The Osprey - Pandion haliaetus - Raptor

A Desert in Canada?

Canada has one desert. It's located in the South Okanagan region of British Columbia.  It's considered a 'pocket desert' one of North America’s most fragile and endangered ecosystems. Despite its small size, it is home to an exceptional array of desert plants and animals, some found nowhere else in Canada, many on the brink of extinction. It is here, that's we filmed the osprey's on April 13, 2012.

They're often call fish hawks . . . 

Osprey's eat fish which they can see from great heights as they fly over bodies of water, when they spot the prey they hover by flapping their wings and then if all things go right, meaning the fish don't spook, the osprey dives into the water with talons stretched out and catches the fish.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk, fish eagle or fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts, with a black eye patch and wings.

Food source?

As the common name suggests, the Osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion and family, Pandionidae. Four subspecies are usually recognised. Despite its propensity to nest near water, the Osprey is not a sea-eagle

Migratory?

Osprey's are migratory birds. We have seen and filmed them in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in the winter months.The Osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

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