Instinctive behaviors....

Some interesting behavioral observations today. As the breeding season winds down, I still like to search for my osprey friends and see what's going on. There is always something to learn if you just keep watching and open your mind. I visited a bunch of empty nests, and at one nest, which held three chicks earlier, I found one male juvenile on the nest, snoozing and occasionally food begging. You all know the drill now....when Dad approaches with a fish, the chick gets almost apoplectic. So excited. Dad dropped the fish and escaped quickly and the young male took the bright goldfish and flew up into the air and flapped his wings at a very fast pace, hovering and dropping and flying upwards again....while trying to imitate the courtship vocalization!  "Eeeedle-eet." (Forgive me...there are no adequate words to express that vocalization in a written post). At first I thought, isnt that cute...he is practicing a sky dance! I have not seen this before, or it didn't register in my head what was happening. When you think about it, this young bird was not even an egg when these behaviors were being exhibited by the adults. Chances are, it is not something he has observed and therefore is not imitating in the true sense of the word. This is a behavior that is deeply encoded in his DNA, or, as I have said before regarding flight or fishing, he is hard wired to do this. There was something about his excitement in having that bright gold fish that made him want to display it, to be seen by other Ospreys...preferably a female I suppose. It was just instinct, saying " look at me and my fish"! It didnt last long before he headed off to a tree to eat his lovely fish. But I recognized the behavior and the vocalization, tho it was brief. Delightful.