Rutland Ospreys, England, Highland Foundation for Wildlife, Scotland, Sääksisäätiö and the Finnish Museum of Natural History, Finland. The birds will follow the sun, stars, and coastline of North American to the tip of Florida, then cross the Straits of Florida to Cuba before heading east to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Find out more about the partnership, © The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England and Wales no. Osprey Migration Map The Foundation coordinates the colour ringing of ospreys in the UK. One of the most amazing aspects of fall migration for ospreys is that young ospreys are entirely on their own. This map shows the location of notable sightings of colour-ringed birds. Adult ospreys nurture their offspring until the young are able to feed themselves, but then their role as parents is complete. The young can fly about 50 days after hatching, but they depend on their parents for another month or so. Please consider making a donation to help fund our many citizen-science and educational programs. During fall migration, many people would like to think all juvenile birds grow up in a family that lives together and migrates together, like Canada geese, but this isn't always true. After making the return journey from their wintering grounds in Africa, ospreys start to arrive back in the UK from late March onwards. The long wings are angled, bending at the 'wrist' which has a black patch. Of course there is still more work to be done to clean up local waters and restore habitat for this beautiful fish hawk to endure. By early September, most if not all resident osprey parents will have departed the nest and surrounding area, migrating to the Southern Hemisphere well before their offspring. Find out how to identify a bird just from the sound of its singing with our bird song identifier playlist. Please visit these research websites for additional information on tracking osprey. If you can’t get outside, why not bring the outside in by downloading our bird song radio app? Ospreys who do not migrate save vast amounts of energy and can focus on foraging, nest building, and raising their young. Following the floods this winter, watch how one area is using nature as a natural protector. See our toolkit for ways to campaign with us to protect nature and save wildlife. Ospreys travel by day, using thermals to gain height over land. MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Find out more about the nature and wildlife outside your window. With osprey nesting in the spring and summer, you may catch a glimpse of our pair! Scientists who satellite-tracked ospreys from Sweden found that some reached Africa through Spain, others crossed the central Mediterranean via Italy and one went east via the Red Sea. Migration is still a mystery. As the famous English rock singer-songwriter Nick Lowe declares in his song, Born a Women, “Cause if you're born a woman, you're born to be hurt,” and that’s true even for female ospreys. Each bird travels alone and follows its own route. But Father osprey is not done yet with caring for his young. Center for Conservation Biology & the Virginia Aquarium, Virginia, USA, Project OspreyTrack. Alan Poole, one of the worlds great experts on ospreys, shares with us in his book entitled, Ospreys: The Revival of a Global Raptor (2019) that adult female ospreys lose “at least 10% - 15% of their body mass during the nesting period…it seems likely that the female parents are hungry much of the time they are raising young, especially as the young get older and take more food.” It also seems that their mate or the father loses much less body mass, usually taking a good chunk of each fish for himself. Instinct almost certainly plays a big role.