Monday Night

The fire is hovering over the ridge leading to One Horse Creek, right across the valley. And here's an eagle that's terrified of an Osprey, in the smoke. I changed my camera settings to "clouds."

3pm Today

Friday

 

Lolo Peak Fire

Currently 19,000 acres and exploding! Our yard yesterday at 4 pm, and Chinook water drop.

My Favorite Non-raptor Photo of the Summer

Kill the Kleptoparasite!

Ospreys having some fun with a big bully that stole their fish all spring.

Tower? Are We Set For a Landing?

Simon the Owl

Simon the Great Horned Owl joined us in May (first photo)  and is now a teenager with the beginnings of ear tufts! He is part of the family, in the house every day, and will be an awesome program bird.
 

Parents: Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

Answer: On the top of our eagle enclosure.

Battles on the Beach

Ospreys can rarely resist a pot shot at an eagle. I've said it before, and my non-scientific explanation is that they are getting revenge for all of the fish thefts by the eagles in the spring. Get your own fish, Baldie!

Eggs in One Basket

Sibley the Peregrine laid 16 eggs this year, the beautiful brown flecked ones. They are infertile and at 14 years old I wish she would cut it out. The photoperiod or length of days in the spring causes our birds to think of breeding and the Gyr/Peregrine hybrid Ansel makes amorous chupping sounds for months.This makes Sib think it's time to breed, and she sort of halfheartedly incubates a great mound of eggs. The little ones are just a few that the kestrels produced this year, the the big white one, our Swainson's Hawk's egg. And NO, I don't eat them.

Pike!

I have had the great pleasure of "entertaining" my brother and his three kids this week, and back to the beach tonight. In the meantime, on Monday this Osprey plunged sub-surface and swam back to shore, just his head showing for much of the trip and hoped he was all right. Another Osprey dive-bombed once and minutes later the answer was revealed - he had nailed a huge Northern Pike as big as he was, that had to be dragged to shore! You Go, Fish Hawk and catch more of those non-native duck-eating evil fish.

Cottonwood Clump

Here comes one of the giant fledglings with what looked like a bird, wow. Then she dropped it and I looked on the back of the camera and blew it up. A chunk of foliage. Like someone on Facebook said, "every birdie has to start somewhere." Father showed up and the begging continued until dark, with minimal Osprey sightings. Crazy light with the wildfire smoke pouring over the Bitterroots to the west.

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