In a few days, probably Monday or Tuesday depending on the weather, we will ring our two chicks.

Bird ringing has been around for over 100 years and is coordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology, or BTO for short. We need only look at our own birds here at the Dyfi to appreciate how beneficial ringing has been in understanding the ecology, migration and population dynamics of ospreys. For more info on how we ring our ospreys, see here)

Dulas being ringed in 2011

We will put two rings on the chicks. A very small BTO metal ring on the left leg and a plastic (Darvic) ring on the right leg, which will enable the bird to be identified in the field with a decent telescope (or HD nest camera system!). The ring numbers are then recorded and sent to both Roy Dennis in Scotland and to the BTO in Norfolk.

As well as ringing the two youngsters, we will also weigh them. This gives us an idea of their general health and give us an indication of whether they are male or female. Girls tend to weigh more than boys!

Males typically range from around 1,200g to 1,600g and females from 1,500g to 2,000g, but this is not an exact science by any means. Healthy, well fed chicks will weigh in at the upper range (or even over) of these weights and there can also be overlaps - males weighing more than females.

Tony Cross weighing Ceulan in 2012 - he weighed 1,415g (Ceulan, not Tony)

So here's the Competition then..

Guess the weights of BOTH chicks combined and post your answer on the Guess the Weights Competition post on Facebook (Saturday Aug 3rd).

All you have to do to enter is donate £2 or more using the donate button on the Live Streaming page here. It's dead simple to donate, takes only a minute or two, and all the money goes directly into running the Dyfi Osprey Project.

So, if for example you think one chick weighs 1,400g and the other one 1,500g, you simply put the ONE figure as a total. In this case 2,900g.

Put your guesses in grammes only please and it's one guess per donation. Simples.

The winner (drawn out of a hat if there's a tie) will get:

Ceulan Mug
Glesni Fridge Magnet
Monty Pin Badge
Full set of 7 large glossy DOP Post Cards
Full set of 6 osprey Greetings Cards (2 DOP, 2 Rutland, 2 Loch of the Lowes)
DOP Car Sticker

Here's Janine with a selection of the prizes:

The second prize will be a DOP baseball cap that was nearly, but not quite, eaten a few weeks ago after a very educated guess went very, very wrong.

Thank you for supporting the Dyfi Osprey Project. We want it to be the most interactive osprey project in the world and with your help, we're well on our way.

How much do we weigh?

Competition open to all, worldwide - we'll send the prizes. Good Luck!

Keep Calm and Keep Guessing

~~~~~

UPDATE - AUGUST 6th

WE HAVE TWO GIRLS!!

Both chicks were ringed this morning and they weighed 1,660g and 1,710g. Very heathy weights, so that's 3,370g combined. Who's won the competition? Both girls now have names also, again following the previous protocol of naming our birds after local rivers.

1R - Cerist (second chick 1,660g)

2R - Clarach (first chick 1710g)

Shortly after we left the nest, Monty brought in a lovely sea trout and Cerist and Clarach fed well.