Birda Logo
Features
Birda+
About
Species Guide
Challenges
Shop
loading...
A photo of a Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus)
Eastern Osprey

Eastern Osprey

Pandion cristatus

The eastern osprey (Pandion haliaetus cristatus) is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. They live in Oceania at coastal regions of the Australian continent, the Indonesian islands, New Guinea, and the Philippines. It is usually sedentary and pairs breed at the same nest site, building up a substantial structure on dead trees or limbs. The subspecies resides in habitat close to coasts and estuaries that provide opportunities for fishing. In 2022, it was considered a defunct species by the IOC, due to its low genetic divergences and absence in morphological differences. The eastern osprey's diet consists mostly of vertebrate fish species. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey.

Pandion cristatus, comparable in size as a medium-sized raptor or large hawk, occurs near the coast and large water bodies and is highly adapted to hunt and capture marine animals. The plumage is dark brown on the upper surfaces, and pale at the head and lower parts. The throat is white, a black line extends from this through the eye to a dark patch around the ear, demarcating this from the pale colour at the head. When not in flight, the feathers at the crown form a small crest. The breast is dappled with brownish patches, lacing below the neck, this is darker and more strongly banded in the female. The legs and feet of the species are strong and a light grey or white colour. The pattern of the scales at the tarsus is reticulate. The irides are yellow. The juveniles resemble adults, although the iris colour is a darker orange-yellow and plumage is distinguishable in multiple and subtle ways.

In flight, the eastern osprey has bowed wings with narrow primary feathers that are angled and separate, giving a fingered appearance to the observer below. The eyes are set toward the front of the head, which along with the neck is proportionally small. The species swivels and cranes its neck while observing its surroundings in a curious and characteristic manner. The osprey resembles the white-bellied sea eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster, which has similar habitat and range, although the adult size is only that of the larger species' juvenile; the wings of an osprey are sharply angled rather than the up-swept outline of the soaring eagle.

App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Eastern Ospreys on Birda

Photos
Sightings

More Ospreys

A photo of a Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Osprey

Pandion haliaetus
Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

What Our Birders Say
Patricia L
Very encouraging birding app
Easy to use, fun to see progress and encouraging to receive feedback from other users.
Hip An
Fantastic
Really enjoying Birda where I live i have a lot of Red kites really hard to photograph but I can video are you planning some place on the app where us Birda can post vids🦉🦅
Birdafan
Ideal Birdwatch Companion
Simply adds to the enjoyment of my birdwatching and helps me record what I’ve seen.
Erna M
I really like Birda
I really like Birda. I also use other birding apps and have Birda with E-bird going at the same time.
Talli A
My favourite app
As a young birdwatcher who was always keen to be apart of a community but never seemed to find one, my problem was solved downloading this!!! Everyone is so friendly and just as excited to see birds as me 😁
Sacha0508
Simply fantastic
I love this app, it puts so much fun into recording the birds I’ve seen and heard while I’m out and about. The interface is user-friendly and suitable for all ages. It’s great to collect badges and to review my “lists”.
Nicole
Gets me outdoors more
I'm still loving this app. I use it most days & gets me outdoors more. Enjoying watching others progress and photo's, it's improved my wellbeing.... I love this app! I can keep a record of sightings and see what others have seen too.
Louise L
Easy to use and accurate
Love this app. It is easy to use and accurate, Their backup communication is really good. I noted a missing species. All through the process, I was kept informed about the progress in correcting the information. I now have the corrected, updated version. 😁 Thanks!
Bryan C
Clean and easy to use
Really enjoying this app, it's clean and easy to use. I love the ease of being able to add those one-off birds without starting a whole checklist. I also like the social aspect, like the parts of my Facebook I like, without the ads and junk, just birds. Can't wait to see it become more populated.
Dunners12345
Great App
Great app to use for logging and communicating with others who are interested in birds
As featured in
Birda Logo
AboutPressAmbassadorsAffiliatesInfluencersCareersPrivacyTerms & Conditions
An app for birdwatchers
Connect with us
Copyright © 2024 Chirp Birding. All rights reserved.