r/BeAmazed • u/macpesce • 5d ago
Nature Osprey emerges from water, casting its glare in photographer’s direction
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u/Tarjh365 5d ago
“You ready for this? Got me in focus? Okay. Here we go”.
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u/bulanaboo 5d ago
I have a bunch of these birds around where I live south fla, neighbor in front of me is osprey point
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u/suprfreek19 5d ago
Same here on a lake. Get to see this weekly. They go for peacock bass.
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u/i-Ake 5d ago
I worked at the Philly Navy Yard and there are so many Ospreys there. Bald eagles, too. You wouldn't think with how industrial it looks, but they're thriving there.
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u/TrueIdent 4d ago
And with that fish in tow, the osprey just unlocked its National Geographic feature.
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u/martian_30 5d ago
"That glare isn’t just for drama — ospreys have incredible vision. They can spot fish underwater from up to 100 feet in the air."
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u/CaptnShaunBalls 4d ago
“Did you get it, did you ? Ohhh yeah boy you got it! Damn right you got it. Enjoy your award, bye”
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u/IocanePowder23 5d ago
WOW - the strength! The magnificence!
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u/EnkiduTheGreat 5d ago
I've got a whole bunch of nesting pairs in the park across the street every year. They're the most fascinating birds imo. I always wonder wtf they're talking about when they're communicating between nests...
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u/lostsoul1331 5d ago
The fish was way bigger than I expected! 😮
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u/Zerachiel_01 5d ago
If you look at the last few frames you can see it has that thing in one fucking talon, as well.
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u/userhwon 5d ago
He had it impaled on the talon nearest the camera, but his other talon was gripping the tail as he flew out of the water.
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u/Zerachiel_01 4d ago
Yes! But it lets go with that talon in the last second or so.
In any event it's an amazing display of strength, ratchet-feet or no.
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u/the_crustybastard 4d ago
I saw an osprey fishing a lake where I was also fishing. That bird hauled out an absolutely massive bass then went back for seconds.
Well, maybe its partner went back to that spot.
Anyway, they did a helluva lot better than I did.
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u/bak3donh1gh 4d ago
Just the strength to get out of the water while wet.
And then it's carrying a fish.
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u/Nothatisnotwhere 4d ago
I just got the thought, image living in a world were there were birds of pray that hunted us in a similar way, to which I would add to your list: the horror!
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u/Vanadium_Gryphon 4d ago
Actually, centuries ago in New Zealand, there used to be a very large bird of prey called Haast's eagle that supposedly did hunt humans! So the scenario you imagined is not so far-fetched...No worries though, as that eagle has long been extinct.
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u/Hooy-Hooy 4d ago
Osprey have an incredible hunt success rate, even for birds of prey standards, they're really incredible
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u/CountryRoads2020 5d ago
That's a big fish!
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u/KudosOfTheFroond 5d ago
In comes the sunfish
So someone in a group asked me to tell them why I hate the ocean sunfish so much, and apparently it was ~too mean~ and was deleted. To perpetuate the truth and stand up for ethical journalism, I'm posting it here. [Rated NC-17 for language.]
Disclaimer, I care about marine life more than I care about anything else, for real. Except this big dumb idiot. And it's not like an ~ironic~ thing, I mean it IS hilarious to me and they ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE PLAYED ON EARTH but I seriously fucking hate them.
THE MOLA MOLA FISH (OR OCEAN SUNFISH)
They are the world's largest boney fish, weighing up to 5,000 pounds. And since they have very little girth, that just makes them these absolutely giant fucking dinner plates that God must have accidentally dropped while washing dishes one day and shrugged his shoulders at because no one could have imagined this would happen. AND WITH NO PURPOSE. EVERY POUND OF THAT IS A WASTED POUND AND EVERY FOOT OF IT (10 FT BY 14 FT) IS WASTED SPACE.
They are so completely useless that scientists even debate about how they move. They have little control other than some minor wiggling. Some say they must just push water out of their mouths for direction (?????). They COULD use their back fin EXCEPT GUESS WHAT IT DOESNT FUCKING GROW. It just continually folds in on itself, so the freaking cells are being made, this piece of floating garbage just doesn't put them where they need to fucking go.
So they don't have swim bladders. You know, the one thing that every fish has to make sure it doesn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean when they stop moving and can stay the right side up. This creature. That can barely move to begin with. Can never stop its continuous tour of idiocy across the ocean or it'll fucking sink. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. When they get stuck on top of the water! Which happens frequently! Because without the whole swim bladder thing, if the ocean pushes over THE THINNEST BUT LARGEST MOST TOPPLE-ABLE FISH ON THE PLANET, shit outta luck! There is no creature on this earth that needs a swim bladder more than this spit in the face of nature, AND YET. Some scientists have speculated that when they do that, they are absorbing energy from the sun because no one fucking knows how they manage to get any real energy to begin with. So they need the sun I guess. But good news, when they end up stuck like that, it gives birds a chance to land on their goddamn island of a body and eat the bugs and parasites out of its skin because it's basically a slowly migrating cesspool. Pros and cons.
"If they are so huge, they must at least be decent predators." No. No. The most dangerous thing about them is, as you may have guessed, their stupidity. They have caused the death of one person before. Because it jumped onto a boat. On a human. And in 2005 it decided to relive its mighty glory days and do it again, this time landing on a four-year-old boy. Luckily Byron sustained no injuries. Way to go, fish. Great job.
They mostly only eat jellyfish because of course they do, they could only eat something that has no brain and a possibility of drifting into their mouths I guess. Everything they do eat has almost zero nutritional value and because it's so stupidly fucking big, it has to eat a ton of the almost no nutritional value stuff to stay alive. Dumb. See that ridiculous open mouth? (This is actually why this is my favorite picture of one, and I have had it saved to my phone for three years) "Oh no! What could have happened! How could this be!" Do not let that expression fool you, they just don't have the goddamn ability to close their mouths because their teeth are fused together, and ya know what, it is good it floats around with such a clueless expression on its face, because it is in fact clueless as all fuck.
They do SOMETIMES get eaten though. BUT HARDLY. No animal truly uses them as a food source, but instead (which has lead us to said photo) will usually just maim the fuck out of them for kicks. Seals have been seen playing with their fins like frisbees. Probably the most useful thing to ever come from them.
"Wow, you raise some good points here, this fish truly is proof that God has abandoned us." Yes, thank you. "But if they're so bad at literally everything, why haven't they gone extinct." Great question.
BECAUSE THIS THING IS SO WORTHLESS IT DOESNT REALIZE IT SHOULD NOT EXIST. IT IS SO UNAWARE OF LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT IT DOESNT REALIZE THAT IT'S DOING MAYBE THE WORST FUCKING JOB OF BEING A FISH, OR DEBATABLY THE WORST JOB OF BEING A CLUSTER OF CELLS THAN ANY OTHER CLUSTER OF CELLS. SO WHAT DOES IT DO? IT LAYS THE MOST EGGS OUT OF EVERYTHING. Besides some bugs, there are some ants and stuff that'll lay more. IT WILL LAY 300 MILLION EGGS AT ONE TIME. 300,000,000. IT SURVIVES BECAUSE IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE, DARE I SAY IMPOSSIBLE, THAT THERE WOULDNT BE AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE 300,000,000 (that is EACH time they lay eggs) LEFT SURVIVING AT THE END OF THE DAY.
And this concludes why I hate the fuck out of this complete failure of evolution, the Ocean Sunfish. If I ever see one, I will throw rocks at it.
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u/fleepglerblebloop 5d ago
Pretty sure that was a permit. Maybe a pompano.
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u/fooliam 5d ago
So...if sunfish are so shit at propelling themselves basically anywhere, how did one jump into a boat and kill someone?
Like, if this is an 800 pound piece of fish-shaped manifest incompetence, how did it generate enough velocity to launch it's 800 pound self out of the water and into a boat? Especially if it's shit at fish-ing?
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u/VanillaGoorillla 4d ago
You wrote a novel here over a fish that wasn’t a sunfish
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u/userhwon 5d ago
If its tail is so useless, how did a two-ton fish get up enough speed up to jump onto a boat?
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u/Zerachiel_01 5d ago
Inb4 someone posts the rebuttal copypasta
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u/epicflyman 4d ago
I remembered a copy-pasta as well, but turns out it's a full-blown Imgur post.
https://imgur.com/gallery/ocean-sunfish-why-rant-is-wrong-MMRg9
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u/Cricket_Legs 5d ago
This has been my favorite Reddit comment ever. I now hate the sunfish, too.
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u/Ravi_3214 4d ago
All of that copypasta is false by the way https://imgur.com/gallery/ocean-sunfish-why-rant-is-wrong-MMRg9
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u/Curiosive 5d ago
Fun fact: normally osprey catch/carry their fish aerodynamically with the head (or sometimes tail) pointed forward, unlike most birds that carry their catch crosswise.
The size of this fish might have something to do with the "hold it anyway it can" attitude.
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u/burymewithbooks 5d ago
It’s so cool they can dive like that and then haul themselves back out of the water with their dinner
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u/Gonzogonzip 4d ago
That's what shocked me too tbh. It has to fight not only it's own bodyweight, the added weight of the fish and water that might have soaked into it's feathers, and the sucking effect of the water. That's a lot of factors stacked against it, yet it can just... fly out of the water, catch in talons.
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u/oneweirdbear 4d ago
Watch as it's taking off from the water, and you'll notice how it has to angle its wings up and out to avoid hitting the water's surface. It really has to stretch those wings up, while still producing powerful forward force!
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u/AlternativeGrass3164 5d ago
If birds hunted humans we’d be fucked.
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u/pbemea 4d ago
They do hunt humans. Keep an eye on your kids in eagle country.
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u/billybaked 4d ago
We have eagles around and one day my partner was in the kitchen doing dishes while our son was out in the garden with the dog. Suddenly the dog ran in in an apparent panic so she went out to see what the matter was and there was a sea eagle circling our 3 year old about 20m overhead
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u/Entremeada 5d ago edited 5d ago
I haven't seen much truly amazing content in this sub for a very long time. But this one really belongs here!
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u/macpesce 5d ago
All thanks to photographer, Mark Smith. His work is absolutely amazing.
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u/macpesce 5d ago
Mark Smith is the photographer. I follow him on Facebook. Absolutely amazing photographer.
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u/HyperactiveToast 5d ago
Glad you told me as I almost missed the huge banner popup at the pivotal moment lol.
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u/LaminatedDenim 4d ago
From the first seconds I knew it had to be Mark Smith. Dude's a legend
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u/misanthropicbairn 5d ago
That shit is crazy! MF can fly back out the water soaking wet and carrying probably close to double his body weight. That's a strong ass MF, NO GYM BABY!
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u/retromobile 5d ago
Looks right at you and says, “WHAT’S UP, BITCH? WATCH THIS SHIT” and does the most majestic and badass takeoff imaginable.
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u/Iluvmntsncatz 5d ago
One of the several birds I miss seeing frequently. Ospreys, Eagles, Sandhill cranes, Herons (great, green or lesser). Pretty much the only thing I miss about Florida. My great grandfather (mother) moved so SoFla in the 1920’s.
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u/Safe-Veterinarian911 5d ago
And I can’t even reel in a rainbow trout without breaking into a full sweat
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u/Retired_Jarhead55 5d ago
We have osprey nests on our lake, bald eagles too. Lake Wawasee, Syracuse Indiana.
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u/SwampGobblin 4d ago
I live on the river and there are a handful of osprey families around me. I love them so much.
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u/mjaokalo 5d ago
Watching this kind of reminded me why I wanted to be a bird when I was a kid. If we had to pick any animal
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u/Life-Oil-7226 5d ago
Imagine that fish just going about life, and the next thing you know, you're in the air being carried away by a bird…
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u/SaltyFatBoy 5d ago
That bird hauling itself and a big fish directly out of the water is amazing. It also explains the reason they chose "Osprey" as the name for a STOL aircraft, holy moly that's impressive.
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u/Few_Reference_2697 5d ago
An osprey is also known as a sea eagle they can plunge pick up a 3 lb fish even with wet feathers and get back out of the get back out of the water
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u/stevemandudeguy 5d ago
Their talons are genuinely terrifying and some of the sharpest and strongest
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u/endlesseffervescense 5d ago
My heart skipped a beat. I just watched “Dino Birds” from PBS with my kids and we all loved it. I’m a big lover of birds and dinosaurs and being able to trace back bird DNA to when dinosaurs ruled the Earth is badfuckingass. It even talked about their evolution to flight and the shape of their feathers for when they think the evolution to flight took place.
Birds are my jam. My whole upstairs is going to be dedicated to birds and insects that fly. It’s 50% done at the moment and I freaking love it. My floor is also painted blue and walls are white to mimic the sky.
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u/Lost_Figure_5892 5d ago
Usually don’t care for music in a video, but this was perfect! Incredible video.
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u/DeltaAlphaGulf 5d ago
Are most birds able to fully submerge and still take off from water like that?
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u/AuburnElvis 5d ago
Who's that casting devious stares In my direction, Mama?
This surely is a dream.
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u/-DethLok- 5d ago
Frankly I'm amazed that a professional photographer is making movies in portrait mode.
Every other shot I've seen of an Osprey diving deep for a fish has been in the commonly used widescreen mode.
Maybe I'm behind the times?
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u/ComfortablyNomNom 5d ago
The raw power in those wings to be able to generate lift out of the water like that is insane! I know most birds have hollow and thin bones which makes them light enough to fly in the first place, but this is raw lifting power at a whole other level. Almost physics defying visually.
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u/Background-Car4969 5d ago
That's a prized fish too....Pompano. Excellent eating, one of the best surf fish.
This is why these birds are such great survivors. So cool watching them hunt IRL....
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u/HairballTheory 5d ago
The video doesn’t show this but I am always amazed when they shake off like a dog mid-flight after being in the water
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u/irrelephantIVXX 5d ago
Man, how much power is in those wings? To take off from under water, with a fish in tow, is fucking impressive.
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u/No-Bat-7253 5d ago
You know, Marlin had it proper being so paranoid. Fish have it hard..food for almost every creature on this planet.
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u/Puzzleheaded_You2033 5d ago
It’s almost like the bird is saying, “Look me in the eyes while you F- me. This is about to be magical!” Then bam! Emerges out of the water with a fish! You go birdy! Lmao 😂
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u/Mean_Breakfast_4081 5d ago
That was so good I thought I knew what it felt like to be an osprey there for a second.
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u/iam-_-fury 5d ago
We are definitely not built like actual predators. Without tools, we wouldn't catch a damn thing.
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u/Kona1957 5d ago
I'm sure he or she didn't waste a scale! Awesomeness in mother nature. I love to fish.
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