Osprey Love Fish
An osprey perches in a tree and eats a fish it recently caught.
One sign of spring in this area is the arrival of osprey from further south. They migrate to this area to build nests and raise their next generation. And raising the next generation requires food, lots of it. And what food do osprey eat? Fish! That’s why they’re also known as fish hawks.
Here an osprey is perches in a tree ripping off flesh from a fish it recently caught.
An example of an osprey closing its nictitating membrane over its eye while eating a fish in a tree. Click here to learn more about nictitating membranes.
I have sometimes been lucky enough to find an osprey atop a tree eating a fish it had just caught in the nearby river or bay. Often they will land to eat part of the fish and then take the rest back to the nest for their mate and/or young.
An osprey takes flight from a tree it had recently perched in. Notice it still has the remains of a fish in one talon.
An osprey lifts off from a tree.
An osprey, which has recently been perched in a tree eating the fish now in its talons, has taken flight, perhaps making its way back to a nest or mate where it will deliver the remains of the fish.
Even more special are the times we get to watch an osprey catch a fish. They are unique among the fish-eating raptors in that they hover above the water, watching the fish below the surface, and will then dive into the water, talons down. If the fish is close enough to the surface they may only submerge their talons and legs to catch the fish. But if the fish is a little deeper they will sometimes almost completely submerge themselves and then struggle to get out of the water and back into the air. I’ve read that osprey feathers are not water-proof, only water-resistant, so they do need to be careful not to remain in the water too long or they’ll drown, something that can happen if they try to catch a fish that’s too heavy for them.
An osprey hovers in the air holding a fish in one talon. Out of view below is the osprey’s mate, sitting in a tree. The osprey in flight was squawking up a storm. It didn’t seem able to figure out what to do until its mate flew away from the tree giving this one a place to land. Then its mate returned to the tree. Interesting behavior.
Here an osprey with a fish in a talon dives down towards a tree where its mate had recently been perched. It landed and then its mate returned to the perch.
Photographing an osprey catching a fish can be hit or miss. You never know exactly where they will fish or when. So it requires some patience. If you’re lucky they’ll go fishing near the shore so you can get some reasonably close views, but quite often they’re out a ways, which doesn’t make for very good photographs. The fishing shots shown here required me to crop in to show you more of the osprey. Some are not good photos but I wanted to show how they can almost disappear under the water and then come up with a fish. Interestingly, they seem to always catch fish such that they fly with the fish’s head facing forward (or at least the tail facing backward if they’ve already eaten the head).
An osprey dives under the water for a fish. You can just see the dark tips of its wings. This is a greatly cropped image and I did lose focus on the bird.
The osprey lifts itself out of the water with a fish hooked in its talons. Sometimes these birds really have to work hard to gain any elevation when they catch a heavy fish. This is a greatly cropped image and I did lose focus on the bird.
I hope you enjoy some of these views of osprey and their fish. If I’m lucky perhaps I’ll have more photos to share with you this season.
This osprey had just caught the fish and is now flying off to eat it or take it back to its nest.
An osprey flying away from me, hanging low over the water after just having caught a fish.
The osprey continues gaining elevation as it flies over the water with a fish.
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