If you have not read Mary’s latest installment of what is going on in our backyard, here it is. We have new arrivals!
Happy Hatching!!
Est. hatch date range: sometime April 15-17. Empty shell pieces indicates hatched chicks. the parent is hovering over chick(s). Sorry no images of the chicks, just the empty shells for now. But here is something for you –
Save 15% on No Place for UGLY Birds!
Edit your cart with discount code: 15hatch
Happy Hatching discount code good through 4-22-13.
I saw an osprey do the strangest thing the other day. I was driving from the log yard to the pole yard and I saw one of the osprey go into an aggressive dive. Located between the two yards is a canal. I naturally assumed that the osprey was going after a fish in the canal. I drove closer and pulled over to get some shots of the action.
Osprey wheeling around
It was an excellent chance to shoot the osprey. Lately they have been sitting on the eggs and hanging out at the tower. Not a lot of opportunity to get any interesting pictures.
The osprey on approach.
As I started taking pictures, the osprey wheeled around to come in for another swoop. With his sights set on target he banked for the dive.
Gettin’ his dive on!
Then, the osprey did something unexpected! Instead of diving into the canal the osprey dove into an open area. It was fast and low, beautiful to watch. Osprey are fish eaters and to my knowledge they don’t catch rodents. So what was he doing?
Coming in low and fast, but for what!
Up close and personal!
Then, he did the osprey snatch. The osprey grabbed a stringy piece of cedar bark. Bark, why bark? He flew about ten feet and dropped the bark. It all seemed quite purposeful.
The snatch and fly! The osprey with the bark in his talons.
Then the osprey circle back around and headed out.
Coming around again.
He did manage to give me a dirty look as he did his fly by.
Gettin’ the stink eye. I suppose that’s better than the other end.
I’m left with the question, what was the osprey doing? Was he looking for material for the nest? I don’t think so, because they haven’t worked on the nest for weeks and the eggs have been laid. Did he think the bark was an animal? I doubt it and I think they only eat fish. Was he practicing or playing? Maybe, why wouldn’t a well fed osprey engage in a little fun.
Do any of you good folks have any ideas as to what the osprey was doing? I would love to hear your theory.
This is a post from our yard by the Backdoor Artist. I held the ladder while Mary captured this great image of one of our resident turkey vultures.
Peering down the vulture hole, I am amazed at the ability of the turkey vultures to climb in and out of this nesting location. It is fourteen feet from the opening to the base.
It is unclear whether this brooding vulture is on eggs or new chicks. It should be nearing time for the eggs to hatch, if my calculations are correct. On March 5th & 6th , I recorded the pair breeding at the entrance and the female retreating inside the nesting cavity. I am making an educated guess that this was around the time of laying their eggs. Most sources site 34-40 days incubation. Sources are vague on the day count, but in all fairness who counts days for vultures hatching? The UStream Missouri turkey vultures incubated for 34 days in 2012.
Both parents incubate the eggs and share in raising the chicks. I do not…
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Mourning Dove
The neighbors down the road don’t live in the classy part of town next to the river. The nest they live in is a bit unkempt. Okay, let’s be honest, this place is a trash bin, a pig sty, a garbage dump. I’ve never seen an osprey nest that looks a bad as this one.
The osprey neighbors down the road
What a mess! I’m thinking hoarders.
Home sweet utility pole in the middle of a vacant lot.
I showed the above pictures to “our” resident osprey in the high-rise tower with the river view. I was curious to get their reaction to the neighbors abode.
The shock of it!
The inter-species humiliation was just too much for him to take, and then……..
Oh my!
……his head EXPLODED!
No osprey were injured in the making of this post.
This young red-tailed hawk is feeding on a bird it caught.
His prey is more visible in this picture. It was a bird of some type, but I couldn’t identify it.
This young red-tailed hawk has made the mill site his home. He is a hard-working bird as I see him every day at his favorite hunting grounds.
This is his favorite spot. Every day he spends some time on the powerline watching the field in front of our office.
At first he would get annoyed when I stopped to take his picture.
Now he become a great model.
In case you were worried you weren’t going to get your osprey fix today, here is one for you.
We never know who might just pop by the Pole Yard. While driving through the yard the other day this rooster pheasant was strutting down the road. Unconcerned, he took his sweet time. I stopped, not wanting to run over His Excellency, and took some pictures to record this auspicious occasion. He finally moved out of the road, but seemed somewhat perturbed by the inconvenience.
His Excellency on parade.
He finally allows us to pass.
Even I have to admit, he is a handsome fellow.
Teka and Blitz were busy plotting against His Excellency!
The osprey returns to the nest with a stick.
They began rebuilding their nest the day she arrived and the two osprey were back together. This is what they typically do after the winter storms take there toll on the nest. This particular nest is only one year old and must have weathered the winter fairly well. They spiffed it up the first day and that was that. They moved in.
The building materials arrive.
Doing some touch up to the nest.
Off for more sticks.
Just a bit of work and this nest is good to go.
The picture below is how the nest looking in 2011. Usually, they add a new layer to the nest every year. Not so much this year. In 2011 the nest had been built up much more and was on the opposite side of the tower. Normally, the nest gets taller and taller until a severe Winter storm blows the top of it off. I’ve seen the nest over 6 feet tall. Last year the nest survived some very bad storms. Late in the season the nest was gone after a moderate storm. I checked under the nest for debris, but found very little. I found out later that the local power company employees climbed the tower and removed the nest.
This was the nest in 2011.
When they osprey returned and found no nest they immediately started rebuilding. Although, as often happens with men and women they had a bit of a disagreement. They each began building nest on opposite sides of the tower. As typically happens when there is a disagreement, she got her way and the nest ended up in it’s current location.
The is nothing more relaxing then a cozy nest.
Last week he was still patiently waiting for his mate.
On Friday our lovelorn male osprey was still waiting alone when I left work.
Late this morning she arrived. She came one week after he arrived.
This morning when I arrived there was only one bird in the nest. When I went back outside about mid-morning and she had arrived. The two of them sat close together for quite some time and every now and then, one would call out. I took some pictures then put my camera away into my truck.
Blitz grazes during a break.
I let the girls out of the truck for a short break. The girls ran to the far side of the parking lot to a field they like, and I walked after them. By the time I had almost reached them, I looked back at the osprey. They were now locked in mating embrace. Immediately, I turned and ran for my camera in the truck, but their interlude only lasted about ten seconds. I didn’t make it. A missed opportunity for sure over a rookie mistake. The male immediately flew away and didn’t return until the afternoon.
He keeps watching her and she keeps looking away. Playing coy.
She is warming up before the big moment.
He is enthralled with her.
She’s a beauty.
Back together again.
Waiting……
In his vigil, he sits on the tower waiting for his mate to return. He looks so lonely. He won’t work on the nest until she returns. Occasionally he leaves and comes back with a fish. Then, he sits and waits. He’s been here for five days waiting.
She is late….
On top of the tower with only an empty nest.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 