The wonderful Osprey. Aka sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk

Osprey. Aka sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk. Pandion haliaetus

Seen here fishing in Mai Po in December 2020.

One of Hong Kong’s great raptors to watch, for its good looks, bright eyes, and ability to dive into water to catch fish.

Fascinating facts:- Hunting Ospreys are a picture of concentration, diving with feet outstretched and yellow eyes sighting straight along their talons. Ospreys have a reversible outer toe that allows them to grasp with two toes in front and two behind - see the first picture. Barbed pads on the soles of the birds' feet help them grip slippery fish.

Ospreys are considered highly successful hunters, with several studies showing that they caught fish on at least 1 in every 4 dives. Not the one in the picture, as he kept splashing down, missing the fish, and the having a wash in the shallow water.

Some Ospreys may log more than 160,000 migration miles during its 15-to-20-year lifetime. One bird being tracked in the USA flew 2,700 miles over 13 days in 2008, from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, to French Guiana, South America.

These lovely birds can live a long time, with the oldest recorded Osprey being at least 25 years, 2 months old, living in Virginia. The name "Osprey" made its first appearance around 1460, via the Medieval Latin phrase for "bird of prey" (avis prede).

thanks Salome for translation...for a Traditional chinese FB page please see https://www.facebook.com/HongKongWildCreatures

鶚，又稱魚鷹 Pandion haliaetus

牠擁有俊俏的外貌及一雙亮麗的眼睛，還有一身過人的潛水捕魚本領—牠就是居於香港的其中一種猛禽，鶚。

過人之處：

捕獵中的鶚一臉專注，用金黃的雙眼瞪著獵物，伸直那雙裝備了利爪的腿，一鼓作氣地俯衝而下，潛入水裡。

鶚的雙腳各有一隻可向外扭的爪，使牠們能以兩爪向前、兩爪向後的方式抓實獵物（見圖一）。腳板上的倒鈎亦能讓牠們輕易地捉緊滑潺潺的魚類。

牠們是十分成功的捕獵者。根據文獻記載，牠們每四次出擊就至少有一次能成功捕捉獵物。圖中拍攝到其中一次失敗的例子：這隻鶚只顧向下衝，錯失了捕魚的機會，最後留在淺水區內沖洗身體。

鶚的壽命一般達到15至20年，相當長壽。一隻在美國維珍尼亞州內居住的個體更被錄得活到起超過25歲零兩個月，為目前最高紀錄。

鶚的一生中可飛逾160,000英里；在2008年間，其中一隻被偵測到僅花了13天，便從美國麻省瑪莎葡萄園島飛到2700英里外，位於南美洲的法屬圭亞那。

鶚的英文名字 “Osprey”是由中世紀拉丁語avis prede（意思：猛禽）演變而成，此名字大概於1460年第一次出現。