Osprey Adventures!

Yesterday afternoon, my darling three-year old niece and I went to the park to play. We were throwing rocks into the river when I heard a sharp, piercing call directly overhead. Just above sat an Osprey. I grabbed my camera and clicked his picture.

He looked straight at me, and uttered another piercing cry.

Then feathers bristling, he turned back to watching the river. I'd noted the huge Osprey nest had at least three babies. This grand bird was fishing for his family's lunch.

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I had an odd sense he wanted me to know he was there. And just like me, he was watching over his little ones--providing for them.

He sat watching us and the waters the entire time we played on the bank. As my niece and I left, I called to him in his "language." He looked down with a fierce, kindly gaze.

As we continued walking, I turned to take another photo of him.

It seemed he said goodbye. As strange as it seems, I felt a certain rare kinship with this majestic bird.

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The Osprey is a large raptor with a white breast and belly. They sport a dark eye stripe with a white crown and forehead. They have a black back and very long wings.

Flirty Hawk

I was taking some pictures over at the Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge near where I live. I noticed a little hawk sitting on the wire above. When I stopped my car and hopped out for a better view, he looked suspicious and chirruped down at me. I'm pretty good at imitating bird calls, so I whistled back.
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At first he seemed terribly confused--I think it might have been because, though I sounded like a bird, I sported no discernable feathers.
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But thinking it over, he began to preen... .

...Then to my great delight, he coyly turned to smile around his beak,

...and flipped his feathers into a gorgeous fan, which he then commenced to wave.

What a darling little hawk! I quite fell in love with him.