We are in Guerrero Negro slowly making our way home after the book signing. Last night I was walking one of our dogs in the empty lot beside
Malarrimo Hotel, when I heard the call of an osprey. I looked up and there were 2 ospreys and 4 gulls circling. One of the ospreys had something in
their talons. Whether it was the sight of me and my dog or the gulls pestering him, the osprey dropped his catch almost landing on me. It was a 2
1/2 to 3 lb flounder; more than enough for two people's dinner....no we did not eat it. Nor did anything else....not dead long enough for the
buzzards.
I was sure that when I left the ospreys would come back for it. It was still breathing when I left the area. Do ospreys only eat fish that they
catch or do they have to be alive for the babies? Guess I should have put this in ? and answers....too late.
[Edited on 4-28-2005 by bajajudy]
fish goo
latitude26n - 4-27-2005 at 11:31 AM
I don't know the answer to your question, but I have an osprey story.
One day while driving our dune buggy down to the estuary to go fishing, we passed an osprey eating his lunch. Just as we got to him he became
startled and launched himself in to the path of the buggy. He got so close we could hear the swooshing of his wings as he got just enough air to clear
the top of our rack. A second later there was a loud "SPLAAAT" as he droped his fish on to the windshield.
We laughed so hard at the mess and the sound it made, we had to pull over (plus, we could no longer see thru the windshield).
But I thought we were going to pass out from laughing when we discovered that all the fish goo had strategically passed thru the 5" gap between the
top of the windshield and the bottom of the overhead rack, had completely cleared the heads of Mr. latitude and Denny in the front seats, and was
covering the face of myself who was sitting in the back.
View from the backseat just before the goo
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[Edited on 4-27-2005 by latitude26n]Bruce R Leech - 4-27-2005 at 12:01 PM
latitude26n what happened next?latitude26n - 4-27-2005 at 01:40 PM
The guys cleaned the windshield and I waded in to the ocean and washed my face.
And then, we went fishing !Skipjack Joe - 4-27-2005 at 11:43 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by latitude26n
I don't know the answer to your question, but I have an osprey story.
[Edited on 4-27-2005 by latitude26n]
I don't know the answer to your question, but I have a seagull story.
I was stretched out in the camper enjoying a good book when I hear this loud KABAAAAM. I mean, this was loud. Like a coconut dropped on your roof. I
get out and examine the camper. Not a sign of life. No dents in the vehicle. Nothing. I go back scratching my head. Another mystery, I guess.
A couple of days later I run into another camper who's complaining about almost being hit by a clam falling out of the sky. I go over and examine the
remains of the clam and discover bits of octopus near the shell. Finally I figure it out.
The empty c-ckles in the lagoon are used by baby octopuses (octopuses or octopi, Bruce Leech - help me out with this) as a nursery until they reach a
larger size. They hold the 2 sides of the clamshell tight with the suckers on their tentacles. Somehow, the gulls can tell which shells have living
clams, which are empty, and which have the octopuses. But how to get the guys out. They take the shell into their bills, fly up about about 200 feet,
and let her drop.
Pretty smart for a bird brain. The only demented thing is that their aim is not too good because one of them just about drove that c-ckle through the
roof of my camper.bajagrouper - 4-28-2005 at 07:40 AM
I work at SFO and the seagulls do something simular there,about every 2 weeks during the low,low tides the seagulls pick the mussels off the rocks and
do the same thing by dropping about 100 feet, after about 2 days of this mess the sweeper trucks have to come out a de shell the taxi way...enjoy
We watch the birds
jrbaja - 4-28-2005 at 07:50 AM
opening shells that way almost daily here inRosarito. Sometimes though, they will fly up, drop the shell and fly down and catch it before it hits the
ground.
I assume they are practising or something like that but it sure is entertaining to watch!
For you tree huggers. One time we were shooting a potatoe gun, (my first time) and these birds went flying by. I took aim at about 50 yards and
followed them along. By the time they were at about 100 yards, I fired way above them. The potatoe hit one of them from above and we were in
hysterics. The potatoe dropped, the bird followed it down and began munching potatoe on the beach.bajalera - 4-28-2005 at 10:19 AM
Bruce, take a bow! Somebody has asked you how to spell something.David K - 4-28-2005 at 10:51 AM
You're too funny Lera!The Sculpin - 4-29-2005 at 09:10 AM
OK, another story....
Surfing by myself close to where latitude26n experienced a fish gut face plant, I was patiently having a quite argument with myself between sets and
watching the abundant sealife frolic below me. All of a sudden, I heard and felt a very large splash/smack/fwoop/fwoop a few feet behind me and to my
right. My first thought was I narrowly escaped a nearsighted shark attack! Adrenalin pumping, I was scanning the surface to see where the second
attack would come from, and then I remembered the fwoop/fwoop. I looke up and a good sized osprey was climbing rapidly with a nice sized fish in his
talons.
After laughing uncontrollably for a few moments, i did notice that the water was a little warmer around me......Slowmad - 4-29-2005 at 02:59 PM
Great story Sculp.
I'd read that ospreys only eat live fish, avoiding mammalian rodents and carrion,etc.
I've since learned otherwise.
In the same zone not far from GN, I watched an osprey drill, kill, and dine on a fully-grown seagull.
The osprey had been fishing all day to no avail.
I think the presence of the gull was distasteful, and the aguila mar just snapped.
It was brutal...picture Ronnie Lott open-field-tackling Dick Cheney:
Nothing left but a fishy smell and a pile of feathers.
Osprey
Osprey - 4-29-2005 at 03:54 PM
I didn't pick my handle because these birds are smart. The ones on our beach average a catch every 9 attempts. Once a juvenile grabbed a fish,
talons got stuck (they often do) in the fish who the jr bird misjudged to be smaller -- the bird was dragged under by the big fish and when the bird
was finally able to let go he could not fly. I saved him, my Mexican pal took off all the dead or dying tissue on the end of his tongue, we brought
him around and he's back on the beach. I once watched a frigate bird pick up fish guts from the beach, soar out over the bay, drop the morsel to
attract live fish, catch the fish, eat it, come back to the beach for more bait, repeat the fishing process. Verdad!Slowmad - 4-29-2005 at 04:26 PM
Frigate birds are definitely more skilled than the average Lower Barriles Malted Sasquatch.
Osprey Trivia
Slowmad - 5-2-2005 at 10:13 AM
Unas cosas:
Ospreys have "velcro" microhooks on the bottoms of their claws to help with their snatch-and-grab fishing technique.
Ospreys are prideful, often performing parade flights with their catch.
Ospreys always fly with their catch gripped head-first for a lower drag coefficient.
In Baja, some ospreys are apparently bicoastal, maintaining nests in the central mountains where they can perhaps fish both the sea and the ocean. One
such nest is on a phone pole in the Valle de los Cirios town of Rosarito; another is in the crotch of a boojum across the highway from the Rancho El
Descanso.bajajudy - 5-2-2005 at 11:05 AM
Thanks for the info. When I wrote the title of my post I didnt realize that it would bring on the puke stories....muy interesante.
Night before last we watched as 2 frigates fought over a fish. A midair dog fight. And the winner was the one who scooped up the dropped fish. I
couldnt figure out if it was the original fish catcher or the interloper.
real or fake?
latitude26n - 5-2-2005 at 11:54 AM
I have one of those windsock/kites of a life-size osprey carrying a fish that looks very much like the real thing when he's flying- flaps his wings at
the same beat and everything.
We put him up for our own enjoyment, but it's also fun to watch the double-takes as people go by and check him out.
The windier it gets the harder he flaps, but he never goes anywhere.
The most fun is to watch the respone of the real Ospreys that fly by. They'll hover over him, sometimes within a few feet . Or some will sit on a
power pole near by and "talk" to him. You wonder what they're thinking.latitude26n - 5-2-2005 at 11:59 AM
Does an osprey have to catch the fish with the head aiming the "right way"?
I don't remember ever seeing one catch it backwards and turn it around (?)Slowmad - 5-2-2005 at 03:27 PM
Yes, have seen them rotating a calico bass to get it "proper" (head-first).
And I need one of those osprey flags!
Can you help a brother out and provide a link? Slowmad - 5-2-2005 at 04:41 PM
Lat26, cancel that order.
Just got crazy smart and Googled "Osprey windsock":
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