Saturday in Bird World

19 March 2022

This will be a very short report on a few of the nests we have been watching. Each of those nests is doing fine. Indeed, they are doing really well.

Thunder and Akecheta are such an amazing team this year at the West End Bald Eagle nest. It has been a real treat to watch Akecheta mature into the genuinely passionate father of three chicks that he is. There isn’t anything that he will not do and he loves to shade, brood, and feed! This Bald Eagle nest of three chicks is doing very well. there are no issues.

Some of you may well be familiar with the Trio Love Nest on the Mississippi River near Fulton, Illinois. In 2017, the female, Hope, was probably killed by an interloper. There were two beautiful chicks in the nest and the two fathers, Valor I and Valor II raised them. It is a beautiful story that will lead both of them to find Starr or Starr find them and ‘the Trio’ to raise chicks together. It is not clear what is happening at the Trio Nest this year. It was believed Valor I had left and then he returned. This morning the Stewards of the Mississippi River said they believed that some sub-adult Bald Eagles had cleaned up the nest. We wait to see but this might be the end of The Love Trio. So sad. They were such a great team raising big healthy chicks to fledge.

This is an old video. Hope is believed to have been killed and the two males, Valor I and II, take over the care of the eaglets. They will raise them to fledge. It is really a good news story. I wish we had one today for all of them.

It has been 5 years since Big Red’s long time partner, Ezra, was killed. There were no eggs laid in 2017. In April of that year, a young Red-tail Fledgling made a visit to the nest that Big Red shared with Ezra. The young ‘whippersnapper’ as many on the Cornell chat call him wooed Big Red over all the other males that courted her. This is Arthur before he even had his Red tail!

This is Arthur today incubating the eggs for the 2022 breeding season. This is his 5th year together with Big Red. He is a cutie pie and Big Red is giving him more duties. Yippeee.

Gorgeous Big Red. Her and Arthur sure make great babies. She is 19 this year. Her life as a Mum has been tracked since 2012. No one knows if she had other mates before Ezra or how many chicks she fledged but, since 2012 she has only not fledged one. That was K2 who had a beak or jaw issue last year. That is an amazing testament to the amazing parenting that happens on this nest and the prey rich territory where she resides.

By 12 noon, Andy had made 3 fish deliveries at the Captiva Osprey Nest. They were a Sand Perch at 08:23; a Pinfish at 09:59, and a large Striped Mullet at 11:52. Everyone ate well and Lena has been shading her two surviving chicks from the hot Florida sun when she is not feeding them. I have seen no report from Captiva about the results of the necroscopy on Big Bob who died suddenly on the nest. Captiva and Window on Wildlife anticipated that they would have those results by the end of this past week.

Its 16:39 and the two at Captiva are eating again! Both have huge crops. Little Bob is pausing but there is so much fish left that surely he will return to the table for his usual second helping. All is good on this nest! That is such a relief. Hungry, healthy chicks!

For the followers of Ma Berry, the former mate of Pa at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest, a photo of Ma at Lake Allatoona was posted today by one of the members of the Berry College FB group. She looks good. The photo was September 26, 2021.

Pa’s and his new mate, Missy, have one chick this year, B15. A real sweet little eaglet. Well B15 has branched on 17 March! This is the announcement on the Berry College Eagles FB group.

B15 is a really healthy eaglet that loves using the nest like a trampoline.

Jackie and Shadow continue to do a great job at Big Bear just as anyone might expect. There have already been 7 feedings on this nest and it is barely 14:00. Feedings were at: 6:42; 8:01; 9:37; 10:29; 11:12; 12:16; 13:20. There appear to be several fish on the nest waiting. The Little One is growing like a beautiful read.

Everyone is good with the exception of Dale Hollow and whatever is happening at the Trio nest. The chick at Dulles Greenaway is happy, shaded, and fed. Rosie and Richmond, the Ospreys at the Whirley Crane in the Richmond Shipyards in SF Bay, are busy trying to rebuild their nest. That is going to be a huge job. There is no recent news of Annie and Grinnell.

I will do a separate report about the day’s happenings at the Dale Hollow Lake nest probably late this evening. I can tell you that Middle got 2 or 3 bites of fish this morning, the very first since the meal late on the 17th. (I think I said the 18th in an earlier report). The oldest has launched ferocious attacks on the Middle one like he did with Little Bit. The Middle One has tried to fed but can’t on a big fish on the nest. Middle has even tried eating dirty straw. It sat at the feet of the mother begging with a huge fish and River allowed Big to continue its terror. I will put a warning on that posting. Suffice it to say that I do not believe that any miracles are going to happen on this nest. There will be one chick at the end. A huge ferocious female. I hope to post at least one academic article that argues that siblicide is simply selfishness and that evolutionary success depends on many factors but definitely not siblicide.

Thank you for joining me today. It is gorgeous and sunny and all the snow is in full melt. Geese continue to come, several Blue Jays are back and I saw my first White-throated Sparrow of the year. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or their FB pages where I took my screen captures: The Cornell Chatters Group FB Page (image of young Arthur); Berry College Eagles FB Group; Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife; Cornell Bird Lab and RTH; Friends of Big Bear Valley; West End Bald Eagles and the Institute of Wildlife Studies.