Osprey number 2 / Pandion haliaetus

Wow, it's just after noon and there are only 8 new photos from contacts, with four of them from the same photographer. Something has been different very recently - so little activity.

This was the very first time I had ever visited this particular Osprey nest, though "everyone" else seems to have been : ) The sun came out yesterday, 3 September 2018, but while I was down in the park, some dark clouds came rolling in. Far from good light, but I managed to brighten the shot. Ospreys are such beautiful birds and I was lucky that this one was standing on the nest. It was feeding on something that looked like the remains of a fish. There is so much that I have forgotten about birds, and I should have checked if this was an adult and if they only eat fish before posting the photo. Might have to check later today.

One thing I do know is that I would never have been able to take a photo this close with my trusty old Panasonic FZ200. I have used that make and model for several years and have loved using it. However, it has bothered me, especially the last year and a half, that the optical zoom is only 24x (though I used it on 48x) - just not enough reach for tiny or far away birds. A few months ago, I finally gave in and got a Nikon P900. I have only used it a handful of times, but yesterday afternoon I made up my mind to give it a better try. I don't know where all the birds were, other than two beautiful Osprey! One thing I need to find out as soon as possible is why I couldn't focus on anything that wasn't far away. No problem with distant things, but when I tried to focus say on a wildflower, I could not get the camera to focus. Stood maybe 12-15 feet away and zoomed in and the camera just refused to focus. Tried standing at different distances and nothing worked. A lot to learn, I can tell : )

Hard to believe our very cool temperatures recently! This s morning, 4 September 2018, just after 10:30 am, it is only 6C (windchill 4C). A far cry from the record-breaking 34.6C (or was it 36.4C?) that we had a few weeks ago. It definitely feels and looks like fall has arrived already.