Out of the Ordinary

As is often the case, it is context that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Much, in fact most, of August in southwest Ohio could be described in just two words—hot and humid. But on the rare occasion of a pleasantly sunny day, we hoist the canoe on top of the car and head out.
The Water is waiting.


Last weekend, a return to Paint Creek, where steep limestone cliffs stand opposite shallows rimmed with willows. On these long muddy flats, the shorebirds wade, probing the soft ground with long slender bills, walking with widely splayed toes on long yellow legs. Killdeer scurry as we approach the shore, but the ground is soft here—too soft for even the gentlest step of anyone larger.


Above the cliffs a Red-shouldered Hawk rides a warm breeze upward, lifted in the thermal until he becomes a speck against the blue. His cries continue until we see nothing.


From bare branches ahead another large form rises, silhouetted against the brightness, nothing more than a dark shape, circling overhead.

On long wings he dives, striking the water with his talons, and returns to the sky.
Who is this?

Last summer, in Maine, we saw them too, at the coast, from kayaks paddling along our northern rocky shores. Sitting atop huge nests in dense evergreens.
The wildness of that land suits them well.
Here, I would not expect them.

But, yet, here they are.
Another one joins him and they circle.


A pair of ospreys.
Extraordinary.


From the State of Ohio Department of Natural Resources site:
"Ospreys were once a common sight throughout North America, but habitat destruction, persecution and the wide-spread use of chemical pesticides such as DDT during the middle of the twentieth century led to a drastic population decline. In Ohio, the last successful osprey nest was recorded at Grand Lake St. Mary's in western Ohio in 1913."

A reintroduction program was started in 1996.
"The numbers of nesting pairs has continually risen since the program began in 1996 with a record 27 nests in 2004. Natural nests are now found in 18 counties and have produced over 150 chicks that successfully fledged since 1996. The future looks bright for this state-endangered bird as catching glimpses of this magnificent fisher become much more common."

See more Skywatch here.