The Tweed area felt the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Alfred recently. On the coastal fringe the wind blew with increasing intensity from Monday to Saturday. Then for the week following the Tweed River, inlets and coastal waters surrounding the river mouth turned a brown colour from the flooding. At the same time there were a range of river hazards including fast flowing water and semi submerged logs. While Ospreys are expert fishers, between the high winds and water conditions, catching food would have been very difficult to impossible. After all, the birds needed to account for varying high gusting wind, and deal with low to no visibility beneath the water. If they somehow managed to catch a fish, they would have needed to lift off from fast moving water with various floating hazards moving at speed. It is likely that the Ospreys of the Tweed had a hungry fortnight.
We are now moving into Osprey breeding season. It is hard to say if the conditions created by the cyclone will have an adverse impact on the success of young Osprey getting through to fledgling. However, having to spend a lot of energy getting blown about by the cyclone and likely going without food for an extended period suggests that the parents may not be at optimal nutrition for breeding. But it is hard to really know. Nevertheless, regardless of the success or otherwise of the approaching breeding season, I find myself constantly in awe of these birds. They had to weather high winds, rain and flooding for days with little shelter and food. They are resilient. They are tough. And if I am totally honest, I would not do anywhere near as well in such conditions.
I checked on three nests near me in the days following an improvement in the weather. One nest was half missing with an Osprey at the cradle and another nest looked relatively undamaged, again with an Osprey present. The third nest was gone with only an empty cradle remaining. I have visited this site three times and am yet to see an Osprey at the cradle. Hopefully in the coming weeks the resident Ospreys will return and build a new nest. Using that old expression – I guess time will tell…
