Osprey migration Pandion haliaetus
Press ▶ to play the year. Glow: GBIF records per month, adjusted for observer effort. Lines: tracked individuals (Movebank).
| Scientific name | Pandion haliaetus |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 160 cm |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 7,317,432 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | 3 birds (Movebank) |
Facts from Wikidata Q25332 (CC0).
When does the osprey arrive in the UK?
A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from late March, are near their peak by mid April, and fall away after early October.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 28,824 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
Migration in the data
7,317,432 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in August (about 48°N) and furthest south in February (about 18°N).
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 19°N | 14% |
| February | 18°N | 15% |
| March | 25°N | 8% |
| April | 41°N | 3% |
| May | 45°N | 3% |
| June | 42°N | 4% |
| July | 46°N | 5% |
| August | 48°N | 3% |
| September | 42°N | 3% |
| October | 28°N | 11% |
| November | 19°N | 17% |
| December | 18°N | 17% |
Tracked birds
- “Y0”: 1 Sep 1996 – 31 Aug 1997, between 46°N and 12°S. Dataset: Martell MS, Henny CJ, Nye PE, Solensky MJ (2001) Fall migration routes, timing, and wintering sites of North American ospreys as determined by satellite telemetry. The Condor 103(4): 715–724. doi:10.1650/0010-5422(2001)103[0715:FMRTAW]2.0.CO;2 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.sv6335t3 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
- “O2”: 18 Sep 1996 – 16 Sep 1997, between 46°N and 3°S. Dataset: Martell MS, Henny CJ, Nye PE, Solensky MJ (2001) Fall migration routes, timing, and wintering sites of North American ospreys as determined by satellite telemetry. The Condor 103(4): 715–724. doi:10.1650/0010-5422(2001)103[0715:FMRTAW]2.0.CO;2 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.sv6335t3 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
- “DE”: 23 Jul 1999 – 22 Jul 2000, between 41°N and 4°S. Dataset: Martell MS, Henny CJ, Nye PE, Solensky MJ (2001) Fall migration routes, timing, and wintering sites of North American ospreys as determined by satellite telemetry. The Condor 103(4): 715–724. doi:10.1650/0010-5422(2001)103[0715:FMRTAW]2.0.CO;2 https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.sv6335t3 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
About the osprey
The osprey, 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Osprey” (revision 1379339911), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=2480726&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (22 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.