After a day of helping hubby repoint and repair our boundary wall (weeks of work ...) I went up to dad's early evening to deliver his weekly home-cooked food package and have a chat with him over the garden fence. I have known, for a few months now, about an osprey's nest on the roadside between Ballater and Braemar and have already seen an osprey sitting in the nest, so I took my camera with me, and stopped on the way home, hoping for a sighting! I hadn't been there long when this osprey came flying into the nest with a twig in its talons. Wow. I was so happy. I only stayed about 20 minutes, but got a few decent shots. I'll be keeping an eye on the nest, hoping there will be young ones in the future. I'm not sure if this is a male or a female, and don't know how to tell. I only saw the one bird. Hubby tells me my challenge is to get it coming into the nest with a fish in its talons! That's a tall order, I fear! But how knows?!
Fantastic capture Issi.... what a thrill to see that Osprey descending onto that nest....must have made that tree move a bit! I hope she successfully rears her chicks. Amazing wing size & shape.
I don't know if this is true for Ospreys (but my guess is that it is since they are birds of prey) but for Eagles and Owls the larger of the birds is the female and the smaller the male. This is due to their roles- the female is larger for nesting purposes and the male smaller for hunting purposes. It's not that either one does not do the other's job once in a while (females hunt and males will protect the eggs) but for the most part their size is geared for what they do most. I learned that at a raptor photo shoot and it surprised me because I always thought it was the other way around. So if you do get to see the pair, that might help to determine who is who! And I hope you get the fish shot too! This one is great!
@olivetreeann Thank you for that information. I have only seen one bird to date, so nothing to compare as yet. However, I will be watching very carefully as I pass tomorrow on my way up to my dad's place.
I definitely want to see that shot too :)
Good luck with your next shot!