Etude des proies du Balbuzard pêcheur en Centre-Val de Loire

The Osprey, a fish-eating bird of prey, become extinct as a nesting species in France at the deginning of the 20th century; it started breeding again in the Orleans forest in 1985. As part of a Natural Action Plan dedicated to endangered species, a research program has been set up by the Museum of Natural Sciences in Orleans and its scientific collaborators. The study of prey and food strategy in this species has been the subject of several studies and publications. An analysis is made of the prey taken using bone and left-over food remains found at nesting sites and collected for several years at more than 30 sites. Prey remains consisted exclusively of fish and mainly cyprinids, which agrees with the results of other studies performed in the Loire valley using different methods.