Waiting for Guests

I have written about this before, but this year is more complex it seems.

We behave in a most ridiculous manner each spring.   After all, the guests that are coming are not 'our' guests. Yes, we invited them and provide 'shelter', but it is not as though we are close friends or hang out when they are here!  We let them go their way and we go ours.  We can guess at their favorite meals and they could care less about ours.  We are quiet at night as are they.  It is a very simpatico relationship.

We start watching for their arrival in Mid-march.  They do not send any notice and we get very nervous if they are late. Thousands of miles is a long way to come all by yourself!  They meet up but arrive days apart.  They have no idea the extra effort we take to make sure their guest room is ready for them the moment they arrive. 

We were filled with joy when we saw them both and the male was doing his sky dance yesterday afternoon.  You can go here to see what a joyous mating ritual this is.

Sometimes other trespassers want to take advantage of our hospitality, but we have specifically set aside this place (for the last 15 years!) for our special guests. We have watched through joy, challenge, and tragedy as they raise their annual family. The multitude of the 'other' homeless is persistent as they want a safe shelter for their young.  One year we were not home at the right time and one of the interlopers settled in!  (Some of these older photos are blurry, but they help tell the tale.)

They could not be moved even with all our shouting and throwing.  When our guests,  the osprey, eventually returned, they could not chase them off even with their beaks and talons.  The geese would not move off their newly laid eggs.

The battle went on for hours.  The Geese won...

They raised a lovely family and we found joy in their success while we missed our osprey.

Five or six plops into the water during summer and the siblings joined their parents and were quickly moved away from prying eyes.  The nest was empty.

But because of that success, they return early every year and we play chase-away for many days.  Hubby now rises early and gets into the kayak to keep the geese away.  This year has been a particularly difficult season and the neighbors must be very entertained.

Hubby chases them all the way to the end of the finger in the river and the osprey seem to be weakening in their determination to nest.  It will be very sad if they are not successful this year.  That long flight has weakened them, I am sure.  They are not ready for such a battle.