seeing the world through new eyes…

Last week I was on TopSail Island, just off the North Carolina coast, photographing pelicans and various shore birds. On my first morning going to the beach I mounted my Nikon AF-S 200-400mm f/4 VR on my NIkon D700 and supported it using a Wimberley II tripod head and Gitzo 1348 legs. I then attached a Wimberley flash bracket to the tripod head to support the SB-900 speedlight.

Unfortunately, I forgot to secure the speedlight to the flash bracket and when I was climbing the wooden stairs to get over the hill leading to the beach, the speedlight fell off of the bracket. It hit the wooden stairs with a loud bang and I was positive that it had shattered completely. I was surprised when I looked down and saw that it was still perfectly intact. Now the question was whether or not it would still work. All my fears were alleviated when I fired off my first test flash and found it to be functioning perfectly. This thing is built like a tank. It must’ve fallen a good seven or eight feet before hitting the first step and tumbling down several more. The SB-900 maybe pricey, but I think it’s well worth it.

Here are a couple of images from that morning:

Sanderling

Brown Pelican

The Osprey, sometimes known as the sea hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It’s a large raptor, reaching 24 inches (60 centimeters) in length with a 6 foot 6 inch (2 meters) wingspan. It’s brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

The Osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It’s found on all continents except Antarctica although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

As its other common name suggests, the Osprey’s diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It has evolved specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it’s been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion and family, Pandionidae. Four subspecies are usually recognised. Despite its propensity to nest near water, the Osprey is not a sea-eagle.

Last weekend I went over to Alum Creek Lake to check in on some of the Ospreys here in central Ohio. I saw five of them on Sunday. That’s the most I’ve ever seen there at any one time. Eventually I set up my gear to watch the nesting pair on the very north end of the lake. They were quite busy building their nest and mating. As usual, I was the only person there for what turned out to be a very enjoyable morning spent with my friends, the Ospreys.

Here are a few of the photographs from that morning:

Soaring and hunting

Flying off to a tree to eat its meal

Landing on the nest

Building the nest

Mating