Eastern osprey diurnal birds of prey, toes are of equal length, its tarsi are reticulate, and its talons are rounded, rather than grooved. The eastern and western osprey ("Pandion") and owls (Strigiformes) are the only hunters whose outer toe is reversible, allowing them to grasp their prey with two toes in front and two behind. This is particularly helpful when they grasp slippery fish. The states and territories of Australia where the species is recorded as occurring are Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, The range is a narrow strip at the coast and offshore islands, although it
Genomic evolution of birds possibility of genomic expansion in mammals and reptiles. Also, there is no such genomic loss in any vertebrate group as great as that of birds. Its possible that the early chromosomic fragmentation event that lead to the appearance of microchromosomes in birds significantly contributed to this gene loss. These fragmentation events must have taken place in a common ancestor of most birds, since approximately every two out of three species studied have at least 30 pairs of microchromosomes, 2n = 80 being the size of the average karyotype of birds (with the only exception the family Falconidae, which are 2n