Juvenile Osprey

Juvenile Osprey Pandion haliaetus flying away from the nest today at Chambers Bay.

Osprey are common breeding birds here in the Puget Sound region of western Washington. There are several clues that this individual is a juvenile. The most obvious in this photo is the red iris. Adults have a yellow eye, and the red eye here is indicative of a juvenile.

Another indicator of this bird being a juvenile is that every feather looks fresh and does not show wear. At this time of year an adult should have worn flight feathers and probably show molt limits in some of the primary flight feathers.

I was once at a hawk watch class, and the teacher, Pete Dunne from Cape May, NJ, pointed out that at a long distance an osprey can look a lot like a gull, with dark upper parts and white underparts and a crook in the wing, but the emarginated feathers at the wing tip is unlike any gull would show. So if you see a distant gull-like bird with spaces between the outer primary wing feathers, it is likely an Osprey.

Good birding. Steem on!