This afternoon, along with the usual Turkey Vultures and Red-Tailed Hawks circling in the open air above our apartment, two Ospreys made an appearance. This is hardly the best picture ever of an Osprey, but it's probably the best I'm likely to get for a while -- can you believe the wingspan on this creature?
One of the Ospreys (not the one in the picture) was carrying what looked like a fish in its talons, but it was just circling way up in the air and didn't seem like it was planning on stopping to eat the fish any time soon. Perhaps this was one of the youngsters from the metal-tower brood, practicing its fishing skills and showing off its catch -- a fanciful explanation, maybe, but you never know.
Anyway, Ospreys always seem a bit magical to me, so it was exciting to see them at my home. It just goes to show, you don't have to live in the middle of nowhere to see fun creatures... although that would be cool, too. :)
Could be what you saw was a parent Osprey trying to lure newly fledged youngsters to fly off their perches and try fishing for themselves. I observed just this kind of behavior last year. The young were perched in a tree far from their nest. It might have been their first flight and they were terrified to take to the air again. The adult Osprey kept circling the tree, dangling that fish. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! Maybe something like that was going on here. Oh to be able to talk to a bird and ask them why they do what they do!
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