The Osprey Saga

Week 17: Coming Along Fine

Olivia is rearranging the furniture again. She’s been tugging and pushing and bringing in new twigs and slowly widening and, at the same time, lowering the edges of the nest in preparation for Junior’s growth and ultimate venture into flying. In the end, the nest will be as flat and broad as she can make it.

The feeding goes on, and Junior keeps growing. It takes about eight weeks from hatching to flight, so we have a ways to go before Junior takes to the air. Sometime in mid-August is as close as I can figure.

His appearance will turn from furry to raggedy to feathery and, finally, to the sleekness of his parents. But it’s a slow go to reach self-reliance, as raising kids always is.

Humans have the longest birth-to-self-reliance period. It seems these days that parents are even extending care to post-college age, and beyond in many cases.

Anyway, be patient. Junior is coming along fine.

Thus continues Michael Koblos’ 26-week saga of the doings of his nearest osprey family. A 78-year-old retired naval officer, Koblos lives in a small cottage on the water, Home Port, in a place called Cobb Island, located in the wide Potomac River about 50 miles south of Washington, D.C.