Osprey Eating a Fish
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Last year, my wife and I—and, really, our whole family—kept tabs on a pair of Ospreys as they raised three clamorous juveniles (see below) before migrating south. Last night, I checked the nest and found that the male and female had returned. One was in the nest. The other—the male?—was eating a fish alongside the road. (99% of an Osprey’s diet is fish.) The bird didn’t like my attention; I took this photo and moved on.
Location: Marion County, Oregon
Date: April 9, 2021
Exposure: 1/2500 second, f/9, ISO 1250
Focal Length: 850 mml
Gear:
Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary with a 1.4x teleconverter
Three juvenile Ospreys fighting over a fish. (Photo taken July 2020.) This must have been what it was like for my parents to feed five sons every night when I was younger—and a total of eight sons eventually.
Kate and I checked on this family of raptors periodically, and usually near sunset, which coincided with their dinner. The sun was dropping low behind me, bathing them in a nice warm light.