Sleep Interrupted

‘Fled is that music, do I wake or sleep?’ I had one of those Keatsian moments recently while lounging in the balcony and enjoying the Florida sun, and sounds of the surf softly crashing on the beach. Heavy-lidded and on the brink of sleep but not quite – this reverie was broken by a series of sharp whistles and the swoop of wings as an osprey with a writhing fish in its clutches landed on a lamp post near my third floor balcony. Almost instinctively, I stepped inside to get my camera. The osprey was there for a good 10 minutes or so. I had plenty of time to take some photos and even a little video clip.

We often see Ospreys on East Pond in Maine too. They watch us, and we watch them, as we fish for bass. They migrate to Florida in the winters, just as we do sometimes. Interestingly, I saw a pair that had made a nest on top of a lamp post at a very busy traffic intersection. What a change from the lovely lakeside residence!