What is Osprey?
{{Taxobox | name = Osprey | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status = LC | image = OspreyNASA.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = An osprey preparing to dive. | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Bird|Aves]] | ordo = [[Accipitriformes]] | familia = '''Pandionidae''' | genus = '''''Pandion''''' | binomial = ''Pandion haliaetus'' | binomial_authority = ([[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)}} [[File:Pandion haliaetus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.93.9.jpg|thumb| ''Pandion haliaetus'']] An '''osprey''' is a type of [[fish]]-eating [[bird]]. They are also known as 'fish hawk', 'sea hawk', and 'fish eagle'. It is a large bird measuring up to 60 cm (24 in) long from [[beak]] to [[tail]]. It has dark brown [[wing]]s. == Description == The osprey weighs 1.4–2 kg (3.0–4.4 lb) and is 52–60 cm (20–24 in) long with a 150–180 cm (5–6 ft) [[wingspan]] (the distance between the right wingtip and left wingtip when they are spread out). The back of the bird is brown and the belly is white. The head is white with a dark stripe across the eyes. The eyes are golden to brown and the beak (the mouth of a bird) is black. The legs and feet are white with black [[talon]]s (nails of a bird). The osprey has a short tail and long, narrow wings. Males and females look similar, but males are often paler. In flight, the osprey raises its wings in an [[arch]] shape, making it look like a [[gull]]. == Conservation == === Scotland === [[Scotland]] is typical osprey [[habitat]] with lots of trees and lakes (called '[[loch]]s'). Because of egg thieves and [[hunting]], only two pairs of ospreys were left there in 1967. The [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] began to protect the nests. Ospreys have returned every year to the protected [[nest]] at [[Loch Garten]]. More than 1.5 million people have been to see them. The number of ospreys in Scotland has increased a lot, but the population has been slow to spread. This is because ospreys often return to breed near to the place where they hatched. This has been shown in studies in the [[United St