The day following the solar eclipse, and upon leaving my regular Tuesday morning breakfast venue, I decided to sally forth along the shores of the local river in the hope that I might spot an Osprey, should they have returned. Armed with my camera, I first traversed the nearby recreational riverside area where I had seen Ospreys in the past, but to no avail. So, I left town and headed upriver on the road parallel to it. I was in luck! I was just up the road where I was about to drive by a nesting box when I spotted something perched by it. Whoa! Nothing behind me, so safe to stop and back up, and I was “in luck”, or as most Canadians say “I lucked out!”, and there was an Osprey perching and looking around, waiting for a mate! Well, I wasn’t quite what it expected, but I kept it company for a short while and since it didn’t look like it was going to be very active, I decided, being newly invigorated with its sighting, to try my luck at some of the other spots along the river. It was at this juncture, that another large bird flew past, just as I had closed my camera case, a Great Blue Heron – which was out of sight, of course, before my camera was back in my hands!
It was flying in the direction that I was going in, so onward I went. Of course it was not in sight at my next stop and so onwards I go, once again. Not too far though and to quite a pleasant spot which was unusually noisy from both the rushing waters and the Redwing Blackbirds and Grackles, all of which were next to impossible to see! However, looking from my new foot-borne vantage point, I could see another lone Osprey on its nesting spot, but partially concealed by the twigs it was made of. Walking further along the pathway didn’t improve the view of it either, so thoughts were turned to other possible places to see them. These were a little distance away so it took a bit more time to get there. The sighting of a Swan and a couple of Mallard Ducks en route added to this time too. However, the next sighting was of a pair of Ospreys which made things well worthwhile indeed! Thus, my early morning whim proved to be a very successful one and I was able to return home feeling very uplifted at what I had seen and captured with my camera. I hope that you too are having some success in spotting the returning birds and are about to enjoy them for the next few summer months.
Stay safe and well,
Cheers,
John Baldwin
