Photo by Michael Miller

Oh mighty osprey

Come back

To nest

Here in our Chesapeake

Arrive on St. Patrick’s Day

To meet again with your mate

We will build you

Sixteen foot high platforms

In the sandy loam of our shores

For your family to nest

But mighty osprey

Can we promise more?

The silvery schooling menhaden

Your prey to feed your chicks

Where are they

Oh mighty osprey?

Your wings open as wide

As the sea gull’s

Your yellow eyes bigger than owl’s

Your laser vision searches

Our pleasant living waters

Zygodactyl talons ready to rotate

Two forward-two backward

You soar,  then wings aloft,

Hoover

To clutch a menhaden from our Bay

Then, return to feed your brood in their nest.

But are there enough menhaden

The most important fish in the sea

To fill the tummies of one, two

Maybe three fledglings

That devour all the menhaden

But slivers of bone, tail

That fall from the barren tree tops 

Where, oh osprey. you keep watch.

Will you return to nest oh mighty osprey?

We will build you more platforms

But can we promise more menhaden

To feed your young?


I wrote this poem in response to a great talk called, The Disappearing Osprey presented by http://ChesapeakeForum.org on November 4th in Easton, Md.