Osprey Chat thread for MAY 2018

I have seen a photo of the female at Balgavies carry a fish in her beak also.   We were discussing this earlier in the season and I did try to find the photo, but didn't find it.   

Found the photo, taken by Ron Mitchell one of the Balgavies FB Admins,

It was the unringed Balgavies female.

Copyright Ron Mitchell

Thanks, CC, for the thread and Tiger for the summary.  Sorry to be a bit picky, but 3J is 5 this year, not 4; she hatched in 2013, one of 3 chicks in 5R's last brood.

Here is a reference to moulting osprey feathers

Moulting osprey feathers part 1

moulting osprey feathers part  2

Auto-crop-drop stuff

Thanks Sheila for the links to the two articles. The second one says

'The crop is used as a storage area when food was recently consumed and is still being digested. However, if the ‘stomach’ is empty then food will enter immediately'.

I'm still not clear on whether the immediacy of the crop action is conscious or subconscious/automatic? Given she's doing a lot of this, and has what we assume is an empty stomach, it may be automatic ie. her stomach is empty and it assumes there's food in the crop to drop.Which there isn't. Unless when she goes to drink, she gets a wee something extra from the water source? In which case, the crop drop may be conscious...or...still sub-conscious......?

Maybe I'm over-thinking this.......

Here is another interesting link written by Poole, an American osprey guru.

Sorry, Sheila, but the link does not work for me.

doesnt work for me either

Oh dear!  Had closed the link and when I recovered it, it wasn't the actual article but Birds of North America on-line.  The article was one of a number of free articles, and I had found  Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, order Accipitriformes, family Pandionidae, but I can't find the article again!!  This is the main link

To get back in I now have to pay money.  Such a nuisance.  Sorry.

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That's the problem with Googling ad lib!

Hi Korky and all

Although there may be no food in the crop, I seem to recall from far away memory cells, that water can be stored there too; given that she is taking water on board, could it be possible she is 'drinking' or having a similar effect....?  I don't really know, just postulating!  Something else maybe only The Osprey Knows.....  (Or an Expert!)

H