This summer with the passing of Brian Wilson, the creative genius behind the Beach Boy sound and a master of harmony and escapism, my world became a less happy place. I was reminded of the days in high school when the Endless Summer album came out
prompting me to squeeze lemon juice in my hair and to seek out peasant blouses to adopt the California girl look. I had loved listening to the Beach Boys songs back when there wasn’t a care in the world. Summer days were layered with trips to Hardees and
getting a burger and a Looney Tune promotional glass and swimming in ponds.
Osprey are easily identified by their white heads, brown back and brown line through the eye. Look for white underparts and an M-shaped form as they migrate singly in late summer or early fall.
The only surfing I did was on the radio. Those days were followed by nights without jackets wandering the sidewalks, laughing with friends, listening to the night noises and going out for soft serve. There was always time to put the LP on the turn table, even in the late hours, as long as we kept the volume down. With all that singing about cars and surfing, it seemed fitting that I would head to Long Island Sound chasing some boy with the Beach Boys soundtrack in my head. The chase did not always result in a prize, and when I found myself solo again, I could always take solace in my bird companions. Pretty soon I noticed a bird that I had not seen inland, the osprey, and he was pretty impressive. I was looking at his huge stick-filled nest on the telephone pole and watching him hover over the water in search of fish. So riding around No Such Thing as an Endless Summer on Route 1 and scanning the marsh, I started to see more and more of this bird of prey that had rebounded since the ban of DDT. I would watch them dive into the water and more often than not, come out with a fish in their talons. That action was enough to return me to my senses and get my mind off boys. Temporarily.
As time marched on, I found a boy who could put up with me, and as an added bonus he was willing to look at birds. We noticed the occasional osprey here in Suffield, often at Sunrise Park or sometimes fishing in the river. These migratory birds of prey live on fish and use their keen eyesight and impressive talons to assist as they dive into the water feet first. When they catch a fish they maneuver it so that it is head first making a more streamlined flight back to the nest. The osprey lays several eggs, but there is a gap between hatching.
This enables the oldest chick to reign supreme in times of less food, or allows for siblings to thrive if food is plentiful. The young clamor for food around the clock, and the parents do their part to fish and look after their chicks until they are ready to fledge. And as the weather gets cooler they have migration on their mind and set off for warmer climates for the winter months.
So, despite what Brian Wilson said, there is no endless summer here in New England. The osprey know that as they get ready to head south. And I guess maybe Brian knew that, too. I took a deep dive into all things Brian Wilson late ly and learned in a podcast that he was not a surfer and was afraid of water. Which goes to show that you can write a whole bunch of amazing stuff if you follow your mind and don’t get too bogged down in reality. I am all in with that.