Auspicious start for a juvenile Osprey - one week on.

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Balgavies’ juvenile Osprey, christened The Bairn, follow his rescue last week is thriving. My understanding of the back story is that a week ago the tree on the island that was holding the nest collapsed and the nest ended up, mostly, in the loch. What initially happened to The Bairn is not clear, but he ended up hundred of metres away on the mainland on the path that runs around the loch, but in a very narrow section with trees either side. Found at 7am by dog walkers apparently.

Rescuers were locals, from the SWT and Tayside and Fife Raptor Study Group who collected The Bairn, caged him for a while, ringed him (Blue/white 640), constructed a temporary nest platform in a different area. All the stuff had to be taken up to the tree top; that looked like it would have been a serious climb. The Bairn was taken up to the new platform and left alone at 1030 pm.

Next day the Bairn had fledged and was with his parents on a dead tree on the island. He must have been so near fledging when he was ejected from the tree on collapse that one of the rescuers said that he thought he probably had somehow got to the mainland by flying/gliding!

Since then the three of them use both the temp platform which the parents have build up with lots of sticks already, and the dead tree. The temp platform will not take the weight of future nests so will have to be removed.

Anyway, the Bairn is being fed by his parents, doing short flights in the loch area and doing well.

This is the first chick to have been ringed at the loch since 2011 I was told as no subsequent chicks to that year till now we’re ringed due to the difficulties involved in getting to the nest and the climb it involved.

Post edited at 19:39

1
 Wimlands 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

That’s a great storey with lovely pictures…thanks 

 Tringa 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Great to hear, CP.

I don't know what it is about ospreys - is it because of they raptors, big, because they migrate and return or because some(actually now, many) are followed but they are just great to watch and hear about.

I've been keeping an eye on the various Loch Arkaig ones for  few years -the live webcam is superb -

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?gclid...

Dave

 Billhook 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Very interesting - and with a happy outcome.

Thanks for posting .

 jonfun21 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Thanks for sharing - a great story, the Rutland Water webcam is also worth a look

https://www.lrwt.org.uk/rutlandospreys

If interested these are books written by one of my best mates who was heavily involved in reintroducing them to Rutland Water and is now leading on the reintroduction of white tailed eagles on the IOW

https://www.waterstones.com/book/rspb-spotlight-ospreys/tim-mackrill/978147...

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-rutland-water-ospreys/tim-mackrill/tim...

Post edited at 21:06
 Bottom Clinger 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Great story and photos. Nice one. 

 mike123 27 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman: great pics. Thanks for posting .

 FactorXXX 28 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Excellent stuff and thanks for sharing.
Bit baffled that it's got a Dislike though.

1
 dig26 28 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Absolutely stunning! Great story and photos 

 kathrync 28 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Awww, this is a lovely story!  Thanks. Great photos too.

 Michael Hood 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Just having an osprey morning 😁 on the way to going for a walk, first Foulshaw Moss, 4 birds seen (there are 5), currently down the road at Meathop Moss where I've had even better views of another 4 including two flying right over my head 😁

And, just had what's that sitting on that stump, another bird of prey, nope a Cuckoo 😁

Post edited at 10:06
 Bottom Clinger 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Michael Hood:

Great stuff.

And for folks info:  the cuckoo will be a juvenile as the adults quickly dash back to Africa once they’ve sorted their eggs etc. 

Post edited at 10:46
 compost 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

That third photo in particular is an absolute stunner! Great job

In reply to Michael Hood:

I’ve found it fascinating watching the Balgavies Ospreys a couple of times now. They are so accessible to view from the hide/path which helps.

The “Bairn” has been taking short practising flights despite his eventful start. I was watching him rising up and swooping down low to the water a few times. Still being fed by parents and makes it known with his loud voice when he wants attention. They seem to ignore him and encourage him to get on the wing before they bring food in.

To all. Thanks for the comments and links which I’ll check out. I’ve got a few more photos, but have some technical glitches I’ve yet to solve to get access to them. If any are ok, I’ll post if I can.

Post edited at 10:57
In reply to Michael Hood:

Re cuckoo, never seen one, only heard! Used to hear very frequently when I was a child; maybe one day I’ll see one.

 Bulls Crack 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

And if they get  too successful  the fishermen will be up in arms 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20061152.angus-macneil-calls-sea-ea...

In reply to Bulls Crack:

I was thinking when at the ospreys site that apparently they don’t often fish in the Balgavies Loch itself. The next loch is only a few hundreds of metres away and is a stocked fishery loch! I don’t know if the Ospreys actually use that loch, but could imagine the fishermen there having something to say if they do frequently.

I did watch the female Osprey go off fishing to get supper for the Bairn. A mere 7 minutes she was away. Unlikely she went too far that time. Fortunately, there are many lochs within a short distance of the nest and I believe they are used to using the RSPB Loch of Kinnordy frequently. The latter apparently has clear water for them and has a lot of fish.

 Bulls Crack 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

That's interesting. 

On a more mundane note a local fish farm started a YouGov petition to cull cormorants nationally because 1 or 2 were taking fish from their ponds! 

 druridge 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Bulls Crack:

It's a little like having a rabbit farm and thinking it's not your responsibility to keep the foxes out!

In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Some more photos.

First time I’ve seen Ospreys feeding and I was surprised that the feeding process was so gentle with only very tiny amounts of fish at a time. There was no grabbing by the juvenile.


 Bottom Clinger 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

Re cuckoos: odd birds to ID, I reckon people have seen more than they reckon. Slender bird of prey, but they fly odd with the up-stroke of their wings only making it to horizontal if that makes sense. And I’ve just seen a Sparrowhawk with prey fly straight over our house, and a small copper butterfly whilst walking the dog - first I’ve ever seen. 

Post edited at 18:59

In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Your probably right and may well have seen one over the years and not known what it was; esp so if they are often mistaken for others. It’s only this year I’ve taken an interest in trying to ID species.

After the given ID of Meadow Brown the other day, I’ve seen so many this pm when I went out to find butterflies. Once was worse for wear on it’s wings.

All saw my first Red Admiral, and otherwise saw a couple of Peacocks, lots of Green Veined Whites, and a few Garden Whites ( I think).

Post edited at 20:14

 Mike-W-99 29 Jul 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Saw a cuckoo for the 1st time last month when out walking from black bridge. 
 

back onto ospreys. The Loch Arkaig male has a large territory with fresh and salt water fish.

Anyone read about the osprey that recently caught a grebe?

Post edited at 21:36
 Darron 30 Jul 2022
In reply to Climbing Pieman:

If you want to see a Cuckoo the area in between Birchen edge and Gardoms in spring is guaranteed. They are surprisingly easy to see with a little effort. Listen for the call and head towards.

 Bottom Clinger 30 Jul 2022
In reply to Mike-W-99:

Ages ago I was told a tale about an osprey that caught a big fish, and the tendons on its claws are naturally ‘taught’ which means it isn’t so easy to release a fish (normally a good thing), and in this case the fish kept swimming and drowned the osprey coz it couldn’t let go.  So just googled and found this:

https://boap.uib.no/index.php/ornis/article/download/3066/3059/

 Mike-W-99 30 Jul 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

It wouldn’t surprise me if one caught a particularly big fish. Only ever seen one briefly.

Off topic but if you want to see woody woodpecker in a new light search YouTube for wildlife gadget man.The video is pretty obvious. YouTube threw it up as a suggested watch.

 Michael Hood 31 Jul 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

> And for folks info:  the cuckoo will be a juvenile as the adults quickly dash back to Africa once they’ve sorted their eggs etc. 

Definitely didn't look right for a juvenile - far too pale grey, not obviously barred above.

Location (initially): on a dead tree "stump" - more like a 4ft post - in the middle of the moss

When I first saw it my initial thoughts were, what bird of prey is that, "obvious" possibilities were male sparrowhawk (wrong grey for female) and male merlin. But it just wasn't looking right for either of those (usually with birds of prey I'm on it very quickly) - more specifically the barring on chest not streaking would seem to exclude the merlin, and no hint of red in the barring etc would seem to exclude the sparrowhawk (also completely out in the open would be unusual for sparrowhawk).

That's when I realised it was likely to be a cuckoo, however at that point it was looking away from me, so I waited for it to turn it's head so I could properly see the beak to be 100% sure. Unfortunately that's when it flew off, very low, direct, quick wingbeats, landed in a bush probably 200-300m from the post - but further away from me. Then took off and flew even further away.

So I'm left with not being 100% sure (but over 90%) - and one of the main reasons for that surety is that I didn't immediately think "that's a sparrowhawk", or "that's a merlin", and usually when I've seen those the species id (even if not the sex id) has been pretty instant.

On a personal level I'll probably record it as seen but with "need a better view", which funnily enough was exactly what I was doing with the ospreys.

 Michael Hood 01 Aug 2022
In reply to Darron:

Thanks for that, think I'll combine it with a bit of bouldering next spring.


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