Ospreys put on a show that is worth watching

One fishing show stands out among all the others on the air.

Although I’m fairly bored by television, I’ll drop everything to watch this highly rated display of skill in the original high-definition, without cable or a satellite dish, while visiting local lakes and the Spokane River.

One reader points out the show is a regular spring through summer free-for-view feature even at Manito Park Pond.

John Herting has been entertained on several walks through the city park this spring by ospreys, which have no interest in the Manito’s popular flower displays.

These are “fish hawks,” lured to the bullhead catfish and occasional goldfish in the pond.

Herting’s fascination with the sightings hits home with many of us in the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane River region – which reportedly has the highest density of nesting ospreys in the western United States.

One of my most memorable fishing experiences occurred on the Coeur d’Alene River a few years ago, and it had nothing to do with the number of trout I hooked.

I was standing thigh-deep in a run, tying a fly to my tippet, when an osprey caught my attention as it hovered, scooping air with its wings to stay stationary in the air, legs down, about 100 feet almost directly above.

I had a front row seat for a live performance.

In an instant, the osprey folded each wing into a tight V and dove, smacking the water head- and feet-first with a splash, tail feathers flared to break the fall but wings stretching straight up to reduce the risk of breaking a bone.

For a moment, only the tips of his up-reaching wings showed above the surface.

The bird was just 30 feet away when its head emerged from the pool I was preparing to fish. I looked into its yellow eyes as wings pushed powerfully against the surface to spring it loose from the water. The bird gave itself a boost in a couple of splashy hops with two feet that were clamped to a foot-long whitefish.

Like a well-thought-out bass boat, an osprey is a fish-catching machine. Toe pads are covered with little spikes to help get a grip on slippery fish, and the sharp claws curve into roughly a third of a circle to effortlessly “hook” and secure the prey.

Each talon is equal in length and completely round to better penetrate and carry the fish, in contrast to other raptor talons, which are unequal in length and grooved underneath.

Bird experts say an osprey’s plumage is noticeably compact to reduce wetting; its thighs are covered with short, dense feathers. Nevertheless, just a few wingbeats into the air, the osprey paused its liftoff and shook water from its feathers to lighten the load before gradually gaining altitude.

The osprey is the only hawk with a reversible outer toe, like that of an owl, so each foot can hold the prey securely in flight with two toes on each side.

And ospreys always orient the fish head forward resembling a torpedo under its body for aerodynamic flight – sometimes several miles to the tree or nest where they will feed.

All of this natural fishing ability is routinely on display in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area as soon as ospreys begin returning in mid-March from their wintering areas farther south.

To have them in a city park truly is near nature, near perfect.

Apparently the Manito Park Pond is a honey hole the local ospreys aren’t about to share, as Herting discovered recently when a passing bald eagle was dive-bombed by ospreys until it had to take refuge in a park tree, where it spent the night with one perched osprey nagging at it into the darkness, observers said.

I’ve seen a pair of nesting ospreys force a passing bald eagle right to the ground. But sometimes it works the other way. Bald eagles know they have an advantage over an osprey that’s packing a fish. Given enough altitude, eagles have been known to torment an osprey until it drops the fish, giving the eagle time to swoop down and catch the free meal before it hits the water.

“The osprey I’ve seen over at Manito Pond catch a fish and head northeast” where it probably has a nest, Herting said. “The bird is pretty consistent and doesn’t waste much time as it just shows up for a few rounds over the pond, dives and takes off with a fish.

“The fish are pretty small now but about four weeks ago when we first saw the osprey there were three birds working the pond together and they pulled out some fish that seemed to be about a foot long and the birds had to fly a circle over the pond with the big fish just to get high enough to clear the pine trees.”

A great blue heron stalks and spears fish with its long beak at Manito Pond, although it’s too shy to hang around when many people congregate.

“It sits in the willow on the south side (of the park) after fishing,” Herting said.

Of course, stealth is never quite as spectacular as a bird that takes a risk and makes a splash each time it bags a meal.

Ospreys aren’t infallible. They’ve been known to drown after hooking into salmon or other big, powerful species that take the bird under with a force that makes releasing the hooked talons difficult.

But these fishing masters of the sky have been known to live more than 20 years.

That’s a career of fishing consistency and perfect dives no bass master or Olympic champion could ever match.