Thanks everyone for all the nice comments!

No idea to where our Osprey migrate, however many are known to migrate as far as South America.

First sighting was on Apr 4th here in Rapid City. There are 3 nests in town and two are already occupied by breeding pairs. Osprey were contesting possession of the nest at our local lake so we get to watch how that resolves itself. Did not expect to get good photos of Osprey fishing this early in the season but let me post these anyway. Taken with a Nikon Z8, 300mm pf lens with 1.7 teleconverter at 1/3200 sec, f 6.3, 510mm. I was unprepared to catch its entry into the water but the Osprey flew a circle directly over me giving me time to adjust settings! It’s shaping up to be an interesting Osprey season!

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USAF, 1970-1993, LtCol. Minuteman Missile Launch Commander/Deputy, Ellsworth AFB; Operational Test Evaluation Director Ground Launched Cruise Missile System, Hill AFB; Site Activation Task Force Commander Ground Launched Cruise Missile System, Comiso, Sicily; Commander Airborne Battle Staff, Ellsworth AFB.

Oh wow! There’s a once in a lifetime shot!

Really appreciate everyone’s kind comments. Thanks very much!

We have several Bald Eagles frequenting the local lake. Usually 2 balds and 1 juvenile. The juvie is the hardest to photograph because he blends into the background so easily. So some shots of the juvie followed by other raptors I shot out in the grasslands. Please enjoy…

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Rough Legged Hawk

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Prairie Falcon chased by a Harrier

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Rare for me is a Male Harrier

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Nice shots! Love the Harrier!

There is no SAC anymore. These aircraft now belong to Air Force Global Strike Command.

Pintail

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments! The hunt continues!

This is the doldrum time for photography in Rapid City at the local lake. The lake is densely populated with Canada geese and migratory ducks. I’m over saturated with geese and duck photos and the local Bald Eagles just sit and watch for hours at a time. So I turn to photographing Kingfishers. They are not easy targets but give a sense of satisfaction when photographed successfully. Here’s one I took recently…

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No, but they did make a 500 f5.6 pf lens and boy howdy does it work well on a D500!

I’m with you except I also have a D850. The dilemma is that the D500/850 are the top of the DSLR camera tier so you know no new models will be forthcoming. If you migrate into the mirrorless world you will be tempted to upgrade every several years as camera technology advances. We’re already stuck in that situation with computer technology. The other half of the dilemma is that the old f-mount lenses we’ve lusted after for so many years are now discounted and readily available. So does moving to mirrorless mean you will take better pictures than if you had used a similar DSLR system? I doubt it, especially if you are skilled in using the system you currently have. Moving to mirrorless does mean that perhaps your keeper rate will increase and you may make fewer exposure errors based on the WYSIWYG factor of electronic view finders in mirrorless cameras. Despite everything I’ve said, what am I going to do? Well, I’m already eyeing Nikon’s release of the Z6iii and having a difficult time deciding which camera to sell…. And so it goes.

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments! Wishing you all a safe, productive and happy New Year!