Our Lynn Osprey nest became more active in mid July.  We only saw the occasional heads of the two chicks pop up a bit in early July.

But by the middle of the month the chicks were standing up and flapping their wings and helicoptering as they built their strength for their fledge flight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0OtbbpI4bo  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdfbdo6bsRA   One of the chicks fledged on either July July 26th (which I witnessed) or maybe the day before.  I was there on July 26th and after two hours one of the chicks suddenly leaped out of the nest and flew around the area in circles a couple of times, hovered over the nest to try to land but decided it was too risky and flew to a nearby telephone pole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwrKz_fU8g  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq60zKG5QIg 

It seemed like a fledge flight to me.  The second chick hadn’t yet fledged but certainly did within a couple of days of the first one.  They come back to the nest for a while to be fed and then by late August or early September they will begin their migration south.  As David Gessner discovered when writing his book Soaring With Fidel, Cuba is one of the main Osprey migration destination countries.  Maybe this Lynn pair, that have been occupying this nest for several years, winter over in Havana.  I wonder……

  We usually find an uptick in Black-crowned Night Heron activity at the Charles River waterfalls in Watertown Center in August.  And this occurs mostly in the afternoon.  For whatever reason, they begin filtering in after 1pm, both adults and juveniles.  I’ve been watching them day after day and usually stay as late as 4 or 5pm.  On some afternoons I have left the area with six or seven Black-crowns still perched on rocks or tree limbs that are near the waterfalls.  For all of the hours they spend there trying for fish, they are successful infrequently.  One adult has a favorite perch on a tree limb in front of the waterfalls where it sits still as a statue for sometimes hours, looking into the water for fish.

I watched it for five days in a row hoping it would catch a fish because it was close and would be a fantastic opportunity.  On the fifth day, finally, it caught a big fish.  It tried to swallow that fish for about ten minutes.  It was fascinating to witness.  It tipped its head up several times attempting to swallow that fish but just couldn’t do it.  It flew a few feet  to the top of the waterfall with the fish and tried from there to swallow it.  No luck.  Finally, it dropped the fish.

It’s more likely that it realized it wasn’t going to be able to swallow it than it was an accident.  For me, it was a bonanza. Ten minutes of watching this drama.  Very exciting.