background about the osprey and why we continue to monitor their progress
Osprey Pandion haliaetus Unique among North American raptors for its diet of live fish and ability to dive into water to catch them, Ospreys are common sights soaring over shorelines, patrolling waterways, and standing on their huge stick nests, white heads gleaming. These large, rangy hawks do well around humans and have rebounded in numbers following the ban on the pesticide DDT. Hunting Ospreys are a picture of concentration, diving with feet outstretched and yellow eyes sighting straight along their talons.
text source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id
text source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id
Interesting facts about the Osprey:
- Ospreys are very large, distinctively shaped hawks. Ospreys fly with a marked kink in their wings, making an M-shape when seen from below.
- Ospreys are brown above and white below, and overall they are whiter than most raptors.
- An Osprey may log more than 160,000 migration miles during its 15-to-20-year lifetime.
- Ospreys are excellent anglers. Over several studies, Ospreys caught fish on at least 1 in every 4 dives.
- The name "Osprey" made its first appearance around 1460, via the Medieval Latin phrase for "bird of prey" (avis prede).
Using the Osprey as the educational vehicle to explain how energy and matter move through the food web, the seventh graders learn about the story of the decline and rise of the Osprey's population numbers.
Pictures below show the "understood safety" of DDT
For any questions regarding this website or its contents, please visit the CHESPAX website, contact CHESPAX or call 410-535-2960.
This website contains links to pages outside of the Calvert County Public Schools webpages. Such links do not imply endorsement of content on these external pages.
This website contains links to pages outside of the Calvert County Public Schools webpages. Such links do not imply endorsement of content on these external pages.