Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 23:20:24 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Adam Smith Subject: Ches. Bay birds 10/20 : Osprey + MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable While fishing today on the Chesapeake Bay off of Thomas Point Park / = Lighthouse area the following interesting birds were sighted: 1 Bale Eagle, adult carrying unknown fish 1 Common Loon, winter plumage 1 Osprey The Osprey put on a great show for me and my friend. There were several = mixed schools of feeding rockfish(striped bass) and blue fish. The fish = were feeding on the millions of silversides(a small minnow) in the area. = There were also flocks of mixed gulls and terns feeding on the = silversides too. The Osprey tried several times to dive amongst the = frenzied activity of the fish and the birds, but aborted it dive at = least 5 times. Finally it saw a window in the action, it dove, and = almost completely submerged itself. It flapped back out of the water = with a nice rockfish in its talons. The rockfish was estimated by us to = be about 8-10 inches in length. Once airborne, it turned the fish = headfirst in its talons, did an airborne shake and fluff of its = feathers, to rid itself of water and then headed to a tree to devour its = meal. =20 I see Osprey lots of times, but have only managed to see them catch a = fish on a handful of occasions. Adam Smith Arbutus MD cyanbluecobalt@msn.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================