"Artia" Osprey (P3)
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Biography
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* This bird has been named "Artia" in reference to Gautegiz Arteaga municipality, where the project of ospreys has been carried out and some of its residents are taking part actively in this interesting project. |
Below there are the movements of this bird after her release.
September 20th: "ARTIA" IS DEAD ELECTROCUTED
On September 20th we received disturbing news from the satellite...Artia´s locations were repeating over and over again in the same point so that made us suspect that something was going wrong with her. We were already out of Urdaibai Biosphere reserve in Durango municipality. The signal was coming from the southern slope of the mountain Oiz, we feared the worst...
From this slope goes up an overhead power line which is fed by the Tv and radio antennas located on the top of mountain Oiz. The GPS signal pointed one of the pylons that come down from the top, we got closer and...¡¡there it was!! It was the osprey Artia...dead electrocuted at the bottom of the electric turret. Next to it were the remains of other raptor that was dead electrocuted some days before.
Whenever these birds face their long migratory journey we immediately think on the large geographical barriers that they have to overcome such as sea and desert, but we don´t realized that the birds also have to overcome the difficulties that are caused by human actions, such as overhead power lines, wind turbines or poaching. In this case, Artia had no choice to face the natural migration barriers due to an uninsulated electricity pylon that had been the cause of her death. She was already out of Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve in the very beginning of her long migratory journey.
Head of the turret where Artia was electrocutedlectrocutó "Artia"
Accidents caused by power lines such as collision and electrocution are one of the most important reasons of unnatural death in raptors and other large birds, such as herons or White storks. During the project of reintroduction of the White stork in Urdaibai for instance, we could found that about the 20% of the released birds died by electrocution or by collision with electricity pylons within the Reserve. However, the Basque government Biodiversity executive carried out a modification process in the electrical grid of Urdaibai afterwards, so that at the present the risk for the ospreys and other birds of Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve is very low. Nevertheless, once the ospreys leave the Reserve are subject to the many dangerous points scattered along the flyway. We hope that this unfortunate accident will serve at least to rise awareness of the danger of some overhead power lines to birds and at the same time, to take the necessary measures to minimize then.
We hope the other ospreys will be luckier and will manage to dodge similar death traps that in the case of Artia was covered up as the perfect perching place to have a rest for a while, before she continued her migration way to Africa.
September 19th: URDAIBAI MARSHES
Up to the present Artia osprey is still in Urdaibai. Since she was released on the beginning of August, Artia has not been moving long distance from the marsh area where the recovery project has been carried out, but recently she has been flying further distances from this area, so it is supposed to start her long migration to Africa soon.
Large area of marshes and Holm-oak wood where Artia feeds and spends the night
