windy

Osprey Building a Nest on a Windy Day /  by Todd Henson

Osprey facing the camera on a windy day, with head feathers sticking straight up.

Osprey don’t have it easy. They build nests close to water with no protection from the elements. I’ve seen osprey nests blown over during strong storms. But these amazing birds just keep rebuilding and moving on.

Today’s photos are of an osprey in Colonial Beach, Virginia, building a nest atop some poles just offshore. It’s a very windy day, as you can see in the photo with the osprey facing the camera. The feathers on the back of its head stand straight up with the wind blowing towards me. This really gives the osprey a wild, aggressive look.

Osprey building a nest on a windy day.

I’ve created cropped versions of both photos giving you closer views of the osprey. Click on any of the images for larger views.

Closeup of osprey facing camera, head feathers upright.

Side view of osprey on its nest on a windy day.

Thinking Through the Shots

I wanted to focus as much as possible on the osprey, meaning I wanted the background to disappear in a blur. The distant shore was quite a distance away, which helped. I was shooting at 400mm focal length, which also helped. My maximum aperture was f/5.6 with the setup I was using but I chose to use f/8 to give a little extra depth of field to capture the osprey in focus. Given the focal length and the distance to the shore, it was enough.

Note, I usually shoot in Aperture Priority mode when background blur is important. This lets me choose the aperture most appropriate for the look I want and lets the shutter speed fall where it will. If I need a faster shutter speed I can then open the aperture further (unless it’s already open all the way) or boost the ISO.

It was a very windy day, so things like the osprey’s feathers were moving. And I wanted to be able to capture the osprey if it flew from the nest. This meant I needed a fast shutter speed. I was shooting with a wide open aperture, which would help give me a faster shutter speed. To increase the shutter speed further I boosted my ISO to 500 (200 is the base ISO for the camera I was using). This let me shoot at a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec.

To sum it all up, I shot at 1/1250 sec, f/8, at ISO 500.

Equipment

I didn’t have my longer lens with me for this shoot, but I did carry along my 70-200mm f/2.8 and a 2x teleconverter. This is how I reached 400mm. The 2x does slow things down, causing slower focusing, and giving me a maximum aperture of f/5.6 instead of the f/2.8 of the lens (2 stops slower). But this combo is smaller and lighter than a larger lens and does give me some versatility allowing both the 70-200mm and 140-400mm ranges. I was happy with the compromise for this trip.

Note, the 2x teleconverter only works with some lenses, so be sure it works with yours before you purchase it.

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Great Blue Heron on a Windy Day /  by Todd Henson

Great Blue Heron facing into the wind

Wind beginning to raise the feathers on the head of a Great Blue Heron

Windy days are not always the most productive for photographing birds. The majority of smaller birds stay hidden in the trees or brush, waiting for the wind to die down before coming out. But you can usually rely on some of the larger birds to show themselves, offering at least some photographic opportunities. So I try to get out to the parks with camera in hand whatever the weather.

This particular day, in early September, a cooperative Great Blue Heron flew in and landed close by on a bit of vegetation in the open water area of the wetlands. Great Blue Herons can be very elegant, beautiful birds, with flowing plumage. But when the wind gets strong they can also look unhappy and awkward, with plumage and feathers blown around in all directions.

Great Blue Heron facing forward, looking unhappy in the wind

Great Blue Heron raising its head in the wind

Great Blue Heron scratching an itch. Notice the talons on the ends of its toes.

If you stick around long enough when watching birds, or any animals really, you're bound to witness various behaviors. Birds will shake back and forth, puffing out their feathers, and then begin to preen themselves. This Great Blue Heron did the same, and appeared to scratch an itch just after puffing its feathers. Notice the talons on the end of its toes.

Preening Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron opening its beak enough to provide a view of its barbed tongue

Detail view of the barbed tongue of a Great Blue Heron

One feature of Great Blue Herons I had seen before are the barbs on their tongue, very helpful when they swallow down whole fish. I did not see this heron fishing, but it did give me the best view I've yet had of their forked tongue. Look at the zoomed in cropped photograph.

Great Blue Herons are amazing beautiful birds, even when blown around by the wind, and I never tire of photographing them. Days like this are a reminder to me that photographic opportunities are always to be found. Even when the weather appears bad there are experiences to be had in nature.

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