Bay Weekly

The Osprey Saga

By M.C. Koblos

 

Today, July 29, at approximately 11:09am, Junior took to the air. He was out there on the nest platform with his mother, doing his calisthenics. When I looked again, the platform was empty. I got my binoculars and went out on my pier, knowing he would be nearby. Sure enough, there he was, two piers east of mine, sitting in the middle of the end section of the pier, his mother swooping in and out over him x and landing and talking to him … and taking off, trying to get him airborne again. But he stood there and wouldn’t move.

Of course, eventually, he will, but not right away. He’ll have to get up his courage again. When he gets hungry, he will go home, and his mom will reward the young aviator by feeding him.

At 3:55pm, he is still in the same place. His mother and father are nowhere to be seen, but I’m sure they’re nearby. They are leaving him to his own wits, at least for a while. He must be getting hungry.

 

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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.