The
Kokanee and the Osprey
Lasca
Creek’s sandy delta forms a rough semicircle that extends out into
the West Arm between Nelson and Castlegar.
Beyond the delta is a shoal, marked with a navigational light
on the top of a piling.
Like most pilings on the West Arm, it hosts an osprey nest.
As I pass by it in a canoe, headed for Lasca, an osprey flies
low overhead, clutching a heavy spawner in its claws.
The spawner wriggles and thrashes about, causing momentary
interruptions of the osprey’s determined flight from the creek mouth
back to the piling. Once
it gets to the piling, the bird has to circle it several times to
reach the nest, like a heavily loaded airplane might spiral upward
to reach cruising altitude. This
osprey and its grown young will leave their piling shortly, headed
south on a twenty to thirty-day migration flight to wintering grounds
in Mexico. Their departure
will be timed to coincide with the end of the spawning season, so
they have had a full month of bulking up on the easily available
fat and protein provided by kokanee spawners.
