A Lesson in Persistence and Perseverance

There are probably many lessons to be learned from wildlife, but one that comes to mind is of persistence and perseverance by a pair of Osprey that chose to nest on my street. Located a couple of blocks East of our home is a pond of sorts with a stand of dead pine trees. I began observing (generally on my way to work) the busy work of nest building in preparation of their expected young. Based on photo dates, this process began in April and all-in-all it seemed to be a fairly speedy process and they were soon finished with the nest. Not long thereafter, we had some very windy weather and the following day on my way to work, I saw that the tree top had snapped and the nest had fallen. On a nearby tree sat one of the Osprey and I could only imagine the dismay, frustration and maybe even sadness it felt. I wondered if there had been any eggs laid yet and felt sure if the birds were to try again, they would hopefully move to an entirely different location. However, much to my surprise I soon witnessed new construction on a nearby tree. I felt a sense of happiness, but at the same time, wondered if they were making a big mistake. All of the trees in the pond were dead and they could very likely lose their nest to wind again, especially since we were moving into the hurricane season. Pretty soon, the new nest was complete and they begin the business of settling in and tending to their eggs. Eventually, the eggs hatched and we would later learn there were 3 chicks. Because the nest was so high up, you really couldn’t see into the nest to see the eggs or the chicks. I only learned there were 3 chicks because once again, the nest was blown down by high winds on June 27. That evening, the entire island lost power due to the downing of two power poles in the bay caused by a waterspout. It was heart wrenching to once again see the parent birds perched on nearby trees and again I could only imagine what they were thinking and feeling. Over the course of several days a group of folks from the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, the National Audubon Society and some locals, banded together to retrieve the nest and chicks and build a platform for the nest.  The remnants of the nest were placed on the platform and two of the chicks were returned to the nest.  One of the chicks was injured and is being nursed back to health rather than being returned to the nest.  It was reported that in no time the parents came back to the nest and are happily still rearing their young. I am now able to see the chicks because they are getting up in size and are hanging out on the edge of the nest. Soon they will be learning to fly on their own and hopefully, the nest will last to welcome a new family next year.

Beginning of 2nd Nest.  The Original Was to the Right of This One.

A Start

One Standing Guard and One Going in Search of More Building Material

Deja Vu?



Let's Not Sing that Rock-A-Bye Baby In the Treetop Song Anymore.

 

I Sure Hope Our Wind Coverage Was Paid Up!



Finished Again

Man Made "Tree"

A Little Weird Kids, But I Think We Will Like It.

 

There Sure Are A Lot Of People Stopping By To See Us Lately.

  

And Over There Kids Is Where Your First and Second Homes Were.



Let Me Tell You The Story of Our Efforts to Get you Here Little Chicks.......

At Ease

Happy Valentine's Day!



I don't really have much to say about Valentine's Day, so I am just going to post this picture of shells I have collected that Mother Nature shaped into or carved into a heart.  Some you can clearly see the heart and others you have to use your imagination a little, but hey, no heart is perfect, right?  Some are small, some are big, some are abnormal and some are broken. 

Loggerhead Turtle Eggs

I have lived here for 8 years now and have never witnessed a mother turtle laying her eggs, the eggs hatching, or the baby turtles crawling out to sea.  What I did witness this evening just before sunset is loggerhead turtle eggs being dug up and very gingerly placed into coolers along with some of the wet sand from the nest.  The reason for the removal of the eggs is due to the BP oil spill.  According to one of the biologists conducting the egg removal, relocating the eggs to the East coast will hopefully ensure that the hatchlings have a better chance of survival.  It is their belief that if they hatched here and continued on their natural course, they would starve because the areas where they feed along their journey in the Gulf have been affected by the oil.  Many older turtles have already been stranded and found covered with oil.  I forget the names of the folks in charge, and while all four of them were very nice, one in particular (the girl in the white T-shirt and Cubs baseball cap) was very informative and very enthusiastic to share information about Loggerhead turtles as well as other sea turtles.  She very patiently explained what they were doing and why and also explained how to distinguish the species of the turtle by the crawl tracks they leave behind.  It was actually very interesting.  When placing the eggs into the coolers, they made every effort to place the eggs just as they were oriented in the nest. It was explained that the membrane in the egg is very fragile and any change in position could damage it. I forget the number of eggs in this nest, but I believe it was around 100.  These turtle eggs and others that they will harvest and have already harvested on the Gulf Coast will be taken to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral to incubate and when they hatch will then be taken to different areas on the East coast and released into the Atlantic.  I was told the eggs from this nest should hatch in 7-10 days.  Here are some photos.

 

Nest are typically about 18-22 inches deep and have between 100-125 eggs

My neighbor/friend Janice and her dog Lucy also stopped by to observe.

Sunset and Things With Wings

Yesterday was a relaxing day and we really didn't accomplish much.  It rained most of the day, thanks, I guess, to Tropical Storm Bonnie out in the Gulf.  We did take a sunset golf cart ride Saturday night.  Here are some pictures from our outing. There was a dock next to us where some guys were cleaning their fresh catch of the day, so we had a lot of sea gulls flying around. There was also a lot of bait fish jumping so they were also diving for those.  I had a dragonfly friend for a while.  It just hung out on my sleeve and let me take pictures up until the point when the flash went off.  I don't think it liked that too much and is probably still seeing spots!

Black and blue can be pretty.

Weird Plants and a Rainbow

I took the plant pictures two weekends ago on our way up to Tally Ho. They were along the side of the road on Highway 65. I've seen them in pictures, but never in real life. The yellow-ish ones are pitcher plants and I don't know what the other one is, but it's cool.   The other is a rainbow over our neighbor's house.