Osprey

I did a post on ospreys in 2014, after a great sighting in northeastern Florida. This past year I've had several more sightings of ospreys, in Texas, Louisiana and several in Southern California. Here are some photos from those sightings:

Eating a fish on a telephone pole in Sabine NWR in southern Louisiana. 

Flying in Aransas NWR in southeastern Texas.

Near the seawall at the Salton Sea in Southern California. 

Saturday I was at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve near Huntington Beach, California. I saw ospreys four separate times. I know there were at least two ospreys, I'm just not sure if there were four. This one stood on a branch next to a lagoon looking for fish. 

I got photos just as it was taking off. 

A different osprey. 

A different osprey, I think.

As I was leaving I saw this osprey dive bomb into the water feet first (in a different lagoon over a half mile away from the other lagoon I saw ospreys at). As far as I could tell, it was completely submerged, going after this fish. Then it splashed to the surface, beating its wings, and oh so slowly eventually started to rise up out of the water as it took flight. It obviously struggled with the weight of the fish.