(I am starting a new thread for April because, for sad personal reasons, Korky cannot be with us until further notice so the March title cannot be edited.)
Please read Korky's comprehensive March 2024 intro.
Asha and Brodie
Last year they arrived on 04 and 14 April respectively.
The end of the 2023 season was marred by the aggressive intrusion of BlueKL5 "Klive" (thank you, Fergus). We have no idea if the 2 youngsters were fit to migrate.
We haven't heard anything from HQ but it appears that the cams are not quite ready, despite snaps being posted to Facebook 10 days ago together with a query about the lack of IR for the third year in a row - and the streaming is unsteady and unreliable. When LG issued a warning about a delay to the opening of the season, it seemed to refer only to the Visitor Centre.
The PTZ now
Quote RSPB YT Channel: When the Loch Garten Nature Centre opens on April 15th, this camera is controlled by the centre staff during work hours, so please be gracious if you find it staring at an empty tree! The birds react quicker than the staff are sometimes able.
IMAGICAT
Thank you Canuck and Scylla. It's excellent to feel confident things are going to plan this year - fingers crossed. I am so looking forward to eggs and chicks and see what changes are there too.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
She's such a a pretty Osprey
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
,
12 April - a few highlights.
The two of them - but I don't know which was which at that time!
Late lunch from Brodie:
She ate her fish out there:
The assault with the big stick:
Asha;s indignation:
13 April
She was early this morning!
She waited quite a while on the perch, then down to the nest:
Right on PTZ daycam switchover, Brodie arrived for mating:
Brodie came back for another go later but slipped off.
Showing where they sometimes perch out of our nestcam sight - and a Crow causes Asha to chase:
At 10:23 Asha (???) got buried by all the sticks from the front of the nest. I'm doing a video but need to break off to eat. It was very frustrating watching the live stream, the freezes are a dang nuisance !!!
Whoever it was, they're under there!
.
scylla said:At 10:23 Asha (???) got buried by all the sticks
I gave up trying to edit this - and it crashed my VLC when I was looking for a thumbnail, so whether it will play OK I do not know.
Please don't let me stop anyone doing a professional report of the morning's events - I don't do it because I don't have the mental capacity...
Poor Asha, after all the hard work to get the nest looking nice. She has been busy to get them back into place. Very windy there. Lovely morning up here, got the 1st of the striming done, then just short ago horrid rain, sun out now, but grass wet now, another day!
April 13, 2024 - Day complete
Fish: 14:15:39
Mating: 5:16 F, 5:32 F, 5:49 F, 6:54 F, 7:01 S, 7:09 F, 7:34 U (in a tree), 10:40 F, 10:58 U (in a tree), 11:15 F (in a tree), 12:02 F, 15:11 F, 16:29 S, 16:51 F, 19:15 F, 19:35 S
The (S)uccess, (F)ailure, (U)nknown indication is purely my untrained observation. Most failures due to balance issues with the wind.
3 S, 11 F, 2 U
My goodness the wind is unrelenting and is clearly frustrating mating, both on the nest and on the tree behind, and fishing. Nevertheless they continue to bond with attempting mating, as Canuck's data shows. One or other spent a lot of time on that 'behind' branch. There was a period of heavy rain mid/late morning.
Despite the dreadful weather our boy did successfully catch a fish, probably from the Spey.. It was a brown trout, or at least a very dark trout rather than the silver rainbow trout.
06.54 Please go fishing
14.15
Wide angle Brodie arriving
17.48 Very dark skies
17.55 Followed by a rainbow
and a mating
SheilaFE They are so alike. I remember from last season that I differentiated them only because Brodie had longer legs lol and Asha the spotted bloomers . Do you have any other tips?
I'm no expert at all, #Freebird66. They are so alike, I find it difficult too, but it is often the bigger picture. Yes, her petticoat is a great help!! Asha usually chirrups when she lands. Mating ! Asha has a slightly lighter white band on the top/back of her head, Brodie's 'patch' isnt so obvious, which is what I look for. Her forehead has two more defined black streaks, Brodie's head is more overall dark. But with the wind blowing and feathers ruffled, it's so difficult!! I'm sure I get them muddled!