The Fisherman

©2010 Bill Werle

Acrylic on canvas – 22 x 26

I’m lucky enough to live in an area where the Osprey thrives. With the numerous lakes and rivers we have the population is abundant. We have an active nest about two stones throw away from our house due to our close proximity to the river.

I once had the pleasure of having an osprey dive and catch a trout 40 – 50 feet off the bow of my canoe. Fantastic graceful birds of prey. Having said that when they hit that water it’s a furious explosion of raw nature at it’s finest. They stream line themselves and hit that water full force with claws outstretched to grab that fish.

So this one this particular day the osprey was circling above the bay at the end of the lake we were fishing. It was sunny, the red winged blackbirds were chattering back and forth with the occasional burp from a frog or two. Suddenly the Osprey hovered, he was locked on to his next meal, and then whoosh. He dropped into a dive no more then 20 yards off the front of the canoe. It was so quick, then sploosh in he went and immediately pooped back up, flapping, struggling to break free of the water and then he was airborne. A nice 14 inch rainbow trout in his talons he flew off to his nest. Awe inspiring….