Tiny Tot had just received his breakfish when a juvenile came on the nest wanting that fish. Tiny Tot was not having it. Is this the same juvie that did take a fish one day? Hard to tell. There are supposedly thirty Osprey nests in and around St Petersburg so there could be lots out hunting for a free meal.
Tiny Tot has really earned his street fighting stripes on this nest. He was valiant fighting that juvie off while keeping that fish tight in his talon.
Tiny Tot had just finished his fish and had taken a short breath and all the action started again. This time it was him against a juvenile and and an adult.
Tiny Tot leapt from the perch to battle that same juvenile intruder. You can tell the juveniles easily because they have white tips on all their feathers. Then the adult intruder joined in.
Tiny never gives up and at 10:11:26 he is victorious and both of the intruders are dispersed, for now. Yeah for Tiny!
I wish Tiny had a Darvin ring on his leg. This is one Osprey that really needs to be followed. There he was almost starved to death, fighting for morsels of fish, going without for 12 days of food in total between when he hatched and he began to get regular feedings from Diane. He is a ‘tiny’ three that grew into a magnificent bird just like Z1 Tegid of the ‘white egg’ over on the Dyfi Nest.
Z1 or Tegid is a 2016 hatch. The famous Monty was his father. It goes back to that same old ‘survival of the fittest’. Everyone thought that Z1’s older sister would be the survivor. She died shortly after she hatched. Z1 returned from his migration and has raised his own chicks on a nest in Wales for the last two seasons, including this one. Isn’t he a really handsome bird? Notice the whiskers under his chin? If you followed Tiny you will know that he had whiskers, too. My friend, ‘T from Strasbourg’ used to laugh about Tiny’s whiskers. She is the one that told me about Tegid. So..it seems that these last hatches can become real street fighters since they had to endure and survive such abuse on the nests. That is a good reason never to give up on them. It is also a good reason for banding. You can see Tegid’s Blue Darvin ring with Z1. He is easily recognized.
There are just so many positive reasons to ring the birds and that way we would know for sure if Tiny returns in a couple of years and claims this nest as his with his own mate. Personally I think he would be able to ward off Jack.
Ah, but today we celebrate. Tiny Tot got to eat his morning fish and in two separate incidents he defended this nest – first against a juvie and secondly against a juvie and an adult. Wow. Cheers all around for Tiny Tot.
Thanks for joining me this morning. It has cooled off a bit on the Canadian prairies and we got some rain – much needed. I hope everyone is well. Take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the Achieva Credit Union where I grabbed my screen shots and short videos and The Loch Arkaig FB page where I grabbed the shot of Z1.
