Quotes

"When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it" Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." Leo Tolstroy

"To get what you've never had, You must do what you've never done."
Video composition - Sight & Sound
A lyrical collage of photography harmonized with music.



This newsletter's composition titled: "Osprey" - view it here! - photography, music and vocals all created & performed by Kristen Westlake.

Photos & Notes:

One juvenile osprey is in the nest and watches his sibling successful at testing his wings. The osprey in the nest has not yet made his first attempt at flight.

The light gets harsh pretty quickly on hot July summer mornings. This blue sky day was pretty and I vowed to leave by 8:30 am. But the excitement at the nest was thrilling. Two babies had just fledged. The osprey mother was calling and the babies were mimicking her. This juvenile caught the wind and the light beautifully.
See more recent osprey photos in my gallery

I have watched these osprey non stop for 8 hours in a row. There might be 30 minutes or an hour between even seeing the osprey, once the babies fledged, but then suddenly the male would fly in with a fish, the female would come in and fledglings would come in to eat, fly, and even practise their own fishing skills (which at this date they had not yet mastered ).
Announcements & Events:
Upcoming photography Exhibition at the Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee - Opening September 7, 2007. Birds as Art. ... details coming soon!


Marketing Opportunities -
A huge market for my "huge" canvas images are professional office buildings, hospitals, Dentist offices, upscale B&Bs, and other corporations. Places such as these appreciate nature images because they help to destress their patients and clients as well as their staff. I am looking to reach out and "touch" more of the people in these industries with my photography. - If any of you refer a purchasing client to me I will thank you with not only my gratitude but also with a check for 15% of the sale(s). Please refer potential buyers to my galleries online. Thank you in advance for anyone referring business!
Thoughts from the Field:

Dear ##SubscriberName##

"To get what you've never had, You must do what you've never done."
I am restating this quote for a few reasons. As a message in my own life, I have discovered that simply by backing words with visualization & action, made/make dreams reality. It is more than that though. ... Words are empty and so are dreams if they are not our own... if we do not own our dreams then they are not authentic enough to survive.
Watching these osprey (click to see the video, please) over the past few months drew for me a comparison between Mother Nature & Human Nature. I observed three osprey young successfully fledge the nest. One day I came to the nest and vowed to leave by 8:30am when I knew the sun would be harsh, but I stayed until 2pm. This was an exciting day - a milestone for two of the three osprey young - the first day of flight! ... It also brought to me the understanding of what we all know but sometimes fail to recognize ----"To get what you've never had, You must do what you've never done." . For the osprey, and for other feathered friends, this flight from the nest comes instinctively...it is what they were meant to do - fly! From a human Nature point of view, it seems natural too, that our own fledging might and should occur this naturally - That isn't to say there is no apprehension when taking that first flight (even the osprey youngsters test their wings often before making that first brave attempt) - but the exhileration that comes with that freedom in doing what one is meant to do is something we all owe to ourselves and to each other. -
... So one of my own first flights "solos" here in this newsletter as it combines my vocals with my photography - risking, taking a chance and just putting more of who I am out there for others to see and hear. .. I do hope you enjoy.

My intentions are not just to bring Nature's voice back to people but to inspire humans to experience themselves - to know themselves - through Nature. ...
Yours in Nature,
Kristen


Interesting Osprey Facts

Osprey - information from http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore_raptors/osprey/osprey.html

To hear what the osprey sounds like please click here to go to Cornell's Ornithology website and click on listen to songs of this species
MEASUREMENTS: The Osprey has a body length of 21 - 24 inches, a 5 - 6 foot wingspan, and weighs 2 1/2 - 4 1/2 pounds.

HABITAT: The Osprey lives throughout the world near bodies of water, like lakes, rivers, marshes, mangroves, and seashores.
DIET: An Osprey’s diet is almost exclusively live fish, and includes a wide variety of fish species. The Osprey uses low, slow flights over water, and occasionally hovers to search for prey. When a fish is spotted, Osprey make dramatic dives from heights of 30 - 120 feet to plunge feet first into the water after their prey.
REPRODUCTION: The nest is made of sticks and other material in trees, on cliffs, on man-made structures like power poles, bridges, buoys, and elevated platforms, or on the ground. The female lays 2 - 4 eggs that are incubated for 35 - 40 days. The chicks tend to hatch sequentially, 1 - 5 days apart. The young fledge at about 7 - 8 weeks of age, but are usually dependant on the parents until the fall migration. Ospreys become sexually mature at about 3 years of age.
NAME DERIVATION: The scientific name comes from the mythical king of Athens, Pandion, whose daughters were turned into birds, and the Greek words halos, which refers to the sea, and aetos, meaning an eagle. The common name is from the Latin word ossifragus, meaning "a bone breaker." Ospreys have also been called Sea Hawks and Fish Hawks.
INTERESTING FACTS:
• Unlike Bald Eagles, an Osprey can become completely submerged during its dive into the water and still be able to fly away with its prey. Bald Eagles are usually limited to plucking fish at the surface of the water as they fly by.

• Ospreys have an opposable toe that can face forward or backward. While the bird is perched, it usually has three toes in front and one in back. When an Osprey catches a fish, its feet and toes are positioned with two toes on either side of the fish, one foot ahead of the other. The head of the fish faces forward in a streamlined position for transport through the air.