55 : Osprey

Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

Now here was a suprise on Sir Baniyas Island. We had a mother and juvenile Osprey in view most days. They would loaf about on a sandbank in the middle of the lagoon and then quarter up and down the beach in front of the hotel - merrily chatting to eachother. Fantastic - Osprey are proper birder's birds.

The first sight of an Osprey for someone in the UK would usually be at Rutland Water or in the Lakes or in Scotland. They were rare birds once without a single pair in England. typically they nest next to large freshwater lakes or estuaries. I have also seen one or two on passage at places like Minsmere but the usual view is a dot a long way off. While travelling I've seen them in Florida, the Caribean (Antigua) and in Southern Europe. I remember a bird in Albufera in Majorca carrying a fish which was huge - like a giant torpedo underneath an aircraft. Again in Antigua Jane and I watched as an Osprey dived onto a huge bright flatfish -a sunfish I think. The bird could barely lift it.

In the UK they are Summer migrants - hauling back and fowards from Spain and Africa. Here in the UAE they are resident birds but the population is increased during passage season and they Winter all round the Gulf coast.

Views of fish catched were few and far between and typically the fish caught quite small. They are consumate fishers - hovering over the water about 20 m up in the air or more and then stooping down with talons outstretched.

A lovely suprise anyway - it had not occured to me that I might share the weekend with Ospreys and good bird to get connected with. They seem out of place without a pine tree in the background but us British birders always forget that many of our native birds are global in their range.

Osprey - Pandion haliaetus
Sir Baniyas - UAE
11-14 February 2011