Ma and Pa Osprey

'Ma and Pa Osprey' 16 x 20, Port Canaveral Stewardship Series'

This mated pair of sea hawks were sitting on a nest in the Indian River Lagoon that was situated on a very short pole platform between residential docks, and so were very easy to get to and photograph.  None-the-less, I did not discover that the female (in flight) was pregnant until I developed the film and made a print.  She looked awful heavy to me and I finally grokked that she was 'with chicks' when I could not find any other specimen so large in the belly, no matter what reference work I looked in.  Another accomplished nature photographer later told me that they had three chicks when he photographed the same nest some weeks later.