Osprey: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the osprey lives – recorded in 132 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Pandion haliaetus
Group	Birds of prey
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	132 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Mass	1.4 kg (adult)
Class	Bird
Order	Accipitriformes
Family	Pandionidae

Where does the osprey live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the osprey in 132 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Nanling Mountains, Africa, Brazil, South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is an osprey?

Wikidata records the following for the osprey: mass 1.4 kg (adult).

Is the osprey endangered?

The osprey’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the osprey?

The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a bird in the order Accipitriformes and the family Pandionidae, genus Pandion. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the osprey

The osprey (Pandion haliaetus; ), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and a wingspan of 180 cm (71 in). It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts.

The osprey is distributed on all continents except Antarctica, but in South America, it occurs only as a nonbreeding migrant. It lives in a wide variety of habitats and nests in locations near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It has specialised physical characteristics and unique behaviour in hunting its prey, which consists almost exclusively of fish.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Osprey (revision 1379339911), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q25332 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).