An Osprey Pandion haliaetus breeding pair subjected to avian mobbing from the first hours of nest building
| Posted: |
05/04/2025 |
| Author(s): |
Matthew Mo |
During June 2024, a breeding pair of Ospreys Pandion haliaetus in Ballina, New South Wales, were monitored daily for five days. This enabled pinpointing the start of nest construction to the approximate hour. During a subsequent 70-min period, avian mobbing from four species, the Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca, Pied Butcherbird Cracticus nigrogularis, Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys and Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis, were recorded in 12 of the 13 times a Osprey returned to the site with new nesting material. Despite the Ospreys merely beginning to build their nest, the observations showed they were experiencing avian mobbing (ranging from repeated aerial swopping to gazing from a
close-by perch) at a frequency of 10.3 separate mobbing events per hour, or more than one every 6 min.
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