Osprey sushi and Mysteries of the Dock

When the tide is high in the early morning, there's often something big perched in the trees back of the pond that takes off when it sees me sauntering down the path. Yesterday it was Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. This morning it was an Osprey with a fish in its talons. It took off clutching its prey and headed across the creek to enjoy an undisturbed morning sushi dinner. A lot of fish are being caught right in the creek these days and I suspect that most of them are Blue Snappers -- i.e. baby Bluefish.

Every morning on the dock by the outflow from the pond I find the remains of someone's meal. This morning it was a neatly eviscerated Blue Claw Crab, author unknown. Also on the dock I regularly see a pellet which appears to be something that some animal has regurgitated. I looks a bit like an owl pellet except that it is almost always studded with what look like seeds. Perhaps it is scat -- i.e. ejected from the back end of an animal's digestive system rather than the front. I have seen these regularly over the years and am still stumped as to what it is.

Birds at the head of the marsh this morning included a young Eastern Towhee, a fledging House Wren begging from an adult (by shivering its wings), several Common Yellowthroats (both adults and young seen) and a singing Red-eyed Vireo.

Eric Salzman