10/09/2026
Sometimes you don’t realise what you’ve photographed until afterwards.
Very early yesterday morning in Hervey Bay, I spotted this beautiful osprey sitting in a tree opposite our hotel balcony.
I started taking photos, and then another osprey appeared. And then appeared again. And again.
At the time I couldn’t quite work out what was going on. I wondered whether I was witnessing some sort of courtship behaviour. It wasn’t until I went back through the photos that the story became a little clearer.
The second osprey seemed to be busy delivering sticks and nesting material — although his (?) construction technique could perhaps use some work. 😂 More than once, his carefully collected contribution seemed to end up on the other osprey rather than in the tree, before promptly falling out again.
Off he’d go to find another piece, while his companion remained patiently in place.
Eventually he retired to a nearby tree… where even an osprey wasn’t big enough to escape the attention of a very determined little noisy miner.
I thought I was simply photographing an osprey in a tree. Instead, I seem to have captured a little chapter in the preparations for a future family.
Have you ever taken a photo and only realised afterwards what was actually happening?
Joy Retold by Jodie