Osprey |
|
|
Description
|
21-24". W.4'6"-6'. A large. long-winged "fish hawk." Brown above and white below; head white with dark line through eye and on side of face. Wing shows distinctive bend at the "wrist." At a distance, can resemble a gull. |
|
Voice
|
Loud, musical chirping.
|
|
Habitat
|
Lakes, rives and seacoasts.
|
|
Nesting
|
2-4 white, pink, or buff eggs, blotched with brown, in
a bulky mass of sticks and debris placed in a tree, on a telephone pole,
on rocks, or on flat ground.
|
|
Other
|
Ospreys search for fish
by flying and hovering over the water, watching the surface below. When
prey is sighted, an Osprey dives steeply, its talons outspread, and splashes
into the water. It quickly resurfaces and, if it has made a catch, flies
off, adjusting the fish in its claws so that the head is pointed forward.
Ospreys declined drastically because of pesticides during the 1950's and
1960's, but since then they have made a comeback and are nesting again
in areas from which they had disappeared.
|