Osprey awakening
Jul. 10th, 2020 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitcorvvinOsprey and badger are the two theriotypes that proved to be the most troublesome to understand and figure out. Osprey especially, because I already had a bird kintype; it’s hard to distinguish phantom shifts when both species have wings, grasping feet, short tails that help with flight, feathers, and beaks. You can probably see why it took me a while; it was hard to separate the shifts from my raven shifts. But they are different. It just takes a good understanding of bird morphology and behavior, which I have after being obsessed with birds my whole life.
For one, ospreys have differently structured wings than ravens, and they fly differently. The different types of wings feel slightly different during shifts, though you’d really have to be paying attention to notice; it mostly comes down to how the flight urge grabs me. Ravens have elliptical wings, like many other larger passerines. This lets them take off faster and perform maneuvers in the air like rolls, but requires more flapping. Ravens are surprisingly acrobatic in the sky. Ospreys on the other hand are accipitriformes and have passive soaring wings, which lets them catch columns of rising air to soar, but doesn’t let them go very fast unless they’re diving to catch a fish.
That’s the other big difference; behavior and diet. Ravens are omnivores and opportunists. They’ll eat anything they can fit in their beak, although mostly they eat carrion, bugs and small animals. They’re not ferocious hunters, though. They’re scavengers. They’re also highly socially developed. Ospreys are solitary except when they’re breeding, and they’re also predators who prey almost exclusively on fish. They hunt by diving into the water to grab their prey, which is what my hunting urges tell me to do when I’m in a shift.
There are other differences, like talon shape and strength, the osprey’s crest, vocalizations, and hard-to-notice differences in beak shape during a phantom shift, but those two are the main two.
When I figured out my osprey kintype it just made so much perfect sense. I’d always been disproportionately fascinated with ospreys; ever since first seeing a picture of one I was enthralled. I’d just never considered it for my kintype because I became convinced my bird-of-prey feelings were just wishful thinking after realizing my raven kintype, and because I thought it would have “made too much sense;” if I considered osprey for my kintype, I’d be too in love with the idea to think about it critically. I’ve now thought about it critically and realized that that’s incredibly stupid.
For one, ospreys have differently structured wings than ravens, and they fly differently. The different types of wings feel slightly different during shifts, though you’d really have to be paying attention to notice; it mostly comes down to how the flight urge grabs me. Ravens have elliptical wings, like many other larger passerines. This lets them take off faster and perform maneuvers in the air like rolls, but requires more flapping. Ravens are surprisingly acrobatic in the sky. Ospreys on the other hand are accipitriformes and have passive soaring wings, which lets them catch columns of rising air to soar, but doesn’t let them go very fast unless they’re diving to catch a fish.
That’s the other big difference; behavior and diet. Ravens are omnivores and opportunists. They’ll eat anything they can fit in their beak, although mostly they eat carrion, bugs and small animals. They’re not ferocious hunters, though. They’re scavengers. They’re also highly socially developed. Ospreys are solitary except when they’re breeding, and they’re also predators who prey almost exclusively on fish. They hunt by diving into the water to grab their prey, which is what my hunting urges tell me to do when I’m in a shift.
There are other differences, like talon shape and strength, the osprey’s crest, vocalizations, and hard-to-notice differences in beak shape during a phantom shift, but those two are the main two.
When I figured out my osprey kintype it just made so much perfect sense. I’d always been disproportionately fascinated with ospreys; ever since first seeing a picture of one I was enthralled. I’d just never considered it for my kintype because I became convinced my bird-of-prey feelings were just wishful thinking after realizing my raven kintype, and because I thought it would have “made too much sense;” if I considered osprey for my kintype, I’d be too in love with the idea to think about it critically. I’ve now thought about it critically and realized that that’s incredibly stupid.
