Osprey

The osprey was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus under the name Falco haliaetus in his 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Europe, but in 1761, he restricted the locality to Sweden. The osprey is the only extant species placed in the genus Pandion that was introduced by French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. The genus is the sole member of the family Pandionidae. The osprey is unusual in that it is a sole living species that occurs nearly worldwide. Even the few subspecies are not unequivocally separable. Generally, four subspecies are recognised, although differences are small, and ITIS lists only the first three. • P. h. haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758) – the Eurasian osprey is the nominate subspecies that occurs across the Palearctic realm and several parts of sub-Saharan Africa from the Azores and the Iberian Peninsula east to Japan and Kamchatka Peninsula, throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Madagascar, and much of the African coastline. Another Pandionidae claw fossil was recovered from Early Oligocene deposits in the Mainz basin, Germany, and was described in 2006 by Gerald Mayr. == Etymology ==

The genus name Pandion derives from Pandíōn , the mythical Greek king of Athens and grandfather of Theseus, Pandion II. The species name haliaetus () comes from Greek haliáetos "sea-eagle" (also haliaietos) from the combining form hali- of hals "sea" and aetos, "eagle". The origins of "osprey" are obscure; the word itself was first recorded around 1460, derived via the Anglo-French ospriet and the Medieval Latin avis prede "bird of prey," from the Latin avis praedae though the Oxford English Dictionary notes a connection with the Latin ossifraga or "bone breaker" of Pliny the Elder. However, this term referred to the bearded vulture. ==Description==

, Hamilton, Ontario The osprey differs in several respects from other diurnal birds of prey. Its toes are of equal length, its tarsi are reticulated, and its talons are rounded, rather than grooved. The osprey and owls are the only raptors whose outer toes are reversible, allowing them to grasp their prey with two toes in front and two behind. This is particularly helpful when they grab slippery fish. A short tail and long, narrow wings with four long, finger-like feathers, and a shorter fifth, give it a very distinctive appearance. The sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by his slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of the male is also weaker than that of the female or is nonexistent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. Determining the sex in a breeding pair is straightforward, but harder with individual birds. The juvenile osprey may be identified by buff fringes to the plumage of the upperparts, a buff tone to the underparts, and streaked feathers on the head. During spring, barring on the underwings and flight feathers is a better indicator of a young bird, due to wear on the upperparts. In flight, the osprey has arched wings and drooping "hands", giving it a gull-like appearance. The call is a series of sharp whistles, described as cheep, cheep, or yewk, yewk. If disturbed by activity near the nest, the call is a frenzied cheereek! File:Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, 2015-5997 (cropped).jpg|Eurasian osprey (P. h. haliaetus) File:P. h. carolinensis Wing Pattern.jpg|American osprey (P. h. carolinensis) File:Pandion haliaetus ridgwayi 360420053 (cropped).jpg|Caribbean osprey (P. h. ridgwayi) File:Osprey-Pandion cristatus (cropped).jpg|Australasian osprey (P. h. cristatus) ==Distribution and habitat==

attempting to steal a fish it caught; in Colorado The osprey is the second-most widely distributed raptor species, after the peregrine falcon, and is one of only six land birds with a worldwide distribution. It 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 Great Britain, though not Iceland, and winters in North Africa. In Australia, it is mainly sedentary and found patchily around the coastline, though it is a nonbreeding visitor to eastern Victoria and Tasmania. A gap, corresponding with the coast of the Nullarbor Plain, occurs between its westernmost breeding site in South Australia and the nearest breeding sites to the west in Western Australia. In the islands of the Pacific, it is found in the Bismarck Islands, Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia, and fossil remains of adults and juveniles have been found in Tonga, where it probably was wiped out by arriving humans. It may once have ranged across Vanuatu and Fiji, as well. It is an uncommon to fairly common winter visitor to all parts of South Asia, and Southeast Asia from Myanmar to Indochina and southern China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. ==Behaviour and ecology==

Diet The osprey is piscivorous, with fish making up 99% of its diet. The species rarely scavenges dead or dying fish. Occasionally, the osprey may prey on rodents, rabbits, hares, other mammals, snakes, turtles, frogs, birds, salamanders, conchs, and crustaceans. File:Osprey with Rainbow Trout.jpg|American osprey with rainbow trout File:Osprey Fish Nictitating.png|American osprey with American gizzard shad File:Pandion haliaetus -San Francisco Bay, California, USA-head-8 (2).jpg|American osprey with scraps of fish on its beak File:WesternOsprey (cropped).jpg|Eurasian osprey feeding on a fish in Kartung, the Gambia: Characteristically, its tongue often pokes out whilst swallowing food. Adaptations The osprey has several adaptations that suit its piscivorous lifestyle. These include reversible outer toes, Reproduction The osprey breeds near freshwater lakes and rivers, and sometimes on coastal brackish waters. Rocky outcrops just offshore are used in Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia, where 14 or so similar nesting sites are known, of which five to seven are used in any one year. Many are renovated each season, and some have been used for 70 years. The nest is a large heap of sticks, driftwood, turf, or seaweed built in forks of trees, rocky outcrops, utility poles, artificial platforms, or offshore islets. Generally, ospreys reach sexual maturity and begin breeding around the age of three to four, though in some regions with high osprey densities, such as Chesapeake Bay in the United States, they may not start breeding until five to seven years old, and a shortage of suitable tall structures may exist. If no nesting sites are available, young ospreys may be forced to delay breeding. To ease this problem, posts are sometimes erected to provide more sites suitable for nest building. The newly hatched chicks weigh only , but fledge in 8–10 weeks. A study on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, had an average time between hatching and fledging of 69 days. The same study found an average of 0.66 young fledged per year per occupied territory, and 0.92 young fledged per year per active nest. Some 22% of surviving young either remained on the island or returned at maturity to join the breeding population. File:Pandion haliaetus MWNH 0705.JPG|Egg, collection of the Museum Wiesbaden File:Osprey chicks at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. (5343668960).jpg|Hatchling chicks File:Osprey Chicks (26177677892) (cropped).jpg|5 week old chicks File:Osprey Fledgling (16995065659) (cropped).jpg|Fledgling juvenile File:Pandion haliaetus -San Francisco Bay, California, USA -head-8.jpg|Adult Migration European breeders winter in Africa. Mortality Swedish ospreys have a significantly higher mortality rate during migration seasons than during stationary periods, with more than half of the total annual mortality occurring during migration. These deaths can also be categorized into spatial patterns: Spring mortality occurs mainly in Africa, which can be traced to crossing the Sahara. Mortality can also occur through mishaps with human utilities, such as nesting near overhead electric cables or collisions with aircraft. ==Predation==

In Florida, ospreys may be eaten by some growth stage of invasive snakes such as Burmese pythons, reticulated pythons, Southern African rock pythons, Central African rock pythons, boa constrictors, yellow anacondas, Bolivian anacondas, dark-spotted anacondas, and green anacondas. ==Conservation==

The osprey has a large range, covering in just Africa and the Americas, and has a large global population estimated at 460,000 individuals. Although global population trends have not been quantified, the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and for these reasons, the species is evaluated as least concern. In South Australia, nesting sites on the Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island are vulnerable to unmanaged coastal recreation and encroaching urban development. ==Cultural depictions==

Literature • Roman writer Pliny the Elder reported that parent ospreys made their young fly up to the sun as a test and dispatched any that failed. "Seahawks", another term for osprey, is also common among sports teams. The Seattle Seahawks, a professional American football team in the National Football League, received their identity from a naming contest, defeating 1,740 others. According to team general manager John Thompson, the name "shows aggressiveness, reflects our soaring Northwest heritage, and belongs to no other major league team." Other So-called "osprey" plumes were an important item in the plume trade of the late 19th century and used in hats including those used as part of the army uniform. Despite their name, these plumes were actually obtained from egrets. A compromise was reached in SCR 18, which was passed on the last day of the session, designating the western meadowlark as the state songbird and the osprey as the state raptor. == See also ==