WILD PETS
OF A SORT
When living on the Chester River in Maryland I had occasion to build a nesting platform for ospreys about 15 feet off my dock. Noting that there were a number of nesting pairs on the river adjacent to our property and quite a few cruising young in the area, it seemed reasonable to expect boarders within a short amount of time. They are often called fish hawk or sea hawk, but osprey is the true name. As it turned out, we had residents in the first year and two to three nestlings each year for ten years. This is one of the young getting ready to test his brand new wings. If you see an osprey and he/she has spots on the wings, then you know it is a young of the first year.
Osprey are a fish eating, hawk like, raptor which catches his prey with elongated talons by swooping down on fish daring to swim too close to the surface of the water. An incredible sight to witness. Much like an eagle. In Maryland these birds arrive from their winter grounds in the south, some as far as South America, on March 15Th and leave again southbound on Sept. 15Th. To the day...just amazing.
Until the insecticide DDT was band this bird was headed to extinction, but has since made a dramatic comeback and is now a common sight along the waterways throughout the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey
OF A SORT
When living on the Chester River in Maryland I had occasion to build a nesting platform for ospreys about 15 feet off my dock. Noting that there were a number of nesting pairs on the river adjacent to our property and quite a few cruising young in the area, it seemed reasonable to expect boarders within a short amount of time. They are often called fish hawk or sea hawk, but osprey is the true name. As it turned out, we had residents in the first year and two to three nestlings each year for ten years. This is one of the young getting ready to test his brand new wings. If you see an osprey and he/she has spots on the wings, then you know it is a young of the first year.
Osprey are a fish eating, hawk like, raptor which catches his prey with elongated talons by swooping down on fish daring to swim too close to the surface of the water. An incredible sight to witness. Much like an eagle. In Maryland these birds arrive from their winter grounds in the south, some as far as South America, on March 15Th and leave again southbound on Sept. 15Th. To the day...just amazing.
Until the insecticide DDT was band this bird was headed to extinction, but has since made a dramatic comeback and is now a common sight along the waterways throughout the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey
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