Hawks Have Terrible Table Manners

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Mike D90

Senior Member
Little story here although I am missing one shot to tell it.

Went out in this terrible cold (I know, I am in Florida though) this morning to my new spot for birding.

The usual guys were there, Gulls, Egrets, Osprey and the Bald Eagle eventually.

The Osprey was very active today. There were also several of them and I think I counted about four at least.

I was getting shots of one in flight and he managed to dive and catch a fish. On his way back to the tree, where I was photographing him on perch, he landed with his catch. I captured a few shots of him with the fish in his talons on his way over. I got a few shots of him as he approached the tree branch all of which were out of focus. Once he landed I got one of his landing with the fish still in his talons.

Once he landed I lowered my camera. Suddenly a Hawk flew in from a nearby Oak tree and snatched the fish from his grip!! Damn! I missed it!! I did get photos of the Osprey as he left the perch and the Hawk stayed put which I also got shots of.


Osprey diving for fish


Osprey Dive 1.jpg

Osprey coming up out of the water with Fish

Osprey Splash 1.jpg


Osprey with Fish in Talons

Osprey with Fish.jpg


Osprey Perched about to enjoy his Catch (look behind his foot to see fish tail)


Osprey with Fish 2.jpg

Osprey with Fish 1.jpg


Hawk after Snatching the fish

Hawk Perched 1.jpg


Osprey Leaving his Perch without his Meal

Osprey 4.jpg

 
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PapaST

Senior Member
Excellent photos Mike. I'm with you on the cold weather. I'm a little east of you in Jax. I think the low this morning was in the 40's... brrrrrrr.

One great thing about photography is you get to witness stuff like that when normally you wouldn't spend the time to watch the scene.

Great pics!
 
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DraganDL

Senior Member
Three good photos: "diving", "with fish in talons", and "leaving his perch" (the third one being awesome, actually - just remove that protruding broken branch).

One question for you: is "Walden photography", by any chance a reference to Walden, the lake described in Henry David Thoreau?
 
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Marilynne

Marilynne

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Nice series Mike.

We had it a little warmer down here in south FL, mid 60's and very cold wind. I wish you north FL folks would remember to close the door!!:rolleyes:
 
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Mike D90

Senior Member
Whiskeyman said:
I love your skies! Polarizer?

WM
Click to expand...

No polarizer. I don't even own one. I do have a grad neutral desnsity but have never used it. I actually use the Color/Saturation sliders in LightRoom to bump the "blue" skies up or down. Since I have been over exposing some of my bird shots against the brighter sky, I tend to wash them out sometimes.

DraganDL said:
Three good photos: "diving", "with fish in talons", and "leaving his perch" (the third one being awesome, actually - just remove that protruding broken branch).

One question for you: is "Walden photography", by any chance a reference to Walden, the lake described in Henry David Thoreau?
Click to expand...

Haha! No actually Walden is just my last name. I got called Waldo most of my life.

Mfrankfort said:
40's!?! Man, I'd be wearing shorts! It's currently 12 degrees. Tuesday's high... 1. lol.
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When you are accustomed to wearing shorts most of the year due to 60's and above, when it gets down to freezing and below it is horrible cold to us. We also had 30mph winds that morning and felt even colder. I wore a winter parka that I bought twelve years ago. That is the first time in twelve years I have worn it.

Marilynne said:
Nice series Mike.

We had it a little warmer down here in south FL, mid 60's and very cold wind. I wish you north FL folks would remember to close the door!!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I blame it on the Canadians. Raised in a barn I tell you!
 
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Mike D90

Senior Member
PapaST said:
One great thing about photography is you get to witness stuff like that when normally you wouldn't spend the time to watch the scene.

Great pics!
Click to expand...

Thank you! I was speaking with one older lady, who was walking her dog and feeding ducks, and she had no idea there was a Bald Eagle living in the area. How do you miss a big bird like that?
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Great series. You really set the scene.

And yes I blame the Canadians also. Monday and Tuesday it is forecast to NOT get above freezing and here in Lower Alabama that is way to cold.
 
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