Wardens are stationed by the nests throughout the breeding season. Two adult ospreys crowd the nest with two 45 day old chicks Although Ospreys are related to eagles and hawks, they do not have any close cousins. For this reason biologists place them in a separate taxonomic family by themselves. A distinctive brown stripe runs across the head through the fierce yellow eye. In females this necklace tends to be wider and more conspicuous than in the males.
Ospreys are well equipped for their fishing livelihood.
Their keen eyes are far more sensitive than ours, allowing them to detect fish in the water from great heights. They have long powerful legs, and feet armed with inch-long talons. The pads of their feet are covered with hundreds of sharp spines. Ospreys eat a wide variety of fish. May. Pollock, cod, tomcod, and winter flounder are fished later in the summer in the coastal estuaries.