Today’s outing to visit the “orphan” and her sugar daddy was interesting. When I got to the nest, there were no ospreys anywhere. So I made some rounds to all the places to search for them and I found nothing! Then I was at another larger lake and I spotted an adult male hunting. He made a dive and came up with a fish…..I tried to keep my eyes on him but he went behind some trees and I lost him. I searched everywhere again….sheesh. Couldn’t locate him. But then I saw a chick in a tree…..so I put up the scope and took a closer look….nope. Not our girl. How did I know? I hope these explanations and photos will help people understand how I identify them, in hopes that it will help people to do the same. First of all…I look at legs. No bands. That fits. Then I see the right wing and notice there is no wonky broken feather like our girl has….but the clincher was the dorsal feather pattern. I had been looking at this chick a lot so I knew immediately it was not her….so I have two photos of the tops of two chicks heads….I hope you can see the difference. Our girl has a sort of three pronged pitchfork kind of pattern. The other dorsal pattern is very different. So I congratulated that unknown chick on what may have been an actual fish catch! And I kept looking for our friends. Back at the nest…no one there but then suddenly she appeared on the nest, without any fanfare or squeeling. She was quiet. Her crop was empty. She looked wet. After a while the male arrived with a fish and there was a whirlwind of flapping wings and both birds flew off….the male went to a light, and the chick went to a different light. The male still had the fish tho and the chick had nothing! Oh dear. But when the chick landed on a light right near my car, something hit my car and bounced….it was a fish tail! It must have been on the lightpole! The chick hollered nonstop as the male really devoured the fish…and I told her she was playing this all wrong….she should go to the nest and he would bring her the fish…..she finally did it and the male immediately brought her what was left of the fish. It wasnt a lot, but it was something. She inhaled the fish and then she just waited on the nest….when the male left, I told him she needed more. After an hour of me watching her, taking photos, her snoozing…..the male appeared again with a whole fish for her! I always yell “THANKS”. She started wolfing down that fisn and then flew off. It’s stupid how long it took me to spot her….in one of her favorite eating trees, but in a totally new spot not easily seen from my usual parking place. But I did finally spot her when I was almost underneath her. That fish was gone quickly and she had a semi full crop. It was almost 3pm so I decided to head home. So she got,hmmmm, a fish and a half? Not huge….crop not bulging. But satisfied. And once again, this males devotion almost makes me cry. What a gift it is for me to be able to watch all this as it unfolds.
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