Smoke…..

 Things started to feel apocalyptic this morning! In addition to this horrible heat wave, we were stewing in a thick smoke from the wildfires up north. I had an early medical appmt and then I just had to recheck a couple of nests. I returned to the nest where one chick had fledged yesterday, and found all three had fledged. Both parents, the 19 year olds, were close by…the male perched in a tree near a fledged chick who went to the same tree that yesterday’s fledge landed on. And another chick was flying around, flapping too much, disappearing behind trees and he finally returned to the nest and picked up a fish and ate. I tried to keep my eyes on all of them, but I did not see three chicks at once. I waited for 90 minutes, but the smoke and heat were too much for me. I got a few photos of the last chick to fledge, and the other one eating and Dad in a tree. Terrible photos, but that’s what it looked like….gray, smoky, weird.

Then I moved on to another nest that I knew should be fledging about the same time. As a little treat, I stopped for a strawberry rhubarb scone and an iced latte to take to the next nest. Yesterday those two chicks were still just in the nest but today as I pulled up…..there was the male chick on a power pole! I stayed for a while to see if he was ready for any other moves….but honestly, I just couldnt stand the heat, tho the smoke was lifting a bit. It was intolerable. Dad came to the nest with a fish and mom fed the other female chick…..but the fledgling did not think it was worth the short flight back to the nest. So I will recheck them soon….but after many days out in the heat, I just had to go home. The ospreys are handling it better than me. They usually do.