Well, no surprise, but I broke one of the osprey’s tail feathers today. I transported him in my special osprey hood, which is always a little risky, due to these birds’ clumsy tethered behavior, but I actually think it broke when he backed away from my glove as I tried to retrieve him from the ground.
Oh well. Perfection adds stress, so now I can relax a bit. The tips of the feathers have tiny shafts, so I will not imp it. It will not measurably affect his flying or getting off the water.
Otherwise, at a weight of 1430 grams with a crop still full from last night (or maybe he finished off the bream this morning), he was reluctant to fly to a tidbit. Although he begged for it, stared at it, and greedily ate it when I delivered it to him.
Checking again this afternoon, I had trouble finding the break. It was only the last half inch of one feather. That’s nice. I tried to get a picture, but he was too squirmy when I fanned his tail out.
He caught his fish in the water trough today after a long and vigorous foot-chase (with occasional pounces ) and seemed to grab more aggressively at some additional fish I gave him later. His hunting fervor is beginning to show up!