While it is never easy to know exactly when “our” Ospreys head south, thanks to some very avid observers we are pretty sure when they started their migration this year. Arthur (F12) at his usual territory in Hagneck (photo above) and Olympe (F28) in the Grande Cariçaie were last seen on 6 September, while the last observation of Racine (F29) was on 1 September. Vicky, the immature female that spent the summer in the Three Lakes region where she was visited at least once by each of our males, left earlier (as females tend to do). She was last seen on August 17.

As for our two known breeding females outside of Switzerland, Daniel Schmidt-Rothmund told us that the last photo-trap image of Chronos (ex-PS9) at her nest in Baden-Württemberg was on August 13, and of one of her three young on the 14th. A great surprise was then to discover that one of them (identified by its black ring code) was seen on August 24 in the Ebro Delta in Spain, over 1,100 km away south-west from its place of birth.

From Moselle, Dominique Lorentz reported that Mouche (PR4) was last observed near her nest on 30 August. We were then delighted to learn that Patrick Roux photographed her on September 6, on her way south, in the French Department of Côte-d’Or (Burgundy), about 240 km away from her territory. Both of her young had last been seen together on September 9 near the nest, before the final sighting of one of them on the 10th. With migration still underway and the wintering season coming soon, we of course hope to have more surprises in the next few months.