Male Osprey

As I drove home yesterday evening, I espied a male osprey on a tall branch in my Santa Margarita river valley.

As luck would have it, my normal zoom lens was sitting on a flat surface back at my shop and I didn't feel like pulling the heavy prime out of the trunk. Who knows how long the bird would have sat around waiting?

So I went with what I had on the camera at that moment, the short nikkor 70-200 zoom.

I am not exactly sure why but this has always been the toughest lens in the kit for me to use. I have never been comfortable with the twist zoom and my failure rate with this particular lens is enormous. The only place it has ever really shined is at the Native dances at the Pow Wow but maybe I just got lucky.

Yesterday was no different, only a few keepers. The enormous white chest area throws the metering off I think and hardly anything felt really sharp.

We live and learn.