Yesterday morning I hopped on Mason-Morrow-Milgrove Road and headed to
Halls Creek Woods State Nature Preserve. It's gorgeous...I loved it...and I'll be back often. Halls Creek is a tributary of the Little Miami River, and it's only 15-20 minutes from my house. How could I have not known about this preserve? I'll have more to write on it soon, but first...OSPREYS! An osprey nest is located north of the preserve on a gravel pit that hugs the Little Miami River...
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| Two young ospreys and one adult overlook the water. If you look closely, you can see the juveniles have reddish-orange eyes and white-tipped feathers, while the adult has yellow eyes. Juveniles retain their orange eyes for about a year. |
After I checked out Halls Creek Woods, I headed north on Mason-Morrow Milgrove, pulling off the road at a small look-out point. The first thing I saw was the osprey nest, and I was glad I pulled over! Initially I thought the nest was perched on the Little Miami River, but I could hear what sounded like canoes on the other side of the trees. Maybe the trees were an island in the river? No! I quickly realized the water was a lake from an old gravel pit (Miami View Mining), and the paddlers were floating down the Little Miami River on the other side of the trees. The birds paid no attention to the noise the canoeists were making, and the cars that would occasionally rush past on the road didn't bother them either. City birds...country birds...
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| Papa Osprey looked my way every now and then. I love seeing those yellow eyes head on! |
Below is a quick video of the osprey family. The gravel parking area was a distance away from the nest, so even though I'm zoomed in at 400mm, the birds look small. One of the nestlings moved out of view, but you have a fairly good view of the other one preening. I was glad to see the pull-off was gated, so the nest is protected and people can't get too close.
Osprey with young at Halls Creek Nature Preserve from
Kelly Riccetti on
Vimeo.