(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
.
18 April
An uneasy start, then a turn-up when Asha gets last night's fish and Brodie gets lord-knows-when's fish
By 05:57 Asha was back on the nest with her fish:
While Asha was sitting in the nestcup, Brodie spent time on Odin's perch:
April 18, 2024 - Day complete
Fish: Looks like today's fish was yesterday's leftovers.
Mating: 8:06 S, 9::49 S, 14:37 S, 15:21 F, 16:15 F, 18:29 F
The (S)uccess or (F)ailure indication is purely my untrained observation.
3 S, 3 F
12:28:40 Here is Brodie flying off with the remains of a fish buried in the nest. He chomped away at it while on a tree branch (can see him on the ptz cam). Thanks to Keko for the timestamp.
To be hons.. . If you are an Osprey with no sense of smell I suppose it doesn't really matter when the fish was! ?
Hi freebies… I know that your comment was mostly in jest but recent work has challenged the long held view that Ospreys and many other raptors have no sense of smell… see Olfaction in raptors… Simon Potier … Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 189, Issue 3, July 2020, Pages 713–721,
Sorry- predictive text… Freebird !!
Canuck said:Mating: 8:06 S
Support for CANUCK's stat (I rounded up the time):
From 05:00 to 12:00 (ie, a whole YT download session) Asha remained on the nest! She's was on the nest lots 'n lots after that, too.
QUOTE CANUCK:
So... This must be the half-fish that Brodie brought in this morning at 05:16 and which Asha flew with and brought back to the nest (Brodie in the meantime having dug up another half fish from the side of the nestcup). Evidence, at least, that Asha hasn't been particularly hungry - or maybe that she only likes her fish nice 'n fresh
14:37 S
More support:
Late evening - a disturbance, Asha saw/heard someone that we couldn't - at first I even thought it might have been a mouse running around on the nest. I extracted the sound from Nestcam for the whole period and plonked it on the PTZ video, what a waste of time that was, the nighttime sound has never been fixed since the installation of the cam
Hence, only some really rough snaps:
Later, she chased someone - it didn't look like a comfort break:
Returning to stay on the perch for a while:
19 April
Just after 02:10 Asha changed from perch to nest, and a bit later was terrified by an intruder of species unknown
No further alarms up to 04:30.
EJFan ah thanks for this. I love to learn about these magnificent birds and it was quite recently that I read about the sense of smell which was in some ways a shock as it is hard to imagine how Osprey could 'enjoy' food without it. I know I'm comparing to the human experience but it is inevitable whilst witnessing the magical events on these nests. Thanks again for the article I will look it up.