Ospreys… an obsession

I’m not sure when it started!

Fresh catch. Osprey. Tagus estuary, Portugal. September 2022

I recall a few years ago thinking I had seen an osprey one the lagoon in Portugal where I live. I thumbed through the Collins Bird Guide to discover there are no ospreys in Portugal. So what had I seen? The next day I got a better view - and whatever the Guide said there was no doubt it was an osprey - even as a novice bird watcher there was no mistaking a large grey brown and white bird of prey with a truly huge fish in its talons. I guessed it was on passage, just stopping for a short feed and a rest… but it stayed for weeks. What was more I realised there were actually three osprey using the lagoon.

Lochie. Osprey. Obidos lagoon, Portugal. October 2022

I then went to Rutland in the UK to see the Osprey Project work and from there to the River Gwash Trout farm who have a photo hide to see the local ospreys come and feed.

Osprey at River Wash Trout Farm, Rutland, UK. August 2021

I was hooked.

About this time I began to think of changing camera brands. I had been shooting on Olympus’ cameras and while I loved them, I was quite disturbed to hear of their intended their take over. As soon as I started researching what other cameras I might use I realised there were potions with far more advanced autofocus systems that could open up

That research led to to a YouTube site of Mark Smith (https://youtu.be/eMTO_V9pkCs). He is an incredible photographer, a superb educator, and a great story teller. He has a series of videos on why he chose Sony cameras and how to get the most out of them. His photographic subject in these videos - very often it is his local ospreys. The photographs and video he takes of osprey are mindblowing. So in no small part based on his educational video content of Sony cameras I switched systems (and am very glad I did). Trouble was I had also seen his osprey photos - and they are just superb.

Now to be fair, on top of his photographic skills he does have the advantage of living somewhere with dozens and dozens of osprey that are habituated to people and who hunt close to land, but that just meant I need to try harder with the few osprey I have access to.

Rutland is one option - I have been back to the River Gwash Trout farm and I have been happy to get some shots I am proud of. But there is something in me that wants a shot that I have done all the work for - found the bird, learnt its pattern for hunting, got in position at the right moment with the right light. So I have a goal - to get an osprey fishing in Portugal. I recognise it is a goal that might take years. The lagoon is huge. The ospreys fish in different areas each day so there is a lot of luck involved in being in the right place.

Lochie. Osprey. Obidos lagoon, Portugal. September 2022

This last few weeks in September 2022 the osprey have been returning to Portugal. Hopefully there will be more in due course, but there are a few.

One has returned to Obidos lagoon - the same bird I have photographed last year (Blue Ring, left leg, number CH6). I know from correspondence with the Roy Dennis Foundation (https://www.roydennis.org/animals/raptors/osprey/) that this is a male, ringed in 2013 in Loch Lomond. There is something very special about having some of the life history of a bird you are photographing, especially when that history tells you he was hatched nearly 3,000 km away, 9 years earlier. There was also another osprey in the lagoon, this one with no leg ring but I think they have moved on.

CH6 (or Lochie as I named him) is an accomplished hunter. He doesn’t miss often. He seems to wait to low tide when large fish are near the surface, and he can pluck them out without getting his wings wet. That makes him a tricky character to catch fishing - he is quickly through the hunt and on to the meal. He is quite cooperative about flying over with his catch - he seems to have a regular circuit once he has a fish. First he flies a little way in land with the whole fish. Then he quickly flies back to the beach area where he eats the head of the fish. Finally he takes the rest of his prize and flies off further in land.

The lagoon is used by kite surfers and fishermen and Lochie seems to have no fear of fishing close to them. He is also quite obliging about flying close to a camera, though less obliging about having someone approach him.

I have some distant dive shots, but none yet of the shot that I crave - the close up dive and the emerging from the water with his catch. Thing is, I know I will get it one day and boy will it be special when I do.

I have also looked down in two other areas - the Tagus and the Sado, both south of Lisbon. In the Tagus estuary there is a large expanse of rice fields and the ospreys are regular sights through the winter. With the help of local photographers I have found where they like to perch through the day, allowing me to get close and watch from my car. I think I have found where they typically hunt, but so far I ave only seen dives that were aborted before hitting the water. Still it is a wonderful spot to see the osprey.

The Sado estuary is potentially the best spot for osprey in Portugal - there are reports of many using the area through the winter. I went twice, including taking a boat into the estuary to seek them out. It was early in the autumn and there were only a small number of birds, in a vast area, but I will certainly be heading back later in the winter.

Osprey. Tagus estuary, Portugal. September 2022

Osprey. Tagus estuary, Portugal. September 2022

I may not be sure where this obsession with ospreys started, but I am glad to have the excitement of looking forward to when I next see them, and the knowledge the elusive dive shot is going to come one day. Meantime it is so much fun trying.