“That’s RIGHT You’re Leaving!”
Well, the entire marsh area where I generally do most of the wildlife photography was closed off due to damage and required repairs after Hurricane Matthew passed through.
It reopened this past weekend and I was there all three days.
On Friday afternoon, the first thing I spotted was this osprey sitting in a pine tree by himself minding his own business. For some reason though he had his head on a swivel and seemed to be constantly looking around. The osprey had already eaten his fish, so I figured it wasn’t an eagle he was concerned about but at least that made some sense.
What I wasn’t expecting was that a great blue heron that had been circling over the salt marsh for a while would suddenly decide to invade the osprey’s personal space. The heron initially went down low, then did a steep dive upward right toward what would turn out to be the branch directly below the osprey.
Now normally, an osprey and blue heron are two birds that I rarely see interact in any way so I can’t figure what got into this great blue.
The heron gave the osprey some serious attitude, and the osprey immediately became very flustered and took flight leaving his quiet afternoon branch sitting behind.
The heron appeared pleased with his aggressive move and proudly took ownership of the now osprey-less tree. Of course withing minutes the blue heron also flew off so I don’t know exactly what the point of the whole thing ever was.
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Birds doing what birds do! Fantastic shots!
They can be funny at times especially when they start acting more like people. 🙂
Glad you liked these!
Love the title, Phil! I knew there were going to be some stink eye shots! 🙂
Heh heh, well I’m happy you enjoyed seeing these two having a bit of a ‘get out of my tree’ ownership dispute. 🙂
I was surprised though at their behavior, they are not really rivals for food since they fish so differently and the blue herons spend more time standing in water then they do in trees.
Oh well…
they certainly look like they’re eyeing each other off.
I was surprised the osprey allowed himself to be intimidated into leaving his tree, but I guess he figured it was better then being hit by that heron’s big sharp bill.
Glad you are back posting your magnificent photos. You were missed!
Definitely an unusual pair of birds. I’m surprised at the size difference between the GBH and Osprey.
Hey thanks very much for checking in and I very much appreciate your kind words! It’s nice to know you enjoy seeing my photos. 🙂
Yes, sometimes I forget how large a bird those herons are and especially since I generally consider the osprey to be a big bird.
I’ve had them hit the water right in front of me and they make one heck of a huge splash!
Two favourites for the price of one!If I were the osprey, I’d have made a tactical retreat, too! So glad to hear that the march is open again and that things are getting back to normal for you! It was a worrying time!
Poor osprey, if it’s not the eagle stealing his fish, it’s the blue heron stealing his tree.
We are glad the whole marsh area is back in operation too, but they had lots of damage plus with this coming only months after they lots the entire nature center due to fire, it’s been a rough year.