©Megan Maher
July 14, 2022
Field of Dreams
- as seen by -
Megan Maher
When exploring the wonders of coastal Maine parks and nature trails, it’s not uncommon to find various bird nests perched among the trees and along the coastline. After a particularly windy afternoon photographing some osprey (Pandion haliaetus) parents and their chicks at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park (a longtime favorite place to photo ospreys, eagles, gulls, and many other interesting birds, mammals, and the occasional garter snake), it was time to put away my camera and go back into a more urban setting.
I passed some vacant baseball fields, their fields overgrown from lack of use when I noticed a mass of sticks on top of the fields’ light pole. A few moments later, I heard the distinct calls of an osprey. Suddenly, the stick pile was awake. Two small chick heads poked up, waiting for their parents to join them in the nest.
I watched the parents fly around their uniquely placed nest and then drop in to give their chicks some food.
Bird watchers and photographers can often find osprey nests on a variety of manmade structures like telephone poles, channel markers, and in this case, baseball field lights. According to Cornell’s All About Birds, such platforms have become an important tool in reestablishing ospreys in areas where they had disappeared.
Nikon D500
Leave a Comment