Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
June 29
(no 2)
must have warned them of our approach for although we landed
on the back side of the island & came suddenly out on a headland
directly over the nest all three birds were lying prone in a row
with their heads & necks stretched out over the edge of the nest furthest
from us. I have a fine photograph showing this & also one
showing the headland with one of the Ospreys poised nearly over
the nest. Both birds kept coming up from leeward and then scaling
off before the wind much in the manner of Herring Gulls. Like
the pair on Dagger Island they were very noisy whistling
(phew-phew-phew) screaming (cree-cree-cree-cree-cree) and
making a noise new to me & exactly like the grating of teeth (
perhaps produced mechanically by the mandibles). Although rather
shy one of them repeatedly came within gun shot. Their
nest was of enormous size. Conary standing at its base could
only just comfortably look over the rim. It must have been 5 ft
high.
  Besides the Ospreys we found on these islands Savanna & Song
Sparrows, several Bank Swallows & a Flicker. An Eave Swallow
was also flying about among them.
  Here for the first time I found Poison Ivy. It grew in dense
beds among the grass & about the rocks. It was tantalizing to
see quantities of ripe wild strawberries nestling among the
dangerous, polished leaves of the ivy.