Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER – –doesn't mean I'm LOST
Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST
Been amassing quite a collection of shots of the Eastern Osprey as she has been working in the Werribee River area. Rather than break it up into various days or activities, I’ve become a bit self-indulgent and also saving myself some time by making a collection.
Enjoy.
Well not quite, but I went down early this morning as the light looked like being great, and promised to be back ‘soon’, but stayed a bit longer.
EE has done a fetlock, or pulled a ‘hammie”, and is a bit out of circulation at the moment, so I set off on me lonesome, hoping the sunshine might stay.
The Lady was in residence by the time I arrived, and was no doubt looking for breakfast. She had several attempts but missed, then stretched out upriver and within a few minutes returned with a sizeable fish.
Enough of this photography vision inspired techno mumbo jumbo.
How about some photographs.
Good point.
As I rack up harddiskfulls of Osprey pictures, it getting hard to put them all on Flickr.
I know there is way to make project pages here on WordPress, however I just can’t figure out how to make it work the way I want. But the story telling of the blog suits my photo journalism style I think, so I’ll persevere a bit longer.
In the meantime here is a few so that you don’t miss out.
Enjoy
It rained overnight. Not a lot really, we were promised a deluge, but like all good weather cells, some places were more fortunate than others. And the weather prognosticators, of the tv weather. in their usual scramble to spread fear and anxiousness among the masses were predicting a morning that would have made Noach tremble in his galoshes.
We, EE and I were keen—insert obsessed—with going back out and seeing Eloise, and as I had an early morning appointment, we figured on an early start and then home for breakfast. Good plan.
Weather looked pretty nice with stars asparkling in the rich blue predawn sky. But by the time we’d pulled into the parking area, an ominous dark cloud was rolling in behind. However because of the rain, and the heat, what we also had was the area festooned in mist. Everywhere. and the photographer was beginning to lament leaving the landscape lens at home.
Eloise must have had similar Osprey thoughts about the weather and she didn’t turn up until about an hour and a half after sunup. Caught a glimpse of her wafting through the mists. She sat on the furtherest tree and showed no sign of going fishing. We concluded she must have eaten an early breakfast elsewhere today.
But in the meantime the mists and the birds in the area were a pleasant interlude.
or: Eloise Does Fast-food Breakfast.
You knew it was coming right? Of course you did.
With such a bird in the vicinity, and the possibility of her taking a fish sometime when I was there, it was too much not to expect I’d sacrifice a couple of hours sleep, and go down to K Road Cliffs in the early morning. EE had somewhat offhandedly remarked that perhaps I should sleep down there in the car.
So armed with the ever reliable D810 and the 300mm f/2.8 and TC2.0, I set out. The only thing that made the plan look less than successful was the weather. Overcast. Porridge. Classic 3200ISO weather.
I found her sitting high in a tree overlooking the horseshoe bend and its big fishing hole. The tide was at the end of running in high, and that seems to be her preferred time.
So I waited. Did I mention that lack of light. I’m not a great high iso at any cost person, but it was high or go home, and I took the former not the latter option.
And waited. So did she.
Here’s the long sequence. Enjoy
Eloise was sitting high above the river on a favoured perch.
A first strike
The next attempt. What I learned from all this is that she prefers to hunt close to the river bank. Each strike was only a few metres from the edge. I’m not sure if that makes it easier to see the fish or if the fish work close along the river bank
Tail up and grappling hooks going down
I put this not so good one in to see how close she runs to the edge. Another miss
Back up to the far bank. Here is part of the high cliffs on K Road. They sometimes appear in movie and tv dramas.
Another try another miss
The look and the wingspread say it all
And away for another attempt
I missed the strike, but here it’s possible to see how close to the edge she is working
Gathering the energy for extraction
I’ve included this as I love that just over the wing view. However the fish is not coming out without a fight.
Sinking back in to try again
WIngs spread out, she spent a few seconds regathering her strength and perhaps rearranging the fish underneath for better lift
Swing and away
Now to find a quiet spot of enjoy breakfast
A little later some Whistling Kites thought they could freeload so she took off again with her half-eaten prize.
This gracious lady is currently settled in to the K Road Cliffs area at Werribee. There is a horseshoe bend in the river and it obviously suits her fishing style. Not being a fishing sort of person, I don’t understand how the fish run up the estuary but suspect now, that it is more likely on the turn of the tide as the water flow out. Today that would have happend around sunup, and most likely she had hunted on the early morning light.
By the time we, and 10 or so of our new close personal friends, rocked up after breakfast, she was well fed and/or the fish had gone as she showed little inclination for hunting.
However she did manage to make the photographers smile. On a tree close to the river edge, and in full sunlight.
So given an appreciative audience, she ran through the entire preening process, making sure every feather had a lick, and was back in the right place. By 10:30 am, it was all over she packed up the sheets, took a long stretch and headed up river for her own reasons.
I thought I’d post a small selection, as I can quickly see that I am going to end up with days of work that don’t get sorted nor published.
So prepare for a few more blogs as the days progress.
Enjoy.
Feathers, feet and tail hard at work to regain equilibrium
I received a note from my Flickr mate David Nice. “An Osprey has been seen feeding at K Road Cliffs”.
So I dropped plans of going to look for snipe the following morning and loaded up to go to K Road.
As soon as I got out of the car, I heard two distinct ‘Tcluck’ calls and figured she must be there somewhere.
But despite looking with the Binos from the carpark, I couldn’t get a spotting anywhere. Was just about to think of walking down along the river, when the remainder of the morning shift turned up. David, Gilbert and his friend all dragged out the big lenses and we began the search.
After about 15 minutes we were still none the wiser, but I spotted a Nankeen Night Heron leaving the water and taking to the tall gums alongside the cliffs. And as they say, “A night-heron in the tree is better than an osprey you can’t find”, so we went to have a look. After a few average shots, we walked the little extra along the edge and down some steps, and someone spotted the osprey in the tree on the far bank. Took a bit to work out among the various branches and twigs. But.
Yes, there she is. Fish in claw, and enjoying a freshly caught breakfast.
The rest of the story is pretty much boring. 3 hours just goes so fast, we sat, and stood alongside the river edge as she polished off the fish, polished up her feathers and took a little nap to let the meal go down.
We had been working most of the morning with rather average overcast light, and by late morning, the sun began to break through and her true colours became evident.
No doubt this is the same bird from previous seasons, and as the mullet are running up the river, it must be a fair assumption that this bird follows the shoals of fish. And of course it raises so many questions about where she is during the year, does she have a mate, or is she a ‘single girl’.
But what pleasure to have such a lovely lady to work with. No doubt as the short season moves on we’ll have a few opportunities to work with her in action, and do some portrait sessions.
So be ready for a stream of blogs featuring the fine lady Eloise.
Enjoy.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 