Osprey are well-known for their amazing ability to catch fish while diving from high above at 50mph. They aren’t always successful but can have a success rate up to an amazing 70%. This osprey, well, he fell well short of that mark.
As he arrived at the pond, he almost immediately took a dive and I thought he was successful as he emerged from the water and started flying off with something. He didn’t make it far and then dropped the object with a rather loud ‘sploosh.’ Over the next half hour or so, the osprey repeatedly tried fishing again taking at least a dozen dives, coming up empty each time. Eventually, it opted to move on to a different pond.
When I got home and started looking at pictures I realized that this miserable fisher had not caught a fish initially – it was a rock! You can see in the first picture he is looking down at his catch, probably trying to figure out why it weighed so much. Haha. I don’t know if this guy just lacked any sort of skill or perhaps has really bad eyesight, but it is clear he is not on par with most osprey in his ability to catch fish. 🙂
