chasing raptors

One of the Weesuck Creek Osprey was parading up and down the creek with a big flatfish with a big flatfish in its talons -- undoubtedly a fluke and definitely a keeper -- calling attention to itself with loud whistles. For much of the time it was flying in formation with a second bird; this certainly looked like courting. At some point, a third Osprey appeared and the successful fisher landed on a dead limb with the fluke laid out on the branch but in a tight clutch. His apparent aim (I assume this was a male although this is by no means sure) was not to dismember the catch but to protect it from any possible rival. Only when the intruder disappeared did our avian Isak Walton take off again and resume his presumably amorous gambols.

Although our local Osprey are generally not bothered by crows or smaller birds (which will mob other raptors), these birds were definitely being attacked by Red-wing Blackbirds or some other residents too small to identify. Don't know why the dickie-birds suddenly decided that our local fish hawks were dangerous and needed to be chased away but that was clearly their intent (of course they did not succeed). In any case, my guess is that these Osprey are first-year birds that have built a nest on the new Pine Neck pole but that are not yet ready for parenthood and are still sorting out their domestic affairs.

A huge and extended racket of crows later in the day had nothing to do with the Osprey. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I finally saw the object of their wrath: a Red-tailed Hawk that took off as soon as it sighted me. Lying on the ground on the trail nearby was a freshly-dead squirrel that was certainly not there earlier this morning. It had a noticeable wound which made me think that it might have been caught by the hawk who then dropped it when it was mobbed by the crows.

Eric Salzman