This thread has been set up to follow the travels of Caledonia and Alba, the young ospreys raised at Loch Garten in 2012.
Their mother is “EJ”, the resident female at Loch Garten since 2003; there is some doubt about the identity of their biological father, given EJ’s dalliance with a male from a neighbouring nest, Blue XD, both before and after the return of her regular partner Odin, who raised them.
Caledonia hatched on 16th May and Alba on 18th May; they both fledged on 14th July.
This is a link to the Loch Garten blog describing the ringing and satellite tagging.
Caledonia’s ring is Blue/White AA1, reading downwards. Alba’s is Blue/White AA2, reading upwards.
Following the tracking
This page gives a quick overview of the routes on a map, which will be more useful once they start migrating.
If you want to look at the routes in more detail on Google Earth, this page contains instructions on setting up your PC to do this.
This blog contains some useful information about how the tracking works – we are now on a 3-day reporting period.
Thanks Alan, when I first looked at properties I didn't get anything, no coordinates, no altitude, nothing, but just looked again and there they were. Odd.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data
Would it be possible that humans were fishing and she got caught in a net and perhaps carried to where her last resting place is? Or perhaps I am way off the mark and the area may be uninhabited. It looked so safe for her.
Tempo said: Would it be possible that humans were fishing and she got caught in a net and perhaps carried to where her last resting place is? Or perhaps I am way off the mark and the area may be uninhabited. It looked so safe for her.
That is an interesting point. If you look at some of the pictures on Google Earth in the area there are pictures of fishing boats.
Tiger Signature
So here are Alba's last points without the paths
Seems like she went out to her normal haunt and then something happened.
We will never know for sure but I definitely feel humans had a big hand in her demise. As relatively new to following the ospreys I am finding it very depressing the high mortality rate and the ones tracked and lost a mere drop in the ocean to the birds that we dont know of and their fates. Tiger with the removal of the lines and routes it really looked a great place for her. As you said earlier Ceulan and YD are in perhaps a more hazardous area.
This is turning into a real detective story. I did feel that perhaps she had been involved with a boat, as its the usual mode of transport around there, and the idea of being caught up in a fishing net (after she came to grief for another reason?) seems possible.
Tempo: As you say, we don't know much at all about the usual migrations of all the untracked birds and that is why I for one, support the use of aeriel transmitters which give us such valuable information, which could not be known any other way.
Could she have landed on a boat? What exactly is that point on 23 October?
Lindybird - agree wholeheartedly with you on the tracking - I think its invaluable as otherwise I, for one, would be living in a fools' paradise and thinking that the majority of them made it safely through their youth. Its a shame that her body cannot be recovered like 09's.
Valc - if she was caught in a net then the point in the sea could have been on her on a boat but sadly not thru choice.
Tempo, I was thinking the same a yoursef, that, at least, the tracker was on a boat. The opreys are obviously big competition for the fishermen also. All guesswork though.