The Osprey, also called a Fish Eagle, is an Apex predator whose fish catching skill is unparalleled, which I find quite entertaining and exhilarating. So let me share my experience with you.
Believe it or not, I had no idea what Ospreys were until about a year back. Thanks to my mentor Tommy Nguyen, I have had the chance to shoot them twice over the past year and have since become on of my favorite raptors to shoot. During one of the trips, I also met Mark Smith, who is famous for covering these raptors over the years on his YouTube channel and has also written a book on the subject.
You might find the Ospreys gracefully gliding over the water just like other raptors but then the similarity ends as soon as they spot unsuspecting fish just under the surface of the water.
Once they find the fish, you can see them quickly pulling the wings closer to the body and getting ready for the dive.
The first time I saw this was just around sunrise after a long sleepless night but the site of the Osprey preparing to dive immediately raised my adrenalin levels.
The dive lasts just a few milliseconds and required a lot of practice on my part to capture a decent shot. What follows the dive is even more exciting.
For a second I thought that the bird might have taken off without catching a fish but from the corner of my eye, I could see her emerge from the water, shake off water and appeared to look straight at me.
It then dawned on me that she actually has a fish caught in its talons and is fighting the laws of physics to pull the fish from out of the water and take off.
After a bit of a struggle, and a few heavy heaves, the Osprey starts lifting off from the surface of water. It is then that I saw the fish caught in the Osprey's talons.
I only realized later that I was so lucky to get a shot of an Osprey leaving the water with a fish as it is on every bird photographer's bucket list!
As the day progressed, I witnessed this over and over again. Occasionally, I saw them miss a catch or drop one as the fish was tagged to a fish line but otherwise they were very precise hunters with a very low failure rate.
My excitement only waned when their hunting slowed down as the sun began to set and the wind died down.
During the latter part of one of my trips, I was also able to capture some quiet times of this magnificent bird. Here are a pair working on building their nest.
Here is an Osprey perched on a thick branch among Spanish moss, finishing up her lunch. No points for guessing what was for lunch.
Once she finished her meal, I saw a very peculiar behavior by the bird. The Osprey flew very low over the lake skimming the surface of the water with its talons and dipping her beak sometimes in an apparent effort to clean her talons and beak of any leftover fish meat and scales.
The last three shots were possible due to the boat tour Tommy arranged with Dick Vautrinot.
I hope you enjoyed reading about these magnificent raptors. Check out my site and my Instagram feed for more posts on these birds. Please watch this space for more coverage on my trips to Florida where I plan to cover some of the other birds I was able to photograph.
Cheers!
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