Orville is flying a lot. He is slow to dive on fish partly because the fish have slowed so much that he has learned to just wait for me. I am still being cautious this time of the year, but so far he has returned without difficulties.
He will frequently dive in for a bath, lift off and fly around the lake in ground effect, then plop in again for another bath. He sometimes does this four or five times. His last takeoff is hard because he’s drenched.
He then flies a long time, with multiple shakes, to dry himself. I get a little nervous when he circles up a couple of hundred feet, and I’ll call him back to a fish when I get too worried.
One difference between ospreys and other common raptors is that they are exceedingly cautious about wind direction. If I call him from a perch, he will often take off in the opposite direction (if that’s the wind direction) and circle to approach me upwind.
He seems to fly more in high wind and tries more stunts–swoops and fast turns. In this brisk wind, he needs to worry about direction, but he considers the wind even when it is very light. He is cautious in winds a redtail would completely ignore. The clumsiness on landing, the long wings, the slowness to change directions seem to be the issue.
This bird is hooding, glove-riding, hawk-box-riding, and coming to tidbits very well. I think he will be a great falconry bird come spring when the fish get active. The tail-mount telemetry (sealed with silicone) and bare anklets are working fine. I may take him to some other ponds soon.
One trick I’ve learned when he loses attention with fishing and wants to beg from me is to throw a small tidbit in shallow water. He sometimes dives for it, but he always focuses his attention on the water and notices nearby fish.
