Osprey

Osprey, the Fish Hawk

Osprey

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a common bird in most of Canada.  It is a summer resident and breeds here.  It arrives in mid-to-late April and stays until late summer or early fall.  It winters where there is open water with a population of fish.  Most migrate to Florida, California, Mexico and Central America.  Ospreys occur all over the world except for Antarctica.

Osprey

 The Osprey is an easy species to identify.  It is large (60 cm/25 in long) with a wingspan of 160 cm/65 in.  It holds its wings in a 'W' (or 'M') formation while in flight.  It is mainly white beneath with black carpal marks on the underwings (areas at the wrist).  It looks a bit gull-like in flight.  The upperside is all dark including the rump and tail.  At close range you can see the white cap on the head and the dark stripe through the yellow eye.  It is a conspicuous bird which frequently vocalizes its distinctive whistle.  

Osprey

The Osprey eats fish almost exclusively.  It catches them by hovering over the water or plunging head-first in to catch them.  Its beak is very hooked and it has specialized feet for holding fish.  The talons are hooked and their toes are large with rough, barbed soles enabling them to hold on to slippery, wriggling fish.  They are often seen flying with a fish in their talons.  They always fly with the fish pointing in the direction in which they are headed, making it more aerodynamic.  They also have a large wing proportion for their weight which enables them to carry their large, heavy prey.  

Ospreys became the 'poster child' for the devastation done by DDT-use in the 1950s and 1960s.  Their populations plummeted especially along the Atlantic coast.  The banning of DDT and the establishment of conservation programs like providing nest-platforms resulted in a wonderful comeback.  

Ospreys build large stick nests on platforms, dead trees, power poles or channel markers over water.  Three pink or white eggs marked with olive or brown are laid.  Both adults carry out the 35-40 day incubation.  Not all the eggs hatch at once.  There is usually about 5 days between the hatching of the first to the last chick.  

Osprey on Nest

The Latin name for this raptor is derived from Greek.  'Hals' means salt or sea and 'aetos' means eagle, sea eagle.  It is the only raptor which feeds exclusively on live fish.  An interesting trait of this species is its reversible toe!  It can grasp the fish either with 3 toes in front and one in back or 2 in front and 2 in back.  The outer toe is reversible.  This makes flight with a heavy fish more stable.

Easter Day

A recent spring bouquet,

the prettiest I have ever received,

contained three beautiful red Anemone

Five tulips

Yellow Ranunculus

and soft pink ones

Soft salmon pink

on a rainbow of my latest crocheted Mandala

A whisper of petals.

On my daily walks

I have encountered beautiful Magnolia

Such lovely lines

Both these trees are in my neighbourhood.

The Lilac is just starting to bloom

early this year.

I've so enjoyed crocheting a new

Waterlily Mandala.

I have changed the edging a little from the original pattern.

Primula from my balcony

in the traditional crown-shaped vase I use for small flowers every spring.

It wouldn't be Easter without some good dark Swiss chocolate!

Don't you love the gold sprinkles between his ears?

***

Magic Waterlily Mandala

Rosyside Dace, in nuptial colors

From L to R, Phil Melillo, Kelly Capuzzi, John Howard, and your narrator inspect a mess of fish hauled from a small stream in southern Ohio's Scioto County.

Last Tuesday was an epic ichthyological day, at least as far as I was concerned. Fish-hunting is something I'm lucky to get in on once or twice a year, and these aquatic forays are always fruitful, and highly educational. And when I say fish-hunting, this isn't bluegills with doughballs or bass with rod and reel. We're nearly always after far more obscure species than that, and the target this day is a fish known to very few.

Our guides were aquatic biologists Kelly Capuzzi and Laura Hughes. You've seen Laura's name in posts here many times, if you are a regular reader. Kelly works with stream surveys and fish routinely as part of her job with the Ohio EPA. And man, does she know the scaly crowd. Back in my early days with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend untold hours afield conducting fish surveys with Dan Rice (who wrote this NEW BOOK) and Ted Cavender. Both of those guys are ichthyological legends, and I never failed to be awed at how they could glance through a seine full of similar minnows and shiners and quickly call out the different species. Deja vu set in after watching Kelly and Laura do the same.

The stream in the first image is a big one, considering the habitat of our primary quarry on this day. We didn't find it in there, but did produce some interesting species including this rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruleum. It is a male resplendent in its nuptial colors - a gaudy dress it'll only hold for a brief few weeks during the courtship and mating period. Hard as it may be to believe that such an exotic looking creature occupies Ohio streams, rainbow darters are pretty common statewide. It epitomizes the wonders of conducting subsurface aquatic explorations. Streams are full of fascinating creatures, but one must dive in to observe them.

We also hauled up several central stoneroller minnows, Campostoma anomalum. This is a male in breeding condition, flushed with peachy-orange and head beset with pointy tubercles. Apparently this "fish acne" helps male stonerollers win the girl. This fish has big lips. The lower lip is modified into a stiff cartilaginous ridge that it uses to rasp algae from rocks. Stonerollers are very common throughout Ohio, and one of relatively few fish species that tolerates heavy phosphorus loading. This common agricultural pollutant promotes the growth of algae - not good news for most things - but the hardy stonerollers capitalize and make lemonade from lemons.

Ah! This much smaller headwater stream holds today's primary target, which we'll soon get to. One could easily bound across this stream in places, and it's so small that the flow dries to a trickle in the heat of summer. Deeper pools like the one at the bend of the stream in this photo are critical in providing refugia for fish during low water flow. Dense forests along the stream's course ensure a lack of siltation and high water quality.

We were understandably pleased to find several orangethroat darters, Etheostoma spectabile. Here we have a pair - male above, female partially concealed in the rock cobble. The male is in its nuptial finery and we can see the namesake orange throat. Orangethroats are headwater stream specialists and normally occupy tiny streamlets such as this one.

Darters are icing on the cake, but today was principally a dace safari. Dace are small members of the cyprinid family, which includes carp, chubs, dace, minnows and shiners. The five Ohio dace species all inhabit small headwaters streams such as the one in the previous photo. Three species occur in the stream section in the image, or very nearby. This one is a female southern redbelly dace, Chrosomus erythrogaster.

This is a male western blacknose dace, Rhinichthys obtusus, its lateral band infused with rusty orange as it is during breeding season.

Finally, the main target, a long-coveted "life fish" for your narrator, and a stunning creature, the rosyside dace, Clinostomus funduloides. Rosyside dace have a very limited distribution in a handful of stream systems in just four southern counties: Adams, Jackson, Pike and Scioto. They were once thought to be much rarer, but heavy sampling of their (at the time) understudied habitat by the aforementioned Dan Rice and colleagues revealed the rosysides to be more plentiful than thought.

Kelly noted their resemblance to salmon, and I couldn't agree more. Elfin salmonlets. A big one is only a few inches long. These two males are still in breeding condition and it isn't hard to see where their common name is derived.

There are about 62,000 river miles in Ohio. Big rivers like the Maumee, Muskingum, and Scioto get more than their fair share of attention due to their size and conspicuousness. But it's the little headwater streams that do much of the heavy aquatic lifting. They make up nearly 80% of Ohio's river miles, and form and feed the big streams. As we've seen - and this is just a tiny sampler - headwater creeks support an interesting diversity of specialized fishes and other aquatic life. But they are vulnerable to destruction and detrimental impacts. One of the largest rosyside dace populations was wiped out by a highway construction project. Just a week or so ago, in the area that generated this article, I came across an excavator smack in the middle of a headwater stream, dredging rocks which were being hauled out by big dump trucks. Permits? Nah, probably not. Stuff like this goes on all the time, and it's not to the benefit of the streams' rightful occupants.

Major thanks to Kelly, Laura, John and Phil for creating a fascinating natural history foray.

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah, a Sparrow of Grasslands and Open Habitats

Savannah Sparrow

 The Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) is a common New Brunswick sparrow of fields and open weedy habitats, as its name suggests.  It is the most likely sparrow to be seen in open areas sitting on the ground or perched on a weed or fencepost.  It looks similar to the Song Sparrow but is smaller, shorter tailed and has yellow lores (area between eye and bill).  It also has a pink bill and a paler superciliary line (eyebrow).  The Savannah has a notched tail and the Song Sparrow has a rounded tail.  Some sources describe 21 subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow that are divided into 4 groups.  These subspecies vary in size, colouration, bill shape and voice.

Savannah Sparrow

The Savannah Sparrow's breeding range is from Alaska, includes all of Canada except the Arctic islands, south to the mid-US states.  It winters in the southern US, Mexico and southward to Guatemala.

The Savannah Sparrow nests on the ground in grassy areas.  Its nest is a cup made of grass and moss and lined with hair, fine grass and roots.  It lays 2 to 6 pale greenish-blue eggs mottled with brown.  Incubation is 10 to 13 days and is shared by both adults.  Savannahs feed on seeds, insects, spiders and sometimes small crustaceans.  They are one of our sparrows that scratch in the dirt to feed.  The Savannah Sparrow is named for Savannah, Georgia where the first specimen was collected.

Savannah 'Ipswich' Sparrow

One subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow that is important in this area is the (Savannah) Ipswich Sparrow.  It is a large subspecies that breeds only on Sable Island, NS and can be seen during migration along our coasts.  It winters along east coast beaches south to Florida.  It is larger, has a larger bill and has very pale plumage.  The photo above shows an Ipswich Sparrow and was taken at Point Lepreau, NB.  One or two of this subspecies are seen every year during the annual Seabird Migration Census done there.

The Savannah Sparrow is a wonderful sparrow, so easily seen as one walks through fields or along marshes.  It is, however, skittish and tends to take a quick look at you before diving into the grass to hide.  It is a good runner and often will run well away so you won't see it again.  Its song is a very distinctive buzzy sound described by Sibley as ti ti ti tseeeeeee tisoooo.

West Virginia photo workshop! May 6 - 9!

 The iconic mill at Babcock State Park in southern West Virginia.

Debbie DiCarlo and I are leading what promises to be a fantastic photo foray in one of eastern North America's most scenic regions, the New River Gorge and vicinity in southern West Virginia. We've got two or three open spots, and would love to have you. Dates are May 6 thru 9, and base camp is the charming little town of Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Established in 1978, New River Gorge National River in West Virginia encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along 53 miles of the New River. The New River is actually among the oldest rivers on Earth! It's a rugged, whitewater river that flows through deep and spectacular canyons, carving a deep and long gorge in the Appalachian Mountains. And we will be there to photograph oodles of things - sunrises/sunsets from majestic overlooks to waterfalls and cascades. From showy wildflowers to unique plant species in boreal-type bogs. And yes, the New River Gorge Bridge and the equally famous Glade Creek Grist Mill too!

For workshop details and to register, CLICK HERE.

Mountain streams such as this are commonplace, and you know we'll be photographing some of them.

Mountain gaps as seen from near the summit of Babcock State Park.

A four-toed salamander marches through mosses. This region is very rich in salamanders, birds, plants and other biodiversity. We'll see lots of flora and fauna, and capture much of it with our cameras.

Marsh-marigold

Marsh-marigold grows in profusion along the banks of Cedar Run. This brook is spring-fed and stays cool year-round. Water cress, Nasturtium officinale, grows in the stream's waters, and occasional clumps of giant-leaved skunk-cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, dot the banks. Cedar Bog, Champaign County, Ohio, yesterday.

Right now is about peak for marsh-marigold at Cedar Bog, but it should look good for the next week or so. It's well worth the trip. For more information about Cedar Bog, CLICK HERE.

Purple Finch

I shot this gorgeous male purple finch yesterday in Adams County, Ohio. These stunning raspberry-colored finches are always a treat to see. Some winters we have plenty, in others it's tough to find one. There are always some purple finches to be had in both spring and fall migration, especially if one is familiar with their soft tok call, often given in flight.

This bird was frequenting feeders at John and Tina Howard's Ohio Star Retreat Center not far from West Union. I had to speak at a conference on Thursday in Clermont County, which isn't too far from the retreat. So, I took the opportunity to go down early and spent all day Wednesday botanizing and photographing in the Ohio River Valley and various Adams and Scioto county hotspots. If time permits, I'll share some of those plant shots later.

John and Tina's retreat is a great place to stay. Nice and neat as a pin, inexpensive, and very convenient to lots of natural history hotspots. As a bonus, John maintains a feeding operation just off the deck which attracts lots of interesting birds. The feathered visitors are quite approachable, and especially towards day's end, the light is great. Two red-headed woodpeckers were also coming in while I was there, along with many other species.

For more info on the Ohio Star Retreat Center, GO HERE.

Song Sparrow

Harbinger of Spring

Song Sparrow

The arrival of the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is one of the most welcome signs of spring in this area.  And, when it sings for the first time, spring is really here!  Although some individuals spend the winter here sustaining themselves from the food and shelter of feeder areas, the bulk of the population arrives in early April and leaves in late fall when the weather turns.  The summer/breeding range of this species covers all of the southern half of Canada.  It winters in the US mostly in the southern parts.  It has a permanent range in the central US where summer and winter ranges overlap.  

Song Sparrow

The Song Sparrow is very common here.  It is the sparrow of yard, garden, and forest and park edge.  Sparrows are notoriously difficult to distinguish by the beginner birder.  Sometimes they all look like 'little brown birds'.  Let's point out the features of a Song Sparrow.  They are a medium-to-large sized sparrow, very streaked with a long tail.  In this part of North America they are reddish-brown  to medium-brown streaked with a gray face and, most importantly, the streaks appear to converge to a central spot on the breast.  They sport a wide greyish eyebrow and a dark malar stripe (line behind the eye).  The underparts are white under the streaking.  The long tail is rounded at the end and the bird often flips it when landing.  Notice the central breast spot in the photo above, the gray face and eyebrow line and the dark malar stripe.

Song Sparrow

There are 30 + subspecies of Song Sparrows!  This is what happens if you occur all over North America often in isolated areas.  The subspecies vary in size and colouration.  The colours range from grayish, to reddish, to sooty-coloured.  But, they all sing the same song.  The same subspecies return to the same areas each year so if you are visiting the west you will find the Song Sparrows look quite different.  Apparently we have the nominate subspecies here, the 'Eastern' group.  

What other sparrow species are you likely to  confuse with Song Sparrows?  That can be difficult since they are all 'little brown birds' and sometimes hard to identify.  A study of Lincoln's, Swamp, Savannah, Fox and Vesper sparrows will help.  I think the most likely one to confuse it with is the Fox Sparrow.  But the Fox Sparrow is much larger, more reddish and with much bolder stripes.  A field guide is a definite asset in sparrow identification.

Song Sparrow

The song of the Song Sparrow is a must to learn.  Sibley describes it  as 3 or 4 short clear notes followed by a buzzy sound and ending in a trill.  Once you learn it you won't forget it.  It is one of nature's blessings on our landscape.  

Song Sparrows build their nests  close to the ground, in a bush 2 or 3 feet off the ground or directly on the ground near a grassy hummock.  They build a grassy cup in which they incorporate leaves, twigs and bark and often line it with hair.  Incubation is done by the female and she sometimes raises 3 broods per season.  Song sparrows eat seeds, grass, berries and insects; and sometimes crustaceans.  They readily come to feeders and enjoy sunflower seeds.  It is always fun to see them bring their young to the feeder to teach them how to feed.  

April is Dressed in Pastels

These are starlings up high in the tree against the blue of a lovely spring sky!

I love that we have birdsong in the early mornings and evenings again.

Tiny ferns are appearing in walls which are also decorated in lichen and moss.

Wild Plum Blossom

Scattering petal confetti on the paths

So I need to take photographs of this blossom now and not tomorrow!

I love the dark centres and the colourful leaves just opening up.

The four Forsythia bushes along the path leading to my building

are in full bloom.

Their petals are so luscious

I could bury myself in their glorious haze of yellow!

A bright splash of colour from a Camellia bloom seen along a lakeside walk.

Tulips in a vase at home give me an excuse to create a collage.

I've always loved feathers and have had this little green and grey one for 

a very long time. 

The silver pendant is also a feather.

The details are better seen through a macro lens.

I've just finished a Magnolia Mandala as a gift

from a beautiful pattern here:

Crochet Millan

I chose the colours for a lady who is about to take her retirement

and go and live in the mountains.

The colours represent mountain lakes and greenery

and beautiful sunsets.