Satellite Tracked Ospreys (non-LG) Aug 2012 - Sep 2014

Tempo said:

Fantastic photo of Fiddich.   Am I correct that Rothimurchus was also photographed in this park a couple of years ago?  

You are right. Rothiemurchus was photographed in Djoud National Park

 on 9th January 2010

Almost in exactly the same pose as Fiddich.

Did people realise that Aigan and Fiddich are siblings of Spey from 2010?

Unknown said:

I do not think we have any details of the parents other than they occupy K06 in Moray.

I think they occupied a tree from 1993 that was unclimable. The big frost/snow of 2009/10  caused the tree to break and RD and friends built a new nest close by which was accepted by the returning birds.

If they are the same birds since 1993 they must be quite a mature pair.

Latest from Rob Bierregaard. Sounds like he is going to be tagging lots of birds in the summer:

Well, our Ospreys aren't doing much of anything right now--which is just how we like it!--but things are pretty busy in Ospreyland up on our side of the equator.

I'm heading over to Israel tomorrow afternoon for a 4-day workshop and brainstorming session with the European Osprey mafia on how we can best use our satellite tagged Ospreys for educational outreach. This has always been something I've felt to be a very important part of the whole tracking project. For the most part, we've been frustrated in our efforts to reach out to teachers because they now, thanks to No Child Left Behind, have to "teach to the test" and don't have time to make use of all the interesting data coming back from birds nesting in their back yards. I sorta-kinda remember getting an email from someone in our "flock" about using the website with their classes. So, have any of you used the website for educational purposes? If so, I'd love to hear about it (before Wednesday!).

It's gearing up to be a busy spring. I've been contacted by the Earth Conservation Corps in D.C. They have received a grant to tag a couple of Ospreys on the Anacostia River as a way to connect urban schools to the nature around them. Then, the manufacturer of our telemetry transmitters has asked me to tag 4 adult males on the Chesapeake as part of an environmental education program being developed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. In return for my help on that project, they've agreed to provide 2 of the new cell-tower transmitters for adult males on Martha's Vineyard. We're targeting two birds that nest on properties owned and managed by the Trustees of Reservations. We will be installing motion-activated video cameras on feeding platforms near these nests, so we'll have a fairly complete record of what fish are being delivered to the nests and we'll be able to match the times of arrivals with the GPS data to see exactly where the birds are hunting and what species of fish they're bringing home. This should be really exciting. Later in the summer, we'll tag a juvenile at each of these nests and follow their migrations.

For those of you who generously pledged to help support the purchase of a transmitter, this will be where we'll spend those funds. We will have a system in place very shortly for you to send your contributions so you'll get the tax benefits of the contribution. For those who haven't pledged, we're about 3/4 of the way to fully funding a transmitter. It would be great if we could fully fund one of the two transmitters.

We'll also be tagging new birds on Fishers Island, working with the Henry L. Ferguson Museum, and in Essex County on Massachusetts' north shore, working with Essex County Greenbelt Association. Plus some new birds in New Hampshire and one on Long Island.

Yikes!

More soon,

Rob Bierregaard

421 Cotswold Ln

Wynnewood, PA 19096  

Many thanks for the fascinating piece from Rob Bierregaard.  It is wonderful how proactive a lot of the organisations are.  The Israel workshop sounds very interesting.  I wonder whether Rutland will be present, given their project in The Gambia.  I guess LG does it on a smaller scale by getting the local primary schools involved in naming chicks.

I have seen ospreys nesting on a pylon in Scotland and given that an ugly scar is to be made across the Highlands with new much taller pylons to carry intermittent electricity perhaps I should be slightly more positive about the benefits they have!

Sheila : Rutland are there. I have had tweets from Tim Mackrill and Tim Appleton today.

Thanks Alan.  ..... and what about an LG presence?

SheilaFE said:

Thanks Alan.  ..... and what about an LG presence?

Here are Tim's Tweets

Thanks Tiger - I've just signed up!!  Whether I keep track of all these things I have no idea!!