Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

26-27 March 2022

It seemed that Saturday started out to be a rather good day. And then it didn’t. The little hatchling at the National Arboretum Nest has died. There is one other egg for Mr President and Lotus. Perhaps it will survive. This is a very detailed explanation of the uncommon tragic accident that happened to this chick trying to hatch.

Big and Middle had the fish that had been left on the nest overnight and then Obey brought in another sucker. That second fish was finished by 11:30ish. Both Big and Little Middle had big crops. No other prey came to the nest during the afternoon. When River arrived -like an alarm clock – at 19:02:13 – she was empty taloned. Not good. Big began to attack Middle Little for no apparent reason at 07:03:12. Little Middle went into submissive mode. Neither eaglet was fed and there is no food on the nest. The eaglets are 26 days old.

At the Big Bear Valley nest of Jackie and Shadow, the eaglet is 23 days old. If you look at it physically you can see the resemblance to the developmental stage of the Dale Hollow eaglets.

The body is covered with thermal down almost completely but the head and a few dandelions on the neck and wing.

Jackie and Shadow’s feeding schedule until 15:20 today, the 26th of March, as posted on the rolling camera chat. There will be at least two more today but if those didn’t happen, there would have still been six feedings beginning at dawn.

Like children, nests need stability and regularity for security. It is Sunday morning. Obey brought a squirrel in prior to 08:00. The feeding was continuing when I opened up the streaming cam. Little Middle got none of that first prey item that I could see. Big had a crop.

A sucker came in at 08:46:16. It is a nice sized fish.

Big attacks Little Middle at 08:46:44 despite having eaten the squirrel and having a crop.

The parent begins to feed Big with Little Middle into submission.

At 08:51:02 Little Middle has moved to the other side of the parent and is being fed. Yeah Little Middle!!!!!

Little Middle got to eat until 08:56:46 when the parent abruptly flew off – perhaps to get rid of an intruder.

Little Middle is very hungry and pecks at the flesh of the fish watched by Big.

There is lots of fish left. Little Middle goes to the rim of the nest.

River returns to the nest at 10:19 alerting. Little Middle is cheeping and moves up to eat when River goes to fish. At the onset Big did not bother. Then at 10:25:28 it wants to go and eat. Big attacked Little Middle at 10:25:30. Little Middle moved to rim of nest. Big was still eating at 10:31.

Big just can’t stop with the beaking.

Little Middle had a crop but being clever, he is watching and waiting.

At 10:33, knowing Big has moved, Little Middle goes back to the fish. River begins feeding her youngest.

At the end of this feeding, Middle is going to have a bigger crop! It is now 10:36 and he is still eating! This is fantastic. Little Middle, despite the dominance posturing and some beaking, is getting quicker at its return to the feeding. Well done Little Middle!

Little Middle ate well. Look at this beautiful crop. Life is good!

There was a chat open at the Dale Hollow nest this morning. Because of that I was able to find out some information that would really be helpful under the streaming cam. The original nest of River and Obey was discovered in 2009. It fell with the two fledglings in 2020. Both survived. Prior to this year, River and Obey fledged 24 chicks. The nest on the cam is now one year old. There are 28 Bald Eagle nests around Dale Hollow Lake.

Akecheta continues to be ‘Super Dad’ at the West End nest that he shares with his mate Thunder and the triplets. They are doing incredibly well! There is still no discord between any of the three. They are well fed, sometimes tandem fed, and shaded during the heat of the day. It is nothing short of a fabulous nest to watch.

Here is a very short video of the four eaglets of Lisa and Oliver being fed at the PA Farm nest on 26 March. Warms your heart. These parents are going to be extremely busy!

Parents are doing a tandem feed at the PA Farm nest to ensure that the smallest one of the four gets fed. This is Saturday at noon.

You may remember that there was to be a rescue attempt at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo to retrieve R2 to remove the fishing line that the eaglet had tangled around its leg. As the rescuers were there, R2 fledged. Luckily it broke the fishing line. There is apparently a small bit of fishing line on its toe.

Sadly, this is why intervention is not normally done at this late stage unless the eaglet is ill or cannot fly away. They are hoping that R2 will return to the nest and with good fortune the remainder of the fishing line removed. There is an update by Ron Magill. He was able to get R2. The rest of the monofilament has been removed. R2 is fine other than having some flea lice. Great news!

There are more osprey arrivals in the UK. Blue 5F Seren arrived at the Llyn Clywedog Nest. Look at that nice fish she has brought in and look at that beautiful landscape – a perfect place to raise Ospreys. Seren shares this nest with her mate Dylan. They fledged one osprey – the largest male Osprey hatched ever in Wales last season.

Seren has to be strong. That is a huge fish. There is no footage of her getting it out of the lake but there is a video of the haul into the nest!

The Canada Goose on the Decorah unused Bald Eagle nest has laid her third egg!

There is also a pip at the Decorah North nest in egg for DN16. That was at 09:52 this morning.

The two sweet babies at the Redding Bald Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian are just getting fed as I close this blog. How adorable.

Life feels rather good as I close this blog. Little Middle is getting much more clever and quicker to get down and eat so the parent doesn’t leave thinking they are not hungry. Big has turned its beak on Little Middle at least twice this morning but nothing like the violence on the 23rd of March. Little Middle continues to grow! As far as I can tell all of the other nests are doing OK today. There are some significant ospreys that have yet to arrive including two of my favourites Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi Nest. We are also waiting for Aran, Louis, and the Foulshaw Moss couple plus CJ7 and Blue 022 if he returns to Poole Harbour. Hopefully there will be more to arrives this evening.

Thank you for joining me this morning. I hope that you have a beautiful Sunday. Take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures: CarnyxWild, Explore.org, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Redding Eagles, WRDC, PA Game Commission, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, and the NAE FB Page.