Osprey Chick Tally For 2022

A disturbing, new trend exists along a stretch of the Delaware River at which a yearly census of ospreys’ nests, its adults and progeny is conducted by this birding enthusiast. Compared to the past many seasons, 2022 yielded significantly less offspring. Each nest surveyed is assumed to occupy a reproductive pair, as has been typical at least over the past decade; however, many nests have failed currently.

The three at the northeastern terminus of this avian study are located in the Landreth Channel, Keystone and Bristol ranges, as seen below:

Landreth Channel Buoy

Keystone Range Marker

Bristol Channel Buoy

Burlington Island Light

Landreth, Keystone and Bristol nests were barren on June 30th. What appears to be an adult male sits atop Bristol’s channel buoy, while a pair is perched on the marker light at the northeastern tip of Burlington Island. For the prior five or six years, these locations had produced two or three chicks in each, except for Burlington Island’s light which doesn’t host a nest.

NOAA Small Boater’s Charts of the Delaware River

The next three are in the Devlin, Edgewater and Beverly Channels:

Devlin Channel

Edgewater Channel

Beverly Channel

Two chicks and a parent were home at Devlin on the 3rd of July. The Edgewater nest was bustling with what looked to be three chicks and the nesting pair present. Beverly’s light hosted two chicks and a parent. Last year these pairs produced one, two and three chicks respectively.

NOAA Small Boater’s Chart showing the Enterprise and Mud Island Ranges

Echo Beach – Enterprise Range

Pen Ryn – Enterprise Range

Echo Beach’s pair were good for two or three chicks annually, as was the pair that roosted but no longer does on Pen Ryn’s light. This year Echo Beach’s nest was barren too, save for an adult on the tower. I’ve not a clue about the pair that roosts atop the abandoned conveyor in Delanco, N.J.

Abandoned Conveyor – Enterprise Range

Abandoned Conveyor

The conveyor’s ospreys are a recent addition to the study and last year had no chicks. The second photo above shows a vacant nest recently on June 4th.

One mile or two down the river comprises the Mud Island Range, atop which all three range markers sport ospreys’ nests. Note how closely they are to one another, unusual considering individual territorial disputes between raptors. I’m guessing the pairs are closely related.

Mud Island Range

Mud Island Light

Former Mud Island Light

Mud Island Range Marker

The birds on the present-day Mud Island light and atop the range marker are also relatively new additions to the survey. They go back a few years. Prior to that, only the pair on the former light resided in the range. Last year, the working light’s pair had two chicks. This year I didn’t see any. One more trek up and down the river—probably in about three weeks—is in order to make the final determination of the population.

On the former light tower, the Andalusian pair had three young last season, which was common for them from year to year. Only two are evident as of the recent count. The range-marker ospreys hatched three last year, but only two for ’22.

NOAA Small Boater’s Chart – Tacony Channel and Torresdale Range

Torresdale Range at Pennypack Creek

Tacony Channel – Riverton North

Tacony Channel – Riverton South

For several years previously, this last group of ospreys was quite successful in spawning offspring. In 2021, the Pennypack Creek pair had one; the Riverton North and South birds had two chicks apiece. This season produced only one chick for the bunch, with that nestling being atop the Riverton North light in the Tacony Channel.

Osprey Chick Distribution Map

Assuming if all the nests seen occupying one or both adults earlier this season continue to host nesting pairs, 28 adults and 11 chicks inhabit the survey’s range. What’s disturbing to me about this is that last year’s adult tally was the same, but 27 chicks resulted, about 2½ times more than that of 2022. So what happened during this year to create such a shortage of offspring?

The flock arrived in mid-March, around the same time they do normally, give or take a few days to a week; so it’s not like they started too late to build-rebuild nests, find their mate, procreate and hatch progeny. Could it be because of climate change? Not sure about that. I tend to doubt if minimally rising water levels and temperatures have reached a point to discourage their reproductive success just yet.

What if they are suffering from some destructive contaminate like the outlawed DDT found in the food they eat (fish), or water they drink that caused their eggshells to weaken and crack, preventing a successful clutch of chicks? It could be a result of something imbibed from within their migratory routes and winter locations, possibly in South America. It would be tough to trace.

It seems unrealistic to consider a shortage of nesting pairs. Once mature, these birds return to mate typically in the region where they were born. A plethora of ospreys have been produced over the past eleven years here.

If next year’s census reports a drop in the numbers of chicks still throughout the area, a closer look into the reasons for the decline will be warranted.

I’ve been enjoying my new studio and homestead in Falls Township, but miss my old tromping grounds in Andalusia. Access to the ospreys and Delaware River was a lot closer, but it won’t discourage my future visits.

In closing, allow me to share my recent cover tunes recorded at Nine Gables:

Mike Slickster & His One-Man Steampunk Boogie Band · Fever 2022

I caution you about this next one being labeled NSFW, whose content is very un-politically correct for these times, having been written in the decadent, early 1980s when people didn’t get so offended. The cover was just fun to sing and play. Please be forewarned and take it “tongue-in-cheek.”

Mike Slickster & His One-Man Steampunk Boogie Band · 88 Lines About 44 Women Redux

Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.

Settled In For The Long Haul

#NP Vinyl on the Victrola: Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

I had been in the process of moving out of Andalusia to a new place known to me as my studio. Finally all settled in and quite enjoying meself, I find the digs to be charming. The flat is in an old Victorian mansion divided up into four residences. I call the house “Nine Gables” for which it has.

New flat here awaits the first order of business: hanging window blinds!

It took a month to go from old to new. Daily trips with whatever fit into the Cooper made the move more tolerable than having to transport everything all on the same day. In the meantime, the place began to slowly take shape with my having ordered new furnishing online to fit the downsized space and putting the stuff together once received.

On April 23rd, my son helped me move in the remaining furniture: desk, hutch, dresser, a few chairs, bench, bicycle; transporting the items in a rental truck, placing them into their respective positions. The relocation was then virtually completed. Incidentals still required attention, such as installing an air conditioner and putting the drum set together in the back room. With that done, the following vid produced the results.

Now I’m back to my old routine of lazin’ along the Delaware River and parts beyond. Lake Luxembourg is less than ten minutes away. Bristol is twenty, and it’s a half-hour to the city line of Northeast Philadelphia. A bridge to New Jersey is just a hop, skip and jump away, giving me more options to explore.

My osprey census has suffered through all this, and catching up is in order. Most of the birds by now should have hatched offspring. I’ll share what shots are available.

Riverton South Nest is on the Left; Riverton North Nest is on Right of Center.

The Riverton South nest is vacant in the above photo, where as the Riverton North nest has the appearance of an adult and chick. The shot was taken from Lardner’s Point in Philadelphia. A week earlier, pictures from Pennypack Park showed them a lot closer:

Riverton South

Riverton North

Too hard to tell yet, it appears as if offspring are in the nest. We’ll have to wait until a future visit to know for sure. Looks like the Pennypack Creek osprey is still roosting:

Pennypack Creek Marker

Further up the creek, a male is perched at a treetop:

The resident bald eagles at Pennypack Park on the Delaware River have two eaglets this season:

The PA-NJ Turnpike Bridge’s peregrine falcons have two eyases for 2022:

Having gone through everything before making the move to Nine Gables, throwing out a dumpster full of accumulated junk at least, I found a lot of memorabilia that I hadn’t seen in ages, among which were old photographs that had been scattered about. My photobook was falling apart so I bought a new one and filled it with the entire picture collection. Showing the album to my son, he especially enjoyed a series of shots of him and I taken in a photobooth, the predecessor of digital cameras for taking selfies readily.

His birthday on May 12th is the day after mine. We got together on the weekend following both to celebrate and exchange presents. One of the gifts I gave him was a framed montage of the selfies, complete with duck faces before they were considered cool. Allow me to share that one too.

Mike and Son in 1994, ’95 and ’96

The new studio is on the ground floor so I don’t have to worry about people downstairs. No pets are allowed, thus, eliminating the nuisance of barking dogs at all hours of the day and night. The place is well insulated and noise doesn’t travel loudly beyond the walls. I rarely hear the neighbors. I’ve recorded two cover songs already and haven’t had a visit from the local police department, which is a great thing. Nine Gables has changed my life.

Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support. In closing, please find the studio’s first two covers recorded and performed by yours truly.

Until next time, stay healthy and keep rocking.

¿Qué pasa?

Outdated Laptops

Bless me, most noble one, oh god of the blogosphere; for almost a year has passed since my last tirade.

I’ve been lazy and empty-headed without any motivation, nor desire, to post any elucidations. Having been going through a series of changes lately has become my latest muse to get the literary juices flowing, to once again tap away on the ‘puter’s keyboard for at least 500 words.

Wait, does anyone still use a computer, or simply rely on a smartphone or tablet for communicating their inner feelings? At least we don’t have to depend on a typewriter anymore. I paid a fortune for “White-out.” Thanks goodness Mike Nesmith’s mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, invented it beforehand. It saved me a lot of grief while typing those high-school, university essays and term papers.

The ospreys are back. Haven’t done a complete census yet, but can document those whom I’ve seen:

First one spotted was a female at Lake Luxembourg on March 10, 2022

Scenes from March 15, 2022

What appears to be a male sits atop the Delaware River’s Beverly Range Light, across from Logan’s Point, Eddington, PA.

Andalusia’s female returned early, seen here on March 16, 2020.

Across from Andalusia, an osprey-gender unknown—took occupancy on the channel marker in Delanco, NJ, on March 16th.

Mud Island’s female on March 16th appeared with the others. The previous three must have traveled together.

Echo Beach Light in Bensalem Twp. had a nesting pair on March 21, 2022.

The Pen Ryn Vixen showed up atop the Enterprise Range Light on March 21st.

An osprey’s head seems to be poking up at the top of the Delanco, NJ, abandoned conveyor on March 21st.

Female on Landreth Channel Buoy, sighted on March 24, 2022

Nesting pair on Keystone Range’s Light on March 24th

Female on the Bristol Range’s channel buoy, as spotted on March 24th.

Preliminary Distribution Map. Click on all images to bring up larger sizes for better viewing.

Probably the biggest change for this neglectful blogger is moving out of Andalusia to a new home, 12.5mi/20km away to the northeast from the present place, which takes about ½-hour to reach. My beloved Delaware River is roughly 4.5mi/6.5km from there, so I’ll have new spots to explore; and it’s not too far away from the old favorites. Thusly, my dedication to the ospreys, other photography and Social Media will be waning for a while.

Outdated Electronics and Sundry Junk From the Black-hole Closet

So far I’ve gotten rid of most of what I accumulated in the black-hole closet for the past 25 years. That junk alone took the bed of a pickup truck to it haul away. Been busy packing up the dishes, silverware, foodstuff and miscellaneous other stuff that’s been lying around for decades. I delivered half of what hung in the clothes closet to the Good Will container, stuff that doesn’t fit or was out of fashion. An old suit from the ’70s, the only one I owned at the time, found its way to Good Will as well.

Downsizing is my main mission at the moment, as I’ll be living in a smaller flat. I don’t need much room like when my son stayed with me. He’s a grown man now, on his own, living with a wonderful woman who will be giving birth to my first grandchild around Thanksgiving, which is really exciting.

My lease at the Andalusia apartment ends on April 30th. The one for the new place starts on April 1st. That will give me 30 days to slowly move in the packed stuff, buy new furniture, hang blinds on the windows; and transfer the big items all at once on the 23rd. The last week of the month will be dedicated to cleaning up the former and settling in to the new digs.

That’s all for now. More about the move will be available as it progresses. Thanks for visiting. It was long overdue.

Diphthongs, Mnemonics and Homophones

The English language can be most illogical at times, especially with the spelling of various words. For instance, take the title of my latest musical cover, a tune called “Creep,” which got absolutely no response after my posting it on Twitter. Why isn’t it spelled, “Creap,” as in the word cheap? You might say cheap is spelt that way to avoid confusion with cheep.

That’s a good reason, but what about tear? Tear can mean a rip in something, and can also mean the result of an eye secretion from irritation or crying. To follow the confusion-avoidance theory, then, the latter should have been spelled, “Teer.”

That reasoning follows through with the words, beat and beet, meat and meet, bare and bear; but what about lead and lead? According to Merriam-Webster, the first lead’s definition is “a soft, heavy, metallic element with atomic number 82.” The second means “to guide on a way especially by going in advance,” whose past participle is “led,” incidentally, to confuse matters even worse.

Then there’s the spelling conundrum for placement of the diphthongs “ie,” and “ei,” as in words like receive, sieve, field, perceive, ceiling, etc. A mnemonic taught in grade school for the arrangement of which goes like this: put “i” before “e” but not after “c,” or when sounding as “a” like in neighbor and weigh. The little rhyme is generally fine; however, many exceptions exist for which one has to memorize.

My favorite cartoonist, Stephan Pastis, pointed out the idiosyncrasies in the following comic:

Perhaps the most unhelpful spelling rule ever. pic.twitter.com/sW0aud6rA3

— Stephan Pastis (@stephanpastis) March 9, 2021

How about homophones—not to be mistaken for homophobes—or the words “your, you’re, to, two, too, their, there, and they’re”? Their misusage is a pet peeve of mine, yet it has become accepted to this grammarian. Someone once told me not to be so condescending, and Social Media has numbed my senses. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, as the adage goes, or even the youngsters who are the bulk of today’s Netizens. For this old fart, anyone born after 1980 is still a kid to me.

I’ve been taking a break from Twitter lately, and even skipped a tirade in this journal last week. It feels good not to be tied down to all the nonsense and self-promotion of others, even though that’s what the majority of my tweets are, attempting to showcase whatever talent I have. It doesn’t seem to impress many, just a few of my Internet friends for whom I’m appreciative. The rest are too wrapped up with their own pompous hodgepodge to acknowledge anyone else, except for those who fill up the former’s egotistical balloons with more hot air about whatever they’re pontificating.

Spring is being fickle the past few days in the Philadelphia area, feeling more like the end of winter. New England and parts of Upper New York State saw snowfall yesterday. That’s not stopping the flowers, thank goodness. Baseball season is on its way, and soon we’ll be complaining about how hot it is. All is good. Well, mostly it is.

Thanks for stopping in and for your continued support.

Mike Slickster & His One-Man Steampunk Boogie Band · Creep Redone

Delaware River 2021 Preliminary Osprey Count in Lower Bucks, Northeast Philadelphia, and Burlington Counties

Click on the above image for the full-size photo.

On March 27th, I took a count of what ospreys were at the upper northeastern nests in my survey area of Lower Bucks County, PA, and Burlington County, NJ. A mate joined the male on the Landreth Channel buoy. None resided on the green buoy, as had been in the past few seasons:

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Landreth Channel Buoys

On the Keystone Channel light, or what I’ve been calling, “Radcliffe marker,” sat a male with no sign of a mate:

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Keystone Channel Light – Radcliffe Male

A tad southwesterly at the tip of Burlington Island on the Bristol Channel Buoy sat an osprey whose gender was undetermined:

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Bristol Channel Buoy

After receiving my second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on this past Tuesday—no side effects except for the expected: slight soreness at the site of inoculation (went away in two days)—I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon by taking a jaunt on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River and take a census of known osprey nests that can’t be seen from Pennsylvania. The lead-in illustration at top shows just a preliminary count, to be updated soon.

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Burlington-Bristol Bridge: photo 1. from the Pa. side; photos 2. & 3. from Burlington, NJ.

Once over the Burlington-Bristol Bridge into New Jersey, I stopped first to check on the nest a bit downstream in the Devlin Channel, close to the Pa. shore, and found a female in the nest. The male was hunting on Burlington side.

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Pics 1-3-Burlington-Bristol Bridge Pair: female in nest; male in flight.

Obligatory photo of the Cooper near the old PSE&G Power Generating Station in Burlington, NJ, with Big Pink super-imposed digitally.

From a spot in Edgewater Park, across from the Edgewater Channel in Croydon, PA, a nesting pair could be seen close to the shoreline. They posed for faraway shots:

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Croydon Ospreys

Next stop was in Beverly, across from Logan’s Point, Eddington, Pa. At first, the nest at the Beverly Channel was vacant, but both birds showed up for a seasonal portrait:

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Beverly, N.J.

Passing through Delanco, NJ, I had to check on the bald eagles’ nest across the river from the Herringbone birds, and found one of them roosting on what I assumed were eggs:

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Delanco Bald Eagle

The Herringbone Pair on the light before Echo Beach in Pa. were spotted on March 27th:

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Herringbone Birds

From Delanco, the Enterprise Range marker and light at Pen Ryn Estate in Pa. appeared vacant still:

Took a few shots of the Andalusia Estate while in NJ. It’s very well concealed from the Pa. side of the river. I noticed a figure was standing to the right behind the family’s crypt, as seen in pics 1. & 3. Wonder if that was Mrs. Biddle.

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Andalusia Estate, Andalusia, Pa.

Andalusian Triangle – Three nesting pairs

The ospreys at what I call the “Andalusian Triangle in the Mud Island Range,” or the pair on the former Mud Island range marker, the ones on the functional Mud Island range marker/beacon, and those on the Delanco channel marker and light are better seen from the Pa. side. The following are photographs taken on March 26th from Glen Foerd Estate in Northeast Philadelphia:

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1. Andalusian pair; 2. Mud Island birds; 3. Delanco Channel Marker ospreys.

During my Jersey trek on March 30th, I stopped at Cinnaminson Harbor to view the Riverton North nest in the Torresdale Range, and the two across the river in Pa. at Pennypack Creek, Philadelphia:

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1. Riverton North Male; 2. Pennypack Creek by the pumphouse; 3. Marker at Pennypack Creek Confluence;

The ones gender by the pumphouse was undetermined, too far away. I’ll have to visit Pennypack Park in Philly to make that determination, and follow up for its mate. The marker in pic 3 was vacant. The following is a photo with the entire Riverton North marker and the Pennypack Creek/Philly Water Company Pumphouse’s marker in view:

Riverton North marker in center; Pennypack Creek pumphouse marker in background on left.

When at Pennypack Park across the river in PA, I usually take a photo of the “Minnow” beached at Cinnaminson. Someone named the sailboat in jest apparently, and marked it with graffiti which also says: “Three Hour Tour.” The following photo on the left was taken from the park in Pa. The one on the right is a bit more colorful and was taken on March 30th from New Jersey at high tide:

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The Minnow at Cinnaminson during its three-hour tour.

Only a couple of miles or so downstream sits the Riverton South marker in the Tacony Channel, on which another lone male is perched. There seems to be a shortage of females this season:

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Riverton South Male

The previous two shots were taken from the Riverton Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club on the Delaware River (founded in 1865) and one of the oldest in America. The following are a few photos of the esteemed clubhouse:

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Riverton Yacht Club

From there, I traveled a few miles southwesterly to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge for my return to Pa.

Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, as seen from the Riverton Yacht Club

On April 2nd, while checking to see if the Pen Ryn Vixen had returned, I noticed a new nest atop part of the abandoned conveyor across the river in Delanco, N.J. A nesting pair were in it:

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Delanco Abandoned Conveyor

Maybe that’s where the Vixen went. Perhaps the yellow Enterprise Range marker was too close to people’s passing by for her liking. Who knows? If I get a chance to get closer, a shot of her feet will be the tell-tale sign.

That wraps up this preliminary census of my beloved ospreys, twenty-three of them thus far. I’ll take another count in a week or so to see if the lone males find mates, and the genders of the undetermined ones are resolved. Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.

Happy Easter and Passover!

Suffering From Writer’s Block

Tonight’s dilemma is what to write in this week’s essay. We can talk about the weather, as spring is in season, and temperatures have taken a turn for the warmer. Just noticed that one can type the verb “Have” with one hand, not including the quotation marks; and that’s not by using the “Hunt and Peck” method.

Learned to type properly in high school, taking a class in my junior year while enrolled at a gender-segregated Catholic institution. The boys’ classrooms were on one side of the building, while the girls were situated on the opposite end, separated by a chapel on the second floor, and a library on the first.

The only times we would congregate together was during lunchtime in the cafeteria, sometimes in the library, and whenever services had us both present in the chapel. Otherwise, the only class that was coeducational was typing; hence, my enrollment.

Flowers are starting to bloom as seen by the daffodils in the lead-in photo above. Notice the picture’s point of view. This industrious photographer got onto his belly in the grass at Glen Foerd Estate in Philadelphia on Friday to get that perspective, as well as the crocus, crocuses, or croci (your choice) in the next shots:

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A couple of passersby looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe they’re right. As a result, I pulled out the first embedded tick of 2021, which lodged into the side of my head at the temple. Since then, every little tactile sensation felt on my body causes me to check obsessively for an invading arachnid. Happens every year from attempting an award-winning photograph. Think I would learn not to do that, especially when I’ll only garner a few likes for them on Social Media. A retweet is unthinkable.

Speaking of “temple,” Passover began on Saturday the 27th. Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, is on the 28th. The full moon, this spring’s first and designator for both religious feasts, is also on the 28th. Rain is in the forecast, dampening my hopes to capture its rising. Clouds obstructed my view earlier this evening; however, looking outside from my terrace just now, I saw the orb was peeking through to give me the follow shots in case we miss it on Sunday night:

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Almost-Full Worm or Paschal Moon

Being legitimately eligible to be placed into the commonwealth’s Phase-1A category for getting the COVID-19 vaccination, I’ve already received my first dose on March 9th. My second shot is scheduled for this Tuesday. In two weeks following the booster, I’ll be considered fully vaccinated, which is certainly a relief after hunkering down for the past year.

Although a mask and social-distancing is still recommended, I’m going to splurge and get a professional haircut, as opposed to self-cutting it. My barbering skills leave a lot to be desired. Even a bowl cut appears more proficient. The coiffure looks like it’s been fashioned by hedge clippers. It’s especially difficult snipping away at the back of the head. It’s no wonder the wearing of a Phillies’ cap in public is mandatory. I’m so looking forward to when herd immunity is reached, but will feel a lot more secure once fully vaccinated.

An old English teacher taught me that when suffering from writer’s block, put down a thesis sentence and the rest will follow soon. In closing, as a dedication to the Easter and Passover holidays which are upon us, allow me to share Rie Waits and my latest duet, a traditional gospel tune as sung by Blind Willie Johnson and his first wife, Willie B. Harris, called “John the Revelator.”

Mike Slickster & His One-Man Steampunk Boogie Band · John The Revelator

Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.

Another Essay That’s For The Birds

Ospreys are back!

Almost like clockwork, a couple of ospreys have returned to my neck of the woods for another breeding season, although, not exactly in Andalusia yet. Usually they appear around St. Patrick’s Day, but have been arriving late for the past several seasons. That’s because either the temperatures hadn’t been very conducive for nesting, or nor’easters passed through during the days preceding March 17th, which might have hampered their migration north.

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Mid-March 2017-18

The birds were tardy in 2019. Even though no snow storms resulted in early- to mid-March, the Andalusian male made his appearance over a week late. The following shot was taken on 3/25 of that year:

Around this time in 2020, we were just at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic’s lockdown, when orders by the commonwealth’s governor to stay home prevailed. For exercise, I’d walk down to the Delaware River in my neighborhood. Thinking the ospreys would be showing up late again, I went down to the waterfront anyway on St. Paddy’s Day and was pleasantly surprised to witness our resident female raptor’s grand entrance, chasing a crow out of her nest:

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Andalusian Female’s Arrival on March 17, 2020.

Thinking they might return last Wednesday the 17th, I hung out by the river, hoping to greet them, but no cigar. It rained all day on Thursday the 18th, a perfect day to work on putting together some music tracks for Rie’s and my Easter/Passover dedication, which should be ready by the time the religious holidays roll around. Cruising by the waterfront on Friday the 19th, the ospreys were still not there in Andalusia. Just a pair of crows and great cormorants were squatting in the nest.

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March 17th and 19th

On Saturday the 20th, I decided to check on the Radcliffe bunch, as they were the first to arrive in the area sporadically during the past few years. Before heading to Bristol, I swung by the Andalusian nest to find those goofy cormorants were still freeloading:

3/20/21

The other two range markers as seen from my neighborhood—Mud Island’s and Delanco’s—have had no signs of their respective nesting pairs up to now as well. The nest on the Enterprise Range marker at Pen Ryn Estate upstream has been vacant too. I haven’t been to Herringbone yet. That one and those viewed from Pennypack Park in Philadelphia are on my agenda for this coming week. Now that travel restrictions have been lifted, a trip to the N.J. side of the river for checking on those pairs hidden from the Pa. side is next in line.

While at Radcliffe, the yellow Keystone Range marker occupied another couple of great cormorants. The green Landreth Channel buoy was vacant, but the red one sported what appeared to be a male osprey, building a nest.

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Keystone Range Marker and Landreth Channel Buoys

From there, a trip to Tullytown yielded the lead-in photo at the top of this essay. It was a female who went fishing at the cove and caught a nice one.

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Tullytown Cove Female Osprey – March 20, 2021

The first photo is of the osprey right after her plucking the fish from out of the water. Unfortunately, for me, the bird snatched its meal out of my view. Those fishermen had been all over the cove but hadn’t caught anything up to that point. I’d like to know what that guy was thinking as he watched the osprey land the trout nonchalantly, and head off toward Penn Warner with it.

I wonder where the bird is nesting. She’s got awfully large feet like the Pen Ryn Vixen, but her brown-feathered neckless isn’t as pronounced. Hopefully the rest of the ospreys in my stretch of the Delaware River will be accounted for in the next couple of weeks. A photo journal is available at Pinterest, where my progress for documenting the status of the 2021 arrivals will be updated regularly.

That wraps ups another entry about the exciting adventures of Mike Slickster and his beloved birds. Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.

Got Up Today On The Wrong Side Of Bed, Smack-Dab Into The Wall.

We’re a year now into the pandemic lockdown in the States; and elsewhere around the world, likewise give or take a few weeks. How would we have survived this crisis without the Internet? We would have the same way, I suppose, as our relatives did during the Spanish Flu epidemic one hundred years ago, or our ancestors during the bubonic plague 700 years ago.

Life goes on as it has since the dawn of man, unless we allow Earth to fry from global warming left unchecked. “Poppycock,” you say? Go ahead and remain in denial. You won’t see the outcome probably, but your kids might if we don’t attempt to do something about it during our lifetime. Time’s a wasting.

Too heavy of a topic? OK, then let’s get back to the present and brood about how our lives had been affected by COVID-19. Tired of hearing about it? Tough! If you don’t like it, go back to your Facebook and other Social-Media timelines for reading all the political misinformation found there, and gawk at pictures of cats, nauseating niceties and blurry photos posted by your so-called friends who profess how their lives are so wonderful and carefree.

Being isolated during this lockdown, I would have gone stir-crazy if it weren’t for the Internet, which kept the lines of communications open for so many: teachers and their students who were schooled online, employees earning their pay by working from home via the Net, face time with co-workers, friends, lovers and family on Zoom or other such platforms, and not to mention our smartphones.

Who would have thought while watching the Jetsons that we would be videoconferencing in our lifetimes? I’m still waiting for cars that cruise regularly in the air though. I’d love to be beamed up by Scotty too, but I doubt that will occur anytime soon. The thought of no intelligent life on this planet occurs to me from time to time, however.

Got my first shot of the COVID-19 vaccination last Tuesday: Pfizer’s concoction. So far, so good, the only side effect felt was some soreness in the deltoid muscle of my upper left arm, several hours after I was inoculated. That only lasted for about a day or so. My booster or second shot is scheduled for March 30th.

I’ve been reading that the side effects are generally felt after the booster, which is an indication the vaccine is working and our immune system at that point has jumped into action. I’ll report how it turned out at the end of this month, which I hope doesn’t go out like a lion.

Daylight Savings Time takes effect at 2 a.m. on the March 14th, in a few hours after this tirade is posted. Following tradition, I’ll be watching the time change automatically on my computer, skipping right from 1:59 to 3 a.m. Come to think of it, I’ve never watched that happen on my smartphone. Maybe I’ll do that instead, which can be done while in bed, if I don’t fall asleep.

St. Patrick’s Day is this coming Wednesday, on which date my beloved ospreys have been known to return to the area. They’ve been late by a week or so the past two years due to frigid, stormy weather, I assume, ruling out it was because of the bird flu. It’s supposed to be relatively mild this coming week, so maybe the raptors will show up on time. Spring starts officially next Saturday. Boy, oh boy, will we be having some fun now!

Rie Waits and I finished up our latest duet this past week. It was a sensation on Twitter, as seen in the following embedded tweets:

Also, thanks for not listening.

— Mike B (@MikeSlickster) March 9, 2021

Thanks, honey. You’re probably the only one.

— Mike B (@MikeSlickster) March 9, 2021

Now it’s your turn:

Mike Slickster & His One-Man Steampunk Boogie Band · You Think You’re A Man/Woman

Thanks for stopping by and for all the fish.

Pandemic Week 52: Sweepstakes and Political Games

Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf rescinded travel restrictions on March 1st for residents who exit Pa. and return from other states, and for non-residents who enter the commonwealth, while not requiring them to quarantine anymore for 14 days without a negative COVID-19 test taken during the previous 48 hours.

Hadn’t been out of state since last March when the pandemic began in earnest. To celebrate, I visited Amico Island the other day, which is in Delran, N.J. Big deal, right? From the island, one can see the former Morelton Inn in Philadelphia, as seen above; and Salem Harbour, my neighborhood in Andalusia, is diagonally across the Delaware River. I could probably paddle my kayak over there faster than driving.

It’s been a year now since the first cases of the novel coronavirus hit our metropolitan area. Since then, 946,985 confirmed cases resulted thus far in Pa., with 24,317 deaths as of today. Nationwide, 28,838,671 confirmed cases are recorded with 522,192 deaths. Worldwide, 112,883,165 confirmed cases are on record with 2,511,922 deaths.

Texas and Mississippi have planned to lift the mask mandate and reopen businesses 100%, much to the dismay of medical and federal officials. Seems rather reckless and dangerous to me, but I’m not an expert. All Republican lawmakers (who think they know it all) voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic-stimulus package to aid citizens, vaccine and vaccination distribution, infrastructure improvements, schools and businesses to recover from the pandemic; although, the legislation did pass in the Senate strictly along party lines, and now goes back to the House for finalities before reaching President Biden’s desk for his signing it into law.

The GOP claims the spending was totally excessive and uncalled for, as sufficient stimulus funds had been divvied out already, and the pandemic (in their infinite wisdom) is almost over. Sounds to me like they are only trying to sabotage the process. They aren’t in danger of being evicted from their homes, losing their jobs—except for when their terms expire and they are not reelected—or unable to put food on the table for their families. Most have probably been vaccinated already and are not fearful of the virus, but I’m not a politician and that’s my opinion.

Speaking of which, I was contacted by a member of my county’s Immunization Coalition for arranging an appointment to be vaccinated on this coming Tuesday. I’m not sure which vaccine I’ll be receiving, but any one of them will certainly do. I’ll be sure to report how everything went in next week’s journal entry.

Another “Final Step Required” correspondence from Publishers Clearing House arrived in my mailbox the other day. Of course I returned the completed entry sans ordering any of their junk. That’s another 55¢ to be placed in the U.S. Postal Service’s coffer. The odds of winning the current sweepstake is 1 in 6,200,000,000. That’s over a 6-billion-to-1 chance, almost as large as the world’s population or 7.8 billion people.

The distance from Earth to the Moon is roughly 239,000 miles. To Mars it’s around 142 million miles, and to the Sun the average is 92.85 million miles. That’s just to show the magnitude of the odds against winning the sweepstakes. Makes me wonder why I waste my time and taste buds for entering and licking all those blasted “Final Step Required” stickers.

Still waiting for the Prize Patrol and to finish my latest duet with Rie, so I’ll leave you with this old gem:

Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.

Cheap Thrills

Was sitting on that bank of sand, watching the Delaware River and full Snow Moon flow this evening. Thought for sure the clouds would be obscuring the view, as a couple of storms are passing through this weekend. It cleared up nicely though, as seen in the lead-in photo to this essay.

Just a simple pleasure of mine is attempting to capture a Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of Earth’s satellite, which has looked the same since the beginning of time as we know it. Funny how when I post some shots on Twitter, I lose a follower or two afterward. Don’t let the Social-Media door slam you on the butt as you leave, I think when that happens. Good riddance, as far as I’m concerned. Phases of the moon and bald eagles seem to do it every time.

Allow me to post my lunar extravaganza from earlier. The scenes were captured on the shoreline of the river in Andalusia:

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Cheap thrills for me, I guess. At least it makes me happy. Photographing birds is another titillation, which seems to also turn off some followers lately. My profile lists “Birding Buff” and “Photographer” as descriptions of my many eccentricities. Don’t follow me in the first place if you don’t like bird or moon pictures.

Making music is another cheap thrill of mine. Rie Waits and I are presently in the midst of putting together another fantastic duet, at least they all seem that way to me. Hopefully I’ll be able to torment my followers with it some time in the forthcoming week. It’s a cover called “You Think You’re A Man.” It’s not the version by Divine, but more on the punk/alternative-rock side. Bet you can’t wait to hear it! Wonder how many will be exiting that proverbial Twitter revolving door when I post it?

Here’s the one by Divine, just to wet your appetite:

At least its not called, “Girly Boy,” which was a popular catch phrase back in the ’90s. Someone called me that once on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, N.J., and we got into fisticuffs over it. I bet he never called anyone else that again!

I’ve noticed a recent expression is “Today-years old,” as in, “I was today-years old when I found out Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective, according to FDA analysis, a step which led to authorization of a third shot in the U.S.” I see it used a lot in trending hashtags.

Speaking of Covid-19, the pandemic is into week 51 for me. Amazing how time flies even when we’re not having fun. Getting vaccinated is elusive as a butterfly, for lack of a better analogy. In Pennsylvania, we have to pre-register online and wait for our turns to get spiked, twice in most cases; although, J&J’s vaccine is reportedly effective with only one inoculation.

I received an e-mail yesterday from my county’s vaccine program, regarding their pre-registration update. Since I’m part of the 1A group that are getting the shots first, I pre-registered on February 6th. Appointments are presently being processed for those registered on or before January 15th. It’s going to be a while before they catch up to me. At least I know my name is on the list.

Well, that wraps up another entry in this illustrious journal. Thanks for stopping by and for your continued support.