By Mary Reid Barrow

Welcome back, ospreys!

You sure took your sweet time getting back to us this year.  We’ve been wondering where you were.  Most of the time, some of you are  back at your nests in February.

So where have you been for the past month? Of all years to  play coy with us! Your presence, always  a harbinger of spring, would have been so helpful long before now.

Osprey expert Reese Lukei  said you must have been delayed by the weather!  Ha!  You were probably enjoying a sunny stopover in the Caribbean before coming back to face our Covid- weary world and uncertain spring weather.

When you decided  to come,  you seemed to all come at once.  It’s as if you held a meeting and said, we can’t leave our friends waiting but for so long.

Many of you arrived at the end of the week and more of you are arriving during the weekend.  Did you begin to feel guilty for making us wait  so long? I hope so!

Reese noted that a pair of  you arrived almost simultaneously on your nest platform in Little Neck at the end of the week and he took the photo that leads off the blog.  Others of you are back at your  homes on navigation buoys, occasional tall pine trees and many tree snags.

And welcome to you,  pretty osprey!

Terri Gorman saw you near your nest on a tree snag at the Narrows at First Landing State Park.  You, with your pretty brown necklace, are probably waiting  for Dad to fly back with the perfect stick  needed to repair your home.

You dads are not dilly-dallying around.  You are  busily gathering sticks, branches and other  materials to repair winter worn nests and you moms are wasting no time bickering  about what sticks should go where.

You dads can’t forget that it’s mating time too.   Moms, you  should lay your eggs by the end of the  month and your babes should hatch by the end of April or beginning  of May.

Thank goodness you are hard  at work. I’m going to tell folks to be on the lookout for you this weekend.  Sunday will be a great day for osprey watching.

So, osprey friends,  be on your best behavior as you get some welcome home visits this weekend.

Do you have a favorite tree or plant with a story to tell?  What relationships have you observed  between plants and critters?  Who eats whom?  Who has babies where?   Send an email to maryreid@lrnow.org