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!
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