Often called Fisher Hawk, white body plumage covers its breast, throat, and thighs. A dark mask surrounds its eyes, reddish/brown feathers cover its back and wings. Roughly twenty-four inches tall, its wings span five and six feet, a mid-sized but very efficient raptor.

Feeding almost exclusively on live fish, small mammals, and crustaceans, these winged hunters have extremely sharp eyesight and can distinguish between a six-inch fish and a six-inch stick lying in the water from hundreds of feet in the air. Ospreys always nest near water, and follow the waterways when migrating as well. This raptor species exists on every continent except Antarctica, although about seventy-five percent of breeding pairs worldwide nest in North America, and about half of those in the United States.

Ospreys lay from two to five eggs that hatch five to six weeks later. The young stay on the nest about two months, and then begin learning to fly and hunt. At four to six months, the northern ospreys migrate south for the winter. Osprey pairs do not migrate together, but often return to the same nest and the same partner during the mating season, although if a pair nests unsuccessfully for several years, they often separate and seek new mates.

Hovering above a body of water, an osprey spots fish swimming beneath the surface, then dive feet first into the water, grabbing the prey with powerful talons. It flies back to its nest or a perch, and eats or shares with its mate and young.

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•