TRAVEL | MONTHLY CHALLENGE | WILDLIFE

Return of the Osprey

After a decades-long absence, these magnificent raptors once again grace the skies above the California coast

An osprey pulls the catch of the day, a 5-lb. corvina, from the surf along the Silver Strand State Beach, Coronado, CA. (Photo: ©Craig K. Collins)

It is a warm spring day on the Silver Strand, a 7-mile-long spit of sand that connects the wealthy seaside enclave of Coronado, CA, with its gritty Mexican-border neighbor to the south, Imperial Beach.

The shore here is long, unbroken and uncrowded, peopled only by a handful of beachcombers, joggers, surf fishermen and an occasional Navy Seal logging some extra miles of training.

I’m walking a particularly isolated section of beach, camera in hand — because you never know what you might see — when I notice a shadow ripple across the sand in front of my feet.

I look up, and hovering just offshore in the stiff breeze about 50 feet overhead, is a sight that for decades had all but vanished from the California coast — an osprey on the hunt.

These birds of prey with fearsome talons and a dark bandit stripe across intense golden eyes, catch, kill and eat only fish.