Birds of the Massachusetts Coast

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"I Am Watching You!" -- An Osprey nesting on the Westport river, at Westport, Mass. These Ospreys have been monitored and frequently banded since 1963. They nest on platforms erected on areas of salt-marsh peat in the river near the sea. Monitoring involves approaching the platforms by boat and climbing up to the nest to count the eggs or chicks. As the chicks reach 3 weeks old they are candidates for banding (e.g. Hudson 13 years ago). Generally the parent who had been on the nest hovers overhead during the process, sometimes dive-bombing the monitor climbing to the nest–or the photographer!
Copyright © 2008 John Van de Graaff

"I Am Watching You!" -- An Osprey nesting on the Westport river, at Westport, Mass. These Ospreys have been monitored and frequently banded since 1963. They nest on platforms erected on areas of salt-marsh peat in the river near the sea. Monitoring involves approaching the platforms by boat and climbing up to the nest to count the eggs or chicks. As the chicks reach 3 weeks old they are candidates for banding (e.g. Hudson 13 years ago). Generally the parent who had been on the nest hovers overhead during the process, sometimes dive-bombing the monitor climbing to the nest–or the photographer!

Bird Photographs by John Van de Graaff