Plate 81 – Fish Hawk

When John James Audubon “first removed to Louisville in Kentucky,” he noted Fish Hawks nesting “on a piece of ground immediately opposite the foot of the Falls of the Ohio in the State of Indiana.” The common name for the Fish Hawk is now the Osprey. The bird is barely seen today anywhere near the Falls of the Ohio let alone nesting on a piece of ground. Ospreys have since come to depend almost entirely on man-made platforms and structures and the rare tall dead snag that has been left standing close to large bodies of water for nesting. Although just because there might be a site for nesting, this does not guarantee there will be fish to catch. Industries in North America have poured countless amounts of mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), arsenic, and any number of other toxins into all of the places that Ospreys try and catch fish. Health officials today issue warnings about swimming and catching and eating fish in places like the Falls of the Ohio and the Ohio River while Ospreys and many other types of birds and wildlife suffer and have died off accordingly.