Medium large, long, narrow wings with distinct bend at elbow. Sexes similar. Females average larger than males.
Adults: Head, white with dark brown feathers in forehead. Short crest. Wide, dark brown band across eye to nape. Rest of upperparts dark brown. Primaries almost black, barred with white at base. Cere, blue-grey. Eye, yellow. Underparts, white, with some dark brown streaks on throat and brownish band on breast. Wing lining, whitish with dark brown wrist patch. Bill, black. Legs, pale greenish-grey.
Immatures: Similar to adult but feathers of upperparts tipped buffy white. Eye, brownish-orange. Tail barred dark brown and light brown. Bill, black. Legs, pale greenish-grey.
Other Names (World)
Osprey, White-headed Osprey, Fish Hawk, Western Osprey
Food
Almost entirely fish, caught by plunging from above and grasping fish in its talons from near the surface of the water.
Voice
A drawn-out, plaintive, or peevish, whistled, 'pee-ieer'. Harsh screams. An anxious, sharp, 'tchio-tchip'. Alarm calls are harsher. Usually silent except near nest in the breeding season. A shrill piping and yelping calls are uttered near the nesting site.
Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) [XC490854]
by Thomas Magarian from 2310 North Wygant Street, North Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, United Kingdom (flight call)
Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) [XC822460]
by Matthew L. Brady from R\u00f6dingehult, Kinda Municipality, \u00d6sterg\u00f6tlands l\u00e4n, Sweden (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
April - July in the north, July - September in the south.
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Nest
A large and bulky platform, composed of sticks, driftwood, lined with seaweed, occasionally with palm-leaves, usually on a rock or cliff-face overlooking the sea, sometimes in a tree, and sometimes on the ground on islands or on a manmade platform.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 4, occasionally 4; matt, white to buff-brown, blotched with chocolate to purple-brown, at times with underlying purple-grey; oval; about 60 x 44 mm. Incubation: about 35 days; by female.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 54 - 60 days.
Subspecies
Subspecies melvillensis often applied to birds from Indonesia to northern Australia, but probably not valid as they are similar to subspecies cristatus.
Christidis and Boles (2008) have recently elevated subspecies Pandion haliaetus cristatus, into full species status, Pandion cristatus. However, this it not currently recogized by BirdLife International.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Scandinavia east to Japan and south to Mediterranean, Red Sea and Cape Verde Is. Winters south to southern Africa, India, western Indonesia and Philippines.
carolinensis (Gmelin, JF, 1788) - Labrador west to Alaska and south to Florida and Arizona. Winters south to Peru and southern Brazil.
ridgwayi Maynard, 1887 - Caribbean, including Bahamas, Cuba and Belize.
cristatus (Vieillot, 1816) - Australia east to New Caledonia, and north through New Guinea to Java and Sulawesi. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus).
Similar Species
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
Larger. Immatures only. Lacks heavy dark eye mark and the black 'wrist'-mark. Wings broad and upswept, with a cream crescent at base of primaries. Tail is shorter.
Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)
Smaller. First year only. Has darker leading under wing. Lacks barring on the tail. Darker underparts.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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