Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Family: PANDIONIDAE

A mono-species family. The osprey is a fishing hawk with characteristic long, narrow, angled wings, specialized for diving quite deep into water to catch fish. Otherwise much like other hawks. The recent review of Sibley and Monroe (1990) reduces the family to a sub-family of Accipitridae.

Description: Medium-sized (55 cm), brown, black, and white hawk. White head and underparts with black eye-stripe diagnostic. Upperparts mostly dull brown. Has a short, dark, erectile crest. Races differ in whiteness of head and extend of streaking on underparts.
Iris - yellow; bill - black with grey cere; naked tarsus and feet - grey.

Voice: A loud plaintive whistle in breeding season. Young in nest scream loudly when parents sighted.

Distribution and status: A regular and widespread winter visitor in Borneo.

Habits: A dramatic fishing hawk, plunging deep into the water to catch prey, sometimes staying totally submerged for several seconds. It hunts from tree perches over the sea or lakes, or circles slowly over water, hovers or glides slowly, almost at stalling speed, into a headwind. Fish are carried to a perch to eat.