Friday, February 4, 2011

Ospreys and Hermit Crabs

Since northern Illinois has been abuzz over a visit of a Snowy Owl these past several days, I now return to to my regularily scheduled series about "Birds of Mexico" that we saw during the week before Christmas, 2010. 

An Osprey peers over the edge of its nest on Isla Contoy, Mexico; 12/21/10
Ospreys are well known for building huge nests on top of man-made structures. In this case, on Isla Contoy, the man-made structure was meant for an Osprey (Above) to nest on. Also on the boat trip to Isla Contoy, as we were leaving the marina in Cancun, we passed a tower with another Osprey nest on top. If you look closely, you can see a young Osprey peaking over the edge (Below).
An young Osprey looks over the edge of its nest built on a Telephone tower, Cancun, Mexico, 12/21/10.
Check out my post about Ospreys on 6/27/10:  http://northernillinoisbirder.blogspot.com/2010/06/ospreys.html 

While scouting out Isla Contoy, other than iguanas, I also saw an abundance of Hermit Crabs.  This tiny army of Hermit Crabs (Below) were picking through an old burned out campfire in a picnic area on the beach of Isla Contoy.
Each one of these shells is occupied by a Hermit Crab, Isla Contoy, Mex.; 12/21/10.


A close up look at a Hermit Crab, Isla Contoy, Mexico, 12/21/10.
Now I am not an expert on Hermit Crabs, but doesn't it look like the Crab in the pic above has both of his eyes coming out of the same eye socket?


The last of my Iguanas of the day; Isla Mujeres, Mexico; 12/20/10.

Tomorrow: Palm Warblers and Isla Contoy marine life.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an odd place for a next...and wow, a large nest at that, very cool!

Aw....the hermit crab, these things make the hair on my arms raise....although, we had them for many years as pets, I was so glad when the boys were not into them anymore (they smell too)! :)

~Val said...

Didn't notice that little oddity about the crab's eyes. That's kind of icky!