The big chested girls amongst us will understand that button up shirts come with many risks. Add in a camera hanging around your neck and a camera bag slung across your body and it's not unusual to realise that you've been walking around with your buttons all popped open and your bra on display!
Maybe that's why the dude who saw me watching a pair of Osprey asked if they were "white-BREASTED sea eagles"😂 What can I say, I don't tan 😂 Spent about an hour watching these guys and very lucky to observe the male fly in with a stick to add to the nest. Pairs will use the same nest over years, adding to and maintaining it and apparently this nest has been in place for at least 18 months.
Now I'm not an animal namer, especially not for animals that I have observed the one time but this pair reminded me so much of an old married couple that we christened them Barry and Beryl. Once Barry had provided the stick he took to the skies again and we waited to see what he would return with next. Beryl noticed him much earlier than we did and started frantically calling to him - Barry had caught a nice fat fish - which he proceeded to take to the top of the tower and eat himself!!! The calling got progressively louder and louder until Beryl could not contain herself any longer and she started to fly from the nest, circling close to the tower and coming back in to land. And then she did it again, circling further this time, her stare fixed on Barry, her cries continuing. And still, Barry gave zero...cares.
This behaviour continued for a few minutes until enough was enough and she flew straight up to Barry and his fish and tried to steal it away. Barry was having none of it and took off, fish in talons. We hung around for another 10 minutes and as we were leaving we could see them in the distance Beryl still following, still calling, swooping in big loops through the air. Bloody Barry.
When we finally reached the car I spotted a bird clearly scanning the water for prey and because I'm a white-breasted TWIT I yelled "Barry!!!" and we took chase hoping to capture an image of 'him' talons first, plunging into the water to catch a fish. Instead, I now know, with the obvious 'necklace' Barry (this time) was actually Beryl. She was taking matters into her own 'hands' and getting her own damn fish. Sisters doing it for themselves and all that. Take that Barry!!!
Eastern Osprey
Illawarra
#birdsofoz #easternosprey #vulnerablespecies #australianbirds #illawarra #backyardzoology
