First Flight

As fulltimers for nearly nine years, we have found that getting sufficient exercise can be challenging. I try to walk 8-10 miles a day at least 5 times a week. Not only does it keep me active and in somewhat good shape, it gives me time to solve the world’s problems, if only in my mind. I enjoy the quiet time with myself.

Here, at Heise, I have a routine. I leave the cg at about 5am and walk the river road. At that time of the morning, there is nothing moving but me and some of nature’s critters. About two miles into my walk is an Osprey nest I have been watching for months. I saw the parents repairing the nest after the winter and watched them nesting. After the chick hatched I watched it grow. Mom and Dad were diligent, feeding and caring for it. For days the chick teetered at the edge of the nest, getting up enough courage to fly.

A few days ago I was lost in my thoughts and heard a plaintive call above me. Clearly the cries of a youngster, terrified of falling. I looked at the nest in time to see the chick tumble off the edge. Frantic, it flapped ungainly wings, getting enough purchase on the heavy morning air that it was able to climb. Meanwhile, calling for Mom and Dad, it managed to catch a thermal in the early morning air. Parents calling encouragement, it tried, again to fly. No luck…tumbling toward earth, it frantically used wings again. This time it was a bit more successful. Soaring on the thermal, once again, I watched it gather strength for another try, all the while calling for help.

I watched the drama unfold until the trio headed out of sight, but not out of hearing. Toward the river, I lost them. I wondered if the chick would ever find the nest again. Would the youngster make it back and would he gain the courage to fly again?

The next day, at the same time, I saw it again on the edge of the nest…Mom and Dad calling to come fly with them. No such luck, that chick had had enough! I talked to that little one, encouraging it to try again….give it a try! All my concentration was on that little bird…..

Whoa! All stop…I rounded a bend in the road and about 30 feet in front of me was a full grown cow moose. She had heard me and wondered who I was talking to! I screeched to a halt, trying not to startle her, expecting to see a calf or two as well. I started backing straight up to keep her line of sight right on me. As I backed to a stop, she turned and started across the road. At a fenceline, she gracefully reared up and cleared the fence. As she headed into the alfalfa field, I breathed a sigh of relief. No calf…I was spared the wrath of a cow moose. We watched each other until I walked out of sight.

My mornings are special to me, experiencing things that I would never see otherwise. Tomorrow I will share my early walk with a fellow workcamper. Hopefully she will see the little Osprey, or perhaps deer or the moose. I will enjoy showing her my early morning world. Maybe we will see a second or third flight……..