osprey on the hunt

i loved watching the osprey hunt at bani! osprey are quite cosmopolitan, found on all continents except in antartica. i actually saw my first osprey in the louisiana bayou but since then i have had several encounters with this large raptor locally. the largest congregation of osprey i have seen is in bani in pangasinan! last year we recorded 22 osprey all within a kilometer of each other, perched on the fish pen nets, unmindful of each other.  this year we saw "only" 19! 

at bani this awc, we took a short break from counting waterbirds as noontime approached, and watched 3 osprey hunting for bangus, quite successfully, at the fishponds. it would be wonderful to set up a hide by the fishponds and watch these birds of prey in action.

first, hovering over prey spotted in the fishpond

then folding its wings coming into a stoop

talons forward to grab the fish

dive and splash!!! (maybe sometimes they do it just to cool off!)

a show of power as they pull out from the water

and flying off with the fresh catch

far, far away to enjoy the bangus in private

there's nothing like watching the predator in action in real time, so here's adri's short video (watch in hd for optimum viewing):

>

• Share this on Facebook
• Tweet This!
• Share this on del.icio.us
• Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon
• Add this to Google Bookmarks
• Subscribe