photoartflightOsprey With Fish
Posted on December 29, 2019
I used to live close to this small Nature area in Northern NJ. It was about 100 acres with a small lake and walking trails. With the small lake you could get some good photos of Ospreys fishing there in early morning and evening. The most Ospreys I saw there flying at one time was 5. You still needed a fairly long lens to get close images of them by or in the water.
Ospreys In Flight
Posted on November 25, 2019
One of my favorite photo subjects are Ospreys in flight. Over the years I have enjoyed photographing them in many different locations. Quite often you can see in the photos their eyes keeping an eye on you. The featured image was taken at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. Featured image was taken with a 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter. Other photo locations for the images here were the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Briganine Division and The Celery Farm Natural Area in Allendale, NJ.
Osprey Nests On Platforms @ 1200mm
Posted on July 27, 2019
A series of Osprey Platforms with nest images from the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. I was using a Tamron 150-600mm lens with a 2X teleconverter to get closer to the Osprey Platforms. Then cropped in a little for a tighter composition. You can see the nests are not the neatest or cleanest when you are looking that close, but are still interesting. Also it is interesting when an Osprey sees you photographing them they really stare you down! The Canon R, even with a 2X teleconverter on a Tamron 150-600mm auto focuses quite quickly and right on focus. The Canon R will autofocus even with stacked 2x & 1.4X (or 1.7x) teleconverters. Did not try stacking 2X Teleconverters. I have also found that when stacking teleconverters I usually stop down a little more to help with sharpness.
Panoramas of Osprey Platform – Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
Posted on June 25, 2019
We went to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ to see what we could find to photograph. We usually like the wide variety of birds, but there were not as many shore birds as usual. And many birds were way far out in the distance. Lots of Swans, Some Black Skimmers, Terns, Great Blue Herons, Egrets, etc. Mostly the usual subjects. But all of the Osprey platforms had active nests with visible chicks. We usually concentrate on the platforms further down the Wildlife Drive, mainly because they are closer to the Drive, but you also do not get the Atlantic City skyline in the background. The Ospreys were not flying much, but it was still fun to photograph the nest activity. The featured image is a 4 image panorama shot with an Olympus m43 camera @84mm. I wanted an image to portray the nest platform in the landscape. All the reat were taken with a 150-600mm Tamron lens. I was quite impressed with Tamron 150-600mm on the Canon R. I had taken it on our trip to Florida and was amazed at the fine feather detail of breeding plumage birds. It auto-focuses nicely, was quite sharp. And the details were amazing. Even pushing the limits by adding a 2X teleconverter, I was impressed. It also kept up with skimming Black Skimmers working in the channels. On this day the clouds were also amazing.
3 img pano – shot @ 1200mm, Canon R Tamron 150-600mm lens, 2X teleconverter
shot @ 1200mm, cropped a little, Canon R, Tamron 150-600mm lens, 2X teleconverter
shot @ 1200mm, Canon R, Tamron 150-600mm lens, 2X teleconverter
Overall landscape, Olympus m43 Camera, 14mm
Blackwater Osprey Platforms
Posted on August 15, 2018
Along the Wildlife Drive there are a few Osprey Platforms close enough to photograph. If you are patient and have a long lens, you can usually get some good flight images as they fly in and out of the nests there. Usually in the morning or later in the afternoon. On this day they seemed content to just hang out there or fly away from where I was on the Wildlife Drive. The Ospreys in the platform closest to the entrance were busy fishing before the sun came up but it was too dark to photograph them. But it was nice to hear them screeching as they were flying around the Little Blackwater River area where I was waiting for the sunrise.
Two Ospreys – Tree Toppers
Posted on August 7, 2018
Towards the end of the Wildlife Drive at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, there is a large strip of trees jutting out into the water, parallel to the end of the Wildlife Drive. Some of the trees are dead trees which act as very tall snags for the birds to roost. You can usually find a few Eagle nests near the top of some of the trees with leaves. Also Eagles seem to like roosting there. But on this day Ospreys seemed to like the tall trees. There are a few Osprey nests behind these trees plus one Osprey Platform in the water to the left of the trees.
The featured image is made from 5 horizontal images, stacked vertically, handheld, assembled in Photoshop, taken with a Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens with a Canon Series III teleconverter.
Osprey Platform in water to the left of the line of trees.
One lonely Osprey on treetop. again 400mm w/ 1.4x teleconverter, 5 shots handheld.
Osprey Flying Towards Nest
Posted on May 19, 2018
From a previous visit to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, I photographed this Osprey heading for it’s nest, coming in for a landing. There are lots of Ospreys flying around the Refuge, plus many Osprey platforms with nests that are along the Wildlife Drive. If you wait by one of the platforms along the Drive you can get good images of Ospreys flying in or flying out. Plus bringing fish to feed the young Ospreys.
