These photos were taken on July 15, 2008 near Waterloo, Ontario. The first two shots show the osprey returning to its nest with dinner in hand (er, talon). The remaining shots are of the same bird attacking a Great Blue Heron that made the bad decision to land in a pond very near to the osprey's nest. Whether the osprey perceived the heron to be a competitor for its food supply or a possible threat to any osprey fledglings is hard to say, but it definitely did NOT want the heron in its pond!

The osprey made at least a dozen swooping attacks on the heron, which squawked loudly and tried unsuccessfully to bite the fast raptor with its formidable beak. The osprey did not use its beak for the attacks, but instead swivelled its talons forward. Considering these claws are surgically sharp enough to grab a small, slippery fish out of the water; the osprey is certainly an adversary to be reckoned with.

I was approximately one hundred yards distant during this encounter on the opposite bank of the small pond. It was very difficult tracking the swift osprey through the camera's viewfinder, especially because the osprey tended to maneuvre very abruptly. Adding to the difficulty in following the action on camera was the osprey's penchant to vary its attack patterns, from near-vertical dives to high-speed low passes. As a result I only recorded a small portion of the action, but suffice to say the heron moved on at first opportunity with hopefully only its pride injured.