Osprey Along the Yellowstone river   click to enlarge

There is a magical place in Yellowstone where the Yellowstone river slowly cuts its way through a magnificent canyon on its way through the park until it joins the mighty Missouri river way off to the East. Eon after eon it reveals the details hidden in the granite walls. As the water wears away the outer coating of the cliff sides these walls begin to take on a life of their own. It will shed one formation, letting it cascade into the canyon below to be swept downstream as small boulders and pebbles smashing and rubbing together until there is nothing left but sand, then presenting another formation as a prominent detail until it tires of it and begins the process all over again.

Throughout these eons there have always been fierce inhabitants making their homes in the rocky ledges and spire-tops up and down the canyon, each striving to claim  a small portion of the cliffs as their own fiefdom. They are known as the Fisher people and the strongest, fiercest of them all become the Fisher Kings. They have proven their right to their kingdom through trial by battle and prevailed, holding on to the area they claim from repeated assaults of those that would dethrone them and take their land and their queens.

The area they carve out as their own each have special nesting sites which may be the top of mighty spires, or tucked into the fissures in the cliff face, or on ledges high up on the canyon walls. Some of these nests have been occupied for years upon years, each new generation adding to the nest until the nests can weigh over a ton. Sometimes the nest gets so large that a fierce winter storm can send it cascading over the edge to hang precariously until it finally collapses into the river  below. Undeterred the owners soon begin the rebuilding process and a new nest emerges.

They sit on guard using the tip of a spire to watch for intruders and to scan the river below with their incredible eyesight for the movement of fish in the shallows. When prey is spotted they tuck their wings and dive into the canyon in a stoop that can take them down over a thousand feet to the river’s surface. The climb back up to their nests carrying a 20″ cutthroat tests their strength but they always make it.

Each year they mate and rear their young until they are ready to leave the nest and fight for a place along the canyon walls to raise their own families. They will be the next Fisher Kings and the cycle continues.