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IN THE HUMAN BREAST HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
In February we said goodbye to Millicent, EJ's 100th chick to fledge from the famous nest. We continue to watch Breagha, our only remaining tagged osprey juvenile.
In March we await the arrival of EJ and Oden, to start another family of fascinating bobbleheads.
Unknown said: Fantastic, Keith! CONGRATULATIONS on being able to see this event and on your lovely capture. I suspect there are more?
Fantastic, Keith! CONGRATULATIONS on being able to see this event and on your lovely capture.
I suspect there are more?
Saw jags pic and "liked" it. Don't want to hurt Jag's feelings, but frankly I like yours better, Keith The wispy clouds give yours added interest.
A very true message posted by Venessa Greene at Minneapolis Osprey Watch. Sounds similar to Loch Garten Ospreys Threads
I know many of you are anxious to see our Ospreys back on their nests. Migration studies have shown that they often make their turn trip in a shorter time than the fall southerly migration. They are fueled by hormones. The older experienced Ospreys, who have bred successfully in the past, seem to know that the sooner they return to defend their territory, fix up the nest and get the eggs laid, the better chance their offspring will have for survival. The more time the young ones have to build their skills and prepare for the first migration, the better.
Unknown said: A very true message posted by Venessa Greene at Minneapolis Osprey Watch. Sounds similar to Loch Garten Ospreys Threads I know many of you are anxious to see our Ospreys back on their nests. Migration studies have shown that they often make their turn trip in a shorter time than the fall southerly migration. They are fueled by hormones. The older experienced Ospreys, who have bred successfully in the past, seem to know that the sooner they return to defend their territory, fix up the nest and get the eggs laid, the better chance their offspring will have for survival. The more time the young ones have to build their skills and prepare for the first migration, the better.
.......... and, if you are a male, the sooner your female is on eggs and no longer fertile, the greater the chance of you being able to enjoy an extra pair copulation with an 'unguarded' female if you are one of the first arrivals.
Some people think Ospreys are a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
CRinger - was this your excuse for your clients past record :).
Seriously - the case we did that winter was one of the highlights of these threads.
And on a more serious question - Do you think many males have this intention like we saw at Aberfoyle last year but unsuccessful.
Venessa has seen this at Minneapolis and followed the male raising two nests of 3 in each successfully just accross the river from each other.
JAG is such an excellent photographer and I have bragged on his work so much that I don't think he will mind if I preference your pic this time -- IF he sees this
Unknown said: CRinger - was this your excuse for your clients past record :). Seriously - the case we did that winter was one of the highlights of these threads. And on a more serious question - Do you think many males have this intention like we saw at Aberfoyle last year but unsuccessful. Venessa has seen this at Minneapolis and followed the male raising two nests of 3 in each successfully just accross the river from each other.
I shall ignore your first question and let the written record stand for itself.
Not sure if it was one of the highlights - it is for others to judge, but I enjoyed it immensely and it certainly stimulated my little grey cells.
The more serious question I would answer yes, with very little doubt in my mind. A male is programmed to pass on his genes and father as many offspring as he can. I think I may have mentioned it before but the records kept by the vols at LG are invaluable. They record, inter alia, the time the male osprey leaves the site and when he reappears with a fish. If you compare the average forage time when a male has a fertile female -v- when she is on eggs and no longer fertile there is a significant statistical difference (p<0.001). These stats included at least 6 different males and the analysis was the same for each of these males.
So why does it take him longer to bring a fish back to the nest when his female is on eggs? I cannot agree that the weather gets worse during the season, if anything its easier to catch fish. The answer must surely be that, on average, it takes him the same length of time to get a fish, but when his female is fertile he 'hot foots' it back to the nest to prevent any other male 'stepping in'. When his female is on eggs it is him that makes the rounds of nests in the area trying to find an unguarded hungry female. This is assumption, but I believe a logical one. I well recall seeing the old LG male Ollie return to the nest with a fish when Olive was on eggs and on many occasions the fish was as stiff as a board and had obviously been out of the water for some time. He was radio tagged during one season and there is some evidence of this from the tagging data. It suggests it (the fish) had been on a trip to various other nests before finally ending up 'home'. I didn't see this often with Henry, but there again this poor chap often got back 'late' and by the time his female was on eggs al other females in the area were almost certainly sitting.
Apologies for the long answer, but as we haven't yet worked out the technology to put a camera semi-permanently on the back of an Osprey (and I am NOT suggesting we should) all we can do is hypothesise using the best information, data and sightings available. This is my conclusion but I am happy to listen to others views.
C Ringer - I agree with your answer to "Male Intentions"
This is a very interesting paper I keep and follows much of what you report.
I recently read on another website that Ospreys are monogamous and mate for life. This is a commonly held belief about Ospreys and people often ask me about this aspect of osprey behavior. I have documented repeatedly that they are not monogamous and do not necessarily mate for life. A perfect example is our 21 year old male this year. He has been with the same mate for 13 years. This is the longest pair bond I have documented in this population of ospreys. He had at least one other mate prior to this one. However, I have observed this male engaging in many extra pair copulations. He was with another female during the early days of this season before his mate returned. One year I witnessed him copulating with three different females before his long term mate returned! And yet, they remain together year after year. They have been very successful, producing 26 chicks together! This is why they stay together, the biological imperative and driving force is to reproduce. Several of their offspring have returned and nested successfully also. I have also documented many "divorces". I hate this term as it is a legal term which does not really apply to birds, but it refers to the situation when a mated pair of ospreys are still alive and well, but split up and mate with other partners at other nests. It almost always follows a failed breeding season. My earliest observation of extra pair copulation, which led to the published paper, was seeing a female copulating with a different male than her long term mate for at least a week, but then she returned to her old mate and nest to lay her eggs. He was probably seen as a good provider in a better territory. When the chicks were all predated that year, she left him the following year and mated with the "boyfriend" of the previous year. I have observed several males and females this year who are on different nests, with different mates, than they were last year. In all cases, their nests failed last year. Not all ospreys split after a failed season however. The flip side is that producing chicks successfully together creates a bond with the partner and the nest...but extra pair copulations still occurr when the opportunity arises!
I co authored a paper that included some of this research that was published in 2008 in the Journal of Raptor Research. As our population of Ospreys has increased, I am seeing more extra pair copulations and divorces. Hard for me to understand why anyone still believes they are monogamous! But it takes long term study, good field work, with banded birds to prove these behaviors. I am certain it occurs more than we think among unbanded birds.
EXCELLENT READING!! VERY INTERESTING.
Many thanks for the fascinating discussion above! Am speechless now!
Good night all!