More About Osprey
While osprey are plentiful in many areas of the United States, their return to the rivers and lakes of northern New Mexico, after a long absence, has been exciting for both local residents and birders from around the country.
Osprey [pandion haliaetus] are large, eagle like, fish eating birds that live near water and build large stick nests on the tops of trees, power poles, and other high places. Sometimes called fish hawks, sea hawks, or fish eagles, osprey are in the same scientific order as hawks and eagles. Osprey can be found on every continent except Antarctica and their fossil remains date back 13 million years.
Standing two feet tall and weighing up to four and a half pounds with a wingspan of six feet, the osprey is often mistaken for an eagle, but an osprey’s wing is narrower and curves backward at its wrist, like the wing of a gull. The osprey also sports a smooth forehead, unlike its cousin the eagle, and the dark carpal patch on the underside of each wing is an easy-to-spot identifying trait. There is very little difference in the dress of the male and female osprey. A female is slightly larger and usually wears a darker necklace of speckles across her white chest.
Identification Tips
Length: 22 inches
Wingspan: 72 inches
Large, narrow-winged hawk; wings taper to a rounded tip
Brown tail has a number of white bands
Flies on flat wings with distinct kink at elbow; hovers and then plunges into water after fish
White chin, throat, breast and belly; short hooked beak
White cap with dark brown eyeliner broadening behind eye
Dark brown nape, back and upper wings
Wings from below: flight feathers white barred with black, under secondary coverts white and under primary coverts black producing rectangular black mark at wrist
Adult male: Under parts entirely white
Adult female: Dark necklace of streaks on throat
Immature bird: White tips to dark back feathers
An osprey is a raptor. A raptor is a bird of prey with specially-adapted talons and beak, and generally hunts and captures live food while in flight. The term "raptor" is derived from the Latin word "rapere" (meaning to seize or take by force) and may refer informally to all birds of prey, or specifically to the diurnal group.
