|
|
Bird-Watching Column: Ospreys in Bryce Canyon |
|
Mathew Tekulsky The Birdman of Bel Air for National Geographic News |
| July 20, 2004 |
|
One spring when I was visiting Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, I got a tip on an Osprey nest from the ranger at the park's visitor center. I decided to check it out. The ranger told me that I'd find the nest about halfway up the road to Rainbow Point. I kept looking into the tops of the trees for the nest, but I found nothing. I turned around and drove back down the road toward the visitor center. But then, glancing to the left side of the road, I saw it: The unmistakable bulk of sticks at the top of dead tree could only mean one thing—osprey nest! I must have misheard the ranger, I thought. But I thanked my lucky stars that I looked up from the wheel at just the right moment to spot the nest. Grabbing my camera and tripod from the car, I approached the nest. It was situated about 60 feet (18 meters) above the meadow in which I was standing. Before I got too close, the ospreys (yes, there were two of them, a male and a female in the process of building their nest) began screeching at me. They shrieked with that high-pitched call that only a bird of prey can emit. In this case, I had two birds of prey on my hands, and they were angry at me! Now, in between shrieking at me, the ospreys took trips down the Paunsaugunt Plateau to the west. No doubt they were visiting the Tropic Reservoir and the East Fork Sevier River for fish, picking up sticks for their nest on the way back. The birds sat or stood on their nest patiently, usually one at a time. But occasionally, they both shared the nest for a while. One thing I noticed about the ospreys that really made an impression on me was the sheer size of their wingspan—over five feet (1.5 meters)! These were big birds, indeed. No wonder they were more irritated than afraid of me. In flight, the raptors' wings seemed to go on forever. You could easily hear them flapping from 100 feet (30 meters) away. At one point, one of the ospreys took up a perch at the top of another dead tree about 100 feet (30 meters) away from me. It stared at me from that great distance, then all of a sudden, it took off from the snag and flew back to the nest. It was very clear to me that I intruded on the ospreys' territory. But after about an hour, the birds actually got a little bit used to me. They continued their comings and goings, but without all the screeching directed at me. The pair seemed to be communicating entirely among themselves by then. I hope their nesting was successful and that they raised a healthy brood of chicks. If I'm ever in that area again, I'm going to make sure to look at the right side of the road! Ospreys at the Beach Five months after my osprey encounter in Bryce Canyon National Park, I had a chance to watch an osprey hunting for fish at Malibu Lagoon State Beach, California. It is one of my favorite bird-watching spots. Where Malibu Creek meets the ocean, a section of sand has formed an inland body of water. In this lagoon, brown pelicans, double-crested cormorants, great and snowy egrets, and numerous terns and gulls forage for fish and other items of food all day long. It was there that I spied an osprey flying in a wide circle. It flapped its wings a few times, then soared as it turned around the bay like a plane preparing to land. When it came close enough to the water to get a good view of things, it dove in after a fish. While I was watching, the osprey came up empty a few times. But then he suddenly snatched a fish from the bay and flew off, clutching the catch in his talons. Mathew Tekulsky writes a regular column about birding in his backyard and neighborhood in Bel Air, California. You can follow his encounters with the birds of the Santa Monica Mountains here on National Geographic News Bird Watcher every fortnight or so. Previous columns by the Birdman of Bel Air Birding Column: Stalking a Great Blue Heron Birding Column: House Wrens' Twice-a-Minute Feeding Frenzy New Bird-Watching Column: "The Birdman of Bel Air" The California Towhee, Boldly Bland At Home With Hooded Orioles Scrub Jays Go Nuts for Peanuts Northern Mockingbird is a Wary Neighbor Christmas With the Pelicans California-Quail Close Encounter Yosemite Steller's Jay Encounter Banding Birds at Devils Postpile California Condor Close Encounter California Condor Rebound Going Nuts With Wilderness Ravens Hummingbird Chicks Fly the Nest Mexican Jays' Dogged Pack Mentality National Geographic BirdWatcher Regularly updated news stories, features, and columns about birds and birding Recent News Stories About Birds Migrating Birds Reset "Compasses" at Sunset, Study Says Bowerbirds Dance, Decorate to Suit Females' Changing Tastes Emperor Penguins: Uniquely Armed for Antarctica African Birds Understand Monkey Communication, Study Says After 400 Years, Cranes Return to U.K., Site Is Kept Secret For more bird news, scroll down. |
| © 1996-2008 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. |