Friday 13 May 2011

Day 5 - Can Ospreys swim?

Some good birds turned up today - the rarity factor was certainly provided by several Parrot Crossbill in the Skye of Curr area. They were quite flighty and certainly not photogenic!

Avielochan provided Slavonian Grebe again and in an attempt to answer the above burning question, an Osprey dropped in! Despite the poor light, the record shots obtained tell a little story.......

A few circles before fishing revealed it was bearing a blue ring!










Heavy cropping (and with the eye of faith) I think the letters are XD. The rings are read from the feet upwards








This Loch is stocked with large Trout for fishing and one of the 'monsters' was too prove a bit too much for the Osprey! Whilst Front Crawl or Backstroke may be out of the question, treading water whilst clinging onto a large Trout is definitely an option! It seemed to be in the water struggling for well over a minute!








You can just about see the head of the Trout in the fist picture below but whether the size or just distraction from the Gulls was too much - the catch was dropped :-(








Once clear of the water, the local Gulls continued to give the Osprey a hard time!











He/She flew off, smaller fish and less aggro from the locals would prove to be an easier option.......