If you look up to the top of the light pole next to the St. Marys Rotary Club Field, you’ll see a large mess of sticks. If you watch long enough, you might even see one of the resident Ospreys land at the nest, or a baby chick poke its head out. These Ospreys have made their home here for years, enjoying the availability of fish in the nearby river. Year after year they return here to raise their young (which typically hatch around the middle of July), drawing the admiration of local birdwatchers.
Ospreys make their homes near water since their diet is almost exclusively fish. Ospreys will drop onto a fish from above, diving as deep as three feet below the surface to capture their prey. The bird will then use its talons, which are dexterous and roughly padded with tiny barbs, to grip the fish and pluck it from the water. If you’re lucky, you may see one of the Ospreys returning from the river (which runs to the Northwest of the CBHFM site) with a catch to feed their young. Ospreys will line up their fish between their feet so that the fish is more streamlined in the air, helping them grip their slippery meal. The Ospreys spend the summer here at the CBHFM site, departing for warmer climates near the end of September/beginning of October.
