Osprey

An Osprey catching a fish. “Pandion haliaetus. Fish Hawk. Osprey. Adult. dark vandyke- brown, blackening on the quills, the feathers of the upper parts more or less completely edged with white - the older the bird, the more conspicuous the white markings. Tail dark brown with dusky bars, white tip and shafts, and inner webs of all but the middle pair of feathers regularly barred with white and dark. Head, neck, and under parts white, the crown more or less extensively streaked with blackish, and a heavy blackish postocular stripe to the nape; the breast more or less spotted with dusky brown; the white more or less tinged with tawny in some places, especially under the wings and on the head. Coloration very variable in the relative amounts of the dark and white colors; young darker, the upper parts without the white crescents. Bill blackish, bluing at base and on cere; feet grayish-blue; claws black; iris yellow or red.” Elliot Coues, 1884

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