• A Friend of mine, who lives out east, called me up the other day.
• He sounded somewhat out of breath.
• Turns out, he was having a grand ol’ time hiking through the woods.
• He knows about the blog, and of my interest with birds of prey and whatnot.
• If you’ve been following my Twitter and/or Instagram, you’ll see why this place was exciting for me.

I got all geared up because I knew there was going to be lots of walking. We show up in the middle of the afternoon. We greet each other, and head on over to the refuge. On the property, they had a few cages. They were taking care of animals in rehab, mainly, birds of prey.

First there were two Barred Owls, then the Great Horned Owl. Then there was the Red-Tailed Hawk. These were such beautiful animals to see up close and personal.

We then took a walk through the trails and we chatted about stuff. I’m starting to learn that being in the outdoors, either by yourself or with a loved one, really has a positive impact on your overall health and wellness.

Pictures here: https://twitter.com/BBirbs

and here: https://www.instagram.com/billybirbs/

https://prezi.com/view/5cKjPBZxsJYylryuBp93/

Wintering Bald Eagles.

One of the best times to observe bald eagles is during the months of January and February. Early in the morning or late in the afternoon offer the best chances of seeing an eagle, as this is when they are most actively looking for food.

There are a few locations in the state of New York that offer excellent opportunities to see these magnificent creatures. The eagles migrate to the locations and spend the winters before the early spring migration back to their nests.

Mongaup Valley New York is one such place. The eagles really seem to like this location. It’s reservoir offers excellent hunting and fishing opportunities for them. It’s a densely wooded area that offers tall trees that the birds can take a high perch and observe their surroundings.

Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management area is a designated Bird Conservation Area. Most of the area are restricted but offer large beautiful viewing blinds so that one may observe the eagles, even photograph without disturbing them.

I greatly enjoyed my day upstate as I was lucky enough to see five eagles soaring high in the sky.

https://www.instagram.com/billybirbs Click here to see more from this day!

So to take a day off from everything, my father and I decided to head to the beach to drive on the sand. Nothing too exciting, until we started finding certain things..

So we stumbled upon a nest of some marsh hawks while we were driving around on the beach. I decided to leap out of the car and start snapping photos of the nest. We observed that they may have been nesting here.

Now that our interests were piqued, we decided to continue our journey but now in hopes of finding more birds of prey.

Our journey was coming to a close fairly soon, we couldn’t find the hawks we saw earlier.. However, we may have found something even greater.

On our way back, we couldn’t believe our eyes. It was a snowy owl. Male, by the looks of it, being that it was so large. Absolutely beautiful creature, and he just let us hangout and take photos and videos with him.

• Migration

The Osprey spends spring and summer and part of the fall living on the North American Continent.  By fall, they begin their migration south.  Ospreys may spend the winters from southern North America and into South America.

• Description

The Osprey, being a large bird prey, measures 22-25 inches and has a wingspan of 4-6 feet.  It is considered a “fish-hawk.”  At a distance, they may resemble a gull.  Their life expectancy is roughly ten to fifteen years.  Their habitat includes lakes, rivers and seacoasts.  They have a loud, musical chirp.   The Osprey hunts for fish.  They do this by hovering over the water, then dive in feet first.  Once, or if, the Osprey catches a fish, they orient the fish in an aerodynamic manner.  This makes the flight back to the nest easier.  One Osprey will go out and collect the food, while its’ mate stays at the nest to protect the young.  

• Habitat: 

In New York State, the Osprey primarily lives in the Adirondack region and on Long Island.  In the Adirondacks they will be found along lakes and rivers that offer them the opportunity to hunt fish.  On Long Island they become part of our marine environment; nesting along the coast line.  In addition to this, similar to the Adirondacks they can also nest along rivers and lakes.  Typically, Ospreys nest above the ground, but occasionally they nest on the ground.

• Status

Due to pesticide use in the 1940’s, we nearly lost our breeding pairs of Osprey.  Since the ban of these pesticides, breeding pairs have been on the increase and Ospreys have gone from “Endangered,” to “Threatened” and currently are listed as a “Special Concern.”

• Benefit of Sanctuary

There are many things that can be done to protect the Osprey.  One of them would be to put them into protective nature sanctuaries, which increases the chance of their survival.

• The Red-Tailed Hawk, a full time resident of New York State.

Red-Tail hawks are very common in North America, and have a distinct and loud call that is so recognizable. I sure enjoyed learning more about this guy, what do you guys think?

“…if handled properly, a Golden Eagle is one of the sweetest and gentlest and most affectionate among all the birds of prey.”

Martin

• If you watch the video above, you will see that these two have such a good relationship.
• They both show affection toward each other.
• They have respect for one another.

To get started here on my new blog, I would like to showcase an exciting video of an osprey doing what it does best. Hunting from the sky and into the water. Follow me for more information that will come!