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Not A Pelikan But .....


DrCodfish

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... He makes his living by the water.

 

On my route home from work I pass by three different osprey nests. This year two of them are active, the adults are busy rearing their chicks. They pay auto traffic no mind, but an old guy huffing and chuffing along on a bicycle is disturbing. The hens will often stay on the nest but the males will usually take flight and move off the distance of a power pole or two, keeping an eye on the intruder.

 

The other night I encountered this male on a perch (the PUD puts up the perches and nest structures to keep the birds from building nests where they don't want them to, near transformers etc,) The closer I got the more I could see that he had a fish, a BIG fish and was having his salmon dinner. I've seen them eating fish in the nests or on perches before, but never a fish of this size.

 

18995911319_781dfeef39_z.jpg

 

The middle reaches of the Chehalis river is good habitat for salmon and steelhead, and with our extended hot and dry spell, the river is very low and vey clear, not good conditions for human fishers ideal for a predator who can come from nowhere and snatch a fish from the water while cruising along at 20 miles an hour. He did not budge one inch as I stopped paparazzi him, he alternately tore flesh from the fish and glared at me.

 

A few years back one of these big birds took a big red Koi out of my pond. I have since stung 40 pound monofilament line above the pond and we have lived in peaceful coexistence since.

 

Sorry if this is too far off the FP topic.

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Where, (please do tell), is the Chehalis river? Lovely photo!

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We've got lots of nesting pairs busily fishing for their progeny here in central northern Minnesota, good thing there are lots of lakes with lots of fish for them to plunder. They do tend to give you the evil eye if you're loitering anywhere near the power line nests.

 

Years ago I used to go to a Japanese restaurant near work in Cupertino, CA, that had a lovely koi pond in the middle of the building (the which was built as an open square, with windows lining the interior walls).

 

One of the sushi chefs was commenting that someone was stealing their fish, just as I saw a flash above the water, and pointed him to it with "Like that?" as a kingfisher flew up from the pond with yet another golden snack.

 

Fixing a net over the opening to the sky fixed the problem. Also tangled up a little green heron one night. That must have been fun to collect and release without bloodshed.

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C. G.: The Chehalis is a river in Southwestern Washingtin State. It rises in the Willapa hills and empties into Grays Harbor, an estuary and commercial seaport on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The middle reach is very flat, meandering through forest and farm land providing excellent habitat for a variety of anadromous fish species, and consequently a variety of raptors which prey on fish.

 

Waster Ouzel: We have lots of herons in these parts also but I never worry about them much. My pond is close to the front of the house and the neighbor has a very large, boisterous St Bernard which keeps the herons and the racoons away. I do see both in the in the creek behind the house however. The coons seem satisfied just to clean up whatever is left over at the bird feed station at the end of the day.

 

Her is a pic of th epond in the front of th ehouse

5003940548_a0542c587b_z.jpg

 

And here are a few of the fish:

5003913906_87bb9477da_z.jpg

 

8530395894_57d608b512_z.jpg

 

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Nice pond! Looks very serene.

PELIKAN - Too many birds in the flock to count. My pen chest has proven to be a most fertile breeding ground.

fpn_1508261203__fpn_logo_300x150.jpg

THE PELIKAN'S PERCH - A growing reference site for all things Pelikan

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Thank you, dear Doctor! Thank goodness (for mankind) that avians are so (relatively) resilient to our stupidity and they can come back strongly -- osprey, peregrine -- there must be others...sadly, all the vultures in Africa are nowadays threatened because of the habit of poisoning of sheep or cattle carcases by farmers who think they can kill jackals and suchlike...(We have this habit of playing god, don't we? For shame!)

 

Apologies: rant over. <Plenty> of osprey around here in New England, too.

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