And so it begins

Today! March 3, 2018, I knew that Osprey season had officially started (at least for me).

Jerri and I drove into the parking lot at Battery Worth and I had no sooner taken the camera out of the car than THIS happened!

Yep. That’s Big Mama — upside down, defending her territory. I’m not sure if her antagonist is a male or a female. But she was having none of it.

Best I can tell, this is another female, challenging her for her traditional nest site, even before she gets started on repairs and rebuilding after a really hard winter — lots of wind and rain since she left for somewhere South last August.

But she’s back. At least I think this is the same bird I followed last year. I’ll have to compare some shots from that bunch and look carefully at her chest markings before I can be sure.

A couple of hours later we went back there and I was told that she had just “coupled” with a mate. Damn! Sorry I missed that. But, oh well. I’ve photographed it before. If he’s right, and they really did mate, she’ll be very busy getting that wreck of a nest in shape before the kids stat arriving. And the boyfriend had better start pitching in. Big Mama does NOT tolerate malingerers and goof-offs! He needs to take lessons from this guy.

So, like I said — Osprey season is here. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Big Mama’s nest as well as a few others I generally keep track of, so — stay tuned.

Oh, and by the way, if you see something here you’d like to have a print of please contact me at jmmcdade@mac.com.