When rushing from one art fair to another,  it always seems that time is short and the must do list is long. Hurry up is a constant companion to giddy up.  So, it was peddle to the metal on my way to Jackson, Wyoming, a travel day of 600 long miles.

But every now and then you just have to stop and look. I was just a few miles outside Boulder, Wyoming, when I spotted an osprey nest. One osprey was resting in the nest and the other was perched on a fence post a hundred yards to the north. 

The nest was located down by a stream and the road rose to a height just across from the nest.  Fortunately, a nearby turnout made for an easy, instant decision.  I pulled the jeep off the road, grabbed my camera, and walked back to that place on the road right across from the nest.  Maybe, just maybe, I could shoot down into the nest and get a picture of an adult osprey and her chicks.

 As I approached the osprey in the nest, it let out a short, sharp whistle. The closer I came, the more rapidly it called to its mate. The other osprey on the fence post casually glanced over its shoulder and then, with a beat of its wings, took off flying away from the nest.

I watched as it went behind a line of trees and made a sharp turn to the west. I thought that it was going to fly around the bluff on my left and come in from behind where I was standing. What a great opportunity for some action shots, I thought. In anticipation I set my camera for six frames a second. With my 500 mm lens I should be able to get 20 or 30 good shots.

Unknowingly, I was just about to get a first hand lesson in dynamic soaring.

With my finger on the shutter and my camera rock solid on my monopod, I waited. The osprey rocketed out from behind the edge of the bluff. It must have been traveling well over a hundred miles an hour. With claws extended it zeroed on my position. In reflex my finger held down the shutter. I took three frames, one half a second worth of shooting, before biting the dust. That long lens must make things look bigger than they really are. 

Just a few days later I was watching an osprey hunt over the big bend of the Snake River in the Tetons. It would skim the river at high speed several times. When it spotted what it wanted it gained elevation and then dived into the water flying out of the depths with a fish in its claws. I found out that the osprey can dive up to 12 feet under water to catch its prey.

How absolutely awesome.

I couldn't wait to get back to my studio and draw an osprey from this trip. You can purchase limited edition giclee prints of "Osprey In Flight" by visiting  Art Works - Bird Collection at my website at http://jsullivanart.com.