July 31st - Look Mom, We Can Fly!

Let's start this photo series with a recent family portrait.  That's C43 (blue ID mark) on the left, C42 (green ID mark) to his right, C41 (pink ID mark) next, and mother osprey on the right.  In this photo, C42 and C43 are almost 8 weeks old, and a few days from fledging. Getting a "family portrait" with everybody looking the same way was a bit time consuming!

With the chicks still not able to fly and catch their own fish, they continue to depend on C09 or his mate  to provide.  Here C09 returns to the nest with another fish for the chicks.  The parents will continue to provide food until the chicks can catch their own meals. However, the fish delivery frequency will diminish over time, providing the chicks with incentive to learn to fish on their own.

One of the many interesting things the volunteers have observed this season is the dynamic changes to the nest that have occurred.  As the chicks have grown larger and more secure, nest material has been removed to provide additional space.  We had not had the opportunity to observe this phenomenon last summer when there was only 1 chick.  Here the female is in the process of tossing another stick into the lake below.

This is the beginning of the flight process that leads to a chick's fledging.  We'll start with C42, the oldest chick, flying several inches above the nest, testing his flight skills and learning control. These early flights are always feet down, in case an emergency landing is needed, and may be from several seconds, to a couple of minutes in length.

Chick C42 fledged at 9:15 am on August  1st.

Not to be outdone, C43 tries flying too. This picture was taken the day C42 fledged, and he is not on the nest at the moment. Notice the stick in C43's right talon. Often, the chicks will grab onto nest material to hold them down while flapping. This time the stick broke, and he was airborne! Mother osprey looks on with interest, while C41 doesn't seem to care that his brother is flying.

Chick C43 fledged the very next day at 9:30 am.

A week later, the youngest osprey, C41, finally had his chance to shine.  He was seen flying above the nest several times, at heights of up to 6 feet. Notice that he is looking at the edge of the nest.  He never flew past the periphery, which is typical during flight practice.

This picture was taken Saturday morning, August 9th, and the next morning, to the delight and relief of all the OSWEM volunteers, C41 also finally fledged.

Please Note:  The photographs on this page were taken by Jim Kortge and Bob DeLosh.  They are copyrighted material, and cannot be used without the photographers written permission.