Watching the Life Cycle of Osprey through a Long Lens by Dick Cooper
Mama was very angry with me, and she was doing everything in her power to show it. She screamed, her shrill, high-pitched osprey voice escalating into a fierce staccato that warned me to back away. Her large, bright-yellow eyes burned like death rays. The feathers at the back of her head f lared into a jagged crown. As I took another step closer, she stood and pushed out her chest and extended her wings to their full sixfoot span. She lowered her head and
cocked it slightly, as if putting body English on her evil eye. With a sudden burst of power, she vaulted out of her nest, gliding low over Oak Creek in a tight, sweeping circle before flapping her wings and turning straight for me. My pulse quickened as I brought her into focus in the viewfinder of my camera and fired off a burst that would freeze her aerial charge in a sequence of splitsecond intervals. She passed within a few feet of my head, banking away
Mama’s not happy! 27