Tracking Caledonia & Alba

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.  

  • Unknown said:
    She must want her towel on a sunbed before the German ospreys get there.

    Let's hope it has the cross of St Andrew on it to declare her arrival properly!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • GE updated

    Alba's incredible journey across the Sahara

    Cally crosses Spain

    Cally spends a whole day here on this river system. Perhaps fishing?

  • One place Cally seems to have been (second point on 31st August). 

    Brazo del Este Natural Area

  • What a shame that we only have 2 points for Aug 31 and only 1 point for Sept 1. Cally could have been zig zagging up and down that river fishing, but we'll never know :o(

    It looks like a great area for Ospreys Sue.

  • It's hard to know which of the girls to be impressed by most - Alba for her CHARGE! approach to migration or Cally for following a food supply!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • moffer said:

    It looks like a great area for Ospreys Sue.

    Yes I was down in this area in April on a birdwatching holiday - we did see an osprey over the saltpans at Sanlucar de Barrameda. We crossed the river Guadalquivir on a small ferry at Coria del Rio, which Cally went close to.
    I've now found a film on Youtube of a voyage from Seville to the mouth of the river, which shows a lot of different birds - here  
  • For crying out - Alba is nowhere  - rocky dessert  barren fishless goodness knows what

    I'm at my whits end. As far as we know, she last ate in Scotland.

    Help someone. Where the flippin eck IS that place she is in

    (just got back from work and am absolutely dunnin and depressed)

    Caledonia can just briefly take a back seat for me - she's probably had six courses a day !!!

     

     

  • Unknown said:

    For crying out - Alba is nowhere  - rocky dessert  barren fishless goodness knows what

    I'm at my whits end. As far as we know, she last ate in Scotland.

    Help someone. Where the flippin eck IS that place she is in

    (just got back from work and am absolutely dunnin and depressed)

    Caledonia can just briefly take a back seat for me - she's probably had six courses a day !!!

     

     

    She probably stuffed herself thoroughly before she ever left Europe - she could never have managed a journey like that on no food.  Are you OK?

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • Well, Richard is referring to Alba being "in the winter quarter already!" - surely he wouldn't say that if the land is not supportive? :-/  Yet it sure does look like it :-(  She's passed over the town of Nouakcnott*, which looks dismally "sandstone".

    *Am still seeing that as an "n" on GE, but it's actually Nouakchott.

  • Take heart because if you look at the map, she was over Nouakcnott on 2nd, today is another day and she has hopefully travelled down into Senegal where there is a lot of water/lakes.  I am wishing her food a plenty as from now, it is a pity we cant get a better map of the area she was travelling towards, I shall look on the web!