On the 24/7/2010 I found a Tawny Owl feather and gave it to my wife to use in bee keeping as a soft brush to remove bees from the frames. She said it was a buzzard feather and I said it was a Tawny owl, she agreed. But it got me thinking that I should be able to prove that it was an owl feather, particularly a nocturnal owl as they strike with silence given to them from “soft” wing feathers. So I set out to photograph a pheasants tail feather against this wing feather of a suspected owl.

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Although I am comparing a tail feather with a primary wing feather I hope you can see the much softer surface of the tawny’s feather. They sacrifice flying efficiency by increasing the drag on their wings but the pay off is a silent approach, no hard wing edges and the wing surface is “hairier”  therefore reducing the air speed over the wing making a wing flap or glide quieter.

I hope my pictures demonstrate this. I need to pick up a wing feather from a diurnal species to make this comparison proper.

24/7/2010

As I expected the eyrie is now empty and an Osprey was perched on the top of the highest tree nearby. Ospreys are really nosey, when you watch them doing nothing they are always alert, and like to perch high to get the best view. I could not sex the bird on the tree, due to having its back to me and its head out of sight. Later I did pick up the female on a post with a fish, I suspect a pike as I could just make out a rounded tail fin, she sat for a while not feeding then took off and disappeared. I then picked up a juvenile on another post, see photo and note the mottled appearance of the plumage. On this day I confirmed three juvs and the adult female, but where was the male?

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Also pictured is a wood pigeon which I thought was nicely framed and the Ospreys on perches on the river, there is one picture with the crows picking at a fish, probably the one the female had earlier. Later I saw a juvenile recover the fish and have a desultory pick at it. I also saw a juvenile marsh harrier so the usual pair have raised at least one chick. The juvenile bird I saw had no wing tags, perhaps that exercise has stopped, it was hunting at the reed bed edge and did stoop and did not reappear, I did have a good view of it’s wings as wing tags are not always that  easy to spot.

Well I was out observing on the 11/7/10 but the gale force winds restricted the young Ospreys. So on the 13/7/10  I was on station at 5.55 am and as I thought the young Ospreys could fly, well two could the third remained nest bound. The female was on lookout, the male was off fishing? and one off the juvs took off, flew around, and just disappeared for the remaining 40 mins I was there. I suspect he/she was nearby and waiting for the fish delivery. It is frustrating getting these visual jigsaw pieces, it has taken me years to get a basic understanding of Osprey behaviour from weekend observing, and Roy Dennis’s book helps, see below, I blogged Loch of the Lowes for a full years diary notes that i would pay for, not available, SWT need a commercial leader. Your detailed 24 hour observations are worth money, my money anyway. My jigsaw is incomplete.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Ospreys-Roy-Dennis/dp/1904445268/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279047026&sr=1-1

to sum up a season “my” ospreys are exemplary, most lay three eggs and raise two chicks, mine laid ? eggs but three well fed chicks are a testimony to a very successful pair.

Hope the marsh harriers do as well.

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Derek what are these insects, and don’t say ladybird and shield bug , I’ve got that far already. I have posted both on Ispot so lets see how good your reference books are !! have you been to Ispot ?

T in the park so it must rain and it is, 10th July and went to visit the ospreys, between drizzles of rain, had to step carefully due to hundreds well I mean lots of  toadlets. see pics, I have put these pics on Ispot to verify that they are toads and not frogs. This is a fantastic resource when you can’t identify a species, any species. The nearest pond is 500m away and I assume their origin, although a stream from the pond is 30m away.

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The young Ospreys are now the size of their parents and are rising some several feet during flapping exercises, next week I expect them to be flying around.

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I forgot about these pictures of Greylag geese breeding on the same loch as the Slavonian grebes, the grebes had two juvs and were not to be photographed, these geese were more obliging.

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There are two populations of Greylags in Scotland a naturalised population in the South and East and a  native population in the North and West 1. The naturalised population is in part introduced birds and both populations are increasing

1.  The birds of Scotland volume 1

I was out on the 3 and 4 of July and had nothing much to observe, except three chicks are well fed and just about to start that wing flapping stage. I was expecting to see them doing this but as the wind was gale to nearly gale force they were sensibly reluctant to try. I was concerned on the 4th that I went along at 5pm to see if the eyrie was still there, it was, and due to the wind direction and the surrounding trees it was somewhat sheltered. I did report one year that the eyrie had been blown down during winter gales so my concern had some founding. The male had a good spot away from buffeting winds but the female was not happy on the nest or perched nearby, she took off a few times and eventually I spotted her on a fence post where she was preening, so I guess she want to do feather care but was reluctant to leave the eyrie, but had to due to the gale force winds. One thing I did accomplish was starting to identify umbelliferers, the picture shows a hogweed (not giant) with a common red soldier beetle.

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as an off the wall link, being a gout sufferer I occasionally use diclofenac, it kills vultures, see connection below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sx8nd/Saving_Species_Episode_14/

whilst at work on site at the m74jv project, to relieve my boredom I threw a couple of beef hula hoops out the van window to see what it attracted to the dinner table. Within seconds a carrion crow appeared and scoffed them. I then threw out another couple with the same result. By this time the bag was finished and 30 seconds later the crow flew off in front of the van to the near side verge to watch. So, on to the next packet which I retrieved out of my rucksack with much rustling of the packet. On hearing the rustling the crow was instantly back at my window full of expectancy, so birds do have lugs, and a brain to back them up.

20 June saw the male bring in a small pike and the female set about feeding her chicks, there are still three but one was being a teenager and just lying around. As the male took up his customary position out of faecal squirt range I saw he had a yellow ring on his right leg and a silver one on his left. These rings are harder to see than you might think as branches and feathers often obscure them. They  hunker down when preening and can stand on one leg. So it is well into the season and I am just spotting this yellow ring, oh for a camera on the nest area!

25 June, 5.00 am, at my usual watching time of 8 to 10 am I usually see a feeding session, I was reluctant to believe this was the first feed of the day, so I got up early and was on station by 5.00 am. Just witnessed the female feeding a chick who was soon full up and moving away. So that answers my question, well kind of, as the first feed of the day may be around 8 to 10 am if the fishing conditions are bad? The next bit was interesting as well, the female fed herself for a bit, the chicks were not interested, then she flapped to where the male usually sits and preens, he was up an adjacent tree. He immediately swoops down over her head and takes the considerable remains of the fish up the adjacent tree and starts to feed. Now I thought the male fed from the head of the fish and the body, then brought the fish to the nest for it to be consumed. He might well have done this as I did not see him arrive, and it could be he has no problems feeding his family so by 6.00 am they, including the female,  are full, so he has a second feed. He did fly back to the nest with the fish, but the female and chicks ignored him, so back off to the adjacent tree he went and sat for some time before resuming his feeding. The pics are the male preening and obscuring his legs, male up the adjacent tree and female on his usual preening perch, male on nest and female on his usual perch and female on nest

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spotted this unusual feather in a field next to the estuary, there was 3 or 4, not enough for a death on the ground, struck in the air and escaped? I think it’s from a water bird, so it would not be roosting in a field of cows. Possible feather from the breast or flank. But from what?