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.
Yes SueC I think this would work.
Margobird
Good idea, Sue. Would you be prepared to start them off on March 1st?
Another 2 sightings on Faune Aquitaine site:Wednesday, February 24th, 2010Marais Burette / Saint-André-de-Seignanx (40)1 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) [Frédéric Cazaban ] Comment : en chasse traverse le casier puis file vers le nord. Bande pecto large, parties supérieures sombres unies.Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Marais d'Orx (Casier Sud) / Labenne (40)1 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) [Frédéric Cazaban ]
Update from Roy:
"26th Feb. Most tracked birds in their usual places, although Beatrice has gone back to Guadiaro, Tom is ranging on the North Perthshire border, Rana and Vespa in usual areas.Caught and tagged new bar-tailed godwit at Ardersier. "
Thanks for the update Alan. Interesting to read Roy's blog and his description of the present conditions at Lochindorb and just how it needs to change in the next month before the ospreys return.
Maybe it is significant that there have been no UK sightings this year so far. Perhaps their intuition tells them to delay their migration this year. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile another sighting in the south of France:
It is difficult to imagine that those birds currently ensconced in the heat of West Africa could possibly know anything of the meteorological upheaval going on up North. Those that have wintered in Southern Europe, however, will certainly be experiencing the vagaries of the weather and, I guess, won't be going anywhere until things settle down.
You echo my sentiments exactly Sandy unless they got pocket radios or televisions with then!
Tiger Signature
Hi All,
There seems to be general agreement to the idea of starting two new threads on 1st March, one for sat-tagged ospreys and one for general osprey sightings. See my post of 24th Feb at 10.02 pm above.
I'm happy to start the sat-tagging thread, would someone else like to kick off the "Sightings" one?
Latest news - one of the sat-tagged ospreys has started her migration (now there's a clue!)
Sue - that throw away sentence at the end of your post is extremely titillating! Have checked with Roys blog and all his ospreys are staying put. Can't be Rothes, either - have checked there. If its one of the ones in the US , I'm afraid I'm at a loss as I haven't been following any of those. You will have to elucidate, PLEASE!