Friends of Osprey AGM, Chair’s report 2025

We are extremely fortunate to have a webcam positioned above the Port Lincoln barge nest, providing a live feed via YouTube and our Port Lincoln Osprey Facebook Page of what is happening there.

This year one chick, Zoe, has fledged from the nest (the sole survivor from a brood of three). Friends of Osprey is grateful to our supporter, Bart, who is based in the Netherlands, for his careful analysis and editing of hundreds of hours of webcam footage.

Check out Zoe’s journey (so far) below!

As with all nesting seasons, 2022 has had highs and lows across South Australia’s breeding ospreys. 

Sustained bad weather throughout spring may have impacted the ability for adult birds to forage and we believe this has led to the loss of at least one of the chicks at the Port Lincoln barge nest. This may have been more widespread across the state, but as yet we are not sure of the chick survival rates. 

We know that our elevated nesting platforms are quickly starting to pay environmental dividends by providing safe nesting locations for osprey at known nesting locations. The installation of these platforms is a key part of the work of Friends of Osprey and we believe that in just the second year of these platforms being in place (and the first in many cases), they are providing a solution to one of the greatest challenges that ospreys face in South Australia, that being the provision of sites where ospreys feel safe from human disturbance and predation by feral predators such as foxes. 

Osprey occupied territories on Yorke Peninsula have now increased from one in 2017 to five in 2022.  The most significant is the Osprey pair on the Point Davenport platform as this location did not have an established resident pair present prior to the artificial nest platform being installed and the Gleesons Landing site which is the first time in 12-years that Ospreys have successfully produced young at this site.

An update on a number of our nesting sites is outlined below: 

Port Lincoln barge nest 

This nest (which is live streamed on YouTube) started out with three chicks as it did in 2021. However, unlike 2021, where all three male chicks fledged, only one chick has survived to fledging stage. One of the chicks failed to thrive and was subject to siblicide at 24 days old (this is not uncommon and a natural part of the world of raptors and apex species), while another was lost at 44 days during a sustained period of bad weather when its parents were unable to secure adequate food supplies for both remaining chicks. 

The surviving chick, a female named Zoe by Friends of Osprey patron, Janet Forster, is doing well, having fledged and being regularly seen practicing her diving skills off the perches on the barge. While we would have liked to have seen higher productivity from this nest and the clearly highly capable parent birds, we are still delighted to have one healthy female bird progressing towards adulthood. 

Zoe has been banded and fitted with a GPS tracker to help Friends of Osprey follow her future journey. 

Price nest, Wills Creek Conservation Park 

This artificial platform was installed by the Southern Yorke Peninsular Land Care Group and this initial work has provided a blueprint for other platforms to be installed by the Friends of Osprey. It was taken up immediately by the local pair of birds and they successfully raised 2 young in 2021.  One young from 2021 breeding season was fitted with a satellite tracker and travelled to Kangaroo Island where it has settled into the Pelican Lagoon area for over 9 month.

This nest has again been used by the pair in 2022 and two male young were recently banded, with one fitted with a GPS tracker. 

Gleesons Landing 

The Gleesons Landing nest is a real success story for Friends of Osprey and local volunteers. This nest site has a long history of nesting failure primarily due to human disturbance factors and possibly predation.  The Gleesons Landing artificial nest platform was installed in May 2022 and almost immediately the nest was taken up by a pair of Ospreys.  This is the first time in 12-years that Ospreys have successfully produced young at this site.  The adult pair have one chick which appears to be doing well. 

Point Davenport Conservation Park

The Point Davenport nest is also a success story for Friends of Osprey and local volunteers. Historically there have been no Ospreys recorded breeding in this area and in 2022, following the installation of an artificial nest platform, a pair of Ospreys have taken up this site.  The pair laid 3 eggs this year however no young have been produced possibly because this is a young and inexperienced pair.   This is the first time in SA that a pair of Ospreys have adopted an artificial nest platform in an area where there has been no established breeding.

Point Yorke 

Friends of Osprey also monitor a nest at Point Yorke on Yorke Peninsula.  This is a natural nest on a remote section of privately-owned land on the Yorke Peninsula. This nest appeared a few years ago following the regular failure of a nesting pair of Ospreys at a popular Tourist Lookout near Marion Bay.  The adult pair have successfully bred again this year (2022) at Point Yorke.

Edithburgh 

Friends of Osprey also monitor an Osprey nest on a Telecommunication Tower at Edithburgh on Yorke Peninsula.  The Ospreys have nested on this structure again this year however it is not known if young have been produced at this stage. This nest relocation to an artificial nest platform nearby will be a priority in 2023 to ensure the Osprey can successfully breed and raise young during the next breeding season.

Thistle Island 

Friends of Osprey also monitors a nest on Thistle Island, a privately-owned island found off Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. This is a long-term nest which has been active for many years. This nest produced one young this year which was fitted with a satellite tracker.

Bay of Shoals nest, Kangaroo Island 

Installed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service SA in 2020, this nest was relocated several hundred metres offshore, and again is occupied this year (2022) with 3 young recently fledged. 

Friends of Osprey have identified Kangaroo Island as another key area for osprey recovery given the presence of a fragile population on the island. To aid further research of the species on the island, a female chick was fitted with a satellite tracker at Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park in December.  

Tumby Island Conservation Park 

After predation of the eggs by a fox in 2021 an artificial platform was installed at Tumby Island Conservation Park in May and the birds moved straight on to the nest within hours of its installation.   

Two eggs were laid this breeding season but did not hatch. The eggs have been removed under permit and taken to the Adelaide Museum for analysis to see if a cause can be determined. The birds are still in the area and we are hopeful of a better result in 2023.

Other artificial platforms 

Located at Port Broughton, Sheaoak Flat and the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary (north of metropolitan Adelaide) three other artificial platforms appear from observations not to have nesting ospreys this year, although there have been sightings of ospreys on or around these platforms.

Other sites of interest

Cummings Monument, Kiana, Eyre Peninsula 

The nest at Cummings Monument has blown over in strong winds for the second year in a row.   The nest was rebuilt by the pair last year but sadly not well enough to withstand the strong winds that the area experienced in September.

Cape Wiles, Whalers Way, Eyre Peninsula 

A pair of Osprey have been regularly sighted at a very old nest site at Cape Wiles.   There is clear evidence that the birds were rebuilding the nest but as far as we know they have not nested this year.   

Wanna West lookout, Lincoln National Park, Eyre Peninsula 

Located on an inaccessible rock stack, this nest can be viewed from afar using high quality binoculars or telescopes. 

A check of the nest after bad weather did not reveal any birds at the nest so it is thought that this nest has also failed for 2022.

An osprey has been spotted and photographed in the Onkaparinga River Recreation Park, just east of the Port Noarlunga Football Club.

Seen by National Parks and Wildlife Service SA ranger, Angus Droogan-Turniski, the bird was recorded eating a mullet, a species of fish which is known to be plentiful in the wide Onkaparinga estuary.

This is the most urban sighting of an osprey in South Australia for many years and an encouraging sign. There is no doubt that should osprey numbers increase in South Australia, the Onkaparinga River and its estuary would be an ideal foraging and nesting location. This would also see ospreys establish in metropolitan Adelaide which in itself would allow more people to discover the story of ospreys in South Australia.

We will keep monitoring this location for ospreys and we hope that over the coming years we will have more good news to tell about the species in this location.

Photo credit: Angus Droogan-Turniski, National Parks and Wildlife Service SA’.

It’s breeding season for our Ospreys in South Australia and there’s activity on a range of new artificial platforms as well as historic nesting platforms around our state’s coastline.

We believe our first platform at Wills Creek Conservation Park has an active nest, building on last year’s success, while there is also activity at Gleesons Landing and around other sites. As the weeks pass we will learn more about what is happening at the various sites we are monitoring and we hope that our artificial platforms will start at to build real conservation dividends for our Osprey.

However, what we do know is that there are eggs and/or chicks on the two nests we monitor via video link: the Port Lincoln Barge nest and the new artificial platform on Tumby Island Conservation Park at Tumby Bay. Both nests are on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Activity from the Port Lincoln Barge nest (which was the catalyst for the formation of Friends of Osprey) is broadcast on the Port Lincoln Osprey Facebook page and this Facebook page also includes updates from the Tumby Island nest as well. It is updated very regularly.

Our video stream from the Tumby Island nest has been hindered by an unusually bleak winter/spring in South Australia meaning that our webcam has been failing to charge, however it came back alive on 23 September 2022 and we discovered there are two eggs on this new nesting platform. In 2021 the nest was the victim of fox predation (just days before we had hoped to see hatchlings emerge!), an act which was caught on the webcam. This drove the Friends of Osprey to install an artificial nesting platform on this sight, placing the ground level nest on the elevated structure and away from most dangers. It appears this is proving successful already.

Keep an eye on this blog for more information about the 2022 breeding season as it unfolds. We are hopeful it will be a fruitful one for Ospreys in South Australia.

Ervie’s short flights in and around the city of Port Lincoln.

Phantom – Wills Creek Conservation Park (Price township) nest

Phantom is a female Osprey which has been on the wing (fledged) for 39 weeks (273 days) and independent (16th March) from her parents for 186 days (26.5 weeks). 

Phantom has settled into the American River / Pelican Lagoon estuary on Kangaroo Island for a little over six months with at least 16 preferred and consistent hunting and foraging locations identified in the vicinity of the Pelican Lagoon Conservation Park and adjacent productive wetlands. 

Phantom’s survival is looking promising with significantly improved chances of reaching adulthood given the emerging patterns of habitat use. 

The tracking data and flight statistics over the past seven days include: 

• Osprey travelled 66 km
• Maximum altitude was 1,418 metres and average altitude was 24 metres
• Maximum speed was 80 km/hr and average speed of 1.69 km/hr 
• The maximum altitude data is interesting however there were 2 very high but short flight events (Alt 1,418 metres and 985 metres) and it appears the bird may have taken advantage of the rising air thermals and lift created by the mallee vegetation and winds being directed upwards when it hits the high cliffs along the north coast on Kangaroo Island 

Phantom’s short flights around Pelican Lagoon on Kangaroo Island. 

Desy – Louth Bay rescued Osprey 

On the 11th March the adult rescued Osprey was fitted with a Satellite Tracker and released at Louth Bay near the jetty.  Louth Bay is a small township not far from the city of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. 

The last tracking data for Desy was on 22nd March and based on the last data point sent, the bird was alive at this point.  A mortality symbol normally shows on the tracking database if the bird did not show movement over ten consecutive positions.  As this did not happen, it was assumed the tracker simply failed to connect to the phone network which happens regularly as birds move along remote coast lines. No sightings have occurred since that time.

In August, Friends of Osprey Vice President, Ian Falkenburg, conducted a search of the last known location of Desy in order to try and form a view of what might have happened. Ian spent time scaling low cliffs and walking the coast line around Louth Bay and found numerous deep caves along the cliffs with a significant amount of fox prints inside and around cave entrances. He offers the following plausible explanation: Desy may have succumbed to sepsis from the injury to his leg and following death, scavengers including fox move in to feed on the carcase.  If a  fox carried the carcass into a cave, the satellite signal would be unable to connect with the network. This would explain why the transmitter showed movement after a bird is dead, (e.g. due to scavenger activity) and why the mortality symbol did not show on the tracking database.  Whilst the tracking symbols are intended to help identifying that something is wrong, they are not always 100% correct. Whilst this would be an unfortunate outcome for this Osprey, injured raptors generally have a very low survival rate when returned to the wild.