photos © 2008 Donna H. Chiarelli

It must be about 4 years now, maybe a few more, that we here at the Dutch Ghetto have been traveling down to Delaware to photograph these wonderful birds, the Osprey. These birds are sometimes called a Fish Hawk. Our favorite nest in is Lewes, and this year they banded and put a tracking device on the chick from that nest. The chick’s name is Little Ricky. His parents are Lucy and Ricky. Don’t ask — they were named by some interested folk at the University of Delaware. Something about someone who used to work there had the name Lucy, and the story goes from there.

We have a photo of the chick when he was still being fed by the parents here. (Osprey are the sweetest, most doting parents, fascinating to watch) Also here’s a photo of Big Ricky being the show-off hunter he is. He does a “fly by” to show what nice fish he caught before he eats, then later lands in the nest to allow Lucy to feed herself and the young bird.





If you check out this link: Little Ricky’s Migration Maps, you can see how once this chick grew to full size, he started fishing himself, hung around the Delaware Shore area for a bit, then on October 6 of this year he took off and is now hanging out in Miami. Nice digs.

Some Osprey fly much further south. We have heard once the young fly south, they hang out there for 3 years and when they reach sexual maturity, they fly back to where they were hatched themselves and look for a mate and nest. Many nests are renovated each season, and some nests have been used over and over for 70 years! The nest is a large heap of sticks, driftwood and seaweed built in forks of trees, rocky outcrops, utility poles, artificial platforms or offshore islets. Just amazing creatures. Hope you enjoy the look at one of our favorite birds to photograph.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Reddit

Like this: Like Loading... Related

Posted in Birds, Nature

Tags: Osprey, Photography