August 7, 2011

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Here’s how things went: As we clamber down into the North Cove, a magnificent Osprey rises from the water right under our noses. Any closer and we’d have felt the draft from her wings. Once we recover from our surprise, we watch as she circles up with a fish in her talons, struggling to gain height. On closest approach, she’s too near and moving too fast for my camera. Most of the shots are either blurs, departing tail feathers, or just pictures of sky and trees. Now she shrugs the water from her wings and sails off out of sight. We start down the beach. The Great Blue Heron we almost always see puts in an appearance, flying in from Simpsons Reef then heading out again. A couple of Pelicans go by. We see a cormorant swimming and diving in the water. There are kelp/algae, small rocks wood, crab casings on the beach, some shells, anemones in the shallow water, small fish in the pools, sea lions and seals out on the rocks; all the usual stuff. Our Osprey is back. We watch as she circles, hovers, makes darting half-dives diligently searching for fish. What a treat.As if that isn’t enough, a second Osprey appears and sets up shop in a treetop overlooking the water. She makes a lot of noise, yelling at Diligent who drifts further and further away until she's no more than a rather large speck working the outer waters of Simpsons Reef. Satisfied, Lazy quiets down, occasionally dropping from her perch to make a languid circuit over the water. No hovering. No diving. No fishing. Not like Diligent, who is still energetically working the reef. As we prepare to head back up the hill, we see Diligent rocketing down into the water. She rises up and circles before turning towards us. I guess Lazy is watching too, because all of a sudden she's out of her tree like a shot. I'm thinking "Mortal Combat" as the two of them circle by overhead, Diligent working hard for height. They swirl away over the hilltop leaving us to wonder about the outcome. We wait - just in case. Then here comes Lazy gliding back to her perch empty-handed. Well, empty-taloned, actually. We like to think that Diligent hung onto her fish.