May 20, 2005
Egg Collecting
Awhile back we mentioned on the cam page that osprey eggs are highly regarded for their wide color variations. Noted ornithologist Arthur Cleveland Bent called osprey eggs “the handsomest of all the hawks’ eggs.”
Unfortunately Bent wasn't the only one who thought this, as through the years osprey nests have often been the target of egg collectors and egg thieves. This has mainly been a problem in the United Kingdom, where it was the fashion in Victorian days to collect eggs both as a hobby and as a form of nature study.
Eventually egg collecting got so out of hand that by 1916, ospreys were completely exterminated from the UK. After a 40-year absence, ospreys slowly started reappearing in Scotland in the 1950s, but collectors still continued to target the eggs to the point that between 1954 and 1990, 9.3% of osprey clutches were illegally taken in that country.
Authorities estimate that today there are over 300 hard-core collectors still operating in the United Kingdom -- people who get nothing but eggs and the thrill of the theft from their efforts, since the act is considered a crime and the eggs cannot be legally sold for profit. Thieves usually take the whole clutch and will take eggs at any stage of development, although freshly laid eggs are a favorite because it is easier to "blow" out the contents of the egg, which rot when left inside the shell.
Sometimes when an osprey nest is discovered in the UK, conservationists and wildlife authorities have to work mighty hard to keep the birds and their eggs safe -- even to the point of keeping the nest location a secret or surrounding the nests with barbed-wire and posting guards to keep the thieves at bay. (Read about an incident last year at a famous osprey nest in England).
Fortunately, all the hard work is paying off. Scotland's osprey population has grown to over 130 pairs, and hacking and natural migration is helping to reestablish the population in England.
Two locations in the UK -- that were among the first places where ospreys began their revival-- now have online Osprey Cams. Both Loch Garten in Scotland and the Lake District in England have great websites and live cams that follow the saga of their ospreys. Also, the Rutland ospreys in central England have a website following their activities, and the folks there have used satellite tracking to learn more about the migration habits of European ospreys.
We take our hats off to the determined people of the UK who have put up a noble fight to keep the raptors safe and to let the osprey parents do what they were meant to do -- raise little ospreys.
Until next time,
Lisa - webmaster