This very rare species - osprey flycatcher - can be seen in photo #7.
Ospreys are constantly building up their nest. In #3, male osprey is bringing a stick to the nest while the female is still sitting on the eggs. Once the babies hatched, the male switched to mostly hunting while the female would get a couple of sticks or some grass after every meal. Some sticks fell to the base of the nesting platform but she never picked them up and preferred to fly to distant dead trees instead; she must be wired to avoid possible predators on the ground.
With another osprey nest and a bald eagle nest nearby, the female osprey was constantly stressed and aggressively went after everyone flying by - including turkey vultures and great blue herons. One day, I noticed that she had a big fresh gash (#15); luckily, in a few days her wound looked much better (#16).
An amazing set!
I get a lot of opportunities to shoot ospreys within a short walk of home but these are in a totally different league!
As others have said, clearly the product of ample patience and work - not to mention skill.
Wow! Great set of osprey photos, with LOTS of doomed fish being taken back to the nest and very diligent parental behavior.That pair worked hard for the chicks.
pwschladen wrote:
An amazing set!
I get a lot of opportunities to shoot ospreys within a short walk of home but these are in a totally different league!
As others have said, clearly the product of ample patience and work - not to mention skill.
Patrick
Thank you so much for your kind words, Patrick!
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ElvisD wrote:
All are excellent, but my favorite is #4.
If I may offer a caption for it, it would be:
"Dinner is served, m'lady."
"'Bout friggin' time."
Thank you, David! This caption does pretty accurately describe her body language when he comes back.
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pinball wrote:
All awesome shots my pick would be number 4
Bill
Thank you so much, Bill! #4 worked pretty well as the sun was low and it lit up the feathers nicely. Really glad you liked it!
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dallvr wrote:
Wow! Great set of osprey photos, with LOTS of doomed fish being taken back to the nest and very diligent parental behavior.That pair worked hard for the chicks.
Thank you very much, Shirley!! They have this nice fish variety on the menu - rock bass, largemouth bass, catfish, carp, pike, ...
