Hail and farewell!

Mrs 37 tries to escape the cage!
(c) Forestry Commission

Wednesday at Kielder was pleasant with sunny periods, although a coolish breeze persisted; it was back to some heavy hail showers and strong winds on Thursday. On the osprey nests the females have been doing the bulk of the incubation. On Wednesday 37 continued  reconstruction of Nest 2. From the image it looks like he was trying to build a cage around Mrs 37! He has done a good job building up the sides of the nest to pre-storm damage height, although the new model is a bit less tidy. Click on any of the images to enlarge them.

37 pops in but Mrs 37 stays right down on the eggs
(c) Forestry Commission

On Thursday morning 37 was on the nest a few times, but without fish or twigs. He seemed prepared to do his stint incubating despite the hail but Mrs 37 stayed well down on the eggs and on each visit he said farewell to her after a few minutes. On both nests the eggs haven’t been turned very often. And when they are, it is a pretty rapid push around. As the earlier post about incubation explained it is in the early days of incubating that turning is most crucial. And with the cold weather the parents are not exposing the eggs for long.

Mrs YA is hunkered down whilst YA perches nearby
(c) Forestry Commission

At Nest 1, YA spent most of Thursday morning in a tree near the nest. Like Mrs 37, Mrs YA was very low on the eggs. Even her head wasn’t visible at times. The ‘long shot’ camera is on a young tree and it was swaying quite wildly in the wind so watching felt a bit like being on the waves!

Elsewhere, Glesni, the new female osprey at Dyfi produced her first ever egg on Wednesday evening, great news. Also on Wednesday Tweed Valley announced their first chick had hatched, probably the first in Scotland. Congratulations to both projects.

Osprey Watch 2013

Osprey Watch 2013 will start at Leaplish on Saturday 25 May and run until the osprey chicks from Nest 1 fledge, which if all goes well will be late August. It will run from 11.00 to 16.30 at weekends and on Wednesdays, although not 29 May because the watch will be open on Bank Holiday Monday 27 May instead.

Osprey Watch area
(c) Joanna Dailey

Telescopes will be provided with volunteers on hand to tell the ospreys’ story and help visitors. Nest 1 is about 2 miles away on the North side of Kielder Water, so even with the powerful telescopes the nest does not fill the eye piece view! At the moment, and for the next couple of weeks until the chicks start to hatch, one bird will be on the nest incubating but if she or he is really low on the eggs it may seem the nest is empty. Don’t be deterred though; the male White YA sits near the nest quite often so he may be visible or you may be very lucky and see an osprey hunting over the water. Take a ride on the Osprey ferry and you may even see two ospreys! And if you stay 20 minutes or so at the viewing point you will probably see the incubating osprey stand up to turn the eggs.

Problems with the link to the nestcam on Nest 1 mean that the screen in the Boat Inn, which is right by the viewing point, is showing action on Nest 2. So visitors will be able to get an overview of both pairs of ospreys’ progress.

Down under!

Ospreys are present on every continent except Antarctica. In Australia they are non-migratory and tend to be found in coastal areas, wetlands and offshore islands. One such island with a small population is Rottnest Island, a reserve 11 miles off the coast of Western Australia. The nearest urban areas are Fremantle and Perth. Rottnest Island is only 7.3 sq miles in size but supports beween two and four breeding pairs of ospreys.

Salmon Point limestone outcrop
(c) Bev Naismith

A recent visitor to Kielder from Australia, Bev, was on the island last December (within the breeding season for Australian ospreys) and told us about her experience. Now she is home she has shared a great photo of a huge nest! The nest (or a bit of it!) is thought to be about 70 years old. It sits on limestone stacks at Salmon Point; this offers a great vantage point for the ospreys and is also protected from disturbance, being at the edge of an outcrop.

You can just see a bit of green ?ribbon by the osprey’s feet; some of the Florida osprey nests also sport colourful adornments!

The Kielder ospreys will have to do a lot more stick gathering to get anywhere the number that must make up this nest!

Many thanks to Bev for sharing her photos. Click on them to enlarge.

Osprey nest at Salmon Point, Rottnest Island WA
(c) Bev Naismith

What a difference a day makes!

Saturday was very wet at Kielder – this video clip gives a little bit of a feel for the weather. The ospreys would have found fishing tricky because the water becomes muddier and the fish tend to be well beneath the surface. At the moment, with no chicks to feed and with relatively low energy requirements from the females, two or three reasonable sized fish a day are enough to keep things ticking along.

Sunday was misty for a long time but it was noticeably warmer and in the morning especially it was very calm on the water. The Kielder males took advantage of this and both nests were supplied with fish at lunch time. This is quite unusual at the moment, often no fish deliveries are observed between 1000 and 1700, and does suggest a shortage yesterday.

YA watches from the tree as Mrs YA has lunch at the edge of Nest 1
(c) Forestry Commission

On Nest 1, YA perched on a tree near the nest whilst Mrs YA feasted on the nest edge. The eggs weren’t incubated for a while but it was a warm day (relatively) and all should be well. Both adults were on or near the nest all the time. Many of you will be aware that in the last few days the male at Loch of the Lowes left the eggs for significant periods when he was incubating. He was a good father last year, so his behaviour is very strange and worrying.

37 flies in with lunch
(c) Forestry Commission

On Nest 2, Mrs 37 had been incubating most of the morning but started to fidget a lot, and squawk, by about 1300. A shadow had been flying overhead shortly before which she had followed intently, almost certainly 37 because she was not alarmed. At about 1345  in flew 37 with a headless offering! Mrs 37 went off immediately and 37 settled down to incubate. A video of this event can be seen here. And click on either of the images to enlarge them.

During his time incubating 37 could be seen to be panting slightly. It was only about 14 degrees or so, but after recent weather it must have felt balmy to him!

Finally, wonderful news from Rutland Water where the Manton Bay nest has seen the first two chicks hatch within a day!

Incubation and hatching – more science!

The very wet and not very warm weather on Saturday meant the ospreys stayed tight on their eggs. Typically in the UK males take a turn for no more than about 35% of daylight hours and the females are usually the only ‘night shift’ performers. On the Kielder nests 37 on Nest 2 does rather more incubating than YA seems to, although with ‘only’ the long distance camera available on Nest 1 it is sometimes difficult to be sure who is on the eggs.

Mrs 37 turns her eggs
(c) Forestry Commission

Many of the videos show the start or end of incubation shifts. You can see the osprey gently settling over the eggs and shuffling or rocking slightly. This is to ensure the brood patch covers the eggs properly. Both sexes possess these heavily vascularized areas of skin. During the breeding season the birds lose their down feathers from this area to allow heat to transfer to the eggs. Some clips show the incubating osprey turning the eggs. One day recently Mrs 37 was almost as reliable as a watch, turning the eggs every 20 minutes. This action is to ensure an even distribution of warmth for both the individual egg and the clutch. It is especially important during the first half of incubation as it prevents membranes in the egg from sticking together prematurely. The ospreys adjust their behaviour to take account of the ambient temperature. So if it was very hot the eggs would just be shaded from the sun rather than fully incubated under the brood patch. Not very likely at Kielder though!

When hatching is approaching the incubating osprey will tend to be slightly higher off the eggs. From about 48 hours before hatching, sometimes earlier, ‘pipping’ can be heard from the developing chick and it will start tapping the shell with its beak. An egg tooth, a tiny hardened tip to the upper mandible,  is the tool that enables escape into the big wide world! Zooming in a nestcam on an egg it is possible to see the egg tooth chipping through in the hours before the chick hatches.

A new video has just been added which shows Mrs 37 carrying out that vital egg turning.

Sources: Ospreys  A Natural and Unnatural History by Alan F Poole; Population Ecology of Raptors by Ian Newton

A quiet day

37 drops in to see the eggs and sit by Mrs 37 for a few minutes.
(c) Forestry Commission

After recent windy, cold and ‘damp’ weather Thursday turned out to be pleasant for the Kielder ospreys. Both nests had frequent changes in incubator, particularly Nest 2 during the morning. 37 certainly seems to like to do his fair share although he is a bit of a fidget! He has no sooner settled on the eggs than he is tugging on pieces of bark or flicking a bit of moss to one side. There were some companionable moments on Nest 2; the non-incubating bird would land on the nest for no apparent purpose and the pair would survey the terrain. Regular readers will spot that 37 has built up his latticework of sticks during the past few days. Although it is not quite to the standard of his pre-storm efforts, he gets a big tick!

That dark head means it is tough to see Mrs YA on the eggs.
(c) Forestry Commission

On Nest 1 there doesn’t appear to be as much togetherness. The wide view camera didn’t spot the ‘other half’ in the trees near the nest, although there are nearby perches out of shot. When Mrs YA is on the eggs her dark head can make her hard to spot if she is face on to the camera. Click to enlarge the image and find her!

The cool weather could delay the hatching of the eggs slightly although all the ospreys are  very prompt at covering up the eggs when they take over incubating. The start of June is the likeliest ‘first hatch date’ for Nest 2, with Nest 1 a week or so behind.

Our males’ parents’ second egg hatched on Wednesday morning, so further congratulations to Glaslyn. Just one to go for them!

Weather again!

Snow sweeps across in front of Nest 1
(c) Forestry Commission

It isn’t surprising the weather is such a discussion point; on Monday there was something from most seasons in a few hours! Rain, hail and sleet were mixed in with sunshine which felt warm out of the “breeze”. Some of the snow showers were heavy and the ospreys hunkered low on their eggs to protect them. The long view camera covering Nest 1 shows how snowy it was there. You can see the osprey’s head above the nest edge left of centre when you click to enlarge the image.

Mrs 37 tries to get back on the eggs
(c) Forestry Commission

On Nest 2 it was as bad at times and the nestcam lens misted over completely for a while. When it cleared in mid afternoon 37 was doing a stint on the eggs. Mrs 37 came back, ready to take over, but he wasn’t keen to give way until she nudged him off. There is a new video showing the event, viewable here.

There is great news from the Glaslyn Osprey Project – our males were born at Glaslyn and they have a new sibling! Their parents’ first egg of the season hatched yesterday evening. It is also the first hatch recorded in the UK in 2013. Maybe we’ll see him or her at Kielder in a few years!