Ospreys On Kiawah Island

Baby Osprey

As you can see, their nest is very large and made of sticks. The osprey pair come back to the same nest year after year. They have their nest high in the trees or sometimes they nest on poles. Unfortunately, the nest where the picture of this baby osprey was taken was blown down during Hurricane Matthew and the tree snapped. The ospreys returned, but had to start all over in a new spot nearby.

I am staying at a place called Kiawah Island, South Carolina where there are ponds, rivers, and marshes. It is a barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a fantastic place to go bird watching because there are many types of birds. My favorite kind of bird I love to take pictures of is the osprey. These birds have a nickname called fish-hawk because they prey on fish.  The osprey will hover over the water looking for fish.  If it finds one, it plunges down and grabs the fish with its talons. If there is a shortage of fish the osprey will eat other birds, small mammals, or reptiles. There are many osprey nests on Kiawah Island.  The osprey lay between 2-4 eggs in the spring, usually in April or May. 

Ospreys can be very loud.  Their call is a high-pitched yell or chirp that can go on for a long time, especially if the osprey feels threatened.  Whenever I get too close to the nest to try to get a picture, the osprey lets me know to move away from that area.  

The females are the ones that protect the young from the rain and sun while the males go on a fish hunt. These birds were seriously endangered by pesticides like DDT, which thinned the egg shells and resulted in them breaking before they could hatch. These kind of pesticides were banned in 1972 so there is a huge comeback of the ospreys and many other species.

Kiawah even has a golf course named after them, Osprey Point, where as you would expect, there are several nests.  So be careful when you take a swing at the golf ball.

The Buzz About Bees

I am not just a photographer, but also a beekeeper.  I’ve been keeping bees for over twelve years.  It’s definitely an unusual hobby, but has really gained importance over the last few years. You are probably wondering how I became a beekeeper. I live across the street from a county park.  (If you ever have the opportunity to visit Northern Virginia, you must visit Frying Pan Park, which is a working farm.)  Every summer they have the 4-H fair at Frying Pan Park, where many young people come together and display their agricultural knowledge and animals or produce they have raised.  One of the tables had a demonstration on how to raise honey bees.  I was fascinated and convinced my father, who has a background in agriculture, to join the 4-H club named To Be a Bee.  My father and I had to take classes on how to raise honeybees before we got our own hives.  This is a picture of how the bees come before we put them in the hive. 

This is a picture of me when I first started beekeeping.  It was taken in 2006.

This is the queen cage.  If you look closely you can see she is marked with a blue dot.  The other bees with the queen are called Nurse Bees.

There are approximately 10,000 bees in that box.  The queen does not socialize with the rest of the bees.  She comes in her own box with her helpers. Her box is taped in the middle of the hive so the other bees can let her free. Then she is ready to lead the hive. It's not rocket science to get the rest of the bees out of the box.  The beekeeper shakes the box until all the bees make their way home to their new hive.

Here is a picture of me shaking the bees out of the box into their new home.

After the bees are all shaken out, we close the hive and let them be for a week before we check on them again.  It's that simple.  That's the buzz about bees. If you would like more information on bees, check out my Facebook page, beehappy. 

Nature

I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful, natural area, Kiawah Island, South Carolina, which is a barrier island near Charleston.  Many of my nature pictures were taken there and in Boca Raton, Florida.  Most of the ones in Boca were taken at an amazing rookery, Wakodahatchee Wetlands near Delray Beach.  If you are ever lucky enough to visit that area, you must make Wakodahatchee one of the places to visit.  It is the home to many different nesting birds.  Whatever time of year, there are different birds nesting together in the trees.  During the late spring and early summer, the wood storks nest there and it is deafening (and it doesn't smell great either).  In early spring, the herons are nesting.  There are also ducks, egrets, marsh rabbits, and turtles.  There is a boardwalk that goes through the wetland area. The most amazing thing is that you can get very close to the birds without scaring them off.  They don't seem to care that people are there observing and trying to get pictures.