Osprey at Work

[valhalla]

Great video - watch twice!   

http://www.arkive.org/osprey/pandion-haliaetus/video-00.html

[Donna]

WOW!!!! That was insane! I can't believe the size fish it was grabbing. Loved the part where it went right under water, came up and was shaking off while flying away. Thanks.   

[Donna]

http://www.arkive.org/osprey/pandion-haliaetus/video-09b.html I like this one too, listen to the sounds the babies make. I never knew this.

[Donna]

http://www.arkive.org/suriname-toad/pipa-pipa/video-00.html  OH and EW!! How does that happen? This gave me the heebs!!

[MAK]

WOW!!!! That was insane! I can't believe the size fish it was grabbing. Loved the part where it went right under water, came up and was shaking off while flying away. Thanks.   

  You said it Donna! That video was most excellent and I'll be watching it more than twice!!! Thank you so much for sharing Janet! 

[Bobbie Ireland]

Aaaaaarrrrrrrgh! STILL won't let me in! I will restart...

[Annette]

Stunning videos! 

[Patti from Kentucky]

It's entirely possible that I'm losing my mind, but didn't Paul post a video some years back of an Osprey with a fish so big it was struggling to get airborne a second time?    Presumably it had made it from the water to shore initially.

[Paul Hamilton]

It's entirely possible that I'm losing my mind, but didn't Paul post a video some years back of an Osprey with a fish so big it was struggling to get airborne a second time?    Presumably it had made it from the water to shore initially.

My wife, Mary, took that (in 2004, as I recall). We are vacationing on Sandy Island, in Lake Winnipesauke, and I am now sitting very close to where it happened..  The Osprey had caught a very large bass, at least five pounds.  It was making its way across the island in a series of twenty foot flights.  It was too late in the season to have chicks to feed, so I assume it was looking for a safe place to eat the fish.

Paul

[Carol P.]

Great video - watch twice!   

http://www.arkive.org/osprey/pandion-haliaetus/video-00.html

Wow is right!  That is such incredible footage.  Love the mid-air roust.  Thanks Janet!

Love Osprey!  So beautiful!

[valhalla]

The Osprey had caught a very large bass, at least five pounds.  It was making its way across the island in a series of twenty foot flights.  It was too late in the season to have chicks to feed, so I assume it was looking for a safe place to eat the fish.

Paul

The Osprey has a very interesting talon set-up, which essentially have forward and aft talons that close in (sort of like clasping your hands).  This allows the Osprey to both catch the fish and subsequently turn and point the fish forward for aerodynamics.  Sometimes this talon arrangement does not work in the Osprey's favor - especially with very large fish that can drag/hold the Osprey down and prevent the bird from leaving the water.  Osprey have drowned because the talons really snagged these big fish and the fish was too heavy.  Paul's fish could have won, but didn't.