Osprey

 

Finally doing something worthwhile for a change, Friday afternoon, and again this morning, I spent some Time checking out the fledgling osprey at the osprey nest in Longmont, Colorado. Of three eggs that were laid this nesting season, one hatched, and the chick is doing beautifully. He still appreciates a parent showing up with a fish though, a pic snapped yesterday as the parent bird landed and the two of them went to work chowing down.

The birds mature so quickly and migrate, never to be seen again, at least not with absolute certainty. When will 2024 Chick 1# migrate? Hard to say, but he fledged on Linda's birthday, and has been impressive in asserting some level of independence, such as spending last night not back home in the nest, but on one of the perches around the nest like a big boy, so I think it'll be sooner, in August, not down into September. 

I say big "boy" because this chick has the solid white chest that somewhat marks male ospreys, different to the "necklace" of brown feathers usually across the chest of a female. 

And the young birds are easily told from the adults by the chicks' white tipped feathers that will eventually be solid brown.

Statistically a new first Time migrant has a 50/50 chance of surviving the first year; they stay away in their migration location for a couple years then typically return to their nesting origins and may flit around "wasting Time" the first nesting season or two before finding a mate and building a nest to continue being fruitful and multiply, which is the assignment of all living creatures, plant and animal.

A fun thing is to turn the sound on and up high volume to hear the wind around the nest, and the ospreys' piercing shriek (also we hear from our local ospreys here around 7H), and the sound of cars and trucks on the highway in the background way back behind the campground. I also love looking at the mountains back there, and watching the weather as it gets windy, and the rain starts pelting down, and too early in the season as a snowstorm begins, the snowflakes come down, and the nest and all are covered with snow. It's part of what Father Nature does for us who are looking on from afar, and looking on intimately into the lives of "life breathers" who are so different from us, and yet so like us in some ways.

T88&c

 

https://avianreport.com/osprey-migration/