Fishing Osprey

[Duck_Pond]

Taken recently on a trip north of the border (Scotland) at a fishery in the Rothiemurcus estate, near Aviemore. They're wild birds taking advantage of the easy fishing at the site, an amazing experience to watch and attempt to photograph. Not cheap, but well worth it.

Here's a few of the shots I took over 2 days.





And this was from a separate fishing dive, as the bird flew off, shaking its feathers mid-air, to dry off a bit.



All taken with a Canon 50D, 500mm F4 + 1.4TC, tripod mounted. Processed via Raw Therapee and PS Elements. More shots on my Fotopic gallery ( http://petewalkdensbirdphotography.fotopic.net/c12...)

Was interesting to see the difference in fishing skills between the visiting birds. Some were hopeless, taking 6+ attempts to catch one, whereas others caught fish, barely even making a splash!

You have to be careful when photographing them, as a mate found out, as if you move the lens before the bird hits the water, it'll abort its dive, and fly away. Shame it took him the 2 days to work this out, despite us telling him repeatedly...

Edited by Duck_Pond on Monday 7th June 12:30

[muppetdave]

Lovely photos there, good work! Are they trout they're taking?

[Duck_Pond]

Yeah - it's a trout farm. The only downside to the experience is that the fishermen are allowed in between 9-5, so the ospreys go elsewhere then. Plus, the owners need to cover over the fish tank pools near the office (away from the hides) so the birds can only fish in front of the paying customers.

[Dogsey]

Very nice shots DP.

[CVP]

Number 2 is a lovely shot