Hope in the Hedges

A nest of mallard eggs spotted in the edge of the garden. What a wonderful accomplishment it will be to get this nest to hatch out. We will be as vigilant as we can for snakes. Not much we can do about the critters of the night.

Nothing cuter than a mallard duckling! I'm hoping for a garden full!

Note: Update today is that the female mallard is sitting on the nest.

Little bit of Spring

Spring flowers in the garden provide splashes of color against all the new green. The tulips are remnants of a long ago bed. The irises love it here and they multiply easily. These are divisions from two years ago.

Nuthatch

This little bird is my current favorite. He is usually spotted headed first down a tree. I love the nasal call of 'neep, neep.' I was hanging out my studio window this afternoon watching the little storms pass through and caught this nuthatch looking for a bite. There were two on the tree and when they finally met they briefly fought and one flew off.

Currituck L'Orange

The full moon of March 19 was challenged by the marsh fires near the Lighthouse. When I noticed the fires burning, I was hoping the moon would rise behind them, wouldn't that have been a sight!
Marsh fires are common in February and March. The fires are set to encourage new growth in the marshes.

Rainy morning

One of the ospreys sits sentinel in a short rain break this morning.

Eating my Fish

The male osprey has his evening meal on the boathouse branch. The wind was very strong today and you can see it is still blowing. This morning he had a small rockfish and the crows were licking their chops. The crows love fish and wait for the osprey to leave or drop bits. After eating ,the male will take the fish to the nest and the female will eat. I watched the crows go to the nest (after both birds were away) to grab bits of fish. They didn't have long, as the female made a quick return. 'Eating crow' would have a different meaning in this situation.

Osprey Pair

A beautiful day here on the sound, so nice that lunch outside was a must. With two kingfishers rattling about overhead I went down to the water with my camera to see if I could get a shot. Instead I found the osprey pair sitting on the tree. They made this one move but relaxed again. Not sure if I spooked them or a bit of wind caught them but they remained on the tree.
The female is on the left, the male has a band on his left leg. The female showed up around the first of March and the male arrived this past week. Up and down the island ospreys are returning to their nesting spots.