Latest technologies used for osprey monitoring

03.10.2017 08:10

zivjerglis

The JSC “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) environmental expert Aigars Kalvāns together with colleagues carried out monitoring of ospreys in the territory of Latvia. This year 171 nests were checked from which 80 have been active. Experts made their observations not only by climbing the trees themselves, but also using the latest technologies.

During the bird monitoring young ospreys are counted, weighed and ringed. The obtained data is necessary to evaluate the successfulness of nesting. Each year we find also nests that ospreys have built in dead trees.

“It is dangerous to climb on dead trees and it is difficult to identify nesting success from ground. In such cases the latest technologies – drones – come in handy. In this year's July, in the East Vidzeme region, the population in three nests was checked with the help of a drone,” says LVM expert.

In Latvia ospreys choose to build their nest in tree tops from where they have good visibility on the surroundings. However, if the nest is built on a dead tree, during strong wind the nest and the tree can fall down. In such cases the hatch dies and osprey couple can leave the territory if they can’t find another tree that is suitable for nesting.

During the nest check with the help of a drone in East Vidzeme region two of the three nests were successful. “In one of the nests two younglings could be seen, but in other – three. The checking of these nests was performed by the forestry expert Toms Dandens and environmental planning expert of LVM Kaspars Liepiņš” says A. Kalvāns.

The osprey monitoring in Latvia began in the 80s when approximately 100 pairs stayed in the territory of Latvia. Monitoring was stopped in the mid 90s, but resumed only in 2007. At the moment more than 200 bird pairs have built their nests in Latvia. The data of monitoring shows that bird population in this period has more than doubled.