On Osprey Time

  Fledgling female Osprey with a catfish, courtesy of Cindy and Karel Sedlacek. The Osprey ( Pandion haliaetus ) is unmistakable when flying across Cayuga Lake with crooked-wings and when performing its spectacular plunge dive after fish. Yet this graceful apex predator is often confused with a few local look-alikes.  AVIAN DOPPELGÄNGERS Many birders have trouble identifying Ospreys in flight when they only get a glimpse of a moving bird without time to note field marks. Ospreys are often confused with bald eagles, red-tail hawks, and large gulls. Second-year bald eagles are often mistaken for Ospreys, especially when they are testing out an Osprey nest early in the year. Depending on their position and the lighting, the eagle’s undersides can easily resemble that of an Osprey except for two features—the feet and wingspread. The eagle’s feet are bright yellow compared to the Osprey’s white feet with dark talons. More noticeable is the size difference between the species. Alth...

“HELLO AGAIN, IT’S ME! LOOKING FOR MY NEST.” A female Osprey returning on migration and holding with her wings in the typical “M” shape, courtesy of Andy Morffew. All over Central and South America and the Caribbean, North American Ospreys ( Pandion haliaetus ) are preparing for their northward marathon spring migrations to their breeding grounds thousands of miles away. A host of environmental cues, such as changes in day length, higher ambient temperatures, changes in the food supplies, and genetic predisposition may all trigger the overwhelming urge to migrate but that story is still being written. For now, our North American Ospreys have a few more days left in their winter vacations.  For years people wondered what Ospreys did when they disappeared for the winter. Identification bands on a dead Osprey’s leg revealed the bird’s birth records but did not describe its activities. What is known about the winter ecology of Ospreys comes from information received from the satellite...