Osprey & A Heron - Aviemore Scotland

My "Z9 review from today" in Aviemore Scotland -- t'was a dark and drizzly morn, n the wee bitie things were oot in vast numbers as wa wandered doon to the fishery nd the hides well before the sun showed its face above the mountains. Osprey were our target and hour upon hour Osprey there were none to be seen. But all of a sudden the radio cracked and oor spotter was heard to cry The Bigun is circling the fishery - clockwise around and around he went patrolling his patch his ground his regime. The laird of the skies none were allowed to be close. Around and Around he went and then the cry "he's diving" and with a mighty splash we saw him disappear only to reemerge in moments almost bouncing oot of the pond with a vast Trout in his claws, but back down he went again; more work to improve his grip and around he turned into the light breeze and up and away again this time to depart with breakfast for himself and his family. 8 hours one dive and one success. 3 seconds and the Z9 caught every shot once the operator put it on target and started to shoot. At that moment the clouds eased but still a bit dark, but see for yourself.

One chance - one ~3 second burst at 20 fps - 60 shots almost all in focus (yes a couple grabbed water droplets while the bird was submerged) - lead to 15 shots with good wing position -- see album

All shots were taken with a Z9 and Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S-line lens and a tripod with Acratech long lens head. F/4.0 a/1600th, exposure bias at 0 EV and auto-iso set iso levels between 450-900. Images processed with DxO Pure Raw 2 Deep Prime, tones adjusted in LRC and cleaned using Topaz DeNoise AI - standard AI settings. No cropping or additional sharpening was applied to these images.

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