Osprey with Fish

This Osprey had a succesful hunt in Lake Dora in central Florida.  The Palm Island Boardwalk is a great place to watch these guys.  I've also found many snakes, gators, shore birds and Barred Owls at this location.  The boardwalk is in real need of repair but there are hiking trails that don't require it's use if you are leery of the decrepit condition.

Osprey in Flight

I have a difficult time with flight shots of birds.  I captured this one over New Smyrna Beach on a super bright afternoon.  I find I have better luck when I manually focus, my autofocus on both cameras seems to always be hunting for something.  Maybe I'll just stick to static shots and leave the flight photos to others.

Osprey with catch

This Osprey just snatched lunch from the waters of Lake Dora in central Florida.  As mentioned in my previous post I missed the catch and the shaking off of the water but did manage to get a decent flight shot.  These are magnificent birds and absolutely ferocious hunters.  If you see one hovering over the water get ready for a show.

Osprey

The Osprey is one of my favorite birds to watch.  When they leave the water after a succesful dive they frequently hesitate about 10 feet out of the water and shake the excess water off.  I can only imagine the power it takes for one of these birds to take off from the water carrying a fish, and then repeat it with a full stop for this shaking behavior.  I always watch for it and have seen it countless times, but I've never captured it on film or digitally.  There are many similar instances when I rediscover I'm a watcher first and photographer second.  I'm going to make an effort to reverse that for a while because I'd really like to capture some of the interesting behavior demonstrated by birds such as the osprey.  This photo was taken near lighthouse point on Sanibel Island.  There are quite a few dead trees at the waters edge where Ospreys congregate to hunt.  You can get within 20 feet of them on occasion if you move slowly and deliberately.

Osprey

I'm rushing spring.  This is last years photo of an Osprey sitting in a gorgeous bald cypress.  I took this from the Palm Island Boardwalk in Mt. Dora, FL.  It reminds me of why I'm a treehugger, I (and the Osprey) certainly prefer this to another parking lot.