Hello all
Over the past few month's Mr. Reyno has been posting some absolutely beautiful images of Osprey's, I specifically remember several that were "up close and personal", and boy were they razor sharp. I just could'nt believe that the Osprey in those pics had either allowed Reyno to get that close, or Reyno himself had managed to get that close; LOL.
Anyway, I noticed several Osprey's here, but if they even got a hint that I was about to get out of my car to set up my rig, they would instantly take off and fly away; as the weeks and months passed I began to think that I would only be able to enjoy images of Osprey's from Reyno and others here on the forum.
Well, the other day I noticed one of them sitting on the edge of building; so I got out of my car, he/she did'nt move, I opened the door and got my rig out, set it up, he/she was still sitting there, I had never been this close before;
So I started shooting, he/she still did'nt move, i could see that he/she was looking at me; so I grabbed my entire rig and slowly walked toward him/her, set it down; took a few shots, and just continued to move closer and closer in this manner; I just could'nt believe that he/she allowed me to keep getting closer.
Note: Osprey's that come here to Corpus Christi, are "winter residents"; according to the Eastern North American version's of the Smithsonian "Birds of North America" and sibley's "field guide to Birds", therefore we probably don't have Osprey's around here during the rest of the year.
Here are a few, of what I managed to come up with
Canon EOS 30D, Canon EF 500mm f4L IS with Canon 1.4xII TC
f5.6 1/180 sec
1. 1st day, due to it being overcast, colors are muted,
he/she shook and ruffled it's feathers
 | HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/125 sec
2. 1st day, I had to show you how he/she kept looking at me during one of my "get closer moves"
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/1000 sec
3. The following pics were taken the next day; when it was mostly Sunny; I waited and waited and waited, then suddenly I saw a large bird flying at low level off in the distance, was it my friend the Osprey?
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/2000 sec
4. Surveying the seascape
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/750 sec
5. The shots that I really want are of these animals catching a meal, this is the best that I could come up with, from this shooting session, I hoped and hoped that he/she would snatch a fish in this attempt.
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/1000 sec
6. "Missed"
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/750 sec
7. He/she immediately spotted another fish, so down he/she went on a second attempt.
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
f5.6 1/750 sec
8. "Missed again", those powerful wings preparing for the downstroke as he/she pulls away, after this he/she flew away to take a break.
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
Untill next time. I will have to make sure that these attempts are facing the viewer
Thanks for looking
and flight shots will become possible again.
