After Arthur (F12) on March 25, Olympe (F28) on April 1, and Racine (F29) on April 17, we still cannot confirm that Taurus (PS7) has returned to the Three-Lakes region.

Another male that we don’t have news of to date is “cross-border” Flamme (ex-KF6), who has not yet been seen in the Haut-Doubs (nearby France). Let’s hope that Taurus and Flamme didn’t have a problem in their wintering grounds or during migration. If they have moved their territory by a few km (like Flamme did between 2021 and 2022), we may still have more information later this season.

The big news this spring is that at the start of May we had an unringed female join one of our territorial males. She was seen in his company for at least three days (see photo above, the pair in display flight), with him bringing her fish to a nest where we even observed them mating: a first since the beginning of the project! Considering the rather late time of her arrival, it could be her first return from Africa, in which case she would still be too young to breed.  She hasn’t been seen again in the past few days, but may either still be discretely in the region, or else has continued her migration. In any case the excitement of seeing an Osprey pair getting so serious has just been extraordinary.