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Page 1: Fishing Osprey

August 8, 2013West Lake Okoboji,

IowaKaren Linder

I went out to my dock on Hayward’s Bay to

fish at 6:20pm.

I casted a couple of times with no bites.

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Suddenly, a large bird flew in front of me struggling to carry a fish in its claws.

I took this photograph as it flew East towards the shoreline , but the dark bird and dark fish are not visible against the trees.

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I watched the bird fly up over the tree line towards the East and it occurred to me that it might be headed towards the Osprey nest at the Nature Center.

I ran up to the cabin and opened my laptop computer, and clicked on the Osprey webcam that I have bookmarked....

...buffering...buffering...and then the live shot was displayed....

...the nest was empty. Darn. Oh well.

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But within 5 seconds all three Osprey chicks, now quite large, flew into the nest and one had a fish, still flapping, in its claws.

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6:29pm

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Both bird and fish are larger than they appear in these screen shots. I could not identify the bird as an Osprey when it flew in front of me on the lake. I thought it was a large Hawk of some kind. Seeing it’s arrival on the webcam confirmed its identity.

The fish looked to be about 10 inches long, perhaps a 1-2 lb. bass.

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The first thing the bird did was eat the fish’s eyes.

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The other two siblings made no attempt to eat the fish, nor did the captor offer to share.

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The bird next poked a hole with its beak in the soft underbelly of the fish.

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The fish flopped around a bit as the Osprey tried holding it down with both feet.

But being near the edge of the nest already, within just a few moments, the fish managed to wiggle and escape over the side of the nest.

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6:40pm The chicks looked over the edge and appeared to verbalize. They did not attempt to retrieve the fish from the long grass below.

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Thank you to the Dickinson County Nature Center for maintaining the 2013 Osprey Webcam!

http://dickinsoncountyconservationboard.com/2013/03/21/osprey-camera/


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