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LOCH GARTEN - May 2022

scylla
01/05/2022 04:21

AX6 Axel and his lovely unringed partner Mistle are bonding well, and Mistle has been threatening to lay an egg - we await developments.

It seems that Mistle has been on the perch & nest all night:

IMAGICAT

  • 08/05/2022 06:13 in reply to scylla

    Axel flew in before 05:00 this morning and took over.  He moved the blocking stick but not enough:

    On Mistle's return to the nest she grabbed at a branch but failed to break it off - you could see it was very flexible:

    I'm not quite up to date, hope Axel's gone fishing.

    Something about Mistle reminds me of Lassie RIP - only a b/w snap to hand but am in a hurry:

    IMAGICAT

  • 08/05/2022 10:10 in reply to scylla

    Lots of ins 'n outs this morning, including flyabouts by Mistle while she was incubating.

    Axel brought fistfuls of dirt and a small straightish stick, then this gurt slab of bark, which is impossible to get a clear snap of - and see the state of his wing feathers !!!

    09:08 a small fish:

    Off she flew with it:

    Back she came @ 09:21 with a stick!  That fish couldn't have touched the sides Astonished

    I'm off now - and KAREN is out for the day - so if anyone felt they could keep an eye on due-to-hatch Manton Bay, that would be nice Blush

    IMAGICAT

  • 08/05/2022 12:22

    Good morning.  10.40 Axel comes in with a stick, heart in mouth as he toddles through the eggs.  Sorry about the size and black border it is my first attempt with the repaired iPad.

  • 08/05/2022 12:23

    Shared with permission of Alison, who you probably know used to post here regularly some years ago.  It was posted on a closed FB group, so I cannot provide a link.   Very sad news, but an interesting outcome.

    2022 has been a good year for ospreys returning to the "public" nests.
    There has been one exception, a great favourite of mine, local to me and photographed by many - Loch Insh female Green DY.
    Her mate now has a new partner who has a metal ring and no colour ring (after comparing I’m sure she is the BTO ringed female who was at the Loch Garten nest on 16 April) and they appear to be incubating, so it looks like it is finally time to admit that 2021 was Green DY's last season.
    As far as we know she first bred there in 2008 and she is thought to have hatched in 2005, according to the RSPB blog in Argyll, but Aberfoyle area has also been mentioned.
    She bred with male Black 6T from 2008-2016 and then with an unringed male from 2017-2021.
    She has raised a total of 35 chicks in the 14 years she bred at the nest with three in 2021 her final year, an average of 2.5 chicks per year - a great total.
    Anyone with photos of her, do please share them with us in this post in memory of an amazing osprey. Here are a few of mine from over the years. She will be missed.
    This blog was written by the RSPB about the nest in 2020
    This is the blog Alison referred to.   I hope that BTO proves to be equally successful and productive as DY.  She has big boots to fill.  Were it not for Mistle reclaiming the LG nest and booting BTO off, Loch Insh unringed male might still be looking for a female!

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • 08/05/2022 12:37
    Mistle has been contentedly incubating, without fidgeting, since Scylla's last post. A lovely sunny breezy day. Axel visited about 10.30 they had an friendly exchange of chips, and he left.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • 08/05/2022 15:15
    Fish I think @13:47

    Some people think Ospreys are a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that. 

  • 08/05/2022 15:16

    Fish 13.48, looks whole.

    Imagicat || Tiger's links || 2022 LG Obs

  • 08/05/2022 15:20

    Checked chat to see Mistle came back with fish and was seen practice feeding. Reminds me of Dyfi...

    Imagicat || Tiger's links || 2022 LG Obs

  • 08/05/2022 17:34

    How magical. I did watch that footage, but I didn't think of that practice procedure, I thought she was just feeding herself!! I must take another look.

    13.55 Mistle returned with the fish. Axel was reluctant to get up so she ate some more of the fish.  -  Was this when she appeared to be practicing to feed a chick, mentioned by CC?
    13.57 She tucked into the fish with gusto, beakful after beakful!
    13.58 Mistle took off with the fish. Axel remained incubating.
    14.06 Mistle returned with the fish again. Axel got up and cheeped before flying off 14.07
    14.08 I think she shook her talons free of the remaining fish, tidied up the cup of loose matter, and settled on the eggs
    14.50 Axel returned and Mistle stood up and food solicited!
    14.51 Mistle took off and immediately Axel crept down into the cup, with talons tightly curled, and settled on the eggs. How wonderful it is to be able to say that!
    14.53 Mistle is back with a gentle cheep and stands along side him, moving sticks and lichen. Every closer – usual female ploy to make the male move. It is successful
    14.55 Axel takes flight. Mistle incubates. It's windy.
    16.09 Mistle gets up for a stretch and attending to tickles, a long legged stretch, a preen and settles again

    Mistle has remained on the eggs since then.

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • 08/05/2022 18:10 in reply to CC
    Unknown said:
    Checked chat to see Mistle came back with fish and was seen practice feeding. Reminds me of Dyfi...

    I remember watching the video of Nora practising, tears in my eyes

    See the account of The Magic Day

    ps. chat was helpful at pin-pointing the time when Mistle was doing something similar around 13.55-13.57 today.