Here is an update from the Warden. Its FANTASTIC news about the old girl.
9 April 2007
It now seems the unringed female is here to stay. On her arrival the male was seen to soar high above the nest making a call I had never heard before. He was also acting like I had never seen folding in his wings making little plunges in the sky only to soar back up again. This turned out to be the normal courtship display but since our female normally arrives first, I have never seen this behaviour in the five years I have been here. The female acted very confident on the nest and our male mated with her almost immediately. From this behaviour and her obvious shoulder stripe, it would appear that this is our original female! Hard to believe since this year she is in such good condition. However, I have still to check the head markings from old footage to be certain. But since her arrival the pair have been mating well and hopefully eggs will be laid in the next two weeks.
Since this has happened the red ringed female has been seldom seen. When she has approached the nest the male displayed defensive behaviour as if to say she wasn’t welcome on the nest anymore, the promptly mated with her again! But all in all it has been the unringed female who has spent the majority of time on the nest and importantly stayed there overnight. This has been seen with our new infra red camera. So you can now even check on the birds at night!
And as if two females wasn’t enough, a yellow ringed bird was also seen close to the nest last week.
.Then offering dinner a little while later when he returned from his hunting spell. :t: Pictures to follow.
