TWO OSPREY NESTS

     In June of 2023, I have been daily watching two osprey nests by live camera and our computer screen.  One osprey cradle of sticks and grass is on a human-made platform in the Blackwater River in Maryland and the other one is on a platform in a salt marsh at the Wetlands Institute along coastal New Jersey.  Three young ospreys are in the Blackwater nursery, while two osprey chicks are in the Jersey cradle.  The father of each brood frequently brings a large fish to his offspring, while the mothers stay on their nurseries to guard the youngsters.  

     On the afternoon of June 23, just as I brought up the Blackwater nest on our computer, I saw the male land on the nest with a fish, still flapping its tail, in his talons.  I watched as his mate tore pieces off the fish, starting at the head, and fed them to her half-grown charges, and ate some of those chunks herself.  The male, meanwhile, lifted off into the wind and was gone, presumably to hunt more fish.

     When that fish was half-consumed by the female osprey and her children, I brought up the osprey nursery in the New Jersey saltmarsh, just in time to see that male bring a large, still alive fish to that nest.  That was the second time in 20 minutes, and in two different states, that I saw a male osprey bring a fish to his family in a nesting platform!  What are the chances?  But with the osprey chicks growing rapidly, male ospreys everywhere in North America are regularly bringing home the fish.  I watched the mother osprey in the Jersey wetlands feed her two young for awhile.   

     While watching the young ospreys in the Jersey salt marsh being fed by their mother, I noticed other, background, bird activities in that marsh on our computer screen.  Several Forster's, or common, terns hovered gracefully, on beating wings, over channels in the marsh as they watched for small fish.  When prey was spotted, each tern dove beak-first into the water to seize that victim with its sharp beak.  

     Meanwhile, a few each of majestic great egrets and snowy egrets waded stealthily in the shallows of the channels as they, too, watched for fish.  Those white egrets were also quite stately when flying elegantly over the marsh.  

     I also saw several each of laughing gulls, with their black heads, and ring-billed gulls flying easily back and forth over the Jersey salt marsh and channels as they searched for small fish, fiddler crabs and other tidbits to eat.  Some gulls of both kinds regularly dropped onto the marsh and channels to pick up something edible, creating much activity in that marsh.  

     These gulls are also devout scavengers.  They ingest dead fish and other critters, and popcorn, bread and other human foods from beaches and boardwalks, where they are entertaining.  

     I also saw several red-winged blackbirds among the grasses of the salt marsh where they nest and consume invertebrates.  I noticed purple martins dashing gracefully over the marsh after flying insects to feed to their young in clusters of gourds at the Wetlands Institute buildings in that marsh.  And I saw a couple clapper rails on the mud flats in the channels, when the tide was out, pulling invertebrates from the mud.

     Watching wildlife through live cameras and computer screens can be exciting and inspiring.  One only has to watch patiently, and wait long enough, for something outstanding to happen.

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