After Tiger started the thread for tracking Rothes and Mallachie I thought that we could do with a thread for the tracking of ospreys fitted with transmitters by Roy Dennis. As the "summer" marches on it won't be long before the only way we can get our osprey fix is to follow their migrations.
This year we have the opportunity of following all three tagged birds from last year: Nimrod, Beatrice and Morven. It will be fascinating to find out if they will winter in exactly the same place as last year, and also whether they take the same route.
Added to that Roy has tagged two more adult males this year, Red/white 8T (an Abernethy bird) and Morven's other half (Logie's ex fella). I'm not certain whether Roy has any further transmitters or will attempt to catch any more adult males but, including Rothes and Mallachie, we will be able to follow at least 7 ospreys on their incredible journeys this autumn.
Since seeing the route that Rothie took out into the Atlantic I've been unsuccessfully trying to locate a quote about this stretch of coast which I'd seen on the Rutland Water website. At last I found it here:
http://www.ospreys.org.uk/Questions/Question%20African%20Coast.htm
This is the quote I was looking for:
"Another interesting point ... Were ospreys to follow the coast south, they would reach the 'raptor graveyard' of Cap Blanc, a long spit jutting far out south into the sea (its western coast belonging to Western Sahara/Morocco, its eastern coast to Mauritania), which ends in a cold upwelling. This is a bad place for migrating raptors to be, with cold sea winds beating thermals away, and open sea all around, save to the north. Ospreys are presumably less dependent on thermals than vultures etc, but down here they would be faced with a cold sea crossing or doubling back north to stick to the coastline."
The "raptor graveyard" of Cap Blanc didn't claim another victim this time, I'm glad to say!
Sandy, I was trying to think of that page too!
Looking at that page, Rothes and also Nimrod, who is clearly fond of coastal flying, seem to have disproved the idea that all ospreys avoid the NW coast of Africa. Luckily, neither of them ventured onto Cap Blanc though! Relieved Rothie made it through (again)!
From the last point that we have for Rothie I estimate that he has about 650kms to reach the general area of Rothes, Mallachie and Red 8T. At his present rate he could be there within a day or two.
I've just checked Roy's latest update, and it looks as though Rothiemurchus has decided to keep Morven company in her lonely and harsh looking spot on the coast of Mauritania, at least for a while. He certainly zeroed in on that spot with precision. I don't know if there is a 'family' link between him and Morven. It will be interesting to see if Rothiemurchus stays with her or moves furter down the coast to the area where 'our' girls are.
Smiles, Jan.
Wattle15,
No, Rothiemurchus and Morven are not related. Of Roy's birds, Rothie and Red 8T come from different nests near Aviemore, not far from Loch Garten. Morven, Talisman, Nimrod and Beatrice come from a different "osprey neighbourhood" around Forres, towards the coast. The only "family connection" between these ospreys is that Morven and Talisman paired up this year and raised a chick, after Talisman's previous mate Logie (also tagged) did not return this spring.
A surprise turn, literally, in Rothie's migration! I posted previously that it seems a strange spot to choose to over-winter when the lush wetlands are little more than a day's flight away. We should remember, however, that Morven has successfully over-wintered here a number of times (she is 6 years old) so we know it is a perfectly acceptable place with, presumably, ample fishing opportunities.
Of course he may not settle here permanently, and may be just stopping-over to recover from his jaunt out over the Atlantic.
Totally illogical, I know, but for some reason I imagined Morvern all alone in the harsh desert during the winter. Then a lightbulb moment when I thought - 'If Rothie has made it there, why not a number of other ospreys?' In fact, the place could well be teeming with them for all we know!
Looking forward to Roy's next update. So glad he posted yesterday even though its the week-end. Doubt there will be anything today, though.
Interesting that Rothie was a few hundred metres from Morven s wintering site. He was probably enquiring as to the best place to fish.
FAB
FlyingC said: Totally illogical, I know, but for some reason I imagined Morvern all alone in the harsh desert during the winter. Then a lightbulb moment when I thought - 'If Rothie has made it there, why not a number of other ospreys?' In fact, the place could well be teeming with them for all we know! Looking forward to Roy's next update. So glad he posted yesterday even though its the week-end. Doubt there will be anything today, though.
Robert B wrote this in reply to the blog on 13th October:
"Just an aside on the various African travels of our ospreys. While the Sahara desert is obvioulsy not full of water, parts of the Atlantic coast in fact have plenty of fish, though of course these are out to sea. I've been driven along the Mauritania coast north of the border with Senegal and seen an osprey about every mile, with other birds being seen out to sea. There are no trees, so the birds were sat on the beach."
I was away on 13th October so I missed Robert B's post, Sandy. Thank you for that nugget. Seems so obvious now. Being a harsh environment, hopefully there are not many humans around so the birds can live in peace. In fact, its beginning to sound like a pretty good osprey wintering area!