Spent some time with the Osprey nests in Westborough and Acton, both times in the morning.
The pair in Westborough are building their nest and things seem to be going well there. I’m staying well away from the nest, but they were pretty relaxed even as I approached and set up my watching areas: no warning cries or visual signs of stress. That’s good.
I attempted some video shooting from the kayak. There was a slight breeze that made long shots pretty much unusable for presentation purposes (I’ll be interested if Final Cut Pro’s SmoothCam effect can deal with this at all.)
As I was starting to wrap it up for the morning, the breeze died down. Normally this would be something to look forward to, but the lack of wind was a signal for about a billion insects to fill the air. Aye! They were just gnats, who were not interested in my blood, but their appearance made leaving for the morning not that difficult a decision.
The next morning I headed over the Acton nest site — a bit later than I wanted to (about 30 minutes after sunrise). Not more than a few minutes after I arrived, the pair flew to the tower and mated! I just put the hammer down and hoped the camera’s buffer wouldn’t run out before the event was over!
Having solid ground under me for a change, I shot some video that I hope to include in my upcoming Assabet Osprey presentation to the Friends of Assabet River NWR next week. I wasn’t having much luck with capturing landings - they simply arrive so quickly and my vantage point provided about 2 seconds of lead time.
I did some establishment shots with a slow zoom and pan. My second one ROCKED because one of the birds flew off the nest just as the zoom ended. My first “wow” video moment.