I could not get a picture in time because my attention had been diverted to their neighbors. | |
THE NEIGHBORS |
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A Red-Bellied Woodpecker at the hole in the dead palm that the Woodpeckers have been observed working on almost daily. |
| This could just be a roost hole or it might turn out to be a cavity for their nest. Time will tell. | |
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The Pileated Woodpecker cavity is empty and no Pileated Woodpeckers were seen nor heard on this visit. My guess is the birds fledged the morning of 4 June before the heavy afternoon rains came. I normally would have been out at the site at sunrise being a Sunday and would have probably witnessed the event if, of all the unfortunate things, circumstances had not conspired to keep me from going to the Refuge that day. It seems all the truly momentous things happen the times I can not be there. |