Another Osprey arrives in Longmont and ducks on the St. Vrain

[Kat Bradley-Bennett]

The Osprey arrived on the nesting platform on Airport Road (just south of Mountain View, west side of the road in a pasture) some time Sunday morning. It spent a good deal of yesterday afternoon gathering nesting material, fending off a harassment of crows, and defending the territory from an immature Bald Eagle and the Osprey from the platform on the Twin Peaks Golf Course. I wasn't able to check the Fairgrounds platform this morning to see if that male has also arrived, but in speaking to the land owner for the Airport Road nest, this is the earliest arrival since the platform was erected eight years ago.

I saw dozens of Gadwall and Green Winged Teal flying up and down the St. Vrain River east of the old sugar mill yesterday morning.

Kat Bradley-Bennett

Longmont