A pelican and two osprey.

[OldSchool]

Three in a tree...
Queen Cay, Belize.

[Knight]

Odd couples indeed ,good capture

[paulnj]

Yeah that is a site I would only believe if you got a picture, which you did ;)

[OldSchool]

Thanks guys.

I recently spent a week sailing the reef off of Belize. The Caribbean barrier reef is the 2nd largest reef in the world. It’s over 20 miles wide off of Belize. The Cayes (pronounced "Keys") are well spaced out. They have few trees. Thus, the birds must share. I shot the “3 in a tree” at Queen Caye I’ve attached another shot that shows the two Queen Cayes at sun rise. These Cayes are at the edge of the reef. It’s deep ocean after this, and there is no sight of land in the other direction.

Things can be quite exciting. We were on this island earlier in the day and watched an osprey coming at us with a frigate in hot pursuit. They must have circled around us 10 or 15 times. The osprey was flapping his heart out trying the keep the frigate from steeling his fish.

Now for those of you who have not seen a frigate bird, they are huge! And, they are just beautiful fliers with a prehistoric looking wing form and a fast efficient glide -- super maneuverable too boot. Think of uber seagulls on steriods. I’ve also attached a picture of a frigate on a post (shot in Ria Legartos). I’ve yet to capture a nice image of one in the air (did I say they are fast?).

Anyway, the frigate was hardly working a sweat in all this. In a fit of exasperation, the osprey ejected his fish and turned on the frigate once he had lightened his load. The fish actually bounced in and out of our zodiac. My daughter went to rescue the poor guy, but he was too far gone. Ashes to ashes, reef to reef.

The evenings were also an amazing sight. With trees in short supply, we would watch the frigates, pelicans, cormorants all bicker with each other as they found a place to turn in for the night. Just awesome….

BR,
Tim

ps. I didn't bring my DSLR and lenses on the boat. All I had was my old trusty-dusty 3MP point and shoot.

[paulnj]

Ah yes, a frigate is a LARGE sea bird indeed. I seen one far off in key west once and wow it as huge!

[Speed]

What the...?

Come on man, "No Guts, No Glory"!

:-O

Hehehe.

Just picking with you. Believe me, I'd have serious reservations about taking my F5 and 80-200mm f2.8 on a Zodiac!!!

;-)

I routinely take them out on my Carolina Skiff, but they reside in my camera bag, in dry storage under the seat. I take them out when I get where I'm going.