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.

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.

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.

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.

6:29pm

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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