Blog# 352 A Bird of Many Names, Many Nations
‘Fair, fair,’ cry the Ospreys, courtesy of Andy Morffew.
关雎 Guān jū
‘Fair, fair,’ cry the Ospreys
On the island in the river.
Lovely is this noble lady,
Fit bride for our lord.
The distinctive cry of Ospreys fa-air, fa-air, transcends this excerpt from a 2,500 year old traditional wedding poem from the Shih Ching (Book of Songs). This love poem is memorized by virtually every Chinese student. Depending on where you are in the world, the bird above is called an Osprey, a Fish Hawk, a River Hawk, a Sea Hawk, or even a Fish Eagle, and those are only some of its many English common names! Since Ospreys have a world-wide distribution, you’ll find names for Ospreys in countless languages. Scientists, however, stick to one name, derived from Latin, to describe this magnificent species. The North American Osprey’s scientific name is Pandion haliaetus carolinensis.
The Osprey’s genus, Pandion, is derived from a mythical king of Athens, Pandion, whose daughters were turned into a swallow and a hawk and his son was transformed into an Osprey. The species name, haliaetus, from the Greek halos (“sea”) and aetos (“eagle”), is a misnomer. Fish-hawk seems to be the most appropriate name as Ospreys are the only raptors that exclusively eat live fish.
The etymological tracings of Osprey are disputed and its origins obscure. The English name Osprey was thought to stem from Old French "ospreit" around 1460, which comes from the Latin "avis praedae," a generic term for raptor. Avis praedae became associated with Ospreys in Old French based on the similarity of its sound with the Latin word ossifrage ("bone-breaker” coined by Pliny the Elder). The “bone breaker” is an Old World bearded vulture capable of swallowing and digesting quantities of bones.
By the way, the American football team, the Seattle’s Seahawks, has little to do with actual Ospreys—the name Seahawk is misspelt, the logo is based on an eagle, and their mascot is an Osprey imposter from Africa. The team’s logo is loosely based on a Kwakwaka’wakw tribe’s transformation mask from British Columbia, which shows an eagle transforming into a human when the mask is opened.
Seattle’s Seahawks logo on helmut (left) and the Kwakwaka’wakw
transformation mask, courtesy of the Burke Museum.
The team mascot, a “seahawk,” flies out into the stadium at each home game. However, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prohibits the use of a native bird, such as an Osprey, for commercial purposes, so the Seahawks imported and trained an African Augur hawk (Buteo augur), an Osprey look-alike, named Taima.
Ospreys live on every continent except Antarctica. Most subspecies of raptors are quite distinctive; for example, the bald eagle, golden eagle, Spanish imperial eagle, and other
eagles look very different from one another. All Ospreys, on the other hand, have a very similar appearance—an Osprey is unmistakable, no matter where on the globe you go.
World-wide distribution of Osprey Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, courtesy of ospreyteller.com.
Spanish names for Osprey are gavilán pescador or “fishing hawk” and “águilas pescadoras” or “fish eagle.” The French translation, balbusard pêcheur or “bald buzzard fisherman,” is a reference to their prowess as aerial anglers. Below is your guide to asking “Where can I find Ospreys” are all over the world.
Phrase Book
Spanish: ¿Dónde puedo encontrar ... águilas pescadoras?
French : Où puis-je trouver ... des balbuzards pêcheur?
German: Wo sind ... die Fischadler?
Portuguese Onde encontro osprey?
Icelandic: Hvar get ég fundið Ospreys?
English: Got Osprey?
Osprey Dictionary
Eyes to the sky!
and be kind to one another.
Candace
Candace E. Cornell
Friends of Salt Point
Cayuga Osprey Network
Lansing, NY
cec222@gmail.com
EYES ON OSPREYS
WATCH!
Salt Point Osprey Nest Cam 2021
READ!
On Osprey Time—A Blog on the Ospreys of Salt Point
VISIT!
Cayuga Lake Osprey Trail
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