Took this the other week at the Monties. This was the second eagle we saw pluck a fish out of the ocean. In the full res version you can see the blood of the fish dripping off it’s lifeless body, well I hope it was dead. I was getting into my wildlife photography. Shot with the trusty 400mm, love that lens.
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Wow!!!! this is amazing!!! i really want a 400mm!!!!… or even the 200-400mm
Nice work. Interesting toning of the sky!
By the way, it’s not an Eagle (or even Sea-Eagle). It looks like an Osprey, and the way it’s holding the fish facing forward clinches it. Definitely a raptor though.
doh!!! I knew there would be someone out there who new more about birds than me. Ok it can be an Osprey, but only because I said it!!!
Actually David Bettini is the expert, ok Dave what is it??
I’m pretty sure they are Ospreys. Sea Eagles sounds cooler though. Was this the one that kept trying to hide from us?
Hi Christian,
It’s definitely an osprey – the necklace and the banding across the eye identifies it as an osprey. Sea eagles are bigger. If you like photographing them, you should come up to Mandurah Quay in Erskine. Over the next month or so, you can watch the fish being delivered regularly up the the nest by the proud parents of a couple of new fledglings.
The best time is in the afternoon due to lighting and the sea breeze.
Regards,
Ed Tasovac
P.S. Just a warning – if you do come up to take some pics, keep in mind where your standing below the nest and the wind direction as osprey poop is not pleasent to wear and difficult to clean off of camera gear.
Yea mate it is indeed an osprey. Don’t dismay though as I reckon they are much more charismatic than eagles! Notice how it is holding the fish. They angle their prey into the wind so it is more aerodynamic and much easier to fly with.
Awesome capture CF!
Cheers
Dave
Thanks Ed, great advice and tips for shooting Eagles, I don’t like poop full stop!!
Funny and a true story. Last week I was going for a ride on my bike with my mate. I was sitting on the grass putting my riding shoes on when a seagull flew over and dropped a half eaten squid on me. True story and a one in a million shot. Birds hey!!!
thanks Dave for the clarification, yep the old 400gee is a pretty cool lens. This was hand held and I managed to get a good series of this guy flying over. This hasn’t been cropped in either.
Well captured!
Nice Capture!
that is absolutely bloody brilliant!
thanks fellas.
Hi Dave (& Christian),
The nest is in the foreshore reserve off of Walpole Way, Erskine, accessed via Sticks Blvd.
Just drive to the northern end of Wapole Way and you’ll get to a dead end. Just park your car there. You should see the nest on the pole that it got relocated to back in 2006.
It one of Mandurah’s best kept secrets.
Don’t forget the tropical strength Aerogurad as the mozzies are ruthless and are known for carrying Ross River virus.
Also, keep an eye for dugites. I had one slither right under my seated butt once. Luckily, I was so focused on spotting incoming ospreys that I didn’t move (as I hadn’t seen it coming). I only saw the back half of it and boy was that half big! Once it had passed, I got up & move away from where it had gone. Even though it had moved on, my heart was racing. Nothing quite like an adrenalin rush to get the heart going. I couldn’t sit back down for the rest of that afternoon!
There is another 5 osprey nests that I know of in the Peel region, but that info will cost a bottle of Wise Wines 2008 Late Picked Riesling. Mmmmm, now that was a good drop. Just kidding about the cost of the info.
All I ask is that if anyone does go there, please respected the environment there and give the ospreys space when feeding – we don’t want to disturb them, or we run the risk of harming them and their young.
I’ve got thousands of images of the ospreys that reside there in Erskine, enough to do a book on them and their relocation. I might need some input from a certain well know award winning landscape photographer on selling the images and getting the book printed (currently in PDF format), if it has sales merit – wink, wink, nudge, nudge Christian.
Regards,
Ed.
Another great capture – neat treatment of the sky.
Nearly time to celebrate 300k hits!
Good capture CF. The colours and framing look really good.
Great shot Christian.
I tried out the 100-400 a few months ago and loved it. Still can’t decide between it and the 400mm, obviously the quality is better with the fixed length but the flexibilty of the zoom can be very useful for subjects that get too lose.
Thanks for the info Ed, flick the pdf through and I’ll cast my professional eye over it!! Good idea to respect the environment and the ospreys too.
treatment of the sky??? thats natural, ok no it’s not. Can anyone tell how I did it??
And yes 300,000 hits coming up.
for me it is quality of image every time Dave. You miss some shots but when they are in focus they are fantastic. The 100 – 400 isn’t a patch on the 400, have look at Luminous Landscapes, I saw a review on both in there.
Which 400 do you have?
There’s three in the canon line up that I know of. F2.8, F4 and F5.6. I used to have the 2.8 but it was too big to cary around – fabulous quality. I’m taking a loaner 400/4DO to Macquarie island with a 7D next month which will be interesting, and I’ve heard good things about the very compact 5.6 version.
I’ve got the 5.6 Nick and love it. Probably the ugliest lens on the planet after the 135 but so good to use.
Nice shot mate…you have got em going on that one for sure!
Cheers,
Mark
OK, so what kind of fish is it??
Dead
Saw the nest from the water yesterday – I’ve lived in Mandurah for 10 years and never seen it before. I’m looking forward to a photo trip or two. I’d be very happy with a shot half as good as this one. I’d like to catch them feeding – is there a “best” time of day for this?
Hi Ed
I’d be keen in checking this nest out. Are you able to tell me where it is?
Cheers
Dave
Buy a lotto ticket mate. Bird poop is good luck……..apparently.
Hey CF, do yourself a favour and check out Dave Burren’s web page – he is definitely the go-to guy when you want to know about marine wildlife or icebergs, among other great stuff!
Thanks Ed. I’ll see if I can get down there this weekend to check it out.
Cheers Dave