Osprey
In Prospect Park on Saturday there were several "good" (i.e. rare) birds - connecticut warbler, dickcissel - but, of course, I didn't see any of those. But I did have one of those experiences that makes even bad birdwatching worthwhile. While I was trying to figure out if the warbler I was looking at in a pine tree was a pine warbler or a chestnut-sided warbler or a blackpoll (I never did figure it out), an osprey flew up and perched in full view in a nearby tree.
Audubon called the osprey a fish-hawk because the bird dives into water to catch fish. Ospreys don't nest in Prospect Park (Audubon describes them as nesting throughout coastal New Jersey and today they nest at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens near JFK airport) but they do pass through in migration. At first I thought the bird I saw looked emaciated but then I realized he was just wet. It was at about the same time that I saw he had a fish in his right talon which he must have just caught in Prospect Park Lake. He looked around, perhaps disturbed by some squawking blue jays and chipping cardinals, and then flew off.
Tonight (Sunday), I saw two osprey in the Lullwater in Prospect Park. One was carrying a fish, the other was repeatedly calling. Perhaps the calling bird was a juvenile. Osprey were also seen over Central Park on Saturday.
Coincidentally, the National Gallery of Art opened an exhibit of Audubon engravings and paintings today entitled Audubon's Dream Realized: Selections from "The Birds of America". The centerpiece of the exhibit is an oil painting by Audubon - Osprey and Weakfish - which was recently acquired by the National Gallery. I must say the fish in the Audubon painting is much larger than the fish I saw being carried by ospreys over the weekend! Here's what Audubon says about the weakfish:
The largest fish which I have seen this bird take out of the water, was a weak-fish, such as is represented in the plate, but sufficiently large to weigh more than five pounds. The bird carried it into the air with difficulty, and dropped it, on hearing the report of a shot fired at it.
By the way, your chances of seeing a weakfish being carried by an osprey these days are not very good. According to one website I checked:
The commercial weakfish fishery in the lower [Chesapeake] Bay is significant, but has been in decline since the 1940s. Today the population is at a very low level due to severe overfishing, compared to a decade ago, and the fishery is in danger of collapse. Historical landings have fluctuated widely, but since 1980 commercial and recreational weakfish landings have steadily declined from about 80 million pounds to just over 7 million pounds in 1993. Much of the decline in the weakfish fishery appears attributable to overfishing and degradation in the estuarine environment.
Audubon called the osprey a fish-hawk because the bird dives into water to catch fish. Ospreys don't nest in Prospect Park (Audubon describes them as nesting throughout coastal New Jersey and today they nest at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens near JFK airport) but they do pass through in migration. At first I thought the bird I saw looked emaciated but then I realized he was just wet. It was at about the same time that I saw he had a fish in his right talon which he must have just caught in Prospect Park Lake. He looked around, perhaps disturbed by some squawking blue jays and chipping cardinals, and then flew off.
Tonight (Sunday), I saw two osprey in the Lullwater in Prospect Park. One was carrying a fish, the other was repeatedly calling. Perhaps the calling bird was a juvenile. Osprey were also seen over Central Park on Saturday.
Coincidentally, the National Gallery of Art opened an exhibit of Audubon engravings and paintings today entitled Audubon's Dream Realized: Selections from "The Birds of America". The centerpiece of the exhibit is an oil painting by Audubon - Osprey and Weakfish - which was recently acquired by the National Gallery. I must say the fish in the Audubon painting is much larger than the fish I saw being carried by ospreys over the weekend! Here's what Audubon says about the weakfish:
The largest fish which I have seen this bird take out of the water, was a weak-fish, such as is represented in the plate, but sufficiently large to weigh more than five pounds. The bird carried it into the air with difficulty, and dropped it, on hearing the report of a shot fired at it.
By the way, your chances of seeing a weakfish being carried by an osprey these days are not very good. According to one website I checked:
The commercial weakfish fishery in the lower [Chesapeake] Bay is significant, but has been in decline since the 1940s. Today the population is at a very low level due to severe overfishing, compared to a decade ago, and the fishery is in danger of collapse. Historical landings have fluctuated widely, but since 1980 commercial and recreational weakfish landings have steadily declined from about 80 million pounds to just over 7 million pounds in 1993. Much of the decline in the weakfish fishery appears attributable to overfishing and degradation in the estuarine environment.
posted by Whistling Dixie at 4:16 PM
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