On August 8, 2013, while fishing, Karen Linder observed a large bird struggling to carry a fish and identified it as an osprey while watching a live webcam of the nest. The webcam revealed that the nest was initially empty, but shortly after, three osprey chicks returned, with one bringing a fish. The chicks did not retrieve the fish after it escaped over the edge of the nest, despite initially showing interest.

1. August 8, 2013
West Lake Okoboji,
Iowa
Karen Linder
I went out to my dock
on Hayward’s Bay to
fish at 6:20pm.
I casted a couple of
times with no bites.

2. Suddenly, a
large bird
flew in front
of me
struggling to
carry a fish in
its claws.
I took this photograph as it flew East towards the
shoreline , but the dark bird and dark fish are not
visible against the trees.

3. I watched the bird fly up over the tree line towards
the East and it occurred to me that it might be
headed towards the Osprey nest at the Nature
Center.
I ran up to the cabin and opened my laptop
computer, and clicked on the Osprey webcam that I
have bookmarked....
...buffering...buffering...and then the live shot was
displayed....
...the nest was empty. Darn. Oh well.

4. But within 5 seconds all three Osprey chicks,
now quite large, flew into the nest and one had
a fish, still flapping, in its claws.

5. 6:29pm

6. Both bird and fish are larger than they appear in
these screen shots. I could not identify the bird
as an Osprey when it flew in front of me on the
lake. I thought it was a large Hawk of some
kind. Seeing it’s arrival on the webcam
confirmed its identity.
The fish looked to be about 10 inches
long, perhaps a 1-2 lb. bass.

7. The first thing the bird did was eat the fish’s eyes.

8. The other two siblings made no attempt to eat
the fish, nor did the captor offer to share.

9. The bird next
poked a hole
with its beak
in the soft
underbelly
of the fish.

11. The fish flopped
around a bit as the
Osprey tried holding it
down with both feet.
But being near the
edge of the nest
already, within just a
few moments, the fish
managed to wiggle and
escape over the side of
the nest.

12. 6:40pm The chicks looked over the edge and
appeared to verbalize. They did not attempt to
retrieve the fish from the long grass below.

13. Thank you to the Dickinson County Nature
Center for maintaining the 2013 Osprey
Webcam!
http://dickinsoncountyconservationboard.com/
2013/03/21/osprey-camera/