I DO Like Mondays!

August 8th saw me back on the road living out of a car once again, but before returning to the Osprey nest, I discovered a totally effective way to keep Mallards off one's dock, just add a fake owl, some assorted streamers that move in the wind, and throw in a Canadian flag for good measure:

But back to the nest, the newly-fledged Osprey baby was apparently shell-shocked as a result of its first flight out of the nest from the night before, so both babies and mom were chilling...

...until dad did a food drop, and they all came alive:

It always cracks me up how he comes in and out of the nest so quickly, perhaps this is the reason why he wants to get out of the way:

The younger one on the right decides it wants the fish, so reaches in to grab it...

...and the battle ensues, as mom on the left stays out of it:

Success!

I left them to enjoy their meal in privacy and found this handsome male Widow Skimmer sunning itself:

 

Further along the road, another pair of Osprey were scrapping with each other over a tree:

The baby Osprey had finished its meal, but seemed to have something stuck in its throat, it demanded that the next fish meal be deboned!

 

 

A while later, it seemed to have dislodged whatever was bothering it, and began to primp and preen itself in the sun:

 

 

I packed it in for the early afternoon, totally surprised that there were no more flying attempts by the baby, but returned later in the afternoon to the area. Much to my unexpected delight as I sat in the car near the cove, a Green Heron flew in, just how many times this year have I said "Timing is everything"!

It primped and preened...

...then began to fish:

Then came the most surprising "who knew" moment of the day when it began to swim!! I always only thought of herons as waders until I saw this:

What a thrill to see this, again all because I'm living out of a car!

Who IS that Woman Living Out of a Car???

...on the shores of our lake, that first week-end of August she was out and about on both the Saturday and Sunday, so for the first day we kept a low profile just to mess with her, one of my parents offered her up a headless fish that didn't go over too well:

 

 

We even persuaded the aloof Red-tailed Hawk along the highway by her cottage to put in an appearance for her:

 

But nooooooooooooo, that was not enough for her, there she was again, out in that black car late on the Sunday afternoon after most sensible cottagers had returned back to the city.  The forecasted rain had not put this one off, she found the Hoody pair of babies again in their cove:

The Belted Kingfisher shook himself off during the torrential downpour, while this tenacious lunatic in the black car hung out of her car window for a better view:

 

But she found us again at our nest, it really isn't fair because we cannot fly yet, so she knew she still had us at her mercy. We did our best ever double-glare pose for her, hoping she'd get the message:

But it didn't work, she was still there, oh so quiet in her little black car, so it was time to fight dirty:

But our mother was not amused by our immature behaviour (c'mon, mom, we are still babies!!!), so she made up for it by assuming a regal pose for the Lady in Black, harumph! 

Our punishment was to do some wingercising exercises next, though, and seeing as I'm the older one of us, it was apparently all up to me to put on the show, not fair!!

The Car Lady went nuts, but she managed to stay in her car, as if  we couldn't see her, puleaaase! My younger sibling in the nest was totally in my way too, absolutely refusing to move out of my way as I jumped up and down:

I needed a break, though, so I chilled for a bit and pondered my next move...

...it seemed like perhaps I was getting a bit more lift than before with this latest wingercising session, maybe it was time....

...to take the giant leap, especially as mom's been on my case about leaving home for a while now. It was perfect timing, that woman below wasn't really paying much attention to me anymore, so at precisely 6:10 p.m., I took my first flight ever, whooohooo!!! Fooled her, she didn't even get a focused shot of me on my maiden voyage, she was so shocked!

See? She didn't even get all of me in the frame, what a loser!

Maybe my diversionary tactics of screaming all the while worked? Then again, I was screaming for real, as I really hadn't thought this through as to where exactly to fly to!

So sorry, mom, I'm baaaaack!

Okfine, so what if I was only gone for less than a minute- it's a start, right??

But noooo, it just wasn't enough, so after a three minute break, off I went again, but this time the Car Lady caught me in flight as I made a wobbly circuit:

Mom ducked as I came in for a landing:

...but I guess I knocked her over a bit on the branch as she was forced to move over a bit, sorry, mom!

But hey, it was only my second time out, so not a bad start, really and two more times than my loser sib

I had made mom so proud, as well as that Car Lady:

So as dad did a fly-by (by the way, he's always away for the big events of my life!!), she called out to him: "One down, one left to go, honey!"

I was not impressed, though, as I sure hoped that this didn't mean I'd have to start doing those food drops now instead of dad, noooooooooooo!!!

Mom continued to scream at him with the news of my first flight:

...but she finally calmed down, as did the Car Lady, we could now relax and enjoy the moment together:

The Car Lady took one last portrait of mom and I from a different angle before heading off to who- knows-where. All I do know is that we haven't seen the last of her in that little black car!