Let the ospreys fly, Finnish expert pleads

Pertii Saurola rests his bearded face on his hands and in a gentle voice says: "If only Maltese hunters knew what effort we make to help ospreys breed in Scandinavia they would just enjoy watching them fly past instead of raising their guns to shoot them".

Prof. Saurola has been studying ospreys in Finland for about 60 years and his studies have ensured their survival.

The osprey is one of the largest fish-eating birds of prey breeding in Europe and, each autumn, the birds leave their grounds and embark on a voyage that takes them to south or east Africa, some 12,500 kilometres away.

Ospreys are faithful to their native place and return to the same area every year. They usually breed for the first time at the age of three, after crossing from Europe to Africa six times. Osprey couples stay together all their life.

Prof. Saurola's studies showed that the number of breeding ospreys could be increased by providing more nesting sites.

"We realised that, as old tall trees were being felled for wood, ospreys were losing their breeding sites. There were other problems too, such as environmental pollutants. But the major issue was the loss of breeding sites. So we started erecting pylons on which we built the basis of an osprey nest. And, soon enough, ospreys started using these platforms and building their nests, using them ever since," he said.

"Today, nearly half of the known Finnish osprey pairs nest in artificial sites. Thanks to this initiative, which entails a lot of effort and costs a lot of money, the Finnish osprey population has been favourable, the average breeding success has been good and the population has increased slightly year by year," he said.

There are now about 1,000 breeding pairs of ospreys in Finland, from which a chick to two are raised every year.

Bird ringers from the Finnish ringing station have targeted the osprey for a special monitoring programme and almost all osprey nest sites are reported to the Zoological Museum.

"Ringers are responsible for nests in their areas of study and some 90 per cent of nests are checked on a yearly basis. In 2005, 1,541 nest sites were checked and 923 territories proved to be occupied.

"In addition to checking nest sites and ringing nestlings, ringers have made observations on fishing grounds and prey fish. Ringers have also collected unhatched eggs and dead nestlings found in the nests for toxicology analyses," he added. But the initiatives have not stopped with encouraging them to breed.

A friend of Prof. Saurola, Juhani Koivu, set up the Osprey Foundation and managed to buy a fish farm called Pohtiolampi, which was turned into an angling ground for salmon and a feeding place for ospreys.

A pool has been provided for the ospreys, where they can hunt their prey without disturbing the work at the fish farm. The sandy shallow pool enables the birds to find their prey more easily and an abundance of fish of the right size ensures ospreys have the supply they need.

Ospreys prefer fish ranging in size between 20 to 35 centimetres, weighing between 150 and 350 grammes. From specially-built hides, ospreys can be photographed and admired at close range and it is not unusual to see ospreys catch two fish in one dive, one in each foot.

Ospreys usually fly to the pool from a radius of 20 kilometres but some are known to come from a radius of 40 kilometres.

Migration and wintering of Finnish ospreys have also been mapped with the help of satellite tracking. A research project began in summer of 2001 by the Finnish Osprey Foundation and the Finnish Museum of Natural History.

"The goal of the project is to complement the mapping of the migration and wintering of Finnish ospreys with the help of satellite tracking. Thus, we can get exact information on such things as migration speed and resting and refuelling sites, about which mere ring recoveries tell us very little," Prof. Saurola said.

Ringing data from the Finnish Museum of Natural History shows that a significant number of Finnish-ringed ospreys have been recovered in Malta. Out of the 45 Ospreys reported with rings from Malta, close to 98 per cent come from Finland and Sweden and over 70 per cent are shot in Malta on their first flight south.

"I wish Maltese hunters would be able to come and see the work we do here and the pains people go through to protect these birds. I am sure they would have second thoughts before shooting them," Prof. Saurola said.

Ospreys are strictly protected species in Malta and several are recorded both in spring, when it can be seen from March to April, as well as in autumn, when it is more common. The first sighting this year was made on August 22 at Salina.