Jordan Lake, Haw River 16 minutes after the sun rose … I was tracking a male osprey as he came in over the dam and almost disappeared down into the shadows of the riprap and the sudden glare of the sun. I watched the osprey flare and snatch his fish and then the quiet morning exploded in osprey shrieks and great blue heron gronks. A large light grey shadow was closing in on the osprey. I don’t know if the heron had had an eye on the same fish as the osprey or that the heron took exception to the osprey disturbing his morning fishing. The osprey fled the river with his fish and out over the dam and the heron grumbled his way back to the riprap shoreline.

Jordan Lake does not have a human happy hour, so to speak, because alcohol is not allowed at the lake. However, American Crows define happy hour to be any time that they come across some human food to haul off. The lead crow has either a piece of chicken wing or maybe chicken nugget and it is heading for the clan’s cache tree. The other two crows are part of his family/clan that are escorting him across the open part of the lake in order to keep other clans from stealing that tidbit of human food. It appears that fried chicken in any form or shape and at any hour is appealing both to humans and to crows!

Jordan Lake: Captain Doug and I aren’t sure that the youngster’s flight this morning was his very first, but it is a fair guess that he couldn’t have been flying for more than a day or so because he wasn’t seen flying yesterday. Enjoy the young male as he leaves his startled sisters behind and goes to explore the world!

Jordan Lake: the Count is in … 33 … FLEDGED BALD EAGLE chicks for the 2020-2021 Bald Eagle Nesting Season! Out of 24 nests there were 20 nests that produced fledglings. That is an increase of 3 fledglings from 2020. Way to go parent bald eagles … especially the Captain Nest that had triplets!