An osprey fitted with a tracking device on its back. Photo: Manon AmiguetA juvenile osprey fitted with a satellite tracking device is presumed to have been shot illegally in Delimara after going missing since the end of last month, Birdlife Malta said yesterday.
The osprey came from the most important breeding population of these birds in the Mediterranean in the north of Corsica, where it was ringed as a chick on its nest at Cape Corse on July 2. The bird had been fitted with a tracking device as part of a scientific project.
Over the last week, Birdlife ornithologists have been helping researchers from the project to reconstruct what happened to the young bird using data downloaded from the tracking device via the Global Position System (GPS) satellites.
The GPS track shows the osprey flew south after leaving Sicily, arriving at the Malta Freeport area on August 24, where it roosted overnight possibly on top of a ship or a crane.
The next morning, the bird left its roost just before 7am, heading north in the direction of Delimara. Shortly afterwards the signal from the tracking device was lost. The bird’s body temperature at the time of last signal indicated it was alive.
Birdlife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara said Delimara was a notorious spot for illegal hunting, with numerous reports every year of protected birds, including ospreys, being shot from the peninsula or from boats close to the coast.
The NGO said that on the very first day of the hunting season, witnesses reported another osprey being killed close to Dingli Cliffs as it perched on a telegraph pole just after dark.
A total of 17 Mediterranean ospreys were tagged this year as part of the study, which involves several conservation managers and researchers in different countries in the region.