Its top most branches, bare of leaves, rises perhaps thirty to thirty-five feet from the ground. Its root system is nestled in from the lake's edge and it sits among others whose foliage is seeing change. It is deadwood. To most of us it is simply seen as a linear silhouette of limbs and branches. Its purpose, however, is being kept alive by the birds that choose to use it as a perch! Today, that bird is an osprey. This is my first sighting of a wild osprey! Wow!! Part of me wants to snap a hundred pictures but I don't want to cause the osprey to leave its perch. At the same time I want to just look at him.... so I try to be contented with only taking a few pictures and hope, with some luck, that one of them turns out to be in focus!!
He allows me a few seconds to admire him before he takes flight. He heads out towards the middle of the lake. His flight pattern seems routine and consists of a few wing lifts followed by a relaxing glide.
I'm watching him as he glides over the lake but suddenly his body language changes to reflect an urgency to quickly move in the opposite direction.
I now realize why, it seems the lake's resident eagle (one of them) had other thoughts about the osprey's presence.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing. Obviously, a disagreement emerged between these two. I managed to keep taking pictures. I wasn't sure what I was capturing but isn't that one of the thrills of trying to photograph wildlife? Unfortunately, as they continued their disagreement they also drifted from the range of my camera lens. I kept them in sight, watching and listening along with several boaters who also witnessed this event. Eventually each raptor went their own way...
So, what makes a great morning? I guess one definition might include, getting to see a wild Osprey and a Bald Eagle, actually having your camera with you and oh yea, finding that location , location, location!
Check out my post about eagles on October 1! Did you know if you click on these blog pictures you will see an enlargement..lol I just found that out!! Obviously I'm a newbie!!
10 comments:
Hi Tina--thanks for stopping by my blog.
You have some great pics of osprey and eagles. In flight, no less.
Are those photos from somewhere in PA?
Tina: What a really neat photo of a super scene. I often say seize the moment with your camera and this is a once in a lifetime capture.
Wow, Tina! So quickly you have built an amazing blog! Great photos, fun storytelling...you're a pro. :-)
I love your in-flight pictures of the osprey. Those are so hard to get!
Tina, I am so jealous!!!! First eagles--and now an osprey... Like Dave, I enjoy seeing them 'in flight.' Wow---great blog and great pictures!!!
Boy, you really got great images...ospreys are majestic birds.
Tina, Check out my Wed's blog... Some Goldfinch visited our mesh thistle feeder and we got a couple of good pictures.
Thank you, Tina, for visiting my blog! I just enjoyed your wonderful osprey and bald eagle pictures! You have a wonderful blog! Did you see my post of the osprey nest in "older posts"? The kind of pictures I was TRYING to take all that summer eluded me, because I didn't have a good lens, and seeing your photos just made me drool! Well, one of these days....
You asked about the pie pumpkins as opposed to the regular ones. Pie pumpkins have softer pulp and less strings, and it's easier to make things out of their innards. The larger pumpkins we carve tend to be too tough and stringy to use for those purposes, though it CAN be done, if you have to. Check out TennZen (on my list of friends) for some great pumpkin recipes!
Hope you'll come and visit me again...I am planning posts on The Great Dismal Swamp and on Merchant's Millpond (with no people) Don't get a lot of good wildlife or bird shots, but I am hoping for some good opportunities in the future....as you said, location, location, location!
Wow, what cool pictures & how neat just to witness that. Sometimes I don't know wether to take pictures or just watch.
We made home made pretzels for the first time durring the snow storm. Most of the snow is melted & it's supposed to be 60 tommorow.
Thanks so much to everyone who visited this post! I so appreciate you taking the time to share your comments. I love knowing so many of you share my love of nature and capturing its likeness with photos!
Hi Tina, great Osprey captures there and I love your story telling. To give you some background on what you are probably seeing, Bald Eagles and Osprey share the same territory as adversaries. They both eat fish and the eagle loves to steal them from the Osprey.
I wrote a post on this at the beginning of the year with a link to the history of eagles pirating fish. I think you will like it http://www.thebirdersreport.com/wild-birds/bird-sightings/bald-eagle-pirating-fish-from-osprey
Someday I will have a good camera and hopefully be able to take as good a photo as you. You may have noticed, I use other peoples photos, but the day will come, soon I hope, when I can take my own.
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