Osprey Flight Portraits

This stop-over Osprey at the Hayle Estuary has been showing for a around a week now and has been high on local wildlife photographers hit list.

Aerial disputes with local birds are always on the 'Wants List'  for any bird of prey that passes through as are shots of the classic 'Osprey taking a fish '  but you just can't ignore the slow majestic and graceful flight of the Osprey as it skillfully controls its effortless flights around the estuary.

The posted images are random shots taken of the Osprey in flight during its time here as it has casually worked the prevailing winds to its favour while looking for yet another fish.

The final silhouette shot of the Osprey could very easily be mistaken for a much small and lighter Kestrel in its classic 'hover'  pose but I have posted this image because I was so impressed to see this Osprey with its up to 1.7m wingspan  'Hover'  time and time again against the wind when it spotted a likely fish to set its sights on.

We will be looking forward to seeing the Osprey again when they will hopefully stop-over a little longer to feed again in the autumn as both they and their fledglings pass through on their migration back to West Africa !

Osprey Fishing

This Osprey which has just recently returned from West Africa is still hungry from the effort of its long flight

It circles the Hayle estuary passing right over head while on the lookout for some good fishing and it almost stops and hovers whenever it sees a likely fish.

It eventually swoops down in a steep dive and snatched a large Mullet that must have been almost equal to its own body weight and drags it up from the water in its powerful talons.

When the writhing fish is secured by both sets of talons in a classic front to rear formation the bird eventually flies off into a distant treeline to devour its fine catch which will help to rebuild its energy levels for its final ongoing flight to North Wales or Scotland to join other breeding birds.

I felt privileged and very pleased at having the opportunity to watch and capture this Osprey behaviour today as it is a fairly rare seasonal occurrence down here in Cornwall.

Osprey over Hayle Estuary

I have spent quite a few hours trying to capture images of the elusive Osprey that has been fishing the Hayle Estuary for several days.

Well two hours into this mornings visit I finally had this Majestic bird in my viewfinder as it made a close overhead pass.

A little sunshine would have been nice to improve exposures but when you are snapping away on an accommodating Osprey that is stacking up images in your memory card after many hours of waiting you don't tend to complain.

No fish caught on this occasion as the local seagulls were harassing the Osprey badly but if they had not done so chances are that the Osprey would have already fished farther down the estuary and not ended up flying in my direction.

 My last image gives equal attention to both birds for creating the spectacle by their behaviour !!

Little Egret Study

When I arrived at Ryan's Field on the Hayle estuary this morning I could see the above distant Little Egret resting up in the reed beds close to the river bank to the left hand side of the hide.

There was nothing special about that but the intermittent bright sunshine on the fields behind the river was throwing its reflection across the shaded water where the bird was resting to create this green water effect while leaving the egrets own reflection unaffected,

I decided to exit the hide and moved slowly along the river to see what else I could achieve with this bird which as I did so moved out across an adjacent pond to fish,

 I  followed it for around twenty minutes picking off shots of its fishing technique and reflections as I inched closer until with several Three Spin Sticklebacks dispatched it returned to the river bank to rest up again.

Spoonbill's morning work-out

    I dropped into Ryan's field hide early AM to find the reserves resident Spoonbill asleep in the middle of the lagoon with its bill firmly buried over its back between its wings,  Not much inspiration here but I took a couple of shots as you do and noticed that the Spoonbills reflection was quite strong even in the prevailing low light levels,  I locked my lens and focus onto the bird, turned on my remote shutter control and waited on the assumption that the bird must surely wake up shortly,  

The first sign of life came when the spoonbill started moving with a token preen of its under-feathers

This was followed by more energetic standing on the spot  wing exercises over several minutes

Its strong wing beats and impressive wingspan now created a more exciting image

In the final image below the Spoonbill used the full power of its amazing 1.35m wingspan to make a standing take-off while also creating the opportunity for this pleasing full stretch reflection before flying  off over the estuary