Tag: Osprey

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Back on the Crooked

Settling in

We headed back up to the Crooked River this week. We lucked out and  found our favorite campground  .  .  .  completely empty. 

That’s unusual this time of year.  But as they say,   “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”  

A bee, between jobs

For now, mornings remain almost cold. All too soon summer’s sun will beat back the chill.

For the present, we set up chairs along the river and settled in to enjoy our good fortune.

It’s important to find the right spot

Fishing was good, I brought a few to the net. The willows nearly overpower the rivers edge, making it difficult for Tip to keep an eye on me or get a drink.

Checkered White Butterfly floats among flowering wildflowers

An abundance of butterflies danced across the  leaves in the still lush riparian.

An Osprey surveys it’s surroundings from a very high perch.

Around noon we moved downstream to a new piece of shade and a different stretch of river. At this spot we found the kestrel’s tree occupied by an Osprey.

A lack of defensive efforts (on the kestrels part) suggested the brood has moved on.  The osprey seems content in getting his perch back. 

Eurasian-collared Dove

It’s already the second week in July, and summer is slipping away. We’ve not had to endure wildfire smoke  .  .  .  yet.

So these peaceful excursions are treasured times.

A shaded vantage point to keep track of everyone

All too soon the dog days of August will require more careful planning on where we might find patches of shade. We do have a few places in mind.

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River Fishers

Osprey with freshly caught Redband Trout

We make regular trips to the Crooked River, so as a reader of this blog you get to hear about this spot frequently. There’s repetition to these visits, but we attempt to post about the parts that are different.

This week we shared our picnic spot with an Osprey. Well to be clear, he was on the opposite side of the stream but that is still very close. The  old juniper snag he perched in stood on the river’s bank maybe 60 or 70 feet away … close.

On a couple of occasions he would swoop off down river and eventually return with a fish tucked up to his breast, land neatly on an exposed branch and calmly tear flesh from the carcass.  On this day he was having much better luck finding fish than I was.

 

And then there were two …
They are very capable fishers, being successful in 4 of 5 attempts. The Osprey is particularly well adapted for catching fish. They have reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on the underside of the toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, and backwards-facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch.

 

Basically the odds are against the fish. William Shakespeare, in Croriolanus refers to a medieval belief that fish were mesmerized by the bird and turn their bellies up.

I think he’ll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature.

Eagles, a larger bird, are known to attack Osprey hoping to get them to drop the catch.

We witnessed an eagle osprey encounter but it didn’t seem to  result in the eagle getting anything more than the run around. Osprey are very agile fliers.

Canada Geese with goslings still covered in down
Bufflehead ducks

Stream banks, the riparian, host a wide variety of creatures and it just takes quiet moments of observation to open a trove of plant, animal and insect life.

The water feeds more than hay fields miles down river or the aquatic life contained in the flow. Every trip to the river is a unique experience … and we love it.