All About Osprey

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macdoum
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Re: All About Osprey

Post by macdoum »

Things found in an osprey's nest;
A Natural and Unnatural History, Alan Poole lists the oddities found in osprey nests in the nineteenth century (a rag doll; a small doormat; a toy sailboat complete with sail; a feather duster; barrel staves and hoops; a bootjack; 20 feet of hem pen rope; a blacking brush; a remnant from an oilskin rainslicker; and bleached-out bones from domestic animals like cattle and sheep) and the t w entieth (rubber boots; bicycle tires; Hula Hoops; sections of television antennas; and styrofoam cups and plastic hamburger containers).
This book is listed on previous page. :whistling:

Anyone got another list ? :rolleyes: :laugh:
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macdoum
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Post by macdoum »

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macdoum
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Post by macdoum »

We have all become members of The Osprey Tribe. :rotf: See here;

http://www.ospreyworld.com/tribe.html

from WVF :thumbs:
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Kukelke
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Post by Kukelke »

Newspaper article from Belgium (from January 17th 2014):
http://www.gva.be/regio-antwerpen-noord ... arend.aspx (Anglers miss "their" osprey)

Nu de ijslagen op de vijvers smelten, hopen ze in Viersel binnenkort hun forellensnoeper terug te zien. In november kwam een tijdlang een visarend elke morgen klokvast tussen 9u en 9.30u ontbijten in forellenvijver 't Veer aan de Veerstraat.
"Een machtig schouwspel", omschrijven de uitbaters van de forellenvijver het spektakel. "De visarend dook met zijn kop naar beneden en haalde de forellen met zijn klauwen uit het water. Hij kwam altijd als de verse vis juist geleverd was. Nee, wij vonden het niet erg dat hij een paar forellen kwam stelen, voor onze hengelaars was het prachtig om te zien. Maar met de vrieskou trok hij weg. We hopen dat hij spoedig terugkeert."

Ook Jeremy Reusen van taverne Hoogwater hoopt de visarend binnenkort aan het werk te mogen zien. "Het tafereel speelde zich af vlak achter mijn taverne, maar ik hoorde het pas achteraf vertellen. Spijtig, want ik had hem graag met eigen ogen in actie gezien."
Translated (by me) it says this:
Now the layers on the ponds melt, they hope to see again their trout-'connoisseur' in Viersel. In November for a while an osprey came to have breakfast in trout pond "'t Veer" in the Veerstreet every morning between 9:00 and 9:30. "A mighty view", describe the owners of the trout pond the spectacle. "The osprey dived down head first and took the trouts out of the water with his talons. He always came just when the fresh fish was delivered. No, we didn't mind that he came to steal some trouts, for our anglers it was a marvellous sight. But with the freezing cold he left. We hope he returns soon."

Also Jeremy Reusen from tavern Hoogwater hopes to be able to watch the osprey soon again. "The scene happened just behind my tavern, but I heard about it only later. A pity, because I would have liked to watch him with my own eyes."
What puzzles me a bit here, is the fact that there was an osprey fishing in North-Western Europe in November, long after he should have migrated south, to at least the Mediterranean, if not Africa proper. Was he a straggler? A migrating bird who took a wrong turn? Or an adventureous, perhaps juvenile, osprey who saw opportunities for easy meals every day and who maybe was already looking for a good site to establish a nest in 2014? It is known that juvenile Scandinavian birds, those without a nest of their own yet, lately have started to use the Low Countries (i.e. The Netherlands and Belgium) to 'oversummer'. But could it be that some juvenile Scandinavian ospreys also use the same area to overwinter?

On this map ( http://waarneming.nl/soort/maps/346?fro ... nd_specie= ) which covers the period of Nov 1st 2013 till today (Febr 11th 2014), it shows 6 osprey sightings in The Netherlands.
And on this map ( http://waarnemingen.be/soort/maps/346?f ... nd_specie= ) it shows 3 osprey sightings in Belgium in the same period. The little red dot just northwest from Antwerpen is the osprey from the article above.


This American article ( http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/sightin ... all-winter ) is about the same issue of overwintering ospreys. Just some quotes from it:
In January, ospreys are supposed to be in the Caribbean and South America. The earliest the big birds usually return to their huge stick nests in Hampton Roads is late February and early March.

But Brown's sighting was not unusual. He has seen ospreys year-round since 2008, when he began to take a casual interest in the birds' winter presence after hearing one call in the middle of January.

"It piqued my interest," he said, "And not long after that I began to see osprey on the lake around Linlier pond."

In 2012 he decided to make his observations "more systematic." He tried to make routine checks of certain areas, especially during the cold-weather months.

(...)

He saw ospreys in every month of 2012 and he has several photographs to prove it.

In the past, an occasional osprey stuck around for the winter, perhaps one too old to migrate or a youngster who didn't get with the program.

But recently this appears to have changed. Last year, Brown relied not only on himself, but he also added sightings from top-notch birders, like Reese Lukei, Woody Stephens, and Steve and Julie Coari. Brown deduced that some of the big birds are making a choice to stay here for the winter.

Also a sighting of an osprey in Scotland in January 2014:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/community/place ... nuary.aspx

A rather unusual bird sighting this week in the form of an osprey. It was seen by two different people. Firstly, over the village of St Combs on the 8th and 9th and then over Savoch Farm just west of the reserve on Saturday 10th. It is the earliest record of osprey in Scotland ever. I think its fair to say that this bird is a long way from where it should be at this time of year.
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macdoum
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Post by macdoum »

A great FB page with documentarys & news about ospreys;

https://www.facebook.com/OspreyDocumentary

They urge you to sign up for the newletter. I have not explored it yet but people who have say there is a wealth of documentation there.
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macdoum
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Post by macdoum »

Introduction to Ospreys :video;

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater

Theatrical. :whistling:
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Post by Kukelke »

Article in a Belgian newspaper today:
Gerevalideerde visarend Mathilde herwint haar vrijheid

Marcel Peeters van het Vogelopvangcentrum Kapellen-Brasschaat heeft gisteren visarend Mathilde na vijf maanden revalidatie terug vrij gelaten. 'Toen ik haar losliet, kreeg ik zoals altijd de tranen in de ogen. Dat zal niet veranderen, vrees ik', vertelt hij.

De visarend werd afgelopen najaar verzwakt en totaal uitgehongerd gevonden in een vijver in Stekene. Ze was vermoedelijk afkomstig van het hoge Noorden en op weg naar het zuiden om te overwinteren. Mathilde werd binnengebracht in het VOC Kapellen-Brasschaat. 'Vijf maanden en zestig kilo vis later is ze sterk genoeg om terug uitgezet te worden. Ze kreeg eerst een wetenschappelijke ring rond haar poot en werd dan losgelaten in het natuurgebied de kuifeend in de Antwerpse haven.

'In een ruk met krachtige slagen van 1.80 meter koos zij het luchtruim. Ik vreesde dat ze in het midden van de grote plas zou landen, maar ze heeft aan een stuk zeker 900 meter over het water gevlogen om rustig in een boom neer te strijken en de omgeving in zich op te nemen', vertelt Marcel Peeters nog.

Image
Image

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail ... 6#photoset
Translation:

Recovered osprey Mathilda regains her freedom

Yesterday evening Marcel Peeters from bird sanctuary Kapellen-Brasschaat released osprey Mathilda after 5 months recovery. 'When I released her I got tears in my eyes, as always. That will never change, I fear', he says.

The osprey was found weakened and starving in a pond in Stekene last autumn. She was probably coming from Scandinavia and on her way south to spend the winter. Mathilde was brought to bird santuary Kapellen-Brasschaat. 'Five months and 60 kilos of fish later she's now strong enough to be released'. She was ringed and then released in nature reserve De Kuifeend near the harbour of Antwerp.

'In a pull with powerfull wingbeats she went up to the air. I feared she would land in the middle of a large pond but she flew at least 900 meter over the water surface to land unaffected in a tree to check out the surroundings', tells Martin Peeters.

-----

Another article on osprey Mathilda (also in Dutch): http://www.gva.be/regio-antwerpen-noord ... laten.aspx

-----

The second article says it's a young osprey, but not how young, which raises some questions. If this is a fledgling from 2013, she should be in Africa now and stay there 'till 2015 before she returns to the place where she was born. So in case she is indeed a 2013 fledgling I wonder where she will go now; south to Africa, or fly north to her homeland? Or perhaps stay where she is and then fly south in early autumn?
And if she is older than that, she must be from 2011 or 2010 (not 2012 because then she had been in Africa last year and not migrating). If so will she fly north again soon?
Also the second article mentions that the bird rescuers hope she will fly north together with a group of migrating ospreys, but I thought ospreys always migrate individually and not in groups.
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Post by macdoum »

Reports from SWT re;strange objects in opsreys nests;
More wonderful stories about strange objects being brought to osprey nests from our readers- keep them coming!

“The ospreys at Hellgate, Montana, have brought interesting objects to their nest. The tube of Colgate toothpaste was the most surprising. The most despised (by the female osprey) was a two-by-four, a heavy piece of construction wood that Stan managed to lug to the nest and seemed to like. It took Iris weeks to drag it to the edge, but she couldn’t get it off the nest.” Amanda

“At Dennis Puleston Osprey Foundation nest cam on Long Island, NY …we saw birds bring a lot of blue stuff; some nests we also saw were in Connecticut and at Woods Hole. One osprey pair kept a little blue teddy bear in the nest for the whole season, and other items seemed to be human feminine hygiene materials” Marty
:rotf:
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Post by Kukelke »

Article about an injured osprey, found in the Netherlands and brought to a bird sanctuary just on the other side of the border with Belgium (English translation under the article):
22.04.2014
Gisterenavond werd er door de Nederlandse Dierenbescherming Limburg een visarend naar onze opvang gebracht.

De vogel werd gevonden toen hij door twee ganzen werd aangevallen. Blijkbaar had de arend twee ganzenjongen proberen te vangen. De melders dachten in eerste instantie dat het om een buizerd ging die het op hun ganzen gemunt had. Het was de Nederlandse Dierenbescherming die de vogel ophaalde en constateerde dat het om een zeldzame visarend ging.

In het Natuurhulpcentrum werd vastgesteld dat de arend inwendige bloedingen en een complexe pootbreuk had. Zijn toestand kon gisterenavond gestabiliseerd worden. Maar het bleef kritiek. Vanmorgen werd na een röntgenonderzoek duidelijk dat het bovenbeen van zijn poot verbrijzeld was. De vogel ademde bovendien erg zwaar en zijn toestand ging de uren daarna zienderogen achteruit. Namiddag overleed deze prachtige arend aan zijn verwondingen...

Image

http://www.natuurhulpcentrum.be/index.p ... -Nederland
22.04.2014

Yesterday evening the Dutch Animal Protection Limburg brought an osprey to our sanctuary.

The bird was found when he was attacked by two geese. Supposedly the osprey had tried to catch 2 goslings. The people thought at first that it was a buzzard who was after the goslings. It was the Dutch Animal Protection who took care of the bird and saw that it was a rare osprey.

In the sanctuary it became clear that the osprey had internal bleedings and a complex leg fracture. His condition could be stabilized yesterday evening, but stayed critical. After an X-ray examination this morning it became clear that the upper part of his leg was crushed. Besides that the bird breathed heavily and in the hours after his condition detoriated. This afternoon this beautiful bird died of it's injuries...




Poor thing... he really must have been starving if he went after goslings. 99% of the diet of ospreys is fish, and the remaining 1% may be rodents, rabbits, hares, amphibians, other birds, and small reptiles, but this is rather unusual, and only occurs when fish is really scarce, which is pretty strange in the Netherlands because there are ponds, lakes, pools etc full of fish virtually everywhere.
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Post by macdoum »

Sad news. :cry:
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Post by lianaliesma »

Thank you, Kukelke, for information.
And many thanks to those people who tried to help this osprey ...and do help other wild birds and animals... :loveshower:
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I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the so-called "lower animals" versus the traits and dispositions of man. The result humiliates me. - Mark Twain
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Post by Brit »

I really don't know, where to post this, but it's worth to be seen ... such a poor bird and I could see, if she is laying on eggs or already hatched chicks ... it was white ...

Calgary/Canada

yesterday:
Image

just now:
Image
Have a nice day!
Brit
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Kukelke
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Post by Kukelke »

@Brit, I found out that this osprey pair has currently 1 egg, which was laid on May 1st: https://apps.facebook.com/forumforpages ... 2fa64fa9/0

Camera link: https://www.enmax.com/community/keeping ... he-ospreys
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Post by fraszka »

Here's the link to the first Polish osprey nest online :loveshower:
There are around 30 breeding osprey pairs in Poland.
This nest is located in the northwestern part of the country.
Enjoy another osprey adventure !
http://www.lasy.gov.pl/informacje/kampa ... owy-online
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Post by Kukelke »

Short video from BBC news about the other pair of ospreys nesting in Wales, the Glaslyn pair (video under the link below):
'Operation Osprey' under way in Wales

Ospreys are among the rarest birds in Britain. One pair has been migrating from Africa to the same nest in Wales every Spring.

They returned once more this March to lay their eggs.

To help protect them, a team of volunteers are keeping a 24 hour watch on the nest.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27370083
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Post by Kukelke »

Short, and rather old, study about the incubation temperatures of osprey eggs: https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/file ... p00091.pdf
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Post by Kukelke »

Newspaper article from Canada about birdcams, especially ospreys, with the Hellgate osprey nest used as example:

Page 1: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/tra ... 017/?page=

Page 2: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/tra ... 17/?page=2

Page 3: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/tra ... 17/?page=3
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Post by Kukelke »

Description of ospreys' physiology, development of eggs & chicks, etc etc etc:

http://individual.utoronto.ca/ali_naqvi/osprey.htm
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Post by Kukelke »

Timeline of a whole osprey season, from arrival from migration to departure again:

http://cas.umt.edu/geosciences/osprey/timeline.php



Note that this is for North-American ospreys, so there could be a very few small differences, but never too big that we can't use it as a guide for our European ospreys as well.
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