Pat Wright of the Boca Grande Camera Club illustrated the tale of the osprey well with her series of six photographs.
A little more information on the osprey, courtesy of the Florida Wildlife Commission:
The osprey is native to Boca Grande with its plentiful high posts for nesting and nearby seafood buffet t feed young and old alike.
Article Photos
Feeding three hungry fledglings isn’t easy for this osprey on Boca Grande.
Smaller than the bald eagles, which share the same habitats, ospreys can sport a 6--foot wingspan.
Adults are dark brown above with a white underside and head. A distinctive dark line extends behind the eye and narrow wings are angled downward when in flight.
The osprey is found year-round in Boca Grande as a nesting species and spring and fall migrant passing between more northern areas and Central and South America.
Ospreys in Florida escaped the serious pesticide-related population declines other states incurred in the 1950s and 1960s.
Pesticides, shoreline development and declining water quality, however, continue to threaten the abundance and availability of food and nest sites for ospreys.
Ospreys, also known as "fish hawks," hover above the water, locate prey and swoop down for the capture with talons extended.
In Florida, ospreys commonly capture saltwater catfish, mullet, spotted trout, shad, crappie and sunfish from coastal habitats and freshwater lakes and rivers.
As seen throughout Gasparilla Island, ospreys build large stick nests atop large living or dead trees and on utility poles, channel markers and nest platforms. Ospreys have adapted so well to artificial nest sites the species now nests in areas such as inner cities once considered unsuitable.
Nests are commonly reused for years. Nesting begins in December in Southwest Florida to late February in the Panhandle. Incubation and nestling period extends into the summer months.
The osprey is listed as a species of special concern only in Monroe County. Permits are required throughout the state to remove a nest for the raptors, however, and a replacement structure must be erected to mitigate the nest removal.
