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Osprey
Incredible! He looks like he’s surfing on the fish, in the air, towards the end... wow.
I like raptors. I saw a Cooper’s hawk in the neighborhood this past week at sunset time.
I LOVE raptors. Osprey are amazing hunters when it comes to fishing and I have seen it live while hawk watching (yes I love raptors that much). My favorite raptor is the Peregrine Falcon hands down. We had some nesting in my city and I was able to get close to them on the top floor to our high rise and see them out the window. Such amazing birds.
Another cool thing about the Osprey is the size of their nests which can become huge because they often use the nest year after year and just keep adding to it.
Thanks for posting this.
I've watched ospreys on many occasions snatch fish from the water but I had no idea they dove that deep -- and feet first!
Thanks for that incredible video!
On that last fish, it looked like the osprey was surfing on the fish. Certainly carrying that big dude in an aerodynamic way. Also impressive was the one-taloned carry prior. Impressive!
Thanks for posting. What an amazing animal! The one fish looked very heavy and yet the Osprey flew without much difficulty. Actually, it “surfed” on the fish without difficulty. Very cool!
I like how the talons spread way before it ever hits water. The power raptors have in their talons is amazing, those videos of eagles killing wolves in mongolia are really neat too.
Freegards
Years ago I found an injured Osprey, which I thought was an Eagle, in the woods crying so I had a local YMCA get the Rangers out to rescue her and months later her wing healed and she was released.....
Now that was cool!
Lived in Osprey Florida during the 70’s.
Used to have a lot of osprey’s, now it’s housing tracts where the woods used to be. Even the local state park.. Oscar Scherer expects to lose it’s scrub jay population due to loss of habitat and inbreeding due to isolation. Gotta love them yankees, they’re making florida just like jersey and long island.
Awesome video. It even shows an Osprey repositioning the fish face forward while in it’s talons.
Someone has to tell this bird there are fishing limits.
YEAH!
Love this thread! And so nice to see so many Freepers are birders!!
Altho, I wondered how the cameraman knew where to have his camera when the Osprey dove to get his catch. And the film must have been spliced as the Osprey was seen carrying his fish by the belly in one scene, then on the back and then back to the belly. But I am just being picky here. Amazing flic — as you are able to see how the osprey uses individual sets of feathers to manage his/her movements.
I guess my interest started when I was feeding 2nd son (now 52) at about 4 in the morning in July. I thought I heard an owl, but the next day was told it was a Mourning Dove. I bought a bird book, looked up the dove and that was the start of many happy years of birdwatching.
Probably my fav has to be Chickadees, too. I’ve fed them by hand and sometimes they have landed on my shoulder when I’m filling the feeder. (I live in NJ) One time in the Rockies, I saw my first Mountain Chickaee. I had some cheese in my pocket, so I put come in my hand and lifted it up. Sure enought, one came down to my hand, took a bite, spit it out and was off again! I should have had some crackers to go with that cheese!
When I went to China for the first time, I was so excited about seeing my first bird in the land of so many of my passions. And what was the first bird I saw? A pigeon!! LOL!
Probably my most exciting first sight was off the Maine coast. The Atlantic Puffin gathers in large colonies off the Northern Atlantic. We were sailing off Matinicus Rock, about 18 miles off the coast, and my youngest son and I got into a litle skiff and rowed towards the Puffins, as my DH and the other kids sailed aroung the other side of the rock. I was watching the floating Puffins with my binoculars (and all excited seeing my first Puffins), when a humpback whale surfaced, ‘blew his hole’ and then dove again -— about 100 feet from us! Talk about shocked! We saw about 5 or 6 of them, but only one that close. Needless to say, I was happy when DH and the boat came back around to us!!
My birding now is mostly in my back yard and the best thing that has happened there is that great invention — the wire ring with the hanging wires that sits on top of the feeder— that scare off the pesky English Sparrows. I don’t mind them eating from the ground, but I use good seed and want it for birds who enjoy it and not just gobble it down.
Didn’t mean to go on and on, but I’m looking forward to others and their experiences with all that is flying out there. The one thing about being a Birder, is that where ever you go, you will find birds. I’m always equipted with my glasses — just in case.
Osprey