Osprey Q & A

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.

  • Clare Bailey said:
    Glesni started eating a clump of something

    Hi Clare

    Mary and I noticed an increase of these clumps being brought to the Nests this year, Rutland's were multiplying by the day Chol:):)

    Maybe they have some nutrients remnants  passed on from the cows??????

  • SunnyKate2 said:
    Maybe they have some nutrients remnants  passed on from the cows??????

    Eeeeewwwwww!  I did notice the clumpy situation at Rutland and wondered what on earth had brought that on!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • SunnyKate2 said:

    Glesni started eating a clump of something

    Hi Clare

    Mary and I noticed an increase of these clumps being brought to the Nests this year, Rutland's were multiplying by the day Chol:):)

    Maybe they have some nutrients remnants  passed on from the cows??????

    [/quote]

    Ospreys do occasionally supplement their diet with a bit of vegetable matter, and you are right SunnyKate2 it's to do with the vitamins and nutrients in bark or cow dung (pre-digested vegetable matter I guess), that support and complement their 99.9% fish diet. 

    I remembered reading this very helpful article by Paul Wildlifewriter which explains more on the subject, and managed to dig it out again... 

    Chocoholix shiny new 2018 Interactive Osprey & Chick Chart! (with clickable links!)

  • chocoholix said:

    Glesni started eating a clump of something

    Hi Clare

    Mary and I noticed an increase of these clumps being brought to the Nests this year, Rutland's were multiplying by the day Chol:):)

    Maybe they have some nutrients remnants  passed on from the cows??????

    [/quote]

    Ospreys do occasionally supplement their diet with a bit of vegetable matter, and you are right SunnyKate2 it's to do with the vitamins and nutrients in bark or cow dung (pre-digested vegetable matter I guess), that support and complement their 99.9% fish diet. 

    I remembered reading this very helpful article by Paul Wildlifewriter which explains more on the subject, and managed to dig it out again... 

    [/quote]Thanks, Chocoholix - that was a very interesting read!  This possibly means that the Glaslyn birds also have a history of eating cow pats if their fish intake contains lots of mullet.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • A question, please, for Osprey experts re EJ's behaviour on the LG nest.

    After the eggs were broken and she had some fish, she gradually started to spend more time away from the nest, and when on it, stood on the edge in the usual position.

    Now she has reverted to incubating the phantom egg more or less full time.

    I wondered if it was possible that because of the many recent intrusions, including a female, she is trying to demonstrate ownership of the nest - has this behaviour been observed elsewhere?

    Or is it that she is still hormonally unstable, and generally distressed by the situation?

    THIS POST IS NOW ON THE NEW Q&A THREAD.
  • chocoholix said:
    It's for Tiger or ChloeB - Why is imagicat called imagicat?

    When I first got the domain I had never built a website before so was an unknown quantity and a learning project for me. The name is a bit of a hotchpotch brainstormer on my part. I thought about starting with an album for photos and was playing around with names hence the imag-i part or i-magic - eye magic-at. I liked it and it stuck :) Anyway, later on, after I had learned one or two (lots) of basics, some pointers from CC about HTML tables (thank you CC) and much experimentation and discussion it was decided it should become an osprey data site. Initially it was called ChloeB's osprey data then later ChloeB & Tiger's osprey data. I am still learning lots as I go along but the main thing is, it works....most of the time. A labour of love which is i-magic to me :)

  • It seems as if this thread is afflicted by the "white page" menace. Thus we will have to start a new page. 

  • Hazel b said:

    It seems as if this thread is afflicted by the "white page" menace. Thus we will have to start a new page. 

    I'm getting that some of the time, Tiger, but not every time.  I wonder what that could date back to?

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • I thought it was me!  Thank goodness!!