Osprey and nesting material

[Mike Poole]

Another one from Lake Blue Cypress earlier this year. A bit more of a crop than I'd like - about 40% of the original, but it was near the start of the session and I was reluctant to put the converter on just yet as I didn't know how close I'd be able to get. If I did the shoot again, the converter would be glued on!

A bit of a messy BG, so a couple of branches were tidied up

Canon 1dx
500mm f4is
ISO 1600
1/5000th f4

Mike

[gail bisson]

This is lovely Mike.
I love the BG and the vegetation in the talon.
Whites look great. I like the very slight HA towards us and great wings up position.
The first and only time I went to Blue Cypress Lake was as a beginner photographer. I rented a 500mm (had never used a big lens before) for the occasion. Anyway, it was a disaster photographically! I could not locate the birds most the time in the viewfinder as I was not used to the limited field of view and I blew the whites of the feathers 80% of the time! I also had to handhold because tripods were not allowed on the boat! Talk about a forced quick learning curve! However, I met some great photographers on that boat and got hooked!!
Gail

[Eric Dienesch]

Hello,

i love ospreys and i love your image here.

Great pose, good light and good background.

I have never been at Blue Cyprees Lake , but this is a very high number on my wishlist for florida again.
four years ago i had planned a trip to the lake for photographing (even called jim neiger for a lesson there), but i can`t get there because of a air strike (walkout) german lufthansa.

i was and be very sad for missing this chance.

[William Dickson]

This is really nice Mike. So pleasing on the eye. The sep between subject and BG, makes this one stand out for me. Great flight pose and HA. The bird looks real good against the colours on the BG. I like these shots better than against a blue sky.

Well done

Will

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great stuff Mike, wow wish I had been there! I like the head urn and of course the bit of pine twig too.

[annmpacheco]

Nice one Mike, open beak, some nesting material, wing position and BG are terrific. Well done, a very special place to shoot and enjoy their habitat. Well done.

[David Salem]

I had a ton of fun on my trip to Lake Blue Cypress. There were hundreds of birds there that year and we took thousands of frames. Love to go back again.

The open beak, great wing position, hanging legs and the nice Bg really make this one special. Well done

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice flight pose. I like the clump of grass in the talon. If anything, I would tone down the bright oof part of foliage almost touching the osprey. All else is super.

[Isaac Grant]

Great wing position against a perfect background. Not sure if it is just my monitor but the whites of the bird look to have a yellow cast to me. Also the head does not look tack sharp to me.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose, light and the BG and the touch of the nesting material. Lake blue cypress is the best places for photographing the ospreys! hope they are doing OK with the storm sweeping across the panhandle.

It looks to me as the image has been compressed heavily and thus the softness, TFS