This thread is a total experiment! I thought of it because a few nights ago, a lot of of useful information about ospreys was being posted in the LG Diary comments, but because of the blog format, it will be out of sight once a new blog is posted, and easily forgotten.
The idea for this thread:
· To provide a place for people to ask questions about ospreys at Loch Garten, or ospreys in general, which members of the Forum will answer to the best of their ability. NB Questions directed to the team at Loch Garten, should still be posted in the Comments area of the Loch Garten Osprey Diary.
· To preserve the answers for future reference
Asking Questions
For clarity, please only ask one question at a time.
Replying to Questions
Try to be specific, giving links to the relevant information where possible, or quote your sources. If you are giving your own opinions, recollections or theories, please make that clear.
If the question you are answering is not the last post in the thread, please use the Quote facility to include the question in your answer.
General
To make it easier to search for the topic in the future, use the Tags field. For example, if your question is “Is Odin really Scandinavian?” enter “Odin” in Tags.
SK2. Manton Bay chicks have been rung.
Birdies LG DU update.
Thanks Mike( replied) CHOL:);)
OK SK2. Just making sure you saw the post!. Knew you wouldn't want to miss it!. Have replied to MSG.
SunnyKate2 said: BUMP! You have Stan at Hellgate feeding Harriet. I hope eggs hatch soon. "Five eggs" ? has any Osprey laid 5 eggs that we know before ? Interesting.... [/quote]SK2 Thank you. The forth egg was laid 5 days after the 3rd, so is it a second clutch or had apologies "Iris" laid one clutch of 5. It seems too soon for a 2nd clutch. edit I should have said eggs 1 - 3 where kicked by Stan.
BUMP!
You have Stan at Hellgate feeding Harriet. I hope eggs hatch soon. "Five eggs" ? has any Osprey laid 5 eggs that we know before ?
Interesting....
[/quote]SK2 Thank you.
The forth egg was laid 5 days after the 3rd, so is it a second clutch or had apologies "Iris" laid one clutch of 5. It seems too soon for a 2nd clutch.
edit I should have said eggs 1 - 3 where kicked by Stan.
If you look at Tiger & Chloe's stats for Hellgate 2012 it is very interesting.
deleted and do not want a debate and my feelings will not change. I do not want an argument but do have oppinions and others also.
Thank you Rachel your answer meant a lot to me:)
I look forward to reasons to track and always honest. I really would like answers to my questions.
oh well no answers and I am always honest. I do want answers and always honest against. I am trying to be open minded and if no answers then how can I change my mind?
B&B - Roy has always tracked adults as well as juveniles: Red 8T, Beatrice and Morven were all caught and tagged as adults. As, longer ago, was EJ's friend blue XD, come to that. If you look at the front page of his website, you'll see that Roy still plans to tag chicks this year as well - but there is different information you get from adults.
Fishing patterns in the UK are an important part of that - tracked adult males (the main target in new tagging of adults) provide evidence they can show to angling groups who need convincing that increasing osprey numbers aren't a threat to their sporting interests by over-fishing a single site. I know that the evidence from the Rutland birds has been used that way, though their main driver is the need to protect birds (or gather evidence) given that they lost several males in suspicious circumstances during the breeding season.
As to the juveniles - remember that a substantial rate of loss is a built in natural population control mechanism, in ospreys as in any other species. Even an only moderately successful female like EJ has raised 18 chicks to fledging and migration in her 10 years at Loch Garten (not counting Oighrig & Breagh). Biologically she only needs at most 4 or 5 to survive over her lifetime - enough to replace herself and her mate(s), plus a couple more for population growth. They don't know that they are rare in the UK, after all! If all, or even the majority, of chicks survived, we would be over-run with ospreys by now. I know that the loss rate in tracked juveniles seems very high, but that really, honestly, isn't a statistically significant sample, even from such a small population base.
I know this won't change your mind - this is something you feel very passionately about, and I respect that - but
please try to be open minded and not dismiss the scientific evidence outright. I don't believe you are that narrow minded.
Another thought, B&B: don't be so quick to give up on the rest of us :-) I think a few of the folk who standardly reply here may be away or having IT problems just now. And I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm still having considerable difficulty accessing the forum on my iPad (which is what I use most now) so am not looking on as regularly as I would like :(