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Osprey
Jul 6, 2008 10:13:51 GMT -5
Post by plantsnobin on Jul 6, 2008 10:13:51 GMT -5
My husband and his father went fishing yesterday and he came home telling me about a bird he saw. Wasn't an eagle, he has seen those, but looked like an osprey according to the bird book. It had little ones, and was in a neset box the DNR had up. According to the book, they aren't here, but it did say they were making a comeback in areas they had previously been in, so I think it could have been. I would like to get a picture, but the area is only accessible by boat. He also saw an uncommon shrub for this area. He is starting to take notice of such things. Said he was bored with the fishing so he started to pay attention to the plants and birds. My redneck husband is becoming a naturalist.
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Osprey
Oct 3, 2008 23:05:32 GMT -5
Post by canadamike on Oct 3, 2008 23:05:32 GMT -5
Birds have a tendency to play these tricks. 30 years ago, I was camping in Forillon National Park, at the very tip of the Gaspé bay in the St-Laurence. The camping was on a plateau in the middle of a very high cliff, a couple of hundred feet above sea level with even more cliffs above us. At night, we could hardly sleep because of the reverberations of the Great Horned Howls ''chants''. And there were fights in between them. For those never having witness the sound of these fights, they are, in the night, absolutely terrifying, like giant cat fight noises but much, much louder and even meaner. It send chills down the spine of even the most experienced birdwatcher.
One very dark early summer night, as I was calling GHH ( I used to be an active birdwatcher) I ended up waking 3 of them, one far away but 2 very close. In a pine, right above me, maybe 10 feet,such a fight started. I fell on my knees in an incontrolable reflex of terror and froze right there. It took me about 5 seconds to realize what was happening, even as experienced as I was. This is an eternity when you are petrified by fear, but that's another story...
The fun thing was the GHH were not suppposed to be there in that park but nobody could sleep because of them, except the many biologists working IN the park, who never noticed. I wrote a report and brought it to the park office, and they sent a biologist with me the next night to attest officially the presence of the birds. The young birds weird and fantomatic sounds proved they were nesting there.
Plan to see more ospreys then, and be glad they are making a comeback. Thet are magnificent birds, and not garbage eaters like the bald eagles.
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