Both our young Ospreys have continued their well earned rests and have remained in their chosen wintering areas, only doing short flights and fishing nearby.

Blue 44 seems to be spending a little more time, especially in the evenings, to the north of his main haunt of Etang blanc on a smaller loch called Etang d’Hardy which looks like this:

 

 

Interestingly this is the loch visited by RSPB Loch Gartens’ satellite tacked bird “Rothes” in late June 2011 on her way north for the first time

Blue YD has also remained on the Senegal river, north of Ouande, doing small looping flights into surrounding arid lands, and roosting for several nights in a row in the same place to the east of the river – perhaps the only trees for a long distance?

I thought it was a good time to compare our two birds journeys for you ( special thanks to our volunteer Louise for doing the number crunching).

Overall migration distance (so far):

Blue 44: 1592.35 km (To Etange Blanc, not including day trip to Spanish Border)

 Blue YD: 5182.6 km ( ToSenegal border)

 Average flight distance per day:

Blue 44: 227.5 km

 Blue Yd: 288km

 Longest Flight in a Day:

Blue 44 :    On the 13^th September : 373km

 

Blue Yd:     On the 12^th September : 1004 km

 Although Blue YD has flown more than three times the distance of Blue 44, it remains to be seen whether either bird has ‘finished’ its journey, or will yet move on. Who has made the wisest migration decisions will also only be clear when we see how they both fare over the winter.