Osprey Tales

“Not again this year,” Harriett said flatly.

“I dive-bombed him twice and he flew off…………. Nonchalantly.”

“Hello!  Anybody home?” thought Harriett.

The Doctor received it loud and clear.

“Oh Wow!” 

“Wake up Female H. sapien!” cried the Doctor. “Harriett’s home.”

XX-HS sprang out of bed……………into the kitchen she flew with the Doctor in her upwash.

“So there I stood………………… I gave them a wing dip.”

The Doctor and XX-HS burst into cheers and shared their joy with a hug and kiss.

“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.