Standing at land’s end
atop a soaring precipice
jutting into the Pacific
I’m observing an Osprey
aka sea hawk
a magnificent single species
with four subspecies
these creatures
have ridden earth’s thermals
over eleven million years
fishing every type water
of every continent on the globe
the one I’m watching
is suspended in flight
high overhead
130 feet above the ocean
aloft on the westerly breeze
billowing up
then wafting down the cliff
just then
a tight wing tuck
a silent dive
effortlessly
it snatches a surprised trout
from its water’s home
using its deft skill
with talons
turns the fish
headlong into the wind
inherently aware of aerodynamics
he’s taking it back
to its stick-built
life long nest
high in the top
of a conifer at water’s edge
I’m mesmerized
this is a younger Osprey
though it will make this dive
over and over
in its 25 years of life
always taking the catch back
to it’s monogamous mate
this is a love story
he and his mate
will remain together
during their lives
and may travel 150,000 miles
including extensive migrations
always returning to home nest
he first attracted his mate
performing an aerial display
known as the “sky-dance”
he hovered
wobbled in flight
and screamed for attention
all in the name of love
snapping out of this recall
I am suddenly taken
by the breathtaking beauty
stretching before me
undulating azure blue
that’s falling away
over earth’s edge
into forever
unfurling below
a white ribbon of sand
fragile
pristine
a breath between eternal sea
and towering rock facades
flanking left and right
in sweeping panorama
the Oregon Coast
in all it’s majesty
this is my summer perch
up with the Osprey
since first I discovered it
thirty three years ago
my thoughts are adrift
enveloping me once again
just then
the breeze freshens
disrupts my reverie
tosses my hair
buffers my chest
I shudder
bracing against vertigo
swept up in a feeling
as an Osprey
rockets down the cliff face
oh to be un-tethered
weightless
no longer earthbound
like that magnificent raptor
my eyes close
my soul lifts
takes wing
soars skyward
I feel the wind on my face
I’m flying!
*
rob kistner © 2023
Poetry at: dVerse
Come fly with Michael Hedges!
NOTE: Ospreys are amazing raptors. They require nest sites in open surroundings for easy approach, with a wide, sturdy base and safety from ground predators (such as raccoons). Nests are usually built in treetops, or crotches between large branches and trunks; also on cliff edges, or human-built platforms, such as forest fire spotting towers, and large power poles of towers, generally in the wilderness, or isolated areas very near wilderness. Osprey pairs return to the same nest each year and add new nest materials to the old nest each year. The only exception is when their nest is obliterated behond reclamation, either natually, such as by forest fire, or by man. The male osprey collects the sticks, branches, and debri, while the female assembles thd nest.