Back in early November, I visited Circle B Bar Ranch a few days after they’d re-opened following the Hurricane Ian closure and clean-up. The usual beautiful Osprey and Red-shouldered Hawks were out celebrating the clear blue skies. The familiar Limpkins and Great Blue Herons patrolled the trails, stepping gingerly over the fallen branches, entangled in […]
Tag Archives: Osprey
The Osprey‘s powerful curved talons come in handy when landing in a tall, bare tree.Unlike other birds of prey, the Osprey‘s talons are “nearly cylindrical, rounded on the top and bottom . . .” (The Scottish Wildlife Trust), and “their toes are lined with short, stiff spikes for extra grip” (Audubon.org) as they catch and carry large […]
Osprey (formerly called Fish Hawk, due to their almost exclusive diet of fish) boast a great success story. Once seriously endangered due to DDT and other pesticides, they have made a strong comeback and are now found throughout the U.S. (Audubon.org)“Unique among North American raptors for its diet of live fish and ability to dive into […]
As birders, we are always looking to the skies and paying attention to flight patterns as a key to identifying our fine feathered friends, like the Osprey featured above. But I’m always paying attention, too, to the interesting signs that are posted in our preserves and parks. I recently noticed this very cool sign above – the first […]
Although we knew mid-August in south Texas wouldn’t be the most ideal time for birding (!), we took a 2-day trip from our kids’ home in Houston to Aransas, a remote and wonderful 59,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge along the Gulf of Mexico. Aransas’ bays, fresh and salt water marshes, savannas, sloughs, and woodlands boast 165+ species of wildflowers, scores […]
Osprey are so unique that they are are no longer considered to be one of the fish hawks, but rather their own distinct family (https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/osprey). We spied this Osprey sitting atop a dead tree and couldn’t resist stopping to watch him as he preened, fluffed himself up, and whistled – but he never left his perch. Osprey were […]
My husband and I were recently inspired to take a long drive to Central Florida, several hours north of us, to hear two wonderful experts from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) speak about ‘birding and habitat restoration along Israel’s Rift Valley, a major flyway of the world.’ Dan Alon, Director of […]
In this week’s Torah portion, we read the story of the Jewish people crossing the Red Sea, following the Exodus from Egypt. After the splitting of the Sea and their miraculous rescue across on dry land, the people sang a beautiful song of thanks and praise to G-d, the Song of the Sea, when they reached the opposite […]
I caught sight of this Osprey on the look-out, high up in a tree at Ding Darling NWR, and waited patiently for him to do something exciting! He sat staring intently out across the water below, occasionally bobbing in the wind to keep his balance on the skinny branches. It didn’t take too long to zero in on […]
As dusk closed in, the graceful flock of Glossy Ibis featured above sailed toward me in the waning light. From a distance, I wasn’t quite sure what they were, but as soon as I could discern their body shape and size, it was clear that these were Glossy Ibis and not some other wetland bird […]
Birder's Journey 