This thread replaces Satellite Tracked Ospreys March-August 2010
It has been set up to follow the Autumn 2010 migration of ospreys tracked by satellite, other than those from Loch Garten. Comments about the travels of Rothes, hatched at Loch Garten in 2009, should be posted on the “Tracking Rothes and Mallachie” thread: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/groups/lochgartenospreys/forum/t/3440.aspx
UK Organisations known to be currently tracking ospreys, and the birds involved, are as follows:
Roy Dennis, Highland Foundation for Wildlife – Scotland
Website: http://www.roydennis.org/osprey/index.asp
Beatrice
Adult female, hatched 2000, tagged 2008, ring Green 5B. Beatrice moved to a new nest in East Moray in Spring 2010, as her previous mate did not return from migration. On all of her tracked migrations, she has taken a stopover on the River Adour, near Dax in the Landes department of SW France. Her wintering site is on the Guadiaro river in southern Spain, NE of Gibraltar.
Morven
Adult female, hatched 2003, tagged 2008, ring White PE. Morven’s nest site is near Forres, Moray (with Talisman). So far, she has only taken stopovers on spring migrations, in the Villaviciosa estuary in the Asturias region of northern Spain - http://www.riadevillaviciosa.org/ . Her wintering site is the desert coast of Mauritania, north of the capital, Nouakchott.
Nimrod
Adult male, hatched 2001, tagged 2008, ring Red 7J. Nimrod’s nest site is also near Forres. He tends to take a stopover, of varying length, around the Ile d’Oleron, Charente-Maritime, western France. He winters on the Rio Cachine in Guinea Bissau.
Talisman
Adult male, hatched 1999, tagged 2009, ring Black 6R. Talisman’s nest site is near Forres, Moray (with Morven).On both his tracked migrations, he has had a stopover at the Roxo Reservoir, Alentejo, Portugal http://www.avesdeportugal.info/sitroxo.html . He winters on the Ilha de Enu, Bijagos Islands, Guinea Bissau – not far from Rothes.
Red 8T
Adult male, hatched 2001, tagged 2009, ring Red 8T. Red 8T nests in Strathspey, near the Rothiemurchus fishery. His wintering site is on the Casamanche River near Ziguinchor, southern Senegal. He doesn’t seem to do stopovers!
Rothiemurchus
Immature male hatched 2009, ring Blue AE. Hatched on Rothiemurchus Estate, near Aviemore, Highland. On his first migration south, after a narrow escape over the Atlantic, he spent 5 weeks on the Rio Paiva, Aveiro District, Portugal. He continued safely to Africa and has since spent his time exploring Senegal.
Spey
Juvenile Male, hatched 2010, ring Blue AS. Hatch site near Elgin, East Moray, Scotland.
Lake District Osprey Project, Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria, England
Project website: http://www.ospreywatch.co.uk/
Tracking reports on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ospreywatch/
Juvenile Males, hatched 2010 - elder Chick White 12 and younger White 11
Rutland Water Osprey Project
There is no current satellite tracking, but posts may occasionally refer back to the tracking which was done from 1999-2002 - here's the link to all the records:
http://www.ospreys.org.uk/satellite.html
Thanks jsb, very interesting: Your post got me thinking about the "trigger" that prompts a juvenile to start their first migration. I hadn't really considered that the first time it reaches such altitudes may play a part in some way. With satellite tracked birds we could find out whether or not it is common for the juveniles to soar before they begin their migrations.
As you know the data that is received from the tracking devices is not routinely published in its raw form, but is usually presented in purely geographical terms, via a map or on Google Earth. Each hourly data stream does contain details of altitude and speed but these aren't generally reported - especially prior to migration. I'd certainly be interested in seeing the raw data in order to see if these things are happening or not.
The problem, however, is the fact that a signal is received only once every hour. I've often witnessed adults soar out of sight of even the best binoculars, when the conditions are right, within a few short minutes - and descend just as quickly. If this happened between data downloads then this movement would not be picked up by the satellite tracking at all.
I've been looking into some of the aspects of bird migration and there is recent research suggesting that migratory birds really do see the magnetic fields of the Earth. Maybe it is the simple fact that soaring to these higher altitudes for the first time allows the bird to properly sense these fields (because of the effects of perspective) and that itself is the trigger.
Of course, even if there is a scintilla of truth in any of this we then need to find out what "triggers" the bird to soar really high in the first place!
sandy said: I've been looking into some of the aspects of bird migration and there is recent research suggesting that migratory birds really do see the magnetic fields of the Earth. Maybe it is the simple fact that soaring to these higher altitudes for the first time allows the bird to properly sense these fields (because of the effects of perspective) and that itself is the trigger.
Sandy/jsb: I happened across this article some time ago on Science Daily and had saved the link.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070926140836.htm
You may find it interesting.
Alan, thanks for update on Bassenthwaite. Have picked up the link and also asked for one on the Weekly Chat. Don't need it now as I can refer to the link you gave. Thanks.
Glad to hear that Ospreys near and far are making it to their wintering grounds.
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home
Rothes leaving LG last year.-3.68667,57.24517,249 -3.68617,57.23017,0 -3.76517,57.13933,515 -4.00400,57.04667,614 -4.22750,56.87267,851 -4.37583,56.66900,788 -4.52567,56.49333,848 -4.71600,56.32217,237 -4.63883,56.10333,539 -4.60350,55.99000,156 -4.60450,55.99583,140 -4.60450,55.99583,141 -4.60450,55.99583,159 -4.60450,55.99583,137 -4.60450,55.99583,148 -4.60400,55.99100,195Sandy: This kml file data is difficult to manipulate onto the blog. It shows Rothes dodging aroundthe LG nest, then on the ground at 0 altitude, then lifting off on her way to 851metres, before shedecends again, away from LG.I guess you know all about KML files, which seem to be based on more comprehensive datafrom the satellite, judging by comments made by Roy Dennis sometimes.I do not know how the RSPB website formatter will display this post, here goes.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data Site
Sat track schedule Spring 2014
LG 7 days; RW & SWT nil; LDOP varies
IF YOU CLICK REPLY THE ABOVE READS A BIT BETTER.
I cannot delete it now, but can edit it out, if it is causing a problem.
sandy said: Update from Bassenthwaite, 12 is in France!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ospreywatch/
Update from Bassenthwaite, 12 is in France!:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ospreywatch/
. . . And 11 is in Portugal!!!!
Sandy Thanks for the above, 11 certainly got a move on and at least 12 has crossed the Channel safely.
Margobird
Update from Roy:
"30th August. Rothiemurchus remains in Senegal marshes; Beatrice settled in her winter quarters in Spain"
Unknown said: I've been looking into some of the aspects of bird migration and there is recent research suggesting that migratory birds really do see the magnetic fields of the Earth. Maybe it is the simple fact that soaring to these higher altitudes for the first time allows the bird to properly sense these fields (because of the effects of perspective) and that itself is the trigger.
[/quote]
Thank you very much Diane for that link - yes that is the research that I was referring to! I didn't read that particular article but I stumbled across the original paper whilst doing some in-depth research on the matter (ie. Googling!).
The experiment in question wasn't carried out on ospreys and we have to be circumspect in assuming that this holds true for all bird species as it is believed that they all attained migratory instincts independently (and would not, therefore, have necessarily developed the same techniques for migrating).
It's a fascinating subject and is deserving of further discussion on here at some point, probably on a separate thread, as this one should remain as a record of actual migrations that are currently taking place or are about to start.
Yes I agree we should keep this thread for reporting on the progress of the migrations. There's also been a heated discussion about the pros and cons of tracking in the current blog comments, and if anyone brings that over to the Forum (which I am not suggesting), I think we should insist that it takes place in a separate thread.
Rob Bierregaard has updated on Penelope, the 2 yo female who has been checking out New England - she's started back south. http://www.bioweb.uncc.edu/Bierregaard/maps%202010/Penelope-2010.htm
Sue C - yes let's keep this excellent thread free of the controversy. I'm really enjoying reading about the paths of the Ospreys, especially as we are lacking the tracking from LG this year. Thanks to all.