Osprey Dawn to Dusk

I returned to Point Quay at dawn this morning hoping for early Osprey fishing action.   Well I did eventually get some when the first bird showed up from the north on the full tide but it was well after sunrise.

The bird went straight into fishing mode and after a couple of failed attempts it thundered into the water sending up a massive spray and hooked into a decent sized mullet for its efforts.

Its a bit special to watch these birds defy gravity and the drag or the water while exiting with their lively prey,

Once clear of the water the bird heads for the far bank tree line to devour it prey but one of the problems with weekends is that the creek becomes busier with local boat traffic and this bird was not prepared to put up with the disturbance and it very soon flew off heading back in the northerly direction that it had come from but this time with a fish still firmly grasped in its talons.

I returned again later in the day when the boat traffic had diminished and I was pleased to see another Osprey already present and feeding on a fish on an island post in the middle of the creek.

This Osprey was being harassed as well but this time the problem was a more natural one by way of Raven that had its eye on the Ospreys fish but it just ignored the Raven and carried on feeding,

With this Osprey currently feeding it didn't look like I was going to achieve any more fishing shots so I decided to have another go at take-off and landing sequences if the opportunity arose

Heading towards late afternoon this second Osprey decided to have a bit of a go at fishing in the shallow margins near the post by wading along which was a bit surprising but this behaviour agitated one of the local Herons that actually managed to send the Osprey on its way which gave me an opportunity to capture the take-off sequence below.

The Osprey appeared to give up on this unusual method of fishing and returned once again to the same post and this time I captured a nice little landing sequence to finish my day.