Late Saturday in Bird World

23 July 2022

Oh, it turned out to be a cracker of a day in Winnipeg. Everyone woke to a forecast of rain and then the skies cleared. The paths at the nature centre were packed with smiling faces and everyone saying ‘hello’ or talking about the teenage goslings. It was fantastic.

Sleepy babies.

Teenagers – long necks and legs. Paying close attention to the adult’s instructions!

One lone America White Pelican in the middle of the lake — image cropped a great deal!

It continues to be quiet in Bird World. Seriously this is such a good thing.

Good news has come from the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Ospreys. You will remember that the two gorgeous and almost fully feathered osplets on the nest were pulled off when Mum got her talon caught in monofilament line and nesting material. One died when it hit the ground but the other was saved by a passerby who knew what to do – and got immediate help! That chick was in very guarded condition at the time. This is today’s update and it is a little better.

5H1 made history today as the first fledgling Osprey in Poole Harbour, UK,, for 200 years. CJ7 and Blue 022’s chick really does love to fly. Here is a video of her landing on a subsequent flight….gosh, she is pretty steady on those legs.

The names of Louis and Dorcha’s two surviving osplets for the 2022 season have been released by the Woodland Trust. There were 2674 votes cast. The winning names are Willow for LW5 with 22.7% and Sarafina for LW6 with 20.5%. That was an amazing voting turnout. Thank you to everyone that took part.

That is Willow standing up. My goodness she is going to be dark like Dorcha. Stunning plumage.

Olsen had delivered several twiddler size fish and one nice one by 10:48 at the Osoyoos Osprey platform. He brought in another fish at 12:49. Thanks Olsen! Olsen appears to have a wee crop so he is eating. Remember it is like the directions for the oxygen masks in planes – put yours own and then help your child. Olsen and Soo have to eat in order to care for the chicks and keep their health up as good as they can in the circumstances of extreme heat. Soo immediately started feeding the two chicks. The rest of the day she has kept them covered when the sun was at its hottest.

Just a quick check on a couple of other nests. The juveniles have not been seen at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta but, there was a fly by this morning in the distance. Those nests sure do get lonely if you have been watching intently for months and then — everyone fledges, returns to the nest for prey drops after flying, and then…poof. Gone. Turn that love into making their world better! So instead of wondering if they survived, we can say with certainty that we have made improvements and a greater percentage lives to see their first birthday.

At the Two Harbours nest, you could hear Lancer squeeeeing at 14:47 as she flew onto the nest. She was so right. The adult flew in with a fish and got out of there really quick without getting its talons trapped. So nice to see you, Lancer.

I have been following the social media posts about the electrocution of Junior on Gabriola Island just off the coast of Vancouver Island in my country, Canada. The world watched the graciousness and the love that flourished on the Bald Eagle nest and their adoption of Malala, the Red-tail Hawk as a member of their family not as lunch. It touched the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

The tragic death of Junior, the fledgling eaglet, Malala’s friend and nest companion, shattered us.

I have noticed that some FB groups are no longer going to post any news about Junior. Of course, that is their choice but, please understand that this issue is not small and isolated. British Columbia has the largest population of Bald Eagles in the world. We are not talking about just ‘fixing’ one pole on Gabriola Island, what we want is an undertaking by BC Hydro to amend the way they construct the hydro poles immediately so that the space between the wires is wider than 7′, the length of a Bald Eagle’s wing. No bird would ever die again.

Make BC Hydro live up to what they say – words mean nothing without action behind them.

Of course, retrofitting those on Gabriola Island is paramount. More about this tomorrow but, please don’t let the story of Junior and Malala pass when something else comes in the news. We have a chance to make progress and — let’s do it. Do not let this opportunity slip through our fingers.

I am trying to find out the time of Christian Sasse’s talk on the electrocution of birds. It is possible that it will be on Wednesday afternoon at 1300 or 1330 Pacific time but, I am not certain. If we want to help the eagles we need to arm ourselves with an understanding of the problem and the solution! Thank you, Christian, for educating us!

Here is the contact information for BC Hydro:

Images on the Notre-Dame FB page show 3 juveniles flying around the nest and landing on a tree near to the nest tree. It has been really stormy there and some branches have broken. It is shocking that anything is left of that old Eagle nest!

Thank you so very much for being with us today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their FB postings and streaming cameras where I took my screen captures: Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, Bald Eagles 101, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Osoyoos Ospreys, Explore.org and IWS, GROWLS, and ND-LEEF.