Today’s post features an osprey that was fishing in our cove at the Lake of the Ozarks (Missouri) a couple of days ago. Recently, the ospreys have been quite active in our cove. On this particular day, there were two ospreys circling overhead. One dove into the water and emerged with a fish and then flew away.
After grabbing my camera, the second osprey was still fishing. Here is the scene that played out in front of me … I’m not very good at estimating distances, but my “best guess” is that this osprey was somewhere in the 150-200 yard range. Thus, not good closeups, but still a thrill to observe. Here is the sequence that I witnessed, standing on our boat dock:
In this first image, the osprey can be seen diving, against the tree backdrop:
Closing in on the water:
An instant before hitting the water:
Splash … touch down!
After this dive, the osprey emerged with a nice fish, flying over me on his return to a perch to feed:
I’ve been trying, seemingly forever, to catch the osprey’s dive as it fishes. Although I managed to capture this event, I’m still looking to photograph a plunge that is even closer … still a “to do” item on my list!
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon 100-400mm, f/4.5-f/5.6 IS lens
- Handheld, with IS “On”
- ISO 800
- Aperture f/8
- Shutter Speed 1/250 sec. to 1/4000 sec.