Blog #254 Seeking Nature

Orpheus flying over Salt Point, my harbinger of spring,  

courtesy of Cassandra Rooney-Monger. 

Being in nature, immersed in a world of trees, water, birds, and especially Osprey is  where I’m at peace. It is where I feel connected to the Earth. While humans suffer the  COVID-19 pandemic and panic grows, nature is constant and oblivious to it. Snowdrops  and daffodils are peaking out of the snow, and soon, very soon, the forsythia and cherry  blossoms will bring forth color to a dreary world. 

Orpheus at the Salt Point nest, courtesy of Cassandra Rooney-Monger. 

To many, nature is just the outdoors, but to me, it’s so much more. Nature is my  church, my sanctuary, where I can escape the human sphere and indulge my senses  in all that is beautiful. Nature heals and re-energizes me, frees my soul, and gives me  happiness. The calling of an owl gives me inner calmness. Life and rebirth are all  around us.  

I’m drawn to where forests meet wetlands, shallow lakeshores, or marshy beaches— the realm of ospreys—and now they are back! The first Cayuga Lake Ospreys on  nests in 2020 was Myers, the male on the Myers Hill nest, on March 22 and Orpheus guarding the Salt Point nest on March 23. Daily trips around the lake confirmed no  other nest occupancies until March 26, when a small group of males reclaimed their  nests at the northern end of the lake. 

Myers, the male Osprey at Myers Hill nest March 22, 2019,  

courtesy of Jonathan Wood. 

Those who have confronted death know what precious jewels every sunrise and  sunset are. Our turn on earth is indeed precious and finite. Perhaps this time of  tremendous stress due to the COVID-19 virus will teach us to be more conscious of the  natural environment and value nature’s wonders more. Being in nature makes me  grateful and appreciative of all forms of life. My fascination with these majestic birds of  prey runs deep; they complete me.  

As long as I surround myself with nature, I know I’ll be alright. 

Eyes to the sky! 

Candace 

Candace E. Cornell  

Friends of Salt Point  

Lansing, NY 

cec22@cornell.edu

ALL EYES ON OSPREYS 

READ! 

On Osprey Time 

Ospreys of Salt Point 

VISIT! 

Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog #461 Sneak Peek at Osprey Season 2024

Image
  Orpheus (L) and Ursula at their Salt Point Nest March 26, courtesy of Cindy Sedlacek. The following is a sneak peek at what this Osprey summer will entail. Our northeastern Ospreys return to their breeding habitats just after the early spring thaw. This year’s first Osprey was seen in Cayuga Lake Basin on March 15, an early date many attribute to  the mild winter. Most nest occupants will have returned to their nests and reunited with their mates by this weekend. These returning Ospreys have just completed their 2,000–4,000-mile migrations from their wintering areas along the coasts of South America and in the wild Amazonian tropics. The range of landscapes that a cosmopolitan Osprey can experience in its lifetime is staggering. In general, the older breeding males arrive on their nests followed by their mates in a few days. After that first wave of older Ospreys arrive, unmated adults and second-year birds migrating north for the first time after spending two years in the South, wil
Read more

Blog #397 Halfway Mark: Three Weeks

Image
  On Osprey Time On Osprey Time just moved to blogger.com. Pardon the delay in posting.  Please bookmark! A mother feeding her 3.5-week-old offspring, courtesy of Cynthia Sedlacek.   Three and a half weeks into the nestling period, the three chicks have grown halfway to their adult size with Moana, the eldest, weighing just shy of a pound. Full-grown adult males usually weigh 2 pounds and females can be up to 4.4 pounds. Sleeping through most of the day and all night, the pile of offspring springs to life whenever their father, Orpheus, brings a fish to the nest. When awake, the nestlings waddle around the nest with their enormous feet, defecating over the nest edge, and peering over the rim at the people below. They are starting to use their wings for balance and rock forward on them to get a good stretch. When it’s mealtime, the eager chicks make their way across the nest to get fed by their mother Ursula.   Once their crops (storage organs; see second photo below) are full of food,
Read more

Blog # 474 Not an Empty Nest

Image
  Ursula and two of her offspring waiting for Orpheus to arrive with food, courtesy of Cindy Sedlacek. With the fledglings flying about, the nest looks empty, and it is most of the day. However, the nest is still a noisy family meeting place for meals and a refuge for sleeping fledglings. The siblings’ days are spent practicing important survival and life skills derived from combinations of instinctive (nature) and learned (nurture) behaviors. Ursula takes it easy in the shade of the cottonwoods as she is no longer needed by her family. She’s begun feeding herself to make up for the weight she lost over the breeding season and visits the nest at mealtime happy to nibble at a fish. After she has regained her strength, she will migrate to her wintering spot somewhere in South America, dodging hurricanes along the way. At noon today, Ursula went to the nest calling for food. She was joined by fledglings O’Connor, O’Leary and O’Shea in an ear-piercing chorus of begging that probably travel
Read more