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| A seashore tale |
This story actually begins on board an Eastern Airline Flight between Atlanta and Baltimore ( that alone is a time stamp). The flight was vectoring around Andrews Air Force Base just outside the eastern side of Washington when the cockpit door opened and a flight officer appeared. With captain boards on his shirt my reaction at first was, we are about to land, who's flying this bird? He walks down to the seat in front of mine and says to the man," Don't you live in Severna Park?" The man responds, "yes". The captain then says, "I've been trying to reach my wife on the company radio and can't get her. If I can't reach her by the time the luggage is off, can I bum a ride to Severna Park with you?"
I deplaned and had my luggage as I walked to the rental car area. My car was ready, the paperwork was processed, the keys were handed over and I was directed to the exit closest to the rental car lot. As, I was standing outside the exit, a Mercedes convertible--whips into the curb lane and the captain that had been bumming a ride, got into the car with the woman one must assume was his wife. Thus endeth my first trip into BWI. That trip to this day, lingers in my mind from being at the airport,on that flight and never beforehand or never thereafter hearing a captain bum a ride from a passenger on final approach.
My love for the eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine has deep personal meaning for me. It is the Chesapeake, most of all with its natural estuary, it's water people and the history, food and scenic wonders that I most love. So when looking for nesting bird cams, I wanted eagles, ospreys and horned owls. Luckily, all three were found, but the draw to Severna Park, the landscape, the area, the bird, coupled with all the urban goings-on that mesmerized me hook line and sinker. As my viewing time increased on this particular pair of birds, the hustle-bustle of urban life pointed out how animals adapt to their surroundings. Some more than others, but generally, animals will adapt to urbanization. This is a perfect example. I don't even turn off the sound. Listening to the noise an wind sounds of pair of sparrows that nest in the nest itself is amazing. Having traveled that area several times for work, the area is very familiar and almost like a second home at times.
Here is a bit of info on the location. The construction site is the Severna Park High School. As explained earlier, if you look to the right above the tall trees, about 11 miles ahead and just to the left is the short runway at BWI. The longer runways are on the west side of the airport and are basically blocked by the trees. Although, you can see the approach lights as the planes line up when the wind favors a north to south landing.
The busy roadway is rather deceptive. Just under the cam and going southbound the road is the actual street address of the High School, 60 Robinson Road. Going north bound as the camera looks north, it is called Benfield Road. It connects two busy arteries. Rt 2 and I-97, which helps to explain some of the heavy traffic besides the point it is also a major route out of Millersville, south to Severna Park. Having once lived on a busy street like this before, I have plenty of sympathy for the family that is directly to the left with the van sitting in the driveway most of the time. I was able to match this camera view with the Google map satellite view by matching the box on the side of the telephone pole and the pole that is in front of the camera across the street. It appears that the Google map has not updated to what we see today, so if you look at it independently, you will see athletic fields etc.,etc. and it can be a bit confusing. You will also be able to see the new High School Building under construction as well. Like all urban areas, the growth in this area will expand like a rubber band galaxy. Urbanization in the east is compressed as it is with more people per square mile than the rest of the nation.
Heather and Mark Jeweler, live in a very nice neighborhood into the wooded area in front of the camera on the right, who also fought for this permanent nest box (read their back story) and have just mentioned on the site that their site now carries this camera view. I'm a bit under the weather today. So, I have watched a very active urban life unfold . Here are a few of the things that go on before this camera as mom and dad osprey sit on three eggs that are due to hatch sometime after Mothers day.
1 ] South Bound Traffic Count for a 15 minute period: 213 cars. North Bound Traffic Count for a like 15-minute period: 144 cars.
2 ] walkers south bound: 13; one with dog.
3 ] walkers north bound:7; two with dogs.
4 ]Motorcycles NB:4; SB:8
5 ] Bikers NB:12;SB:4
6 ]Scooters: NB:1,SB:er NB in bike lane
8 ] hover board rider NB in traffic lane
9 ] Joggers NB:3;SB 6
10]Trash/Garbage/Recycle Pick up made NB and SB sides
11] Mail man delivers mail west side of street
12] Funeral Procession NB. One-hour later, limo only returns SB
13] 17 loads of dirt delivered to construction site visible
14] 4-pieces of equipment used. Bull dozier, back hoe, roller, Bucket Excavator
15] all neighbors stowed trans/garbage/recycle containers from street within 20-minutes after pick-up.
16] Fire EMS Rescue vehicle NB 13:55 EDT (saw a fire truck NB yesterday for the first time)
17] Wind gust strong enough to shake and rock stable nest box occurred twice at 13:15 EDT
18] Osprey Mate relieves Mate on nest 6 times, bringing food for mate one time.
The web site for the founders, Heather and Mark Jeweler is Osprey Nest,Severna Park,MD
or you can use the original site at; http://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/severna-park-osprey
Brought to you by the Friends of the Severn River Watershed and Wildlife
at www.severnaparkospreys.com
NB---
Editor Note:
04-30-2016: This morning I noticed that the frames per second had changed. That is usually an indication that something is up with the free link.
This morning, it appears that the website had crashed yesterday. This morning, it was running again with a dropdown that said it had crashed and threads that others were having the same problem.
The birds look to be none the worse for wear and having said that......
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