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Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 Week 25 June14-20
About 40 years ago, Osprey was considered an endangered species but is now on the rebound protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I am grateful to be able to watch an Osprey nest from my backyard. The Osprey pair have been using that nest for many years now. I eagerly await their return in March/April every year. Once they return, they waste no time in rebuilding/ reinforcing the nest. The male brings the sticks to the female who makes it just right. After that, nature takes over and once again we wait to see when the egg/eggs will hatch. Hectic feeding activity ensues when the eggs hatch and then we hear the unmistakable insistent chick calls for food as the babies grow! Ospreys only feed on fish. They hover, dive and plunge into the water catch their prey. It’s exciting to see the chicks on the dock poles or on the tree branches once they start to fly (about 55 days after hatching) and slowly learn to be independent while still under parental supervision. Adults leave the area and migrate back south around end of July once fledglings can feed themselves. The juveniles fly later in August. My binoculars get a lot of use as I try to catch the Ospreys in their nest. The past two years there is a Bald eagle family living close by and often they clash in the airspace, each defending their territory.
The Orangutan pictured in the Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2020 is a critically endangered species. I hope just like Osprey and Bald Eagle these great apes too will be saved and thrive in their natural habitat in Indonesia and Malaysia - not just in zoos like the baby photographed at the National Zoo in DC.
The Osprey In Nest with Chicks by Meera Rao
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