The Lake is High and Rising...

If you are local you may have seen reports of high lake levels. There has been a lot of rain, kind of like this is becoming the new tropics. They can't let a bunch of water out of the dam because of saturated areas down stream will make things worse for the people there. People are not the only ones that have issues as you can see from these osprey nest photos taken at Lake Sam Rayburn. 

I noted the other day fishing that our favorite deep water spot, a tree we tie to is usually at least 10 feet out of the water. There were only 3 feet sticking up the other day. Ospreys, if nesting on the open water, usually chose the tallest trees. You can imagine what these birds thought when the found the water about 7 feet closer than was expected. I don't know which sex picks the nesting tree but I bet the male bird got an earful about this situation. 

No birds were noted anywhere in the area so we felt like pulling up for a close look was ok. No chicks present either. An osprey will take on a bald eagle in fierce airborne combat. They can easily chase off a man in a fishing hat.  This nest appears to be abandoned. 

At another one of my shallow fishing spots there was an osprey nest we fished under in a shorter cypress tree. Wind and wave action on the point have washed that tree away, nest and all.  

A closer look at construction and a pile of fish scales when they have a take out of the water dinner each day. 

I have been fishing this lake my whole life. I can recall many times of drought where the boat ramps were too shallow to use. The last 5 years or so have seen boat ramps closing due to high water. Global warming? Some say no, some say fake news. I look to see what the animals say.  They have split for the high ground.