56-437: Falco haliaetus Linnaeus, 1758 The osprey ( / ˈ ɒ s p r i , - p r eɪ / ; Pandion haliaetus ), historically known as sea hawk , river hawk , and fish hawk , is a diurnal , fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range . 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
112-435: A balance between them if they are to survive and thrive. Ambient temperature has been shown to affect and even convert nocturnal animals to diurnality as it is a way for them to conserve metabolic energy. Nocturnal animals are often energetically challenged due to being most active in the nighttime when ambient temperatures are lower than through the day, and so they lose a lot of energy in the form of body heat. According to
168-495: A challenge, apart from the obvious increased activity levels during the day time light. Initially, most animals were diurnal, but adaptations that allowed some animals to become nocturnal is what helped contribute to the success of many, especially mammals. This evolutionary movement to nocturnality allowed them to better avoid predators and gain resources with less competition from other animals. This did come with some adaptations that mammals live with today. Vision has been one of
224-540: A large range, covering 9,670,000 km (3,730,000 sq mi) in just Africa and the Americas, and has a large global population estimated at 460,000 individuals. Although global population trends have not been quantified, the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and for these reasons,
280-579: A significantly higher mortality rate during migration seasons than during stationary periods, with more than half of the total annual mortality occurring during migration. These deaths can also be categorized into spatial patterns: Spring mortality occurs mainly in Africa, which can be traced to crossing the Sahara desert . Mortality can also occur through mishaps with human utilities, such as nesting near overhead electric cables or collisions with aircraft. The osprey has
336-418: A vision that is well adapted to detecting underwater objects from the air. Prey is first sighted when the osprey is 10–40 m (33–131 ft) above the water, after which the bird hovers momentarily and then plunges feet first into the water. They catch fish by diving into a body of water, oftentimes completely submerging their entire bodies. As an osprey dives it adjusts the angle of its flight to account for
392-484: Is " diurnal ". The timing of activity by an animal depends on a variety of environmental factors such as the temperature, the ability to gather food by sight, the risk of predation, and the time of year. Diurnality is a cycle of activity within a 24-hour period; cyclic activities called circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles not dependent on external cues or environmental factors except for a zeitgeber . Animals active during twilight are crepuscular , those active during
448-476: Is a large heap of sticks, driftwood, turf, or seaweed built in forks of trees, rocky outcrops, utility poles, artificial platforms, or offshore islets. As wide as 2 meters and weighing about 135 kg (298 lb), large nests on utility poles may be fire hazards and have caused power outages . Generally, ospreys reach sexual maturity and begin breeding around the age of three to four, though in some regions with high osprey densities, such as Chesapeake Bay in
504-491: Is also common among sports teams. The Seattle Seahawks , a professional American football team in the National Football League , received their identity from a naming contest, defeating 1,740 others. According to team general manager John Thompson , the name "shows aggressiveness, reflects our soaring Northwest heritage and belongs to no other major league team." So-called "osprey" plumes were an important item in
560-455: Is also limited, meaning the risks of predation are less than the risk of freezing or starving to death. Many plants are diurnal or nocturnal, depending on the time period when the most effective pollinators, i.e., insects, visit the plant. Most angiosperm plants are visited by various insects, so the flower adapts its phenology to the most effective pollinators. Thus, the effectiveness of relative diurnal or nocturnal species of insects affects
616-472: Is classified in its own taxonomic genus , Pandion , and family , Pandionidae. The osprey was described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus under the name Falco haliaetus in his landmark tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . Linnaeus specified the type locality as Europe, but in 1761 he restricted the locality to Sweden. The osprey is the only species placed in the genus Pandion that
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#1732852138797672-632: Is mainly sedentary and found patchily around the coastline, though it is a non-breeding visitor to eastern Victoria and Tasmania . There is a 1,000 km (620 mi) gap, corresponding with the coast of the Nullarbor Plain , between its westernmost breeding site in South Australia and the nearest breeding sites to the west in Western Australia . In the islands of the Pacific it is found in
728-505: Is one of the strongest influences of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which is part of the hypothalamus in the brain that controls the circadian rhythm in most animals. This is what determines whether an animal is diurnal or not. The SCN uses visual information like light to start a cascade of hormones that are released and work on many physiological and behavioural functions. Light can produce powerful masking effects on an animal's circadian rhythm, meaning that it can "mask" or influence
784-462: Is pale blue. The bill is black, with a blue cere , and the feet are white with black talons. On the underside of the wings the wrists are black, which serves as a field mark . A short tail and long, narrow wings with four long, finger-like feathers, and a shorter fifth, give it a very distinctive appearance. The sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by its slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of
840-628: Is particularly helpful when they grab slippery fish. The osprey is 0.9–2.1 kg (2.0–4.6 lb) in weight and 50–66 cm (20–26 in) in length with a 127–180 cm (50–71 in) wingspan. It is, thus, of similar size to the largest members of the Buteo or Falco genera. The subspecies are fairly close in size, with the nominate subspecies averaging 1.53 kg (3.4 lb), P. h. carolinensis averaging 1.7 kg (3.7 lb) and P. h. cristatus averaging 1.25 kg (2.8 lb). The wing chord measures 38 to 52 cm (15 to 20 in),
896-423: Is unusual in that it is a sole living species that occurs nearly worldwide. Even the few subspecies are not unequivocally separable. There are four generally recognised subspecies, although differences are small, and ITIS lists only the first three. Two extinct species were named from the fossil record. Pandion homalopteron described by Stuart L. Warter in 1976 was found in marine Middle Miocene deposits of
952-698: The Barstovian age in the southern part of California . The second species Pandion lovensis was described by Jonathan J. Becker in 1985 and found in Florida ; it dates to the Late Clarendonian and possibly represents a separate lineage from that of P. homalopteron and P. haliaetus . A number of claw fossils have been recovered from Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments in Florida and South Carolina . The oldest recognized family Pandionidae fossils were recovered from
1008-552: The Bismarck Islands , Solomon Islands and New Caledonia , and fossil remains of adults and juveniles have been found in Tonga , where it probably was wiped out by arriving humans. It is possible it may once have ranged across Vanuatu and Fiji as well. It is an uncommon to fairly common winter visitor to all parts of South Asia, and Southeast Asia from Myanmar through to Indochina and southern China, Indonesia , Malaysia, and
1064-523: The Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island are vulnerable to unmanaged coastal recreation and encroaching urban development. I think he'll be to Rome As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it By sovereignty of nature. Some sports clubs are named after the osprey such as the University of North Florida 's North Florida Ospreys and Missoula Osprey baseball team. "Seahawks", another term for osprey,
1120-520: The Gran Chaco in South America showed that increased amounts of moonlight at night increased their activity levels through the night which led to a decrease of daytime activity. Meaning that for this species, ambient moonlight is negatively correlated with diurnal activity. This is also connected with the foraging behaviours of the monkeys, as when there were nights of little to no moonlight, it affected
1176-430: The night-blooming cereus opens at night to attract large sphinx moths . Many types of animals are classified as being diurnal, meaning they are active during the day time and inactive or have periods of rest during the night time. Commonly classified diurnal animals include mammals , birds , and reptiles . Most primates are diurnal, including humans . Scientifically classifying diurnality within animals can be
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#17328521387971232-625: The peregrine falcon , and is one of only six land-birds with a worldwide distribution. It is found in temperate and tropical regions of all continents, except Antarctica . In North America it breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to the Gulf Coast and Florida , wintering further south from the southern United States through to Argentina. It is found in summer throughout Europe north into Ireland, Scandinavia, Finland and Great Britain though not Iceland, and winters in North Africa . In Australia it
1288-495: The plume trade of the late 19th century and used in hats including those used as part of the army uniform. Despite their name, these plumes were actually obtained from egrets . During the 2017 regular session of the Oregon Legislature , there was a short-lived controversy over the western meadowlark 's status as the state bird versus the osprey. The sometimes-spirited debate included state representative Rich Vial playing
1344-492: The 1950s and 1960s; this appeared to be in part due to the toxic effects of insecticides such as DDT on reproduction. The pesticide interfered with the bird's calcium metabolism which resulted in thin-shelled, easily broken or infertile eggs. Possibly because of the banning of DDT in many countries in the early 1970s, together with reduced persecution, the osprey, as well as other affected bird of prey species, have made significant recoveries. In South Australia, nesting sites on
1400-449: The Elder . However, this term referred to the bearded vulture . The osprey differs in several respects from other diurnal birds of prey. Its toes are of equal length, its tarsi are reticulate , and its talons are rounded, rather than grooved. The osprey and owls are the only raptors whose outer toe is reversible, allowing them to grasp their prey with two toes in front and two behind. This
1456-732: The Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc. has become the official design of the State of New Jersey , U.S. The nesting platform plans and materials list, available online, have been utilized by people from a number of different geographical regions. There is a global site for mapping osprey nest locations and logging observations on reproductive success. Ospreys usually mate for life. Rarely, polyandry has been recorded. The breeding season varies according to latitude: spring (September–October) in southern Australia, April to July in northern Australia, and winter (June–August) in southern Queensland. In spring,
1512-752: The Oligocene age Jebel Qatrani Formation in Faiyum Governorate , Egypt . However, they are not complete enough to assign to a specific genus. Another Pandionidae claw fossil was recovered from Early Oligocene deposits in the Mainz basin, Germany, and was described in 2006 by Gerald Mayr . The genus name Pandion derives from Pandíōn Πανδίων , the mythical Greek king of Athens and grandfather of Theseus , Pandion II . The species name haliaetus ( Latin : haliaeetus ) comes from Greek ἁλιάετος haliáetos "sea-eagle" (also ἁλιαίετος haliaietos ) from
1568-575: The Philippines. The osprey is piscivorous , with fish making up 99% of its diet. It typically takes live fish weighing 150–300 g (5.3–10.6 oz) and about 25–35 cm (9.8–13.8 in) in length, but virtually any type of fish from 50 g (1.8 oz) to 2 kg (4.4 lb) can be taken. Even larger 2.8 kg (6.2 lb) northern pike ( Esox lucius ) has been taken in Russia . The species rarely scavenges dead or dying fish. Ospreys have
1624-465: The United States, they may not start breeding until five to seven years old, and there may be a shortage of suitable tall structures. If there are no nesting sites available, young ospreys may be forced to delay breeding. To ease this problem, posts are sometimes erected to provide more sites suitable for nest building. The nesting platform design developed by the organization Citizens United to Protect
1680-454: The circadian thermos-energetics (CTE) hypothesis, animals that are expending more energy than they are taking in (through food and sleep) will be more active in the light cycle, meaning they will be more active in the day. This has been shown in studies done on small nocturnal mice in a laboratory setting. When they were placed under a combination of enough cold and hunger stress, they converted to diurnality through temporal niche switching, which
1736-641: The combining form ἁλι- hali- of ἅλς hals "sea" and ἀετός aetos , "eagle". The origins of osprey are obscure; the word itself was first recorded around 1460, derived via the Anglo-French ospriet and the Medieval Latin avis prede "bird of prey," from the Latin avis praedae though the Oxford English Dictionary notes a connection with the Latin ossifraga or "bone breaker" of Pliny
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1792-400: The day, and therefore conserve more energy, especially when colder seasonal temperatures hit. Light is one of the most defining environmental factors that determines an animal's activity pattern. Photoperiod or a light dark cycle is determined by the geographical location, with day time being associated with much ambient light, and night time being associated with little ambient light. Light
1848-666: The day, they sometimes fly in the dark hours, particularly in crossings over water and cover on average 260–280 km (160–170 mi) per day with a maximum of 431 km (268 mi) per day. European birds may also winter in South Asia, as indicated by an osprey tagged in Norway being monitored in western India. In the Mediterranean, ospreys show partial migratory behaviour with some individuals remaining resident, whilst others undertake relatively short migration trips. Swedish ospreys have
1904-597: The distortion of the fish's image caused by refraction . Ospreys will typically eat on a nearby perch but have also been known to carry fish for longer distances. Occasionally, the osprey may prey on rodents , rabbits , hares , other mammals , snakes , turtles , frogs , birds , salamanders , conchs , and crustaceans . Reports of ospreys feeding on carrion are rare. They have been observed eating dead white-tailed deer and Virginia opossums . The osprey has several adaptations that suit its piscivorous lifestyle. These include reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on
1960-420: The diurnal or nocturnal nature of the plants they pollinate, causing in some instances an adjustment of the opening and closing cycles of the plants. For example, the baobab is pollinated by fruit bats and starts blooming in late afternoon; the flowers are dead within twenty-four hours. Services that alternate between high and low utilization in a daily cycle are described as being diurnal. Many websites have
2016-439: The evolution of diurnality. With about 20 transitions counted for the gecko lineages, it shows the significance of diurnality. Strong environmental influences like climate change, predation risk, and competition for resources are all contributing factors. Using the example of geckos, it is thought that species like Mediodactylus amictopholis that live at higher altitudes have switched to diurnality to help gain more heat through
2072-416: The family Accipitridae . The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy has placed it together with the other diurnal raptors in a greatly enlarged Ciconiiformes , but this results in an unnatural paraphyletic classification. Molecular phylogenetic analysis has found that the family Pandionidae is sister to the family Accipitridae. It is estimated that the two families diverged around 50.8 million years ago. The osprey
2128-503: The head and underparts. 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 . As its other common names suggest, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and unique behaviour in hunting its prey . Because of its unique characteristics it
2184-416: The internal clock, changing the activity patterns of an animal, either temporarily or over the long term if exposed to enough light over a long period of time. Masking can be referred to either as positive masking or negative masking, with it either increasing an diurnal animals activity or decreasing a nocturnal animal's activity, respectively. This can be depicted when exposing different types of rodents to
2240-435: The island or returned at maturity to join the breeding population. When food is scarce, the first chicks to hatch are most likely to survive. The typical lifespan is 7–10 years, though rarely individuals can grow to as old as 20–25 years. The oldest European wild osprey on record lived to be over thirty years of age. European breeders winter in Africa. American and Canadian breeders winter in South America, although some stay in
2296-409: The male is also weaker than that of the female or is non-existent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. It is straightforward to determine the sex in a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds. The juvenile osprey may be identified by buff fringes to the plumage of the upperparts, a buff tone to the underparts, and streaked feathers on the head. During spring, barring on
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2352-570: The meadowlark's song on his smartphone over the House microphone. A compromise was reached in SCR 18, which was passed on the last day of the session, designating the western meadowlark as the state songbird and the osprey as the state raptor . Diurnality Diurnality is a form of plant and animal behavior characterized by activity during daytime , with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night . The common adjective used for daytime activity
2408-604: The monkey's ability to forage efficiently, so they were forced to be more active in the day to find food. Diurnality has shown to be an evolutionary trait in many animal species, with diurnality mostly reappearing in many lineages. Other environmental factors like ambient temperature, food availability, and predation risk can all influence whether an animal will evolve to be diurnal, or if their effects are strong enough, then mask over their circadian rhythm, changing their activity patterns to becoming diurnal. All three factors often involve one another, and animals need to be able to find
2464-568: The most common transitions. Still today, diurnality seems to be reappearing in many lineages of other animals, including small rodent mammals like the Nile grass rat and golden mantle squirrel and reptiles. More specifically, geckos, which were thought to be naturally nocturnal have shown many transitions to diurnality, with about 430 species of geckos now showing diurnal activity. With so many diurnal species recorded, comparative analysis studies using newer lineages of gecko species have been done to study
2520-767: The most greatly affected senses from switching back and forth from diurnality to nocturnality, and this can be seen using biological and physiological analysis of rod nuclei from primate eyes. This includes losing two of four cone opsins that assists in colour vision , making many mammals dichromats . When early primates converted back to diurnality, better vision that included trichromatic colour vision became very advantageous, making diurnality and colour vision adaptive traits of simiiformes , which includes humans. Studies using chromatin distribution analysis of rod nuclei from different simian eyes found that transitions between diurnality and nocturnality occurred several times within primate lineages, with switching to diurnality being
2576-567: The most users during the day and little utilization at night, or vice versa. Operations planners can use this cycle to plan, for example, maintenance that needs to be done when there are fewer users on the web site. Gerald Mayr Gerald Mayr is a German palaeontologist who is Curator of Ornithology at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main , Hesse . He has published extensively on fossil birds, especially
2632-415: The night are nocturnal and animals active at sporadic times during both night and day are cathemeral . Plants that open their flowers during the daytime are described as diurnal, while those that bloom during nighttime are nocturnal. The timing of flower opening is often related to the time at which preferred pollinators are foraging. For example, sunflowers open during the day to attract bees, whereas
2688-797: The pair begins a five-month period of partnership to raise their young. The female lays two to four eggs within a month and relies on the size of the nest to conserve heat. The eggs are whitish with bold splotches of reddish-brown and are about 6.2 cm × 4.5 cm (2.4 in × 1.8 in) and weigh about 65 g (2.3 oz). The eggs are incubated for about 35–43 days to hatching. The newly hatched chicks weigh only 50–60 g (1.8–2.1 oz), but fledge in 8–10 weeks. A study on Kangaroo Island , South Australia, had an average time between hatching and fledging of 69 days. The same study found an average of 0.66 young fledged per year per occupied territory, and 0.92 young fledged per year per active nest. Some 22% of surviving young either remained on
2744-439: The same photoperiods. When a diurnal Nile grass rat and nocturnal mouse are exposed to the same photoperiod and light intensity, increased activity occurred within the grass rat (positive masking), and decreased activity within the mouse (negative masking). Even small amounts of environmental light change have shown to have an effect on the activity of mammals. An observational study done on the activity of nocturnal owl monkeys in
2800-433: The southernmost U.S. states such as Florida and California . Some ospreys from Florida migrate to South America. Australasian ospreys tend not to migrate . Studies of Swedish ospreys showed that females tend to migrate to Africa earlier than males. More stopovers are made during their autumn migration. The variation of timing and duration in autumn was more variable than in spring. Although migrating predominantly during
2856-562: The species is evaluated as Least Concern . There is evidence for regional decline in South Australia where former territories at locations in the Spencer Gulf and along the lower Murray River have been vacant for decades. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the main threats to osprey populations were egg collectors and hunting of the adults along with other birds of prey, but osprey populations declined drastically in many areas in
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#17328521387972912-418: The tail measures 16.5 to 24 cm (6.5 to 9.4 in) and the tarsus is 5.2–6.6 cm (2.0–2.6 in). The upperparts are a deep, glossy brown, while the breast is white, sometimes streaked with brown, and the underparts are pure white. The head is white with a dark mask across the eyes, reaching to the sides of the neck. The irises of the eyes are golden to brown, and the transparent nictitating membrane
2968-663: The underside of the toes, closable nostrils to keep out water during dives, backward-facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch and dense plumage which is oily and prevents its feathers from getting waterlogged. The osprey breeds near freshwater lakes and rivers, and sometimes on coastal brackish waters. Rocky outcrops just offshore are used in Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia , where there are 14 or so similar nesting sites of which five to seven are used in any one year. Many are renovated each season, and some have been used for 70 years. The nest
3024-437: The underwings and flight feathers is a better indicator of a young bird, due to wear on the upperparts. In flight, the osprey has arched wings and drooping "hands", giving it a gull-like appearance. The call is a series of sharp whistles, described as cheep, cheep, or yewk, yewk . If disturbed by activity near the nest, the call is a frenzied cheereek ! The osprey is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after
3080-407: Was expected. Another similar study that involved energetically challenging small mammals showed that diurnality is most beneficial when the animal has a sheltered location to rest in, reducing heat loss. Both studies concluded that nocturnal mammals do change their activity patterns to be more diurnal when energetically stressed (due to heat loss and limited food availability), but only when predation
3136-460: Was introduced by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. The genus is the sole member of the family Pandionidae. The species has always presented a riddle to taxonomists, but here it is treated as the sole living member of the family Pandionidae, and the family listed in its traditional place as part of the order Accipitriformes . Other schemes place it alongside the hawks and eagles in
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