{"id":7603,"date":"2013-02-22T06:03:04","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T13:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7603"},"modified":"2025-05-20T08:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T13:12:11","slug":"nesting-osprey-pair-at-flaming-gorge-national-recreation-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/22\/nesting-osprey-pair-at-flaming-gorge-national-recreation-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Nesting Osprey pair at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Osprey with a fish<\/span><\/p>\n

It is cloudy and snowing hard outside this morning so I dug into my files and edited these nesting Osprey images I took last year in mid May at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area<\/a> in Utah. I absolutely love the Flaming Gorge area and have posted about it before. These images aren’t my best Osprey photos but I like the series, my Nikon D300 was in the shop being repaired so these were all taken with my Nikon D200, I won’t post my techs because there are so many images.<\/p>\n

In this frame the male Osprey with a fish in his talons was flying into the nesting platform from below it but he has his eyes locked on the nest.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Osprey about to land with prey<\/span><\/p>\n

As he came closer to the platform he flared his wings and tail to slow his flight down, he has released his grip on the fish with one talon, perhaps to enable him to grasp some of the nesting material as he landed.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale and female Osprey at the nest<\/span><\/p>\n

In this frame the female can be seen on the nest as the male approaches it.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Osprey landing on the nest<\/span><\/p>\n

The male focused on landing, as I recall it was fairly breezy when I photographed this Osprey pair.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale and female Osprey on nest<\/span><\/p>\n

The male landed on the nest and flared his wings again.<\/p>\n

\"PairThe pair of Ospreys on the nest<\/span><\/p>\n

I expected the male to give the fish to the female…<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Osprey lifting off with his fish<\/span><\/p>\n

But he didn’t. He took flight and landed on a nearby power pole and devoured the fish.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Osprey in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after the female took flight and flew over the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, she may have been looking to catch a fish of her own.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Osprey about to land on the nest<\/span><\/p>\n

She wasn’t gone long and\u00a0didn’t catch a fish before she flew back onto the nest. There may have already been eggs because neither bird left the nest for very long.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Osprey fly by<\/span><\/p>\n

The male flew past the nest before we left them alone and gave me great views of his bright yellow eyes.<\/p>\n

The road outside my window has turned white while I have worked on this post and winter still has a grip on Utah but it won’t be all that\u00a0long before the Ospreys migrate back here to their nesting grounds.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is cloudy and snowing hard outside this morning so I dug into my files and edited these nesting Osprey images I took last year at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145482,"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":[27,981,466,26],"tags":[4004,4070,4432,4415,4244,4052,4122,4062,4075,2132,4450,3992,4106,30],"class_list":["post-7603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-flaming-gorge-national-recreation-area","category-ospreys","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-female","tag-fish","tag-fish-hawk","tag-flaming-gorge-national-recreation-area","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-male","tag-nest","tag-nesting-platform","tag-nesting-season","tag-osprey","tag-prey","tag-utah-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-female-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4923.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1YD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8387,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/05\/18\/ospreys-of-flaming-gorge\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":0},"title":"Ospreys of Flaming Gorge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year at about this same time these Ospreys were busy building their nest while this year they were already sitting on eggs at Flaming Gorge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The beauty of Flaming Gorge as seen from the boat launch at Antelope Flat, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/flaming-gorge-reservoir-mia-mcpherson-4880.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":83073,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/01\/utahs-ospreys-are-back-for-their-nesting-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":1},"title":"Utah’s Ospreys Are Back For Their Nesting Season","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I was hoping to find my first of the year Swainson's Hawks yesterday but instead I spotted my first of year Ospreys.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female and male Ospreys on their nest, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-on-the-nest-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-on-the-nest-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4843.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-on-the-nest-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4843.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ospreys-on-the-nest-flaming-gorge-mia-mcpherson-4843.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/01\/female-ospreys-have-flare\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":2},"title":"Female Ospreys Have Flare!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay. At least this female Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is landing with flared wings and tail!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Flat"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Flat","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-flat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Osprey landing on nest, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.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-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-female-landing-mia-mcpherson-4924.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6133,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/19\/the-osprey-vs-the-black-billed-magpie\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":3},"title":"The Osprey VS the Black-billed Magpie","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In May of this year I camped at Antelope Flat in the Flaming Gorge National recreation Area and near the boat ramp there was an Osprey nest.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Osprey \u2013 Black-billed Magpie Fish Fight, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.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-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-black-billed-magpie-fish-mia-mcpherson-4349.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14633,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/27\/my-love-of-ospreys\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":4},"title":"My Love of Ospreys","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago a first of the year sighting from the UBIRD group got me all excited because it means that the Ospreys have returned to Utah!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Osprey in flight with prey at Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.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-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/osprey-fish-flight-mia-mcpherson-6020.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4348,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/09\/flaming-gorge-national-recreation-a\/","url_meta":{"origin":7603,"position":5},"title":"Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last September I visited Flaming Gorge National Recreation area for the first time. 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