Still waiting for the Osprey babies

coastalconn · Jun 3, 2013

I went back to my favorite nest this morning. Surprised that there are still no babies. I did my normal routine to see how close I could get to the nest. Momma eventually took flight. Today I wanted to test out the Tokina 300 without a teleconverter. Maybe 300mm is long enough for wildlife.. comments welcome...

1

Osprey on nest by krisinct, on Flickr

2

Osprey heads up 2 by krisinct, on Flickr

3

Osprey flight by krisinct, on Flickr

4

Osprey sunglasses on by krisinct, on Flickr

5

Osprey flight by krisinct, on Flickr

6

Osprey landing by krisinct, on Flickr

DNK · Jun 3, 2013

Great captures, like them all. Please share with us when you capture the babies.

David8 · Jun 3, 2013

I love 1,2 and 3. I wish I had somewhere local that I could try and shoot these sort of guys. And that I had the talent to pull it off as well! Ah well, something to aspire to. Thanks for sharing.

sm4him · Jun 3, 2013

Man, I've been trying to get a shot like #2 forever, and every time I get the right angle, I miss the focus, or it's too far away and requires too much cropping! These are outstanding as usual, Kris--I've now finally come to the realization that if I had a great, fast lens and a D800, I *still* could not get the shots you get. I'm okay with that.

Were these cropped? How close are you able to get to that nest? I was really surprised by how close I was able to get on my most recent nest find; the other photographer there said the female really doesn't care at all how close people get. There were people fishing, kids swimming and then the two of us taking pictures, all within 15 feet of her and she just went about her business. Mr. Osprey doesn't care much for all the activity, though. He seems to be okay if there's just one or two people, even if they're relatively close (as long as they're not also really active, like the kids were). But if there's very many people, or something like those kids swimming in the water, he won't come anywhere close.

LOVE the last shot, too--great landing in a very cool tree!

matthewo · Jun 3, 2013

They look really good l, glad you got some color back in trees there.

bc_steve · Jun 3, 2013

awesome!! they are all good but I especially like the first and last ones. Great bokeh in this set.

coastalconn · Jun 3, 2013

Thank you everyone!

sm4him said:
Man, I've been trying to get a shot like #2 forever, and every time I get the right angle, I miss the focus, or it's too far away and requires too much cropping! These are outstanding as usual, Kris--I've now finally come to the realization that if I had a great, fast lens and a D800, I *still* could not get the shots you get. I'm okay with that.

Were these cropped? How close are you able to get to that nest? I was really surprised by how close I was able to get on my most recent nest find; the other photographer there said the female really doesn't care at all how close people get. There were people fishing, kids swimming and then the two of us taking pictures, all within 15 feet of her and she just went about her business. Mr. Osprey doesn't care much for all the activity, though. He seems to be okay if there's just one or two people, even if they're relatively close (as long as they're not also really active, like the kids were). But if there's very many people, or something like those kids swimming in the water, he won't come anywhere close.

LOVE the last shot, too--great landing in a very cool tree!

15 feet I wish! When I hit the 65 foot mark Momma gets mad. That's how I get shots like #2 and #3. These are all cropped, some pretty heavily. I was shooting stopped down pretty far I had a lot of light and I wanted to make sure the whole bird was in focus.. The last shot is a perch next to the nest. Almost all the nests up here are man made when they were endangered. They all have some kind of perching platform about 15 feet from the nest...

PropilotBW · Jun 3, 2013

I like your 6th shot the best. That pose is very powerful.

sm4him · Jun 3, 2013

coastalconn said:
Thank you everyone!

sm4him said:

Man, I've been trying to get a shot like #2 forever, and every time I get the right angle, I miss the focus, or it's too far away and requires too much cropping! These are outstanding as usual, Kris--I've now finally come to the realization that if I had a great, fast lens and a D800, I *still* could not get the shots you get. I'm okay with that.

Were these cropped? How close are you able to get to that nest? I was really surprised by how close I was able to get on my most recent nest find; the other photographer there said the female really doesn't care at all how close people get. There were people fishing, kids swimming and then the two of us taking pictures, all within 15 feet of her and she just went about her business. Mr. Osprey doesn't care much for all the activity, though. He seems to be okay if there's just one or two people, even if they're relatively close (as long as they're not also really active, like the kids were). But if there's very many people, or something like those kids swimming in the water, he won't come anywhere close.

LOVE the last shot, too--great landing in a very cool tree!

Click to expand...

15 feet I wish! When I hit the 65 foot mark Momma gets mad. That's how I get shots like #2 and #3. These are all cropped, some pretty heavily. I was shooting stopped down pretty far I had a lot of light and I wanted to make sure the whole bird was in focus.. The last shot is a perch next to the nest. Almost all the nests up here are man made when they were endangered. They all have some kind of perching platform about 15 feet from the nest...

I wondered how much yours were cropped. Yeah, usually I can't get anything LIKE that close and have to crop heavily. That last set I posted had very little cropping at all and some were uncropped. It was *unbelievable* being able to get that close and just sit there and watch her (and him, when he deigned to show up--he was okay when it was just me and a couple of people fishing, but he was NOT cool with the kids swimming).
I can't imagine EVER finding another nest that accessible again; and I'm already thinking I may just have to make the 90-minute drive a couple more times and see if there are babies. Because THAT would just rock.