Summer exodus – flight of an osprey

(as always, please click on an image to link to a higher resolution version)

On the outskirts of Calgary, along Highway 8, there is an enormous nest that is the summer home for a pair of osprey.  I drive by the nest most days and have watched them throughout the late spring and summer.  A couple of weeks ago, I stopped one morning to photograph the pair and it turned out to be just a few days before they took flight for their winter climes.

There is some road work that started around this time so that may have prompted them to head south a bit early or the noticeably cooler air at night at the end of August may have made up their minds.  Either way, they will be back again next year hopefully with plans to fledge a couple more chicks again.