I hope you were able to catch fellow Kings Park Patch blogger Jan Porinchak’s blog posting on ospreys last month. Jan wrote a concise but comprehensive article on these beautiful creatures living right under our noses. I’ll certainly never forget the first time I was privileged to see an osprey hunting Fresh Pond in Fort Salonga, circa 1979.
I probably owe that sighting to Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, published about 20 years before that. She popularized the science about the harmful effects of DDT, and similar pesticides in wide use at the time. She argued that many bird species, including the osprey, were headed for possible extinction resulting in a future “silent spring.” The use of these pesticides were subsequently greatly restricted and substitutes developed that were safer for wildlife (and humans). Osprey, and other bird populations such as the bald eagle as Jan points out in his blog, started to make a comeback.
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So when we were hunting for photos a couple of years ago, my late friend Jim and I headed to the Town of Smithtown’s Long Beach Marina in St. James to check out the osprey nesting box there. As we carefully approached from the south to set up our tripods the two adults immediately left the nest.
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One adult (mom?) headed off towards Smithtown Bay, perhaps to hunt. The other adult (dad?) circled the nest box, but pretty close out to where we had set up in order to guard the young. The juveniles in the nest (at least two) were craning their necks to see what was going on. We were as motionless as possible to demonstrate that we were no threat. After a while the dad’s (?) orbits became tighter around the nest and the juveniles became more excited.
I took the accompanying photo, Coming Home, as he (?) returned to the nest and the juveniles ducked down into the nest to get out of the way. It was a memorable morning. Thanks Rachel!
Kings Park Photo Club: Next meeting is Thursday, July 18, 2013, 7 PM at the Kings Park Library. Club member and fellow Patch blogger Agnes Fegan will be speaking about her work with Lens Babies and textures to achieve her unique style of photographs. Check out her KP Patch blog, “The Aggies,” to see examples of her work.
Thanks for reading. If you have any suggestions for discussion topics, please post them in the comments.
