A winner!

Well it looks like there is a winner.

For the past few weeks there has been a lot of Osprey activity on the creek with calling birds carrying their catch while calling loudly. There have been as many as three or four birds circling over the creek and on occasion more. My guess is that there were several males competing for the favors of a young female. At least one or two of the contenders were knocked out of the running a while back and, in the the past few days, I think she narrowed her choice down to the two birds who have been circling with her over the creek in a kind of choreographic competitive display. Look at me! Look at what a great fisher I am! Now I think she has made her pick. She and the lucky guy are starting to build a nest on the hitherto unused osprey pole on Pine Neck on the opposite shore, the first sign of activity around that platform. It is probably too late for them to breed this year but this 'starter' or 'practice nest' can serve as the foundation for the real thing next year.

The young Yellow-crowned Night Heron was back this morning sitting out among the Spartina alterniflora grass of the marsh in an area where, as the tide drops, Fiddler Crabs emerge. If you were a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, you'd love Fiddler Crabs too.

Eric Salzman