Osprey Eagles

This Osprey Eagle nest located near my parents home is a new addition to the area. The Osprey is endangered in Canada.

The scientific name comes from the mythical king of Athens, Pandion, whose daughters were turned into birds, and the Greek words halos, which refers to the sea, and aetos, meaning an eagle. The common name is from the Latin word ossifragus, meaning "a bone breaker." Ospreys have also been called Sea Hawks and Fish Hawks.

The nest is made of sticks and other material in trees, on cliffs, on man-made structures like power poles, bridges, buoys, and elevated platforms, or on the ground. The female lays 2 - 4 eggs that are incubated for 35 - 40 days. The chicks tend to hatch sequentially, 1 - 5 days apart. The young fledge at about 7 - 8 weeks of age, but are usually dependant on the parents until the fall migration. Ospreys become sexually mature at about 3 years of age.

An Osprey’s diet is almost exclusively live fish, and includes a wide variety of fish species. The Osprey uses low, slow flights over water, and occasionally hovers to search for prey. When a fish is spotted, Osprey make dramatic dives from heights of 30 - 120 feet to plunge feet first into the water after their prey.