Its been a whirlwind of activity around our place over the past month, so there has not been much time to process images and write blog posts, however it looks like things will be settling down a little and I can post some new images over the next few weeks.

Although Osprey used to be known as “Fish Hawks”, they should more accurately be known as “Salt or Sea Eagles” based on their scientific name, Pandion haliaetus (Greek ‘hal’ = salt or see; ‘aetos’ = eagle).  The Osprey is the only raptor that feeds exclusively on live fish, which they catch by plunging into the water talons first, with such a force that they often completely submerge before coming up with a fish.

When Osprey fly while carrying a fish they always rotate the fish so it faces head first providing better aerodynamics as can be seen in these first two images.

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This is the same Osprey perched and ready for his meal, however I don’t think he liked having the camera pointed at him.

The previous three images were shot at the Viera Wetlands which are on the Atlantic Coast of Florida not too far south of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.  The next image was taken at the Sebastian Inlet Nature & Wildlife Preserve which is located about an hour south of the Viera Wetlands.  It’s not a great image however I like the way the strong back lighting illuminates the wings.

The next in flight image was taken from a boat we chartered in Lake Toho in order to photograph Snail Kites (which will be posted soon).  Lake Toho is near Kissimmee in Central Florida.

The last image for this blog post shows a female Osprey incubating her eggs which is a job shared by both parents.  Osprey build large nests which they continue to construct over the years until they become quite huge.  They are often built on platforms placed on telephone poles along highways in the south.  In this case they were nesting on top of a wooden pole out in Lake Toho about ten feet above the lake surface.

I’ll post part two of the Osprey photographs in the next couple of days.