Animals
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 3 months ago
I’ve immensely enjoyed watching the Osprey family in Boulder, Colorado, for the season. I saw the chicks when they hatched, watched them fledge, and watched them learn to fish for themselves, all in a single season. And now they’ve migrated, all individually. You might have seen images or video of the mother protecting her eggs in a hail storm.
Here are some other images.
Chick #3 hatched last, and had to fight for every morsel of food. Every now and again when I saw dad bring in a fish and hand it off to mom, I’d scream at #3 to go get some. This made for an interesting lunch break for me. But he did learn to fight for himself, and was a big as the rest when he fledged and then eventually left the nest to migrate. He was also first to learn to fish for himself.
And finally, one of dad himself, the big boy, the feeder and protector of the family. He did have to chase away interlopers.
All the chicks lived, fledged, and presumably they all learned to fish. I’ll see mom and dad again next year. They mate for life and nest in the same location every year (after running off the squatters).
On September 13, 2023 at 5:15 am, Joe Blow said:
They have been making quite the comeback here in East TN, too. I live near the water and we have a pair nesting nearby. You can find their scat all over the woods, yes, it leaves a big mess!!! LOL! Their chittering sound is so unique. I find they are spending time circling over the land near here. Maybe half-mile or more inland from the lake. I thought they were looking for thermals (and maybe they are), but seems they’re just checking the place out.
On September 13, 2023 at 9:35 am, Dirk said:
Amazing birds, we raft many rivers in Ore Wash Id, and nor cal. We really enjoy watching the abundant osprey fishing. It’s fun to eddy out, under an Osprey nest and listen to the chicks arguing amongst themselves.
Pull the oars, float head back in the dog water and just watch and listen. The worlds alive with sound, the sky the challenge of the river the hawks big birds talking above is always wonderful, amazing.
That’s a very fun vid. A bit off topic but fascinating. We have hundreds of bald eagles here. Past few years we are seeing the balds taking Grebes, they covertly land in the taller trees, we can see then looking down then drop from the tree and fly away with the Grebes, it’s amazing to watch birds hunt other birds. We’ve also been seeing eagles take geese right out of the sky.
Always a straggler I assume a steel shot victim hit em mid air knocking em to the ground where they finish them off. Amazing to see. This is happening on the Tulelake Ca Reserve.