A loud smack in the water yesterday afternoon at Lake Cook in Alexandria, Virginia caused me to turn my head and I was shocked when I saw an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) pull a fish out of the water—I though that all of the osprey had gone south for the winter months ago.
This encounter was a real test of my ability to react quickly. I had been watching some small birds in the bushes at the edge of the water when I heard the osprey’s impact with the water. My brain went into overdrive as I tried to figure out what had caused the sound, but simultaneously I was raising my camera to my eye and pointing it in the direction from which the sound had come. I didn’t have time to change the settings on the camera and was fortunate that they were more or less ok. My focus was set for single shot and not continuous focus, so many of my shots were not in focus and my shutter speed ended up at 1/500 sec, a bit too slow to freeze the action. Still, I am thrilled that I got a couple of decent shots out of the encounter.
After I posted a photo in a birding forum in Facebook, several local birders noted that osprey often return to the area in mid-February, so this osprey is only a bit of an early bird.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow! What great action shots.
Awesome sighting so early in the season! I’ve heard there have a been a few Osprey that stay year-round on the Potomac River. 🙂
Thanks, Donna. It’s strange that I didn’t notice the osprey until I heard it hit the water. Normally I see them circle around in the air before they dive. It’s hard to know f this osprey hung around all winter or is an early returner. The little lake where I saw the osprey is near Cameron Run, a tributary of the Potomac.