You don't see many of them in my country.

In fact, if memory serves, this is number three for me.

In a quarter-century. And one of those three was dead at the time.

An osprey.

We were late getting out this morning. Not because of the alarm, but because, after getting the coffee made, I just had to go back to bed for five minutes.

Which became fifteen. Or maybe twenty.

So, somewhere around milepost 23 I did the math. No way we could get to the strutting ground I wanted to check by sunrise. In fact, it'd be at least twenty minutes after sunrise, if all went well. And with that moon hanging high up there, at least 60 percent full, grouse could easily be leaving by then.

And logically, there were three more leks close by to check after the desired one. No way I could get to all four in a reasonable amount of time. Which would require another extra early morning to get up into that north country anyway.

So why go now?

Time for plan B. Re-check a couple leks that were along the way, only 15-20 miles off. Both been checked twice already, under the full moon, with no luck.

Got to the first lek well before sunrise. Even after giving the heeler sisters a brief running break after we drove across the creek. And found four cocks out there on that bare cobbly rise, strutting with not a lot of enthusiasm.

When I stood on top of the tool box in back, that count went up to five cocks.

Two less than my count last year, half what it was the year before, and a third what it was in 2000, when a volunteer found this lek (yes, she named it after herself).

Then we hauled across the creek again, off to the second lek. While technically sunrise had already occurred, it had yet to peek over the mountains. But I stopped at the small pond along the highway just the same, in case the bufflehead was still around. And saw the silhouette of the osprey as it swooped in from the southeast and landed on a powerpole overlooking the pond.

And the dozen ducks or so resting on the water. All of whom bunched up at the end farthest away from the duck predator.

I was surprised to see it was an osprey. I mean, a pole overlooking a pond with ducks is a perfectly logical place to find an osprey. Just not around here. Be nice if it stayed.

Found birds on the second strutting ground, too. While the tracks and scat had already told me the lek was active, it concerned me that I hadn't seen any birds there yet. It's one of the first leks I discovered (while counting antelope from a plane), 23 springs ago. Hard to count, as they use the tops of two stabilized sand dunes, covered with thin but tall sage and rabbitbrush. But finally confirmed 16 males out there strutting, with one hen.

Nobody on the third lek we hit that morning, but we've checked it at least twice before, so that was no big deal. Then back to the pond, to check on my new osprey. Who had changed poles, but was still watching the ducks.

In other news, I have set my digital camera memory card aside, in hopes of retrieving the lost photos from Easter (they're still there, taking up most of the memory space). And have I mentioned lately how pleased I am with the little machine?

And this may be common knowledge to many of you, but did you know water reflects? I mean, with our wind, we never get to see a smooth water surface. But when, by some miracle the air does not move, it's amazing what you can see.