15 October 2022
Little Bob,
It is nearing midnight on the Canadian Prairies, and it is just after 1500 on the 16th of October in Port Lincoln, Australia. As the tears pour down my cheeks, like the monsoon rains in Chennai in July, you are struggling to take your very last breath. It is so very, very hard to say goodbye to you.
Siblicide. We have to say the word to acknowledge that your life was taken away from you. You did not die of a disease. You died because you were physically tortured, mentally terrorized, and kept from eating by your oldest sibling. Those are the facts. What began as a perfect nest of three osplets, fell apart.
You hatched 24 days ago. Oh, how you tugged at our heart strings from the moment you popped out of that shell. I am so very grateful for the joy that you brought into my life and the lives of so many others.
Little Bob, you need to know that you did not die alone. Hundreds of people from around the world wrapped you gently in their arms, rubbed your face and your feet, surrounding you with warmth and love. You will not be forgotten little one.
Soar high.
Deepest condolences to Mum and Dad, to the Port Lincoln Osprey community, and to all those who loved this little bundle of fluff and feathers. May we all live to realize the challenges that our wildlife face every day of their lives and in memory of Little Bob work hard to make the environment better.
Thank you, Port Lincoln, for your streaming cam where I took my screen captures.
Thank you for the update.
I prayed every day for a little more, one more day of good luck so that the BIG would settle down soon.
I can’t stop crying. I loved Little. Rest in peace, Little.
Thanks for the update Mary Ann. It is so very heartbreaking. I looked one last time last evening before I went to bed and he was still laying there but couldn’t eat. Some of the chatters were saying something about a pellet that he couldn’t get rid of and others were saying a disease but I knew that Big had harmed him and that he probably couldn’t eat. He hurt Littles neck. That is what I think and he was hurting and couldn’t eat when he got so weak. May little spur high and Rest in Peace with no pain anymore.
We will always remember him as he held a special place in our hearts 🙏❤️
That update was the most difficult entry to write. It breaks my heart when we lose one to violence on the nest. It wasn’t a pellet, it wasn’t disease, it was siblicide. Clear and simple, textbook siblicide. I rewatched the footage from around 0930 many times and I think Big really hurt Little’s neck. He was never the same after that. I am so sad that he had to suffer even for a minute — he was certainly loved and won’t be forgotten.
Oh, Akane, I really did not want to send that update. Like you, I had hoped beyond hope that Big would settle down. So many fish yesterday. Little Bob was certainly loved.
Oh Mary-Ann, l am so sorry. I know how much you feel the loss of these precious third hatches. I know that, like me, you have cried and cried over Little Bob. I often said over the past three and a half weeks that watching Little Bob eat was my favourite thing to do. “Go, Little Bob, go!!” I would shout encouragement at the screen when he got a mouthful! It became a running gag in my household.
I don’t know what it was about Little Bob that grabbed my heart. I sobbed over the Dale Hollow disaster, but somehow this one felt so very personal. I even wondered yesterday whether it was a stupid mistake to allow myself to become emotionally involved with a third hatch. But of course it could never have been a mistake to watch and love that tiny osplet. He will always be in our hearts. Rest in peace sweet baby. We loved you beyond words. Again, I am crying as I type.
Fly high Little Bob.
Oh, what a lovely letter, Alison. He was much loved and he just pulled at the heart strings. Some might say it is cheering for the underdog…I don’t know but I just wish now that fish had fallen from the sky all over that barge for the past week…it might have made a difference.
sad to read about little Bob. Fly high and find that Rainbow Bridge that will take you to the place where you will find others to join in the joys of flight and good company!
Well said. So sad.