female osprey

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By Rivets

Jordan Lake: In flight, the white marks at the end of each flight feather of a fledgling osprey look like dots (I call them “rivets” as at a distance they look metallic to me). This female fledgling gave me a very close fly-by. You can easily see that the white is actually an edging of the color at the feather tips. These “dots” wear off over the next 12-18 months and so by the time this osprey would return to Jordan Lake in about 2 years, she will have lost her rivets.

By Jordan Lake Ospreys: Shelter Osprey Nest 04-06-2019
Shelter Osprey Nest
 
In most raptors, the female bird is larger than the male.
This is easy to see in the ospreys and bald eagles at Jordan Lake.
You can certainly see the size difference in the parents of the Shelter Nest.
 Osprey Mom, heading to the left, is much bigger than Osprey Dad who is looking to the right.
Sometimes this size difference makes the female ospreys and bald eagles 25 – 30% bigger than the males.
This trait is known as gender dimorphism.
_ARK8902 Ebenezer 06-04-19 10-57-08 2 osprey dimorphic

By Images

The ospreys are fledging at Jordan Lake – taking their first flights.

Male osprey fledgling. Note his orange eye. Adults have a golden eye.


This is a female osprey fledgling. Her dark feathered “brooch” marks her gender.


A little easier to see her dark neck patch.


By far the easiest way to tell that these ospreys are fledglings are by the white “rivets” on their feathers.


The “rivets” are white dots at the ends of their feathers and will wear off as they age.