The Osprey: A Long Time Waiting

The first time I ever, ever saw the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) would have been on a nature documentary, over a decade ago; I can’t remember which. I remember it swooping feet-first towards a still lake and emerging with a plump fish in its talons. It was very impressive.

I found out Ospreys were scarce winter visitors to Sri Lanka when reading John Harrison and Tim Worfolk’s A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka (one of my most favourite birthday presents ever). Naturally, I began keeping an eye out for them whenever we visited national parks, and anytime we travelled by wetlands and wild places, but I couldn’t spot them.

I had, in fact, given up hope on seeing it, and thus it was such a pleasant surprise to see one on our visit to Bundala National Park in January 2020.

A lone Osprey was perched on a dead tree a fair distance away, far enough for me to initially confuse it for a Brahminy Kite when seen with naked eye. But once I zoomed in with the camera, the posture and the black-and-white plumage with the eye-line were unmistakable.

Osprey at Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka 

This raptor is an expert fisher, who not only knows how to capture its prey efficiently, but also to transport it. After capturing fish by a shallow plunge into the water, it carries the prey off to a secure place to eat. A large fish (often more than half the bird’s size) flopping and dangling from its talons would create unnecessary resistance, making it much harder to fly. The Osprey gets around this by neatly switching the fish’s orientation so that its head faces directly forward, streamlining its carriage. For this, it is equipped with an outer toe that is “reversible” - it can turn around and grip the fish from the other side, ensuring a tight hold. (This video by the BBC shows just how it happens.) It also has dense, oily feathers to prevent waterlogging, and can close its nostrils with valves when diving, to avoid drowning.

The Osprey is one of the few birds that can be found almost worldwide - on every continent except Antarctica. In Sri Lanka, it is a scarce winter migrant to lowlands, where it prefers coastal lagoons, estuaries and rarely inland reservoirs.

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Read more stories about the raptors of Sri Lanka in the next upcoming article, right here.