Guessing…and guests

Guessing:   I told Jason Williams if he doesn’t hear from the folks at Cabella’s today about the outcome of the Cabella’s “Fish for Millions” fishing contest, I was going to call them. He said go right ahead. The young man from Farmerville has been waiting since the contest ended Sunday night to find out what he’s won for catching the specially tagged fish on Lake D’Arbonne a few weeks back. So far, he’s still guessing. I have my fingers crossed that he’ll find out today. Good luck, Jason! I’m sure the waiting is painful, but it should be worth it in the end! (for more details, check out our June 27 post)

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And Guests:   Lake D’Arbonne has lots of visitors. But very few have garnered as much attention the past few months as the Osprey family that has taken up residence not far up the D’Arbonne arm of the lake. No, the Osprey family isn’t a southern gospel singing group — it’s birds!

Momma Osprey peers out over the top of the big four-foot nest resting on a D’Arbonne channel marker.

The big osprey nest located on top of one of the D’Arbonne channel markers has been gathering looks for quite some time now and the family just finished raising a few young in the nest. When a boat slows to an idle and rides by too closely, Momma Opsrey will puff out her wing and face feathers and make some awful high pitched whistles that start off as chirps but end up as a wavering squeal. It certainly gets your attention. Even though the young can now be seen frolicking around in nearby trees and following boats down the channel as they pass by, the parents are still pretty protective.

Ospreys are sometimes confused as small eagles with their white heads and wide wingspread. But they are a type of hawk — sometimes called fish hawks or fish eagles.  A mature osprey is a large fish-feeding bird that can reach more than 24 inches in length with a wingspread that can reach more than five feet. It is brown on the upper parts and predominantly white/gray on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

If you check them out, be respectful of their “lake space” and enjoy watching them. It’s another one of those neat things about life on the lake.