Ospreys Are Back
 

In my humble opinion, Ospreys are the best of the predator breed. Having watched them fly for the past eleven years has been a hoot. They return every year around St. Pats Day.
Do a search on these great birds...their migratory patterns are amazing...I'll get better pics. I took these about an hour ago.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142633481.jpg

From you, I thought it was going to be the Marine Corps version of the Osprey.....
:D
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1142634514.jpg

David

Thanks to free agency, several local Osprey are migrating elsewhere.

exacty what I was thinking as well

I'm an Osprey agnostic...although all my Corps partners prefer the tilt version.:)

there are a couple of them at the lake my family's cabin is at. they nest there and rear chicks every year. by the time we are up on the lake in mid summer you can see them popping their heads out over the nest.

the lake has been infested with pike from fisherman dumping live bait fish in the lake. when we catch them we kill them and throw them off the boat by the nesting area and watch the birds come down and get them. they are huge. the wing span appears to be 6 feet or more.

There are also a couple of bald eagles up there that have been nesting there for the last 12 or 15 years. i get chills when going by the nest and checking them out doing their hunting and stuff. i have been told that the eagles have actually taken ducks that have been shot by hunters prior to the hunter being able to get to them.

bird of prey are pretty cool, and i feel fortunate that i am close enough to rural areas to see them in their natural habitat.

Cindy & I spot bald eagles here all the time, driving the backroads from home to Albany, a nearby largish town. The Willamette Valley of Oregon grows grass seed well. In the early spring, sheep are turned out on the fields. Their grazing divides the grass stalks, making for more seed harvested in the fall. The bald eagles LOVE rack of newborn lamb and also feed on the afterbirth. To spot them, just look in the limbs of trees bordering a field full of sheep. It's not unusual at all for us to spot 5-6 of them on a 6 mile drive. The sheep men here view the Bald Eagle as kind of a winged Coyote...but they can shoot coyotes.