no photos yet, maybe this weekend. last week in the early week, maybe monday i saw my first returning osprey, a single sitting on a nest, then later in the week i saw a pair sitting on the rim on another nest. today i had some errands that took me east of jamesport, so i grabbed a coffee and went further east to mattituck inlet, to my favorite nest. and there was a bird sitting on the edge, then a few minutes later the other one showed up, and one went off and came back with a stick, so they are actively repairing and working on the nest, no mating activity but that should start soon. i went down by the old mill restaurant, same creek just further inland, and both nests in view had a single sitting bird. saw what i think was a cormorant in the water repeatedly diving, 2 egrets in 2 different creeks, 3 mallards flying in formation, i did not have either a camera or binoculars with me, but tomorrow is calling for mostly sunny and 53, so maybe a return in the afternoon.
i went to mattituck yesterday, and it was grey and overcast, and of course as soon as i got the full tripod and 200-600 setup, it started to sprinkle. there was another local birder there, and he pointed out this is a male, and sitting downstream about 250 feet away on another nest was the female, female ospreys have a brown neck band. we are pretty sure because he visits her some that this is a mated pair, they just haven't fully set up housekeeping yet. it is a very sunny day although a little cold as i type this so i may grab a coffee and go back trying for a better shot
sunny day today so i spent a little time out at my favorite osprey nest, single bird on the nest when i first got there, i believe this is the male, and no matter how often i go, one or both, they swivel those heads around and keep a watchful eye on me and joined shortly thereafter by the female, at which time they just were hanging out on the edge of the nest, no repair activity or fishing while i was there, ran out of coffee and it was not that warm, in spite of the sun, so i left, probably won't be back for a week due to upcoming chicago trip. and yes the nest pole really is tilted that badly
checked on the ospreys yesterday, another regular was there , he said there has been on and off mating this week, so i would expect the eggs to be laid over the next couple of weeks, usual timeframe here is 4/15 to about 5/7, quite a bit of male flight aggression , so i suspect we have some 2nd year males not attached yet and trying to steal nests and females, being soundly driven away by the older more experienced males. he hung out with her for awhile, no fishing taking place over the 2 plus hours i spent there, it was a warm pleasant early afternoon, i had coffee and cheese snacks so no need to be anywhere else, not as warm today and i am going to the orchid show tomorrow, so i may be back here monday they like to hang out on this vacant nesting platform, i have no idea why this stays unused, it is 400-500 feet away, and just up creek there are 2 active nests within half that distance apart, but he kept flying over to here
so i got back to the dec access site in mattituck on sunday, not much osprey action, below is the only photo i took of ospreys. they are sitting on eggs in nests all over, there are 3 within view from where i took this, but not any real fishing activity. so i went for some other subjects, terns, a real challenge. i doubt i would ever have gotten these photos if i hadn't gone to florida, armed and set up with steve perry's book about wildlife with the A1, and the practice i got in florida. i think these are forsters terns, and they were definitely plunge diving for salt water shrimp, as you can see in the beak they have a pretty good success ratio but they do not always get something for a dive
