This was quite a good afternoon trip to the headland of Long Reef to photograph mainly the hunting Ospreys.
When I arrived, I saw a Nankeen Kestrel briefly hunting near the lookout.
While I was walking down to the lower level, two Ospreys flew past.
One of them was hunting –
It pulled out of its dive before it hit the water, but soon after it must’ve spotted another fish, as it dived gain –
The fish got away.
It then dived again –
It looked like it may have been successful this time.
It fell back into the water. If an Osprey takes a while to get airborne, then that is a sign that it has a fish.
It had indeed caught a nice large fish.
It flew back towards the shore.
Another Osprey appeared.
It spotted a fish and dived.
The Osprey pulled out of its dive.
It hovered over the water scanning below for another target.
And then it dived.
The Osprey emerged from the water with a fish.
Then the Osprey’s nemesis turned up – a White Belled Sea Eagle. These large birds often easier to steel fish from the Osprey rather than bother to catch one themselves.
And an Osprey appeared and harassed the Sea Eagle.
Three alarmed Sooty Oystercatchers flew past –
The Sea Eagle landed on the island. I thought it unlikely that more Opsreys would be hunting while the Sea Eagle was around, so walked back up to the lookout. Before I left, the Sea Eagle flew past.
