A female osprey has been observed in southern Norway that was ringed with a red ring in 2020 by Aigars Kalvāns, an environmental expert at AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM). This is the first record in Norway of an osprey ringed in Latvia.

“On checking the information given by the bird's ring number, it turned out that I had ringed this bird as a chick four years ago in the Kuldīga area. What is more, it is interesting that this bird is nesting in Norway for the second year running. It is the most distant place where birds born in Latvia have been found nesting – about 600 km away,” explains Aigars Kalvāns.

Until now, the most distant observation of an osprey ringed in Latvia – at a distance of 500 km – had been recorded in Poland. The LVM environmental expert points out that on average ospreys nest considerably closer to their birthplaces – females at a distance of 172 km and males only 54 km.

The osprey is a medium-sized bird of prey with long wings. Its underparts, head and underwing coverts are white, contrasting with the dark brown upperparts. The bird has a distinct dark eye stripe.

In Latvia the osprey is comparatively rare – around 200 pairs of these birds nest here. Most of the European population nests in Sweden, Finland and Russia (more than 7000 pairs in total).

A considerable number of rare and protected species nest in LVM territories, and for several of them the greater part of the population lives specifically in the forests managed by the company; for example, LVM forests are home to the golden eagle, the white-tailed eagle, the osprey, the lesser spotted eagle, the northern goshawk, the black stork and the capercaillie.