This is the hollering juvenile female osprey that was in my post a while ago. I just got back to scanning that day’s work. We can all see why she was screaming. The chunk of fish tightly grasped in her right talons was what she was protecting! BTW average wingspan of an osprey is 5-6ft.
Today I want to give you a close look at the eye color of the juvenile osprey. The eye is a bright orange. Note the white points on the flight feathers of a juvenile. I know that she is a female by the broad brown chest band she has (some females only have a single line of dots) – this young lady has a beautiful necklace.
Mom Osprey needs to replenish her body and probably her spirits before she leaves for South America on the fall migration. Every once in a while two ospreys will sight the same fish at almost the same time. Mom osprey got to the fish before the male osprey did. The better part of valor makes him float up and over her and out. She happily hauls her fish away.
Jordan Lake Dam. The female osprey exploded through the leading edge of her own water cloud that she had made as she shook off the Haw River after her dive. The fish she caught is almost a ghost.
Jordan Lake. Osprey parents will stand up in their nest and make a sunshade with their wings when it is very hot. They help protect their chicks from the sun this way. Both parents will do this activity. In this case it is mom Osprey and in 2nd part of video she is feeding her chicks.
Jordan Lake: life at the lake is always surprising me … as with the female fledgling osprey in the first two photos … who is much, much darker in plumage coloration than most ospreys. Her markings are a rich chocolate brown. I have included a photo of a female fledgling osprey in the normal plumage colors I see at the lake. Note the beautiful amber eyes of both birds as well as the white markings at the tips of their feathers.
doc ellen's journey 