Ospreys

Raptors captivate people. And the Osprey is a premier attention getting raptor.

Common throughout North America, Ospreys live near water, allowing for great first-time raptor watching.

Size matters.

I suggest it's an imposing presence that makes the Osprey so interesting.

They prefer tall structures, whether natural or manmade, for their nests. Humans, thankfully, have provided the Osprey with thousands of towers, poles and buoys across America for their personal use.

It's a fair compensation for nearly wiping them out with DDT in the 1970's.

This trio lives a centerfield lifestyle in a Thiensville, Wisconsin softball park. They call out as people pass.

Listen to their call at:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/sounds

The chick shakes off early morning dew.

Seventy-foot lights tower over open spaces and the nearby Milwaukee River provides good fishing.

According to a local woman I met at the ball park, there were two chicks on this nest. But, as is often the case, one did not survive. An Osprey females doesn't lay all her eggs at one time. If food is scarce only the oldest, strongest chick survives.

Food seems to be plentiful for this pair though. Still, fratricide is a fact.


Ospreys look alike, but I'm assuming this is the male. He's bringing home some food, but it looks as if he had snacked on it beforehand.

The Osprey's territory overlaps the territory of a particularly aggressive Eastern Kingbird, who'd routinely harass him whenever he passed.

You have to hand it to the kingbird for attempting a feather pluck.  He's grossly out matched, yet, ready to teach a lesson to an ill-informed Osprey.

Whether he won the battle and lost the war is an open question.

He did make the Osprey loop around rather than passing directly through, so there was some victory in his fight.

Still, it'll be an ongoing battle.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

Seeing a bird with a nearly six-foot wingspan in your local ballpark is a special event. It's free for all who wish to partake.

That's nearby nature.

Allan

Credits: 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds
The Sibley's Guide to Birds

Belted Kingfisher

With the entire North American continent to call home, you might think a Belted Kingfisher would be a little easier to find.

Not so.

If every birder has a nemesis bird in their life, this would be mine.

I could call it bad luck, bad timing or bad karma...it's all the same in the end...a beautiful bird that flies away.

The time spent chasing a Belted Kingfisher is never wasted, though, because kingfishers live in beautiful places...always near water.  They live on fish, as their name implies, and other aquatic life.

Surprisingly or at least noteworthy, the female Belted Kingfisher is more colorful than the male. She sports an additional rufous band under her wings and across her breast that the male does not.

The male, to be sure, is no ugly partner in this relationship though.

He's stud-muffin beautiful perched across the river.

Oddly beautiful might be the apt description to place on these birds.

Almost prehistoric in appearance they make you thankful Belted Kingfishers are not seven feet tall and weigh a hundred pounds.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Green Herons

Call this a picnic at the river for two young Green Herons patrolling the waters below Thiensville Village Park dam, Thiensville, Wisconsin.

In knee deep water (s)he was finding many good items to eat ranging from tiny insects to more meaty fare.

Her companion, possibly a sibling, hunts from a snag out in the river. Red-winged dragon flies were everywhere this day and the unlucky ones were on the menu.

Fishing is always good, but it required some intense concentration to be successful.

Whether it was good luck, skill or the profusion of prey, these similar-sized heron companions were having a stellar day. Green Herons hunt by day or night, usually in four inches of water or less. They eat from a wide variety of water borne creatures including fish, crustaceans, spiders, reptiles and rodents.

This forlorn creature was plucked from the shoreline never to be seen again.

Still small and immature and crow-sized for comparison, Green Herons grow into football sized adults.

A stocky body conceals a surprisingly long neck.  Waiting motionless while unsuspecting prey venture within range, the Green Heron either grasps or spears prey.

At which point it is game-over.

Allan

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Cooper's Hawk Juveniles

Keeping yourself entertained while your parents are hunting is a struggle for a first-year Cooper's Hawk.

One can only stretch and twist, bounce and bob for so long before it becomes boring.

I discovered two young Cooper's Hawk siblings in Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One examined my every move while the other lost interest in me quickly.

Only able to fly short distances and unpracticed at hunting, they mark time together in a narrow park ravine.

With nothing to do, but wait to be fed, this is a good opportunity to explore one's own body...grooming is important.  Grooming removes dirt, debris and parasites, along with realigning the feather shaft for airworthiness.

People watching helped pass time, too.
If people and dogs stay on the path the Cooper's Hawks were content to hang around, provided a respectable distance was maintained.

But, I strayed one step too close.

That immediately prompted rethinking the margin of safety in the sibling minds.

Would they accept me?

The answer was 'no'.

They both flew away.

I would have enjoyed their company for longer, but it wasn't up to me.

I had all the pictures I was going to get this day.

(CORRECTION: I'm told the last three photographs in this story are not a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, but instead a juvenile Merlin. A Merlin has a faint malar (mustache) and a Merlin's tail is slightly different. I trust this is the case and I am noting it here to reflect that fact. The diet of the Merlin and the Cooper's Hawk is similar, with the Merlin taking other birds, mostly. Thanks to Todd Fellenbaum for sharing his knowledge of birds.)


But, I found juvenile Merlin in Theinsville Village Park, also in September.

He was quite agreeable with having his picture taken. He posed in a tall tree for longer than I cared to remain.

He seems to be giving me the equivalent of a high five, even though he doesn't have the digits for it. I doubt he knows the meaning of the gesture and had little to celebrate quite yet anyway.

 He too was waiting to be fed.

He is too young to hunt. He's safe in the park while his parents find food for him. His father has provided nearly all the food for his mother and him for the past ninety days. 

His care will continue until he's able to hunt the Merlin's main food...other birds and small rodents. 

He watches the people below as well as the fish in the river.  Poised for action yet still lacking the skills of a hunter, he never-the-less displays the potential of a powerful falcon.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

Allan

Credits: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley