Osprey

I took this picture while at the beach the other day and boy oh boy was it a great day for birding!  There were tons of birds out over the water!  I've never seen so many at the same time flying and diving for fish and some that were just hanging out floating on the water in a group! (Later I'll write a seperate blog about them with a picture).  I have seen Ospreys at the beach many times but they are never flying over me when I'm ready or have my camera of course!  However that day this lovely Osprey was kind enough to let me take a picture:)  If you click on it you can see up close he is looking down and you can see his yellow eye which is usually hard to see as they swoop by. 

While doing some research of this bird I thought I would add some facts:

The Osprey is sometimes known as the sea hawk, fish eagle, or fish hawk; which makes perfect sense as usually you will find them diving down to collect fish from bodies of water.  The Osprey is around 2-5 lbs and around 50-70 inches in wingspan.  The male and female are very similar but the female has a slimmer body and narrower wings.  That sounds like human males and females...I guess if most of us were flying and diving for our food then all of us women could stay at that slimmer body physique lol:)  This second picture is of an Osprey fighting off a Ring-Billed Gull for the fish it is carrying in it's feet!  The picture is not as crisp as I would like but again if you click on it you can see the fish in it's talons!  I saw them swooping down multiple times so I was very lucky to capture this.  It is incredible to see.  As always....Happy Birding!:)