Saturday Morning in Bird World

09 April 2022

Good Morning Everyone. I had so hoped to have some images of the Tunda Swans landing here in Manitoba for you today but, alas, we have a flooding issue that is causing a bit of a problem for some of the bridges and roads outside the City. So, that will have to wait! We will be back up to a balmy 7 degrees C and I am told to get out and enjoy it. Snow is coming again in a few days. Thinking that somewhere tropical looking at birds in the winter might be a nice change next year, for sure.

White-tail eaglets are hatching! The British RSPB (and others) have been working to reintroduce the White-tailed Eagle to the UK. The RSPB at Loch Garten in Abernathy Scotland announced the hatch of the very first chick in the Cairngorms Connect Programme happened at 19:42 last night. Congratulations everyone!

White-tailed eagles in the UK became extinct with human persecution. The eagles last bred in England and Wales in the 1830s, in Ireland in 1898, and in Scotland in 1916. This hatching in the Cairngorms is, therefore, a big deal. One current threat to them is shooting. Several of the White-tail eagles introduced to the southern part of England have been shot near hunting estates this year causing wide spread outrage.

Almost simultaneously, the first White-tail Eaglet in Denmark hatched!

Norway has the largest population of White-tail eagles in Europe. That is completely understandable because the birds like to have a territory that is located near to or adjacent to a body of water. Their territory can be as large as 70 km.

The White-tailed Eagle appears in Germany’s coat-of-arms and is Germany’s national bird. The eagle appears on the 1 Euro coin.

The eagles are recovering but they are still in a critically dangerous level. There are only 600 breeding pairs in the EU. Factors causing a decline in the population include shooting, poisoning, nest robbing – eggs and chicks -, the loss of habitat, the loss of wetlands, and the high pollution of water.

White-tail eagles eat fish, birds, and small mammals. They are one of the largest birds of prey in the world with a wingspan of 5.8-8 feet and weighing 9.5-12 pounds. They normally lay 1-2 eggs. The nest in Denmark has 3 eggs this year.

Congratulations to Richmond and Rosie at the SF Osprey Nest at the Richmond shipping yards on their second egg. Here is one of my favourite male Ospreys rolling his eggs — Richmond!

The contest for naming Annie’s ‘The New Guy’ has made the news in California. Be sure to put your suggestion in. Cal Falcons will create a short list for voting on the 13th.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/04/07/no-more-new-guy-contest-begins-to-name-uc-berkeley-falcons-new-mate/?fbclid=IwAR18ht5DRDRHm-piNOX2_LuqPglbg9iY-adWlXVllXHZ3uJqrzSTWxOHB4E

There is another naming contest for the two eaglets at Redding. Here is their announcement:

Everyone hoped that Big at the Dale Hollow nest had moved on from beaking Little Middle. Not so. Perhaps the wet cold weather caused Big to not be so friendly this morning when the breakfast fish was brought in. Big attacks Little Middle at 10:08:01. Little Middle waits and listens and moves up to eat at 10:14:18 doing what he does best – the snatch and grab. Both eaglets were fed. Little Middle stayed and did clean up.

It was not nice. Big can still get a good hold on Little Middle around the neck.

I am so delighted! Karl II was on his nest yesterday. Welcome home, Karl II. Congratulations to everyone who worried so much and did such good tracking of his migration home.

Idris and Telyn are eating, working on the nest, and thinking about eggs and chicks at the Dyfi nest in Wales.

Everyone is still waiting for Aran to arrive. Mrs G, the oldest Osprey in the UK, has been visiting Aeron Z2 over at the Pont Cresor nest which is close by to the Glaslyn nest.

I did not catch it but a male, LJ2 has been sky dancing over at Glaslyn for Mrs G. Will Aran return is the big question on everyone’s mind. I hope that he is arriving as I write this! That would be grand.

All the nests appear to be doing fine. There are some weather systems to be watched for next week. The Dark-eyed Juncos are arriving along with several species of Sparrow. The Canada Geese continue to arrive along with the Bald Eagles. There were 43 of them on the river near to where I live two days ago. They are on their way up to Lake Winnipeg and the good fishing.

Thank you so much for joining me. I hope that you have a lovely Saturday. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, DHEC, Dyfi Osprey Project, Eagle Club of Estonia, Birdlife Denmark, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Redding Eagles, and the RSPB Loch Garten Abernathy.