August 28, 2020

Environment:
Start Time: 7:40 AM Temperature: 74 degrees Sky: Sun filtered by light wildfire haze, hard breeze

Still hazy this morning even with the sometimes considerable breeze/wind that was kicking up. One thing in the wind’s favor is that it brought out a group (don’t know when to use Flock) of four Osprey reeling high up in the sky obviously enjoying the currents. My guess is that it was a family unit but I can’t back that up with any evidence. The thing that really caught my eye was one of the birds had something in its grasp that was pretty good size. Of course my immediate assumption was that it was a fish. This assumption was supported somewhat by the actions of the other three birds some of whom were making passes at the one bird in attempts to steal the prize. The “catch” looked odd to me so I fired off a number of shots so I could more closely examine this cargo once I got home. I really do not think it was a fish that the bird had in his grasp. It really looks to me like it is a stick and some river bottom grasses. This is not the type of material that Osprey usually use for nest building so I am wondering if the bird was a beginning fisherman and simply got confused by something he saw in the river – mistaking it for a fish. You can examine the featured image and the three other examples below and see what you think.

Sightings:
Birds: Osprey, Kingbirds, Starlings, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay
Critters: Mule Deer

Gear: Lumix GX-85, 45-150mm