One sign of spring in this area is the arrival of osprey from further south. They migrate to this area to build nests and raise their next generation. And raising the next generation requires food, lots of it. And what food do osprey eat? Fish! That’s why they’re also known as fish hawks.
I have sometimes been lucky enough to find an osprey atop a tree eating a fish it had just caught in the nearby river or bay. Often they will land to eat part of the fish and then take the rest back to the nest for their mate and/or young.
Even more special are the times we get to watch an osprey catch a fish. They are unique among the fish-eating raptors in that they hover above the water, watching the fish below the surface, and will then dive into the water, talons down. If the fish is close enough to the surface they may only submerge their talons and legs to catch the fish. But if the fish is a little deeper they will sometimes almost completely submerge themselves and then struggle to get out of the water and back into the air. I’ve read that osprey feathers are not water-proof, only water-resistant, so they do need to be careful not to remain in the water too long or they’ll drown, something that can happen if they try to catch a fish that’s too heavy for them.
Photographing an osprey catching a fish can be hit or miss. You never know exactly where they will fish or when. So it requires some patience. If you’re lucky they’ll go fishing near the shore so you can get some reasonably close views, but quite often they’re out a ways, which doesn’t make for very good photographs. The fishing shots shown here required me to crop in to show you more of the osprey. Some are not good photos but I wanted to show how they can almost disappear under the water and then come up with a fish. Interestingly, they seem to always catch fish such that they fly with the fish’s head facing forward (or at least the tail facing backward if they’ve already eaten the head).
I hope you enjoy some of these views of osprey and their fish. If I’m lucky perhaps I’ll have more photos to share with you this season.
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