The diet composition of breeding Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) in Latvia

Abstract

The diet composition of breeding Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) was studied in several location in Latvia from 2009 to 2015 by determining food remains, intact or partly eaten fish in the nests, and photo and video materials from surveillance cameras that were set up at 14 nests. During the study period, information about 1501 Osprey prey specimens was collected from 119 nests and they were all fish. In total, 15 fish species were identified in Osprey diet, of which the most numerous was common carp (Cyprinus carpio), representing 47.2% of the diet, followed by tench (Tinca tinca) 14.3% and Prussian carp (Carassius gibelio) 11.3%, which was not found in studies conducted in other countries. The mean size of all mesured fish was 27.8 cm and corresponding weight was 368 g. Predatory fish (pike Esox lucius, perch Perca fluviatilis) represented only 4.7% of the whole diet. Osprey diet composition in Latvia showed that the population highly relies on fishponds.

The diet of osprey Pandion haliaetus on Marawah Island (Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates) and its implications for the study of archaeological assemblages

“…swimming close to the bottom) such as tripodfish, groupers, flatheads, emperors, and seabreams. Kalvans and Bajinskis (2016) report that, in Latvia, ospreys essentially catch fish with a benthic lifestyle, such as carp (Cyprinus carpio, Carassius gibelio) and tench (Tinca tinca). They could be easily caught in fish ponds where the water is shallow.…”

“…1) found that mullet opercles and preopercles constitute almost 80% of the collected remains in Corsica (South-East France). Similarly, opercle bones are also among the dominant remains found in Finland, Latvia, and the Canarian Archipelago (Häkkinen, 1978;Siverio et al, 2011;Kalvans & Bajinskis, 2016). Prevost (1982: 87) indicates that opercles of even the smallest fish caught were removed in Senegal.…”