First Osprey!

Jeanette and I have been tracking Osprey arrivals in Polk County for the past ten years. Amazingly they are quite predictable in their arrival date from their winter grounds as far away as South America. I checked the last three years for two of the major sites we check in West Salem, and their arrival dates vary from March 19th to the 22nd.

This morning, we went out to check on a group of nests in the West Salem area.  The Murlark Ave. nest site was empty, as was the Patterson St. nest site, and the Bartel Dr. nest site. When we got to Wallace Marine Park, we struck gold. Here at the ball field nest site, we found a female Osprey on the nest crying her eyes out. We took a few minutes to photograph and add the information in to eBird.org, and then we noticed a 2nd Osprey in flight.  It made a couple of loops around the ball field area and then landed in the nest. The male Osprey! 
 

On our way out of West Salem, we made a stop at the Salem Audubon Nature Reserve to check out their nest site.  Nothing on the nest, but across the street in a conifer tree we spotted what I think was a male Osprey. On the way home we checked a couple of nest sites in Independence, and a site in Dallas.  All were empty. 

We are so excited for our first Ospreys of the season and look forward to keeping track of their development in the upcoming months before they leave us again in September for their winter hangouts.