22 June 2022
It is a hot sunny and beautiful day on the Canadian prairies. The Farmer’s Markets are opening up, there are still lilacs blooming, and well…I wish the ice cream truck would come down the street!!!!! I did my walk. 5.8 km and it was way too hot!!!!!! Dreaming of winter. LOL.
SF Ospreys posted a video on YouTube showing Molate incubating the nonviable egg. Just look! Perfect aerating, rolling, and incubation! They asked viewers if it was an accident or deliberate. What do you think?
ND16 has joined fledgling ND15 up on the fledging branch at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest in Indiana. Little Bit 17 is still enjoying being the baby on the nest!
Update: ND16 has fledged. It has not been located as far as I know.
Little Bit 17 is doing just fine. With the two older siblings having fledged and thinking about flying, Mum flies in at 15:57 and 17 gets a private feeding. So far the nest is holding fine. Dad and Mum have some work to do. I wonder if they will rebuilt this nest??
Can you tell the difference between Idris and Telyn’s chicks? I sure can’t anymore. Ringing next week and then names given!
All three of Thunder and Akecheta’s fledglings (doesn’t that sound nice?) can be seen. Some nice soaring in the thermals this morning by at least one of them. I think it was Ahote but not 100%.
‘H’ reports that Mum brought in a Horse-shoe Crab yesterday late and arranged it on the nest – and Dad brought in 9 fish, too. Wow. ‘H’ also had a screen grap that shows what is in that second plastic bag – a water bottle! I wonder where she finds these things. This female does like to decorate her nest. Oh, I would love to get into her head about that love of yellow. It is striking and certainly brightens up the nest. Thanks, ‘H’!
That worrisome piece of yellow mesh wire was still on the nest. One of the chicks was using it as a pillow!
Mum is very smart. Maybe she is worried about that mesh as well.
She removes it from the nest!!!!!!!! The raptors are extremely intelligent. Never think that we are smarter than they are. Some of you will know my huge respect for falconer, Laura Culley. When Big Red’s daughter J1 had been killed by striking a window, someone asked her if Big Red knew. Culley’s answer was, “And why wouldn’t she!”
She has returned unharmed and Dad can be seen, too. It is extremely windy. I am hoping those plastic bags will fly off as well.
Cal Falcons has posted the cutest video clip of Grinnell Jr – loudly saying he wants his breakfast!
If you are following Jan and Janika’s three surviving storklets that are in care at the Vet School at EMU (Estonia Medical University), they have done exceptionally well in care. They are all standing (only one not completely steady is the smallest storklet) and are flapping their wings an getting their juvenile feathers. In two days they should be going to an outside location to help prepare them for when the fledge.
The storklets of Karl II and Kaia are also growing and are doing so, so well. Notice how they form an immediate circle when it is feeding time.
Betty and Bukacek’s storklets are doing fantastic, too. So all three of the nests that I follow – Karl II and Kaia, Jan and Janika (in care), and Bukacek and Betty are progressing well in order to fledge in August. They will return for feedings and then they will fly all the way to the central part of Africa! Incredible.
It is pretty quiet in Bird World – for a change! Thank you so much for joining me for this check on some of the nests. Do take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures or their videos: EMU, Capio Hnizo- Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cal Falcons, ND-LEEF, Mispillion Harbour Osprey Cam and the DDNR, Dfyi Osprey Project, SF Ospreys, and the West End Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Thanks Mary Ann! So exciting to see these fledglings and they way they act!
Happy for little DN17 and hope he fledges
one day too just like his two siblings. I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you again soon!
Have a good evening and take care.
Linda
Thanks for all the work you do to check on all the nests. I have enjoyed reading all about them. I started watching nests in 2018 and I have not seen anything like the sadness of this year. Mary Ann, I have another one to add to your list of lost birds. This afternoon the mother at Pitkin County Osprey nest knocked 2 babies off the nest. To be honest I can’t take it anymore and this will be my last year watching nests. 5 years is enough pain and sorrow for me. There is no end, and we don’t have any control over what happens.
I used to save Cats/Kittens (I ended up with 9 at one time) by trapping/spaying/neutering/finding places for them at barns, farms and homes but there comes a time when you get worn out because the stray cat problem never ends. Your heart just becomes worn out and you’ve reached the end of the line.
Thanks again Mary Ann for all you’ve done to help the birds when you could. Also, to all others who have helped these birds when it was possible to do so.
Oh, Nancy. You have a very warm and generous heart. When I was little people used to drop the strays off at my house because they knew my dad would feed them and find them homes. We often kept them, too. Our City brought in a law that cats could not be outside. Not everyone follows that rule but I can tell you that it has helped. — I am so sorry about all of the sadness this year. It does eat away at you – deep down. I am also sorry that you are not going to watch the nests anymore – but maybe you will come back. I always tell everyone that it is the few that make it – those third hatches I study – that make up for everything. Like Little Bit 17 this year. Thanking you for two more for my list is not the right phrasing but I will try and get a picture. I wish the heart ache would stop so I could give them all a proper notation but as you say, it doesn’t seem to end. — Everything is very unstable, not just the nests. I want to thank you for stopping to write to me, Nancy. Please take care of yourself. Continue to do good work and drop me a note in about six months and let me know how you are doing. I would really enjoy that.
Oh, Nancy. I just found the accident. It looked very hot and there also appeared to be an intruder. I noticed the talons of the female dug into the nest material. What a tragedy. I do not know if anyone has checked for the wee ones or not. I will see if I can find a contact. Such a tragic less.
Oh, what a cute video of Molate — it sure looks like instinct to incubate. I wasn’t totally convinced until she plunked herself down on the egg.
And what a nice day it was — seeing Sky flying!
I do hope ND17 fledges soon, so he can fly free if that precarious nest totally gives way.
She just looked like a mini Rosie, didn’t she?! Yes – ND17. I don’t think his tail feathers are long enough but they could be. That camera doesn’t always cooperate!!!!! We shall just hope. It was lucky for that nest that the collapse happened when 2 were ready to fledge. 17 is old enough but that tail isn’t -.