I overheard many times at my opening – “why would wild birds be part of this show?”
Great question! Thanks for asking!
A few reasons:
1) Osprey, at least in my opinion, are beautiful birds of prey. They have a grace about them when they take flight. I enjoy watching them as I do bald eagles and hawks. These birds are efficient hunters and builders.
2) You just don’t see osprey too much in middle New England – at least in this neck of the woods.
3) Osprey were almost wiped out by the use of DDT. (a quick lesson: DDT is/was an insecticide. It accumulated in a birds body and caused the eggs of a nesting female to be soft. This soft egg shell caused the embryo to not survive to hatching.)
4) Even today, with the use of DDT stopped, the birds habitat is threatened by us – and our trash.
5) Their “Scene|Unseen” is the mere fact they have survived – that they are making a strong comeback – and that we still get to enjoy these majestic birds in their natural world.
Chessy
Meet “Chessy”. She’s a beautiful mommy osprey who is very protective of her nest. At the time I photographed her, we were out on a boat, “ghosting” up underneath her nest pole on Davis Creek in Rock Hall, Maryland. We guessed she had an egg or two or three in the nest. It was mid-April – nesting season.
Anyway, whilst we were floating along below, Chessy took issue with our being so near her nest. She took flight, squawking very loudly, trying to tell us to leave her alone and go away. I pointed my camera skyward and followed her while in flight. I fired off about 50 images and then stopped to just admire her grace and strength. I think she realized we weren’t there to hurt her and she decided to come in for a landing after circling overhead for about 10 minutes.
Call it dumb luck or divine intervention, we just happened to be at the right spot to follow her decent to the nest platform. She seemed to just hang there, in full plumage and wide wing-span; daring me to take her portrait.
It was then I realized her nest contained plastic 6-pack rings and shopping bags. As much as we humans have taken care of these birds by removing the use of dangerous chemicals, we’re not doing all we can to protect their world. We can do better… we must do better. If we don’t, we just might lose them after-all.
So if you enjoy these birds as I do, the next time you see trash floating in the rivers and lakes, take 2 minutes to pick it up and keep it out of their world.
THANKS!