Birding

We love to travel to find new birds and participate in a lot of bird counts. We also created a Guide to Birding Field Guides and host a collection of over 300 birding links from all over the globe.

Conservation

While our main focus continues to be birds, we promote other areas of conservation as well. Conserving land not only benefits wildlife, but is hugely beneficial to people as well.

Outdoors

We love all sorts of outdoor activities, especially hiking and spend a lot of time outside with dogs and horses. We are working to produce more articles on all sorts of outdoor fun!

Photography

Every week we bring you Bird Photography Weekly. We periodically talk about our adventures in digiscoping. Feel free to browse our photo lifelist.

Article in: Birding

Ospreys Along the Atlantic Coast

Osprey
Osprey flying near Chesapeake Bay

Once a bird whose numbers were declining and now a success story of conservationalists, the Osprey can be found in bountiful amounts in coastal Virginia. On a recent family vacation to Virginia, Snowy Owl (Susie) encountered a large population of Ospreys along the Rappahannock River and the Slough Creek inlet of the Chesapeake Bay in the Northern Neck region of Virginia.

These breathtakingly beautiful birds had established nests in boat signs and whatever else they found suitable. We were treated to a wonderful view of the Ospreys as we canoed all over the Bay inlet. They flew, calling to each other in a sharp, distinct whistle. The creek was a bustling hub of activity.

Ospreys are not so common in northern Illinois so this was a special treat, especially for Snowy Owl’s two young daughters.

7 Comments or Trackbacks   ↓ Jump to add comment ↓

  1. Lana says:

    So wonderful! I hope to see one of these someday.

    Posted on: June 28, 2008 @ 10:17 pm

  2. wren says:

    I love ospreys. I’m not sure why they stand out among the raptors, but I find them even more fascinating than the others.

    Posted on: June 29, 2008 @ 9:31 am

  3. Melissa Gold says:

    Beautiful birds!!

    Posted on: June 29, 2008 @ 9:51 am

  4. Mary Carlson says:

    I would agree that it would be quite a treat to see one of these birds and its offspring. It’s good to know they are making a strong comeback in the Chesapeake Bay area.

    Posted on: June 29, 2008 @ 1:46 pm

  5. mon@rch says:

    Osprey are so much fun to watch! Keep up the great work!

    Posted on: June 29, 2008 @ 8:23 pm

  6. The Birdfreak Team says:

    Lana – you gotta see one of these! They are much cooler in person!

    Wren – Ospreys do tend to stand out a lot… sometimes they seem even more impressive than Bald Eagles, something that is hard to do :)

    Melissa – true!!

    Mary – When given the chance and good habitat, birds can be so resilient!

    Mon@rch – agree and thanks much!!

    We feel that Ospreys could easily be used in a short film to promote bird conservation and birding. Just need to get some video of them :)

    Posted on: July 1, 2008 @ 8:46 am

  7. Alan says:

    Nice photos! I live in VA not to far from the coast & am fortunate to see Ospreys often. I also live across the street from a large lake and can sometimes see them soaring above the lake from my front yard. Wonderful birds!

    Alan

    Posted on: July 2, 2008 @ 4:30 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment