See ospreys at Rockport Reservoir

These large fishing-eating birds will be in the spotlight July 23.

SUMMIT COUNTY — Large fish-eating birds called ospreys will be the center of attention during a free wildlife viewing field trip.

The field trip will happen July 23 in Summit County.

Ospreys snatch fish directly from the water.

With their five-foot wing span, the ospreys will be easy to see. And if you attend the field trip, you might even see some turkey vultures and great blue herons, says Bob Walters, Watchable Wildlife coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

To participate in the field trip, meet at the Rockport Reservoir dam from 6 to 7 p.m.

To reach Rockport, travel on I-80 to Wanship. Then exit the freeway and travel south on SR-32 to the dam observation site.

From the dam, participants will follow Walters in their own vehicles to viewing sites in and near Coalville, Wanship and Rockport State Park.

If you'd like to join the field trip at one of the viewing sites, please call Walters at (801) 538-4771 to make arrangements.

What you'll see

Walters will have some binoculars and spotting scopes available, but if you have your own, he encourages you to bring them.

You'll see osprey pairs and their young during the trip. Walters says each pair had two to three young, or eyases, this spring.

Ospreys spend a considerable amount of time in their nests.

Photo by Matt Edmonds

While there's a chance you'll see the ospreys fly, it's more likely you'll watch them as they feed and exercise their wings while on their nests. Sometimes three feet or taller in height, the nests themselves are something to see.

"The nests start looking like chimneys," Waters says. "Sometimes I think they'd rather build nests than fish. It's just incredible."

During the trip, Walters will also point out waters you can visit at a later time to witness the spectacular feet-first 'plunge dive' of the osprey. Ospreys make these out-of-the-air dives to snatch fish that are swimming under the surface of the water.

Walters says ospreys are highly specialized to capture fish. Their outer toe is reversible, and their talons are covered with sharp hooks on the lower surface that allow them to grasp slippery fish in the water.

Walters calls the osprey's plunge dive "one of the true spectacles of nature."