Words and Photos by Beth Marlin Lichter
Not much to pique your interest from the road, a gravel turnout with parking spaces, a bit of fencing, signage and a sloping, eroded dirt path leading to Vancouver Lake with litter strewn about. Normally I drive right by it on my way to Shillapoo Wildlife Area or Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park. However, on 8/29/26 I met the Young Birders VAS group there at 8am and down the trail we went to the water’s edge, where to our great surprise, an Osprey launched from a treetop and grabbed a carp from the water right in front of us. Fortunately my camera was switched on and I was looking in the right direction because this action lasted only a few seconds.
That dive, splash and lift-off demonstrated the powerful energy and prowess necessary to successfully pluck fish from a lake. Timing, mastery of technique and specialized talons were no match for the carp and with a great flapping of wings, the Osprey was quickly airborne with its weighty capture. How does this bird of prey, which depends mostly on fish for its food source, manage to grasp and hang onto a slippery carp, from lake retrieval to its delivery destination? In one of my photos I got a good glimpse of the answer. Ospreys have two toes that can face forward and two toes that can face backward and on the soles of their feet, spiny barbs called spicules act like nature’s version of velcro. This is a brilliant adaptation and from what I could observe, very effective.
With carp secured and facing aerodynamically forward, the pair was soon way above us and then disappeared beyond the trees.
After this stunning event, our group briefly surveyed the lake and surrounding shores for wildlife/waterfowl and determined that it was a worthwhile stop for the Osprey alone. Then it was on to Frenchman’s Bar for a leisurely bird walk. But so impactful was the experience and opportunity to observe an Osprey fishing, that I went back the very next morning with my camera and indeed was rewarded with more activity.
On the second day there was no fish caught where I could see it happening before me, but the Osprey spent a good deal of time perched and preening at the top of a nearby tree. I watched and waited for it to fish again. Not every attempt yields success. Sometimes a fly around the lake means coming back empty-handed.
There were a number of other species out fishing as well. A Green Heron landed nearby and one California Gull in particular was paying close attention to the Osprey’s dives, hoping for a chance to steal a fish mid-air. When the opportunity arose, that gull was on a mission to harass, intimidate, disrupt and acquire but the Osprey was unfazed and soon the gull abandoned its pursuit.
From now on, en route to some of my other favorite birding spots in the area, I will be stopping at the Port of Vancouver’s Flushing Channel, an artificial waterway that feeds water from the Columbia River, into Vancouver Lake, hoping for more fish tales.
eBird Checklist for Flushing Channel 8/29/26 with Young Birders from VAS