Osprey is a migratory bird. Osprey bird of prey. Feeding characteristics of osprey

30.12.2017

At the VIII Report and Election Conference of the Russian Bird Conservation Union, held in Moscow in February 2017, the osprey was chosen as the bird of 2018.

Osprey is an unusual bird. A magnificent flyer, a skilled fisherman, caring parent, brave traveler, graceful beautiful bird. The osprey is so unique that ornithologists have identified a separate family for it in the animal world. Osprey is widely distributed throughout the world, found on all continents except Antarctica. And at the same time, it feeds almost exclusively on fish; other prey is extremely rare in the osprey’s diet. Osprey hunting (yes, not fishing, just hunting fish) is a breathtaking spectacle. This is a calm search flight over water surface, and a swift rush towards the prey, when the bird instantly turns into white lightning rushing towards the water, and a sharp throwing of its paws forward just before the dive, and a sheaf of splashes, from which a bird suddenly flies out with a fish in its paws... An osprey can also grab a fish that is gaping at the surface , almost without wetting his pen. But often you have to immerse yourself in water almost completely. And then the bird, rising heavily with its prey in its claws, shakes itself off in flight - well, exactly like a dog that has climbed onto land after a swim.

Large nests of ospreys are often far from water, and the bird has to carry difficult prey to its chicks several kilometers away. At the same time, the male feeds not only the brood in the nest, but also the female, who incubates the clutch and later continuously protects the growing chicks. And even when fully feathered chicks leave the nest, parents have to feed them for a long time until the young ospreys master the art of hunting on their own.

Rare throughout almost its entire vast range, the osprey requires special careful attitude and security. Its numbers depend on many factors - both on the fishiness of reservoirs and on the availability of suitable nesting sites. Water pollution and deforestation have led to a significant reduction in the number of feathered fishermen. Excessive human disturbance is also a determining limiting factor for ospreys. And where now, with a developed road network, with the active use of passable all-wheel drive vehicles, ATVs, boats, kayaks, and other yachts by vacationers, can they find a quiet river stretch or a deserted lake?

What can we do to preserve this truly unique species? In the global aspect - to ensure the cleanliness, and therefore the fishiness of our rivers and lakes, to preserve forests on their banks, in the water protection zone, in the adjacent swamps (it is the pine forests in the raised swamps that are the main nesting site of the osprey). But we ourselves can help the osprey. Maintain peace and quiet on such attractive river and lake banks, choose already inhabited, equipped places for camping in nature, and not create new bivouacs. The osprey also responds very well to artificial nesting sites. Of course, installing a nesting platform for an osprey is not an easy task, but in this way you can not only support birds in known habitats, but even attract them to new places that were previously uninhabited by ospreys.

And what is completely unacceptable is raising a gun at these magnificent birds.

We hope that 2018, the year of the osprey, will bring us a lot interesting observations these beautiful birds, new data about their biology will help us be closer to nature, and ospreys - at least a small step closer to humans.

Vladimir Melnikov

© Victor Tyakht

© Victor Tyakht

© Victor Tyakht

© Oleg Sidorov

© Oleg Sidorov

A large bird of prey, the osprey is 55–58 cm long, with a wingspan of 145–170 cm. The long wings are characteristically curved at the carpal joint.

The feathers of the upper body are brown; the crown, back of the head and underside of the body are white; There are dark brown spots around the wrist joint and a mottled necklace around the neck. There is also a brown stripe on each side that runs from the beak through the eye and neck.

The wax and legs are lead-colored, the beak is black. Juveniles are almost indistinguishable from adult birds, but appear somewhat spotted due to the light brown tips of the feathers on the outside of the wings and tail.

Compared to males, female ospreys are 20% heavier, and their wingspan is 5-10% longer. In North America, the weight of males varies between 1200-1600 g, the weight of females - 1600-2000 g

Predatory bird the osprey has several distinctive morphological features, allowing her to hunt for fish.

The legs, unlike other birds of prey, are longer; the claws are long, convex and curved, the outer finger is freely turned back (which helps to grip slippery fish).

Osprey feathers have a greasy, water-repellent structure, and nasal valves protect the nostrils from water entering when diving.

Ospreys are distributed throughout the world, breeding or wintering on every continent except Antarctica.

Unlike other birds of prey, the osprey's diet consists almost entirely (more than 99%) of fish.

Birds are indiscriminate in their choice of specific species and feed on everything they can catch at the surface of the water.

Although the vast majority of the species' diet is fish, they may occasionally hunt other birds, snakes, muskrats, voles, squirrels, salamanders and even small alligators

Ospreys are relatively long-lived birds. The oldest known osprey in North America was a male, estimated to be 25 years old.

The oldest known female lived to be 23 years old. However, most ospreys do not live to that age.

Ospreys lead like sedentary image life (in the south) and migratory (in the north).

Ospreys are subject to attacks by aerial predators, particularly owls and eagles.

Osprey is not listed in the International Red Book, but is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade.

Squad - Predator birds

Family - Skopinye

Genus/Species - Pandion haliaetus

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: 55-58 cm.

Wingspan: 145-170 cm.

Weight: 1.2-2 kg.

REPRODUCTION

Puberty: from 3-4 years old.

Nesting period: depends on the region; in Europe from April to June.

Number of eggs: 2-4.

Incubation: about 38 days.

Feeding chicks: 50-60 days.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: Osprey (see photo of the bird) is a migratory bird; they live alone or in pairs.

Food: live fish, sometimes small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.

Lifespan: about 10 years.

RELATED SPECIES

The osprey is the only species of the osprey family.

In some areas, humans have almost completely destroyed this majestic predator; in other places, the osprey has become a victim of habitat pollution. Thanks to systematic conservation efforts, osprey populations have begun to gradually recover in recent years.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

Osprey feed almost exclusively on live fish. Only when the water in the reservoir is very muddy is it forced to also catch frogs and small rodents, and sometimes even chases ducks and. When hunting, the osprey first soars in the air at a high altitude, then descends to a height of 20-30 m and begins to rush over the water. At times she stops and hovers in the air, fluttering her wings, to more closely monitor the spotted fish. Then, stretching its legs forward, the osprey quickly descends onto the water at an angle to the surface and disappears under the waves.

However, the bird soon appears on the surface and takes off with the prey, taking it to a secluded place. Most often, osprey catch fish weighing 200-400 grams.

Osprey and Man

For a long time, people considered the osprey to be a harmful bird that destroys fish. For this she was intensely persecuted. In some countries, ospreys are still hunted to this day. In the mid-20th century, there was a sharp decline in the number of ospreys in Europe and North America. main reason reducing their quantity - the influence of pesticides (for example, DDT). These poisons accumulated in the body of the fish that the osprey feeds on.

When an osprey ate poisoned prey, these harmful substances, accordingly, entered its body. As a result, the females began to lay eggs with very thin shells.

LIFESTYLE

The osprey is the only representative of the osprey family. This bird is very elegant. Features ospreys have a small, stocky body, a short, hooked, curved beak, strong legs, the unfeathered part of which is covered with thick but small mesh scales. The long wings of the osprey have a characteristic kink and resemble the letter “M”. The osprey has an almost cosmopolitan distribution. She nests in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and North Africa. In winter, the osprey moves from the northern regions to places with a milder climate. Birds that nest in Europe go to warmer climes in Africa, and their relatives from North America look for places suitable for them in Central and South America.

REPRODUCTION

The osprey settles only near large bodies of water with clear water, which are rich in fish. Nests on the most big trees that rise above forested area. In deserted places, the osprey often makes its nest right on an empty beach. Immediately after arriving at the nesting sites, the birds occupy their nesting areas and begin to build nests. Later the birds begin to perform mating dances: with a fish in its claws, the male rises to a height of up to 300 m, hovers in the air for a moment, and then, folding his wings, quickly falls down. In mid-May, ospreys begin laying eggs. The female lays 2-3 (rarely 4) white eggs with brown spots and incubates them for about 38 days. The male brings her food at this time. The chicks stay in the nest for an average of 55 days. In case of danger, they do not defend themselves, but hide.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE Osprey

In Europe and North America, ospreys are quite rare birds. IN Northern Europe About 3000 pairs nest. In Western and Central Europe There are only 200 pairs of ospreys left. In Scotland, the osprey disappeared in 1915. It settled here again in 1954, thanks to the careful protection of the nesting pair of a pair brought here. The Scottish population now numbers 10 pairs.

• Osprey - extremely adroit hunter, which can often catch two fish at once.
• The sounds that the osprey makes consist of high-pitched whistling tones.
• The outermost toe of the osprey can rotate back and forth, allowing the bird to firmly hold its prey.
• IN old literature Stories about the death of ospreys pulled under water by pikes were popular, but there are no reliably described cases of this kind in the scientific literature.
• Gardners Island near New York City was once home to a colony of ospreys numbering more than 300 pairs.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE OSCOPY. DESCRIPTION

Eggs: white with black or brown spots, the female osprey lays 2-3, less often - 4 eggs.

Nest: located high in the crowns huge trees or on the rocks.

Chicks: is fed by the female. They begin to fly at the age of 50-60 days.

Distinctive features: brown plumage. The head is white, with a dark stripe running down from the eye to the middle of the neck. The wings are unusually long. Legs are strong, not fully feathered.

- Whole year
- Wintering
- Nesting

WHERE DOES IT LIVE?

Osprey is found on almost the entire sea coast and near fresh water bodies. The map shows the places where it winters and nests, as well as those places where it lives throughout the year.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

In many places the osprey has become rare species. The use of pesticides has led to a decline in the number of this bird. agriculture and hunting for her.

Orinoco osprey. Video (00:20:56)

The homeland of Orinoco and its sisters is Newfoundland (Canada). The chicks live in a huge nest. Their parents feed them delicious fish 6 times a day. Baby Orinoco learns to fly and fish. To get to its winter home, the osprey flies 5,000 thousand km. and will encounter a lot of dangers along the way.

Osprey hunting. Video (00:02:44)

Another stunning BBC video of an osprey on the hunt.

Osprey attacks. Video (00:00:58)

Looking into an osprey's nest is a very difficult task: the nests are high and at the very top of the tree. There was nothing to hold onto there, the branches were falling off the nest, and in one hand I still had a huge shoulder-mounted camera... And once, at the height of a five-story building, I lifted the camera into the nest on a heavy tripod at random, holding it by the tip with one hand. It would be worth slightly deflecting this thing from the vertical and all the equipment would fly down and break into pieces. Miraculously he held on. And this nest is one of the few that you can look into. I actually climbed one nesting tree - and turned back halfway - it was so dry that the entire upper part could fall off...

Osprey/Osprey drags fish into nest. Video (00:01:44)

Osprey is a rare fish-eating bird of prey with a wingspan of up to 170cm. It is listed in the Red Book of Russia. However, in the southern Ladoga area the osprey feels at ease. I fell in love with these swampy lands, spent a lot of time there wandering and communicating with ospreys and. Osprey nests are so inaccessible that few ornithologists have ever held the chicks of this bird in their hands. However, I managed to penetrate osprey nests, and one day ospreys colonized the tower that I placed next to the nest. The osprey is extremely wary and when approaching a human nest, it leaves its home many hundreds of meters away, so in order to remove it, it was necessary to set up a tent near the nest at night. Stories about ospreys and eagles were published in 2010. in the beautifully illustrated book "In the Nest of Cannibals." Scientists believed that in Leningrad region Osprey nests can be counted on one hand, but in the southern Ladoga region alone I found more than 15 nesting sites. The largest nesting group of these birds in Europe is in the Darwin Nature Reserve.

Osprey versus white-tailed eagle. Video (00:01:12)

Unusual behavior of birds of prey. A much smaller osprey drives away a giant white-tailed eagle that has landed on an osprey's nest. Osprey chicks flew out of the nest three days ago.

Osprey. Birds of Brateevograd. Video (00:00:37)

A rare bird for Moscow. Last time she was seen in Brateevo in 2008. She was once seen from the direction of Maryino as a bird flying over the Moskva River in 2006.
Fishermen see osprey in spring and autumn behind the Plintovsky ravine at the turn of the Moscow River towards Besed.

The Russian Bird Conservation Union announced that the osprey was chosen as the bird of 2018. Although theoretically there is a chance of meeting this bird in most of Russia, except for the tundra areas, in reality it is very rare to see it.

Osprey, scientific name which Pandion haliaеtus, belongs to the order Accipiterae, or birds of prey, representing in it a separate family of one species. This large predator, twice the size of a crow. It is quite easy to recognize an osprey, if you are lucky enough to see one, by its coloring. The upper body and wings of the osprey are covered with brown feathers, but the underside of its body is white, only a brown stripe runs across the chest. The head is also white with a distinct dark brown stripe on the side running through the eye to the neck.

Osprey needs a body of water: a lake, river or sea, since it feeds only on fish. Rodents, small birds and other animals are found in its diet only as occasional exceptions. When hunting, the osprey flies at a height of about twenty meters above the surface of the water, sometimes freezing in the air in one place, fluttering its wings. And, having tracked the fish in the water, it quickly rushes down with its paws extended forward and its wings laid back. It submerges for a short time and soon takes off into the air from the water; if the throw was successful, then with a fish in its claws. Observations indicate that the success rate for osprey varies from 24% to 74% depending on a number of factors, including weather and the individual ability of the bird.

Osprey with prey

The osprey builds its nest in a tall tree (sometimes using power poles and other human structures). In this case, the nest should be located at the very top. If possible, the bird settles on the shore of a reservoir, but can also live several kilometers from the hunting site. When ospreys feed their chicks, there are a lot of half-eaten fresh fish lying on the ground under their nest. Alfred Brehm noted that sometimes a family of kites builds its nest next to the nest of an osprey and feeds the chicks “mainly with scraps from the table of their rich neighbor.”

Ospreys on a nest

Brem also talks about the character of the osprey: “River ospreys are extremely peaceful towards each other. They do not pay the slightest attention to other birds and are only happy if they, on their part, do not cause them any disturbance. The river osprey willingly allows small birds to settle in its spacious nest, and these cohabitants, for their part, are so confident in its good nature that they decide to build their nests here, which, of course, would not have survived if such a strong bird of prey as the osprey had I wanted to drive away the uninvited guests. In Europe, small birds settle in the nest of ospreys only in exceptional cases, but on the Red Sea islands this happens much more often; One species of shrikes is especially willing to nest on large buildings. In America, trupials, and especially purple maines, constantly build their light, swinging nests, shaped like purses, on the lower part of an osprey’s nest, which, precisely because of this, can be easily recognized from afar.”

The osprey's distribution range covers all continents except Antarctica. In its northern part it is a migratory bird; in the southern part it lives as a settled bird. In South America, the osprey only spends the winter, but does not nest. Once upon a time, the osprey was found in all European countries from Finland to the islands Mediterranean Sea. But problems began already in the 19th century due to the development of water bodies and hunting by people.

In England, ospreys fell victim to a popular hobby - collecting eggs and stuffed birds. It is worth mentioning that the feathers that adorned the uniform headdresses of the British military in the second half of the 19th century are usually called osprey plumes, but these are not osprey feathers, but heron feathers (at the insistence of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the feathered uniform was abolished in 1899). But the osprey still had a hard time. As a result of many years of egg hunting in England, ospreys disappeared in 1840, and in Ireland they disappeared even earlier, by early XIX century. Ospreys lasted longer in Scotland, where they nested and raised chicks until 1916. But the British Isles lie on the migration route of Scandinavian ospreys. And in 1954, migratory ospreys were reintroduced into Scotland independently, without human intervention, and in 1959, the first breeding pair was seen in the Scottish Abernethy Nature Reserve.

The most serious blow to the osprey came in post-war years, when DDT began to be actively used in agriculture. It turned out that this poison accumulates in aquatic plants, gets from them into the body of small aquatic invertebrates, from there into the fish, and then into the body of the osprey. In her, like in other birds, DDT increases the likelihood of embryo death. As a result, by 1974, only three pairs of osprey lived throughout France - on the island of Corsica. Ospreys disappeared from the Iberian Peninsula in 1983. This fate befell ospreys in most European countries. It is significant that the IUCN Red Book classifies the osprey as a species whose condition is of least concern; the Red Books and nature conservation laws of most European countries (including the Red Book of Russia) recognize the osprey as a rare or endangered species.

Things began to gradually improve in the 1970s, when one after another countries around the world began to ban the use of DDT, and the ospreys themselves began to be artificially populated in those places from which they had long since disappeared. In the 1980s, ospreys were introduced north of Orléans, giving rise to a second French population. Nowadays, several dozen birds live in central France and Corsica. In 2003–2004, about two hundred ospreys brought from Germany, Scotland and Finland were released in the Spanish provinces of Cadiz and Huelva (Andalusia). In 2009, the first case of breeding of these birds was noted in Huelva, and then the same happened in Cadiz. In 2011, an experiment to release ospreys was also carried out in Asturias.

Osprey distribution according to 2009 data

The British had to make a lot of efforts to save the osprey. In 1976 there were only 14 breeding pairs living in Scotland. Alas, the rarer the birds became, the more their eggs were valued by collectors, so egg collecting, which by that time had already become illegal, continued anyway. To protect the birds and increase their survival rate, Operation Osprey was launched. By that time, DDT had been banned in the country, and to protect against egg collectors, approaches to trees with osprey nests began to be blocked with electric barbed wire and even security posts were installed. As a result of these measures, there were 71 breeding pairs in Scotland in 1991. In 1996, several birds from Scotland were moved to England, to the Rutland Water Nature Reserve. In 2001, 158 breeding pairs were found, mainly in Scotland. In 2011, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimated there were between 250 and 300 breeding pairs in the UK.

Name osprey common in East Slavic languages. In addition to the Russian word there is a Ukrainian one osprey, Belarusian osprey, Rusyn staples, outside the East Slavic zone Slovenian is noted skóbǝc or skópǝc(but the main name of osprey in Slovenian ribji ôrel"fish eagle") This word does not have a reliable etymology. It may be related to the more common Slavic word kobets also denoting a bird of prey - Falco vespertinus(rus. kobets, falcon, Ukrainian Kobets, Bulgarian kobets, Serbohorvian kobats, Slovenian kóbǝc, Polish kobiec). Other hypotheses are completely unlikely. They tried to compare the word osprey with Albanian shkiponjë‘eagle’ or Old Prussian warnow soro ‘a kind of hawk’, which is similar to the Lithuanian verb kapoti‘cut, flog’.

It is noteworthy that the scops owl has the scientific name Otus scops. Latin scops Its name was used by the Italian naturalist Aldrovandi in his treatise “Ornithology, or History of Birds in 12 Books” (1599). He took the Greek word σκώψ, which among ancient authors meant some kind of small owl. It is derived from σκοπός ‘one who looks’ and has the same root as the verb σκέπτομαι ‘I look, I observe’. From biological Latin the word scops came to literary English language, where it came to mean Scops Owl, as well as other representatives of the genus Otus. Phonetic proximity of Greek σκώψ and Russian osprey, of course, attracts attention, but still the difference between the Scops Owl and the Osprey is too great.

The English name for osprey is osprey– most likely goes back to Anglo-Norman ospriet, and through it to medieval Latin avis prede and classical Latin avis praedæ‘bird of prey’ (from praeda‘prey’). Sometimes compared with Latin words ossifragus And ossifraga letters ‘breaker of bones’, which in Pliny the Elder and Titus Lucretius Cara meant a bird of prey, but it was not an osprey, but most likely a bearded eagle.

Consider the scientific name of the osprey - Pandion haliaеtus. Word pandion was chosen for the osprey in 1809 by the French zoologist Jules César Savigny. The name Pandion (Πανδίων) was borne by two mythical Athenian kings, a grandfather and a grandson. Pandion II was the grandfather of Theseus. Although they themselves were in no way related to birds, Savigny had some reasons for this choice. The son of one Pandion named Nis (Νῖσος) turned into an osprey. By the way, the children of another Pandion were Procne (Πρόκνη), who became a swallow, and Philomela (Φιλομήλα), who became a nightingale.

Specific epithet haliaеtus(the sign above the letter means that the word should be read not as “halietus”, but as “haliaetus”) is the ancient Greek name for osprey - ἁλιάετος lit. “sea eagle”, from ἁλι- ‘sea’ and ἀετός 'eagle'. The name αλιάετος osprey continues to be used in modern times. Greek, it is important not to confuse it with the word θαλασσαετός, which also literally translates as “sea eagle”, but contains a different root meaning sea, and refers not to the osprey, but to the white-tailed eagle.

Most names of osprey in different languages reflect the bird’s connection with water and its feeding on fish. The osprey is called the “sea eagle” (lat. aquila marina), "river eagle" (Czech. orlovec říčni, Slovak orliak riečny), "water eagle" (Scottish Gaelic. iolair-uisge), "fish eagle" (Nether. visarend, Faroese fiskiorn, German Fischadler, tour balık kartalı, est. kalakotkas, Latvian zivjērglis), "fisherman eagle" (Spanish) aguila pescadora, port. aguia pesqueira, Serbian orao ribar, Bulgarian eagle rirar, Hung. halászsas, scott. Gaelic iolair-iasgaich, Basque arrano arrantzale, rum. vultur pescar), "fisherman" (Polish. rybołow, lit. žuvininkas), "sea hawk" (Serb. sea ​​hawk), “river hawk” (Serb. rivers Jastreb), "fish hawk" (Welsh. gwalch y pysgod, Komi Chery Varysh, Chuvash. pulă hurchki, English fish hawk), "fisherman hawk" (Spanish) gavilan pescador, Serbian Hastreb ribar, Udmurt chorigassoul, Kazakh balykshy tuygyn, Tatars balykchy karchyga), “falcon-fisherman” (Italian. falco pescatore), “fishing bird” (Kyrgyzstan) balykchy kushu), "aquatic predator" (Korean: 물수리 mulsuri), "eagle diver" (Breton. Erer-spluj). In the Navajo language the osprey is called táłkááʼ naalzheehí, which is made up of roots táłkááʼ‘over the water’ and naalzheeh‘he hunts’, as well as the suffix -í , used to form nouns.

Surprisingly Finnish name kalasääski. Kala– this is a fish, which is not surprising for an osprey, but here’s the word sääski means mosquito (a rather rare word; Finns usually call mosquitoes hyttynen). The fact is that the older Finnish name for osprey was not sääski, A sääksi. There are related names for osprey in other languages ​​of the Uralic family: Estonian. sääsk, Sami č iek'ča, hunt. süɣǝs, siwǝs, mans. siws, siɣǝs(in the latter two languages ​​it means osprey or seagull). At some point, two similar-sounding words were confused, and as a result, osprey became “fish mosquito.” In the Mari language the osprey is called sex, apparently, there was also a rearrangement of consonants in it.

The French call the osprey balbuzard, Sometimes balbuzard pêcheur"osprey fisherman" Word balbuzard was introduced by the famous 18th century naturalist Buffon, and it means “bald harrier” (the first part is borrowed from English balb'bald'). Buffon needed a new word to replace the old French name for osprey. aigle de mer“sea eagle”, which did not suit the scientist for three reasons. Firstly, the osprey usually feeds not in the sea, but in fresh water bodies, secondly, the osprey is not part of the genus of eagles, but represents a special genus and a special family, thirdly, the name aigle de mer used in French for the white-tailed eagle. As a result, Buffon achieved success, and now balbuzard– the most common name for osprey in French.

Of course, the osprey is not bald, but the white plumage on the top of its head somewhat resembles the bald spot or tonsure of a Catholic monk. This similarity is reflected in the Irish word coirneach, which can mean both a monk and an osprey. It is formed from the word corann‘tonsure’, ‘crown’, ultimately going back to Latin corona‘wreath, crown, crown’.

Osprey head

In the Slovak language, osprey is also called kršiak rybár"fisherman" or kršiak rybožravý"piscivorous". Word kršiak sometimes used to refer to a hawk. Another meaning of this Slovak word is left-handed (more often called levák). It goes back to the old adjective krchy'left'. What is the connection between left-handed people and birds of prey is unclear.

With such a wide distribution, it is not surprising that the osprey is mentioned in the myths and folklore of different peoples. We have already said that the Greek hero Nysus turned into an osprey. Here is how this story looks like as presented by Hyginus: “Nysus, the son of Mars, or, as others say, Deion, king of Megara, had purple hair on his head, as they say. He was predicted that he would reign as long as he saved this hair. When Minos, the son of Jupiter, came to fight with him, Scylla, the daughter of Nysus, at the inspiration of Venus, fell in love with him and, so that he would win, cut off the fatal hair from his sleeping father. Therefore Nisus was defeated by Minos. When Minos returned to Crete, Scylla asked him to take her with him, as he had promised. He said that the holy land of Crete would not accept such a crime. She threw herself into the sea so that her father would not catch up with her. Nis, when he was pursuing his daughter, turned into a bird called Galiaet, that is, an osprey, and his daughter Scylla into a fish, which is called a wrasse, and even now, when this bird sees how this fish swims, it rushes into the water, grabs it and tears with its claws” (“Myths”, 198, translation by D. O. Torshilov). The name "Deion" in this text is an error instead of the correct "Pandion".

The Mythology of Apollodorus and the scholia to Euripides present a slightly different version. Scylla did not throw herself into the sea, but Minos threw her, tying her legs, so she became a fish. Ovid wrote that Minos, outraged by Scylla’s act, made peace with Nisus, and she rushed into the sea, trying to catch up with his ships, and about future fate Nisa Ovid does not tell.

It is often believed that the osprey is mentioned in the ancient poem that opens the famous Book of Songs (Shijing). The poem begins with the words 關關雎鳩 “guan-guan ju-ju.” Ju-ju here is the name of the bird, and guan-guan conveys its cry. The pair of birds in the poem serves as a symbol of the married couple. However, many believe that the poem does not mention an osprey, but another bird perceived by the Chinese as a symbol of marital fidelity - the mandarin duck, because the cry of the osprey does not sound like “guan-guan”. These sounds are more like the quack of a duck, and the osprey is silent and only when restless at the nest makes sounds similar to “nod-nod-nod” or “kuv-kuv-kuv”. A displaying male osprey loudly calls out “uilp...uilp” in flight. You can listen to recordings of osprey calls and independently assess whether they are similar to “guan-guan” on the website “Vertebrates of Russia” on the portal of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A. N. Severtsov. Other details of the poem: the island between the branches of the river, the leaves of the marsh flower on the water - are suitable for the typical environment of both birds. The Russian translator of the Shijing, Alexei Shtukin, wisely preferred the version with a duck rather than with an osprey:

I hear ducks calling on the river before me,

A drake and a duck flew to a river island...

You are a quiet, modest, sweet girl,

You will be a kind, willing wife to your spouse.

True, in modern Chinese, 雎 ju is an osprey, and mandarin ducks are called 鴛鴦 “yuan yang,” where yuan is a male mandarin duck and yang is a female.

Let's return to the osprey. In the Middle Ages, a legend was widespread in Europe that the osprey, due to its nobility, so deprives the will of the fish it sees that it itself rises to the surface of the water and turns over with its belly up, waiting for the bird to grab it. Shakespeare mentions this legend in Coriolanus:

…Rome

He'll grab just like a sea eagle

Grabs fish, bossy by nature(act 4, scene 5, translation edited by A. A. Smirnov).

Aristotle and Pliny the Elder tell a legend about visual acuity training that an osprey supposedly provides to its chicks. "The sea eagle has the most sharp vision and forces children, when they are still without feathers, to look at the sun, and hits and turns those who don’t want to, and the one whose eyes begin to water first, he kills, and feeds the other” (Aristotle “History of Animals”, IX, 125, translation by V. P. Karpova). Another legend is found in the works of Albertus Magnus (XIII century) and the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed (XVI century). They believed that the osprey had one leg equipped with membranes between its toes, like waterfowl, and the other with long claws, like those of predators. M. Zabylin’s book “The Russian People, Their Customs, Rituals, Legends, Superstitions and Poetry,” published in 1880, states that the osprey was the name given to a mythical deadly bird with poisonous claws. But no other mentions of this legend are found.

Osprey is also mentioned in the Buddhist tradition, in one of the jatakas - stories about past incarnations of the Buddha. Jataka 486 (Mahāukkusa-Jātaka) tells how the king of birds, Osprey, carried water on his wings and in his beak all night and extinguished the fire that people had lit under a tree with a nest of a pair of hawks that had surrendered under his protection. When Osprey was exhausted, the Turtle came to the rescue, and then the king of beasts, the Lion, who by his very appearance frightened the people so much that they ran away. At the end of the story, the Buddha says that in that incarnation the Turtle and the Osprey were his current closest disciples Maudgalyayana and Shariputra, and he himself was a Lion.

Among the peoples of Melanesia, the osprey is repeatedly mentioned in myths about a woman and her bird son. The woman, left alone as a result of various adventures, catches an osprey chick, or hatches its egg, or even gives birth to such an egg herself. As a result, she has a son, an osprey, who catches fish and feeds her. Then he brings her fire (or a drill for making fire), taro, yams, an ax, clothes, dishes - he arranges her life in every possible way. At the end, mother and son return to her home village or found a new settlement, whose inhabitants emerge from the feathers of ospreys.

Among the Ila people of Zambia, the osprey is among the creatures that tried to bring fire from the sky. Osprey, Vulture, Crow and Wasp took flight. The bones of the three birds fell to the ground, and the Wasp reached his goal, received fire and became the head of all birds and insects. On the Admiralty Islands they said that people used to heat their food in the sun. One woman sent Osprey and Starling to heaven for fire. Osprey took out the fire, carried it, but halfway passed it to Starling, who got burned, became smaller than Osprey, but brought fire to the people. But among the Californian Wintu Indians, it is the Osprey that becomes the successful fire-getter. One woman had fire, the creator god sent birds for it, and Osprey was able to crawl under the wall and get a spark.

The hero of one of the legends of the Mohave Indian people could not decide how to die. He lay his head to the west, north, east, south, buried himself in the ground - he didn’t like everything. Finally, he stretched out his arms, grew feathers, took off and turned into an osprey.

In the Yukaghir legend, the osprey became a participant in the complex process of the appearance of the first man. Ivy (the human soul) rose from the Lower World to the Middle World in the form of a blade of grass. The blade of grass was eaten by a mouse, the mouse was swallowed by a lenok fish, and the lenok was swallowed by an osprey. A live mouse jumped out of Lenka's belly, an owl grabbed it and ate it, a blade of grass fell to the ground and finally became a man.

Among the Nez Perce (northwestern United States), one of the daughters of the unlucky Coyote was married to Osprey. Coyote, who visited his daughters in turn, always tried to imitate his sons-in-law, but failed. He was the last to visit Osprey. He dived into the hole and brought back fish, and Coyote, jumping from a tree, smashed his head on the ice. There is a similar story in the Lipans (New Mexico) and the Sahaptins (northwest). The Quileute people said that in the past the most keen eyes Snail had them, Osprey took them for a while and did not return them. This plot is also found among other peoples of North America, but other characters take away the Snail’s eyes.

Among a number of Bantu-speaking peoples of southern Africa, lightning is considered a bird that lays an egg at the moment thunder roars. Some sorcerers are able to find and use such an egg for their own purposes (the Suto people believed that a bird lays an egg in a termite mound; perhaps large queen termites were mistaken for the eggs of wonderful birds?). Among the Xhosa people, the white-necked osprey acts as a lightning bird.

In one of the Ojibwe tales, the hero Manabazu defeated the giant who had killed all the other people, and found the bag in which the giant kept the hearts of his victims, and also released their captive birds. But on the way home, Manabazu and his assistant were swallowed by a whale. Manabazu killed the whale from the inside and asked the birds to peck a hole in the whale's body. The birds helped, Manabazu and the squirrel were released. The hero rewarded all the birds. For example, he painted the seagull white, and gave the osprey claws for hunting fish and made it the leader of the birds. Belka and Manabazu delivered the hearts, placed them on the graves, and all the people came to life. And the hero received Hiawatha “All-Father”.

The Khanty and Mansi said that the heavenly god Torum had a son named Syukhes, which means osprey. Torum sent his son to earth to do good, and ordered him to dress well. The son did not listen, he said that he would not freeze. Then Torum sent frost, the son fell, and Torum turned him into a bird that flies high, but cannot rise to the sky.

Appearance. The dorsal side is blackish-gray, the ventral side is light with a dark stripe across the chest. The head is white with a black stripe across the eye. There are dark spots on the bottom of the wing folds, and faint transverse stripes on the tail. The structure of the paw is peculiar - the outer toe is very mobile and can be directed both forward and backward; the pads of the toes have sharp spines that serve to hold slippery prey. The tarsus is not feathered. A soaring bird holds its wings with slightly curved ends downward, like a seagull.
Short whistle.
Habitat. It lives in most of the territory of Russia near clear fish rivers and lakes, and less often along the coasts of the seas.
Nutrition. It feeds exclusively on fish. It looks out for prey from the air and catches it by diving into the water and even diving shallowly with acceleration.
Nesting sites. It always nests near bodies of water, as it feeds almost exclusively on fish.
Nest location. It nests on tall trees (pines, birches, spruces), usually with a dry top. The nest is located at a height of 8-10 to 20-25 m from the ground. In the absence of trees, it can place its nest on rocks or even on the ground.
Nest building material. The nest is built from thick branches.
Shape and dimensions of the nest. The nest is a structure made of twigs with a rounded bottom and a shallow tray. The diameter of the nest is about 1000 mm, the height of the nest is 500-700 mm.
Features of masonry. The clutch consists of 2-3 pale blue eggs with reddish and lilac-brown streaks of different sizes. Sometimes the main background color can be reddish or brown in various shades. Egg dimensions: (62-64) x (46-48) mm.
Nesting dates. Arrives in April. Eggs appear in nests in late April - early May. Half-feathered chicks are observed in mid-July. Departure takes place in September.
Spreading. It is found wherever there are open waters rich in fish, and does not avoid sea coasts. It is not found only in the Far North. In Russia, the northern border of its distribution runs from the Kola Peninsula to the middle reaches of the Northern Dvina, then to Yeniseisk; An osprey was also found in the Anadyr region.
Wintering. Winters in tropical Africa and South Asia, flying in the latter to the Sunda and Philippine Islands.
Economic importance. Listed in the Red Book of Russia.

Description of Buturlin. The osprey occupies a special place among our predators. In some places, for example in the north and near Leningrad, it is called “fisherman”. Indeed, this is a predator, eating almost exclusively fish. Plumage ospreys are rigid and tightly fitting to the body; the wings are long and powerful; on the lower leg there are no elongated feathers characteristic of other birds of prey, forming the so-called “pants”. The paws are very strong; the inner surface of the fingers is covered with spines; claws without sharp edges, but convex on the inner surface, large and sharply bent; the outer finger is “reverse”, like that of owls, that is, it can be turned back. Unlike all other predators, the osprey has a highly developed coccygeal (supra-tail) gland, which secretes a fatty substance that serves to lubricate the feathers. All these structural features of the osprey make it easier for it to catch fish in the water: the design of its paws helps it tightly grip slippery fish on both sides; the absence of elongated shin feathers makes it easier to immerse the paws in the water; the strong development of the coccygeal gland makes the plumage less wet.
Hunts osprey, flying above the water at an altitude of 20-25 meters. Having spotted the fish, it folds its wings and rushes at the prey, stretching out its paws. When thrown, the bird hides in high-flying sprays of water, and sometimes it is completely immersed in the water. The sharply bent claws of the osprey sometimes even cause harm to it. There are cases when an osprey, submerged in the water, no longer comes to the surface, carried away by unbearable prey.
Osprey - pretty large a bird weighing up to 1.5 kilograms, with a wingspan of about 150-165 centimeters and a wing 46-53 centimeters long.
Female and male painted similar: their head is white, with blackish-brown longitudinal markings; the rest of the top is brown, the bottom is white, often with a brownish spot on the crop. Juveniles are distinguished from adults by buffy-whitish edges on the feathers of the upper body. The iris of the osprey is yellow, the legs and cere are grayish-bluish or leaden-bluish.
Osprey is one of the most widely common birds. As soon as the ice melts, the osprey appears at nesting sites. At this time, you can see her - alone or in pairs - high in the air. The bird flies silently, slightly moving its long wings and sometimes describing several circles over a lake or river.
After arriving, she begins building a nest or repairing an old one. Nest- a huge structure made of thick branches, located near the top of a tall, often dead-topped tree. In places where there are no such trees, the osprey settles in alder groves and even nests on rocks or on the ground. In calm and fish-rich areas, osprey nests are sometimes located close to one another, but usually the hunting and nesting area of ​​each pair occupies several square kilometers.
Masonry from 2-3, sometimes 4 eggs, motley, measuring 61.5x46.3 millimeters, ending in the middle zone around mid-May. Incubation lasts 26-28 days. About halfway through July (that is, after 8.5 weeks) chicks rise on wings. The young feed exclusively on fish; sometimes the nest is completely littered with prey brought by the old people.
For about a month after the chicks have fledged, ospreys stay in or near the nesting area, but in September and October they gradually fly off South.

Species descriptions taken from Guide to birds and bird nests in central Russia(Bogolyubov A.S., Zhdanova O.V., Kravchenko M.V. Moscow, "Ecosystem", 2006).

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