An Osprey Family Album (continued)

Changing Chick Profile    ( Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 )

• The Ospreys is also known by several other names:  fish eagle, fish hawk, fishing eagle and sea hawk (scientific name Pandion haliaetus). 
• The Osprey is often placed by taxonomists in it own family, Pandionidae.
• Their length varies from 21 to 24 1/2 inches and wingspan from 54 to 72 inches.  (The female is larger than the male).
• Weight is about 3 or 4 pounds.  (They carry fish up to 4 pounds or more).
• The oldest known Osprey was 32 year old.
• They eat, almost exclusively, fish.
• Female lays 2 to 4 eggs -- usually 3.
• Eggs are incubated for 32 to 43 days depending on the part of the world.
• The young make their first flight 48 to 59 days after hatching and can return to their nest, though awkwardly.
• The same nests can be used for decades and may weigh up to half a ton.
• Some young Ospreys return to their birth place when they're two years old.
• Ospreys don't breed until age three.
• Although one of the most widely distributed birds in the world, the Osprey is not common.  It is listed as "uncommon" in North American and "uncommon during the summer months" in Utah.

   
Photos and text by Milt Moody
Copyright 2003 © Milton G. Moody – All Rights Reserved