I was finally able to get back to the river after being frustrated by the extreme heat, late night thunder storms that kept me up trying to keep our dog from totally freaking and early morning rain. The chicks have developed so quickly I have missed their first flight. They are already flying so well that, unless you can make out the checkered pattern of the young, they are indistinguishable from the adults.
For the first hour, I didn't even see either parent. So, I guess you could compare them to teenagers who have the keys to the car. You would think that, like a teenager wanting to drive the car everywhere with his or her new-found freedom, the chicks would be out flying all the time and seeing how their wings worked. I didn't really see anything that could be interpreted in that way, though. In fact, one of them (the one on the right in the first image) stayed in the nest so long, I thought maybe it hadn't begun to fly yet, but after a couple of hours, it took off. I didn't see any of them try to catch fish, so maybe I will get to see something close to their first attempt. Currently, the male is still returning to the nest, bringing food.
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