BALD EAGLE vs osprey (3 pix)
After perching in a tree near an osprey platform, the eagle took off in pursuit of the osprey and his fish. It took the eagle about 5 or 6 passes over the water to catch the fish (the osprey had dropped it), it was huffing and puffing and fending off the upset osprey.
The below photos are shot towards the sun, and are a bit washed out as a result, but the above has some nice side light. The eagle flew by me with ITS catch and at the last second I popped the camera off the tripod and got a few hand held shots...
Taken at Blackwater Refuge Maryland.
blackwater-national-wildlife-refuge.blogspot.com/
Comments and faves
glacierman, lemperleconnie, mstrwhew, Edgar Thissen, and 16 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Nikographer [Jon] (50 months ago | reply)
Hey give me back my fish!!!!
Not a chance, and I'll be back for more later!
ertoss (50 months ago | reply)
A Fantastic series of shots.
Like the captions also.
martin werker (50 months ago | reply)
Great catch of this eagle. Beautiful serie.
(Seen in my contacts)
TakumaAkiba (50 months ago | reply)
I think I now understand one of the criticisms Franklin had about making the Bald Eagle an American symbol. Love the first shot!
jbhaber (50 months ago | reply)
I was out at Blackwater a few weeks ago. It's a really great feeling to be there when the activity picks up. I can feel the excitment all over again looking at your great series. Congrats.
gregob (50 months ago | reply)
Great series, nice capture of the Eagle.
sfink16 (50 months ago | reply)
Good stuff!
glacierman (50 months ago | reply)
great series! We have no ospreys up here in southeast Alaska for the eagles to steal from, in fact it works the opposite way here with the ravens constantly trying (and often succeeding) to steal the eagles' meals!
Fotomom (50 months ago | reply)
Wow! Amazing series. Great work!
John Stickel (50 months ago | reply)
Wonderful. Great capture of this encounter.
gib.calvo (50 months ago | reply)
nice pic very goood love it
drweber82 (50 months ago | reply)
awesome sight to see. great in flight shots.
lemperleconnie (50 months ago | reply)
Awesome and so beautiful as always!
lady_jade_01 (extended away) (50 months ago | reply)
A great series of shots for a true life story!
Tambako the Jaguar (50 months ago | reply)
Wow, great pictures, you're talented to take pictures of birds in flight!
Paul Pagano (50 months ago | reply)
You were privy to a great aerial match! Well seen.
--
Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)
Steven Fought Photography aka: FŏtFōtō (50 months ago | reply)
Amazing, great capture of of our wild world. Love all the shots, the lighting is perfect on the first but the other 2 are just as incredible to look at for me. Great work!
ricmcarthur (50 months ago | reply)
What a great sequence. Nicely done.
wildorcaimages (50 months ago | reply)
Those are amazing, to have these 2 guys in one shot. Just to capture that is so cool. Darn eagles sometime, they are such opportunists, we see it here all the time with them taking prey from Short Eared Owls, Hawks, etc...... the poor Osprey had so work so hard for his fish!
AGrinberg (50 months ago | reply)
Great series! Birds in action are so interesting.
mstrwhew (50 months ago | reply)
this is a wonderful series of Nature taking its course! that first image is really wonderful! the lighting and just everything about it is pretty close to perfect...great work here! and an instant Fave!
tperry111(Thom) (50 months ago | reply)
Great capture Jon.
Edgar Thissen (50 months ago | reply)
Beautiful series. The first one is top-notch!
Ol-Jerr (50 months ago | reply)
All three are spell binding.
Tall Bob (50 months ago | reply)
Incredible series Jon!
rivadock4 (50 months ago | reply)
That's a great series Jon. -fave-
iPhone_Steve (50 months ago | reply)
LOL great shots
♫ zampi (50 months ago | reply)
Spectacular series!
Congratulations!
Your pic becomes nominee of "Shield Of Excellence"
Please add this photo to the Shield Of Excellence Group.
Please be sure this is tagged "SOE"
Schooled_in _rock (50 months ago | reply)
You are invited to add this image to An Awesome Shot!
~CONTESTS~ Enter/Vote now
Please tag the photo with "AnAwesomeShot"
CPG Photography (50 months ago | reply)
What a bully! :) That's nature though! Great series!
trykemom (50 months ago | reply)
I especially like the third shot. The light on the wings of both is good and the curved relationship of their bodies makes a nice composition.
As eye see it now (50 months ago | reply)
Wow ! Just amazing capture! I am impressed.
Synapped (Not commenting much) (50 months ago | reply)
OMGoodness -- that's incredible! Who'd guess that's the way they do things?! Thanks for the education!
--
Seen on your photo stream. (?)
Buddha's Ghost (50 months ago | reply)
Great captures!!
Fotos by Dee (50 months ago | reply)
Still very cool Jon :) I have watched our Balds harrass the Ospreys as well, probably for the same reason ;)
Len Langevin (50 months ago | reply)
Very well done!
--
Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
Angel Cher ♥ (50 months ago | reply)
wow real nice Jon!!
Josh Adler (50 months ago | reply)
How much (if any) processing is down to a photo like this? What did the image look like out of the camera, or was it always Raw?
martytdx (50 months ago | reply)
Great sequence - I knew that eagles would steal a catch from the ground, but I didn't realize they would do it from mid-air.
badjoby (49 months ago | reply)
Nice sequence
webted (48 months ago | reply)
Like this one...Great catch...!
Larry's Photography (42 months ago | reply)
amazing shooting JON.
Alex Thomson13 (42 months ago | reply)
Osprey and Eagles almost never cross paths in my part of the world. Ospreys are usually gone for a month or more before the eagles migrate back. It must have been a great treat to see this.
They are my two favourite birds to photgraph so I really enjoyed this series.