Osprey On It's Nest
by Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Title
Osprey On It's Nest
Artist
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
The osprey or more specifically the western osprey (Pandion haliaetus) — also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk — is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upper parts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts.
The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.
As its other common names suggest, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion and family, Pandionidae. Three subspecies are usually recognized, one of the former subspecies cristatus has recently been given full species status and is referred to as the Eastern osprey. Despite its propensity to nest near water, the osprey is not classed as a sea eagle.
The osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after the peregrine falcon. It has a worldwide distribution and is found in temperate and tropical regions of all continents except Antarctica. In North America it breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to the Gulf Coast and Florida, wintering further south from the southern United States through to Argentina. It is found in summer throughout Europe north into Ireland, Scandinavia, Finland and Scotland, England, and Wales though not Iceland, and winters in North Africa. In Australia it is mainly sedentary and found patchily around the coastline, though it is a non-breeding visitor to eastern Victoria and Tasmania.
FEATURED 1/5/17 in "FAA Portrait Gallery"
FEATURED 1/6/18 in "Kingdom Animalia"
FEATURED 1/8/18 in "FAA Portraits - Birds"
FEATURED 1/9/18 in "Wild Birds Of The World"
FEATURED 1/9/18 in "Animal Photographs"
Uploaded
January 4th, 2018
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