This is an osprey nest. Someone made a platform and ospreys have been grateful ever since. There is a baby osprey in the nest presently. You can barely see its head but if you paddle your kayak too close it begins chirping. LOUDLY. When you realize your friendly approach is terrorizing the bird even though it’s ten thousand feet above you, you paddle away a distance and sure enough the baby stops chirping. A few minutes later, when you have stopped paddling and have taken out a sandwich you packed because lunch on the water is so pleasant, an adult osprey flies overhead, circles the nest, then flies off again, to possibly continue hunting for its own, or baby’s, lunch, or simply to take some much needed personal time. Whatever the case, it strikes you that, despite the flying involved, this is the exact opposite of helicopter parenting.

This is only one of the joys of eating sandwiches on the water.

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