Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The Osprey, a Beautiful Bird


Ospreys are birds of prey, or raptors, so-called in reference to their powerful, taloned feet, which they use to grab and grip prey to carry aloft. These birds are frequently called sea hawks or sea eagles because they typically live in coastal or wooded areas around either salt water or fresh water. This is because they mainly eat fish, which they catch by diving down to the surface of the water and snatching up with their strong, taloned feet. They are found in all parts of the world except for Antartica.

The birds are a lot like eagles, with bodies about two feet in length but wingspans up to six feet, which is longer than MY wingspan (for the record, a human's outstretched arms, finger-to-fingertip, almost always equals their height, so if you're shorter than six feet tall, the osprey's probably got you beat)!

Image of osprey from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/en/bird-osprey-flying-wildlife-nature-1067888/