Real sea hawk fishes Moses Lake
A real sea hawk, as in osprey, not the football team, came to town to check out the fishing Monday.
MOSES LAKE - The crew at Ken Thompson Drilling, not far off the lake shore, was going about their business Monday when they noticed a bird hanging out around the shop yard, perched at the top of an electrical pole.
There are a few birds that hang out around the shop yard, bald eagles among them, said K.R. Thompson, who's part of the crew. But this bird was new, smaller than an eagle, but with light markings on its head. It did what tourists do, surveyed the lake, caught a fish, dined lakeside, in this case, back on the electrical pole.
The bird piqued the curiosity of the Thompson Drilling crew, and K.R. Thompson looked it up online. According to the pictures and information he found, it was a sea hawk.
Sea hawks are ospreys. They're almost exclusively fish eaters, and as a result they live near bodies of water, according to the Smithsonian Institution website.
"Although they hunt over water, ospreys generally nest on land, within a few miles of either the ocean or a body of fresh water," the Smithsonian site said. "Unlike most bird species, they are remarkably widespread," living on every continent but Antarctica.
"Pretty bird," Thompson said. They have reversible toes, and mate for life, according to the Smithsonian website.