What a pleasure to receive a message from Daniel Schmidt on December 25 saying that he had just found a photo (see below) of our female Rafale (F14), while checking the contents of a camera-trap from a platform in north-eastern Bavaria. She was pictured on August 2, visiting this  nest where two young  had already fledged.

Translocated from eastern Germany on June 25, 2019, Rafale had been released at Bellechasse on July 29 (above photo of her with Tino F22), and migrated on September 3. After the male Radar (F16), this is the second bird from our “class of 2019” confirmed back in Europe this year.

This great surprise means that the pattern from previous years, with at least one male and one female known to have returned, has continued:  Fusée (PR9) and Mouche (PR4) from 2016; Taurus (PS7) and Flamme (KF6) from 2017; and Arthur (F12) and Plume (F02) from 2018.

It is possible that other birds may also have returned, but have not been found yet (for a large species, Osprey can be very discrete).  We suspect that an adult male seen during the summers of 2020 and 2021 along the Doubs River may be one of ours, possibly Fusée (PR9) who has not been spotted for sure since 2019. With just a metal ring (of the same model we use) on his left leg, it is likely that the blue plastic ring on his right has been lost.

One thing is clear, we are anxiously counting the days to see what surprises next spring will bring!