The Slow-Motion Beauty and Skill of an Osprey’s Dive: Wild Birds Revealed

[Russell Laman voiceover]: Osprey are expert hunters. They eat one thing: live fish. And they’ve evolved to catch them better than any other raptor.

We wanted to take a close look at how they do it. So we packed our cameras and went to coastal Maine for the alewife run, a few short weeks when millions of fish surge upstream to spawn.

For Osprey, it’s prime feeding time, and they know exactly when to strike.

We’re Russ and Tim Laman, wildlife filmmakers and photographers, on assignment for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. And this is Wild Birds Revealed.

[voiceover]: OM SYSTEM offers birders and nature photographers lightweight, weather-sealed gear with strong image stabilization and powerful super-telephoto lenses…all built for handheld freedom to capture amazing moments. [Russell voiceover]: To capture great footage, we need to match the rhythm of nature. And right now, alewife are on the move. [Tim Laman onscreen]: Every spring along the coast of Maine, rivers like this pulse with life as alewife fish return from the sea and go upriver to spawn in freshwater lakes and that creates a magnet for predators. [Russell voiceover]: These gulls are creating a gauntlet for the running alewife. Lunging and squabbling at every fish that goes by, and turning a quick lunch into a full body experience.

Alewife are about 10 to 12 inches long and weigh half a pound, a little big for this American Herring Gull, but the perfect size meal for an Osprey.

The rivers are so full, even Bald Eagles are showing up, some chasing Ospreys mid-flight, trying to steal their catch.

That’s because Osprey are much better at fishing than eagles are.

[Russell onscreen]: An Osprey just caught an Alewife and flew up this branch, and is eating it right in the open here.  [Russell voiceover]:A male Osprey with chicks might need to catch nearly three pounds of fish each day to feed his family. That’s a lot of fishing. [Tim Laman onscreen]: Our main goal with our photography today is to capture that moment where an Osprey hits the water and then comes out with a fish.  It turns out it’s a little harder than we thought it might be, because the Ospreys have so many options about where they can dive.   [Russell onscreen]:
Yeah, we’ve almost gotten it a lot of times now, you can see there is a large pool here and it’s pretty hard to tell where they are going to dive before they actually hit the water. Even at the last second they tend to change direction. You have to be very reactive and try to get on them at the last second, right before they hit the water. So, still hoping to nail the plunge with the slow motion camera. [Russell voiceover]: It’s tough… The camera has to be focused on the right spot, and at just the right time.  

We got Osprey diving just off frame… 

and one… who I had lined up perfectly, but then decided to keep his fishing spot a secret…

[Tim off camera]: Where is he? [Russell off camera]: He’s right in the tree up there. [Tim off camera]: Oh got it, diving, diving, diving [Russell off camera]: Got it. [Tim off camera]: Yeah? [Russell off camera]: Yeah, I got it. [Russell voiceover]: It all unfolds in just a few seconds. An Osprey dives, snatches a fish, and lifts off like it’s no big deal.

But in slow motion, the precision comes into focus…each part of this bird, from head to talon, is perfectly adapted for the hunt.

The Osprey pulls its wings back, locks eyes on a fish below, and brings its talons forward, lining up the perfect strike.

Ospreys are the only raptor that dive underwater to seize their prey.

And now it faces a challenge…pulling both itself and a struggling fish back into the air.

It stretches its wings straight up… Those extra-long primary feathers—longer than in other raptors—generate powerful lift from the wingtips.

Watch closely and you’ll see a deep crook in the wings… so distinctive in Ospreys. That bend helps rotate the wingtips to flap with full power while staying clear of the water. It’s what gives them their unique ability for vertical lift-off.

And check out those feet, covered in rough, scaly skin for grip, with reversible outer toes to hold slippery prey tight.

They always carry their catch head-first…streamlined for flight, and ready for the next dive.

Video gives you a sense of the motion, but a great still photograph freezes time, capturing the kind of detail you’d miss in a blink.

[Tim onscreen]: So, an Osprey was just like hovering right here, then it dove, like, right in front of me.  And look, I got it on the still camera. Wait, look at this, here he. comes in and one, two, three, in focus,  [Russell off camera]: Oh awesome. [Tim onscreen]: Feet in front, feet in front. Look at that. Right in the middle of the frame…boom…hits the water. [Russell off camera]: That’s awesome. [Tim onscreen]: Comes out with a fish. [Russell voiceover]: Now look closely. This angle from below reveals that deep crook in the Osprey’s wings. 

And now compare that to a Bald Eagle. Its wings are broader and straighter in flight…perfect for soaring…but without the crook in their wings, they can’t take off out of the water. 

Capturing this story is all about patience and timing…being in the right place, watching closely, and letting the birds reveal their world.

And now that we’ve seen them up close, we can’t stop watching.  There’s always more to see when you slow down and watch birds closely. 

Thanks for watching this episode of Wild Birds Revealed. Check out more of our episodes on the Cornell Lab’s YouTube channel and at AllAboutBirds.org.

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