The Year of the Osprey

 

One day last spring a sun-blocking shadow crossed the quarry at Halibut Point.

Looking up, an Osprey, the Sea Eagle, was flying almost directly overhead. Perhaps it was investigating the possibility of fishing in the quarry pond. It was flying low enough in its survey that we had a good look at each other.

Ospreys regularly inhabit East Coast estuaries and marshes, but I'd never seen one around our rocky headlands. As mentioned in last week's posting, we birders confess to getting excited about novelties to our species records, especially a sighting as dramatic as this. I also mentioned in that posting the tendency in life for novelty to snowball. And that's what happened with Ospreys for me in the past year, 2024.

On one occasion this grand fellow passed just off Halibut Point, likely coming from the Annisquam River or Essex/Ipswich coast pictured in the background.

From a high vantage point on the Overlook I had a fine view of the bird from above.

Its massive talons were ready to snatch a fish if the Osprey spotted prey at the water surface.

On another morning this bird's white underparts reflected the colors of the rising sun.

Most surprisingly, toward summer's end an Osprey landed almost beside me on a utility pole as I was leaving the Park. You can imagine my surprise and sense of good fortune. 

Some interesting facts from Wikipedia 

The osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after the peregrine falcon, and is one of only six land-birds with a worldwide distribution. Most of our local birds winter in South America. 

The osprey is piscivorous. Fish makes up 99% of its diet. It has several adaptations that suit this lifestyle, including reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on the underside of its toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, backward-facing barbs on its talons to help hold its catch, and dense oily plumage that prevents its feathers from getting waterlogged.

Ospreys have a vision well adapted to detecting underwater objects from the air. Prey is first sighted when the bird is 30 to 130 feet above the water, after which it hovers momentarily and then plunges feet first into the water.