On Monday morning an osprey returned!
He came with no fireworks, no fanfare and no eagles.
The week prior the eagles were notably absent and the osprey hadn’t arrived. Last Monday when he did arrive the eagles had been gone for a week. They must have a nest elsewhere and were using the osprey nest as a private getaway. You can see the eagles here.
Now that he has arrived his vigil begins. The female is fashionably late every year. More osprey news to follow when she hits town.
This is week that the osprey customarily return to their nest in the electrical tower at the sawmill. I haven’t seen them yet. Usually the male shows up a week or two before the female. This year they will be in for a bit of a surprise. A little over a month ago a pair of eagles moved in. I’m not sure how this will go, but the eagle are a lot bigger than the osprey. I’d have to put my money on the eagles. Click on the gallery to enlarge to photos and get the dirt.
Below are a few of the osprey posts over the years.
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/948
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/1056
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/1090
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/1703
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/2659
https://wordpress.com/post/theforesterartist.com/4017
I started this post last June, but never finished it. Better late that never. Here are just a few pictures of our birds that make their home at the Mill. It defies conventional wisdom that so much wildlife makes it home at an industrial complex and thrives. It’s all about the habitat.
Wood Ducks.
Osprey
Wild Turkey Hen
Killdeer
Great Blue Heron
Black Pheobe
Cattle Egret
Blackbirds on a pole stack.
The buttercups started blooming a little over a week ago. When they arrive it means Spring is beginning to tease us here.
But winter is still trying to wash California away. Here are some pictures of the Sacramento River in the Northern California.
Looking across the Sacramento River at Balls Ferry.
Jelly’s Ferry bridge in the high water. The river bank is normally out past the beginning of the first steel arch.
The river is wide. Looking across the Sacramento River in northern Tehama County.
Finally, I was able to get out in the woods yesterday and enjoy a little sunshine!
The big male bobcat slinks away.I had to go to the mill on Monday to do log inventory. It was a holiday and there were only a few folks at work. It was unusually quiet. I drove around the backside of the log deck only to have a large bobcat cross the road in front of me. Immediately, I stopped and grabbed my camera. Standing on the seat and door handle I had a great view of the cat. He’d stopped and was looking back at me. It was perfect ….. except, I had my SLOW camera. By the time it went through its agonizing start-up cycle the bobcat crept off. I managed only one picture before he slipped away toward the river, fading like the Cheshire Cat.
`All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone. – Alice In Wonderland
Golden Retriever Portrait of Bliss in pen and ink.
We took a walk around the property on this blustery day. Here’s a gallery of our pack. Just click on a picture to enlarge.
A view of the southern Cascades north of Lake Shasta. This picture was taken last summer. This area is a combination of private timberland and the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
Bliss and Tasha enjoyed a day at work.
The wild wood near Wildwood, CA.
Last week naughty Sailor dog busted out of the yard and set out on a field trip. Mary and I had to split up to search for him. She took the car and went up our road to check our neighbors. I went on foot through the foothills behind our house. After covering about a mile or so over hill and dale, she texted me. He was about a half mile down the road playing with the neighbor kids. I was relieved and annoyed all at the same time and began hiking home.
It was just before sunset and the light was fading, but warm. The foothills are full of spring wildflowers. This was an excellent opportunity to shoot some wildflowers on my trek back. Excellent, except that I didn’t have my camera! All I had was my iPhone, and so phone pictures it was. They aren’t as good as the Nikon could have done, but I work with what I have. These are my iFlowers!
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