This young male was soaring around all over the place yesterday, holding on to the raggedy remains of a fish, and determined not to give it up.
Whenever he landed, his mate came in to claim her share. But he was having none of it.
And he seemed to be giving her a good tongue lashing in the process, to emphasize his point.
I’ve never seen this behavior before. But, I swear, it was as if he thought if he hid it, she wouldn’t know where it was.
Silly birds!
Maybe it was. Sure was a perfect day to be out shooting birdies.
Here are four shots from four different nests.
1. The impossible nest is finally coming together. Both birds are working on it. And he’s feeding her. So the outlook is good.
2. Just up the trail, these two seem to be working hard, although in this shot he’s just following her around as she builds.
3. There’s a new nest being started near the picnic shelter, and at least one of them is working hard.
4. Meanwhile, back at Big Mama’s house, he FINALLY brought her her lunch. She had yelled at him for at least 45 minutes while he casually snacked away. I don’t know what kind of fish it was, but it was huge.
It was a good day.
My eventual destination was Hub Stacy’s for lunch and a nice cold Killian’s. But along the way, up and down Bayfront and down to the Palafox Pier astride my trusty steed, I came across a few interesting beasties.
First – there was this beautiful little Green Heron, who pretended to be a tall reed when he noticed my presence. I’ve observed in the past that the only time they really look green is when the direct sun is hitting their wing feathers. This time I was on the wrong side to capture it.
Then there was the GBH, just standing in the marshy grass, down closer to the bridge.
They’re still pretty rare around here, but I did see this female Loon, fishing in the lagoon.
And, while riding back the other way I stopped to capture several shots of three young male Ospreys soaring over the top corner of the Gulf Power building. This is just one of them.
And, finally, down at the Pier, this GBH seemed to be saying “Hey kid. Got any fish?”
… this one sure did end up being nice. As soon as I saw some bright sky in the west following some awful rain and wind, I headed out to Fort Pickens.
When I first got there it was still overcast and gray. And there were some pretty soggy, not very happy, birds.
But when I moved down to the tree with the impossible nest, things picked up. It appears that the determined nest-builder has a friend. Boyfriend? Mate? Too soon to tell. But they seem to be having fun … I think …
And then there was this GBH who just kept soaring through the scene.
And last, but not least, an entire flock of Cattle Egrets were passing through, on their way to who knows where. I caught nine in this shot, but there were at least ten more.
Jim McDade, Photographer 