Osprey over Prospect Park
Pandion haliaetus
Osprey · Prospect Park · 30 May 2026
An Osprey banking hard against an apartment block on the edge of Prospect Park, nowhere near open water and simply passing overhead rather than hunting the neighbourhood. Ospreys eat almost nothing but fish, and the park's lake is too small and shallow to be much of a draw; the harbour is where this bird nests.
The bent, angular wings and dark wrist patches give the silhouette away at a distance, gull-like in a way a Red-tailed Hawk's never is. The feet are the real specialisation: a reversible outer toe lets an osprey grip a fish with two talons forward and two back, and spiny pads on the soles keep a wet, thrashing catch from sliding free.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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