Another milestone…

This morning Blue 44 was showing off how well his vocal chords are working by shouting and shouting at his dad for fish. He flew around a couple of times as if to prompt his dad into action but that didn’t work either so he took matters into his own talons and…

…tried fishing for himself!

It was fantastic to watch, he started off by dropping off his perch and instead of gaining height he skimmed low over the water – what was he doing? The Crannog hide tensed, could he be about to fish? He swung high over the trees before turning down again towards the water and extending his talons, he hit the water this time but with glancing blow and a gentle splash. This seemed to have the desired effect and Dad appeared shortly after at the nest with the remains of this morning’s Pike. Blue 44 duly scoffed it before heading out of the nest again and … having another go at fishing, this time was more spectacular as he hit the water with a big splash (taking after his father?) but coming out empty taloned. He then retired to a favourite perch to dry off. He’s got most of the technique right except he needs to learn to hover and spot a fish first before going into the water. Hopefully we’ll see much more of this over the next few days.

We are very very happy with his progress and for ten and half weeks of age he is doing really well! Each osprey chick is different but many don’t start to fish until 12 or 14 weeks of age when their parents leaving on migration forces them to be independant. The fact that he is having a go at this tender age is a really good sign of a confident healthy chick. It is only a matter of weeks until his mother leaves (she invariably heads south first) so she is busy getting fit again and putting on condition for her long migration ahead- so hard to imagine what the loch will be like without her this autumn and winter.

Lindsey and Emma