Thanks to all for your kind words. This illustrates one of the first principles of photographing wildlife......know your subject. Having watched osprey for over 5 years (investing 100's of hours per year) I know their mannerisms and behaviors well enough to know when they are getting stressed and what is stressing them. This shot is only possible when the subject is comfortable with your presence. If he's not good with me being there, he'll leave. That's not the end result I want. Raptors live or die based on conserving energy. Flying without purpose depletes their energy stores which may mean their death if they can't find food and eat. I can't say how many times I've heard and seen photographers deliberately make a bird fly for the photo op. That's irresponsible. There's no secret hide nor cammo, they have great eyesight and this guy knew I was there. It was time, patience and observation that allowed me to get close enough for decent shots. At no time did he show any sign of discomfort with me, in fact, he seemed quite comfortable and engaged in normal activities without reacting in any way to me or the camera clicks. He would glance in my direction from time to time but spent much more time looking away. With bald eagles in the area I was not a concern. Had I observed any sign of discomfort I would have carefully backed down until I was beyond his comfort zone. Could I have gotten closer? Perhaps, but it wasn't worth the chance. I'm grateful to him for allowing me to get as close as I did. He eventually saw something in the river and headed off to try to catch a fish.
