Saturday, July 30, 2022

Osprey (Searsport, Maine)

Pandion haliaetus

We see ospreys every day here…many times they are carrying a fish. We hear them calling back and forth often. Chicks are fledging from the local nests now.

When looking for something new to learn about this species, I found the following:

This species is also know as a Fish Hawk, which makes sense as fish make up most of their diet. Osprey have been known to successfully capture and carry off fish that weighs up to 4.5 lbs!

They are usually around 24 inches long with a wingspan of over 70 inches. There is a slight size difference between males and females, with males being slimmer.

They mature at around 4 years of age and are the second most widely distributed raptor species.

There is some debate on the number of species in their genus. Some sources list one species with four sub-species, whereas others list a population in Australia as a separate species rather than one of the four sub-species.

Unlike most hawks, the osprey has toes that are all of equal length.

They have excellent eyesight and can spot fish from over 100 feet in the air, often hovering in place before they dive at astonishing speed to capture them.

When in flight, they have a “gull-like drop” to the tips of their wings. This and the distinctive face markings make them fairly easy to ID.