osprey

Tag

By Jordan Lake Neighborhood, 3/16/2017 7 photos

4 year-old bald eagle watching an osprey across the cove

osprey determined to get his fish to his mate

trio of red-breasted mergansers

lead bird is an immature male, called an eclipse phase

second bird is a mature female and the last bird is a mature male

close-up of the mature male red-breasted merganser

the red-breasted merganser trio taking flight

double-crested cormorant resplendent in its green black body and neck, accented by the bronze of its wings

the small trees and tall bushes edging the lake in many areas are full of the sweet calls of the song sparrows

By JL Eagle nest report: First Nest, 5 photos March 7, 2017

Each year when the ospreys return to Jordan Lake, territory disputes occur.
The east side of the First Nest Cove belongs, more or less, to the ospreys.
The west side of the cove, more or less, belongs to the bald eagles.
The osprey female initiated this encounter when Petruchio crossed the “line”.
Ultimately Petruchio pushed the osprey back east of the line and for the moment quiet reigned.
I gotta admit I admired the spunk of the much smaller osprey!

By Jordan Lake Neighborhood for March 2, 2017, 7 photos

The ospreys have returned from South America – welcome home.

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One year old bald eagle looking fierce in the morning light.

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A very cold eastern bluebird, who like me, was wondering where the warm weather went.

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Great blue heron stalking through the shoreline bushes.

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Belted kingfisher surveying the waters for his next fish.

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The small pied-billed grebe is named after the way the black ring bisects his beak.

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The morning light illuminates this Bonaparte’s gull.

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By gone tomorrow? 2 photos

Ospreys go south for the winter, some go all the way to South America.
The adults leave first in the fall and then the fledgling females.
The young male ospreys are the last to leave the lake.
I caught this fledgling, hatched this year, fishing at the lake this morning.
With the freeze projected for tonight he may too be gone tomorrow.
Note his still orange fledgling eye and the white edging to his flight feathers – marks of a youngster.

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By almost too close

I had leaned way back in my chair to try to photograph a tiny brown-headed nuthatch.
Don’t you know, into my viewfinder came this male fledgling osprey.
He was so close that I didn’t get all of his wings.
The smudge to the right of the bird is the tree that I was leaning around.
The youngster bounced to a landing, balanced for a moment and then left to look for fish.

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By …and the take-off

Thought y’all might enjoy the other end of the fledgling osprey’s flight.
After being puzzled by watching us watching her,
the youngster took off to practice her new skills.

WALK9177 08-28-16 @ 09-49-41 Ebenezer osprey fishing