An Osprey's Tale

We decided to go to Crater Lake National Park, so we headed that way.  Mike called at RV parks along the way and the only one he could talk himself into was one where people were packed in like sardines.  It was expensive too, so we went to an LDS church parking lot for the night.  It was in a beautiful location and we were completely secluded and so glad we came there instead of the other place.  

Mike loved riding Jake's electric scooter.

After we ate and rode around on scooters and bikes, I took Charlie around to run on the huge grass area on the side of the church.

He sniffed around and was chasing birds that were gathering in groups.  As he'd come close, they'd scatter and then gather again further away.  It was a fine game.

I saw this huge osprey nest and we could hear that there were baby birds in the nest.  As Charlie's games brought him closer to the nest, the momma bird freaked out.

She started screeching at him and diving down.  She had different pitches to her screeches and I felt like she was telling him to back off, but also calling for help.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, her husband showed up and started to assess the scene.  Pretty soon, another bird (we decided he was the dad's brother) showed up and they were all three trying to get Charlie (and us) to back off.  

They'd perch in nearby trees and screech at us.

We finally did take off and leave them alone.  It really was cool to see though.  Birds are awesome.