The Story
I photographed this Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) at Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida, United States, in November 2020, with its wings spread and a fish gripped in its talons. Historically known as the sea hawk, river hawk and fish hawk, it is a fish-eating bird of prey found almost worldwide. It weighs 0.9 to 2.1 kilograms and is 50 to 66 centimeters long, with a wingspan of 127 to 180 centimeters. Males are slimmer than females, with narrower wings and a weaker breast band. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/3200 sec, f/9, ISO 400, −1.3 EV. The park lies on both sides of Sebastian Inlet, which forms the line between Brevard and Indian River counties, and in 2010 it was the second most visited state park in Florida.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) belongs to the family Pandionidae (Osprey) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List