{"id":11423,"date":"2013-11-30T06:44:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-30T13:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=11423"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:53:25","slug":"an-osprey-just-floundering-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/30\/an-osprey-just-floundering-around\/","title":{"rendered":"An Osprey Just Floundering Around"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OspreyOsprey with flounder over the Gulf – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 160, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 116mm, natural light, Osprey caught the Flounder<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of my images make me laugh and this Osprey image with a flounder that weighs almost as much as the bird does make me laugh.<\/p>\n

I was photographing pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico with my friends Adrian and Bill at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach<\/span><\/a> when I spotted an Osprey coming towards us with a wiggling flounder in its talons.<\/p>\n

The Osprey was flying surprisingly fast and I knew it was going to fly right over top of us. I just didn’t know how low and close it would be. If it had been any closer I wouldn’t have been able to focus on the bird and fish at all.<\/p>\n

I zoomed back as quickly as I could to 116mm and started firing away and as I did I\u00a0started leaning and almost fell on my back as the Osprey passed over my head.<\/p>\n

Adrian and I were laughing out loud and Bill was wondering if we got any good shots of the Osprey floundering with its prey over our heads.<\/p>\n

Me? I was just glad the Osprey didn’t drop that huge flounder on my head!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Osprey photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

It will ALWAYS be the Gulf of Mexico for me and no racist, misogynistic, malignant person will ever make me say any thing different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of my images make me laugh and this Osprey image with a Flounder that weighs almost as much as the bird does make me laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,466],"tags":[4004,4021,5132,4432,13781,4052,2396,4122,1130,173,4077,3992,6784,9977,4189,4106,4018],"class_list":["post-11423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-ospreys","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal","tag-fish","tag-flatfish","tag-flight","tag-flounder","tag-flying","tag-food","tag-gulf-coast","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-osprey","tag-ospreys","tag-overhead","tag-pandion-haliaetus","tag-prey","tag-sky"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-with-flounder-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-6038.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2Yf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15179,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/06\/10\/somethings-fishy-osprey-with-a-flounder\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":0},"title":"Something’s Fishy – Osprey With A Flounder","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A simple but fishy post today of an Osprey that flew over my head at Fort De Soto County Park taken 5 years ago in Florida.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey with a Flounder over the Gulf, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flight-flounder-florida-mia-mcpherson-6032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flight-flounder-florida-mia-mcpherson-6032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flight-flounder-florida-mia-mcpherson-6032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flight-flounder-florida-mia-mcpherson-6032.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14087,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/02\/02\/an-osprey-in-flight-with-a-huge-flounder\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":1},"title":"An Osprey in flight with a huge Flounder","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This Osprey flying in from the Gulf over the north beach of Fort De Soto came as a surprise to us so I had little time to prepare and get my setting right due to how fast the Osprey was flying.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey in flight with a huge Flounder, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flying-flounder-mia-mcpherson-6035.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flying-flounder-mia-mcpherson-6035.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flying-flounder-mia-mcpherson-6035.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-flying-flounder-mia-mcpherson-6035.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30657,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/20\/an-osprey-and-a-whiting-over-fort-de-soto\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":2},"title":"An Osprey And A Whiting Over Fort De Soto","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This Osprey image was taken in April of 2009 at Fort De Soto's north beach. I had been photographing smaller birds that were close to me when I noticed the Osprey flying in with a whiting.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey and a Whiting over Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-whiting-mia-mcpherson-5843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-whiting-mia-mcpherson-5843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-whiting-mia-mcpherson-5843.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-whiting-mia-mcpherson-5843.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2735,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/07\/09\/summer-lunacy-nikons-image-overlay-function\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":3},"title":"Summer Lunacy – Nikon’s Image Overlay Function","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Nikon's Image Overlay Function. Yes, I was experimenting with a little bit of Summer Lunacy. This is a bit whimsical and it makes me smile.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Summer Lunacy, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/summer-full-moon-osprey-florida-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/summer-full-moon-osprey-florida-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/summer-full-moon-osprey-florida-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/summer-full-moon-osprey-florida-mia-mcpherson-3168.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46014,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/06\/ospreys-of-honeymoon-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":4},"title":"Ospreys of Honeymoon Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County, Florida is a great place to see and photograph nesting Ospreys, not just one or two nests either, there are often quite a few.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey eating a fish on an old snag, Honeymoon Island State Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-eating-fish-florida-mia-mcpherson-9629.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54046,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/10\/juvenile-osprey-with-a-tiger-trout-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":11423,"position":5},"title":"Juvenile Osprey with a Tiger Trout in the Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday the \"unexpected\" bird was a juvenile Osprey in the Wasatch Mountains. 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