Osprey In Spring

by Brian Wallace

Title

Osprey In Spring

Artist

Brian Wallace

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

I captured an Osprey in my own locust tree at home on White's Cove in Pasadena, Maryland. It had a partner that was near the top of the tree. (Spring 5-10-22). The photo also displays a nice bokeh effect.

Osprey Description...

Also known as the fish hawk, ospreys are raptors that are well adapted for fishing. The birds have long legs and large feet with specialized barbs on the pads, hooked talons, and a reversible outer toe. This allows them to easily grasp fish with two toes pointing to the front and two pointing to the rear. Osprey have an oily waterproof coating on their wings and can close their nostrils when they plunge into the water. They also have slender bodies and long wings that are bent at the "wrist." Their strong wings give them extra lift to fly up and out of the water with a heavy fish. Once they catch a fish, they consume it using a black bill with a sharp hook.

Ospreys are brown on the back and white on the chest. The undersides of their wings are white with a dark patch at the wrists. Ospreys have yellow eyes and white heads with a distinctive black eye stripe that sets them apart from eagles, for which they are commonly mistaken. The female differs from the male in having a more defined "necklace" of brown feathers across her throat.

One of the larger birds of prey, but smaller than a bald eagle, ospreys have an average wingspan of five feet (1.5 meters). They are 21 to 23 inches (53 to 58 centimeters) long and usually weigh between three to four pounds (1.3 to 1.8 kilograms). The female is larger than the male.

Uploaded

May 19th, 2022

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