Look who visited
Coffin Woods
That’s one big fungus. Owl greeting
acorns raining down. A little scary
Coffin Woods
Raven welcome at the train tracks
Duckweed completely taking over.
Praying Mantis
A brown praying mantis on our screen door
Shu Swamp
deer eating spice bush leaves. Snapping Turtle glides with graceful slowness
Egret
Box turtle
Box turtle in the rain
Bailey Arboretum
Frogs and small turtles do not like when a great blue heron flies over the pond.
The frogs skip across the top of the water to catch insects. There must be a lot of insects in this spot on the pond, there are a lot of dragonflies and frogs here.
Osprey
The chicks are getting bigger, almost the size of the adults. Even so the adults feed the chicks one bite at a time of fish.
insects
I am amazed at insect coloration.
Back in the woods
I can walk in the woods now, so it is back to Shu Swamp. Saw a squirrel creep down to the stream and drink some water. Two Great Blue Herons croaking at each other. Will check on the osprey tomorrow.
Osprey
Was watching one osprey hunting over Long Island Sound. How is it possible they can see the fish from so high in the sky? Even from a few feet above the water I can't see my own feet. Even if the water was clear, it is amazing.
The nest
Osprey
In the 90's today, the adults had its wings open wide to give the chicks shade.
A squirrel was snipping of small branches from the oak tree and making a drey. Sometimes he would drop them by accident. Now I know why our neighbor's lawn was ocvered in small brachn theother day. I thouht it was from the wind.
News
One of the osprey was standing on the edge of the water. A 4ft or so stick is sticking out of the nest.
Given the week's news I am taking a few days off from websites other than ESPN. Eventually I will go back to NPR.
Osprey
Last night was beautiful. Perfect temperuter and caressiing wind. At one point both adults flew off the nest and soared around. They were not hunting. A fish was in the nest. It was hard not to think they were soaring for pleasure, simply because they can.
Osprey
One of adults was ripping off little bits of fish and giving them a chick. Only one chick was being fed at a time. All very calm. The adult would eat some, feed some, eat some. The other chicks didn't seem to be hungry or knew they were next in line.
Osprey
There is a lot of preening going on in the nest. The adults and the chicks are making sure their feathers are in order. One adult was ripping off tiny pieces of fish, eating some and giving some to one of the chicks.
Osprey
There are 3 chicks. The adults are still busy rearranging the nest, even bringing in new sticks. At one point the brown adult flew to the water's edge and just stood there.
Osprey
The adults were not shading the eggs, they were shading the chicks. They are brown, fuzzy and look like chickens. The adults are still fussing with the nest by rearranging sticks and carrying new ones in. There are several pieces of plastic hanging from the nest and a few house sparrow nests.