The osprey (Pandion haliaetus), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, almost exclusively fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range, reaching more than 60 centimeters (24 inches) in length and a wingspan of 180 centimeters (71 inches), with brown upperparts and a predominantly greyish head and underparts.
Ospreys tolerate wide habitat varieties, nesting anywhere near bodies of water providing adequate food supplies. Found on all continents except Antarctica, they only occurs as non-breeding migrants in South America.
They possess specialized physical characteristics and unique behavior in hunting their prey, these unique characteristics classify them in their own taxonomic genus (Pandion) and family (Pandionidae).
Theme Parks[]
Jurassic World VelociCoaster[]
An osprey is among the dinosaurs videoed by InGen for research in the ride's pre-show.
Trivia[]
- During the construction of the VelociCoaster, an osprey tried to build its nest on top of the high hat, catching the attention and adoration of observers as it ignored any attempt to get it to move, at one point even clawing through the plastic tarp Universal set up to try and block its preferred perching spot. The fact that ospreys are considered a different kind of 'raptor' is another amusing coincidence. As a happy ending, Universal was able to eventually safely encourage the osprey to move its nest elsewhere, and the osprey was immortalized in one of the ride's pre-show videos where it appears alongside the dinosaurs that InGen is researching.
