Osprey Tales

Detritus is where the energy lies.  It has been captured from the sun.  Energy hungry animals can’t wait to take a bite.

Meiofauna are microscopic invertebrates that live between sediment grains and feed on detritus, bacteria, and protozoans.  The term “meiofauna” loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna, rather than a taxonomic grouping.

Filterfeeders 

Bivalves are mollusks. They possess two shells which hinge at one edge and can be closed tightly when threatened or out of the water. They are filter feeders gaining nourishment by filtering tiny organisms and digestible debris (detitus) from the water. Some are sedentary, attaching themselves to a substrate (oysters, mussels), some burrow and move around on the bottom (clams) and a few can swim (scallops).
                                                      
Mollusks are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms

Here are some more examples of North Carolina filter feeders:

Deposit feeders such as polychaetes (read worms), amphipods (read shrimp), and snails utilize a wide range of foods including decaying plant material, bacteria, protozoans, diatoms, fungi, and meiofauna.

One of the major primary consumers are the Polychaetes.

“Personally I don’t like them.  As a mater of fact just thinking about them gives me the creeps and kind of makes me sick.  But the wadding birds love them.  Gourmet dining, they say.”

“And just think,” said Harriett.

“All of this from sunshine and the marsh cord grass.”

“But what is even more amazing, we haven’t even scratched the surface of the food chain.”

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to comprehend why I should be at the top.”  This is one of the mysteries for the Doctor and me to discuss.”

As always, with love,

Harriett

Salt marshes are marshy because the soil is composed of deep mud and peat. Peat is made of decomposing plant matter that is often several feet thick.  The salt marsh life cycle may have been undisturbed for hundreds of years.

   
The soil of a salt marsh

Peat is waterlogged, root-filled, and very spongy. Because salt marshes are frequently submerged by the tides and contain a lot of decomposing plant material, oxygen levels in the peat can be extremely low. The growth of bacteria under condidions of low oxygen produce the wonderful aroma that is associated with marshes and mud flats.

                                          
Microorganisms of the salt marsh. Can you distinguish the bacteria form the fungi from the algae, protozoa?

Detritus
noun, de·tri·tus
1. any disintegrated material; debris.

In biology, detritus is dead particulate organic material.  Detritus is typically colonized by communities of microorganisms which act to decompose the material.

 
See the primary consumer?

What’s next in the food chain?

Omnipotent Omnipresent Omniscient

“The sun god (Ra – Egyptians, Helios – Greeks, Mithras – Persians, Apollo – Romans, Huitzilopochtli – Inca) takes charge every day,” said Harriett’s great, great, great, great, great… grandfather.

Harriett knows because of her epigenetic memory.

“Let them believe what they want,” quipped Triple O.  “I put it there for their speculation.”

“I also put over 100,000 million stars in this little galaxy (Milky Way) and about one fourth are similar to the sun.  BTW, I’ve also created over 1 billion galaxies.  And that is just in the observable universe of H. sapians.  The parts of the universe H. sapians have yet to see hold some nice surprises.

“Come on Triple O,” remarked Harriett.   “Stop taunting us.”

Energy from the Sun powers all life on Earth.  It comes as electromagnetic radiation. The energy comes in the right amount, shape and form; not too many X-rays, radio waves, IR or UV waves.

Visible light is just right.

“I like visible light,” said Harriett.

The atmosphere takes out most of the harmful radiation before it reaches the ground. The ozone layer in the lower stratosphere is especially important in protecting living things from UV exposure.

“I put the atmosphere there too,” teased Triple O.

Plants (marsh grass) use this energy to make plant matter by photosynthesis.

The plant matter (marsh grass) dies in the winter and the food chain begins.

The Food Chain……

The Salt Marsh
 “There’s nothing like a Spring salt marsh,” remarked Harriett.

“The first thing you should know about our salt marsh is that it is self sustaining.”

Marine life in salt marshes is incredibly diverse and abundant. Salt marsh species rely on the decay of marsh plants to supply a steady source of food in the form organic material, or detritus, resulting from the decomposition of plants and animals.

Most marsh plants flourish in the spring and summer, growing taller and more abundant. In the fall, they begin to decay and are distributed in the marsh where they become the first level of the food chain.

Bacteria, algae, and fungi decompose the Detritus resulting from salt marsh plants. These microorganisms and the remaining decomposing plant material become an ideal source of food for bottom-dwellers like worms, fishes, crabs, and shrimps.

Detritus
noun, de·tri·tus
1. any disintegrated material; debris.

Sorry about the camera going out again but the Doctor is working on it.  He will be certified IT crazy before all this is done.  It’s not the hardware connection this time. The glitch is somewhere in the software connecting our camera’s IP address to the Internet. But don’t worry, he will figure it out.

The Doctor thinks

The Doctor looked behind his desk.

It looked like Medusa was taking a nap back there

“I’ll just have to think some more,” thought the Doctor .

Thinking some more

What is more important now is life on planet Earth.

I think he can give you a glimpse of life on planet Earth with his words and pictures.

Please remember, the Doctor wants to consider himself at least a novice photographer and writer, so be careful not to hurt his feelings.

A few more backyard photos:

     
Pictures taken by the Doctor’s friend, photographer Joe Ring

The Doctor can do better once he learns how to use his new photo editing software, but right now that priority is far down his list.

Harriett Raptor

 May 16, 2015

     
Harriet broods comfortably and observes the Doctor.

“I see the Doctor on the back porch of his giant nest almost every day. He has that camera set upon a tripod that he moves back and forth from one side of the porch to the other. Osprey friend #42 is an amateur photographer.  He spent the weekend with the Doctor several weeks ago and set the gold standard for bird photography.”

“It is rare these days that the Doctor forgets the lens cap, battery and chip, that’s not to say he still does it on occasion. Now he’s trying to figure out why the flash sometimes pops up in broad daylight, why the shutter will not release when he presses the button, what all these other buttons and knobs and dials and switches are for, and why his pictures are not as good as Osprey friend’s #42.”

“I know he’s still a novice but I’ve encouraged him to show you some of the pictures anyway.”

“I like fiddler crabs,” said Isaac the Incredible Ibis.

More to come……

Harriett:

“Every evening, Monday-Friday, around 6 o’clock the Doctor gets home from work. The first thing he does is scan the backyard for bird activity. If he sees any, immediately he  picks up his camera, with the tripod and new fancy lens.   He makes his way towards the back porch of his giant nest and makes himself comfortable.  If the Female H. sapien is already home he kisses her on the way out. Sometimes  he doesn’t even change his clothes. He pulls down his neck tie and kicks off his shoes. Sometimes a glass of Seagrams 7 and Diet Coke miraculously joins him.”

“I watch him do it day after day.”

“Yesterday I had to laugh when the Doctor saw Ozzie waiting for him. He almost tripped and fell with camera, tripod, new lens and Seagrams 7, as he tried to scramble into position.

Marley and Cleo did not help.

At 5:58 PM the Doctor’s best friends comfortably awaited his arrival..

Marley and Cleo calmly wait for the Doctor to get home.

When the back door opened……..

“Arf! Pet me,” barked Marley.

Marley’s 75 pounds jumped, bumped and bounced off the Doctor.

“Arf, Arf!  Pet me!” Enjoined Cleo.

The two Canines competed for the Doctor’s attention.  Soon it was “hey, where’s my supper, as as opposed to, “pet me!, pet me!

“The photos he got Thursday evening are very nice. I hope he will share them with you.”

Lots of love,

Harriett

“It’s almost 6 o’clock,” said Harriett.

“So what,” replied Ozzie, feigning ignorance.

“We talked about this before!”  Harriett abruptly burst forth a disapproving vocalization.

“I want you to go down there and be neighborly.”

“Down where?” Ozzie stalled.

Harriett’s tolerance could no longer prevent the straw from breaking her back.

“In the marsh just behind the Doctor’s giant nest!”

Harriett tried in vain to contain her outrage. She felt a fleeting rush of anger towards her loved one.

“Well, I don’t want to,” was Ozzie’s untimely retort, making the situation worse.

Harriet turned to Ozzie and gave him one of her serious looks.

“It doesn’t matter if you want to or not. The Doctor has been good to us and we need to be neighborly.”

“Yeah, but I don’t feel like going right now.” Ozzie continues oblivious to Harriett’s outrage.

Ozzie did not read Harriett’s body language accurately.

“You are obstinate, self serving, unappreciative, and lacking in empathy! ”

Harriett unleashed her sentiments.

“When you’re a celebrity you have certain responsibilities to your friends.  Have not heard of H. sapiens William and Kate?  Well, they have it mastered. ”

“Since when am I a celebrity?  Ozzie continued to resist.

“Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie,” Harriet shook her head with exasperation.

“Ozzie, why do you underestimate yourself?  Look at yourself from the eyes of your H. sapien friends.  Who flies to or from South America twice a year?  Who has survived the cruel world of mother nature and come out on top?  Who found the North River and brought me here?  Who help me build this wonderful nest?  Who fought off that horrible Ivan the Terrible?  Who got me so excited I laid 3 eggs?  And who is the best fisherman of all time? Do I have to go on?”

Ozzie smiled and in perfect English said,

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Darn good looking bird,” said the Female H. sapien that lives with the Doctor, in his giant nest on the bank of the North River.

“I don’t know,” said Ozzie. “I don’t like them fooling around near our nest.”

“It’ll just be for a few minutes,” Harriet explained.  “Something is wrong with the camera and they need to figure it out.”

Ozzie cocked his head and glared at the Doctor’s giant nest on the bank of the North River.

“Are you sure we can trust them?”

This question made Harriett very angry.

“Trust the Doctor? I can’t believe you said that!”

Ozzie deflected his mate’s harsh words with detached indifference.

“If they start fooling around with our eggs,” Ozzie warned.  “I’ll come in with talons bared like you’ve never seen before.”

“Take it easy,” responded Harriet.  “The Doctor is our friend.”

10 AM Sunday morning

Tropical storm Ada.  This is what it looked like on channel 12 doppler radar:

Winds from the southwest; 45 mile-per-hour gust.  Horizontal rain.  Would you let your child go out and play under these conditions?

The A team arrives right on time. A few substitutions had to be made. The subs were the tough guys. Do not use the word “difficult” around them.

The Doctor walked them into his office.

“No link – flash, no link – flash, no link – flash,” screamed the monitor.

It gave the Doctor had a headache.

It gave the tough guys inspiration and motivation.

“Do not worry Doctor, we will be right back!”

Another rain band made itself known.  A curtain of water covered the Taj Mahal.

“Maybe we should give it a few more minutes,” said the Doctor.

He may as well have been talking to the Navy SEALs.

The A team’s movements were accurate and precise.

“Is that an Eye Chart?” Asked tough Guy # 1.  “That’s weird.”

“Well, it’s the Doctor, you know,” said tough guy # 2.

“Ah ha.”

“Ozzie and I gave them some distance. That’s not to say that Ozzie was not agitated throughout the entire procedure. At one point I thought he was going to attack tough guy # 2, but I talked him out of it thank goodness.

Meanwhile, the Doctor sat in his easy chair, in his giant nest and took pictures of the proceedings, while sipping on a Bloody Mary.

“Is this Absolute or Gray goose,” thought the Doctor.

Problem identified

The supposedly waterproof box containing the power converter for the coaxial cable is full water.

“I could’ve told you that,” said Harriett.

“Well, why didn’t you?” Asked the Doctor.

“Well, I thought you knew what you were doing when you put the camera up.”

The Doctor pursed his lips, then turned to the A team.

He shook hands with the tough guys and gave them knuckles.

“Just let us know if we can help further,” said tough guy #1 and #2.

The Doctor ordered a new power converter from Amazon and requested next day delivery.

“How about stopping by at 7 PM (low tide) on Wednesday evening?”

“No problema, see you then.”

Harriett Brooding

Attention!

Osprey friend number 163 has voiced an important concern.

Perhaps Harriett is using her telepathic and telekinetic powers to disable the camera on this Mother’s Day weekend. Perhaps she just wants a little privacy.

Harriett shows off her 3 eggs

The Doctor tried to contact Harriett regarding this matter. She did not respond to his thought transfer.

Now the Doctor is worried.