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Posts Tagged ‘Pandion haliaetus’

Cartoon osprey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 11, 2015| 7 Comments »

In some of my photos, the ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) look really majestic, but in these two shots, the osprey looks almost like a cartoon caricature to me.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey in action

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 8, 2015| 16 Comments »

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.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lunch to go

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 4, 2015| 6 Comments »

Eventually the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) that I featured yesterday decided to fly away, with its modest fish still tightly clutched in its talons. I thought that the bird was going to consume the fish while perched, but perhaps the osprey prefers to lunch in privacy or needs to share the prize with its mate.

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Osprey and fish

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 3, 2015| 11 Comments »

When an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) flew in my direction this morning at Huntley Meadows Park and landed in a tree, I had no idea that it was clutching a small fish. It was raining and I was trying to keep my gear dry, but the osprey was so close that I knew I had to try to get some shots. In fact, I was so close that when the bird opened its wings, I couldn’t fit the entire wingspan within the frame.

I noticed the fish in the talons of the right foot only later when I was reviewing the shots on my computer.

Osprey

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Early osprey

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 18, 2015| 7 Comments »

I was surprised this past Monday to see that Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have already returned to our area. I don’t often see ospreys at my local marshland park and was somewhat shocked to look up into the sky and see one soaring high above me. Actually I thought it was a hawk at first and then concluded that it must be a bald eagle, because of the white head. It was only when I looked more closely at the photos that I realized that it was an osprey.

In the past I have taken some closer shots of ospreys and on those occasions I was struck by the amazing yellow eyes and the incredible talons. This time, however, I was struck by the surprisingly wide wingspread of the osprey. The sunlight was coming from the right direction to illuminate and highlight the bird’s wing feathers.

There are a number of locations in our area where ospreys generally nest and I guess that it is not too early to check them out. Somehow I thought the ospreys wouldn’t be back here for another month or so, but I confess that this is not one of the birds that I have kept track of very closely in the past.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fishing for sticks

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 31, 2014| 16 Comments »

Hoping to capture a shot of an osprey  (Pandion haliaetus) snagging a fish earlier this month, I started firing my camera each time the osprey dove toward the surface of the water with talons extended, but, unlike the bird, I came up empty-handed. The osprey, it turns out, was not fishing for food—it was gathering building materials for its nest. It was impressive nonetheless to watch an osprey fly up into the sky with a pretty large branch in its grasp.

Click on the photos if you want to see a higher resolution view of the images. (I am always amazed by the osprey’s yellow eyes.)

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Soaring osprey

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2014| 8 Comments »

Soaring high above the earth, this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) seemed to be relaxing, enjoying a moment of peace before getting back to the pressing  job of rebuilding the nest.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Osprey in flight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on March 16, 2014| 20 Comments »

A breeding pair of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) has returned to a nesting site only a few miles from where I live and I was thrilled to get some shots of the ospreys yesterday, on a bright sunny day.

The nest, which has been used for quite a number of years, is built on a wooden piling near the Belle Haven Marina south of Old Town Alexandria on the Potomac River. The piling is tilted quite a bit, apparently because of the pressure of the ice that accumulated when the cold temperatures this winter caused the river to freeze, but the birds seem undeterred and were busily adding sticks to the nest yesterday. It looks like the ospreys may be compensating for the angle by building the nest higher on one side than the other, though it is really hard to tell at the moment.

I took lots of shots yesterday that I need to review, but I thought I would post this one as a sneak preview and suspect that I will have enough shots for another few postings. The ospreys flew by a few times (most often the male) and I was able to get photos of them in flight andworking on the nest.  I remember hearing that there were ospreys on the Potomac River, but somehow never made the trip last year during breeding season. This year, I will try to make more frequent trips to check on the couple’s progress.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Not a seagull

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on May 25, 2013| 6 Comments »

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy and the wildlife seemed to have sought shelter, but I spotted one bird circling over the largest body of water at my marshland park. Judging from the way that it flew, I initially thought it might be some kind of seagull.

From different angles, though, it looked a little bit like some kind of a hawk. I managed to get some photos of the various wing positions while the bird was flying and find them to be fascinating. Eventually I got a somewhat blurred shot of the entire bird and have concluded that it probably is an osprey (Pandion haliaetus), a bird that I have never before encountered, but definitely one I hope to see again in the near future.

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Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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