How to Identify aOsprey
Pandion haliaetus · 21–23 in (54–58 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Dark brown above, clean white below, with a bold dark stripe through the eye and a white crown. Sexes look similar.
Female
Like the male but usually with a heavier brown "necklace" of streaking across the chest.
Male photo: Chuck Homler / Focus On Wildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Bengt Nyman / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- Clean white underparts and a white head with a dark eye-stripe
- Wings kinked at the wrist into a shallow M shape in flight
- Dark carpal patches at the bend of each underwing
- Hovers over water then dives feet-first
Similar species
What it sounds like
A series of loud, high, whistled "kyew-kyew-kyew" notes, sounding almost plaintive.
Behaviour that gives it away
Carries fish head-forward, turning the catch to face into the wind to cut drag, and has reversible outer toes for gripping.
Habitat & range
Lakes, rivers, reservoirs, estuaries and coasts across North America, nesting on platforms, poles and dead trees.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is a summer visitor that arrives to breed and a passage migrant, seen mainly in spring and autumn.
What it eats
Almost entirely live fish, caught by diving feet-first.
Did you know?
Its outer toe is reversible and its foot pads are covered in tiny spines, letting it grip slippery fish with two toes in front and two behind.
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