It’s spring so love is in the air. This male Osprey is sitting on an artificial nesting platform after bringing in fish and nesting material. Reading human emotions into the situation and his gesture, you might quickly think he’s tired of it already and it’s just begun. Then within seconds the humor is replaced as an interloping male attempts to come into the nest and get in between the mated pair. The aggression you see in the frame below was very real and for a moment, the resident male was battling for either his mate, his life or both, who knows. In the end the resident drove off the interloper and things went back to the boredom experienced just moments before.
Osprey
captured by D5 / 800mm AFS
Making the shot required a couple of basics so concentrating on the action was all that was required to make the shot. First, the background needed to be clean which required our simply moving to the right. Next, was using enough glass to eliminate some items while not too much so there was room in the frame for wing tips (I went with D5/ 800mm). Lastly, went with Group Area AF because Auto Area would have grabbed the from of the nesting platform focus as it was closer. With all the basics nailed down, just had to shoot. A simple combination of biology and technology recorded a cool moment in life.