The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a very attractive bird of prey that can be found almost all over the world wherever there is water and there are fish. It does all of its hunting from the air by flying over bodies of water. Its keen eyesight allows it to see fish under the water and even make adjustments for distortions. Once it has zeroed in on its prey, it dives out of the sky, talons first, into the water to grab the fish. Most of the time, the entire bird ends up going under the water, and depending on the size of the catch and the current conditions, getting back into the air can be a challenge. Although osprey perch to rip apart their prey rather than swallowing it whole, this hunting style requires a lot of time up in the air. So if you’re around a body of water and you happen to notice a large bird of prey flying over, it may well be an osprey. Keep your eyes open, and you might just get treated to some epic fishing displays.

This bird was circling over the water at Payne’s Prairie State Park while we were hiking there. Although I never did see it decide to actually take a dive, my brother did. We were too far away to see if the bird was successful or not, but based on the number of fish that the wading birds were catching, there’s a good chance that it was. This bird and its mate had a large nest that was out away from the hiking trails and they seemed to be coming and going quite a bit. At one point this one flew fairly closely overhead and I was able to get a few shots of it in flight.