Fledge in Finland and early Thursday brief news in Bird World

28 July 2022

The dark clouds are passing overhead rather quickly. On Wednesday afternoon, it rained then stopped and then poured and this continued til well past 1700. It is now 21:17 and I have been checking on the Osoyoos Osprey nest hoping beyond hope that a big fish found its way there. No. Soo and the two chicks had a reasonable size fish delivery around lunch time and another delivery at 1453 (thanks so much ‘H’). It is 1917 there now. Soo has done a remarkable job shading the two chicks who probably know they are hot but do not understand the full extent of ‘why’ Mum wants to keep them shaded.

It is Thursday morning and there have been two fish deliveries so far – at 0704 and at 0736.

Even in unthinkable heat, Olsen has managed to get fish on the nest – 18 the other day ‘Burky 4’ told me. Many were twiddlers – 2 bites and gone – but it all adds up. I keep seeing a vacuum cleaner shooting fish up on that nest! Well, let me fantasize…meanwhile…just hope fish keep coming. It is their hydration and it is so easy to get dehydrated in these temperatures. So far they are looking good.

At 0400 there is a slight pink glow to the sky and a mist over the landscape at the Janakkalan Nest in Finland. One of the chicks sleeps like an adult perched on the rim of the nest while the other still prefers to be a duckling.

By 0530 the pair are waking up and wanting Dad to fly in with a fresh fish. What beautiful osplets, almost ready to fledge. I wonder if their Mum held on as long as she could to ensure they were old enough to take care of themselves?

Big stretches. If you watch a Red-tail Hawk or Peregrine Falcon nest, it looks like the adults are doing stretches learned in martial arts of Pilates classes.

Fledging is just a few winks away — and surely it was. The biggest and strongest fledged returning to the nest a couple of hours later. Dad has been dropping fish and defending the nest. There is a goshawk flying around the nest. Let us hope that the other eats and gets strong enough and steady to fly away!!!!!! Look at this one flap those wings — and then – the other does, too.

The storklets on the Karula National Forest nest of Karl II and Kaia are wishing for breakfast and I really doubt whether they care if it is frogs or fish or both!

The birds in Finland and in Estonia – on the nests above and all the other nests – have huge challenges in their migration – all of them human caused. They must fly over and perhaps stay in a war zone in the Ukraine. Karl II normally spends time at a nature reserve near Odessa which is currently being bombed. Then there are illegal hunters who kill the birds just because they can. Fires are also present and – today the Democratic Republic of Congo -where some of the these beautiful birds spend their winter – is auctioning off parts of the rainforest for oil drilling. Send them lots of positive energy.

Xavier and Diamond do not have any fledglings about to interrupt their bonding sessions in the scrape on Sturt University’s water tower in Orange, Australia.

SE29 is passed out in a food coma at 1243 and Lady is feeding SE30. So cute. It will have a nice little crop! This is the best…hope there is lots of food on the nest, let the big one get its fill and pass out and then the little one gets fed. It is a win-win.

Sydney Sea Eagles posted this report on the food brought to the nest.

Richmond and Rosie have been taking care of the young fledgling that landed on their nest with the kind of graciousness and compassion that everyone deserves – it is quite moving. In his book, The Animal Manifesto, Marc Bekoff, writes extensively about animals helping their own species and other animals, humans helping animals, animals helping humans – and humans helping humans.

The intruder stretching.

The number of Osprey nests alongside San Francisco Bay is growing. In 2000 there were none, in 2021 there were 51 nests with 99 fledglings! Rosie and Richmond’s nest is at the old navy shipyard and is on the Point Potrero Whirley Crane that was built for the WWII ships known as the Victory Ships. Rosie was named after the women who worked there, the Riveters so she is Rosie the Riveter. Rosie and Richmond have been raising chicks here for 6 seasons. Richmond is one of few ospreys that does not migrate.

The chicks are known for visiting each other’s nests and somewhere in the history of Richmond and Rosie is mention of one of theirs packing it up and moving to another nest. I continue to search for the year and name. If you remember please let me know. Brooks has been spotted by the GGA Volunteers on another nest. She is fine according to them.

This is a quick look at the nests. There have been sightings of ND17 with its siblings and this is all good news! Our little resourceful eaglet has been home long enough for us to now know that it is either getting food drops, is hunting its own meals, or both. The goshawk in Finland is a real concern to the remaining chick on the Janakkalan nest. They could, of course, lure the fledgling into the forest which is the way that they operate. Let us hope that the Dad continues to keep the hawk at bay.

Take care everyone. Happy Thursday. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their FB posts, their blogs and archives, and their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, SF Bay Ospreys and GGA, Eagle Cam, Sydney Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Osoyoos Ospreys, and Sturt University Falcon Cam.