One of our Berlin readers forwarded a newspaper photo of an osprey and inquired: “I’d like to know what kind of bird this is? I like birds.”

For those who are not familiar with ospreys they are well described by John Bichard May in his book, “The Hawks of America,” published by the National Association of Audubon Societies in 1935. The following quotes are from a copy that Mr. May autographed for me several years ago: “The Osprey is a bird of the seashore, lakes and rivers, and is seldom found far from large bodies of water. It is almost exclusively a fish-eater and its manner of fishing is well known, flapping along deliberately thirty to one hundred feet above the water scanning the surface for its finny prey.

When a fish is sighted, the Osprey may dive at once or it may hover for a moment with rapidly beating wings, then closing them, drop like a plummet into the water, where it may disappear completely from sight before emerging with its booty.

“The Osprey may usually be recognized because of its size, its plain brown upper parts, white under parts, distinctively marked head, (largely white, suggestive of a bald eagle) and long and rather narrow wings.

It approaches the Bald Eagle and Turkey Vulture in spread of wings and exceeds the Black Vulture and all the Buteos.

Though often mistaken for an Eagle by the uninformed, it should be distinguished without difficulty by its white under parts. It can be distinguished from any of the Buteos by its silhouette, which shows long, narrow wings usually bent in a characteristic ‘crooked’ outline, and a fairly long tail which is often spread fan-like in flight.

The tail is narrowly barred, and the head markings are distinctive.”

The osprey is continuing to make a comeback in New Hampshire. NH Audubon, in cooperation with the N.H. Fish and Game Department, began watching these fish-eating hawks in 1980. At that time, the nesting population — situated at Lake Umbagog and the watersheds of the Magalloway and Androscoggin Rivers — increased from three active nests in 1981 to 16 in 1991, and chick production increased from 0 to 22 in that same period. During that study the low productivity of osprey nests was probably due in large part to predators like raccoons or fishers, which could climb nest trees and eat the eggs of young. A very effective solution was found by installing sheet metal collars around the base of the nest trees. Chick productivity in nests situated in “guarded” trees was double that of those in “unguarded” trees. In recent years utility companies have installed nesting platforms for ospreys along their transmission lines.

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Quite frequently the content within our columns stirs old memories. Such was the case with one of our Derry readers who wrote in part: “I would like to thank you for the very informative and enjoyable ‘Nature Talks’ columns you have authored that the Union Leader has published for many years. Your own experiences, as well as those of your readers that you have chosen to share, have often been similar to mine.

“During the 50s, when I was a young man and not yet old enough for a driver’s license my family lived in what was a very rural community in Rockingham County where small dairy farms took up most of the acreage and dirt roads were still quite common. During that idyllic time I had joined the 4-H, the first Boy Scout troop in town and the Grange.

My interest in agriculture took root early, and through the 4-H ‘Chicken of Tomorrow’ contest I received a small shipment of baby chicks from Hubbard Farms in Walpole. I was to raise the chicks until they reached maturity, upon which time I was to bring 3-4 of my best to the contest held in Concord at the processing plant. The chickens were judged for their weight and quality. My entrants did quite well and I received a few different colored ribbons (not a blue). The chickens I kept at home went on to produce many eggs that I delivered on my bicycle around the neighborhood.

All in all it was a wonderful experience that I remember fondly, although I don’t believe that we recovered the cost of feed as we were buying the best in order to win the contest!

“That experience broadened my understanding of nature (even though I didn’t much enjoy cleaning the chicken house!) and how we are all connected to it.”

I well remember the “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest sponsored by the Cooperative Extension 4-H program.

For the first 18 years of my 25 as a commercial poultry farmer, I raised hatching eggs for Hubbard Farms of Walpole and Lancaster, Pa., and then went into direct selling to consumers.
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Stacey Cole’s address is 529 W. Swanzey Road, Swanzey 03446.