Monday 10 August 2009

Family News

Over the last few days the main Osprey nest has been the site of regular activity and it's been quite hard to keep a track of all the coming and going! The whole family is never on the nest all together now, and with the adults and chicks all still using the nest as a base , especially for feeding, it is a bit like watching a constantly changing who's who!

The reason for all the confusion is easy to appreciate when you realise that all three chicks are now at least as big as their father and Tokyo and Caledonia are nearly as big as mum! The only appreciable difference in appearance is the more speckled feathers of the youngsters (as each feather still has a pale fringe to it).

The only way to be certain of the birds identities is to zoom in and focus on their legs to read their Identity Leg rings ( known as Darvic rings) which they have been wearing since the 13th July. By this method we have been able to confirm all three chicks have visited the nest regularly this week- including little Stig who seems to be doing just fine!

We have even seen mum on Thursday who brought a fish back to the nest and fed the chicks as if they were little.

This is interesting as she is obviously back to hunting herself and getting fit for her migration south, as she is usually the first to head south- and this could be very soon indeed.

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