Magnifient Birds of the Barrier Beaches

OSPREY

Save the Beaches Fund has erected, funded and/or facilitated many osprey nesting platforms on the barrier islands and the mainland south shore. There is an affinity between the Save the Beaches folks and the Osprey. Sometimes called a “fish hawk”,the Osprey is related to other birds of prey like hawks, eagles, vultures and falcons but it is the only member of its family, pandionidae.

	Osprey Proud, Independent, Gracious, Fluid
New Life Osprey at Gilgo, June of 06 Fishermen, Skydivers, Fish Hawks

BODY
Ospreys run about 2 feet in length.
They have a wing span from 4.5 to 5.5 feet and weigh from 2 to 4 pounds.
They have long legs and powerful talons.
They hold their slender wings in a shallow “M” shape while flying, generally with slow and deep wingbeats.
The osprey’s voice is a clear staccato, whistled and sounding like one of 3 sounds depending on the situation.
1. “chewk-chewk-chewk”
2. a throaty “guk-guk-guk”
3. a squealing repeated “shriek-shriek-shriek”.

FEATHERS
Ospreys have brown plumage and white undersides.
Their heads are mostly white with a black patch across the eye.
They have a black patch also at each of their wrist joints.

BABIES
Ospreys reach their sexual maturity at 3 years.
Females lay 2 to 4 eggs which are creamy white in color with reddish brown blotches.
The incubation period is about 38 days with the female doing most of the sitting.
The male will take over the incubation so the female can eat a few times a day.
Fed only by its mother, with about 6 pounds of fish caught each day by the father.
The chick fledges in 50 days or so.
Before taking its first flight a chick will spend days jumping up and down and exercising its wings. 

DATING
The male osprey “displays” during breeding season
to attract a mate or to strengthen his bond with his established mate.
He rapidly flies up 1,000 feet or more carrying a fish in his talons.
Then he hovers briefly displaying the fish to the female before diving with his wings folded.
This scene is generally played out several times.

HOME
Breeding pairs of ospreys build their nests on treetops, rocky heights or any sizable elevated area which can support the large construction of sticks and debris.  Utility poles were favored by ospreys and at one time the power companies destroyed the nests as soon as they were built.

Now, enlightened power companies assist in the erection of platforms on poles away from power lines.

Occasionally an osprey pair will select a ground level site but by the time the nest is built up it’s off the ground by several feet.

A pair generally returns to the same nest and adds more material each year.  The materials used to fill in the nest of sticks and twigs can be anything from plastic bags to metal containers to roofing shingles.  Generally it is meticulously woven together and bonded with wet grass and mud clumps. 

HOMELAND
Ospreys are migratory,
generally breeding in the northern hemisphere and “wintering” in the southern hemisphere.
Florida and coastal Australia have year-round resident ospreys.
Some ospreys are solitary except when breeding and some can be found in loose groups.
The life expectancy of an osprey is 15 to 20 years.
The oldest recorded osprey is 32 years.

FOOD
The osprey feeds mainly on fish caught in surface water.
It flies 50 to 100 feet above the water  until it sees a fish.
Its white underside makes it difficult for fish to see it against the sky.
The osprey dives with its wings swept back.
Just before it hits the water it thrusts its feet forward and grabs the fish in its talons.
Sometimes it goes completely underwater.
Although rare, an osprey has been known to catch two fish in one dive.

SPECIAL FEATURES
The curved talons and small hooks on the soles of its feet help the osprey catch and maintain a firm grip on its slippery prey as it flys back to its perch to eat.
Its large outer toes can turn forward or backward, like those of an owl, improving its grip.
Since the osprey seizes its prey as it is swimming away, it usually carries it aligned head first using both feet.
This position also reduces the wind resistance in flight.

DANGERS
The fish in tow can be as large as its captor, so the osprey’s flying speed is sometimes slowed and larger birds may chase the osprey in an attempt to steal the catch.

Rare, but known to have happened, is an osprey being dragged underwater and drowned by a large fish that has been too well gripped. The Opsrey underestimated the size and strength of the fish and could not let go.

CURRENT SITUATION
In the third quarter of the last century ospreys suffered from pesticide poisoning in North America.  Chemicals like DDT, which were used to kill pests, ended up in lakes and bays and eventually built up in the fish that ospreys ate.

These chemicals did not kill the ospreys directly but thinned their shells, thereby making them so fragile that they were easily broken and many osprey nests produced no young.  The osprey numbers fell drastically.

With the outlawing of the offending pesticides and organizations like Save the Beaches providing nesting platforms in selected locations, the osprey population is bouncing back.

So, come over to the barrier beaches and watch these cool birds live their lives, you will see some very neats battles over fish is the sky around their nests.

Check out OSPREY History in our area!

PLEASE!
Preserve and Protect our Beaches.

Thanks to Sallie Phillips, 2 / 2001

@ 2006 Save the Beaches Fund, Inc.

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