Osprey at Hilton Head right now
An interesting newspaper article posted yesterday, 29 July, about the Tweed Valley Ospreys. Here are the main points.
Eleven nest sites with pairs of ospreys in residence, two of which failed. Eighteen chicks fledged: there were two broods with three chicks, five broods with two chicks and two broods of single chicks, and this was the highest number of chicks to fledge since the 20 that did so in 2011. Sixteen of the eighteen were fitted with Darvics. Apart from the one which flew off 'last week', another was too small at the time and so was just fitted with a BTO ring. Ring numbers are PX6 and PX9, PY0, PY1, PY2, PY3, PY4, PY8, PY9, LK0, LK1, LK2, LK3, LK4, LK5 and LK6.
At the main nest White SS and his mate Mrs O failed to breed.
The TVOP area stretches from the source of the Tweed in Upper Tweeddale (where the main concentration lies) to its mouth in Berwick, and has produced at least 207 chicks to date! They add that there could well be more birds fledged from the area, from undiscovered sites.
Blue PY1(17) f is from the Back up nest 2. They are calling her Pinky, and she fledged over two weeks ago. Her sibling, Blue PY2(17) m, is called Perky! Their father is Yellow 8C(04).
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
Poor Bailey, he has been through so many mishaps, hopefully things will be okay from her on in and the other birds, wasps etc will leave him alone and he can fledge safely.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
From the Hog Island Osprey staff, early this morning 7/30:
"Dear Osprey Community: This was another very eventful day for the Hog Island ospreys. The wasp nest in the osprey nest continued to be a problem and eventually Bailey had enough, backed too far to the edge and tumbled out of the nest. Eric Snyder found Bailey under the nest (unhurt) and a discussion began as to next steps.
Putting Bailey back in the nest was not a good solution because of the wasps and likely reoccurrence of another tumble. So, we moved Bailey to the nearby boathouse nest, assuming that Rachel and Steve would find her. As expected, Rachel and Steve quickly found Bailey and even provided food at the boat house. But then a big surprise! Another female osprey (likely it was Dottie- the female of the boat house pair)
showed up and attacked Bailey as an intruder on her nest. We are happy that Dottie is becoming defensive of her nest as this bodes well for another pair next summer, but clearly we had not found the solution that we hoped for.
On seeing this, we consulted with Dr. Rob Bierregaard and decided to move Bailey off of the boat house nest and onto a new platform. Eric quickly built a new platform similar to the platforms that we have used previously and then he fashioned a stick nest with a soft confer lining within the platform. The new nest platform was placed on top of Hog Island’s Porthole Lodge just as it was becoming completely dark. The location is close to the original nest and has a commanding view of the ocean. It does not have a camera associated with it, so Hog Island staff will monitor from the ground and report on events of the next few days to the community.
I greatly appreciate all of the deep concern and good wishes for the Hog Island ospreys.
Steve Kress"
__________________________________
No news yet since then. I'd love to know if the parents have discovered and are feeding Bailey.
In the meantime, the hero of the day was Eric Snyder, who climbed up and down 2 nest towers, handled a feisty chick, and built and furnished a new nest platform!
Thank you very much for your updates on Bailey. Eric is indeed a hero! :D
ShielaFE - Thanks for posting the article from the Border Telegraph.
Three of these are from Born in the Borders Nest and hope to see these three later in the week and maybe Rosie will be around. Taking my wife and myself for a spot of lunch at Lanton.
Saw the ospreys near Roxburgh when through to play golf in the borders but not sure which ones are these.
Wonder how Bailey is getting along and are parents looking after her.
Hi Tempo according to chat on their website Bailey and an adult were heard chirping on the Porthole Nest and Steve was seen flying past old nest with a headless fish.
I guess the assumption was he was on his way to Porthole. It is the best guess and evidence they have that Bailey has been found by adults and has been fed.
Regards HI wasps nest will be removed when safe for both humans and ospreys to do so.
Given there is no cam all the assumptions are made from the ground crew standing wherever they stand listening.
Thank you Lmac. Glad to hear and note assumptions. I hope Bailey's wing has recovered allowing him to fledge properly.
Thanks for update on Bailey Lmac.
Marina Kyriacou