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Osprey

Pandion haliaetus

Description:

This beauty flew right in front of us while we were cleaning the trails around the lagoon. It has its prey in its talons. "The upperparts are a deep, glossy brown, while the breast is white and sometimes streaked with brown, and the underparts are pure white. The head is white with a dark mask across the eyes, reaching to the sides of the neck. The irises of the eyes are golden to brown, and the transparent nictitating membrane is pale blue. The bill is black, with a blue cere, and the feet are white with black talons. A short tail and long, narrow wings with four long, finger-like feathers, and a shorter fifth, give it a very distinctive appearance." - Wikipedia

Habitat:

San Elijo Lagoon. "The Osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after the Peregrine Falcon. It has a worldwide distribution and is found in temperate and tropical regions of all continents except Antarctica. In North America it breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to the Gulf Coast and Florida, wintering further south from the southern United States through to Argentina." - Wikipedia

Notes:

Aka sea hawk, fish eagle or fish hawk.

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46 Comments (1–25)

Thank you littlelokelani, Song Sparrow and Flowerpatch!

Flowerpatch
Flowerpatch 10 years ago

They work so hard for their food! Wow! What a very amazing photo!

Thank you Greg!

GregMasteller
GregMasteller 10 years ago

Nice series!

Thanks Mona!

Mona Pirih
Mona Pirih 10 years ago

Stunning !!!

Thank you, CostaBoyJack

CostaBoyJack
CostaBoyJack 10 years ago

nice pic

Thank you Chief RedEarth, Scott and Mac! This was a great moment for the whole family.

MacChristiansen
MacChristiansen 11 years ago

Great series Cindy

Scott Frazier
Scott Frazier 11 years ago

Great capture!!

Thank you Christy!

ChristyHolland
ChristyHolland 11 years ago

Love this Cindy! I love how you can see the big talons in the first picture...they're so adapted to fish with those big hooks on their feet!! ;-)

Thank you so much Joe, Seema and Karen!

KarenL
KarenL 11 years ago

Fantastic series Cindy!

Seema
Seema 11 years ago

incredible shots, Cindy

jprat001
jprat001 11 years ago

great shots!

Thank you Sachin!

Sachin Zaveri
Sachin Zaveri 11 years ago

Wonderful series Cindy !!!

:) Thank you Ava and Satyen!

Wild Things
Wild Things 11 years ago

Awesome series!

Ava T-B
Ava T-B 11 years ago

I'm glad...looking forward to your wisdom and knowledge.

Hi Ava, I was having the worst PN withdrawals :) I know I should be sleeping but I needed some nature and PN community time. Miss everyone and hope to be back on much more next month.

Ava T-B
Ava T-B 11 years ago

Hi Cindy, nice to see you here this evening.

Thank you nexttogone and Ha Truong!

Solana Beach, California, USA

Spotted on Sep 15, 2012
Submitted on Sep 16, 2012

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Reference

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