The drama continues here at the Loch Garten. Yesterday saw a third male joining the fray in the battle for the nest and for EJ.
After his re-appearance on Sunday it seemed Odin wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Yesterday we watched him sky dance for EJ and he even managed to reclaim his nest momentarily, as he landed on and off throughout the afternoon and alarm-called at Fenrir.
Fenrir, however, is equally determined to keep this nest but his attempts to impress EJ leave much to be desired. He showed up with a fish yesterday morning but instead of bringing it to EJ he tucked into it himself. EJ, clearly hungry, food solicited at him. However, her demands fell on deaf ears and Fenrir refused to let her have the fish. Even when he landed on the nest with it and she attempted to grab it, he quickly flew off with it, almost teasing her. When Odin arrived to continue this everlasting battle, Fenrir still would not let go of his fish. As Odin chased him through the sky, Fenrir maintained a hold on his catch of the day, and even when a third osprey (a bird with a blue Darvic ring - no confirmation of the letter combination yet) arrived, he still battled on with his fish in tow. Odin and the ringed bird disappeared in a fighting flight and Fenrir resumed his tormenting of EJ as he waved his fish in front of her. Once his fish was finished, he sat on the nest by EJ, who hysterically called at him, which he ignored. So it was hardly surprising that when he attempted to mate with her, she wasn’t quite as receptive as he might have hoped!
Our last sighting of Odin was yesterday afternoon and by the time we shut up the centre yesterday he still had not reappeared. This morning we have only seen Fenrir at the nest site. He seems to be having an easy time of things with no other challengers to see too. He has spent the morning showing off with a fish, on two occasions briefly bringing it into the nest and then promptly disappearing off before EJ could get close enough to snatch it from him. She is continuing her constant food soliciting from the nest while she incubates the remaining broken egg. Fenrir it seems is learning the hard way that to win EJ’s attentions he will need to share his catch a bit more willingly as she is still rejecting his advances on every mating attempt.
Let’s hope it’s not too long before Odin makes a re-appearance. We will keep you posted with any other news as soon as we can.