It has always presented something of a riddle to taxonomists, but here it is treated as the sole living member of the family Pandionidae, and the family listed in its traditional place as part of the order Falconiformes. The genus Pandion was described by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. The genus, Pandion, is the sole member of the family Pandionidae, and used to contain only one species, the osprey ( P.
The osprey was described by Carl Linnaeus under the name Falco haliaeetus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion, and family, Pandionidae. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.Īs its other common names suggest, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply.
It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts. It is a large raptor reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. The osprey / ˈ ɒ s p r i, - p r eɪ/ ( Pandion haliaetus), also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range.
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