Visarenden Pandion haliaetus broeden succesvol in de Biesbosch in 2016

In the large wetland of De Biesbosch in the southwestern Netherlands, Ospreys have always been regular passage migrants; since the 1980s and 1990s, summering birds were occasionally recorded as well. In the early 2000s four artificial nests were supplied in electricity pylons, but so far without success. Nest-building of two pairs of Ospreys was recorded in 2015, one of which in an electricity pylon. This latter pair continued building till early May (including display and copulations), but then disappeared between mid-May and late July when they were recorded constructing another nest in an electricity pylon (which was also occupied by a small colony – 10 pairs – of Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo). Up to and including 2016, this pair has built five eyries, but failed to breed so far. The second pair built a nest in a dead willow, some 10-15 m from the shoreline. The male of this pair had been ringed as nestling near Rogätz (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany) on 20 June 2012. Incubation was recorded in April and May, and a change in incubation behaviour on 27 May 2016 signaled apparent hatching. A single chick was raised (presumably the pair started with two chicks), which fledged on 4 August. The Biesbosch area has a large supply of fish. As the surface area of the wetland has increased since the 1990s to some 10,000 ha at present, the prospects for breeding Ospreys are good.