I’ve often wondered if ospreys ever make this mistake and now I know the answer. This bird has picked up a highly venomous Portuguese Manowar jellyfish.

Amazing to see and capture this! Can't be many Man o'wars that get to fly! Hopefully it can't sting through the foot scales and it got dropped safely back into the sea? Pedant invertebrate nerd point- Man o'wars aren't jellyfish but hydrozoans.

How do you know they haven’t picked it up to drop on an enemy/rival :)

Just a general comment.., Your work is out freaking standing! Please never stop and never stop using Sony equipment. Love, Minolta diehard.

Wow! I like the way the osprey was looking suspiciously at it!😮

The bubble part doesn't sting and it looked like the Osprey knew. Did it drop it on something like a weapon??

Hawks will drop snakes onto perceived threats. Possibly ospreys do the same attacks with jellyfish.

Limited records of birds consuming Portuguese men o' war (Physalia physalis) include a report of Ring-billed Gulls dining on beached P. physalis in coastal Texas. R. Call et al., Risky foraging by Ring-billed Gulls, J. Field Ornithol. 93(3):4 (2022).

Just incredible photography! I kept thinking, “Drop it! Drop it!” Do you know if the bird was ok?😨

You mean that Manowar is name of a jellyfish???

Where’s a thieving pelican when you need one? 😜