{"id":99843,"date":"2021-07-02T05:42:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T11:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=99843"},"modified":"2021-07-02T06:29:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T12:29:02","slug":"yesterdays-surprise-osprey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/02\/yesterdays-surprise-osprey\/","title":{"rendered":"Yesterday’s Surprise Osprey"},"content":{"rendered":"

A surprise because it was fishing a small meandering stream instead of one of several nearby large bodies of water.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning as I was driving down a mountain canyon this Osprey suddenly and unexpectedly appeared over the small stream below me and to my left. Its flight path and flight maneuvers, including this one, made it obvious that it was fishing the narrow stream rather than following the valley with some unknown destination in mind.<\/p>\n

These were grab shots that were tough shooting for me, in part because the background, the far side of the valley, had enough contrast and it was close enough to the Osprey to make it difficult for me to lock focus on it. Most of my shots were either soft or the bird had its back to me or I clipped body parts.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Two frames later, as the Osprey continued to concentrate on the stream below, I got one last shot that I liked reasonably well.<\/p>\n

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I was surprised to find the Osprey fishing such a small, shallow stream instead of one of the several fish-stocked reservoirs that are either very close or fairly close to this area. The vast majority of fish in this stream would be very small, much of the narrow stream is lined with obstructing brush and the typical feet-first diving technique of Osprey in water this shallow would be a potentially disastrous impact waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

But when times are tough, as they are right now around here with our extreme drought and high temperatures, birds do whatever they have to do to survive. This summer our reservoirs are extremely low and unusually warm and I suspect those conditions affect fish populations and fishing conditions in ways that I don’t understand.\u00a0So maybe this Osprey has altered its typical fishing technique and\/or the size of fish it takes.<\/p>\n

Or maybe I’m missing something. If so it won’t be the first time and I’m certainly no expert on Osprey behavior.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n