Cosworthlady
Well-known member
You did see an egg. She layed it on Friday the 13th bless her. Fingers crossed for another one.
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Loch of Lowes Ospreys 2007 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Tiger_mz
- Start date
Cosworthlady
Well-known member
She's laid another over the weekend. Three would be nice but theres more chance of losing them if there are too many so i'm hoping that its just two hale and hearty ones. What an old trooper she is. She's done over 200,000 miles in her life and I am in awe of this old bird.
Cosworthlady
Well-known member
Tiger_mz said:She had four two years ago but not all of them fledged
Thats what I mean. There were 3 last year but one just disappeared. It may have been before their night vision camera and it was expelled during the night but they never found a wee body so it was a bit of a mystery. If its just 2 they can devote more time to them and the chance of fighting in the nest must be less too. Then again if they are like buzzards only the strong survive and the wee ones get kicked out by their siblings. I love birds but have never been out birdwatching, much to my shame, but I am a member of SWT and I have visited Loch of the Lowes and I just love this old girl. I do so hope they are successful this year because the legacy she has left is unbelievable and I hope she comes back for another couple of years yet. The oldest known breeding Osprey is 23 and this old girl cant be far short of that.
Tiger_mz
Well-known member
Diary has been updated. Worrying news.
17 April 2007 - difficult times
Our birds have had a stressful weekend. On Friday two people walking close to the tree disturbed our female and she was away for two hours! Almost as soon as she had settled back down she laid her first egg at 4.45 pm. This is the first time we have had a close up view of the egg and one end is red-brown while the other is speckled. The female was really restless that night but more stress was to come on Saturday when some drunken lads fishing on the loch got asked to move on. They became disgruntled and shouted, swore and beeped their car horns deliberately trying to disturb the birds. Needless to say the police were promptly called. Even after they left the female kept facing in the direction of the disturbance but after a while relaxed into a peaceful sleep.
Our male was beginning to cause concern because of his lack of fish provision. When he did bring a fish it was only several inches long and he hadn’t even bothered to eat the head as normal. The female had to endure a whole day without food until on Sunday morning the male brought a large salmon. This was followed by a large pike in the evening. This was more like it and on Monday afternoon another egg was laid at 1.05 pm. How many eggs will she produce this year?
17 April 2007 - difficult times
Our birds have had a stressful weekend. On Friday two people walking close to the tree disturbed our female and she was away for two hours! Almost as soon as she had settled back down she laid her first egg at 4.45 pm. This is the first time we have had a close up view of the egg and one end is red-brown while the other is speckled. The female was really restless that night but more stress was to come on Saturday when some drunken lads fishing on the loch got asked to move on. They became disgruntled and shouted, swore and beeped their car horns deliberately trying to disturb the birds. Needless to say the police were promptly called. Even after they left the female kept facing in the direction of the disturbance but after a while relaxed into a peaceful sleep.
Our male was beginning to cause concern because of his lack of fish provision. When he did bring a fish it was only several inches long and he hadn’t even bothered to eat the head as normal. The female had to endure a whole day without food until on Sunday morning the male brought a large salmon. This was followed by a large pike in the evening. This was more like it and on Monday afternoon another egg was laid at 1.05 pm. How many eggs will she produce this year?
Cosworthlady
Well-known member
After their awful weekend the old girl has laid her third egg. This is what the warden has written in her diary.
19 April 2007 - another egg!
Our female osprey laid her third egg at 7.20 am this morning! Will there be a fourth? Highly unlikely but she did do it in 2005.... and if she did, that would make 50 eggs from this female! Mind you I will be satisfied with three going through to fledging since we have lost chicks the past two years.
19 April 2007 - another egg!
Our female osprey laid her third egg at 7.20 am this morning! Will there be a fourth? Highly unlikely but she did do it in 2005.... and if she did, that would make 50 eggs from this female! Mind you I will be satisfied with three going through to fledging since we have lost chicks the past two years.
Cosworthlady
Well-known member
Exciting Stuff
19 April 2007 - another egg!
It was an early start this morning but was well worth it when at about 7.20 am our female osprey laid a third egg. With our new camera I was beginning to learn her behaviour prior to laying. She gets extremely restless and half cocks her wings. You can almost see ripples going through her body and her feathers seem to stand on end. However, I only thought I saw a third egg at this point and had to wait until 8.30 am when she finally stood up and showed all three to the world. It seems such a simple thing but a thing of beauty nonetheless, seeing that terracotta marked clutch of eggs. You think how fragile they must be and wonder how they are going to survive seven weeks till hatching without getting accidentally broken, abandoned or stolen by egg thieves. As if to prove a point at about 5.30 pm, an osprey landed on the nest beside the female and at first I didn’t give it a second thought. Then I saw our female’s reaction and realised this was an intruder osprey. I have heard of eggs being broken in scuffles between birds and hoped this wouldn’t be the case with ours. But our female was quick to act and displayed defensive behaviour and but when the intruder wouldn’t budge, she lunged at it with wings outstretched. At this the intruder took off and the male returned to protect the nest with a half eaten fish in tow. About time too!
19 April 2007 - another egg!
It was an early start this morning but was well worth it when at about 7.20 am our female osprey laid a third egg. With our new camera I was beginning to learn her behaviour prior to laying. She gets extremely restless and half cocks her wings. You can almost see ripples going through her body and her feathers seem to stand on end. However, I only thought I saw a third egg at this point and had to wait until 8.30 am when she finally stood up and showed all three to the world. It seems such a simple thing but a thing of beauty nonetheless, seeing that terracotta marked clutch of eggs. You think how fragile they must be and wonder how they are going to survive seven weeks till hatching without getting accidentally broken, abandoned or stolen by egg thieves. As if to prove a point at about 5.30 pm, an osprey landed on the nest beside the female and at first I didn’t give it a second thought. Then I saw our female’s reaction and realised this was an intruder osprey. I have heard of eggs being broken in scuffles between birds and hoped this wouldn’t be the case with ours. But our female was quick to act and displayed defensive behaviour and but when the intruder wouldn’t budge, she lunged at it with wings outstretched. At this the intruder took off and the male returned to protect the nest with a half eaten fish in tow. About time too!
Hi Ben,
Glad to hear the male is now feeding the female, no fish, no healthy chicks, some of us are just a bit slow to learn but we get there eventually.
Here's to looking forward to seeing 3 chicks all shouting for food, then he will be kept busy.
Ann
The Osprey Fanatic
Glad to hear the male is now feeding the female, no fish, no healthy chicks, some of us are just a bit slow to learn but we get there eventually.
Here's to looking forward to seeing 3 chicks all shouting for food, then he will be kept busy.
Ann
The Osprey Fanatic
June Atkinson
Well-known member
Osprey on nest Sunday 13.05.07
Here is a nice screen grab of the incubating bird, from Webcam 1.
But what do you make of this shot, taken from Webcam 2?
I can't make out what's going on. You need to see it live, to observe the movements. It would help if there were some commentary alongside, explaining just what this camera is pointing towards.........
I love this Centre; it gives the maximum opportunity of seeing the ospreys at really close quarters. We hope to do a brief visit sometime once the babies are fledged; it's such fun watching them being taught to fish and :clap: fend for themselves.
Here is a nice screen grab of the incubating bird, from Webcam 1.
But what do you make of this shot, taken from Webcam 2?
I can't make out what's going on. You need to see it live, to observe the movements. It would help if there were some commentary alongside, explaining just what this camera is pointing towards.........
I love this Centre; it gives the maximum opportunity of seeing the ospreys at really close quarters. We hope to do a brief visit sometime once the babies are fledged; it's such fun watching them being taught to fish and :clap: fend for themselves.
Attachments
It looks like the inside of a Blue or Great Tit box to me.
Hi Ben,
According to the Broadcasting site it is a Blue Tit family. You are lucky to get a picture the camera has not been on when I looked.
It was spooky clicking the webcam button and seeing an Osprey moving on the nest first thing. They all say "live" but that bird was really moving, I was freaked for a second.
Good watching everybody.
Ann
Osprey Fanatic
According to the Broadcasting site it is a Blue Tit family. You are lucky to get a picture the camera has not been on when I looked.
It was spooky clicking the webcam button and seeing an Osprey moving on the nest first thing. They all say "live" but that bird was really moving, I was freaked for a second.
Good watching everybody.
Ann
Osprey Fanatic
June Atkinson
Well-known member
Mystery solved
Never mind, it is wonderful to be able to share their private world isn't it - without disturbing them, hopefully!:clap:
Yes, I thought it was inside a Blue or Great Tit box, but from the blurb on the LoL site it seemed that both Cams were relating to the Osprey.
Never mind, it is wonderful to be able to share their private world isn't it - without disturbing them, hopefully!:clap:
Stuart Watson
Well-known member
Great news about the eggs, and smashing reading too. im hoping to visit the ospreys this weekend - so i know now i wont be dissapointed. Ive been reading about the Loch Garten ospreys with great excitement too, but its just a little to far for me to travel, besides - i spent 4 hours there last year without a sighting.
Got to agree with y`all that photos here can be pretty fantastic - be sure to load up on extra film though.
Sorry to hear about the fishing yobs - thankfully she hasnt been too spooked!
Got to agree with y`all that photos here can be pretty fantastic - be sure to load up on extra film though.
Sorry to hear about the fishing yobs - thankfully she hasnt been too spooked!
Stuart Watson
Well-known member
fact or fiction
sorry - meant to ask , does anyone know of nearby fish farm where the owner charges a small fee to allow viewing of him feeding the ospreys his `dud` fish?
I`m more interested to see them wild and non-dependant, so i will be visiting the proper reserves, however - i am intrigued at this concept, as ive heard that often there are more than a dozen birds queueing for an easy feed.
PM welcomed thanks!
sorry - meant to ask , does anyone know of nearby fish farm where the owner charges a small fee to allow viewing of him feeding the ospreys his `dud` fish?
I`m more interested to see them wild and non-dependant, so i will be visiting the proper reserves, however - i am intrigued at this concept, as ive heard that often there are more than a dozen birds queueing for an easy feed.
PM welcomed thanks!
