I saw the first Ospreys for this year at the refuge less than a week ago. One of them was very busy building her nest on a platform.
Osprey building nest. Atlantic City in background.
At another part of the refuge, a pair of Ospreys was making distinct noises. Was the female telling her mate to go fishing?
Pair of Ospreys.
After several minutes, he had enough and flew away to land on half of a fish that he must have brought in earlier and left on the ground not far from their nest .
Male Osprey landing toward part of a fish.
Male Osprey landing on part of a fish.
He just stood on the fish for a long time as she kept calling out to him. Was she still hungry?
Female Osprey calling her mate.
He would not budge, and at times appeared to take a nap!
Male Osprey.
She flew up to a top pole of the nest platform, and kept calling for him.
Female Osprey flying up.
He did not move until a Crow flew in.
Crow landing near male Osprey.
Another Crow showed up.
Two Crows surrounding male Osprey.
The Crows definitely wanted the rest of the fish but the Osprey held on. The female Osprey kept calling out.
Female Osprey: “Dear, you better hang on to that fish!”
He held on firmly.
Male Osprey: “Don’t worry! I got the situation under control here.”
Crows and Osprey.
One of the Crows started cawing, perhaps calling for reinforcement. The standoff went on for much longer, but I had to leave. Crows are known to attack Ospreys at times, so I am not sure whether these two Ospreys were able to keep their fish or not.
Wonderful captures to tell a story.
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Beautiful photos and interesting sequence of these gorgeous birds, Hien. The image at takeoff is wonderful. Amazing that the crows take on the ospreys.
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Thank you Jane! Crows and Ravens are among the smartest birds around.
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Indeed. They are amazing.
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Love your ospreys, Hien! Crows do the same here and I’ve watched Papa Osprey’s flight show when he wants to get away from them 🙂 Happy your ospreys have returned and are building nests now.
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Thanks Tiny! I am glad you have seen Crows behave similarly in your salt marsh. We seem to be developing a Crow problem in our area. For the past five years they have been eating all of your pears before they even a chance to ripen, and Trenton, NJ is trying to chase some 30,000 Crows that have become a nuisance for the city.
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Your photos of this little drama are great. The other day I watched two Bald eagles, most likely also a pair, arguing over a bird one was eating – well the one eating wasn’t arguing, the other one was! And a cawing crow is what alerted me to the scene in the first place, maybe because the bird was a crow….there were dark feathers under the branch where the eagle was. Always something happening! I’m glad your Ospreys are back, too.
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Very interesting! It could have been a Raven instead of a Crow. Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9tyCjPoMVg
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What an interesting video – it’s good to see them together, for size comparison. The bird I saw was definitely just a crow, I had excellent views of the size, he cawed, and ravens are scarce in that park. An interesting tidbit – our crows are a little smaller here:
http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northwestern-crow
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Gripping adventure story,Hien!Fantastic narrative photos,awesome details displaying the norms and the behaviour of the birds 🙂
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Thank you Doda! Glad you like these photos!
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Great series, the third shot belongs on a cover of an Osprey magazine 🙂 Each photo holding something special, the interaction between the crows and osprey is something else. Well done.
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Thank you Randall! The Ospreys’ life centers around their nest, so I’ve learned to be there, be patient, and something sooner or later will happen. Two years ago, I learned that from a fellow photographer who told me he had been near an Osprey nest since 7 AM, and it was around 9:30 AM when I arrived.
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Hien, great story and pictures. Will the story continue? Maybe at 11 pm.
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Ha ha! I hope they were able to keep their fish!
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Me too.
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Another great Behavior series!
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Thank you John!
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Wonderful post Hien. Congrats on capturing so much of the story with good images.
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Thank you Nick!
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Wow! What a superb series of images that not only show the beauty of the subjects, but also tell an entertaining story as well. I often attempt to figure out what birds are saying to each other in the ways that the “speak” but so far, I’m not having much luck. I wonder if birds can hear at frequencies above and/or below what we humans can hear, just as birds can see ultraviolet light when we can’t.
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“Avian hearing encompasses a narrower range of frequencies than human hearing; within that range, avian hearing is less sensitive than human hearing. Birds cannot hear ultrasound (>20,000 Hz), but some can hear infrasound (<20 Hz)." This is a direct quote from the following article: https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/39870/PDF
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I would that thought that crow vs osprey would only go one way but there’s clearly strength in numbers.
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Thanks for commenting, Emma! I think the Crows can summon many of them to fight against one or two Ospreys. In a town near us, people are trying to chase 30,000 Crows away because of the noise and other forms of pollution they create. So far, no news of any human victory yet.
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Wow! 30,000 crows. sounds a bit nightmarish!
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Now that I have a taste of what it takes to photograph birds, I applaud you!! Outstanding photographs, Hein!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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Thank you very much Amy!
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Good morning, Hien. Love the story and all photos that go with it. I feel that we – people, birds, animals – have so much in common: the male and female role, fighting for food… 😉
Nice to see Osprey up close like this. Thank you.
Have a great day.
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Thank you Helen. I am glad you like these photos. It does seem that birds, or wildlife in general, share a lot of common traits with us. Maybe we all came from that primordial DNA, if there was such a thing.
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Interesting to ponder what is being communicated. He obviously has his own ideas of what to do!
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You are right, Eliza. He seemed a little bit stubborn, like many of us. 🙂
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Great to watch this series, Hien, and the unfolding drama of the nesting ospreys. Your photos are fantastic. I love that one of the female lifting off (right before the crow photos) — seeing her hooked bill and powerful talons.
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These Ospreys were a joy to watch, Jet! They don’t seem to mind people watching them and went about their life as if we weren’t there.
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