Family Pandionidae (Osprey)

This family is made up of a single genus (Pandion), and two species–an ‘eastern’ and an ‘western’ member of the family. The two species are virtually identical, with just inhabiting different parts of the globe.

Osprey flying over Boomer Lake, Stillwater OK

The eastern osprey is located in Australia on the rivers and coasts, while the western soprey has a more cosmopolitan distribution across the Americas, Africa, northern Europe, and Asia.

The only continent they are absent on is Antarctica, and they’re primarily winter visitors in Central and South America.

While the western osprey is said to have distinct subspecies–there is no distinction within the Americas (so it is a single subspecies in the New World).

Photography goal for this family would be to get a picture of the osprey actually catching a meal, and possibly getting a picture of the eastern osprey, or one of the other western osprey subspecies.

References: https://fatbirder.com/ornithology/pandionidae-ospreys & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pandion_(bird)