An Osprey still hanging around

I was on the Canon City Riverwalk this morning with my younger dog, Chase, who in addition to enjoying chasing leaves especially in autumn also likes to climb onto high places like in trees. I was intently watching him as he was trying to climb out further than I was comfortable with, as shown in the pic, and not paying much attention to what was around. When Chase got down from the tree, I realized there was an Osprey perched across the river attentively watching us. It's amazing how a bird as large as an Osprey can be less obvious when it doesn't move.

These Osprey's nest at the State Wildlife Area on the west end of the Pueblo Reservoir, about 30 miles from here, then one or two moves up and down the Arkansas River searching for prey. Osprey migrate into Mexico for the winter so this bird will be moving south soon.
SeEtta

Better Osprey pics & with a very big fish

Today while I was birding on the Canon City Riverwalk I found an Osprey in large cottonwood. And for a change, the sun was shining. It really makes a big difference when it is sunny versus cloudy when using high power on digital lens (they need a lot of light to make good pics). So I got the top photo, with the bird about 80 feet above the ground and about 150 feet from me, using my full 12X power lens. Much better than the pics from the reservoir even though the one with the perched bird was only about 100 feet away.

I didn't notice when I took the photos, but as I edited them tonight I realized this Osprey was chowing down on one hunker of a fish that I would estimate to be 15-20" in length. So I cropped the second photo to show the fish best (though it pushes the bird so it's a little fuzzy).
SeEtta

Best fisherman of the day--a pair of Osprey

I checked the Osprey nest yesterday at the Pueblo State Park that I have watched being built. There had been more material added to the nest. The Osprey wasn't there but I found a pair fishing nearby. The bird in the top photo was perched above some people who were fishing. It did not seem concerned by me under it, probably due to its being used to having a lot of people around as this is a very busy state park. This is different than I have found with Osprey I have found perched in other, less busy areas.

Those fishing nearby were no match for these Osprey who each made one swoop and came up with a fish-in-talon as shown in the bottom pic.

Best fisherman of the day--a pair of Osprey

I checked the Osprey nest yesterday at the Pueblo State Park that I have watched being built. There had been more material added to the nest. The Osprey wasn't there but I found a pair fishing nearby. The bird in the top photo was perched above some people who were fishing. It did not seem concerned by me under it, probably due to its being used to having a lot of people around as this is a very busy state park. This is different than I have found with Osprey I have found perched in other, less busy areas.

Those fishing nearby were no match for these Osprey who each made one swoop and came up with a fish-in-talon as shown in the bottom pic.

Osprey near Brush Hollow Reservoir

Yesterday I drove out to Brush Hollow Reservoir near Penrose. The reservoir was extremely full, extending almost to the top of the boat ramp. As an irrigation reservoir, the water will be going down soon as the orchards and farms begin watering their crops.

I saw one Osprey at the reservoir but there were no sticks on the artificial nest platform there. Due to the amount of water in the reservoir it now stands in several feet of water. I found a second Osprey about a mile away on my out. That is the bird in these two photos. I took the photos from my car from about 150 feet. I'm afraid that the close-up views that you can get by double-clicking on the pics are a little blurry though they do show some details.

There were also 2 Say's Phoebes on the east shore of the reservoir. Say's Phoebes seem to be everywhere right now as they migrate around the state.
SeEtta

Osprey building nest on artificial nest platform

I stopped at the Pueblo Res after an appointment in that area today. I was delighted to spot one of the Ospreys carrying nest material. I positioned myself to watch and hopefully get some photos. Then I spotted the nest the Osprey was building. It was being built on one of the artificial nest platforms erected by our local electric utility (Aquila) that I posted about last month. It certainly didn't take these birds anytime since these nest platforms were just erected a month or so ago, and the Ospreys just started arriving in Pueblo last week.

The top photo is when the Osprey was headed out to get nest material, the middle photo shows it with nest material in it's claws and the last photo is of the artificial nest platform with the beginnings of a nest.

After the Osprey would return to the nest platform with more nest material, it would go about arranging this material with it's claws and beak. The process often involved a lot of wing flapping as the bird lifted off a little to facilitate the positioning of the sticks.
SeEtta

Osprey nest platforms at Pueblo Reservoir

The local electric company, Aquila, at the request of the Colo Division of Wildlife brought equipment to the Pueblo Reservoir recently to install some new Osprey nest platforms and repair a few old ones. The old ones had been placed there in the 90's in a cooperative effort between Arkansas Valley Audubon Society and Aquila. This photo is of one of the platforms placed in the State Wildlife Area on the south side of the reservoir (the water is totally frozen so appears white and has some tree branches sticking up out of the ice in near the short).


Ospreys need very strong nest locations as the nest they build become very large and heavy over the years as have good site fidelity for nest sites. Aquila is involved in providing these artificial nest sites in hopes that the Osprey will use them instead of the utility poles. When Osprey build nests on utility poles, their nests can interfere with the equipment and servicing of the equipment. And the birds can be electocuted which can cause a disruption in electric service and is costly to the utility company to repair.

Osprey are currently on their winter territories along the gulf coast, and further south into Mexico and Central America. They will return in April (tho some return in March). They will nest from May to the end of July.
SeEtta