The Ospreys of River Road
The young osprey took it in turns to leave the nest. Where they went, only they know. These pictures date from the period from September 1 - 10, 2019.
These pictures date from late August, 2019.
After a few days the young ospreys are strong enough to fly a little further and to stay away from home for longer. These pictures show them on some of their early trips away from the nest. The first picture shows two of them on a dead tree that is half way up Sapsucker Row.
The young ospreys are a lot more tolerant of photographers than are their parents and allow me to get somewhat closer. Not too close mind you, but close enough to take these pictures.
The first sequence was taken on July 29, 2019. This might actually be the second flight of the bird shown in these pictures. My sister and brother-in-law had reported a flight by one of them earlier that day. When I went to take a look there were two young ones on the nest and an adult screaming at them (or possibly at me!) from a nearby tree (shown in the 4th picture from the end). I did not see the bird shown flying because when I was walking along the side of the road it was invisible to me hidden by the slope of grass from the guard rail down to the water. It appears to have known I was there (perhaps it was the screaming from its parent that tipped it off) because, as I walked past it forced itself to get up into the air. Now, this is a large bird, not used to flying and its wing muscles are not as strong as they will soon become. It flew circles around me and the nest pole gradually gaining height until it was high enough to attempt a landing. The first photograph below is the only one of the pictures of the flying circles that came out fairly sharp. The landing, however, is very clear.
The last three pictures are from a different sequence taken a few days later.
Bringing Home the Fish!
These pictures are from late July and early August. The first and second show one of the young ospreys being fed tasty morsels of raw fish by one of the adults. The other looks on from a perch in a nearby tree (the first five pictures are part of the same sequence). The sequence of the adult bringing home a large(ish) fish was taken on July 27, 2019. Two days later the young ones were starting to fly (as you can see in the next album).
It's a boy, or a girl!
These pictures showing one very young osprey date from June 9, 2019. Due to many absences that summer, I have no pictures from the last two weeks of May or any after this until the young were much larger. The first picture is out of focus but is included because I have nothing similar.
Waiting...
These pictures are from the first half of May 2019.
