Western Osprey - The Bird That Changed My Life!

All photographers out there know that sinking feeling when you miss the shot - the disappointment and heartache is often difficult to deal with, the ultimate cliché of “The One That Got Away!”

This story is very close to my heart as it is the bird that inspired me to take my bird photography more seriously thanks to the AMAZING YouTube channel of Mark Smith - the true legend of Osprey videography and photography! I kept dreaming that one day I could also fill my viewfinder with one of these majestic hunters of the sky!

I live in Langebaan (about 90 minutes outside of Cape Town up the West Coast of South Africa) and although bird life is great it is not an osprey rich location compared to places in the United States for example so spotting one of these Osprey’s is a BIG deal, actually I know of only 2 individuals in the West Coast area. I can only but assume that they settled in the area due to the abundance of fish in the lagoon and limited competition from other bird species whose diet is almost exclusively fish.

We moved here 3 years ago and I have only once (and every weekend I am out and about with my camera) seen an Osprey which was perched on an electrical pole along a busy highway that runs parallel to the lagoon. On that occasion I only got a photo of it perched because it banked immediately after taking flight and flew off in the opposite direction - I had MISSED the shot!

obsession

It was at that very moment that my photography life would change forever, I was obsessed with getting the shot. I started studying their behaviour, watched endless hours of YouTube videos, thanks Mark Smith, and even decided to change the entire route that I drove home!

I would normally go home via the West Coast National Park to destress after a busy work day, BUT that turnoff was before the spot I had seen the osprey therefore I decided to cut the National Park entirely out of the trip. I was FULLY committed!

For almost a year I drove that highway searching for the osprey, day after day there was no sign of it - my photography life was consumed by this quest to the point that each time my wife would ask for ideas to go on a local holiday I would instantly shout Florida (in the US) as there I would have a better chance of getting my bucketlist shot of an osprey (or better, joining a workshop held by Mark).

finally

The day started as any other and while scrolling through Instagram I saw a post from Mark Smith with his plaque from YouTube for passing 1 million subscribers - what an amazing feat. That evening I would reflect and wonder if that was karma saying today was the day! On the journey home whilst chatting to my wife and making plans for the weekend I all of a sudden spotted a shape on top of an electrical pole in the distance that broke the horizon. At first I thought it would be a buzzard of sorts as they are fairly common in the area but as soon as I got close enough to identify the bird I could not believe my eyes, it was the elusive osprey!

I have learnt over the years that birds of prey do not like changes in the speed of cars or reverse gear as this generally results in them taking flight, so I drove on for about 1 kilometre before stopping and getting my camera out. Heading back towards the bird I knew I was in for another torturous moment as I would once again have to drive past as the bird was now on my side of the road and would 100% take flight if I had to stop. I gathered all my strength to prevent me from pulling over right there and then but after turning around I was now on the far side of the bird and the best position to risk pulling over.

My window was down and as I raised my camera the dream of filling my viewfinder with an osprey was fulfilled - BUT I still had to be on my game to get a photo of it. As I clicked the shutter the bird immediately indicated (defecated) that it was going to take flight - I held my breath as I locked focus on it’s eye and fired off a burst of frames as it took off and banked away…. did I get it ????

In the photo below you can clearly see that the fish was caught recently as it had hardly been eaten by the osprey - if we had been a few minutes earlier we would have driven right past the spot totally unaware of what magic was about to happen!

These challenges are what inspires me to get out into nature in the hope of spotting the target species, BUT enjoying all the birds out there is just as important as they are the reason you took an interest in bird photography in the first place.

Till next time…