Love is in the Air!

Mark and I have been doing a lot of fishing this past week.  The trout were in near the Bayou and we were determined to have some fine meals while they were here.  We spent a good bit of our time just baiting hooks but it still was fun.  While fishing, we also observed a good many critters that were out to get their share of the fish.  We especially enjoyed watching the ospreys dive after the larger mullet that were schooling in the Bay.  The ospreys have an uncanny knack of catching a fish with most every dive!  If only we could be so lucky with our fishing poles!  I was reading where they actually catch a fish on average of one per every four dives!  That is pretty amazing when you think of the effort they have to put forth to do this.  Once they have a target fish, they fly down and dive feet first.

Ospreys usually mate for life and, yesterday, one pair of ospreys were doing a courtship type dance in midair.  They would fly high only to swoop down all the while screeching at the top of their lungs.  Occasionally, one or the other would land in the top of a dead pine tree that was near the pier.  It was there that I was able to photograph them.  It almost seemed as if they were begging for our attention!  Each time one would land, the bird would immediately start to preen.  It would flap its wings and call for the other bird.  The show was quite entertaining!

Although, the ospreys are supposed to migrate southward, I have not found this to be wholly true.  It seems that at least three pairs hang about the Bayou year round.  They nest in the tops of the old pines and have had relatively good luck raising their young.  This past year I noticed four fledglings!  These fish hawks are some of my favorite birds that call the Bayou home.  They do keep things interesting!