Eastern Osprey

Other names
White-headed Osprey, Fish Hawk.

Taxonomy
The taxonomy of the Eastern Osprey is controversial. The most widely accepted contemporary taxonomic arrangement recognises a single species, Pandion haliaetus, with four subspecies: nominate subspecies haliaetus in the Palearctic, carolinensis in North America, ridgwayi in the Caribbean and cristatus (or leucocephalus) in Australasia and New Caledonia (Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001 ; Poole 1994 ; Prevost 1983 ; Sibley & Monroe 1990 .).

However, Wink and colleagues (2004) and Wink and Sauer-Gürth (2004) studied three of the four subspecies (haliaetus, carolinensis and cristatus) and proposed that each be elevated to full species status based on differences in distribution, morphology and genetics between the three taxa.

This treatment was accepted by Christidis and Boles (2008) but has not been adopted by BirdLife International (2007k) or Remsen and colleagues (2008). This profile follows Christidis and Boles (2008) and Dickinson (2003) in elevating subspecies cristatus to full species status as the Eastern Osprey, Pandion cristatus.