Schoolhouse road trip

johngregsite Posted on by
image schoolhouse road side

Last Friday, during the second day of our CT visit, we went for a walk down Schoolhouse road to look at the osprey nest at the end. The new dog Kayla stopped suddenly about a quarter of the way and looked left with her nose in the air and an excited expression. I looked at the thick underbrush, the open field just beyond, and the wooded backdrop. I saw nothing. She was adamant; I looked some more. Nothing. She maintained her attention. I looked again.

I noted an odd brownish triangular shape in the midst of the under brush. A deer’s ear. Look carefully. The blow up of the scene is below.

Not only does Kayla keep people six feet away from me, I now have radar.

image deer in the wood
image osprey

When we got down to the osprey nest, it was empty. This confirmed what brother Tom had reported: the two or three chicks have fledged. But, our adventure was not over. After a few minutes hanging around the base of the nest pole, an osprey air force patrol showed up.

July visit to CT

johngregsite Posted on by
image osprey
From Great Marsh landing

On our July visit to CT, we investigated the status of the osprey nest at the Great Marsh landing. There were birds in the nest as Kayla and I walked past the tree where the nest is located, probably at least 30 ft. high. Previous sitings suggested at least two chicks but it was not clear at this siting. After walking the trail around the point and back, adult birds flew off the nest and one of them started circling over the landing area. It made sure that we were a primary subject of their attention, as you can see here!

Yesterday during our current visit to CT, we only had a cursory visit to the Great Marsh nesting site. We did not get to see any birds clearly. We did go over to the nest on Schoolhouse road and it was empty. So we can confirm Tom’s observations that those chicks have fledged. Note, during our visit, a pair of ospreys, probably adults, appeared over the marsh and one flew a sortie near us. I have a picture in process; I suspect it looks similar to the one above: osprey looking at you with evil eyes.