Osprey Nest in Fortescue, New Jersey.
I was delighted when I bicycled past this beautiful home built alongside the Delaware Bay. I wonder if the ospreys and their chicks are noisy. I saw at least one chick, and most likely there is another inside the protective barrier of sticks. We also saw a Bald Eagle flying over the bay on the day I took the photograph.
Althought I’m a bit late, this post is part of the Skywatch Friday Challenge.
I took this photograph as we drove out of Fortescue on Saturday. I don’t know when I last posted twice in a day but Bushboy’s Challenge of Last Photo on SD Card intrigued me, so here I am again.
I thought at first glance the photo would be a great lead-in for one of my favorite songs, Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds,‘ but on closer inspection saw that one of the pilings in the salt marsh held two ospreys. The osprey population in the bay town of Fortescue seems to be thriving. Anyway, although the birds are four, there’s always time to post and listen to this sweet song…one of Bob Marley’s best.
I’ve always thought the song a good lead in for these words of Jesus…
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” ~Matthew 6:25-27
I was able to photograph a few favorites this past weekend. The butterfly with the beautiful orange wings is an Eastern Comma Butterfly. I don’t see many of these and was pleased to find it posing prettily in my front yard.
Cabbage White butterflies are plentiful, but not easy to photograph with wings outstretched.
I saw the first Monarch Butterfly of the season at Fortescue Beach. I didn’t know I had captured it in flight until I downloaded the files. This photo is part of Skywatch.
I love the seagulls in Fortescue. They haven’t learned the bad habits of raiding picnic hampers and snack bags. In neighboring beach towns the gulls are formidable. Never walk across the boardwalk with uncovered French Fries. You will be dive-bombed and might lose them.
The funnel on top of the piling is there to keep the gulls off. The pilings without funnels are usually occupied by a gull.
I watched this Osprey fly over the bay, descend, and come up with a fish in its talons. They are excellent at fishing.
I enjoyed my weekend full of flyers of all types…except maybe the Greenhead Fly who bit my ankle. That flyer is now lying beneath the sand I kicked over it after I swatted it. Happily, the Greenhead was a solo flyer, and no others visited me while I fished off the beach.
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” ~Job 12:7-10
Free and Easy, to me, means fishing. It was finally warm enough in our area to fish on the Delaware Bay in Fortescue. We were welcomed by a committee of one as we crossed the salt marshes, an osprey on the town sign.
In all directions, the sky was a glorious blue.
The jetty, popular with fisherman, was never so exposed. The tide was at its lowest when we arrived. Only one fisherman pulled in any fish, and they were too small to keep.
The low tide exposed hundreds of my favorite treasures: sea glass, oyster shells, and driftwood. We had a lovely day. We love to observe the change of seasons along the Delaware Bay.
Osprey are an amazing sight as they dive and capture fish.
Spotting them in their nests and favorite perching places as we drive into Fortescue is a thrill.
Even better is to zoom in with a good photo lens and get a close-up look at one of the birds.
Hello gorgeous!
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 