Yesterday morning I hopped on Mason-Morrow-Milgrove Road and headed to
Halls Creek Woods State Nature Preserve. It's gorgeous...I loved it...and I'll be back often. Halls Creek is a tributary of the Little Miami River, and it's only 15-20 minutes from my house. How could I have not known about this preserve? I'll have more to write on it soon, but first...OSPREYS! An osprey nest is located north of the preserve on a gravel pit that hugs the Little Miami River...
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| Two young ospreys and one adult overlook the water. If you look closely, you can see the juveniles have reddish-orange eyes and white-tipped feathers, while the adult has yellow eyes. Juveniles retain their orange eyes for about a year. |
After I checked out Halls Creek Woods, I headed north on Mason-Morrow Milgrove, pulling off the road at a small look-out point. The first thing I saw was the osprey nest, and I was glad I pulled over! Initially I thought the nest was perched on the Little Miami River, but I could hear what sounded like canoes on the other side of the trees. Maybe the trees were an island in the river? No! I quickly realized the water was a lake from an old gravel pit (Miami View Mining), and the paddlers were floating down the Little Miami River on the other side of the trees. The birds paid no attention to the noise the canoeists were making, and the cars that would occasionally rush past on the road didn't bother them either. City birds...country birds...
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| Papa Osprey looked my way every now and then. I love seeing those yellow eyes head on! |
Below is a quick video of the osprey family. The gravel parking area was a distance away from the nest, so even though I'm zoomed in at 400mm, the birds look small. One of the nestlings moved out of view, but you have a fairly good view of the other one preening. I was glad to see the pull-off was gated, so the nest is protected and people can't get too close.
Osprey with young at Halls Creek Nature Preserve from
Kelly Riccetti on
Vimeo.
Great shots, Kelly! I miss Ospreys. There were plenty of them in Newport, but I've only seen one here, in October of 2013; apparently it wandered off course during migration.
ReplyDeleteOh, I saw a Green Heron today in the wetland in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. I see one now and then, but never for long enough or close enough to get a decent shot. They're notoriously people-shy!
How cool to have this species nesting and breeding successfully so close to your home. Super shots Kelly.
ReplyDeleteWow! That would be awesome to see. Glad you were able to get such neat pictures.
ReplyDeletereally nice shots - just today i was at the lake and one was flying high but I couldn't get a good shot - ...these are great!
ReplyDeleteAmazing birds Kelly and how good to get some images of them.
ReplyDeleteLovely to be at the same height as the nest. Great shots of the family.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing ospreys fish on the river or lake. Thanks for the great photos.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, my brother in law have been discussing an osprey nesting platform for some time. The post is already out by our slough so this should be the kick I need to dig the hole and put the platform together.
Thanks
Guy
how wonderful that you have a new place so close to home!
ReplyDeletewonderful to see the osprey, such beautiful birds.
Hi Kelly. My blogging has been rather erratic lately. I explained in my post this morning. LOVE seeing the Osprey! Our daughter lives in Alaska, and has a pond/slough right off the end of their lot. They see Osprey, Eagles, Ducks, Kingfishers, and Moose!!
ReplyDelete@Roy - Thanks, Roy! I bet you do miss them. Newport is birding heaven! Glad a Green Heron came your way...those herons and their fear of people! :-)
ReplyDelete@Frank - it's great. I bet they've flown the coop, though. I hope to get back up tomorrow. Bad storms right now...
@Janice - Thank you, Janice! Loved seeing them.
@Sandy - Lucky you....at the lake. That sounds so good to me. Hopefully you can get a good shot soon.
@Roy - Thanks, Roy. I'm glad they obliged... :-)
@John - Yes....the overlook is far away, but it is elevated so you can see the nest well.
@AL - I love that too....so cool to watch. (I just read Grandma Gatewood's Walk, about her famous AT hike. I loved it.)
@Guy - I hope you get inspired to get that post in the ground. I'll watch your blog to see.
@Tammie - Thank you!! Yes.....this autumn the place will be stellar. The leaves will be gorgeous.
@Mona - Your daughter is so lucky. It would be cool to have all that wildlife right out the window!!
While paddling down the Little Miami River North of Waynesville, Ohio today, an oprey flew right over the top of us. 6/12/16
ReplyDeletePaddling down the Little Miami River today, an osprey flew right over the top of us North of Waynesville, Ohio. I was surprised. 6/16/16
ReplyDeleteI know this was written several years ago, but just today I saw an osprey near this same location. Had never seen one so far north before!
ReplyDeleteI know this was written several years ago, but just today I saw an osprey near this same location. Had never seen one so far north before!
ReplyDeleteKelly, have you been watching the live osprey-nest camera presented by Little Miami Conservancy on YouTube? This could be the same nest you observed. Yesterday (May 6, 2022) the camera went dead. I'm hoping it and especially the ospreys were not struck by lightning yesterday. I'd been hoping the metal cladding added to the pole 3 days ago to discourage raccoons would act as a lightning rod conducting to ground and preserving the nest. Have you seen the nest today?
ReplyDelete