17 September 2022
Good Morning Everyone!
The rain has not really stopped. Perhaps I realize it more now that I am literally living in a glass room (and loving it). My neighbour corrected me as I referred to ‘the sunroom’ being nearly finished with a smile – ‘conservatory’. Yes, of course. Mr Blue Jay and the Crows would not be able to stand above me – smiling – telling me that all of the peanuts are now gone if that was a solid roof. I knew the peanuts and cheesy sausages were sparce as one of them picked through the leftovers – it was Little Red! Little Red has come to get peanuts. You have no idea how absolutely happy that makes me feel…having felt guilty for months for tearing down his penthouse so I could have this lovely space. I wish I could share photos – between the heavy rain and the window screens it is impossible.
Making News:
Avian Flu is not going away anytime soon. Farmers are calling for a vaccine for ‘the invisible enemy’ in this article in The Guardian.
ps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/14/unstoppable-bird-flu-epidemic-causes-growing-alarm-among-dutch-farmers
Virologist Thijs Kuiken would say that it is the factory farming of poultry that is the case and that the solution is to not farm animals. Dr Kuiken graduated with his PhD from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and is now with the University of Erasmus at Rotterdam. He is a world authority on Avian Flu and I met him when the two White-tailed Eagles in Estonia contacted H5N1 in the spring of 2021. This is an article that he wrote to help non-scientists understand Avian Flu – its origins and consequences for humans.
It is good to have a reminder.
The Ferris Akel Tour is early this Saturday. Ferris is at the Cornell Open House at their raptor centre and guess who was there?!!!! E3. One of Big Red and Ezra’s eyases that was injured from 8 years ago. She is a beautiful ambassador!
There was a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon ambassador.
And a lovely owl…
You can tune in to Ferris Akel’s tour. The ambassadors are at the beginning. There are Blue Herons and Green Herons, too!
Nest News:
The big news of the day arrived in my inbox a second ago from ‘H’ – there is a pip at Port Lincoln at 20:53:40!
The pip in the back egg is larger and it is possible something is happening in that front egg closer to the screen. We wait.
Mum is sleeping. She is going to get terrifically busy after incubating these eggs – soon!
View of the eggs: pip, 21:32, 22:03, 22:19, 22:43, 22:57, 23:42, 23:54, 00:01, 00:10, 0:20 so far.
You can catch the action at Port Lincoln here:
I cannot think of a better shorter blog this morning than the hatch watch now at Port Lincoln. I couldn’t wait to tell you so you can tune in and watch some of the action as we wait for Ervie’s siblings to hatch!
Thank you to The Guardian, Ferris Akel, and to Port Lincoln Ospreys for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures this morning.
Thank you for joining me. I will be back either later today or tomorrow from Toronto. Please take care. See you soon!!!!!!!
Oh, with the Port Lincoln eggs pipping, I realized we must be close to Ervie’s first birthday! Sure enough, Ervie hatched 9/16/2021, so yesterday was Ervie’s birthday! (Well, it is already the 18th at Port Lincoln, so maybe it was two days ago …) Happy birthday, Ervie! Wishing you many more — so sorry that I forgot. (Maybe that is why he flew by to say “hi” to Mum?)
Yes and Ervie buzzed the nest!!!!!!! I suspect he wanted a fish cake and a welcome home!!!! LOL. The first sibling of this year is working at it slowly.
Thanks Mary Ann for this wonderful
Update! The pip is wonderful news 🙂
Ervie must have known! Lol❤️
The falcon pics and the video are great! Thanks for all of them too!
Have a great Saturday evening!
Linda
At 11.41:15 this morning (18 September), the Collins Street female was on her balcony, having just got off the nest, when a male falcon landed on her and commenced mating! I think it is the old dad, not the new male, but it’s hard to be certain. What IS going on here? In Port Lincoln, the first osplet is almost entirely out of its egg and we think there a pip on a second egg. So exciting.
This is a real tragedy possibly in the making at Melbourne. There is definitely territory competition between the old male and new. The fact that the old male cannot get rid of the second male will turn out in the old probably leaving the territory or a fight to the death between the two. Neither may know whose eggs those are — I am always shocked at how the male Ospreys do and they kick the other males eggs out of the nest. We don’t really know if the new female ousted the old one!!!!!!! It is sadly the normal process of nests being taken over. Sadly, it could mean the loss of the clutch.
Three minutes after the mating episode described in my last comment, after the female had flown off, the old male returned, and stood on the ledge facing the nest, apparently deciding whether to incubate. Mum can be heard yelling in the background, probably flying (as her calls get further away). Dad stands in front of the nest for just under two minutes, then leaves.
BTW. Thank you for all of this news Alison. I am not feeling 100% so it is hard to keep up.
We have a hatch at Port Lincoln. 9.14pm South Australian time and the osplet is fully out of the egg.
Oh, so cute! It looks like there will be another one day today. This is fantastic. The closer together they hatch, the better.