Raising Aussie Osprey #5

She really seemed to be enjoying herself out there.

Aeroplane!

Here's Mum having a stretch. She remained on that nearby branch for four hours that I'm aware of. She called to the male a couple of times when he briefly flew by. They've both done a fabulous job raising this gorgeous little bird, but I think the female has a harder time than most because of her blind left eye, which is seen here, which I think has been painful recently. When I first started observing these birds several months ago, the left eye still had some semblance of an eye about it. That's no longer the case and her left eye is frequently closed or, if it's open, looks an opaque reddish colour. I also noticed when I had a look at the shots I'd taken when I got home, that she has an accumulation of muck on the left side of her beak near the base which isn't there on the right hand side, which makes me think that the eye is producing some exudate. I haven't seen her rub the left side of her face on her wing or scratch at her eye, which would be an indicator that it is really bothering her.

Here's the female showing her good eye. She is just the most beautiful bird.

Back to Aussie having a stretch.

The sun was going down and the light changed. You can see the end of the branch still "kissed by the suns rays" although Aussie is in shadow and starting to move towards the nest.

Fantastic Margaret!

Last one for tonight. Thanks for your patience. I love the way one wing is in shadow and the other is still in the sun. It moved onto the nest shortly after I took this shot.

The champagne's lovely. Cheers, Resin. It's been a memorable day.

Cross posted, Knip. Thanks. I can't wait to get back there tomorrow. Even though the lighting is hopeless in the morning, I might go and see what's happening.

Too early for champagne, so I will toast Aussie with a cup of coffee ;o) A very happy day for all that have been following your magnificent story,Mags. You have really done a great job with pictures and narration!

Way to go, Aussie! We are very proud Aunts and Uncles. lol

Kim

awww,
Too darn cute. Congrats Auntie Margaret!

Congrats Margaret! Their all so beautiful!

Wonderful pictures, Margaret....maybe tomorrow will be the big day!

Thanks Kim, Mrs Ed, Pelle and GP.

Well, Aussie's well and truly flying. Unfortunately I didn't manage any shots of it. When I first got there she was out on a limb; Mum was on a lower one on the other side of the nest. She was obviously hungry and kept calling and when it all got too much for her, she flew onto the vertical branch that Mum was on all yesterday afternoon. There's a tree between the nest and that branch and so I wasn't able to follow her flight but then by moving a dozen paces I located her. I didn't even have my SLR in my hands at the time. I was using the movie feature on my point and shoot to take some footage of Aussie for some friends and although the quality is very poor, that is where the first flight that I have seen is captured.

She stayed on the upright branch for about ten minutes and then flew back to the nest and was flying confidently between the nest and various support branches on the nest tree. At one stage she became really stir crazy and flew off to the left side of the bay a good couple of hundred metres before returning and landing easily a the nest.

The male did a fly by of the nest, which again created great excitement and he then flew off over to the other side of the bay. He hadn't returned by the time the shadow had draped the nest. As OP pointed out in the last thread, the fledgling will be kept a bit hungry to encourage it to start thinking of food as something other than what is brought to it by Dad. That really seemed to be the case today. Mind you, by the amount of guano she was expelling, she isn't starving to death, even though she probably thinks she is.

Here's a shot of her on the vertical branch.

How wonderful to see her looking so confident! At least you saw her flying, I'm sure you'll get a pic for us in due course :)

She is so completely at ease in her newly expanded world.

I sure hope to get some decent in-flight shots, Knip. I'll use a shorter focal length lens to see if I can capture her flying about. I don't find it easy to find birds in flight with the lens I've been using let alone get them in focus. There are trees left, right and centre so there's about a nano-second of opportunity to locate and focus. This is going to sound ridiculous, but the birds are actually too close.

She was fascinated by something in the tree behind me.

Just about to launch

She landed at the nest but after checking the nest for any fish remains, flew up onto the right hand branch.

The nictitating membrane was across the eye is this shot, but boy, doesn't she look fabulous?

Terrific, Margaret....next step will be for her to start fishing for her food. Hope you can get a shot of her flying, but don't worry if you can't. We sure appreciate all you have done to keep us up to date. Her parents did a great job raising her....but I keep finding myself thinking about her sibling. Watching the two interact would have been awesome.

Oh, GP, you're so right. I often have the same thoughts about its sibling. I kinda suspect that by keeping the little one hungry, it will encourage her to join the male on the branch where he takes the fish, either to eat it himself or, particularly when Aussie was being fed, as opposed to feeding herself, as she is now, to remove the head from the poor little fish. Interesting times ahead.

We've been wondering (we being the three regular observers) if the Willie Wagtails will conduct their aerial bombardment of Aussie now that she's out and about. They've never gone near her whilst she's been on the nest. On three separate occasions today the WWT was dive-bombing the mother who was on a lower branch. It/they didn't go anywhere near the fledgling, even though she was on a branch that always draws fire if the male or female adult are there. It'll be interesting to see if they do recognize her as a learner and leave her in peace.

Both she and Mum were calling to Dad, who'd been making his "I'm going fishing" sounds. It was at this point that she took off in his general direction and went a couple of hundred metres along the bay.

A second later

Last one for tonight. I'll see how I go tomorrow with getting some inflight shots.

I am ga-ga over the fantastic shots Margaret and also Aussie's legs!! Thanks for keeping Aussie withdrawal in check!

Bravo Margaret and Aussie!! Lee

She is absolutely wonderful!

Congratulations! :)) Now I'm wondering how long she will stay at the nest as home base. She will be taught to fish for herself now she's airborne, I wonder if Dad's "I'm going fishing" sounds were to encourage her to follow him to see how it's done.

Wonderful! My Gkids love Aussie and I had to e-mail them the picture of her flying ASAP!

What a fantastic series from the beginning. We have all enjoyed it, but will allow you to enjoy taking the pictures. Remember next yrs photo contest.

I just found the new thread...What a thrill it has been to be able to follow this. Margaret, your beautiful photos have made it possible for you to bring all of us along and share this amazing journey.

I am so impressed with Mum & Dad for doing such a wonderful job raising Aussie. She has become quite a magnificent bird.

Wow...

I think next year's photo contest is a done deal :)

Your comments are very reassuring and extremely flattering. Thanks.

Not much activity during the time I was at the nest this afternoon. When I got there, Aussie was on the right hand branch and Mum arrived about five minutes later.

They were calling to each other as Mum came in for a landing.

They continued to talk to each other until the female settled herself down on the branch.

How long are you there each day Margaret?

And they remained there all afternoon. There was no sign of the male today.

Hi Pelle. I'm there anywhere between two and five hours each day. Averaging about three hours. Our weather is hotting up and we're expecting 38C (101F) tomorrow and 39C on Thursday, so I'll probably go really late in the afternoon or may even skip a couple of days.

Aussie is now not taking any notice of the yachts that pass by and only occasionally glances briefly at aircraft flying overhead, not like up to a couple of weeks ago when she'd hunker down anxiously.