I thought I had seen it all with Osprey. I have been watching them pretty closely for almost a decade. But, the other day I saw one do this and I have never seen one act like this before.
It was drying its wings out. Vultures routinely do something similar.
It must have set the cycle on fluff dry.
Odd thing was, just a couple weeks earlier, I had seen a Great Blue Heron do the same type of thing. I had never seen one do this either. I am fairly sure it was sun bathing, something many species of birds do. I didn't hear it making any sound but I could see its throat vibrating rapidly. I'm not sure what that was all about.
Anyway, returning to the Osprey, I didn't realize it was multitasking. As it sat there drying out, it was also scanning the pond's surface looking for fish activity. Sure enough, it took off after only a few minutes.
Most of the time, they spot fish while soaring, circling or hovering over the pond. It isn't too often you see them spot a fish while perched in a tree.
I was impressed. The Osprey had seen this fish from what I would estimate was almost the length of a football field away. I am not sure what type of fish it was; I am thinking a carp of some kind.
The other thing that impresses me is that there is enough fish in this pond to support all the birds I see hunting there.
I see Osprey, Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons all catching fish on a daily basis. I would not have thought there was that great a population of fish in this pond.
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