Pandion haliaetus
Order Accipitriformes
Family Pandionidae
Other names: Fish Hawk
♂ Adult male.— Upper parts grayish-brown; head, neck, and under parts white; sides and top of head marked with dusky.
♀ Adult female.— Similar to male, but with breast spotted with brown.
Nest, in trees or on poles near the water.
Eggs, varying from buffy-white to reddish-brown, spotted with dark brown.
The Fish Hawk is a local summer resident of New York and New England, breeding near the coast or on large inland rivers and lakes. There are colonies in northern New Jersey, on Long Island, and on Narragansett Bay; in Maine it breeds both on the coast and in the interior. In the rest of New York and New England it is a rather common migrant, both on the coast and inland, in April and May, and in September and October. Its habit of plunging into the water from a height is, of course, characteristic. When not fishing, its great extent of wing, and its white head and under parts distinguish it.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)