The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
Tallahassee Florida, February 17.
Yesterday my wife and I spotted an osprey perched on the snag behind the house across the street from us. Although common on Lake Jackson (just behind the snag in question) we see Ospreys from the house only intermittently in the winter. My assumption has been that they avoid the area close to the bald eagle nest, just a few hundred meters along the shore.
So it seemed quite unusual to see an osprey not only perched so conspicuously but eating a sizeable fish (large sunfish or crappie). Photos of this first event can be seen in a comment I left in today's Dawn Chorus diary, here.
Just now my wife announced that she could see two different raptors on the snag, which she (without binoculars) first thought were an osprey and an eagle. Turns out they were two ospreys, the female being much larger than the male. The male had a fish. The size difference is not as apparent in the photos for some reason.
Sorry if they aren't very crisp - it was difficult to get the autofocus to focus on the right object.
Female (below) looks a bit grumpy at not being offered any fish.
The eagles are definitely still around and so I am wondering what has made these birds so bold all of a sudden.
That's it for me. Please let us know what is going on in your neck of the woods.