Bird Cams Around the World

Wildlife Diary Sunday 8th September, posted by Rangeremma

by Lindsey

Well Blue YZ is certainly getting on with her migration. After an overnight stay on the Isle of Man on Thursday she carried on past Wales through France and onto Spain in just three days. To compare this to last years chicks Blue YD was in Spain on his second day of migration making landfall to the east of Blue YZ whereas her brother Blue 44 was…. still in the north of England!

The Isle of Man regularly has migrating Ospreys stopping over on the way and Ian Pawson tells us she was in a deep sided valley which has trout in it so hopefully she refueled there.

She then skirted Wales before heading round Cornwall. We were initially surprised by this as it seemed an extreme dogleg for the journey but on examining weather records for the area it looks like there was very heavy rain and hail there so poor visibility so she was flying around that. She did a funny little double back on her way over which you’ll see on the satellite tracking page which might also be to do with the weather. It just makes you realise how amazing Ospreys are that our chick can do that at such a young age.

After roosting in the north of France near Ploudalmezeau, she headed over the Bay of Biscay on a mammoth 14 hour flight. She was roosting at 6am in woodlands near Ria de Villaviciosa, an estuary presumably full of fishy goodies but by 7am she was back on the move.

Her data shows she’s been in flight more or less constantly since leaving Loch of the Lowes with her flight speeds ranging from 9mph over the Bay of Biscay to 46mph over the Celtic Sea. Her flight altitudes also vary from 120m in Spain to 810m over Wales.

Our next batch of data should be available on Tuesday so we’ll see where she is then – will she be in Africa or will she stay in Spain? She’s 100 days old tomorrow, I wonder where she’ll be.

Our male was very much in evidence yesterday but hasn’t been seen today, it too early to say if he’s left yet but the timing would fit. We know males often wait a couple of days after the chicks have left, perhaps to make sure they’ve gone.

Blue YZ heads for the hills (and a meeting with her brother?)
Posted on September 10, 2013 by jonathan

Blue YZ appears to have had enough of flying over water for the time being, following her early seabound adventures, which included a non-stop flight of up to 16 hours across the Bay of Biscay!

Having reached the coast of Asturias sometime in the early hours of the 8th, Blue YZ allowed herself a few hours recuperation (perhaps a spot of fishing?) by the mouth of the Ria de Villaviciosa, east of Gijón before resuming her southward journey.

By 5pm she was approximately 120km (70 miles) inland, roosting in trees beside the Ria Bernesga, south of the historic city and provincial capital of León. She stayed there until at least 7am the following morning.

To reach this point she will have crossed the Cantabrian Mountains, a mountain chain stretching east-west along the border between Asturias & Cantabria to the north and Castile & León to the south. Many of the peaks reach 1800m (6000ft) with the highest exceeding 2500m (8000ft). Google Earth gives you some impression of their scale.

Yesterday (9th) is mostly a mystery at the moment as we have virtually no data after 7am. However, by 6pm Blue YZ was roosting again in NW Extremadura by the Rio Alagón, a tributary of the Tagus, Spain’s longest river. It is part of the same catchment as the Alcántara reservoir – the last known location for Blue 44 prior to his disappearance last November. Blue YZ’s roost location lies approximately 30km (17 miles) NW of the reservoir. Who knows, maybe a family reunion is on the cards!

So far Blue YZ has covered a total of 2061km (1280 miles) – not bad for 5 days work! Maybe she’ll be in Africa by the time the next batch of data comes in. You can view the current data for yourselves at http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/thi ... do/osprey/

Speaking of family, it now appears that the male has definitely left Loch of the Lowes having not been seen since Saturday, bringing yet another osprey season to a close. There’s still plenty to see on the reserve at this time of year though so a visit is always worthwhile.

Jonathan

Blue YZ Still Heading South: 13th Sept
Posted on September 13, 2013 by jonathan

So the young Blue YZ is continuing her journey south towards the Gulf of Cadiz in southern Spain. It's incredibly exciting each time we download the satellite tracking data for her, as we wonder each time whereabouts she has got to in the last couple of days.

What I find remarkable is the huge distances she covers in just a few hours (on the 10th September she flew 180 miles in only 8 hours). Then she stops and rests each night, ready to head off early the next morning on another leg of her journey – almost like she doesn't want to waste a minute of daylight.

Over the last couple of days she has flown over the Càceres, Badajoz and Huelva regions of southern Spain, and has even nipped over the Portuguese border and back again at Barrancos.

Most of the terrain has been open grassland and farmland, with the occasional orchards and hills. Looking at these wonderful photographs of the areas she has been flying through – it certainly looks very different from Perthshire!

Our most recent data point for Blue YZ (12th September at 8pm) has her resting at a reservoir just 12 miles from the Gulf of Cadiz – so she is very nearly at the south coast of Spain. We don't know whether she will head further east and take the shortest route across the Strait of Gibraltar, or if she will take the most direct route south over the ocean – we can only wait and see! Either way, she is making a remarkable journey, and has already taught us so much about osprey migration and behaviour. Good luck to her for the next leg!

by Rachel Butterworth – Volunteer Assistant Ranger

Sunday 15th September: Blue YZ update
Posted on September 15, 2013 by rangeremma
1pm

Afternoon everyone

We've just downloaded the latest batch of satellite tracking data and Blue YZ is....still in Spain and heading back on herself. She left Embalse de Piedras, a reservoir, on the morning of the 13th and spent the rest of the day and the morning of the 14th at an unnamed loch and lochan nearby. She then headed back north, taking a different route to the one she took south. She wound up back at the Represa del Almendro dam, where she spent a few hours on the 11th. At most points she's stopped near water of some sort. The data shows she was roosting alot on the13th but also shows she was moving around from roost to roost. She's not gone any great distance. There are a number of data points missing from this batch of data, which not unusual, so we have no information from 1pm on the 13th to 8am on the 14th but its fair to assume she was hanging around the same loch. We're struggling to find much information about this area so if anyone has any do get in touch at lochofthelowes@swt.org.uk . If you follow the light orange line on the map below you can see her route back north. Has she found her roosting area for the next few years? We'll have to wait and see.

I'm just uploading the data to our website and it should be available in the next hour or so.

There's an interesting blog from Paul Wildlifewriter on 'The weather awareness of migrating birds' which uses Blue YZ, in particular her dogleg around Cornwall, as an example.

Lindsey

Tuesday 17th September:Blue YZ’s Spanish adventure continues
Posted on September 17, 2013 by rangeremma
14:45pm Afternoon all

Yes Blue YZ is still in Spain, the latest data shows she’s been moving between the same three sites, Embalse (reservoir) de Piedras, the unnamed loch nearby and Represa (dam) del Almendro. So now it’s a waiting game, is she having a stopover like her brother Blue 44 did in France or is she preparing herself to move onto Africa or has she found her winter roost we’ll just have to wait and see. The latest satellite tracking data will be up on the site in an hour or so.

And what of our other satellite tracked bird, last years chick from Angus Blue YD? He’s still living on ‘his’ bend of the River Senegal tootling around between favourite roosting spots.

Wildlife Update 25th Sept

Posted on September 25, 2013 by rangeremma

Sorry its been a couple of days since my last blog folks- it’s been a busy week here at the Loch despite the lack of ospreys!

On Monday our trusty team took down the HD osprey nest camera for maintenance over the winter- hopefully we will be able to get to the bottom of its temperamental behaviour. The osprey nest night-vision camera was also rewired right up the tree ( you may remember this power cable was chewed in several places over the summer by wildlife of some sort). Neither of these tasks was easy and involved Sam and Lindsey climbing a great height complete with tools etc- a real feet of bravery!

Lastly but most excitingly there is news from Spain! A dedicated osprey watcher Chris Wood is on holiday in Portugal and gallantly volunteered to head out to the reservoir where Blue YZ is spending her time lately. He rang us today just after 3pm to say he had been watching two ospreys on a small island on the SE end near the dam for the last hour. Could one of them be Blue YZ? We should know for sure tomorrow when we download the latest data and see if this corresponds to the sighting. How exciting to think she has been seen ‘in the flesh’ so to speak- and a big thank you to Chris for letting us know.

Satellite Tracking Update: A Dangerous Gamble

Posted on October 10, 2013 by rangeremma

Our young osprey Blue YZ seems to be making habit of taking dramatic routes on her first migration and worrying us all. If you have been following the interactive map ( see link to your right on this page) you will already know she left her sojourn location in Spain over the weekend and headed south. It seems the instinctive call of Africa overrode the attractions of wintering in southern Spain, though it did prove a very useful rest stop on route.

After a textbook crossing near Gibraltar, she has then made it across the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Instead of sticking to a safe coastal route , she has headed almost due south inland into the heart of Algeria, into desert territory- a very inhospitable place for an osprey. She is now over 500km from the coast , and she roosted overnight on Wednesday on a rocky plateau amongst sandy dunes.

It is not at all impossible that she can survive this desert crossing- if she has the energy reserves and stamina. However, this route is very dangerous and complicated by things such as potential for sandstorms etc.

We will update you as soon as the next batch of data comes in , in the next 24hrs , which should tell us if she has made if safely- keep all your fingers, arms and toes crossed for our young bird- she’s going to need all the help she can get!

Satellite Tracking Update: Still Going Strong
Posted on October 11, 2013 by rangeremma

Blue YZ is still going strong on her perilous migration. As of yesterday she was in northern Mali,
and was finally starting to make a turn south west towards the coast.

She roosted overnight on one of the rocky outcrops that run in a strong diagonal line in this area ( the corner of Algeria, Mauritania and Mail) from NE to SW, giving a visual marker for her to follow. If she had kept going to the due south she would have ended up in an inhospitable area of real Saharan sand dunes.

If she continues on this SW course she should be able to reach the coast in a couple of days- she still had 1200km to go! She is not out of danger yet but is still going strong!

Q: What on earth is she eating?

A: She is probably not eating at all, unless she is lucky enough to come across an oasis with a fish supply. Instead she will be relying on her fat reserves – this is where chicks with better fledging weights have the real advantage on their first migration.

Q: How long can an osprey go without eating or drinking?

A: A bird can go several days without eating as long as it is getting sufficient moisture and has fat reserves to fall back on. Ospreys usually get all their hydration from their food, but in this scenario, they will drink water directly.

Blue YZ: The latest news 12th Oct
Posted on October 12, 2013 by rangeremma

As promised, updates on news of our young satellite tracked osprey as soon as we have them. We too are on the edges of our seats waiting for each new set of data to see how our youngster is fairing.

As of 9pm last night ( Friday) she was in central Mauritania, still following her SW or SSW trajectory. She is still flying well, at a fairly normal speed, and making good long flights.

On the 10th ( Thursday) she flew over 400km in the day, over high sand dunes and roosted for the night on top of one of them- what a strange place to imagine our Scottish bird!

On Friday she flew about 250km by 7pm, but having gone a bit of a curved route to the east before heading true south again. It looks like she was again roosting on Sand dunes.

She is now nearing the southern edge of this desert area and the more fertile eastern region. She is still 1000km from Dakar and the coast though, and some 800km from the inland river where our other young osprey Blue YD ( 2012) is wintering. If she can keep going another day or two , she will be able to reach an area with plenty of fishing opportunities and more hospitable landscapes- fingers crossed!

More news Monday Morning hopefully.

Ranger Emma

P.S. You may notice that the interactive satellite tracking map seems to have a minor glitch in it at the moment. It is not allocating all data points to the map in correct time order, so it may occasionally appear that our bird is looping back on herself. This is not the case and is just a data error. She is in fact flying directly and determinedly in the right way! Our software boffins are trying to sort this asap, but rest assured the bird isn’t lost or disorientated.

Satellite Tracking Update Monday 14th Oct
Posted on October 14, 2013 by rangeremma

Well it looks like Blue YZ is past the worst of her arduous crossing of the El Djouf Desert and has made it safely to its southern edge. After roosting again on Friday night on the top of sand dunes she flew more than 300 km on Saturday , showing no sign of letting up speed.

The latest satellite data available on shows up to Saturday night, but by then she was safely into an area with water availability and some more vegetated valleys.

What a relief she has made it through the most inhospitable par to of her migration journey as far- but what will she choose to do next? More news as we have it.