I’ve found it hard to settle into nature writing this week. There’s too much news out there – too many bombs, too many dead, too many lies, too many stone walls thrown up to hide atrocities that continue to be carried out in our name. I walked every day and found little comfort in the natural world, returned home sweaty and enraged to pound out invective filled letters that I simply couldn’t send.
And yet. By the lake one evening I stopped to watch an osprey hover and dive. It came up empty taloned, shook mid air and circled back along the shoreline. As I watched, my attention was drawn to the powerful sweep of an osprey’s wingbeat, and for perhaps a minute I was able to forget the rest.
What did you see this week?
As I watched, my attention was drawn to the powerful sweep of an osprey’s wingbeat, and for perhaps a minute I was able to forget the rest.
That is lovely.
I have always only seen flickers by themselves, one at a time. I adore them, those big circus birds with their polka dot breasts and their great big CHIRP. But last Saturday, I had an amazing, to me, treat.
I heard CHIRP, looked out and saw one flicker sitting about 15 feet away on a metal railing over my deck. Then I heard a second CHIRP! They talked back and forth, one on the deck, the other out of sight in a tree. And then, unbelievable, a third CHIRP from yet another direction! I was ecstatic. I realized I was blessed with the very close presence of a family of flickers. That was the young one on my deck. Mom and dad were in separate trees, talking to him, or possibly to each other.
They kept it up for a long time. One or the other of them visits frequently, but there has only been one other time so far when I’ve heard more than one at a time.
I am so glad to see this diary again!
Glad to be back. Right now I can hear flickers in the back yard. It cracks me up when I see them picking bugs out of the cracks in the sidewalk.
Fawns R Us:
And I saw one of these today too, although this picture is from last year:
I gotta get me one of those newfangled digital cameras.
Hi bwren. I saw a fox walking by in the open space behind our back yard this morning. I was on the phone with my mom, and told her, and she said she saw a bear crossing the road on her way home a few nights ago (she lives in the mountains).
Ya know, in over 50 years of watching I’ve seen a fox maybe twice, and never a whole fox out in the open. Just a flash of tail as it disappears into the brush, or a peripheral russet shadow. I envy you.
This diary has changed my focus from politics to what I really care about.
This Great Blue Heron looks like a young one. We were curious about
a construction site on the shore and our presence did not seem to scare him.
We think that he was more curious about this thing:
This diary has changed my focus from politics to what I really care about.
Ah, but witnessing the natural world is a political act. I’m so glad to have allies.
This wonderful little creature is an endangered species.
The Arroyo Toad call is a long trill lasting 4-10 seconds that is roughly
similar to some insect calls. These toads have been in the news since
the nomination of J.G. Roberts who ruled against their protection.
His was the only dissent.
Not to mention efforts of Chairman Richard Pombo (CA-11) and his allies on the House Committee on Resources to gut the Endangered Species Act. An overview of their strategy can be found on the The Endangered Species Coalition’s website.
Thank you, I have bookmarked the link.
I watched a documentary this am on the endangered Puerto Rican parrot. A dentist is devoting his life to their survival, 10,000 in the 1960’s, 30 in the wild today. It made me think that no legislation is going to stop these devoted committed people from their work.
All the more reason to elect political candidates who are committed also to protecting animals and environment. Where are they?
It’s up to us to either find them or to make sure we question the ones who do run.
For years, just a short paddle in the canoe up the Black River from us, there was a long-established osprey nest. When paddlers came by, the opreys would get alarmed and fly about and make their cat-like mewing cry.
A year ago a minor earthquake brought the whole contraption of sticks and branches down. Not long after, we noticed the power company building a platform on top of a power pole along a nearby state road. The power company occasionally builds these if they think the ospreys might build a nest on a power pole and endanger both themselves and cause outages.
I’ve been watching this platform for months. Soon enough an osprey began building the nest. She kept visiting the nest, and finally last week we could see a little white head sticking up. So far so good … and she doesn’t seem to find cars going by as disturbing as canoes.
gretel
Yaay! This makes me happy. I’ll report back if and when I see more than 2 osprey over the lake. I’m assuming the 2 I regularly see are a pair.
For a glimpse into another bird family, check out the site devoted to New York’s Pale Male. No family for Pale Male and Lola this year, but one of his offspring has fledged 2 chicks from a building near the south edge of Cetral Park.