Ospreys, kestrels, swallows and... kippers
| 16:35 UK time, Thursday, 15 July 2010
Great news! After weeks of concern, has made a miraculous recovery and helped her chicks find their wings and take to the skies.
The 25-year-old bird, named Our Lady, when she became ill back in June. She stopped eating and was unable to open her eyes or stand over her chicks. Instinctively though, the juvenile male osprey rose to the challenge and fulfilled the role of two parents, both hunting and feeding his family.
This sort of behaviour will come as no surprise to viewers of this year's Springwatch. Back in June, we watched with bated breath as our family of kestrels struggled to come to terms with the loss of the female kestrel. But just like the male osprey, the male kestrel increased his delivery of food parcels to compensate for the lost parent. So successfully that all the chicks fledged. As a few of you said at the time, forget Peter Andre, this kestrel should be Dad of the Year!
So is this paternal instinct exhibited in all birds?
Paul Stancliffe of the says not. "Unfortunately not all bird families are able to be as resilient as these raptor families. Birds of prey appear to cope much better when adapting to single parent families than many other bird species. In the case of the Pensthorpe kestrels the dry weather conditions played a huge factor in aiding the male kestrel to hunt for voles. If the weather had been wet the voles would have stayed sheltered and the kestrel's diet would have changed to earthworms and beetles, which may not have been enough to sustain the hungry kestrel chicks."
In the Loch of Lowe the female osprey made a dramatic recovery. After the male osprey's successful efforts, Peter Ferns, the reserves manager, and his team watched this weekend as she took over and guided her chicks to fledging.
Well, almost. Like another of our Pensthorpe families, the swallows, these feathery teenagers just don't seem to want to leave the security of the family nest. But what makes some birds fledge and leave the nest for good, and others keep coming back?
Here's Paul Stancliffe again:"For birds like the ospreys and the swallows the nest and nest site offers a degree of security. The first week or so of the young bird's life is the most vulnerable time, so it makes sense for them to hang around the nest site and, in the case of the Ospreys, even return to the nest and the protection it offers.
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"Smaller birds, on the other hand, like blue tits or warblers, are much more vulnerable and once fledged need to 'disappear' into the surrounding habitat and hide away from danger. In general, most newly fledged juvenile birds will stay in the area of the breeding territory, if not at the nest site itself, for at least the first few weeks after fledging."
All of this makes me think that perhaps our wildlife really isn't so different to us. After all, how many of you have got twenty-something kids that just won't leave the nest? And when they do finally leave, they're back next week with a bag of dirty washing. Kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings, they're called... or KIPPERS. At least our birds don't have retirement savings to worry about.
Comment number 1.
At 20th Jul 2010, Jables wrote:Talking of Kestrels, I live in Sutton Coldfield, a suburb approximately 10 or so miles outside the centre of Birmingham. I moved into a house with a huge back garden, which was, and still is to a point very overgrown with tall trees and large hedges. Some of the trees are way over 50ft.
Anyway, during the Spring, I watched a lot of bird activity in and around the garden, which was quite noisy. I put out a bird table with seed and fat balls, and watched the small birds gladly take it all away every day. This continued up until last weekend when almost no birds would visit the table, and things were quiet.
On Sunday evening I was out in the garden sorting out some plants when I heard a comotion in one of the tall hedges. Lots of flapping and what sounded like distress calls. I looked above me and saw what appeared to be a Kestrel flying out of the hedge. It had a small bid in its claws which was screaming non stop as the Kestrel flew away.
When thinking back, in the Spring (around April) I did see some broken, empty egg shells in amongst the overgrowth, and not knowing much about birds, maybe it is the same bird(s) stealing them from nests. I do have a number of Starlings that would visit the garden and hop up and down searching for worms or insects that my digging would bring closer to the surface. Maybe it is their nests that are being hunted down.
Seeing this kestrel fly off with a young bird in it's clutch was a disturbing sight to see, and it looks like I won't be seeing much bird activity in my garden his summer. Is there anything I can do or should I just be grateful for seeing this kind of thing with my own eyes? Will the Kestrel(s) move on at some point.
PS: Sorry if this doesn't belong in your blog but I just wanted to see if there was any advice, or indeed if Kestrels should even be in the Cities.
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Comment number 2.
At 20th Jul 2010, JD Spencer wrote:I know it's not ospreys, but I just wanted to share my excitement - I live in Fleggburgh, Norfolk, and on my way to work I saw this huge bird quartering around a corn field - couldn't imagine what it was, and now I've identified it as a Marsh Harrier. Just wow!
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Comment number 3.
At 21st Jul 2010, Sam Unsprung Researcher wrote:Thanks for your comments :)
JD Spencer that's brilliant!
Sculthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk (near our Springwatch base) had until they fledged just a few weeks ago. They're spectacular birds!
ChumboWani, it seems likely that what you spotted might have been a sparrowhawk. They are more prone to visiting gardens and capturing live birds from feeders. Have a look at our Identifying birds of prey feature in case it helps.
With regard to your concerns, birds of prey visiting your garden are a good sign as it means that you have a rich enough ecosystem to sustain a top predator. The system maintains itself as, if the number of small birds declines, the bird of prey wouldn't have enough food to survive so would have to hunt elsewhere allowing the populations to recover. So one or two birds of prey should not drastically affect the populations in your garden.
What you may be experiencing is the typical drop off of bird activity around this time of year as their young might now have fledged and started to fare for themselves. Naturally they need to forage less and so you they might simply be visiting your garden less. And yes! You should definitely be delighted to be seeing such wonderful behaviour in your own back yard!
If you manage to capture any pictures please do post them to our and maybe we can help to identify your bird of prey once and for all!
Sam :)
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Comment number 4.
At 23rd Jul 2010, Albert_Fegg wrote:Peckham (not Packham), 3.5 miles from the middle of the centre of London. Known in the media for it's knife crime and gang violence.
Not known for the family of kestrels (might be sparrowhawks) nesting in the church at the back of my house.
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Comment number 5.
At 19th Aug 2010, Jables wrote:Thanks for your reply Sam. I did however manage to misplace my login details so I didn't reply sooner. Now i've recovered them :)
Since your reply the bird population that were suing my garden and feeders have slowly returned. It is mostly starlings although I seem to see an unusually high amount of Pidgeons darting around mostly using the large Bird bath I installed during the Summer.
I'm really happy that the birds returned as it makes for an interesting way to relax and watch them in the evenings. It also means my two cats are almost living their whole day time eagerly watching them from the window ledge instead of lazing around my sofas and leaving loads of hairs to clean up!
You were right, it was a Sparrowhawk. I managed to spot it again perching on a low branch way up at the back of the garden. It didn't stay there long enough for me to grab my camera to get a snap but I recognized it as it's tail was quite long and it had a more solid colour to it's wings. Thanks for the links too, it's given me an interest in finding out more about the various birds and animals I have in my garden. Since my last post I've seen Foxes lazing in the sun - which I didn't expect as well as a whle plethora of different birds. There are even various insects and butterflies which I've not seen before, obviously attracted by the specific flower and plants I grew from seed in the Spring. I still can't enjoy it at it's best yet as I am still preparing a vast area to sew a new lawn as I am still busy trying to stay one step ahead of the weeds and masses of overgrowth that never seems to want to go away. Next Summer looks like it could be an interesting one!
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