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Fly with the Ospreys

This is a page about  the Whirley Crane Osprey nest in Richmond. CA. Its purpose is to provide information to those who are new to the cam.  It also proffers osprey related poetry, songs and stories. If you have a poem or song or chart you'd like to see on this site, please contact Midi.
All writing and personal photos are the property of the authors and may be shared only for non profitable purposes. Courtesy would dictate letting this site know if you do so. 
All photos captured from the camera are the property of and used by permission from the Golden Gate Bird Alliance. They are not to be copied from this site without permission from GGABA If you enjoy this site, please consider sending a contribution to:
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goldengatebirdalliance.org

WWOC Glossary

6/12/2019

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The faithful watchers of the osprey cam  call themselves the WWOC after a visitor cam on one day and left in disgust when confronted with the discussion going on, calling them the world's worst osprey chat. W can now stand for worst or wackiest, take your pick. The WWOC is wacky. Their discussions range from ospreys, to other birds, to recipes, art discussions, science, and jokes. But the conversation is clean and polite, and visitors are always welcome. Some take right away to the wackiness, others come on briefly to ask and get answers to their osprey questions, then leave. It is a place to ask whatever you wish to ask, and usually get an answer, to have fun, and to learn much, on any topic, but especially about the ospreys. For the WWOC has observed these birds for 5 years now and has faithfully recorded their life in detail. 
In the course of discussion, chatters have learned vocabulary from ornithology and have made up other words. One chatter compiled a list of these words as a reference. So Richard's Glossary is posted below. Feel free to comment here or to contact the webmaster to add a word.
WWOC Glossary            April 6, 2019, first edition   by Richard

ATN    Around The Nest    Web camera positioned on the crane, pointing at the nest and environs from a                          
 distance.  As opposed to the Nest Close Up camera
Bobblehead     Infant chick        
Breakfish    n.      first meal of the day        
Brisa    Youngest of the three 2018 chicks, known for her voracious appetite and for                                                                                                                                                                                       occupying the   RYC nest at the end of the 2018 season.        
Cap    Capture    Photo grabbed from web camera feed     
CK       "Cloacal kiss"    Copulation, osprey type    See, for example  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cloacal
(the) corner   Spot where those who, by virtue of a disgraceful typo or other human frailty, are            sent for punishment    Puritanical influence strong    GailMac, proprietor of the corner, was the only one who could “put” you there.  The corner has been pulled out of use.  One wonder when and how it might reappear.
CPS    Chick protective services    Agency to contact when osprey parents are neglecting their young, or the young are otherwise in danger
Donuts   Condition or manifestation of a server failure, causing the nest cam image to devolve into a spinning circle    “Oh no, the nest cam has gone donuts for me.  How about you?”
Eyebrow    Richmond’s distinctive black line on his right profile that resembles an eyebrow    One of Richmond’s identifying marks. Chatters also look for his dark “knee patches" and the Spade or Heart shaped spot on the top of his head.
Facectomy   Removal of fish face by eating    Richmond delivered the fish with a facectomy.     
Feak     v.transitive  & intransitive)  To clean (one’s beak) by wiping against a nearby surface.      Feaking after every meal helps keep the beak clean and disease-free.  Feaking against a hard surface, like the steel cables of the Whirley Crane, also sharpens beak edges, like honing a knife.
Fingie                                n. finger    
Fishing line                   VERY hazardous to the birds as they can get tangled up or strangled by it    Sometimes brought to the nest
Flappercize    n. & v.i.       See wingercize    
Frustration nest    Collection of sticks and grass stashed on the sheave, the system of pulleys seen from the ATN cam      In chat-speak mini-nest, balcony, upper nest or other term.    Most used in the pre-season, and then after the chicks have gone.
J     idiom “To pull a J.” v.i., to claim to have seen a fish on the cam when no fish exists  
Jacksnack    n. a small jacksmelt or similar fish, especially one eaten quickly    “The chicks only had a jacksnack this morning, so they’re still hungry.”
Mantle    Protective spread of wings    
Matrix    n. “The Matrix”     1. The Live Chat Fish Counting Matrix 
        2. A diabolically complex situation from which escape may be difficult or impossible.
Necklace    Used to describe the spots that mostly occur on female Ospreys    In Rosie’s case necklace also refers to the spotted bandana that her namesake Rosie-the-Riveter wore.  Chatters also look for the Eiffel Tower shaped spot on the top of her head.
Nestoration, Nestorating    Nest preparation    May also refer to ongoing nest maintenance.  Further linguistic research required.
NFNS    No Fish & No Stick    Osprey returns to nest with empty talon    sfbayospreys.org fans often in distress at this realization
Nit    v.i. & v.t. to nitpick        
    n. a minor dispute or correction of another’s chat post.        
    interj.    1. used to admonish someone for making a minor critique    “Nit, nit nit!”
        2. used to preemptively admit that the critique one is making is a small one    “I’m sure you meant to say ‘talons’ (nit).”
O    n. an Osprey    “I see one O on the cable but I can’t tell who it is.”
Osprey Yoga    Meme by craigor         
Pancake    To flatten on nest in defensive move (v)    Rosie sounded an intruder alert, and one of the chicks pancaked
PFM    n. Plainfin Midshipman, aka “Humming Toadfish” (Porichthys notatus)    A fish of striking appearance and fascinating habits.  PFM made up about 5% of the recorded 2018 catch.
Pog    n. Obstruction of the view due to Osprey nestling excretions on the camera housing; contraction of “poop fog”      “The new self-washing feature should really help with the pog this year.”
    adj. Poggy    
POL    n. “Proof of Life”    Photographic evidence of something mentioned or claimed in a Live Chat post
Richmond    Male osprey resident of the ROV nest    Two years ago Richmond and Rosie shared the same nest, had 3 eggs, two of which hatched, of which 1 survived fledging.  Last year, they had 3 active chicks.     
Rosie    Female osprey resident of the ROV nest         
Rivet    2017 offspring of Rosie and Richmond    Fledged and departed for “Cabo” for a couple of years.  Or so it is said.  Expected back in town Spring 2019.  Banded with the letters ZR, which for some stand in as a name. Returned to the area but has been seen only once. 
Roemer aka “Remy”    Eldest of the three 2018 chicks    
ROV    Red Oak Victory    The World War II ship alongside which the Whirley Crane sits (see below), in which the osprey nest is found.
RTH    Red Tailed Hawk
RVB    n.pl. The three 2018 chicks, Roemer, Victory, and Brisa, collectively    
RYC    Richmond Yacht Club    Site of another Osprey nest    As of 3/24/2018 two osprey residing, incubating egg(s); Richmond resided RYC nest three years ago
Snakey    Purple, stuffed snake, that spent much of last year’s nesting period on the nest    Some believe that Snakey served as a third parent for the 2017 chick cohort.  After nest season, Snakey was retrieved from the nest, cleaned, and now resides in a special, glass enclosure at craigor’s residence.
SOD    Sweet Osprey Dreams    As in, Good night friends; SOD.    Said at night, when signing off Live Chat 
Victory aka “Vic”    Second of the three 2018 chicks    
Whirley    Rivet’s 2017 sibling    Died from internal injuries sustained in a fall into the water, just after fledging.       During banding Rivet and Whirley were identified as females.
Whirley Crane    (Former) revolving boxcar with 110-foot boom, sitting on massive legs    Adjacent to the ROV ship
Wingercize    Wing exercise (n, v)    When the chicks stretch their wings.  May apply also to adults. In early morning hours adults and kids would always stretch their wings a bit before flying.
w*** (spellings vary)    Term for (1) vocation or paid employment, or (2) any form of obligatory labor requiring effort    The most notable feature of w*** is that it detracts from time spent watching the Osprey cam and participating on the chat, although in some circumstances doing household chores is believed to encourage desirable outcomes around the nest.


WWOC    World's Worst Osprey Chat    The second W can be modified as befits whim: Wackiest, Wisest, Wittiest, etc.  World’s Wanton Osprey Chat?
“World’s Worst Osprey Chat” originated in 2017 when a new chatter appeared and exclaimed this was the worst chat they’d ever seen.  Rather than be offended, the chat group embraced it.


General geography – prominent features seen from the nest cams
Bird Island    Southwest of Brooks Island    Called Hat Island by some Chatters because it reminds them of the Magritte painting, “Man in a Bowler Hat"     
Brooks Island     Island, with breakwater sand spit attached    Nesting habitat for terns and gulls
Dolphin    Two or more pilings lashed together at their top ends in a conical arrangement, used as a channel marker    One of the dolphins in this picture supported an Osprey nest in 2017     
Rigger’s Loft    Former shipyard building across the roadway from ROV    Current use: wine bar, tasting room, working winery, cidery    Back in the day, used for fitting out the top part of the completed vessel with masts and other equipment
Roof Tiki    Image on roof of Riggers Loft Wine Co, across Canal Blvd. from ROV; also referred to as Tiki Man
    Warning: your results may differ  


Ship stuff 

Bulker, or bulk carrier     Ship with non-containerized cargo usually kept in large holds    Bulkers carrying sand, gravel, gypsum, coal, and petro-coke pass by the camera regularly.  We get a lot of car carriers too (many of whose names end in Leader), and some tankers.  Most Richmond-bound tankers go to the Chevron-operated RLW (Richmond Long Wharf) instead of passing by the camera to the Inner Harbor. 
Pivot, or Point Potrero Pivot    Two tugs swinging a long ship around to enter the Inner Harbor channel backwards  
Henry: Hon. Henry Jackman. A very long ship that visits often, belching dark smoke.  


Thanks to craigor and other chatters for this year’s updates.  And to previous generations of WWOCers for everything.   
                
   


Under consideration for future use
Clog    Copulation log        
Flog    Fish log        
Llog    Litter log        
OGs    Osprey Gossips        
Plog    Poo log        
Slog    Stick log        
Non-Osprey talk
AFAIK    As far as I know        
BRB    Be right back        
IIRC    If I recall correctly        
IM(H)O     In my (humble) opinion              
WTK    What the kick        
YMMV    Your mileage may vary    People may have a different opinion or experience compared to yours

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    Midi

    is a poet and writer of children's stories who has been watching the adventures of the ospreys on the Whirley Crane Nest in Richmond, Ca. for the past eight years. 

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    The Archive will not let me keep posts except by date. So before 2020, the dates are not accurate. The subjects of posts before then are listed here:

    June 2019 WWOC Glossary
    May 2019 Life of an Osprey in Nuce
    March 2019- chapter by chapter for years 2017-1019
    February 2019- Rivet's Diary
    January 2019- The Nest
    October 2018- The Boats
    Sept. 2018- The Fish
    July 2018 In Memoriam 
    andThe Red Oak Victory ship
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