Author Topic: Osprey! I am pretty sure it is. Shot it with a camera! (Read 2226 times)

Jerry · « **on:** August 28, 2009, 03:40:39 PM »

My wife has the amazing abilty to spot predators.
Here it is through the kitchen window moments ago.

This is in the city not out in the hinterlands.

lorraine1960 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 28, 2009, 03:41:19 PM »

wow he's beautiful.....

Jerry · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2009, 03:42:13 PM »

That he is and they subsist on FISH!

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2009, 03:53:33 PM »

What a handsome bird chit chatting with the heron (who is of course board stiff) by the watering hole.

Just another bird to watch out for. I'm not sure but they may do fly by fishing where they skim above the water hoping to grab a fish with its talons. Does anyone know for sure? If this is the case my feesh are fine!

Joyce · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2009, 03:53:44 PM »

It's definitely NOT an osprey.

It's some kind of hawk.

I'm gonna take an educated guess at Red Shouldered Hawk.

El Jefe · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2009, 04:15:38 PM »

Definitely a red shouldered hawk..... I have a resident one who is a daily visitor to the big pond area, usually after the frogs.

PondmaninAL · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2009, 05:12:07 PM »

Jerry, I would worry more about the turtles than I would the fish. We have swallow-tailed kites here and there main diet is reptiles and amphibians. The frogs I can't help but the turtles are caged in the keep predators out. We also have a pair of hawks and at least three owls. Not to mention the crows and turkey buzzards.

Jerry · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2009, 05:22:22 PM »

Thanks for the ID There was one a few days ago too.
I am not worried about the turtles. Enough to worry about.

Bullfrog · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2009, 06:09:14 PM »

Quote from: miguynmkoi on August 28, 2009, 03:53:33 PM

What a handsome bird chit chatting with the heron (who is of course board stiff) by the watering hole.

Just another bird to watch out for. I'm not sure but they may do fly by fishing where they skim above the water hoping to grab a fish with its talons. Does anyone know for sure? If this is the case my feesh are fine!

jw · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2009, 11:33:07 PM »

I was wondering how long it would take ya Bullfrog...........you're slippin

Jerry · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2009, 06:54:03 AM »

Motice the red shoulder hawk photo that El Jefe posted has "leggings" for want of a better term

Ky Kim · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2009, 04:40:40 PM »

I was going to say hawk too, with out a doubt.

Jerry · « **Reply #12 on:** August 29, 2009, 05:59:22 PM »

there was one a week ago, much lighter with some flecks I think that was an Osprey?

Joyce · « **Reply #13 on:** August 29, 2009, 06:16:23 PM »

Ospreys are pretty much black and white...and HUGE, standing over 2 feet in height, wingspan 6 feet.

jw · « **Reply #14 on:** August 29, 2009, 06:41:50 PM »

Beauty of a bird

Jonna · « **Reply #15 on:** August 29, 2009, 08:00:52 PM »

There are a pair of Osprey that hunt the bay in front of our condo on the Caribbean. We've watched them for years, their nest is huge and they usually have one baby a year. They are really large birds, it's difficult to tell from these pics but these are pics I've taken in the last couple years.

They are about the size of a large vulture or an American Eagle.

jw · « **Reply #16 on:** August 29, 2009, 08:16:32 PM »

How cool is that

. You are very fortunate to see them

. So magnificent and proud looking

Jerry · « **Reply #17 on:** August 29, 2009, 10:56:08 PM »

The one from a week ago sure was NOT an Ospery!
Magnificent bird.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #18 on:** August 30, 2009, 05:08:37 PM »

Yep, Not an osprey! But that hawk, Jerry, is very common around here especially around the strawberry fields. But the osprey sure is a magnificent bird!

Hey Andy!!!! Long time no see! Glad to see you back.

Julles · « **Reply #19 on:** August 30, 2009, 06:03:53 PM »

I live within bicycling distance of Downtown Housuton, and we have a huge hawk that live in a live oak in the neighborhood. There are other hawks around the general neighborhood, too.

Mikey · « **Reply #20 on:** August 30, 2009, 07:58:59 PM »

Great catch Jerry. I enjoy local bird watching and I have not seen that hawk around my house even though it is listed in my "Birds of Los Angeles Region" book. My book shows the leggings as in your photo, a dead ringer... It says the Red Shouldered Hawk is a fairly common resident in riparian and oak woodlands and even mature tree plantings in residential areas. It feeds on reptiles, frogs, crayfish, fish, rodents and birds.

I have several Cooper's Hawks that are regular visitors in my trees. I am usually advised of the presence of a Cooper's Hawk when I notice down feathers gently floating down from the tree from a bird that it is feeding upon.

Lynda · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2009, 08:17:55 AM »

Mike, you need to go to El Dorado Park, particularly the Nature Center or the train ride, if you want to see Red Shouldered or Red Tail hawks. There are lots in both places - especially in the wooded in Area 3 of El Dorado, where they are quite happy to feed on the gophers which are plentiful out there. Take your little grandson on the train ride - he'd love it!

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #22 on:** August 31, 2009, 09:05:20 AM »

There are many osprey nests around here and we see them often though not ever in the yard. A lot of them nest on cell phone towers with platforms put on them for this purpose. We have bald eagles here too. They are bigger than ospreys but ospreys are bigger than all of the rest of our hawks. I've had cooper's hawks in the garden several times. At the bird bath and eating a mouse on the fence.

Joyce · « **Reply #23 on:** August 31, 2009, 10:07:38 AM »

The reason some seem to have leggings and some don't is because some are perched, resting with their 'elbows' bent,
which hides the leggings in the breast feathers. When they are perched standing up straight, you can see the leggings.