Returning from my trip last week, my hands were full of “stuff” that needed immediate attention. Like catching up on Bumble’s ear massages. Then NaNoWriMo kicked in gear on Saturday. And on Sunday night our air handler decided it was time to quit. I have to say it picked the best possible time to go silent. No need for heating or cooling in this gorgeous fall weather we’re having right now.

Anyway, I had checked on Papa Osprey using my binoculars. He was alive and well, doing his eat and rest routine in the nest for a few hours every day. But we he hadn’t actually met since long before my trip. He might have spotted me though when gliding high up past my office window on Sunday, enjoying the high winds we had over the weekend. I waved vigorously, but there’s no way to tell whether or not he actually saw me.

So finally yesterday morning, I stole an hour to go see him. Running on the sidewalk towards the park, I saw two ospreys sitting on street lights in front of me. They were turned towards the sun, their backs towards me.

The one closest to the park entrance was Papa osprey. He was a little wet, but had no fish. I was delighted to see him! And he didn’t seem terrified seeing me either. He said something short, one syllable only. Like “hey”. That made my day and I greeted him as well. After an appropriate time, I continued towards the other street light to see if the osprey with a fish was papa’s old pal Stanley or his newer pal Steve .

But before I reached that light, I heard osprey talk from the forest at the East border of the park.  Steve was having a loud monologue on the dead palm trunk, sometimes also favored by P.O.

So the third osprey was likely to be Papa’s fishing pal, Stanley. I was right. And what a scary fish he’d caught! Check it out, huge teeth. Stanley looked at it somewhat warily as well, don’t you think?

I marveled at seeing all three ospreys together for the first time. And decided to take a swing in the nature reserve, even just to run around the salt marsh. Passing Papa’s lamppost again, I saw him fly away towards the ocean.

After snapping a picture of a visiting Wood Stork and completing my run around the marsh about 15 minutes later, I approached Papa’s nest. He was there. With a fish! A red snapper? And he wasn’t even more wet than I’d just seen him. Must have skimmed the fish right from the surface.

This was the second time in the last one month he’s gone fishing after meeting me and then come back to show it off at the nest 😀 He definitely gets my Fisherman Badge!

I hope your week is going well. Warmest regards, Tiny