Bringing Home Breakfast

Florida entry

I was so fortunate to catch this osprey clutching a headless fish in one talon- He ten flew to his left and fed it to his waiting mate at their nest.
Canon 7D MarkII Canon 100-400mm lens
f5.6, 400mm, 1/2000th
Sandy Scott

I know this osprey quite well. This osprey has made his nest with his mate, in the same spot for about 10 years in a very large county park in St. Petersburg, FL adjacent to a parking lot where I often park when I do a training session on my bike. The regulars call him “Fleck” due to a fleck at the 7 o’clock position of his right eye. I often photograph him and on this day, I was photographing an owl’s nest about a mile away and stopped by to see if there was any action at the osprey nest. I found him sitting on a power line with a fish and knowing that he is uncomfortable around people and other birds when he has caught a fish, I readied my camera for action.

He did not disappoint and took off towards his adjacent nest and I started firing my camera. I filmed a complete sequence in which the bird landed on the nest and fed the fish to his waiting mate which the locals have named Jewel. When I got home and was uploading my images, I almost fell off my chair when I saw that I had made this amazing capture of the bird with his wings in the so-called angel wing position, making direct eye contact with me and clutching a fish in one talon – a one in a million capture!! It appeared in the December, 2014 issue of “Popular Photography” full page, and received a two-page spread in the June, 2015 issue of “Outdoor Photographer.” It is my favorite image of all time!