Osprey harassed, Henne

As part of a semi-formal Red-headed Woodpecker monitoring project—I'm looking for ghosts at the moment, since the RHPs are nowhere to be found—at the Henne preserve, I'm also doing an informal Osprey monitoring. I've spotted two apparently healthy chicks, and I have to return in the next few days with the spotting scope because last week, when I first saw the hatchlings, I was pretty sure I'd counted three. Of course it turns out that I'm not the only raptor monitor. Every time one of the fish hawks takes off to cruise the marsh for piscine prey, it has an escort: one of they myriad small blackbirds that also call the wetland home. The more maneuverable birds do not seem happy to have Osprey in the neighborhood, and they're forever harassing the predators, which, I'm sure, pose no threat, but still... You can't let your guard down for a second.