Down by the River Side

This is the same spot pictured a couple of days ago with a "rogue" wave. I mentioned how the spot will eventually become part of the shoreline. This seagull shows just how shallow it is since it  is standing a good ten to fifteen feet out from the shoreline and is still only wet up to his ankles. Every effect has a cause, but I couldn't figure what was attracting the seagull to this spot. A few days later, there were several seagulls in this same area at a similar point in the tide.

One of those "a picture is worth a thousand words" type images which depicts how beautiful the lighting can be at times. I do not know why but, having viewed this spot over several years, I can attest to the fact that this one little piece of the shoreline can be lit up by the sun when everything else is in shadow way beyond chance. How is that possible? I don't know. It is as though it attracts sunlight somehow.

This mated pair of Bald Eagles routinely perch in the trees shown in the last picture. This duck blind is a little further down the shoreline to the left of the dock in that image. One of the two eagles had caught a fish and brought it to the roof of the blind where the other joined it. Eagles do share. After they had eaten what they wanted, two of their offspring flew in and landed. The parents left and the two young birds ate what was left — although not without some bickering. I would love to inspect the roof of the blind. A lot of birds eat their fish there. I would bet there are a lot of fish bones on it.

When you consider that every Osprey, every Eagle, every Great Blue Heron, not to mention every Kingfisher, seagull, Cormorant and on and on have to eat at least one fish every day to survive, and that they do this day after day — there has to be far more fish than we imagine in just this one river. Then, when you consider the untold thousands of birds and other animals — not to mention people — who are and will be impacted by the release of the poisonous gold mine tailings into the river in Colorado — that is an ecological disaster rivaling a major oil spill.

There is, unfortunately, an enormous disconnect in our society in which technology is favored over an appreciation of the environment. I am not saying it is true for everyone, but the vast majority of people living in cities of any size appear to place very little value on the environment and environmental issues as though we are independent of them. I wish there was a way to communicate to more people how dependent we are on a healthy ecosystem where ensuring the needs of a young Osprey like this one can be met are also important.

I don't think it is intentional, but this young Osprey attempting to catch a fish is doing so right in front of it's mother as though it were showing off it's new found skills. It dove several times, but I didn't see it catch a fish. Eventually, though, it will get the hang of it. I love this spot in the early morning when the sunlight rakes across the shoreline while the trees are in shadow. Many different species of birds like to sit on that crossbar. There is a tendency of many birds to favor a perch that gets them a little higher than their surroundings.