[SBB] Osprey at Alpine Pond

[Ron Wolf <[[email protected]]>]

I was at Alpine Pond for three hours Sunday afternoon. Although
I originally intended to make a pit stop before moving on, the
OSPREY mentioned by Garth was putting on a great show. The bird
was perched on the bare top branches of the tallest tree on the
southwest side of the pond. Alpine Pond is full of bluegills at
the moment, many of them 8-10 inches long. The osprey made seven
passes at the fish while we were there. Three of his attempts
were successful. On one pass, he came up with TWO fish in his
talons. He also made a few low passes over the pond and was
driven off by redwing blackbirds before he had a chance to grab
at a fish.

A docent at the interpretive center said the staff was holding
a training session for docents about noon yesterday. Right in
middle of the session, the osprey dropped down to the pond with
a splash in front of the whole audience and hauled out a fish.
He also said that the bird was seen with a second osprey for
about 15 minutes Saturday. When the interpretive center is
open, volunteers make notes ot significant observations. The
notes show any recent mentions of an osprey there until
Saturday. (Nice of him to show up for the count.)

Of the three successful hunts I observed today, the bird
perched once on a lower tree to the west to eat his catch. On
the other two occasions, he disappeaed behind the trees
to the east and was gone for 30-40 minutes. I couldn't see
whether he headed north or south with the catch.


-- Ron Wolf



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