That Ruffled Her Feathers!

 Our blustery March seems to be never ending.  Lately, a roar of winds, rattling of windows and snapping of small tree limbs can be constantly heard.  It is sort of weird that I find this a bit unsettling as usually I love a good storm.  I am a bit unnerved that this may be a harbinger of things to come this summer, namely during hurricane season.  The waters of the Gulf have never cooled.  Our lack of a good cold winter left the waters tepid at the very least and, more likely, downright warmish.  This does not bode well.

  Today, like every other day recently, I headed to the pier to check the small skiff.  Son and I pulled it well up in the small inlet alongside of the pier but with the winds coming from the southeast, the tide has been unusually high.  It is a constant battle to keep that boat moored at a decent position!  While there, I noticed that the ospreys were out in full force,  A number of them were soaring high on the stiff winds.  I guess this made for easy gliding but had to put a damper on their fishing.  With the waves being churned at a heavy rate, the best odds of their getting breakfast had to be in the Bayou.  There the water was a bit more protected  and surely fish had to seek the calmer water.  I watched for a bit and, sure enough, a few ospreys headed to the backwaters.  They were smart enough to realize that fishing in the open waters would be a daunting task.

  A lone osprey sat high on the dead pine tree that overlooks the Bayou.  The winds continually ruffled its feathers and occasionally nearly toppled the poor bird.  Not once, however, did the bird leave its watch-post.  It answered the high-pitched calls of the other birds but made no attempt at fishing for itself.  I pondered this for a few minutes before I realized that this was a female osprey.  Looking closely through the camera lens, I could see the telltale spotted "necklace" of dark feathers around her neck. Ahh, that explained a lot!  Mate-feeding is a sort of ritual that the ospreys perform before nesting.  The male will bring the female all of her food before and during nesting.  She will often leave the nest site to eat his offerings from a nearby perch.  This is what our female friend was doing on this blustery day.  She patiently waited until her mate brought her a tasty tidbit.  

  I am afraid that the male osprey had a bit of trouble catching a fish for his ladylove today.  Hopefully, he was one of the smart ones that ventured into the still waters of the Bayou for his hunting expedition.  If not, Mrs. Osprey may have gone hungry during this windy day!