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Comment: Ospreys are fish-eating hawks that plunge feet first into the water to catch fish. Is is true that occassionally an osprey will latch onto a fish that is too big/heavy for it to lift from the water and ends up drowning? Supposedly, these birds have feet that "lock" into their prey and fishermen sometimes catch fish with the remnant bones/tendons still locked into the back of the living fish.
Posts: 36029 | From: Admin | Registered: Feb 2000
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BullNFBSK. If the fish is too big for them to get airborne, they drop it.
I've seen it. Ospreys are cool.
Four Kitties
-------------------- If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales? Posts: 13275 | From: Kindergarten World, Massachusetts | Registered: Jul 2003
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I've seen plenty of ospreys go down into the water and come up either with a carryable fish or with no prey, but I've never seen one go down and not come up. Of course this doesn't mean they couldn't ever get harmed by their prey or snag on something under the water.
Posts: 1111 | From: Albuquerque, NM | Registered: Dec 2000
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It seems to be the accepted norm that Ospreys are prone to being lumbered with too heavy a fish. It seems they have been known to swim to safety, be rescued by firefighters with fish still in their talons and even skeletons of the birds being recovered still attached to fish - if it's a legend it's a deep-seated one...
The claws don't 'lock' Dogwater, they have scales that act as barbs so the fish is stuck fast in it's grip, which i'm sure it has no problem removing under normal circumstances but I guess it's feasible that from time to time they get too good a grip and cannot free themselves before the weight of the fish causes the bird to hit the water - it would only take a second or two to occur and by this time it may well be too late. Interesting stuff...
-------------------- This is where I come up with something right? Something really clever... Posts: 6552 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Jay Tea: ...The claws don't 'lock' Dogwater, they have scales that act as barbs so the fish is stuck fast in it's grip, which i'm sure it has no problem removing under normal circumstances but I guess it's feasible that from time to time they get too good a grip and cannot free themselves before the weight of the fish causes the bird to hit the water - it would only take a second or two to occur and by this time it may well be too late. Interesting stuff...
Oh, I assumed that they didn't. I was trying to pose a question directed at the OP. In other words...OK, nice rumor, but if they lock so much that the bird is dragged to its death-- as the OP claims -- how would they ever unlock? My attempt was to discredit that idea.
Dog-- posting under the influence of cough syrup again -- water
-------------------- As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Posts: 1679 | From: Illinois | Registered: Jul 2004
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