Progress: The three Brooklin hatchlings are flying or virtually flying now. Here you see David, the oldest of Ozzie and Harriet’s 2021 brood, returning to the nest from a long solo flight yesterday.
That’s his sibling June in the foreground,; Harriet is in the middle, and his other sibling, Ricky, is ducking behind David. (Names and sexes assumed for descriptive purposes.) Here, left to right, are Harriet, David, and June after the landing:
I'm almost certain that I’ve seen Ricky flying recently, but this second-born is now difficult to distinguish from David. We’ll know for sure soon when we see them flying together. Here, I think, is David coming out of the fog on Monday, August 2, with his two siblings in the background:
June, the smallest and last-born (in late June), was doing the Osprey Bounce yesterday – catching breezes with flapping wings so that she elevates above the nest and can practice landings:
She’ll be flying around the neighborhood soon.
Ozzie is still doing all of the family fishing, as far as I’ve seen, but Harriet does not need to feed her youngsters anymore. They sometimes compete with her at grabbing the fresh fish.
Leighton Archive Image
The next developmental step for the youngsters likely will be to trail along with Ozzie as he fishes and then to try their own hands (talons) at fishing. Here’s an archive image of Ozzie returning to the nest with a fish:
Most researchers seem to think that Ospreys are not taught to fish, they just do it innately when they are ready. However, flying in a group over water with a hunting parent seems to prepare them for the physiological and mental moment when they feel brave enough to dive and plunge under water to grab a fish. (Brooklin, Maine)