Osprey Q & A

Oh it has been a brisk day in the market for "Scottish Ospreys". Only 28 copies left at Abebooks now!

JSB    I have started the requested thread!

Recently the osprey Blue/white XE  was mentioned as it was photgraphed.

Now I have often mentioned a young Norwegian osprey which was tracked in 1999 and was the osprey which paired up with S06 when her partner S18 was late back from Africa in 2001.

Now I have discovered that S09  had a ring  Blue/white XB

Question is  were  Blue/white XB   and Blue/white XE   possibly from the same nest?

S09 has now been renamed  XB (97) and his details are here. See http://www.ospreys.org.uk/satresultsS09.html

Tiger I think the most likely explanation is implied, in the link you provided. 

Blue XB was ringed with the colour ring as an adult in 1999 at Rothiemurchus fish farm, but was identified as Norwegian by his pre-existing metal ring.

I've never seen anything about the origins of Blue XE, but to be a sibling of XB, he would also have to have hatched in Norway and been ringed in Scotland - rather improbable. The more likely explanation is that he was ringed as a chick in Strathspey around 1999, and Roy Dennis happened to use a ring from the same series.

S06(91), otherwise known as "Green/white J" is still around - Roy commented in his blog during the summer that he visited her nest to ring her chicks. She carried a satellite transmitter from 1999-2001, then Roy retrapped her and removed it. Presumably she still winters at the Alcantara reservoir. http://www.ospreys.org.uk/satresultsS06.html   

Sue C   I am sure you are right. I had realised this since I wrote it last night. The ring Blue/white XB was an extra ring put on by Roy Dennis when he trapped this bird in 1999. I agree it is just coincidence.

Yes I find S06 (91) a rather fascinating bird (I suppose they all are). I remember that she was one of the first birds to be tracked. They set the tranmitter to turn on by something like the 10th August. When it did she was already in Spain. This was thought to be a stopover but proved not to be as we now know.

Of course she is also an example of where she and her partner (S18) were both tracked. Two partners if you count S09. She also had two chicks translocated and tracked.

I'm using this thread to answer questions about EJ's past life, which are starting to be asked in the LG blog comments, as usual at this time of year.

I've written this as a draft update to EJ's biography page, merging material from other LG blogs, plus some info taken from Roy Dennis’ book “A Life of Ospreys”, for the early years. Hope this is useful - let me know if you spot any errors (Tiger!).

White EJ

(Photo)

EJ, the resident female at Loch Garten since 2003.  Female ospreys have a brown 'bib' which males don't. EJ's forehead also has more brown than those of male birds.

1997       EJ hatched at a nest near Bridge of Cally in north-east Perthshire, where she was ringed by wildlife artist Keith Brockie. Her “colour” ring – white with EJ in black - is on her right leg, the metal BTO ring on her left. Nothing is known of EJ’s life for the next 3 years.

2001       EJ was identified nesting in Rothiemurchus Forest near Aviemore, with an older male osprey wearing an orange VS ring (OVS for short). That year the nest failed, probably due to pine martens predating the eggs.

2002       EJ and OVS nested again in Rothiemurchus Forest, this time raising one chick.

2003       EJ lost her nest to a more aggressive female, and arrived in mid-June at Loch Garten, where she paired with male osprey Henry (ring Ochre HV), who had taken over the nest that spring. It was too late for her to lay eggs, but they stayed together at the nest site pair-bonding.   

2004       EJ returned to Loch Garten on 26^th March, and was joined by her old mate OVS, until Henry arrived on 3^rd April and evicted him. EJ and Henry raised three chicks, which were given yellow leg rings with numbers 27, 28, 29 – Yellow 28 was a male whilst the other two were deemed to be female.

2005       EJ and OVS again mated at the Loch Garten nest, before OVS disappeared. A four year old male, Red 8T, tried to take over the nest but proved to be inadequate at providing food for our female. She laid several eggs before Henry arrived on 25^th April, he was covered in oil and almost skeletal. He succeeded in chasing off Red 8T and then kicked the eggs out of the nest, a further egg was laid but that was also ejected by Henry. However, EJ and Henry stayed at Loch Garten as a pair till the end of the season.   

2006       Once again, EJ and OVS mated at Loch Garten before Henry arrived. On 10th April he returned, chased off OVS and re-established the bond with EJ. Three eggs were laid, three chicks fledged – they were all considered to be female and were given yellow leg rings 8U, 8V and 8W.

2007       History repeated itself once more as EJ returned to Loch Garten on 4^th April and paired up with OVS.  EJ had laid 2 eggs before Henry arrived on 22^nd April and kicked the eggs out of the nest. On 24^th April EJ laid two eggs in two hours, Henry kicked these out of the nest too. This year was remarkable as our couple went on to produce a second clutch, eggs being laid on 11, 14 and 16 May. However all three eggs failed; two eggs hatched but the chicks died within 24 hours, the third egg seems to have failed mid-hatching.

2008       Henry did not return this year, and EJ and OVS were the resident pair at Loch Garten. They raised two chicks, female Nethy and male Deshar.  A third chick died in late June.

2009       Neither Henry nor OVS returned to Loch Garten. EJ arrived on 25^th March and took a new mate, an unringed male osprey who arrived on 3^rd April and was named Odin. They raised three female chicks; Rothes, Mallachie, and Garten.

2010       EJ returned on 26^th March and was joined by Odin on 3rd April. They raised three healthy chicks, who were not sexed, ringed or satellite tagged due to bad weather throughout the week scheduled for this operation. All had left Loch Garten on migration by 25^th August.    

Sue C

Thank you for that interesting history

Paula

Sue C a wonderful history of EJ at LG.  Thank you.  Also a reminder that she seems to have 26 March as her favoured return date.  Roll on Saturday!