Hallo Ferenz!
Heute habe ich beobachtet:
Mama kam ohne Futter.
Das gefiel den beiden aber gar nicht und sie hackten zweimal auf sie ein.
Weg war sie dann.
Die Tiere empfinden wie der Mensch Freude und Schmerz, Glück und Unglück.
Charles Darwin
Both chicks were ringed this morning and they weighed 1,660g and 1,710g. Very heathy weights, so that's 3,370g combined. Who's won the competition? Both girls now have names also, again following the previous protocol of naming our birds after local rivers.
1R - Cerist (second chick 1,660g)
2R - Clarach (first chick 1710g)
Shortly after we left the nest, Monty brought in a lovely sea trout and Cerist and Clarach fed well. More later..
Here's an image of two Dyfi chicks, both taken when they were six weeks old.
Ceulan (2012) is on the left, Clarach on the right. Clarach's eyes seem to be significantly lighter in colour than Ceulan's. Ceulan saw next to no direct sunlight for his first six weeks of life, Clarach has seen nothing but almost.
Have we stumbled upon a bit of a theory here..? Does the amount of sunlight during the first few weeks of life have an effect on osprey eye colour?
Are Monty's darker eyes a result of lower than average sunlight when he was young? We may never know as we don't know when he was born. But we do know when the only other dark eyed osprey we know of, Henry, was. He hatched on the Black Isle, Scotland in early June, 1998. It would be interesting to find out if June 1998 on the Black Isle had a particularly miserable weather pattern with less than average daily sunlight. Paul Wildlifewriter, can you help?
This could all be coincidence of course and have no scientific connection whatsoever. Hmm..
The main Helicopter event is due to start soon and will run throughout the weekend.
However, the current heavy rain is with us until tomorrow and we may incur some flight delays at Dyfi International Airport until the weather improves. Runway operations are suspended until the excess water has drained and all mullet consumed.