Catch-up with the Three Dyfi Chicks

Three Bobs going strong

Another week has passed and our three growing osplets are showing no signs of slowing down. Monty is regularly catching around four fish per day, and all the chicks are eating as much as they can.

Let's talk about the weather (how very British!) 

We have had some very warm weather on the Dyfi over the past week, with temperatures consistently reaching the high twenties, if not more! As their feathers start to fill out, the chicks are becoming increasingly efficient at regulating and maintaining their own body temperatures, significantly reducing the chances of them over-heating in this weather. You may have also noticed the chicks looking as though they are panting.

In birds, this is called ‘gular fluttering’.

By exposing their gular region (Gula - Latin for 'of the throat') to any breeze that might be around they increase evaporation, which in turn will lead to a slight loss of body heat. This works on the same principle as sweating in humans, and panting in dogs.

Despite 45°C (113°F) temperatures in the DOP office today, all three chicks were coping better than we were, particularly as they had a stiff sea breeze to help them cool down.

We used ice-creams instead.

You’ve got a little something on your beak…

Ever wondered about the small, white dot on the end of each chick’s beak? It is called an ‘egg tooth’ and is made of a special type of keratin. Though it is technically the same material as the rest of the beak, it has a very specific function.

A young osprey pecks at the eggshell while turning slowly within the egg, creating a series of small circular fractures visible from the outside. Once it has breached the egg's surface, the unhatched chick continues to chip at it until it has made a large hole. The weakened shell eventually shatters under the pressure of the bird's movements, allowing the chick to break out.

Once hatched, the egg tooth is surplus to requirements, and in another week or so it will be reabsorbed by the growing beak and will be completely gone.

FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!

Those watching the Live Stream will have seen several fights breaking out on the nest over the last couple of weeks. Though these fights can seem vicious, they are completely normal, and siblicide (death from sibling fighting) is very rare in ospreys. 

Bobby Bach takes a swing, then sensibly leaves his older siblings to it! 

Chick aggression is usually the result of a food shortage, with the strongest, and often oldest, chick(s) winning the fight for fish and ultimately outcompeting the weak; a selection pressure which is more commonly seen in larger broods. There is currently no shortage of food on the Dyfi, and so aside from the odd battle scar, our three Bobs should be absolutely fine.

Ringing

The chicks are now 31, 30, and 26 days old, meaning that we are fast approaching the window of opportunity to ring them. Sometime next week the Live Streaming will go off for an hour or so and the chicks will be ringed, allowing us to finally determine their genders.

With predictions already being made by volunteers, visitors and staff as to who is male and who is female, we once again begin the unenviable task of choosing names, honouring the tradition of using only those given to Welsh rivers and lakes.

IMPORTANT NEWS

The Roy Dennis Foundation has released information about a brand new and extremely exciting Osprey Translocation Project at Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. Find out more about it here.

We wish Roy, Tim and all the stakeholders every success.

If it wasn't for the original Rutland Translocation Project set up in the mid 90s, arguably we would have no ospreys breeding in Wales today. That's how important the above Poole project will be to the continued re-population of ospreys in England and the south coast.

Ochre 11(98) - one of two Rutland translocated ospreys that returned to the UK and successfully bred in Wales