Enjoyed seeing this Great Horned Owl at the Chattanooga Zoo. There are some in our neighborhood. Very impressive when they fly past. Sometimes we hear them hooting at night. If you hoot, they will hoot back. Fun.
Guntersville Dam, North; spillways, locks, and fishing area (before the recent heavy rains)
The same view after the rains; more than half the upper walkway is under water (photo on left) and all of the lower walkway(photo on right) where we often fish is submerged
Spillways open; south side of dam after recent flooding
Submerged guard rail on south side of dam with herons
Guntersville Reservoir above the dam
Part of Lake Guntersville with waterfowl; recreation area near Guntersville city limits
While passing the time out in the backyard today, I spotted a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (love that name!) on the pecan tree. I wasn't able to get any good shots with the cell phone, so I've borrowed a couple from Photobucket.
The Woodpecker Diner This is one of our pecan trees that is host to dining woodpeckers. You can see all the little holes running horizontally around the trunk where they have drilled to get insects and sap.
I also spotted a pair of brown thrashers and a cardinal enjoying the leaves and berries. Again, I wasn't able to photograph them. They are too quick for me.
Yes! Last Thursday afternoon. Right here in Rocket City, USA. My son and I watched as an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) make a couple of dives into the lake at Brahan Springs Park and come up with a fish dinner. Osprey will often fish by just snatching the fish out of the water, but they also fish using the diving technique, sometimes diving as much as three feet deep. These YouTube videos show the two techniques.
and
Unfortunately, I did not have any way to make photos to show the dive action step-by-step, so I've had to get a few from some Internet sources in order to show you this awesome bird. My thanks to the great videos from the YouTube contributors and to all the contributors at Photobucket and Public Domain Pictures who share their wonderful photos.
The osprey is also known as a fish eagle, fish hawk, or sea hawk. They are eagle-sized raptors, standing about two feet tall and having a wingspan of five to six feet. They are common worldwide, but are not year-round residents everywhere. In the Southeast, they are found throughout the year from the Mississippi Delta, eastward along the Gulf Coast and all of Florida, and through coastal Georgia. The rest of the Gulf Coast sees them as winter residents. I've seen them fishing along the coast near San Francisco, at Cape Canaveral in Florida, and also fishing in an inland pond near Panama City, Florida. In my part of Alabama, they are migratory. I had never seen one here before. I wonder if the bird we saw was just passing through or if it--and maybe some companions--were spending a few days here as they passed through on their way north to their summer breeding grounds in the northern regions of the U.S. and in Canada from their winter resorts in South America.
An osprey leaving the nest.
Our visitor first caught my attention when it dropped out of the sky as I sat in the car reading by the lake. With a splash it was completely submerged, but it quickly surfaced and in an amazing maneuver, swept its wings back and rose out of the water, flying away with a large fish in its talons. Unfortunately, it dropped the fish. Its loss was my gain, because I got to see it repeat its fishing technique. It made a few circles around the lake, hovered, dived headfirst into the water, came up with another fish, and flew away to enjoy lunch. It was amazing. These great photos will give you an idea of what it was like, but you really had to be there to get the full effect.
Hovering just before a dive.
Beginning the dive.
About to hit the water.
Splashdown!
Heads up!
Lift off!
Here comes dinner.
Two-fisted fishing.
Is that lunch in its right foot?
Drying off after a dive.
Some parting shots
A close look at the wing.
And those talons and beak.
For more information on osprey, visit these sites: www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Osprey.html www.itsnature.org/air/birds-air/osprey
Thanks to www.photobucket.com and www.publicdomainpictures.net
I enjoy art and like to look for it in the natural world. My craft interests include handspinning and most of the fiber arts, especially knitting, weaving, and working with paper. Other important things are my family and friends, my pets, nature, literature, poetry, music, history, birding, star gazing, museums...and the list goes on. In other times and places, I've been an archaeologist, taught anthropology, and worked in a living history museum, so I find all sorts of things to hold my interest and keep me entertained. I hope to share some of these things with you.
