A Chick Has Fledged!
What an awesome morning! While I was sipping coffee and watching our nest at dawn before heading out to work, the chicks were up and practicing their flapping and lift-offs. Here’s a three-photo sequence.
As I was watching through my binoculars, our first chick fledging occurred! The mother osprey took flight first from the nest, and the chick followed. I think my neighbors heard me whooping it up! “Go chick go!” I grabbed my camera and here’s my first photos of the fledging.
Isn’t he/she gorgeous! Our chick flew around and around, he looked so proud of himself. After a few minutes, he disappeared overhead to our roof and looked like he was going to land there. Last year the chicks actually used the roofs for landings while improving their flight skills, maybe because of the large area to land. The second chick watched and then called out continuously. He looked all lonely by himself. Not to be outdone, he started practicing.
I imagine the second one is not too far behind taking his first flight as well. Unfortunately, I did not see our fledging chick return to the nest but it sounded like he was on a roof responding to the second chick’s chirps. He probably needed a rest from all the excitement. Now he needs to figure out how to land back on that nest!
A couple more photos, the following two are from yesterday. It reached over 100 degrees and there was absolutely no breeze. The chicks look hot, don’t they? They’ve dropped their wings down to help cool themselves. Today is suppose to be over 100 degrees again.
Finally, one last photo of a Green-backed Heron that happened to land under the osprey nest while I waited for the fledging chick to possibly return before I had to leave.
That’s all for today, but what a day! In addition to the excitement of the fledging, I want to thank all of you for leaving such wonderful comments. I hope to continue to give you a smile or chuckle with each visit!
