Osprey Tales

“Are there any signs of spring up there?” asked Harriett.

“Crocus, daffodils, robins? Red Maple buds? Butterflies?”

“Oh yes,” the Doctor replied in the affirmative.

“Deciduous trees flowering, lighter longer days, and a dawn chorus by your friends.”

“It’s getting stronger……The Urge…….Fat stores are packed,

Can’t wait, I just can’t wait!

Jump, flutter, hop hop…….. can’t sit still.

And….…can’t stop turning……. north……….. that mysterious force, you know………like a

magnet, keeps turning me……..that way, north ………… stronger every day.

Thinking…….thinking you know ……or…… I don’t think……so…..…no!

 I must…… resist…..… I don’t know….  I don’t want to, you know……arrive too early.

I’ve heard it’s cold up there.”

Bold white eyebrow. Warm brown above, buffy-orange underparts. Slightly decurved bill. Tail is about as long as body and often cocked up.

Usually hiding in dense vegetation in forested areas. Nests in peculiar places around backyards, such a drainpipe or grill. Occasionally feeds on suet or mealworms at feeding stations.

“The days are getting shorter in Brazil. The weather; a bit more breezy and the sun,………… the sun is rising further and further from the south.

I’ve been thinking; dreaming…………. Thinking you know…………… Thinking about the sun; thinking about home. Home on the North River, on my platform, my nest behind the Doctor’s giant nest, in the morning……..Yes, thinking a lot more about it every day.

Zugunruhe? …………… I think………… so.”

Harriett’s dream

Elegant, slender duck with long neck and tail. Males have a chocolate brown head with a white slash coming up the neck, white breast, and mostly gray body. Females are patterned light brown. Forages in wetlands and in fields on agricultural waste grains.

“How’s the weather in North Carolina?”

Summertime here.

Some of my friends wanted to hear about Doctor, so I told them all about him and my H. sapiens friends. Not just my HS friends, but my bird friends too.

I will be back in less than 8 weeks.”

                                                              Love, Harriet

4:45 Sunday evening.

Large, pure white heron with daggerlike yellow bill. Long black legs. Forages in shallow wetlands by slowly stalking prey. Largest and most widespread white heron.