I have always loved Osprey, and I am indebted to Doug Goodell (who attended the last Costa Rica Workshop with me in December, 2005) for telling me about this fantastic location. Blue Cypress Lake is a little west of Vero Beach, Florida, and has a very large number of Ospreys who nest there each year. Doug suggested I get in touch with the folks at Middleton's Fish Camp, who have boats and guides to bring you to the Osprey. I went ahead and reserved a boat and guide for my wife and I, and we spent an incredible few hours with them, starting shortly after dawn. I have never seen so many Osprey in my life. Our guide indicated that a count of up to 100 nests had been made in the past, and I didn't doubt it. The early morning light was wonderful, and the main nesting area for the Osprey was on the west shore of the lake, which made for wonderful shooting conditions.

In just under 3 hours (including some time going to the other side of the lake to look for a Bald Eagle), I shot well over 500 frames. The really hard part was sorting through all the images, to pick out the ones worth keeping. I was happy enough with the results that I thought it would make sense to feature these Osprey in their own gallery.

We were there in mid-March, and they indicated that the Osprey would have young in the nests starting in mid-April or so. I don't know if I'll be able to get back down there this year, but this is definitely on my list of places to go in the future. Highly recommended.

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Osprey Perched	Osprey with Wings Spread	Osprey Head-On

Open-Mouthed Osprey	Osprey in Flight 1	Osprey in Flight 2

Osprey in Flight 3	Osprey in Flight 4	Osprey with Nesting Material 1

Osprey with Nesting Material 2	Osprey Landing 1	Osprey Pair Mating

	Osprey Landing 2