All quiet on the Osprey front. Mistle started gently food soliciting, then quiet, then stood up to reveal.........
,, what appeared to be a half eaten rainbow trout! No doubt Scylla will be able to get a much sharper image than me. All this happened about 5:45. It was as stiff as a board. When was that delivered?
Afrer faffing around getting images 1 of them has come back to the nest and is incubating - can't tell which.
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.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
It's 1.73miles to the nearest point of the Spey from the nest, my guesstimate using GE. I saw a comment recently suggesting the river levels are low, so presumably fishing is easier.
How fast would an osprey fly when in fishing mode, as opposed to migration? Thirty miles per hour? Less/more? So how long would it take AXEL to fly 3.4 miles (1.7 each way) and grab a convenient fish.
14.31 she appears to have finished the fish, picked up left overs and flossed her beak, and is now calling loudly for another fish. 14.34 Still she finds bits to down, and continues to call loudly. 14.36 MISTLE flies off. Chicks are lying quietly. 14.37 She returns with a gentle chirrup and is quiet!
14.43 MISTLE takes another flight
14.45 and returns, and continues to demand fish!
14.53 another flight, and returns
14.54 with a stick.
14.59 and off again, having called continually
15.00 and back again
15.06 after more calling, MISTLE is off again and returned in under a minute.
SheilaFE said:
That is assuming he didn't get a fish from Garten or Mallachie. There are records of both Olly and Olive getting fish from both - more often Mallachie than Garten which is very peaty and fish difficult to see - but if I was an Osprey heading for the Spey I would fly over both - on the off-chance that a fish on Garten might per chance be very close to the surface - which we know happened from time to time - I think the record is 3 minutes from leaving the site to back with a fish - held by Olly and could only have been a chance fish from Garten.
Thank you very much for all the reports 'n snaps!
My internet was down for a short while :(((
Some pics, all "enhanced" to varying degrees, some misjudged
After 10:00 Mistle had a half-hour preen on the near fence:
The 13:23 fish - a hopeless cause:
If only he had delivered from the right:
I claim arrogantly - no way did Axel catch and eat this fish in 10 minutes, it has to be the same one he took away:
Healthy-looking chick-poops:
IMAGICAT
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.