The first evidence I heard of the titanic battle was the repeated cries of a heron sounding the cacophony of a harassed soul.
Far out onto the Lake, in the dim light of a driving rainstorm, two birds waged war. I knew at once that one bird was a heron, but thought that the other must have been an eagle (Did I mention the low light?). I grabbed my camera and managed only a few shaky hand-held shots. Only later when I looked at those flawed pictures did I realize that the aggressor was not an eagle, but an osprey.
Why was the osprey harassing a heron? I have no idea. But the battle passed through a dozen or more swoops and banks by the osprey over a period of perhaps a minute or two.
When first spotted, the cacophonous battle was taking place in the air over the Lake. It took me a moment or two to grab a camera and begin to record the final few encounters of this portion of the conflict. Here the osprey (top) is diving on the heron (bottom).
The heron was forced into the Lake, and the osprey repeatedly dived on it from above.
The osprey coursed back and forth, first attacking from one side and then wheeling and attacking from the other.
Each of these shots corresponds to a separate attack.
Perhaps the best view of an attack was the last one of an osprey with it claws out and the heron expressing horror at what was happening. In the end, the osprey gave up and moved on. Why did it happen? I don’t know.
So, was the heron able to take off without it’s feet touching the ground? A pitiful sight indeed!
Doug, alas it was raining hard and I did not stay around to check on the fate of the heron, but ran for cover to protect my camera.