Osprey observation at Myrtle Beach South Carolina

            Osprey observation

While enjoying a much-needed vacation with good friends in Myrtle Beach South Carolina this past week, the only small downside was the lack of wildlife noted in our first three days. Seagulls and pelicans presented opportunities in small numbers…but I am a raptor guy at heart. I was having a fantastic time, but was slightly bummed concerning my lack of time behind the camera. 

Photographing sunrises became my norm and several spectacular ones blessed me. On the fourth day of our visit I noticed an Osprey in the distance over the beach and heading out for the hunt at first light. The silhouette of a raptor excited me, as I knew it might present an opportunity if I could triangulate its current position. Assuming it had flown directly from it’s nest to the sea, and knowing the approximate age of its chicks, it would be feeding several times a day. If I could place myself in that flight path, an opportunity may present itself.

As an ever growing Christian, I believe with all my heart in heaven and hell. I have had a very small taste of hell on earth and fear it as my eternity. For me, and I am aware that I am “wired differently” than most…hell is more than 15 minutes sitting on a beach. It is something that I simply cannot do. If satan (funny…spell check demands that I capitalize the word satan. I choose not to as a sigh of disrespect to him) handed me a book and said sit and read it on a beach, I would surely thrash around as if being tased for eternity. Some folk’s heaven, my hell!

So, as every adventure starts, I grabbed my camera and headed out. After a short walk I cleared the hoards of the barely dressed (many of whom should have worn much, much more) and found my mental marker from the morning before. There I stood alone, relaxed and excited in waiting. Within minutes one of the parents came overhead, heading again out to sea. Several hundred yards out it began to hover as it targeted its prey, dove and started its return flight to the nest. As the osprey approached the shore directly at me, fish it talons, I had a fond phrase from my childhood pop into my head that made me laugh. It was a self congratulatory “Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again” rang out between my ears.

Placing myself directly between where a critter is, and where it wants to go has resulted in many of my personal favorite photos. Observation first is certainly a key to success!

Taken on: June 16, 2017

Tags:

Ocean

Osprey

Nature

Beach

Myrtle

Carolina

South

Dattilo

Wildlife

Birds

Flight

Raptors

+1.4x

EF100-400mm

MarkII

Canon

7D « less

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Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, f/8.0, 1/2500 sec, 368mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Lens:	EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	1/2500 sec
Focal Length:	368mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.7 (Macintosh)
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