Inês SequeiraAn osprey male found injured in Murraceira islet, near Figueira da Foz (on the Portuguese coat, North of Lisbon), has been treated for three weeks in a rescue centre. Now he has to hurry and fly back to Germany, where other males are already courting his female companion.
This bird of prey (Pandion haliaetus) spends the winter in Portugal and nests in Germany. Yesterday, this male was released in nature after three weeks recovering at CERVAS (Centre of Ecology, Recovering and Surveillance of Wildlife), in Gouveia. He had “an extensive bruise on his left wing and a injury in one of his paws”, told us Ricardo Brandão, a veterinary and director of CERVAS.
“These lesions were consistent with an electrocution”, he added.
During the recovery process, CERVAS team treated all of the bird’s injuries and did some flying and muscular training. “We had to work as fast as we could, to allow this bird to fly back to his nesting place, back to the female.”
This adult osprey had a ring by German ornithologists and has been followed since 2009. They know that during autumn and winter the bird is in the area between Figueira da Foz and Montemor-o-Velho, in Portugal. When spring arrives, he flies back to Germany, where he joins the pair’s female for the breeding season.
This year, there’s a delay on his journey. “There are already some observations of other males trying to replace him”, says Ricardo Brandão. In the next few days, this veterinary will be watchful of the osprey to try to understand if he is well adapted to wildlife.
