We had another historic week at The Osprey Nest, the summer home of the fish hawk couple known here as Ozzie and Harriet and their offspring David, Ricky, and June.
You’ll recall that the two earliest-born into the family, David and Ricky, were always active – even pushy – when it came to nest etiquette and they fledged out of the nest without hesitation on July 17. But June, the last-born (in June) and the smallest, seemed to have been intimidated by sibling bullying and showed no sign of wanting to get out of the nest.
She would just sit or lie in the nest, rather than roam its edges and peer over the side as her siblings did; she also would wait to be fed, rather than demand it of Harriet as the others did. And – most worrisome – she never would flap her wings in a breeze and do “the yo-yo move” that is common with osprey nestlings: flapping and floating up and down on a breeze, in and out of the nest vertically for several feet.
Well, on Sunday morning, that all changed. Ozzie hadn’t appeared with the daily fresh fish yet. David and Ricky had returned to the nest from early flights over Great Cove, apparently waiting for lunch. Harriet and June were just sitting there looking bored, as usual. The four of them – all big now – were clustered fairly close to each other.
A good breeze came up and, as if a switch had been flipped, June got unusually animated and started flapping her big wings in the wind, whacking her nestmates with them. The others retreated to the edge of the nest and June started yo-yoing while her mother and brothers watched in apparent astonishment as they tried to keep out of her way:
Within the hour, she rose about 20 feet on a good gust and, with a shriek of joy, wheeled off and out of sight. She returned later, but she had discovered what she was intended to be. And, there’s no turning back from that.
As for the accompanying images, from left to right, you’re looking at Ricky, June, Harriet, and David. You’ll notice that the fledglings have speckled wings and reddish eyes, but are almost as large as adults already. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 28, 2024.)