I’m reading Alan Stewart’s Prelude to Murder. If I hadn’t been so tired, it might have been a book I’d consumed in one long binge read. The combination of a murder and wildlife atrocities – and the people who commit these – boggles my mind. Aberfeldy is the setting, and it is very close to where I would go and fly hawks when I stayed in Scotland at Hospitalfield on an artist’s residency. Stewart also wrote other books on raptor persecution, including The Peregrine Thief, which is excellent.
A handful of ospreys were still hanging about. Cowlitz’s dad is still feeding a chick. Many are concerned or curious about why these two are so late leaving for their migration. It is good to remember that ospreys migrate because their food source is diminished. With climate change and habitat loss, ospreys may begin to stay longer in specific northern regions where fish are plentiful, and the weather is changing. We continue to have ospreys in Manitoba, for example. The geese are now beginning to fly low in the mornings to find grassy areas and fields to forage. In the evenings, I can hear the honking, and they look for a safe place on the water for the night. (They can sleep in the water and not worry about predators!)
Here are some articles on osprey migration that might be of an interest to you:
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care of yourselves and happy autumn!
Thank you to everyone who wrote about osprey migration, for those who posted on FB with information, we are always grateful, and to the owners of the streaming cams, we are so thankful to you for allowing us to watch these families. I am always grateful to Hawk Mountain for their great counters!
I went to the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar in 1990 and received my PhD from the University of Leicester in 1993. After three decades of university teaching, I retired to devote my time to the study of raptor behaviour. I am particularly interested in Ospreys and am working on a long term project on third hatch survival and siblicide in these raptors. My blog is a result of a fascination with my local wildlife and the desire to encourage others to love and care for birds! I live on the Canadian Prairies and prior to the pandemic travelled a lot. I am questioning the use of aviation fuel at the moment as we all strive to help our planet. My early research was in politics and art including British public statues exported to Southeast Asia and Vietnam Resistors that contributed much to Canadian ceramics. Books and articles were published on those subjects over a period of 3 decades. Now I am working on books for children so they can learn about the challenges our raptors face.
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