Twelve Osprey chicks arrive safely

Weighing an Osprey chick in Germany

In this third year of our reintroduction project, twelve young Osprey chicks – six from eastern Germany and six from southern Norway – have been successfully transferred to Switzerland. They are now happily eating fish caught daily by professional fishermen from Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Morat, and with every day are getting increasingly familiar with their new home. The young birds and their “foster parents” (a team of 5-6 people taking care of them around the clock) are all doing very well!

We are very grateful to the bird-ringers, Holger Gabriel and Mario Firla in Germany, and Rune Aae in Norway, who did some spectacular climbing to collect them:  the first two on high tension electricity pylons and the third on some very tall Scots Pines. A big thank you also to: Osprey “guru” Daniel Schmidt, for helping organise the German transfer and for bringing six birds to Switzerland; to the electricity company Mitnetz Strom which temporarily cut-off the power and made their staff available to guarantee maximum safety for the pylon climbers; and to Marianne Imhof of Ace Pet Movers who was an angel helping us to get the six Norwegian birds safely into Switzerland.

Click here to see an article and as well as a video about the young Osprey collection in Norway that was aired on Norwegian national TV.