25 June 2022
You will almost always hear that ‘the parents know where the fledgling is’. Certainly the eye sight of the raptors is acute. I remember someone saying at one of the Cal Falcons Q & A sessions that Annie might have actually ‘seen’ Grinnell get hit by the car. Tonight, the question on everyone’s mind is: do the Bald Eagle adults at the ND-LEEF nest know where ND16 is?
It is good to remember just why the term ‘eagle eyed’ came about and how the adults might be able to see 16 at a distance.
https://www.allaboutvision.com/resources/eagle-vision/
Mum landed on the nest tonight with a really nice sized fish. Little Bit was ready to chow down and then ND15 arrived. Mum hesitated. When 15 took the fish, she flew over Little Bit almost knocking it off the nest to land on the other side. ND15 really enjoyed the fish. Little Bit tried to steal and got a bite or two but appeared to understand fully the limitations of the space and did not push it. Of course, Little Bit 17 is hoping that 15 will leave something!!!!!!! Mum returned to the nest. They are really trying to lure 16 back to the nest with fish. That branch breaking would have been traumatic and extremely frightening. Is ND16 really close by?
Mum lands with that nice fish. Little Bit is right there at its head. Then 15 jumps down from the branch it is perching on. Rats!
Little Bit continues to smell and pick a bit at the fish but Mum is waiting. She wants 16 to show up at the nest. Surely fish would do that!
ND15 comes closer and thinks that it wants that fish – s/he didn’t eat that much in the morning.
Mum practically rips Little Bit off the nest when she flies to the other side. 15 is mantling the fish and Little Bit is right on the spot where the nest is breaking off some more. Lump in throat. Holding my breath. I think it had to be when the Mispillion Osprey Nest mum pulled her two chicks off the nest unknowingly when she flew off after an intruder that caused me to really worry for Little Bit at that moment.
That is really a nice fish. 15 is enjoying it and Little Bit is watching.
The problem with the nest is that it is so narrow that Little Bit can’t do any fancy ‘snatch and grab’ manoeuvres or he might fall off.
Oh, but Little Bit wants some of that fish. Just look. He is trying to go under 15.
Ah, look. Little Bit got himself a small bite and pulled back.
Mum is looking. I really do hope that the parents know where 16 is. If you watched the Redding Eagle nest this season, you will know that Sentry fledged first and wasn’t seen for four days (I think that is correct) and then he was back at the nest with everyone.
Is 15 finished eating the fish? Little Bit is keeping a close eye.
Little Bit moves in.
Little Bit is mantling at 19:49:56. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it is when a raptor spreads its wings out full dipping slightly downward to hide what prey item they have. It helps them protect their food from snatch and grabs. They are also saying, “This is mine! Stay away!” Of course, it doesn’t always work. I am sure glad Little Bit got some fish even if it was the tail.
Little Bit is all finished!
I wonder if there will be more prey deliveries tonight? Will the parents have a fish and fly around the area trying to get 16 to fly out and follow them? Is 16 a wee bit lost? Unfortunately, we do not know the answers to those questions. Fingers crossed 16 is back tomorrow! But, I really do not want to see Mum and the three kids at once. Just imagine.
Dad delivered ‘something’ to the ND-LEEF nest at 09:28. Little Bit was hungry and immediately went to grab it.
There are reports that 16 was seen doing a fly by. Watchers report that twigs from higher up have fallen on the nest breaking off small parts. The nest is certainly very precarious. I know that Lindsay Grossman and others are alert to this fact. The nice thing is that Little Bit’s tail feathers are growing longer! You can see from the image above.
It is beautiful at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta and Kana’kini, Sky, and Ahote but no one is home. :(((((
Everything you might want to know and some things you didn’t know you wanted to know in Rutland’s newsletter about the ringing of Blue 33 and Maya’s three chicks at the Manton Bay nest.
Takoda knows where the nest is and where the food comes in. He is perched up on a branch ready to leap down during the day and is sleeping nearly in the same spot during the night. Wish I could put this lovely strong nest at the National Arboretum under Little Bit for awhile – or fly in one of Ron Magill’s chair nests until Little Bit fledges.
Dorcha and the chicks are waking up. It is 04:28 am on the Loch Arkaig nest and the sun has been up for a bit. Louis will soon be bringing in breakfast.
You can now see that the two chicks are too big for Dorcha to brood.
Then it started raining. No breakfast fish yet. Dorcha has everyone under cover.
Rain does not deter Louis from fishing or flying for his family. He delivers a nice sized fish even though big drops are falling. Dorcha is delighted.
Everyone dried off in a couple of hours. Louis arrives at the nest at 07:15 to check on things. He will return with another big fish at 11:32:24.
Just look at the size of those two Bobs! Incredible!
It started off as a rainy day at Loch of the Lowes, too. Laddie had a fish on the nest and Blue NC0 has been doing some supplemental fishing when intruders are in the area. Today Laddie has delivered four fish – not all whoppers but 4 in total.
No wonder Telyn is sleeping on the Dyfi Osprey nest’s perch! The three Bobs are taking up the entire nest! Ringing this week – and names. Can’t wait. No problems at this nest – not one other than room. 🙂
No problems with Aran’s deliveries at the Glaslyn nest for Mrs G and the triplets. For those of you that are just starting to watch this nest in Wales, Mrs G is the oldest Osprey in the UK at approximately 22-23 this year. Iris in the US is 29 this year.
It’s now 19:41 and Dylan has brought in what is most likely the last fish for the day to the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales. Everyone home. No problem with the Goshawk that I am aware of late in the day.
Wing flapping is the order of the day at the Manton Bay nest with its three big healthy girls.
Three little Bobs under Dory at the Boathouse Osprey nest on Hog Island, Maine.
Yesterday, ‘H’ reports that there were 9 fish delivered to the Mispillion nest – a combination of both Dad and Mum fishing with some small ones. That seems to be quite a bit of fish but perhaps not if they were so small.
This morning the two were sharing a lovely fish – being fed by Mum.
All three become distracted by an intruder. The bird on the left the largest was still eating and the one on the right had finished.
All of a sudden the osplet on the left attacks the one on the right. It appears that the one on the right looked it ‘directly in the eye’.
It is the osplet on the right that is going to finish this fight. How dare the other one attack it?! Dominance issues for sure. They are pretty equal.
‘H’ sent me the image below. Thanks H! It is pretty frightening when you see two osplets on top of a very high nest fighting.
It’s 11:08 and both have settled down. It looks really hot on the nest today. That could have set off the beaking. If you are wondering, — yes, one or both could go over the edge of the nest in this type of tumble. At the Port Lincoln Osprey nest, one chick was thrown off at the nest by the eldest at 66 days several years ago.
One of the intruders that attacked the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest in Lewes, Delaware several weeks ago was back on the platform nest ironically watching for intruders this morning. I wonder if it is Mum that is coming around? She lost her mate, her three chicks, and her nest to this bird.
Electra was working on her nest at the Cowlitz PUD this morning. That just rips at your heart. Three beautiful babies this year all carried off by an eagle. Can’t imagine it.
I have not seen any updates for the Pitkin County osplet that was in guarded condition yesterday after being pulled off the nest when the female got her talon caught in fishing line. One of the chicks perished in the fall.
This is a brief look at what is going on in Bird World. I am keeping a close eye on the ND-LEEF nest. Little Bit 17 needs at least another week before fledging. Is that nest going to hold?
Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care everyone!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Pitkin County Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys, Explore.org and Audubon, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bwywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, ND-LEEF, LRWT, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, and the NADC-AEF.
