Osprey Tales

Nestling
            

Nestling – A young, recently hatched osprey that has not yet grown flight feathers and is unable to fly. Nestlings are entirely dependent on their parents for food and protection.

Fledgling

As osprey mature and begin to grow their adult flight feathers, they are no longer called nestlings and instead are referred to as fledglings.

        
(Note the eye color)

Fledgling – A young osprey that has grown enough to acquire its initial flight feathers and is preparing to leave the nest. Young birds that have left the nest but do not yet have all their adult plumage and are still fed by the parent birds are also referred to as fledglings.

Fledgling plumage is most visible on a bird’s wings and tail, where the flight feathers will appear much shorter than an adult’s feathers. Fledglings are capable of flying but are inexperienced and may seem reluctant to fly or may show difficulty with takeoffs, landings or distance flight. As the feathers continue to grow, the birds will gain more flying skill and their plumage will become indistinguishable from adult birds.

Week # 5

O&H cannot be more proud; proud but responsible parents.

The danger for Tweedy has just begun. Studies show that only 50% of raptors survive their first year after fledging. Migration is risky business. In just a few weeks Tweedy must be prepared for the dangerous and grueling migration to South America. It’s well over 1000 miles.

.

I couldn’t help but send you this video, before the Doctor gets home. He leaves the office window in his big nest open for me at night. I’m sure he will be excited when he sees it.

Did the Doctor’s “Link” work?

Go to https://ospreytales.wordpress.com/ .
You can “subscribe by e-mail” on the right side of page.

Harriett O. Raptor
Doctor’s Platform
North River Carteret Co. NC
hc.merrick@vitalsignsnc.com
Latitude: 34.7286515079363
Longitude: -76.6212389981747

The Doctor wants to cover the development of Tweedy from her birth to her migration south” repeated Harriett.

“Can he do it”? Asks she, as if challenging the faith and loyalty of the Doctor’s friends.

“I have a question for the faithful”, she continued.

“Who remembers the experiences of Riki, my first born, during his first 18 months of life”?

Silence released the discomfort she knew all her readers politely harbored.

There was a long uneasy quiet, just as she expected.

Unperturbed, Harriett announced, “I am going to ask the Doctor if he can create a “link” to the past”. “It will give him something to do this weekend”.

“Meanwhile I will prepare the information that all humans should know regarding birth, growth, development and maturation of the our species”. Without such basic knowledge, our goal of Saving the World or at least Life on Planet Earth will be impossible.

The Doctor said to try this:

“Link” to Good Bye Riki.

“Hello Tweedy. Good morning Harriett. Hello Ozzie”, the Doctor perfunctorily addresses us this morning, as if saying good morning to his office staff in a half awake sleep-fog.

“I really don’t like this tone of telepathy”, thought Harriett.

“Aren’t you being a little hard on him”, came back the Doctor’s Guardian Angel.

My good friend, the Doctor continued, “What’s going on up there”?

The Doctor’s pantomimed sincerity made me think of Mr. Obama’s show of confidence in his foreign policy.

Harriett threw up.

“It’s been 33 days”……..the Doctor casually remarked.

His sarcastic inference was so obvious, I had to wonder about his sixth sense.

“He thinks he knows so much”, Harriett continued her thought process.

The Doctor continued with his unintentional stupidity.

“My books say…………………….”

Stop!

The Doctor wants to cover the development of osprey chicks from birth to adolescence, growth, maturation, leaving the nest, flying and fending for themselves.

He realizes the task may be too much for him, so forgive him for any statements he makes that I may have to correct later.

Be compassionate and/or empathetic, what ever may be your case.

 
But wait! This may be one of those rare times when the Doctor magnificently raises to the occasion. Like the time he built the nest platform for us, or back in 2012 when he helped me get home after that horrible experience in Havana, or when he rescued Ozzie from a sure death at sea last year. Let us wait and see.

Harriett

The Doctor is ecstatic. He has been asked to talk to Mrs. Asbell’s kindergarten class about us.

“Osprey Day” they call it, and the Doctor is a special guest.

I coached him to think like a kid, be like a kid, and by all means make it interesting for a kid.

“I will”, promised my significant other and best friend.

Harriett sent the Doctor off with love and warmth in her heart

The classroom was chaotic and full of excitement. A respectful hush floated across the room as the Doctor entered.

“Boys and Girls this is……” Mrs. Asbell began, but no introduction was necessary.

“How old is Tweedy? Do you like her name? When will she fly? Does she like fish? Does Harriett snuggle with her? Can she read yet? What color are Tweedy’s eyes?”

“What color are Tweedy’s eyes?”

The Doctor thought about this for a moment.

“What color are Tweedy’s eyes”? Rhetorically, he repeated the question to himself out loud.

He was not sure how to answer this question and paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.

“What color are your eyes”? The Doctor began.

“Blue, green, brown”, rebounded a chorus of responses.

“And what color do you think Tweedy’s eyes are”? The doctor continued with confidence.

“Blue, green, red, purple, yellow, orange, black, brown, pink, magenta!”

Did a five year old human just say “magenta”? He thought to himself.

“Well…..continued the Doctor, eye color in the osprey is a very interesting subject”.

The children hung on every word.

Elated and emboldened the Doctor began as he slipped into a semi-hypnoptic state.

“Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye’s iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris”.

“What”? Said little Jimmy.

“The brightly colored eyes of many bird species result from the presence of other pigments, such as pteridines, purines, and carotenoids”, continured the Doctor happily.

Little Jeanie saw a cardinal out the classroom window. She pointed it out to Jimmy.

“Humans and other animals have many phenotypic variations in eye color. The genetics of eye color are complicated, and color is determined by multiple genes. So far, as many as 15 genes have been associated with eye color inheritance”, continued my oblivious soul mate.

Dumbfounded and disappointed the children stared at the Doctor in disbelief.

My man drooled on……….

“Some of the eye-color genes include OCA2 and HERC2. The once-held view that blue eye color is a simple recessive trait has been shown to be incorrect. The genetics of eye color are so complex that almost any parent-child combination of eye colors can occur. However, OCA2 gene polymorphism, close to proximal 5′ regulatory region, explains most human eye-color variation”.

“This is boring”! Cried out a pretty little girl named Molly. “Really, really boring”.

Mrs. Asbell looked distraught.

I tried frantically to get through to him, but he was so self-absorbed in his new role as Kindergarten teacher he would not respond.

Finally Mrs. Asbell announced, “bathroom break”.

A flurry of activity erupted and suddenly the classroom was quiet.

Mrs. Asbell did not know what to say, but just then I got through to him.

What the #$%! Are you doing!

(Sometimes you have to be very frank with the Doctor).
Hey, look osprey dignity is at stake here.

“What do you mean”? Asked the Doctor incredulously.

“Think like a child! Talk like a child! Act like a child! You dumb #*%*!”!

The Doctor’s attention had been caught.

“Wow, I’ve never felt Harriett so upset. Maybe I should turn down the sensitivity on my telepathy”.

Bathroom break was over.

“Where is the Doctor?” A convergence of thought created by the children inquired.

Nowhere is he to be seen.

Mrs. Asbell zipped up little Mark’s pants. At least he did not need to be wiped anymore, and kidergarten continued as though there had been no disruption. Little Molly was about to discuss various Princesses from the 13th century when the Doctor reentered the classrom dressed like this:

It was the best he could do impromptu.

“Now let’s get serious”, said he.

In many birds of prey, the eye color changes as the bird matures and can serve as a means of determining an individual’s age. Adult ospreys have brilliant yellow eyes, but they are not born with this color eye. The osprey’s eye color changes from blood red in nestlings to orange-yellow in juveniles to yellow in adults.

Ospreys, when they hatch, have dark blue eyes. After a few days, the eye color starts to change to a deep reddish-orange color and they then remain like this for their migration to South America. When ospreys return north to breed at the age of two or three however, the eyes are suddenly a bright yellow color!

Now for your test:

I will show you pictures of an osprey. You tell me if it is a baby or a teenager or an adult.

Ready?  OK.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

End of test

Here I am feeding Tweedy. Look at the nice bracelets the Doctor has given me.

There was a powerful flapping sound from out side the school house window. The children ran for cover.

Look what just flew in the window!

The Doctor awoke with a start.

This whole episode has been a dream. Everyone knows school is out for the summer.

Whew! “Thought the Doctor.  No embarrassment to carry”.

But……….
 
“Did I really give Harriett a bracelet?  I hope she doesn’t read anything into it”.

Amen

It’s been four weeks since you were born.  The Heavens seem happy. All is well.

I’m not just bragging because Tweedy is my daughter, but Tweedy is growing much faster and is a lot more mature that Riki was at 4 weeks of age last year.

Just look at her!  Tweedy is so very active, so much so that Ozzie has had to build the borders of the nest higher.  She looks around in anticipation of Ozzies’ arrival with food.  Tweedy is stretching her wings, beginning to show feathers and practically grabbing food from me when it arrives.

My Tweedy is one heck of an Osprey!

Proud Mom,

Harriett

Chinese hamster

The Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus), is a species of hamster originating from the deserts of northern China and Mongolia.

It is unique only in that it is the only natural predator of the gremlin. The life span of a gremlin, on average is 100 years. Chinese hamsters live two to three years on average.

The Chinese hamster kills a gremlin with its midnight black, death delivering eyes. Once the two make eye contact, their vision and minds lock into an inescapable death grip. Once transfixed, the gremlin has no chance; it cannot look away. Much the way a bulldog wins its fights by tenaciously clamping its jaws on its adversary’s neck ands never letting go.

The mechanism of action is not fully understood, but the prevailing theory is this:

The reflection of the gremlins malicious deeds in totality, compacted and focused into a single thought wave, is returned from the hamster’s pearly black eyes and produces an unresolvable moral and/or ethical dichotomy that cannot be reconciled. The gremlin’s relatively advanced cerebral cortex cannot process this conflict, becomes confused, disoriented and its memory begins to be rapidly erased.

In a desperate attempt to save itself, the gremlin’s brain passes the conflict to the temporal lobes only to cause deafness, blindness and an inability to vocalize. Sometimes there is a brief seizure before the problem is pass onto the brainstem where breathing stops and there is no support for BP or cardiac function.

The entire process takes 5 to 8 minutes.

This uniqueness of the Chinese hamster is known only to a few select scientist. All of whom live in the West.

I can tell you no more. The rest is classified as Top Secret. I will however let you know what the Doctor is up to, if I can count on your discretion.

Trustfully,
Harriett

“Bad news for the Doctor”, said Harriet. “He will not be happy”.

“The Doctor was sure Mike the Gremlin worked alone”. But look what Cleo just dragged into the yard.

A Baby Gremlin

“&#%!@? $#&^@! ?*^#$@ !$%#*! ……….. !”

“I had to step back, it shocked me so. I never suspected the Doctor could swear like this:

Darn! Confound it! Sugar! Jiminy Cricket! Doggone it! Golly! Gee whiz! Heck! Dang nabbit!

On behalf of my very best friend, I want to apologize to all of you for his poor judgment, heinous vulgarity, as well for his bad taste, foul mouth and inexcusable, ungentlemanly behavior. Never before have I heard such filth come from his beakless mouth. I’ll leave a bar of soap in his big nest tonight; he’ll know what to do with it.

In Summary:

1. I denounce the Doctor’s vulgarity in the strongest terms. OK, I’ll say it. “Foowy”!

2. The second gremlin complicates the Doctor’s plan. The Plan must be changed, making the entire operation more complicated. We will probably need some Cricetulus griseus (rare Chinese hamsters).

3. We need Chi Ho Chung.

Anxiously,
…………………………………………………..Harriett

“The Doctor has tired of the Gremlin.  It will not interact with him and makes no effort to communicate; not even eye contact.  Marley is afraid of the Gremlin and the Doctor’s bi-monthly nest cleaner will not clean the Doctor’s office any more. Even Angela seems to imperceptivity turn away from the Gremlin’s cage.

Taxidermy by Norman Bates

Here are a few facts I learned about the Gremlin by way of Marley’s mind.

The Gremlin’s real name is Mike.  He has used Rocky, Mr. Imp and Adolf as aliases over the past 90 years. It is male, has never known a female Gremlin, and is afraid of hamsters.  He likes to work alone and is especially talented in mechanical disruption.  Until the digital age he thought his work in aircraft malfunction was his crowning achievement.  He won several awards for his activities during World War II.  But the advent of computers, the internet and digital data transfer has given him a new calling.  Mike has embraced it with enthusiasm.  What a windfall.  Disrupting electronic data processing is so easy for Mike. He rejoioced, “Easy Street, now and forever”!

That was of course, until Marley and Cleo caught him.

 
Two very proud dogs

Sorry to be so late. The Doctor forgot to leave the window open in his big nest, so I could not get to his computer this afternoon. Has anyone else noticed the Doctor being more forgetful lately? Oh well, forget about the Doctor’s forgetfulness for now.

Happily we are having a joyful telepathic jousting over dependability, reliability and responsibility. The Doctor debates well on these subjects.

A promise is a promise. Our ten day old baby osprey now has a name.
It is …………………………

Wait, before I tell you, I need to explain that it was Ozzie who made the final decision.

Confidentially, I favored “Storm” or “Stormy”. The Doctor liked “Skye” and “Zeus”. If anyone doubts that Zeus can be feminine, just take a look at the Doctor’s bridge teacher “Zeus”.

The Doctor’s Bridge Teacher

The human female that lives in the big nest with the Doctor wanted “Gale or Gayle”. Ozzie rejected them instantly.

“Sunny or Sonny” received more consideration but was forgotten immediately when Mrs. Mary Asbell’s kindergartner class submitted their suggestions.

As soon as Ozzie heard the name “Tweedy” he was fixated. No further discussion was possible. Ozzie put his Talons down and that was it.

I am glad too. I like the name “Tweedy”.

Congratulations to Mrs. Asbell’s Kindergarten class. They have named the bird.