I spent a lot of time watching the Ospreys, whose nest you can see in this tree, at the back of the apartment complex. Sadly, no pictures of the ospreys themselves...

They're big birds, bigger than you imagine; eagle-sized almost. Just adjacent to the apartment complex is a lake where they fish. I became accustomed to hearing their cries, usually in the mornings.

For the americans reading this, ospreys are incredibly rare in the UK and few people have ever seen a wild one. They became extinct here around 1900, but one pair suddenly appeared in Scotland in the mid-1950's. Nowadays there are a few more pairs (still in Scotland), but they remain one of the rarest British birds. So, it was quite something for me to see some, and at such close quarters.