Bird Watching (UK)

BIRD 6

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Our last bird is making quite a splash. It could be bathing, but the extent of the splashing implies that there is more to it than a simple cleaning exercise. This bird appears to be plunging into the water, presumably to grab a fish. It obviously doesn’t want to get those wings wet, though, holding them high above the surface. Those wings are long and more or less uniformly brown, although there appear to be whiter feathers showing through in little gaps in the wing feathers and in the reflection of the underwing in the water. They also have prominent ‘fingers’: long, separated primary feathers, as is typical of a large bird such as a hawk. A hawk which plunges feet first into water to catch fish, brown above, whitish below. It has to be an Osprey.

KEY FEATURES

†Long, fingered wings †Wings held above water †All dark wings; reflection shows pale underside †Massive splash

 ??  ?? Long wings with prominent ‘fingers’ Splash of a fishing bird Hint of whitish underwing shown in reflection
Long wings with prominent ‘fingers’ Splash of a fishing bird Hint of whitish underwing shown in reflection

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