First Flights

It looks like the first of the babies has flown the coop! I Monday July 26th I noticed only two babies in the nest. The third was on a short pole just below the nest.

Since the young osprey are adult size now, its much harder to tell them apart. The young have much more white/tan mottling on their backs. Adults have a solid dark brown across their backs. And, even though they are almost ready to fly and start fishing, the young rarely feed themselves. If you see one bird feeding another, you are seeing one adult and one young.

This is an exciting time to watch the nest. All the young birds will begin to take short flights soon. The adults will leave in about 4 to 6 weeks to fly to their wintering grounds in Centeral and South America. The young will hang out till the end of September before they start their migration.