I offered yesterday to start a new Topic once Bynack had fledged, but as we now have the updated Satellite Tracking page, and biography pages for Tore and Bynack, and there are some tracking results for Tore on Google Earth, I’ve gone ahead with it.
A brief introduction to the ospreys we’re tracking – first, the class of 2011.
Tore – link to her Biography
Tore is the elder of this year’s juveniles, her ring is blue/white 48. She fledged on Tuesday 12th July aged 54 days, and has started to do a little exploring.
Bynack – link to his Biography
Tore’s younger brother, ring blue/white 47. Bynack is aged 53 days today and has yet to fledge.
Edit: He has fledged, at 10.18 am today 16/7.
Rothes – link to her Biography
Rothes is the eldest of EJ and Odin’s offspring, hatched at Loch Garten in 2009. Her ring is white/black PJ. She migrated as a juvenile to Guinea-Bissau, and spent her formative months on the small island of Unhocomozinho, in the Bijagos Archipelago. Now a sub-adult, she has travelled north to Europe for the first time this summer and is currently in the Gironde estuary in SW France, where she also spent 6 weeks on her way south in 2009. So far, she has not returned to the UK.
Rothes' earlier travels were followed in this thread, now closed.
What is the significance of Rothes tail feathers - just a comment I noticed on the main blog.
Thanks for all the good information on Tore and Bynack hope Rothes is OK as well.
Unknown said: What is the significance of Rothes tail feathers - just a comment I noticed on the main blog.
Formerly known as Barbara Jean
The feathers issue discussed here.....eventually we established that osprey have six pairs of tail feathers, with the central pair numbers 1 left and 1 right overlapping. (from memory!)
Rothes' plumage
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data Site
Sat track schedule Spring 2014
LG 7 days; RW & SWT nil; LDOP varies
Good news.
Rothes has been updated, and it looks like she is now heading South back towards Africa.
Edit: sorry, my eyes were playing tricks on me and I misread the date. :(
No GE update for me, I'm afraid. Last point still 25th September, heading towards Dax.
Oh sorry, my eyes were playing tricks on me. I read 25 as 29. Sorry for the false information. think I had better get on and make that appointment at the Opticians.
Maybe we need to be prepared for Rothes tracker not working as well as it did when it was new. I sure hope it holds on for another year so we can track Rothes back to LG.
Roy has had a few trackers on his birds start only working intermittently . He lost contact with one of his birds ( I forgot which one) and he went out and found him to be fine and building a nest . Roy saw the antenna so the tracker was still on the bird, it just no longer worked
I think this picture was also discussed . It shows a damaged wing feather on Rothes. You can clearly see it if you enlarge the picture.
A comment on the "Rothes plumage" discussion. I understand ospreys moult outside of the migration seasons, and Nigel's photos of Rothes were taken in mid July - a time when ospreys would not normally be on the move. I'm finding it hard to imagine an incident which could have resulted in specific feathers being lost, without damage to adjacent ones - so is this all feather damage, just moulting, or a combination of the two? If there was a element of moulting, those feathers would have regrown, or pretty much so, when Rothes headed south two months later.
Here are some other photos for comparison:
A recent blog from Old Moor, showing an osprey with a worn tail - the ends of all the feathers are worn away link
A photo of an osprey tail showing 11 feathers - now jsb has established there should be 12, I think that probably the right central one has been moulted. link
A really tatty osprey in the UK this summer link
Will be checking later, rather anxiously, for an update from Richard.