(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
10:53:10 Brodie flies to Odin's perch with a fish (on ptz)
12:17 he brings it to the nest but Asha isn't interested and he flies off at 12:19
13:29 he tries again, but again Asha not interested so Brodie flies off at 13:31
He eats the remained of the fish while he is perched on a tree behind the nest (on ptz)
April 21, 2024 - Mid-day
Fish: 10:53:10
Mating: 6:10 S, 6:45 S, 8:09 F, 9:05 S
Egg laid today at 10:47
The (S)uccess or (F)ailure indication is purely my untrained observation.
3 S, 1 F
19:20 Asha doing her rhythmic gymnastics routine again with a stick. It's fun to watch. Goes on for about 2 min. Can see on both main cam and the ptz cam
16:31:47 Asha rearranges a large stick at front of nest and partially obscures the view.
Before:
After:
Canuck did you keep last year’s mating data? In general both the number of matings and also % of successful matings increases between a pair year after year… the ever strengthening of the pair bond… or practice makes perfect?
No. This is the first year that I kept this data, just for my own curiosity and I thought someone might find it useful. Last year I just kept track of the fish deliveries.
120 mating attempts this year up to the time the first egg was laid.
49 successful (41%), 69 fail (58%) and 2 unknown (2%)
I tab through either the main cam or the ptz cam 10 seconds at a time to try and find mating attempts - from 5:00 am onwards until dark. I also rely on timestamps from others.
In my spreadsheet I also keep tract of the time of each mating attempt, e.g.
Well done our Asha and Brodie. What a wet day for her when she laid the egg. Hope all will be well and that maybe we get some more. Good on Brodie for taking to the egg so quickly, hopefully he had matured more this year.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Good job! Next year you can compare this year’s data with next and do some analysis. May I make a suggestion? If you don’t do so already note the time of day of the copulation? Some interesting work has been done on the diurnal pattern of copulations- if you are interested check out Tim birkhead and Kate lessels.
Sorry I just saw your last paragraph! Excellent work! The diurnal pattern seems to vary between individuals. In some the peak is around lunchtime while 3 pairs often mated mid morning and another pair had a distinct peak most evenings!
Canuck has the date, time, F/S and position, on his spreadsheet EJfan.
Edit, posted same time as you