Earlier this week I watched a pair of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) at my local marsh circling about in search of a meal and captured a sequence of shots of a successful effort. I have previously seen ospreys flying with fish in their talons, but I had never actually seen an osprey catch a fish.
The first shot, my favorite, shows the osprey flying away with its prize, just after it plucked the fish out of the water. Initially the osprey spotted the fish (photo 2) and arrested its forward motion to prepare to dive (photo 3). I tried to track the osprey as it dove, but it dropped so quickly that all I got in the frame was the tail end of the bird. It looks like ospreys dive head first toward the water and then at the last minute bring their legs forward so that they hit the water feet first.
The fourth photo gives you an idea of how forcefully the osprey hit the water. It made a loud splash and much of its body looks to be submerged. The final shot shows the osprey emerging from the water, using its impressive wings to generate an amazing amount of power.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow! Great series.
Thanks, Victor.
Great shots Mike!
Wow!
Osprey are so fun to watch. I can recall several occasions in Northern Minnesota watching one while fishing myself. Entertainment between bites.
Fantastic capture 🙂
Nice shots! That’s something we don’t get to see every day!
So much fun to watch them hunt!! Great photos!
Thanks, Judy. The ospreys are amazing. Last year I watched one gathering sticks for a nest–this was the first time I saw one catch a fish.
FABULOUS shots! We have been watching our pair fishing and carrying fish for days! I never get tired of it.
Nor do I. This is really the first year we’ve had such action at Huntley Meadows Park (there is a lot more water now than before they did a massive wetland reclamation project, which has attracted birds like ospreys).
Amazing shots! I love the action… right place, right time, right camera… and of course the skills of a great photographer! (Carol)
Thanks, Carol, for your extraordinarily kind words. It was exciting to have action like this take place right in front of me and doubly exciting to be able to capture some of it. Luck played a huge role, but the shots were also the culmination of a lot of practice and patience. (I consider myself to be more persistent than skilled!)
Absolutely amazing series of photos, Mike!!! Crystal clear and beautiful. I hope I can learn to stop action like that someday – maybe I should work on that this summer :). Anyway, your photos reminded me of a wonderful experience Jim and I had many years ago. We had backpacked many miles into a wilderness pond in the Adirondack Mountains here in NY. Nobody around but us. We ate lunch and lay down to rest before setting up camp. All of a sudden there was an unbelievably loud crash in the water (of course, when it’s that quiet to begin with, everything sounds louder) that scared the living daylights out of both of us. Luckily, we sat up in time to see a beautiful Osprey take a fish out of the water right in front of us – such an incredible experience. That was Jim’s first Osprey encounter and one he still talks about today. Things like that leave special memories in our minds. Again, your shots are fantastic – so glad you shared them!
Thanks. It is quite memorable when a scene like this unfolds right in front of you. Although I have been working on capturing shots of birds in flight, there is a huge amount of luck involved in getting decent shots (as well as proper settings on the camera) and a lot of practice in tracking the birds and keeping them in the viewfinder.
Great action shots