Raptor Wednesday

The Grand River is now mostly rapid-less, quite a let-down to those like myself hoping that Grand Rapids would live up to its name.

But every day, we saw Osprey hunting over the river. The photos above are from the 21st floor. It’s not often I see Osprey from the top! (Through rather dirty windows at that!)

Peregrine parenthetical: saw one the first night, again through the hotel windows.

Here’s one of the O’s from ground level. The view from above, repeated so many times, really gives you an appreciation of how hard they work. Saw many dives into the river came up fish-less.

And the Grand has some big fish. Rainbow Trout/Oncorhynchus mykiss above.

White Sucker/Catostomus commersonii

Silver Redhorse/Moxostoma anisurum. There was a lot of fishing action from the banks, bridges, and even in the middle of the rather shallow river.

Great Blues as well as fisher-people.

It turned out the Osprey weren’t coming far. This nest atop a comm tower was in the NE section of town. It can just be glimpsed in the very first picture above.