GPS-tagged Osprey goes missing

A juvenile Mediterranean Osprey fitted with a satellite tracking device in Corsica as part of a project studying the dispersal and migratory movements of these protected birds of prey has gone missing after arriving in Malta at the end of August, Birdlife said. Over the last week, BirdLife Malta 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 used to “communicate” with the bird. The sophisticated tracking devices used in this study not only allow researchers to see where the bird is, they also measure and record physiological data such as body temperature, giving a much more detailed picture of the bird’s behaviour and physical condition. The GPS track shows that the Osprey flew south after leaving Sicily, arriving in the Malta Freeport area in the south of the island in the afternoon on August 24. 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 after which the signal from the tracking device was lost. The...