Empty nest, Henne

I was beginning to feel that the second young Osprey raised in the Henne marsh was never going to leave its nest and give me an undeniable sign that it had, indeed, fledged. Every time I came for a visit, there it was, sitting tight and not showing any inclination to fly. Of course, because I couldn't really tell the two nestmates apart, and because I was pretty sure there was a second nest somewhere deep in the Henne wooded swamps, there was no real way to determine if the fish hawk that was always glued to the nursery you could see from boardwalk was the same bird or a member of the "musical nests" troupe. The only thing I could be certain about was that a couple of weeks ago, when the nest the two Osprey had been raised in fell down, the remaining bird flew to the nest next door and continued to remain glued to the spot every time I came for an observing trek. Today, however, Henne was empty. I'll take that as a sign that the youngsters have fledged and are learning how to live on their own. There are other explanations for their absence but, at heart, I'm an optimist.