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| Photo by J.Lister |
There is a definite autumnal nip in the air as we are
approaching the end of August. Gone are the long stretched out evenings, as the
daylight hours begin to shrink back. Ospreys have felt it too and most
certainly the female from the main nest site is now on her way. We are not
certain of the exact date that she left but she has not been seen for quite a
while now.
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| photo by J.Lister |
The male was seen regularly back at the eyrie with three of
his young juveniles, feeding together but for this past week only two juveniles
have been present with the male. This is hopefully a good sign that the boldest
youngster has followed Mums example and headed off south to longer days and
warmer climate, to escape the start of the Scottish cold season with short
days.
This week a lonely juvenile osprey sat for hours on the
eyrie calling and wing flicking and looking skywards. Perhaps the male bird was
somewhere close by, feeding on a fish and the youngster was hopeful of
receiving a meal. A second young osprey joined the first one at the nest site
but appeared quite content and was preening feathers. A whole morning passed by
and Dad never put in an appearance. Eventually both young birds flew off but
returned later to sit and wait for Dad again. He must be feeling the need to
push his remaining brood into independence. He will stay around until he sees
them depart before he will also begin his long journey south to Western Africa.
The impulse to migrate must be strong and certainly birds will face a better
journey if they leave before autumn sets in properly with gales making passage
difficult.
The river camera at Kailzie revealed a surprise visitor last
week and the volunteer on duty was able to take snap shots and a small amount
of video footage of what appears to be a juvenile buzzard bathing in the burn
that leads down to the River Tweed. The
raptor is a chunky brown bird with streaky brown markings over buff coloured
chest and belly. It was a bit difficult to distinguish what it was at first and
was thought to be a sparrowhawk but after careful scrutiny it was decided that
it was one of the young buzzards.
The buzzards remain thoughout the seasons and do not migrate
to foreign climates. When times get tough over the winter months with snow
conditions they will adopt a localised movement to better conditions and being
a bird that relies quite heavily on carrion, it manages to scratch a good
living for itself topping up its diet with road kill and earth worms or any
other scraps. It is equally equipped for hunting prey such as rabbit or occasional
birds and squirrels.
