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Ospreys are medium-sized birds of prey. Their overall appearance is greyish-brown, with a light grey front (throat, belly, vent) and brownish dark-grey back (mantle, wings, uppertail). The face has prominent grey eye stripes around eyes with yellow irises. The underwing pattern is scalloped light-grey (leading edge) to mid-grey (flight feathers) to dark grey (alulas and tips of primaries). The bill is dark-grey; the legs and feet are grey, with dark-grey talons. The sexes are hard to distinguish, but in breeding pairs the difference is noticeable - female Ospreys have a more pronounced breast band than males. Juvenile Ospreys have a heavier chest band than adults.

Note that former race "cristatus" has now been given full species status, as the Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus).

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Osprey is available HERE .

Ospreys are a global species that are found on all continents (except Australia, where they are replaced by the very closely related Eastern Osprey, Pandion cristatus, and Antarctica). There are two, possibly three, recognized races. Nominate race "haliaetus" breeds in eastern Scandinavia, from the Baltic states all through mid-latitude Eurasia to the base of the Korean peninsula, Japan and Kamchatka. There are also a few scattered locations in Europe where Ospreys can be found. They winter in South-east Asia, from South China to the Philippines, Thailand and Burma to Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia. Farther West, the winter grounds are on the entire Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, and via Pakistan all the way around the Gulf of Arabia to the North coast of Oman. Additional winter grounds are located all around the Red Sea and throughout Africa South of the Sahara desert. Race "carolinensis" breeds in northern North America, from New Fundland via the Great Lakes to southern Alaska. They winter along the American West and East coast, parts of central America and all of northern South America outside the Andes, to a geographic latitude of ca. -30 degrees. Some sources list the sedentary Ospreys of the Caribbean islands as separate race "ridgwayi".

In Oman, as elsewhere on the Arabian peninsula, Ospreys are found in coastal areas, primarily along the North coast.

Ospreys have a strong preference for aquatic habitats, in which they prey on fish.

Race "haliaetus"