The Osprey (the sky fisher), by Ormond

The coastal shoals are your dominion,

No salmon, or smelt, nor bottom flounder

Had ever left the sea until you struck,

You are wraith to the kelp beds dream.

     A young osprey claims this tree in a shallow pond as its nesting site. The first few sticks fall straight into the water, but he persists. Ospreys, sometimes called fish hawks, prefer open, elevated nests near shallow waters that provide an ample supply of fish.

Determination triumphs. Stick by stick, the nest takes shape. When it is ready, the osprey is joined by its mate.

Courtship is underway.

The male osprey performs “sky-dances” or “fish-flights” to impress the female. It hovers in the air with a fish in its talons, followed by shallow swoops and cries.

Ospreys have a fierce reputation. In his essay Natural History of Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Its shrill scream seems yet to linger in its throat, and the roar of the sea in its wings. There is the tyranny of jove in its claws, and his wrath in the erectile feathers of the head and neck.” During courtship and chick-rearing, a less-noted tender side prevails, observed as the birds lock gazes, nuzzle, and share food.

With a diet almost entirely comprised of fish, the male osprey typically catches a fish, sits in a nearby tree and eats exactly half of it, then returns to the nest with the other half for its mate. The female stays close to the nest, carefully watching over the eggs. She also stays with the chicks when they hatch.

When the chicks hatch, the male osprey brings fish back to the nest for the whole family.

Crowded out by the growing chicks, this male osprey often rests on a nearby branch while the female tends the nest. Two osprey chicks are successfully reared by this pair and ultimately fledge. 

Note: This osprey family was observed in Ayer, Massachusetts. Once on the verge of extinction due to pesticides, the banning of DDT in 1972 combined with focused conservation efforts have led to a great resurgence in New England's osprey population. Their numbers continue to rise.