09 and AW settled at their winter homes
09′s latest data is in and it shows that, as we suspected, he has settled on the Senegal coast south of St Louis. So despite the fact that his territory in Rutland is just a few kilometres from AW’s, they are wintering 600km apart! Both birds have been making one or two short flights out to sea to fish each day before returning to their favourite perches just inland. Their routine is unlikely to change for the rest of the winter!
09 and AW's wintering sites in West Africa
I’ll provide a more comprehensive update of both birds’ recent movements next week, but in the meantime I’m off to run the Berlin marathon in order to raise money for our Gambia wildlife education project. Huge thanks to everyone who has sponsored me so far – through your generosity I’ve raised almost £3000. If you haven’t donated yet and would like to contribute to what we at Rutland Water feel is a very worthwhile cause, please check out my online fundarising page.
AW at his winter home
The latest data from AW’s radio proves that he has reached his winter home. Having roosted in the mangroves 500m from the shoreline on Friday evening, the GPS position at 8am showed him fishing just over 3km out to sea. An hour later he was back in the mangroves, presumably eating the fish.
Like most adult Ospreys at their established wintering site, AW will probably spend the winter in a very small area – using the same perches each day. It will be really interesting to follow his daily routine over the coming months.
AW fishing 3km out to sea
AW has made it to Guinea – and probably his winter home
Just after 3pm yesterday AW arrived on the Guinea coast 75 kilometres south of the border with Guinea-Bissau. On every other day of his fourteen day migration to West Africa he has flown until early evening, but yesterday was different. He spent the rest of the afternoon in a small area of mangroves, making one short flight to fish. It looks like he has reached his winter home.
Earlier in the morning AW hadn’t left his roost site until after 9am. He was fishing in the River Corubal at 7am and then must have spent a couple of hours eating it. He obviously knew that there was no need to rush.
By 10am he was heading south at 17kph and he crossed the border into Guinea just after 11am. At this point he switched to a south-easterly heading and this took him to the coast. He arrived just after 3pm after a day’s flight of just under 200km.
AW's flight, 9th September
If AW has reached his wintering site, then it has taken him just 14 days to get there; surely one of the fastest Osprey migrations recorded anywhere in the world? He covered 5274km (3277 miles) on his two week journey, an average of 376km a day. What an incredible migration.
AW's migration to Guinea - 27th August-9th September
AW reaches Guinea-Bissau, now how much further?
As we suspected, AW continued south through Senegal yesterday; skirting the eastern border of Gambia, and eventually roosting next to the River Corubal close to the Guinea-Bissau-Guinea border.
Having roosted in central Senegal AW set off again just before 9am and flew 150 kilometres south-west towards Tambacounda, the largest city in eastern Senegal. He skirted around the city at 2pm and turned slightly south-east, passing over the very eastern tip of Gambia. He continued on this course until 6pm when he turned south west as he crossed the border from Senegal into Guinea-Bissau. He continued for another 68km before stopping beside the River Corubal as dusk was falling at around 7:30pm after a day’s flight of just over 350km.
AW's flight, 8th September
The River Corubal is 150 metres wide and bordered by mangroves; typical over-wintering habitat for Ospreys in West Africa. On our trip to West Africa last winter myself and the team from Rutland Water saw numerous Ospreys perched in this sort of habitat. The resolution on the Google Earth images for this part of Guinea-Bissau isn’t good, but AW’s position at 9pm suggest that he roosted on an island in the river.
It is not inconceivable that AW has reached his winter home but the fact that he was flying right up until dark suggests thast he may well continue further south tomorrow. If he does then he could be in southern Guinea or perhaps even Sierra Leone by tomorrow evening!
AW's roost, 8th September
AW in central Senegal
He’s done it! It is just 11 days since AW left his nest close to Rutland Water, but he has already crossed the Sahara and reached Senegal. At 9pm last night he was in Reserve de Faune du Ferlo-Nord an extremely remote part of central Senegal, 112 miles miles west of the town of Touba.
The previous batch of data had shown that AW was in southern Mauritania at 5pm on Tuesday evening and the latest GPS fixes show that he continued heading south for another 54 kilometres before eventually settling to roost 15km north of Lake Aleg, before 7pm. He was now just 82 kilometres from the Senegal border. According to the Birdlife website “Lake Aleg is a closed depression in an old course of the Senegal river fed by rainwater run-off. The lake is endorheic and semi-permanent and typically varies in depth from 1–2 m at the end of the dry season to a maximum of 3–4 m at the end of the rains.” In winter it is home to more than 50,000 Garganey, who like AW will cross the Sahara from northern Europe. Despite being so close to the most significant piece of water he would have seen for days, the satellite data suggests that AW did not fish in the lake that evening. Perhaps he was just too tired? In fact he was now starting to show some signs of fatigue – his day’s flight of 330km was 100km less than the distance he covered during the previous two days. He had every reason to be tired - he had now crossed the Sahara and had covered an incredible 2400km since Saturday morning.
AW's roost at Lake Aleg, 6th September
Next morning AW was migrating again by 9am, heading south east at 27kph. Like the previous evening there is no data to suggest that he visited the lake to go fishing, but the gap in data means that we can’t rule it out. AW made steady progress south east during the morning and by midday he had covered 90km. At this point he made a very obvious change of direction – shifting his course to south west.
At 2pm he was flying over the Senegal River, but once again the data suggested that he didn’t stop to fish. He was flying at an altitude of 260m and an hour later was another 28km further on.
AW over the Senegal River
He covered another 50km on the same south-westerly course but at 5pm changed direction again, this time heading south east. By 9pm he was at roost 40km further on having completed a day’s flight of 269km. This final change of direction is very interesting and suggests that rather than heading to Gambia and Senegal, AW may be on his way further south – perhaps to Guinea-Bissau? Although he made a couple of deviations during the day, his roost site was almost due south of his position the previous night.
Irrespective of exactly where his wintering site is, if he continues at his current rate, the chances are that AW will be there by Saturday. If this is the case he will have reached his winter home in just two weeks. Truly remarkable!
AW's flight on 7th September
AW has Senegal in his sights
We already know that Ospreys are master migrators, but AW’s latest data demonstrates it once again. At 5pm this evening he was just 80 miles north of the Senegal border. This means he has just about crossed the Sahara in three days!
The last batch of data had shown that AW had crossed into Mauritania at around 2pm on Sunday afternoon. He had already flown more than 250km since leaving his roost site and he was cleary determined to get across the desert as quickly as possible. The position at 2pm showed that he was flying SW at 23kph and he continued to make steady progress all afternoon. By the time he settled to roost at 7pm he had flown another 277 kilometres, stopping just east of the border with Western Sahara. Like the previous evening he would have roosted on the desert floor. When John, Paul and myself were in northern Senegal last winter we saw an Osprey perched on the ground in a sandstorm. It was a truly evocative sight and looking at Google Earth now I can imagine exactly what AW must have looked like perched in the vast wilds of the Sahara on Saturday evening.
Male Osprey perched at Djoudj, January 2011
A gap in the data means we don’t know what time AW left his roost site but by midday he was 122km further on, heading south west at 46kph. He maintained a remarkably consistent course during the afternoon and eventually settled to roost before 7pm after covering 270 kilometres. There are some truly incredible land forms in the desert and AW’s Sunday night roost site demonstates that. He roosted in a valley surrounded by rocky hills rising to 1500 feet. Perhaps he was sheltered from the desert winds down in the valley? He was just 10km west of the village of Terjit - without doubt one of the most isolated places of human habitation on the planet!
AW's roost in the valley floor, 5th September
Next morning AW had moved 14km further south and he recommenced his migration just before 9am. He made slower progress than the previous day, but by 3pm he had covered another 200km. He flew a further 75 kilometres in the next two hours, still heading south west. The last position in this batch of data showed him flying south west at 24kph. He was now just 130 kilometres from the Senegal border, and more importantly, the Senegal River. There is every chance that as I write he will be perched close to the vast river, perhaps eating his first fish for at least three days.
AW has flown a remarkable 2050km across the Sahara since 8am on Saturday morning. I wonder how much further south he will go? The latest data will be on Google Earth by tomorrow morning, in the meantime, here is a map of AW’s incredible flight since Saturday.
AW's flight across the Sahara 3rd-6th September
Finally, here are some photos that John took from the plane windown as we flew over the Sahara en route to West Africa last winter. They really do demonstrate what a desolate, barren place it is.
AW reaches Mauritania
By 2pm yesterday afternoon AW had reached Mauritania. Having left his overnight roost in the northern Sahara just before 9am he made excellent progress south west, maintaining average speeds of around 50kph at altitudes of around 300 feet. He is now flying across one of the most remote, inhospitable places on the planet and will be attempting to cross as fast as possible. The sheer size of the Sahara is put into perspective when you consider that he is still 1000km north of Senegal. AW’s flight south though shows that he knows exactly what he is doing and it is not inconceivable that he will have crossed the desert by tomorrow evening.
We’ll update you as soon as we have more news and will add the points to Google Earth once the full data set is in.
AW's flight south west across the Sahara 4/9
An epic flight round the Atlas and into the desert
AW was at his roost 30km west of Malaga (and just 50m from the A357) at 8pm on Thursday evening but by 6am next morning he was off again, flying SSW at 22kph. This was probably a fishing trip because at 7am he was perched in trees next to the Rio Grande, 10km SW of his roost site. He was still there at 8am, suggesting he was probably eating a fish.
He set off again just before 9am and headed south, flying out to sea a few kilometres east of Marbella. Whereas most birds of prey head to Gibraltar where just a few kilometres of sea seperate Europe from Africa, Ospreys will readily make much longer sea crossings, and that’s exactly what AW chose to do. Over the course of the next three hours he flew 120 kilometres across the Mediterranean to Morocco, making landfall just north of the small town of Oued Laou. He flew low across the waves – the three GPS fixes for the crossing show him flying between 11 and 16 metres above the sea.
AW's flight across the Med, 2nd September
Having reached Africa, AW continued SSW and four hours later he was 125km further on flying SW at 19kph. He was still going an hour later, but by 8pm he was perched in an arable area, perhaps a ploughed field, 5km west of Meknes. He had flown 325km since 9am.
At 7am next morning he was perched in a plantation 4km to the south but by 8am he was migrating again, flying south west at 18kph at an altitude of just over 100m. He made good progress and by 3pm he had already flown 285km.
This is AW’s fifth autumn migration and his experience was obvious over the next few hours. As AW approached Marrakech the Atlas Mountains would have dominated the horizon. This vast mountain range rises to heights of more than 4000m and presents a very obvious barrier to migrating birds. Rather than flying through the mountains AW made a very definite change of direction, heading on a much more westerly course along the northern edge of the mountains. He flew 250km in five hours and by 8pm he was just 10km from the coast at Agadir having flown around the mountains. Click on the image below to see how AW avoided the high mountains.
AW avoiding the Atlas, 3rd September
Having flown round the Atlas, AW wasn’t stopping there. At 9pm he was another 65km south, flying at 35kph. It would now have been dark, but that didn’t stop this master migrator. Based on the speed he was flying at 9pm he probably carried on migrating until around 2am, because by the time we received the next data point, at 7am this morning, he was another 190km further south! He had finally stopped in an area of desert and was resting on the ground having flown an incredible 820 kilometres since 7am the previous day.
AW was perched 4km further south at 8am but an hour later he had resumed migration again, heading south west at 29kph. It is clear that now AW has reached the Sahara he will attempt to cross it as quickly as possible. It will be very interesting to see where he is when the next set of data comes in. I can’t wait!
- AW’s flight through Morocco
1st September – Approaching Africa
AW was still at his overnight roost at 8am but must have resumed his migration soon afterwards because an hour later he was 13km south, heading SW at 28kph. He continued flying south west for a further two hours at an average speed of 17kph. At 11am he turned more SSE in order to avoid the Sierra Morena Mountains which he could probably see on the horizon.
AW continued on this southerly course as he headed into Andalucía, maintaining an average speed of 25kph for much of the afternoon. At 5pm he was 25km NW of Malaga still flying strongly south at 20kph, but he didn’t go much further; at 6pm he was perched beside a river 16km to the south and he remained there for the rest of the evening. He was now just 125km from the Moroccan coast, having flown 250km during the course of the day. It will be really interesting to see whether he heads south west to Gibraltar and makes the short 14km flight across the Straits, or a more direct, but longer, flight across the sea to North Africa. The forecast for southern Spain today is light SW winds and sunny spells so there is every chance that he will be in Africa by this evening.
AW's flight on 1st September
30th August – AW continues south through Spain
After four days in which he covered about 1600km, AW slowed slightly on Wednesday as he made a more leisurely progress south from Madrid. At 6am he was perched in fields a few kilometres from his overnight roost close to the Rio Torote and by 8am he had moved slightly further along the valley – perhaps having caught an early morning fish. The rest of the morning’s data isn’t in yet, but by midday he was 40km south of the city, flying SW at 36kph at an altitude of 146 metres. He continued in a similar vein during the afternoon, passing to the east of Toledo and continuing SSW.
By 6pm AW was another one hundred or so kilometres further south and appeared to be fishing a small lake to the west of Ciud Real. He probably caught a fish because an hour later he was perched a few hundred metres to the west. By 8pm he had moved again, this time to a belt of trees another 2km SW, where he almost certainly would have roosted.
AW is now 350 kilometres north of Gibraltar. It is not inconceivable that he could reach Morocco by this evening, but it seems much more likely that he will cross the Mediterranean tomorrow. Thundery showers are forecast for Andalucia today and so that may slow his progress south.
