Osprey Tales

“Well, it’s August,” announced the Doctor.

“August it is,” confirmed Harriett without a second thought.

Harriet on their new future aerie

“August is special. Isn’t that right Harriett?” proclaimed the Doctor.

“Special? Sure, special if you say so. Special in what way?”

Well, August is the month baby sea turtles emerge from their nursery.  In Florida they break out in July. Here in North Carolina, loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings emerge in August, to make their way toward the ocean. Watch this video to see their late-night scuttle to freedom.

http://usat.ly/1rJKDeW

“Many wonderful things happen in August, the Doctor continued with an overly buoyant enthusiasm.”

“How do you feel, Harriett?”

“I feel fine Doctor, why do you ask?” Harriett responded with suspicion.

“Well, you know……… It’s August,” prompted the Doctor once again. ” This is the month you, Ozzie and Tweedy will be migrating south. That is special, is it not?”

Sensing the Doctor had a secondary agenda for this morning’s telepathy, Harriett responded cautiously.

“Yes, August it is,” she repeated.  “And sure, August can be special. What else is on your mind?” Inquired our Bird feigning indifference.

The Doctor was having difficulty directing Harriett towards the conversation he had in mind.

He gave it another try.

“What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when July 31 becomes August 1?” Asked the Doctor.

A full minute of silence ensued.  Harriett looked around for the missing pieces.

The Doctor continued,    “Don’t you have a special emotional attachment to this month?”

“What? Emotional attachment?” Harriet chirruped, starting to become annoyed.

“What is the Doctor thinking?  Certainly not that emotions, especially human-like emotions, affect us Raptors.  He has something else in mind; I know it. Yes; he wants something.   I am sure.” Harriett concluded.

Harriett breathed in the serenity of North River on this particular August morning.

North River August 1, 2014

She surveyed the landscape, then returned her attention to the Doctor’s open telepathic channels.

“Like what kind of emotions are you thinking about?” She strung him along.

“Like any emotions.” The Doctor’s telepathy suddenly seemed weakened and unsure of itself.

“I like August.  It’s my favorite month,” piped up Harriett, baiting the Doctor to expose himself some more.

“What sort of emotional attachments do YOU have with this month; the approaching end to school summer vacation?” She smirked.

The Doctor cringed.  “She’s playing with me!”  The Doctor’s intuition was functioning well.  Yes of course, the Doctor realized.  This is the Harriett I have grown to know and love.  There isn’t anything new here.  She is playing with me; no doubt.  The Doctor was sure.  He knew Harriett better that she knew herself.

“I can play this game too,” thought the Doctor.

But he was worried.  What he has in mind is important to him and his readers. One small favor.

“Harriett,” said the Doctor.  “You are my most trusted friend, and, well………  I have a very special favor to ask.”

“I knew it!” squawked Harriett.  “I knew it was coming.  Can’t wait to hear what he’s up to.”

Temptation is the desire to perform an action that one may enjoy immediately or in the short term, but will probably be regretted later for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt), health-related, economic, etc.

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”
― Mae West

Under the influence

Harriett realized she was under the influence; under the power, the alluring, the exciting, the seductive power of our topic today.

“Holy Moly, my oh me! Me my, oh!  No, is it so?”  Harriett’s brain was incoherently raving.  “Good Grief, it will not let me go!”  Her lunacy continued.

Harriett suddenly recognizing her defenselessness against temptation.

Eavesdropping on the Doctor’s cell phone calls was controlling her life.

“Get a grip! Grip, grip, grip……….” echoed the Mysterious Narrator.

Harriet flailed helplessly.   “Resist I cannot!”

Help!

It did not take long for Harriett to get a grip:

“Resist, resist, resist,” she was exhorting herself.

When……….

“Resist What?” Asked the Doctor.

A mind numbing shock wave washed over sweet Harriett.

Thunderstruck, she fell over backwards.  In shock she could only stammer, “Oh, #$%!  What?  #%&!  Hello,  Is that you Doctor?”

“Yes, Harriett it is,” replied the Doctor calmly, indifferently, almost reassuringly.

Harriett was sick with anxiety, helplessness and dread.  She became nauseated and began to tremble.

“Have you been receiving my latest thoughts?”  Harriett managed, in a near panic.  She feared the worst, and she realized the worst was about to happen.

“Yes I have.”

Harriett’s heart stopped.  She was about to die.  Then she realized the Doctor’s thought transference came across gently, nervelessly, lovingly and as clear as rebirth into a crystalline state of purity.

They were non-judgmental, compassionate, lovingly wise.

“Oh Doctor, I am so, so sorry….”  Harriett was mortified.  She began to cry.

“No, no, Harriett.  Do not cry.  Worry not my brave confidant.  I assure you. You are in good company. We are all tested at one time or another.  Let’s just chalk this up to a learning experience.”

“OK, ok, Doctor.” Harriett whispered timidly.  “Doctor, are you ….. sure?” she choked.

“Yes, of course.”

She wanted to tell the Doctor she loved, him but it didn’t feel right at this time.

Nonetheless, the Doctor’s telepathy skills are so improved that he felt it.

It was a Blue-Orange Sunrise this morning.

The Doctor Calls

“Harriett? Harriett, are you there?” The Doctor directed his thought, as the osprey flies, straight as an arrow, towards the platform.

Both O & H were perched high, upon their rebuilt home.

O & H slightly out of focus

“Is this as high as we can get?” complained Ozzie. “We are only 12 feet above the water line, for goodness sake.”

“Don’t complain,” enjoined Harriett. “We need to be thankful for the Doctor’s efforts. Besides, rumor has it the Doctor has bought an 8 x 8, 25 foot piling from the Happy Osprey lumber yard.”

“Chirp,” Ozzie chimed in.

“And that’s not all,” she giggled. “Today he bought 6 cedar three foot 1 x 6’s, two eight foot juniper 5 x 2’s, and a single five foot 2 x 6 of treated yellow pine.”

“How do you know all this?” Ozzie inquired.

“Well,” Harriett paused, her head slightly bowed.

Uncomfortably, Harriett shifted from right talons to left. And then she admitted; “I’ve been monitoring his cell phone calls.”

“What!” Squawked Ozzie.

“What do mean, ‘What?’?” Cringed our heroine.

“You know what I mean, when I say ‘What!’” forewarned Ozzie.

“Are you suggesting I should not have listened in?” (How coy can one get)

“You are @&%! right, that is exactly what I am suggesting!”

Ozzie was not happy.

Ozzie very annoyed with Harriett

“Ozzie,” she piped. “I like the way your brown brow stripes furrows at times.”

And………..Harriett skillfully talked her way out of another uncomfortable situation.

aerie*  (noun \ˈer-ē, ˈir-, ˈā-(ə-)rē\)

The nest of a bird of prey, built high in a tree, cliff or man-made platform.

“Watch where you put your wing tips, Ozzie.  The Doctor has the camera working again.”

“I can’t believe it,” said Ozzie. “I didn’t think he was that smart.”

Ozzie is zealously rebuilding the nest. Whoever coined the term “frustration aerie” must have been one of those half empty humans. From now on, this nest building situation will be called “Future Aerie”.

*Warning:  Do not Google “aerie”.  You will see pictures of bras and female underwear.

Who has red-orange eyes? Whose flight feathers are tipped in white? Who has a specked light brown necklace just like her mother’s? And who has grown bigger and stronger than both of her parents?

Hello Tweedy. It’s nice of you to stop by.

Tweedy was picking her beak after a snack of speckled trout. She caught it on her first dive and wanted her mother to know. She is a fully grown young adult with powerful wings and her Dad’s instinctive fishing abilities.

Tweedy, like her mother, is an independent thinker. She considers the hurricane a natural part of her life.

“So, this is the way it is; I can handle it.”

She mostly came by to assuage the Doctor’s anxiety over her state of well-being. The Doctor appreciates it very much.

Does not she look good? Those young male chicks in South America will have their wings full.

Her talons really turn the Doctor on.

Tweedy is alive. This happy affirmation found a comfortable spot in the Doctor’s prefrontal cortex and is contented.

The Doctor’s remaining web cam ceased to function at 05:50 this morning. The Doctor has had a tough year with his equipment.

No eulogy please. He is proud of this old camera. It survived the hurricane and two days of high tide, nearly drowning its spirit. Around here we don’t look backwards; we keep moving forward, anticipating new osprey excitement and new ideas. Curiosity obligates our interest.

The Eyrie

Some observers of ospreys note that breeding pairs often construct a new nest following a natural disaster. The nest, called an “eyrie”, is generally built on the top of what remains of their old nest, or in this case their nesting platform. It is usually a weak intimation of their original nest.

Before our camera winked out, it courageously gave us these images.

It would not be right not to thank you for your dedicated service.

Thank you, Outdoor Web Camera #38-F, Beta pixel augment 4, Digital Relay 6 DVR; T-Mobile Sprint image processor Pro.

Do not think you are unappreciated.

Now we must get back to the Doctor’s Affirmations.

Daydreaming at the kitchen counter, the Doctor haphazardly gazed at Old North River’s receding tide, hoping his mood would not follow. The need to get a personal, close-up photo of Tweedy gnawed at his sense of certainty, despite the definitive proclamation, from the world’s most renowned naturalist, that the evidence presented thus far is conclusive of Tweedy’s survival.

Unperceived by said Doctor, two friendly ethereal affirmations, signifying truth and nature, circled the room above him. They were jovial and anxious to enter the Doctor’s psych.

Two good willed affirmations

The Doctor is about to experience them both, first like a child comprehending simple mathematics and then like Plato’s Analogy of the Cave.

 Harriett Breaks the Silence 

“Hello Doctor”.  The telepathy passed through the ether at the speed of light.

Like a rogue ocean wave, unexpected and overwhelming, this telepathic thought crashed into the Doctor’s brain, supersaturating and overflowing its meager capacity, but washing it in happiness.

Harriett’s telepathy was strong and clear. Crystal clear, distinct and direct, as if she had something important to say.

“Oh!” The Doctor vocalized before realizing he was not in transference mode.

Overly excited, he spun to look at the newly up-righted platform.

In the process he knocked his sardine and anchovy sandwich onto the floor.

Marley was on it in a flash, but on further inspection, let it lay, neglecting his floor cleaning responsibilities.

But, the newly up-righted platform was empty.

Then;

“Over here,” entered his brain like a laser beam.

The Doctor spun again.   And there was she.

Harriett, his beloved, perched on a limb of the Great White Oak they had lived in two years ago.

Harriett

Fish in talon, she stood confidently, sleek and trim, as beautiful as ever, pulling at the Doctor’s heart strings like never before.

Discombobulated, the Doctor had to control-alt-delete to regain his composure.

“Yes, hello,” the Doctor managed in a broken, child-like telepathic response.

“Harriett?……….Is it you? ………Yes of course, yes, it must be …..who else?” transferred the befuddled Doctor.

 “How are you?” Asked Harriett without a trace of circumspection.

Nonplused, the Doctor momentarily paused, then continued.

“How am I?” The Doctor repeated incredulously.

“It’s not me, how I am, I am how, you are.” The Doctor butchered the Angel’s telepathy.

The Doctor steadied himself and then sent a clear thought transference.

“Are you alright? Harriett?”

Harriett felt the stress in the Doctor’s transfer.

“Relax Doctor. Take it easy,” reassured Harriett.  “I am fine, just fine.”

“Oh, I’m just fine, just fine,” spewed the Doctor sarcastically.

If anything, telepathy augments sarcasm, which of course did not go unnoticed by our Bird.

In an attempt to put the Doctor at ease, Harriett replied, “I am well. Why do you ask?”

“What?!” Exhaled the Doctor. “Are you kidding? Why do I ask”? Sarcasm now gone; derision raising its ugly head.

There was a long uncomfortable pause in their communication.

Finally the Doctor broke the silence.

“Why no telepathy in nine days”? The Doctor inquired in good faith.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. Had a few things on my mind”.

Her casualness perplexed our human protagonist.

“A few things on your mind? Is that all? I’ve been worried sick about you.” The Doctor humbled himself.

“Worried about me? Why?’

The Doctor stopped to collect his thoughts. Was he missing something?

“Well, Harriett, you know……………the hurricane, your nest, Tweedy’s fate and no communication from you. How could I not worry?”

“Oh, all that,” replied Harriett. “That was just Mother Nature”.

Slowly the Doctor began to realize he did not have a good grasp of the situation. Harriett realized it too.

Harriett sensed the Doctor’s anxiety and continued her thought transferences, in an effort to avoid another awkward pause.

“I hate to admit it, but Ozzie and I got into a big argument the day after the storm. He wanted to head South early to catch the World Cup, and our disagreement got out of control. It was embarrassing. Certainly you will excuse me, while I keep my own house in order”.

“But what about Tweedy and what about your home?”

Now Harriett paused to further assess the situation herself. She realized the Doctor needed more education; a lot more education.

Sympathetically, Harriett began.

Nature 101

“Many humans do not understand nature. They think there is divine intervention in our lives, when in fact the natural order of things, are indeed natural, and cannot to be equated with the will of God”.

Well at least it was a start………………………

Morning

Today could not have been more beautiful. The sunrise was pink-orange.  It illuminated the blue-gray morning clouds, promising a brief shower later in the day.  A July Carolina day followed, bringing happiness to the Doctor and his family.

“Arf”, said Cleo.

“Arf, Arf’, replied Marley.

Sunrise from the Doctor’s big nest

Midday

The local fishermen were hard at work.

Afternoon

Conditions were right.  Blue sky, sun at 2 o’clock, wind at 6 knots, O & H just dying to be photographed.

The Doctor had his new D5200 Nikon digital camera, with all its fancy lenses set up.  The battery was changed and the chip in place.  It was focused and ready to shoot.

But then a couple of the Doctor’s bridge friends came over and said, “Let’s Play Bridge”.

The following image came to the Doctor’s mind:

 Addiction

Doctor could not resist.

“I’ll just play a few hands”, he told his friends. Which of course lead to more hands, and then some more and then more.

The Doctor thought he had shaken all of his addictions, but he was wrong.

Unable to not play, and at the same time watching O & H out the back window, lead to a most difficult psychological challenge.

“It was hard to concentrate”, admitted the Doctor.

“Hard to concentrate?  You’ve got to be kidding.  He was helpless, unable to divert his attention away from O & H, who were engaged in all sorts of activities just outside his big nest window”.*

In particular the Doctor wanted to get a singular photo of Tweedy, to resolve his anguish once and for all.

But the competition was keen.

“One heart, one spade, two no trump”…….what’s an osprey friend to do?

The Female Human that lives with the Doctor, also his bridge partner, understood his inattention and said nothing of his poor play. Their opponents just thought, “Well, you know, he gets like that sometime”.

Evening

After a brief rain shower, the sun brought out the best in The North River.  The marsh grass turned iridescent golden-green  and the sky offered, “Here you are, God loves you”; a rainbow; brilliant, glorious, magnificent.

Double Rainbow behind the Doctor’s big nest

*”Does any one know this mysterious, omniscient third person narrator that seems to have taken over”?  asked the Doctor.

A picture paints a thousand words.

The platform had not been restored an hour, before out of the blue, the Female that lives with the Doctor noticed an osprey circling high above .

“Click”, went her camera.

Picture #1

A single osprey high above the uprighted platform.  No doubt about it.

“Click”, again.

Confirmation. Definitely a single osprey soaring above the Doctor’s big nest.  Is that a second bird too?  Your guess is as good as mine.

“Good eyes for a human”, said this mysterious narrator.

“You are a doubting Thomas”, chided the Human Female that lives with the Doctor.

To add fuel to the fire, she became the Devil’s Advocate for Tweedy’s certain survival.

The Doctor’s gut feeling was the contrary, but he dare not hint of his misgivings.  In deference to his better half he graciously bit his tongue.

The Doctor took a home school, cram course on how to use his new Nikon D5200 digital camera, with all its fancy lenses, finished in fifteen minutes and settled himself at the back of his big nest to expect the unexpected.

It did not take long.

“Click”, went the Doctor’s Nikon D5200.

Two osprey soaring at high altitude.  Without a doubt.

“Click”, once again.

No question about it. Two osprey high above their previous home.

Then suddenly;

“Three osprey! Three osprey”! blurted out the Doctor, as he sprang from the back porch, into the kitchen, tripping over the door jam, bouncing off the floor and landing on Marley who was sleeping peacefully under the kitchen counter.

Arf! Arf! exclaimed Marley, expressing his sentiments in no uncertain terms. 

These observations may not have evoked such a response from the Doctor, if not for the fact that Ozzie was nonchalantly standing on the oyster rock not more than 200 yards away.

The osprey friends ran out to see for themselves.

Seeings is believing.

Now look at this photo.

There are three ospreys in this photo. Harriett and Tweedy are on the oyster rock and Ozzie is on the marker at the far right., the Osprey Friends concluded.