There is nothing quite like the taste of a freshly caught fish and this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) seemed to be devouring its breakfast with gusto early on Saturday morning at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
great shot, a bit gross but still a great shot
Thanks. I realize that the photo may be a bit too graphic for some, but it shows the kind of detail of life in the wild that we don’t always get to see. (My images of snakes and spiders often produce a similar mixed reaction.)
completely understandable………I’m just a bit woosy, but I can appreciate a great photo, well done
Great shot. We sW something like this at dinner party of course I had no camera😞
He looks hungry but well mannered.
I would have lit the grill if he had been willing to share.
One of the other bloggers I follow occasionally posts photos of bald eagles stealing fish from ospreys. I am not sure the osprey would voluntarily share. Still, the osprey seems to prefer the head of the fish, so maybe we could make some kind of deal. 🙂
Great meal and shot. Fun to watch that.
I may have mentioned this in another post, but an experienced birder told me Osprey always eat fish head first. In my experience, the fish-catcher eats the fish head before sharing the body of the fish with its mate and young back at the nest.
You believe that you did mention it once, Walter, when I had had a photo in flight of an osprey with what looked to be a headless fish. Clearly that was the case here as well of the osprey consuming the head first.
Excellent pic.. 🙂
I’ve heard wonderful things of Huntley Meadows Mike. And..I’m going to be there on June 6th helping out with a Raptor photo shoot through Capital Photography.
Maybe our paths might cross? Emily
I may have to check out the raptor shoot. I will often avoid the park on Saturdays, because it gets very crowded, but might make the trip that day.
Most excellent image! I had an opportunity to observe an Osprey pair over the week-end and didn’t get this lucky with them feeding. The male went fishing and ate in a tree away from the nest and he was obscured by too many branches to get a clean image of it feeding. What a thrill this must have been!
It was definitely exciting. The osprey had chosen to perch in a dead tree in a relatively open area and I spotted it through the trees. I managed to creep closer and took this shot with my camera pointing almost straight up. On the occasions when I have seen an osprey catch a fish. they usually disappear from sight into the trees.
Life is so complex, you did such a wonderful job of showing the layers that make up our existence.
Thanks, Charlie. It’s always exciting to be able to capture action shots.
[…] single one I really like, and write a short post. That’s exactly what I did with the initial Freshly Caught Fish posting a few days ago. I knew that I had gotten some good shots of the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), […]
Well caught Mike … Both you and the Osprey … what a stunning bird.