Preparing to fly

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Preparing to fly

March 20, 2017 by Mike Powell

When I first spotted an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) yesterday afternoon, it was perched at the top of a tall tree at Lake Cook in Alexandria, Virginia. Suddenly it began a series of what seemed to be warm-up, stretching exercises. The position reminds me a little of the obelisk position that some dragonflies assume to avoid excessive exposure to the sun. A short time later, the osprey took to the sky.

As I attempted to track the osprey circling overhead, I found myself shooting in radically varying lighting situations. The sky was blue, but there were large expanses of gray and white clouds. Some of the time I was also shooting directly into the sun. As a result, the two in-flight shots below look almost like they were shot on different days, when in fact they were taken only seconds apart.

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Lake Cook, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Tamron 150-600mm | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on March 20, 2017 at 8:18 am | Reply Dan Antion

They are such magnificent creatures. Great shots, Mike.
on March 20, 2017 at 10:28 am | Reply krikitarts

Love that first shot and how the colors in the buds, the branches, and the bird complement each other. What a fine, sharp eye (both of) you have!
on March 20, 2017 at 1:52 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Wonderful images of the osprey. Normally I am drawn to the flying shots because bird wings are just so completely beautiful and appealing. However, I think it is the first image that is strongest in this bunch. I love the composition with that spread of branches grounding the image at the bottom and connecting, through colour and tone, to the brown on the bird’s feathers. I also love the slight twist in the bird’s body and the sense of action.
- on March 21, 2017 at 5:09 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. I didn’t really intend to have the colors match in that first image, which is also my favorite, but I too noticed it while I was working on it. Capturing subjects in motion is difficult, but definitely is worth the extra effort. In this case, the osprey was in motion, but was still holding on to the tree.
on March 20, 2017 at 5:22 pm | Reply waltersanford

Nice photo set, Mike. It looks like the Osprey is making a contrail in the third photo!
- on March 20, 2017 at 9:53 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks,Walter. I like the visual image of contrails for the osprey, even if that was not exactly the case.
on March 20, 2017 at 9:04 pm | Reply Sue

These are great photos, Mike. I think the white background looks great.
- on March 20, 2017 at 9:51 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Sue. In the case of the first shot, I cranked up the white a bit–it looked kind of gray and gloomy initially. The other shot was somewhat overexposed because I was shooting into the sun, but I really liked the look, so I didn’t tone it down much.