Close to the end?

We all hate this time of year huh? Not all Ospreys are gone yet tho....I saw a chick eating a fish near  it’s nest yesterday and just got a few reports of others seen in the metro this weekend.  Many nests are empty tho, and there is a silence at many nest sites that makes me feel lonely.  The strong and dramatic change in our weather here in Minnesota last Monday seems to have carried a lot of our friends off in a southerly direction. Those north winds were what they were waiting for to make the journey easy. This is the time of year that some of us search for a brief sighting of an osprey just to savor their beauty, their loud food begging, their devotion to their offspring....just to gaze at those bright yellow eyes, those spectacular talons grasping a fish, their dramatic wingspan one last time.  We still have work to do repairing some nests and my big task of writing the annual report will fill many hours this winter. I send good thoughts to all my winged friends, and to all those precious , irreplaceable volunteers who help me watch over all these nests.