Canarsie Pol osprey, April 2007
With the remnants of last weekend's blizzard still in evidence, there's certainly no mistaking the fact that it's still winter, but the days ARE getting longer (I do love it when I start seeing a bit of blue still left in the sky when I leave work at my usual hour of 6, and we are there!), and the various Sebago committees are beginning to gather to plot out the season's fun (SailComm was last night, kayak & canoe committees this weekend), and before too much longer, our local ospreys will be starting their long flight back from their wintering grounds to the South. One of the ospreys that nests in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (over in Broad Channel) has actually been tagged with a GPS tracker, and I'm really looking forward to following along on Osprey's Journey.
Thanks to John at Control Geek for passing the word word word, word on the bird!
Cross-posting at the Sebago Canoe Club blog.
4 comments:
very cool! I enjoy "hawk" watching as I drive down the expressway - trying to spot them perched in trees, signs, fenceposts, etc along the highway.
I call them "hawks" - I'm sure they are birds of prey, but some could be falcons, etc.
Ospreys are pretty easy, they're these striking black and white creatures that make this strident "kee kee kee!" call when they get upset. Beyond that, I'd have to admit that I also lump an awful lot of raptors under "hawk". I do recognize a redtail, if I can get close enough, and peregrines are pretty distintive, but beyond that I'm a little unclear. I know we have Cooper's and sharpshinned and another variety or two here but I've never learned to tell them apart.
bonnie - yeah I can recognize a red-tailed hawk alright. but most of the time I'm hawk-watching is driving down the expressway, so I only catch a fleeting glimpse of them sitting in a tree. enough to tell it's the bird of prey, but that's about it.
Ha. I have no such excuse. Most of my hawk-watching is done on foot!
TQ and I actually spotted something on the seal hike that we still wish we'd gotten a closer look at. It was definitely a raptor but it looked very large to us - we thought maybe an eagle, but it went out of sight before we could get anybody with binoculars to take a look.
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