Onion River Exploration Project: Osprey at Waldo

Up the River

Day 8 (8/12/12)

Eileen had taken some vacation days this week and we had planned on going to Mauthe Lake camping Wednesday and Thursday. The weather had other plans. It ended up raining Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday. After the rain it got very windy so we did not get out camping and didn’t even get out kayaking until today. This year we have hardly ever been out kayaking with little wind. Today, finally, it was totally calm and quiet. Because it was the weekend we decided to shy away from the more popular venues and go to Waldo. By the time we got there it was mostly overcast but otherwise beautiful. Eileen had a couple of new fairy houses she was hoping to set up so we searched along the southern shore for environments. We hadn’t gone too far when we spied two cranes further up the shore. Unlike the ones we had seen at Mauthe Lake these were very timid and they took off before we even got close. As we were sneaking up on the crane we noticed an Osprey flying off in the distance. We have never seen an Osprey at Waldo before so it was pretty exciting. As we continued along the shore Eileen was able to get some pictures of baby turtles out sunning themselves. As we approached the mouth of the river again we noticed the Osprey but now it was heading in the other direction carrying something in its talons. We couldn’t help being impressed by the size of it. A couple of years ago we had seen a weird phenomenon at Hingham Flowage where either fish or tadpoles were swimming in what would best be described as murmurations. Today we saw another one. It is hard to photograph because of the reflections and they move fast but I was able to get some video of them today. After posting it on Facebook I have learned that it was most likely baby bullheads or catfish. By the time we got to the river we had already had a fascinating day. As we went into the mouth of the river we could see a blue heron way up ahead. As we got closer we noticed there were more. Like the cranes, they were to weary to get close to but when they took off we saw that there were four of them. They stayed ahead of us as we worked our way upriver. Finally, they flew off and we found them later way down at the other end of the flowage. We have always enjoyed how lush it gets as you go up the river. With the overcast skies it made it even more dark and mysterious. At the bridge we decided to stay dry and turn around instead of getting out and dragging the kayaks up the rapids. When we got back to the millpond we again saw the osprey sitting in an old dead tree so I thought I would try to stalk it. Again he wasn’t having anything to do with getting his picture taken so we had to settle for some good memories. We managed to do the whole trip without getting rained on although it looked like the skies could open up at any time. As we loaded the kayaks we talked to a man who was there with his son and father. They said they were catching bullheads, which kind of confirms our murmurations as being schools of bullheads. You do learn something new every day.