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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

When I was out for my morning walk along the West Bay Walkway a few days ago I noticed a couple of gulls harassing what seemed to be a third gull. As they came nearer though I realized that the third bird was not a gull but perhaps some kind of hawk. This was a little exciting since I seldom see hawks or raptors of any kind along the West Bay Walkway. By the time I fumbled my camera into position the gulls had driven this mystery bird beyond range. However, a few minutes later the raptor re-appeared and cruised right overhead, allowing me to take the above shot and make a good identification when I returned home. This is an Osprey (Pandion heliaetus), often called "Fish Hawk" since they live exclusively on fish they catch by diving down onto them from considerable height. They are not rare on this coast although they are not generally seen in my neighbourhood. For many years their numbers were in decline but since the banning of DDT they have begun to recover.

5 comments:

JoJo said...

There are some osprey here but I have yet to see one. The town in which i live, Buzzards Bay, is so named because early settlers misidentified osprey as buzzards. The osprey is the bird logo for the Seattle Seahawks too.

Stefan Jansson said...

We see a lot of "fiskgjusar" during the warm period of the year. Great snap here.

Stephanie said...

Great shot!

Mike Laplante said...

"This was a little exciting since I seldom see hawks or raptors of any kind along the West Bay Walkway."

We get LOTS of them around Swan Lake, hawks and some truly large bald eagles. Sometimes they are over our neighbourhood park and I'm pretty sure they would make a play for some of the small dogs if it wasn't for their owners nearby. I think it also explains why there are so few cats in the neighbourhood.

Last year I watched an eagle grab a seagull over the lake, took over to my neighbour's tree, then proceeded to pluck and eat it live. Nature is harsh...

At this time of year, they are often harassed by the more nimble crows protecting their nests. It's quite the display... the crows will mercilessly attack their wings in an effort to knock them out of the sky. There is little the larger birds can do and they usually shove off after awhile.

William Kendall said...

A magnificent bird.