The same pair of Ospreys return every spring to their nest on the power pole out in the middle of Eckman Lake. They raise two babies, mostly feeding them Trout from the lake and Sculpin from the bay. When the babies are small they start a loud peeping cry as soon as they see daddy coming in toward the nest with a meal.
In the middle of July they begin stretching their wings while standing on the edge of the nest, and then after a few false starts they make a short flight to a nearby stand of Fir trees on the shoreline. Soon they discover how well they can fly and then the acrobatic air show begins.
I’ve been watching them from my kayak for quite a few years, and it’s always a thrill to watch the fledglings practicing their acrobatics, hovering and diving, circling and dog fighting with each other. Several times they’ve made me hunker down in my kayak when they whistled by, just over my head.
I’ve read that they mate for life, can live up to 25 years and what was interesting to me was that they winter in separate places, usually southern Mexico or South America and return to the same nesting site every year. They leave here in late August or early September for their separate winter vacations.
The parents have become used to me fishing from my little boat over the years, and mostly ignore me, but the new babies are hard to approach. I tried to get some video of them this morning but they’re already flying well enough to keep their distance from me. Usually the only time they put on a show is when I leave the video camera at home.
I did get this fuzzy picture of one of them as he flew over me on his way to the trees on the far side of the lake. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try again.
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