Bird Cams Around the World

Leaving so soon - By Kayleigh Brookes on August 17, 2016

This season in Manton Bay, everything has occurred a little bit earlier than last year. Maya arrived back two weeks earlier, and 33 one week earlier; the eggs were laid ten days earlier; hatching occurred eight days earlier; and the juveniles fledged eleven days earlier. This has of course made us wonder whether the ospreys would migrate a week or so earlier this year too? In 2015, the first Manton Bay osprey set off on his migration on 29th August, and the last one to leave, Maya, did so on 3rd September. Is their instinct to migrate instigated by their age, which is usually 14 weeks at the time of migration, or by the time of year, which tends to be the end of August or early September?

Well, it would appear that the first option is the correct one, as T6 seems to have gone! I say “seems to have”, because I know what you’re all thinking – T6 disappeared for four days at the end of July and then returned. This time, however, the signs all point to her having left for good. The volunteers in the hide on Monday morning reported that one of the juveniles soared in circles higher and higher above the nest, then flew off purposefully southwards. This behaviour is usually a sure sign that a migration has begun. T7 and T8 were subsequently identified in the bay, therefore the juvenile who left must have been T6...