![osprey-with-bass](https://chickswithticks.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/osprey-with-bass.jpg?w=300&h=225)
(Image from http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/?page_id=843)
Today I discovered the coolest web cam ever (at least to a CWT) – a live feed of a nesting osprey pair! An osprey is an impressive bird of prey that hunts for fish, thus earning itself the nickname of “fish hawk.” Ospreys can often be seen in Florida (and around the world) soaring through the sky clutching fish in their talons or perching atop manmade structures.
You MUST check out Dunedin, Florida’s awesome Osprey Cam: http://ospreynest.info/ospreycam.php where you can watch live footage of an osprey pair tending to their nest. Right now they are sitting on three eggs, which they will incubate for just over a month. Once the eggs hatch, the chicks will spend nine to ten weeks in the nest before they fledge (aka fly off on their own). This osprey pair laid their first egg in mid February, which means we are just a couple of weeks away from babies! CWT will be keeping an eye out, and will of course let you know when they arrive.
![osprey 3](https://chickswithticks.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/osprey-3.jpg?w=300&h=240)
(Image from http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/raptor_info.htm)
Just a little more about ospreys because untrained eyes often confuse them with bald eagles. The biggest difference between them is size. Ospreys are much smaller, especially their tiny bird heads! Their coloration also differs, but this difference is more subtle since both species are brown and white — ospreys have completely white necks and bellies and sport a distinctive dark eye mask, while bald eagles do not have white necks or bellies and their head is completely white. Bald eagles also have bright yellow bills and feet, while ospreys have a dark beak and white feet.
Have you ever seen an osprey? Or a bald eagle? Or now realize what you thought you saw was something totally different?!
Cool. We used to watch a nesting pair in south Florida while attending “grapefruit league” MLB games in the winter. Every so often, a baseball player would hit a ball high enough toward the ospreys atop the stadium light pole that one of the birds would fly out to see if there was another ball heading its way. Like you say, seeing fish dangle from the talons is awe-inspiring.
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The osprey and fish picture reminded me of this…
Once upon a time in So.CAL I was driving in the chaparral and saw a red tailed hawk swoop down and snatch a little ground squirrel. I watched in horror to see it fly off with its prey, knowing that little squirrel would never be seen or heard of again. This was the first time I had ever witnessed such a thing. I can chuckle at my silly reaction now, but you should have heard the screaming…
MINE!
~ Lynda
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OMG – that is so FUNNY – sort of!! ha ha – I can imagine….it is amazing how strong nature is!
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I used to work for the South Florida Water Management District and took a large group of 4th grade students on a tour of Lake Okeechobee. A courting pair of Osprey flew over the boat and, to our amazement, just as we were pointing them out and telling the kids what they were, the female turned upside down in mid-flight to accept an offering of a speckled perch from the talons of the male flying above her. The Osprey version of flowers and candy, I guess. In all the years on Lake Okeechobee I saw that behavior just twice, but it was awe inspiring both times!
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Chicks with Ticks rock my Swamp! Check out
Also the following site that I connected with
at last yrs NAAEE conference in Raleigh,NC!
http://www.spyonabird.com
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Osprey are a power animal. one summer i stayed outside Flagstaff Arizona near Mormon lake (note i am not one just stayed at the old dry lake bed thank you). I was fixed on watching this ones flight as it was coming out of the trees into the fields to get grass for nest building. this one caught me watching and swooped down for a look at me, wow what a power energy this bird has! Beautiful and left me with a lasting experience too!
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