Western Osprey, a recovery project in Urdaibai

The Governing Board of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve has recently given its approval to the project of reinforcement and recovery of the Western Osprey, that the Urdaibai Bird Center in collaboration with the Department of Environment of the Regional Government of Bizkaia will carry out next years. The Western Osprey is a flag species, that is, it is such a spectacular and celebrity species that can be used as an icon to encourage the conservation of the habitat and at the same time, the conservation of other species much less attractive or popular. The aim of this project is the creation of a breeding population in Urdaibai that in the medium and long term spreads to many other wetlands in the north of Iberian Peninsula. However, this recovery process is also expected to be a tool for the conservation, environmental education and ecotourism, especially encouraging the image of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.

A nestling of Osprey for translocation (left) and a specimen in passing in Urdaibai (right)

The technique used is the hacking or wild breeding, which basically involves the translocation of nestling Ospreys extracted of a donor population, their transport to Urdaibai and their release after a brief stay in artificial platforms. The specimens come from Scotland and/or Finland, countries that have already shown their disposal to give specimens, since they have very healthy populations of Western Osprey.
 

Pertti Saurola in Urdaibai

To finalize details, the Finnish Professor Perrti Saurola has visited the Urdaibai Bird Center few days ago. He is one of the most renowned experts on the study and conservation of this bird of prey in Europe; he is as well an expert in Tawny and Ural Owls. The Professor Saurola has ringed thousands of Ospreys along his life and he still continues marking specimens. In 1971 he started a project called Pandion aimed to study the monitoring of the Osprey in Finland, where nowadays are 1300 nesting pairs. He has also taught Biology at the University of Helsinki and he has been Director of the Finnish Ringing Centre (1974-2001), as well as President of EURING, the European Union for Bird Ringing (1981-1995). Currently retired, he continuous his ornithological studies as emeritus researcher in the Finnish Museum of Natural History. He is, together with the British naturalist Roy Dennis, one of our consultants for the recovery project of the Osprey.