Thursday, July 2, 2015

Osprey Adventures


One of the three Osprey chicks stood up, leaned forward and strained, and out like a fire hose from his rear was a jet stream of white liquid. Thank God they are being fed and are all alive. Daddy Osprey was seeing to that. Earlier we saw him fly low over the nest a drop what looked like a Golden Mantel Ground Squirrel. This last feeding was a fish from the nearby lake.It is a full time job for the male to keep well fed his mate and their three chicks.
We are at 5600 ft. in Placer County and the temps today at the nest site are 81 degrees. When the female is not feeding the chicks she stands with her back to the sun, wings slightly  extended, shading the chicks. The male does not stay long. It appears like lots of his prey are not out in this heat.He has got to go hunt again. It is called hunting for my family and it is really very hard work.
It is only July 2nd and a long way to go before the chicks are fledged.We need some cooling rain.But right now we would settle for just some big nice clouds. Stay tuned..