BTO BirdFacts | Osprey

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Page updated:16-January-2013

	Order: Accipitriformes	Family: Pandionidae
	BTO Codes: OP, OSPRE	EURING No: 3010
	Number in Britain: 180 pairs (Summer)
	Conservation Status:
	UK: AMBER
	European: 3 Concern, most not in Europe; Rare
	Global: (Details)
Links to: Images Videos Sound

Status in UK: (A) Migrant Breeder, Passage Visitor
Subspecies: haliaetus recorded in Britain (of 4 subsp. in the world)
.
Length: 56 cm	Wingspan: 158 cm	Weight: M/F: 1.5 kg

Scientific name from:	after Pandion, mythical Greek king of Attica and Gr.: halos=the sea + aetos=an eagle
World Distribution:	Cosmopolitan, Northern populations generally winter further south

Habitat:	Lakes, rivers, seacoasts
Diet:	Fish, caught in talons after dive
TitBit:	Satellite tracking shows Ospreys can fly up to 430km in one day on their way to west Africa. About 20 flying days are required for the journey but in autumn birds stop off to refuel on 14 days, in spring they only stop off for about 4 in order to arrive back on the breeding grounds early.

	Population Trend:	No population trend available
	Distribution:	No distribution maps available

British Population Size:

Summer: 180 pairs in 2005-09 Holling, M. & RBBP (2011) British Birds 104:476-537

First Record: Recorded in Medieval times Bircham, P. 2007. A history of ornithology, Collins. [805 BIR]

[Fossil evidence from Devensian (last) glaciation, 10-120,000 yr ago]

First Breeding Record: Scotland (after extinct 1916) 1954 Brown, A. 2007. British Birds 100:214-243

Latest Survey: Holling, M. & RBBP (2011) British Birds 104:476-537

Conservation Status: AMBER because Species of European Concern, Small Breeding Population, Eaton, M.A. et al. 2009. British Birds 102:296-341

Previous Assessments: 2002-2007 AMBER Gregory, R.D. et al. 2002. British Birds 95:410-448

1996-2001 RED Gibbons, D.W. et al. 1996. RSPB Conservation Review 10:7-18

Races of Concern: haliaetus AMBER (European Concern)

Habitat Occupancy (in the Breeding Season):

No habitat data from BBS

Migration routes: Map of foreign ringing recoveries and summary map from Time to Fly (in pop-up windows)

European Population Size:

Summer: 5600 to 7 thousand pairs Bufield, I. & Van Bommel, F. (2004) Birds in Europe. Birdlife International, Cambridge.

Population Assesment from Birds in Europe

Distribution in Europe mapped by the EBCC Atlas

Listed on the Appendices/Schedules of: WCA(I,IV), WBD(I), Bern(III), Bonn(II), CITES(II)

Survey Results:

Breeding and Survival
Egg Size: 62 x 46 mm	Egg Weight: 72.0 g (of which 10 % is shell)

Number of Nest Records: 4
Clutch Size: 2 - 3 eggs
Incubation: 37 days		by the: Female (occ. Male)
Fledging: 53 days		as: Altricial, downy

First Clutches Laid: Unavailable
Number of Broods: 1

Number Ringed: Annual Totals
Adult Survival: 0.850
Juvenile Survival: 0.600 (in First-Year)

Age at First Breeding: 3 years	Typical Lifespan: 9 years
Maximum Recorded Age: 20 years 11 months 0 days (set in 2005)
Read a summary of Ringing Recoveries

For More Information...
Books and Monographs:
Brown, P. 1979 The Scottish ospreys: from extinction to survival Heinemann, London [598.522 BRO]
Poole, A. 1989 Ospreys: a natural and unnatural history Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [598.522 POO]
Dennis, R. 2008 A life of ospreys Whittles Publishing [598.522 DEN]

See Also:
Find scientific papers on Google Scholar or Scirus by clicking the icon
Wikipedia entry
BirdLife species page
Recent sightings and information from BirdGuides
All About Birds (from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Details from the Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter
Read State of the Nations Birds by Chris Mead

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