Sunday morning I witnessed what seemed to be almost a communal fishing
expedition by several of the osprey at Everett. I had taken my canoe
and camera gear out to Jetty Island about 7:30am to try to get photos
of shorebirds and terns at the 8am high tide. It was pretty quiet and
I had been concentrating on some black-bellied plover and dowitchers.
However, around 10am what seemed like most of the osprey around were
fishing over the shallow water that would soon be mudflats with the
receding tide. I was on the sand spit on the west side of the island
and birds were dropping into the water on both sides of me. It was a
bit of a dilemma for me to try to decide which bird to follow! At one
point I had five birds in the viewfinder at once (700mm lens, birds
about 1/4 mile away). I counted as many as nine at one time. Of course
while all this was going on a small flock of Common Terns flew over along
with some Caspian Terns so I missed getting a photo of that. Within half
an hour it was just the occasional bird fishing. Although I tried to see
if any of the birds were juvenile all the ones that I got a good look at
the topside feathers appeared to be adults.

Later in the day another couple that were birding up on the north side of
the island reported seeing fifteen osprey carrying fish back to the nest
area.

The last day for the free ferry service to the island will be Sept. 1, so
those who intend to get out to Jetty Island have only a couple weeks.

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA
eschulz at eldec.com