Fishing osprey catches reader's interest

Adam Sherrill

A male cardinal feeds its offspring, also a male, at Adam and Ali Sherrill’s home in Carolina Terrace west of the Ashley.

Harry Nieman

This mockingbird looks as if someone or something has ruffled its feathers. Harry Nieman took the photo during a visit to friend Mike Clouse’s Seabrook Island home.

Harry Nieman

An osprey makes off with a catfish in its clutches at Seabrook Island.

Doreen Larimer

An albino house finch visits a bird feeder at Doreen Larimer’s home in the Wando Woods subdivision.

Bob Hobday

A red-bellied woodpecker and juvenile visited a backyard feeder at Bob Hobday’s home in the Newcastle Loop neighborhood in Goose Creek on Aug. 8. Red-bellied woodpeckers do indeed have a tinge of red on their bellies, although it’s often hard to see.

If you've ever caught sight of an osprey flying along with a fish held tightly in its talons, you're lucky. And if you've had a camera in hand at that moment, as Harry Nieman did recently, you must really be living right.

Harry sent in a very cool photo, shown here, that was taken at Seabrook Island not long ago. "I was trying to get a picture of a group of three to four dolphins that were herding fish into the shallows of the river so they could feed on them when this osprey dove into the middle of the action and plucked out this catfish — I must assume to feed some chicks," Harry says.

Ospreys, also called sea hawks or fish hawks, are the only raptors that plunge feet-first into the water to pick up fish. They carry the fish in the head-first position to cut down on wind resistance and get them back more quickly to a perch or nest, away from the harassment of bald eagles that often challenge them for their catch. The barbed pads on the soles of the osprey's feet help it grip the fish.

We've had some great photos in the paper over the years of osprey nests in the tops of tall, dead trees or resting at the summit of utility poles. Some years ago, SCE&G installed a platform along the Isle of Palms Connector to lure the birds away from building their nests on live electrical poles.

Here are a few more osprey notes and curiosities, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

--Ospreys are found on every continent except Antarctica, making them one of the most widespread birds in the world.

--Osprey numbers declined dramatically from the 1950s to the 1970s because of pesticide poisoning and eggshell thinning. The banning of DDT helped promote a resurgence. The birds have also been helped by efforts (such as the one made by SCE&G) to provide them safe places to nest.

--"Osprey eggs do not hatch all at once, but instead the first chick hatches out up to five days before the last one," the Cornell site states. "The older chick dominates its younger siblings, and can monopolize the food brought by the parents. If food is abundant, little aggression is seen amongst the chicks, but if food is limited, the younger chicks often starve."

--Live fish make up 99 percent of the osprey's diet.

Weather notes

Despite the heavy rains we got the middle of last week, we're still a good bit under the total precipitation we had last year at this point. According to the National Weather Service Forecast Office online, we were 9.3 inches below normal as of last Thursday. The total precipitation downtown thus far in 2008 is 28.44 inches.

Although we're running behind, we seem to be in pretty good shape when you look at the list of the five driest years on record for downtown. Four out of the five are very recent. Here are those years, followed by the total precipitation received:

--2000 — 27.63 inches.

--1996 — 30.22 inches.

--1954 — 31.02 inches.

--2007 — 32.18 inches.

--2006 — 33.26 inches.

Thought for the week

From Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi": "I scratch my head with the lightning and purr myself to sleep with the thunder."

What's the news from your backyard? If it's getting your attention, let us know. Photos of backyard critters are welcome; send attached JPG files at least 400 kb. You can post your own nature photos at spotted.charleston.net. Reach Ann Mitchell at amitchell@postandcourier.com, or by writing to The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403-4800.