Left: The business end of an osprey, clearly showing the high-tech claw arrangement. This one is in the process of rearranging the thrashing fish so it faces forward.

Story and illustrations by Larry Eifert

With the catch in its talons, the osprey quickly lifts off, giving a quick shake to shed water from its wings.

I’ve written about lots of smaller

seabirds here, but few really big birds flying over my masthead. Bald eagles, well, we all know what those guys look like. White head and tail, holding a trophy-sized Coho – you know the picture. But there’s another big fish-catching bird that is the envy of all the eagles hereabouts, a

Ospey are built leaner and thinner than eagles, with more aerodynamically sleek wings. Circling high over their potential catch, making slow sweeps and loops, the bird goes into a powerful dive, plunging far deeper than an eagle.

48° NORTH, APRIL 2010 PAGE 54

bird with such a reputation for catching and landing salmon that fisherman just wish they had the same skills and equipment. With a six-foot wingspan and crazy fish-catching toes, it’s the osprey (AH-spray). Eagles are somewhat migratory,

drifting from main channels when the salmon are just coming in, to river entrances and then up-river when the fish begin their

final push towards spawning. To make this lifestyle work, eagles move around a lot. Ospreys, on the other hand, say goodbye to our cold rain and gray skies, and head south to Mexico for the winter. I’ve seen them down there, cruising the shorelines of anchorages looking for lazy fish. And, just like a lucky few of us, they can afford this winter holiday because they’re very good at making a living. The ospreys are now returning to

their Northwest homes to nest, and you’ll see them flying slow circles over a tide line, that convergence area where two ocean channels come together. Tide lines force drift and small floating food into a close area, and larger fish come in for a meal. Eagles will sit on an old snag, watching with eagle-eyes for a big fish lingering here near the surface, then make a long quick glide to snatch the fish as the bird goes over. Eagles have to do it this way because their great size makes it very difficult to take off from an

accidental water landing (think jet in the Hudson River). I’ve

seen eagles make a wet landing when they’ve misjudged the size of their prey, and end up awkwardly flopping towards shore – and, yes, they CAN swim, although it’s pretty amusing to watch. On the other hand, ospreys

The distinctive V-shaped wings make ospreys easy to identify.

CAN’T swim, and therefore they’re considerably more cautious. A truly big fish may actually pull the bird under, effectively killing the killer – but that’s not a normal grocery run. Because Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96