[Bristol-Birds] Osprey "One" lifts off. All systems go !
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 01:29:48 -0400
Suddenly a favorable SW wind swept along the South Fork Holston River near
Rockhold church Wednesday and Osprey "One" answered the beckoning of nature's
urge to migrate.
Apparently he sensed the temperature, wind direction/speed and barometric
pressure come in mesh
with the longer and longer days to know it was time to go.
A spell of calm winds and beautiful weather had settled over the region. With
the winds picking up
to about 15 mph and providing that much-wanted push from the southwest there
was no better time
to continue. The exact hour must have been just before noon. That's when the
wind blew in. When he found a tail wind.
His long journey from the Caribbean or upper reaches of South America had now
rested 25 good
days at his annual layover area and exact tree of site fidelity where he has
perched on virtually the same limb for weeks to hunt and refuel his system.
The same tree and limb for several years.
We spent a number of evenings together and watched each other for a bunch of
hours. It was a quiet time we have shared for a few years. A time when there
can be extended contemplation about what he does, when and why. A time to
think a list of questions about what he knows we don't.
He watched the southwest sky down the river and called for hours each day. Is
he longing for a mate or looking for her annual return ? There is always hope
sticks will be carried to a tall tree on the nearby island but that is as
doubtful as is the certainty his page of the calendar will turn elsewhere. It
did.
I pointed him out to Larry Kirksey late Tuesday evening. My last look until
maybe next year, if he can again navigate the treacherous dangers of two
migrations, a most nerve-wracking Caribbean crossing and next winter. He knows
the way over thousands of miles. He knows not what's ahead.
He can find his way back to his favorite tree and favorite limb if he can find
his way away from hurricanes.
He can keep this up longer than we can. Ospreys usually live for 15-20 years
in the wild, some have been known to live for more than 30 years.
Our careful watching and searching is no more in vain than two beautiful Bald
Eagles found carrying sticks in late January to a nearby pine tree just up the
hill -- now full with nest and full with eaglets.
On a continental scale, migration began to blow full steam the last few days.
Nature does not benchmark by the FOS of warblers here and there. It is night
skies saturated with millions of migrants moving. The Gulf Coast and Southeast
were hotspots of activity throughout most of the week, and with birds streaming
in from Mexico and the Caribbean, we only expect it to get better. For fun
sake we fill our local record books with a few days earlier or later each
season. For nature's sake she fills the sky with her appointed nights from
mountain to valley with a massive movement of millions our minds can not
imagine. That is spring migration.
The center of low pressure seems to have moved off into the Gulf or at least
the winds tend to think so.
A careful and extended search swept the trees along the banks from Riverside at
Webb Bridge, past the barns of the Wassoms to the freshly-plowed fields at
Rockhold United Methodist.
Neither area "A" nor area "B" and everything in between hosted a fish hawk.
It seems so certain. We'll watch and see.
Osprey "One" read a gypsy's palm
and knows what's in the cards.
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