30 November 2022
Good Morning Everyone,
I want to thank everyone who sent an e-mail or who made a comment about the loss of Orange’s dear darling Rubus. It was extremely difficult for everyone not least of all those wonderful people at Orange. We all loved the feisty little eyas. What joy he brought!
It would be helpful if there were an international protocol in place that everyone agreed on and knew. If a raptor is grounded and does not flee when a human approaches, it should be placed in care for an examination. No guessing, no regrets. Just a clear protocol. If the raptor requires care, it can receive it. If it doesn’t, it is released where it was found or at its nest, if known. Perhaps protocols could be put in place in memory of Rubus.
Meanwhile, Indigo is doing very well and thriving. Wonderful news. This is him yesterday eating a huge prey item! So glad he is visiting the scrape.
“Sulphur-crested Cockatoo” by NathanaelBC is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
It is not about raptors but, after the week we have had and now with Harriet having an injury from the GHOW hit last night, we need a laugh. We seriously need a laugh just to take us away even for a few minutes. This Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo will certainly help.
“G’ sent me a great article on Glen, the only surviving Tweed Valley osprey fledgling. It is a great article and you realise how miraculous this bird’s adventure has been – almost blown out to sea, having to flap its wings for 36 hours over the ocean! And finally finding a small piece of land to rest for 11 hours. Thanks, ‘G’. Glen deserves a long and safe life.
Here is the link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-63795390
Congratulations to M15 and to Harriet for their first egg of the 2022 season! The time was 18:09:34. M15 was there with Harriet during her labour.
Sharon Pollock posted a video of the happy moment:
At the nest of Pa Berry and Missy, Pa has had to deal with a GHOW strike like Harriet did the night before she laid her egg.
Many of you will have seen Tiger Mozone’s name on the PLO chat. Tiger runs a FB group re Ospreys and is encyclopaedic when it comes to the history of UK Ospreys. Tiger and Chloe Baker have a web site with much information on the UK Ospreys – magicats. He also has a Twitter account. Check him out.
Tiger and I have been chatting today about the state of the fish at Port Lincoln. I have been – well, almost, pulling my hair out over the lack of fish. Is it because of commercial fishing? flooding and silt? changing water temperatures due to climate change? Dad’s age? You have probably asked yourself the same thing. So far no one seems to have come up with an answer but Tiger and I talked about practical or possible solutions. I have always maintained that fish must be provided. But how do you provide fish? Well, large commercial-like tanks such as the ones that the Ospreys in South America steal from is one solution. Tiger thinks a fish pond or stocking the lagoon where the barge is located. I wonder how many regulations there are for doing this? Are there any more than all of the permissions required for intervention?
Zoe is wide awake and wanting fish. Dad will deliver early today. I wonder if she spotted him flying off.
Did you know that there is a river that was created and stocked just so photographers could take images of Osprey fishing? Yes. It is the River Gwash and Tiger told me about it today. So if you can build a river in the UK and stock it so Ospreys can fish and charge people to photograph them in a hide doing just that then, why not stock the lagoon where the barge is and – from a safe distance – allow people for a charge to photograph them? Why not? It might bring more tourism to the area, too! That along with Osprey Excursions.
The Gwash River runs through Rutland, Leicestershire, and Lincolnshire.
Other places stock ponds and lochs for the osprey such as Rutland and Keider. It is time that everyone considered this as humans have mismanaged our planet so much. We owe it to these beautiful birds.
Alden has still not been seen. A video clip of Annie reacting to the visiting male.
Dear Gabby waits for Samson’s return. If you did not see my correction, Samson was not injured. There was a posting on FB showing what appeared to be an injury to Samson’s head; I carried that information in a blog. The AEF wishes for everyone to know that he was not seen injured when he was at the nest. I had posted the update in a later blog but it seems some did not see it. Apologies for any confusion.
This is the latest announcement from the AEF on FB at the time of writing this blog:
We know that Bella returned to her nest after three weeks and there is a story surfacing out of Hanover of the resident female returning to her nest after being absent for a week. It gives me hope that Samson will return!
Jackie and Shadow always put a smile on my face and here they are working on their nest at Big Bear. Adorable. I received a note that Shadow had been away since the 24th returning today, 5 days later (the information is second hand but comes from a trusted source). So, let us all take a deep breath and believe that Samson just took a wee break before it all begins, too.
The Southern Royal Osprey are a delight to watch and I know that many of enjoyed watching Lillibet, the 2022 Royal Cam chick grow and fledge and the marvelous care that YRK gave to her daughter after OGK went missing in May. There is a new Royal family and Dad, GLY, is incubating that precious egg. Sharon Dunne (aka Lady Hawk) has published a video of the new family and some visitors.
Migration News:
Waba is still in the Sudan.
Bonus is still in Turkey but he has started moving South! Well done, Bonus.
There is a silver lining in today’s news with the arrival of the first egg at the Bald Eagle nest of M15 and Harriet in Fort Myers, Florida.
Please send your best wishes to Rita so that she is strong enough for her operation. ‘H’ wrote this morning to tell me it is scheduled for 1500 Eastern time today. Send good wishes to Alden and Samson wherever they are please come home if you can, and to everyone at Orange and all those who loved little Rubus. He is much missed.
Thank you for being with me. This is not a very long blog but I hope there is something good in there for everyone. I am now ready to try and start packing! Take care of yourselves. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their posts, videos, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: ‘H’ and ‘G’ for their notes, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and S Pollock, Berry College, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Cal Falcons, NEFL-AEF, River Gwash Ospreys, abc.net.au, York Dispatch, FOBBV, NZ DOC and Sharon Dunne, and Looduskalender Forum.
A mixed bag of news today – fingers crossed for good outcomes for everyone featured in this newsletter.
In case you haven’t read them, here are the previous news articles featuring the adventurous Glen (Blue 708):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-62967646
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-63584969
This Glen is going to give us all ulcers. What a strong character he is. Oh, I hope that he returns, finds a mate, and raises amazing fledglings – he sure has got good DNA. And thank you. I will look at those right now. I am glad the news is covering Glen. They should and people around the world should understand how special these birds are – and the obstacles they must overcome to succeed. Thank you.
Good morning Mary Ann! Please have an enjoyable and safe trip. 🤗
Thank you for all the updates, photos, and links. We sure miss seeing little Rubus. Glad Indigo is doing well. I wonder if Diamond and Xavier knew about little Rubus. 🙏😢
Maybe Fad has just slowed down at Port Lincoln and wants Zoe to learn to fish in between times of bringing a fish to her.
It’s just an idea but I don’t know.
So glad that Glenn is ok and the black storks too!
Congratulations to Harriett and M15 on their first egg. Maybe the owl will not bother her now that she is incubating🙏
But hopefully it won’t bother M15 too. It sure was a problem last season too.
Prayers for Samson’s return 🙏❤️🦅and prayers for Rita to do well with her surgery today 🙏❤️🦅 also for Alden’s return 🙏❤️
Thank you and hope to see you again soon Mary Ann! Take care!
Linda
This was posted on the youtube page: Rubus’s body was found 29 November by one of our staff near where he was last seen, several hundred metres behind the tower. Cause of death (from vet X ray) was likely to be a broken neck. The clavicle (collarbone) was clearly broken, and the neck appeared to have a thin fracture too. So most likely a flying accident with instantaneous death. Possibly hit by a car, but that seems unlikely as it wasn’t that close to the road and the road closest to that spot was a steep bend in the campus, where cars travel very slowly.
I am so sorry I have not been able to answer the comments until tonight. Thank you, Jill, for always keeping me alerted to things at Orange. —- It seems to me to be quite strange that if Rubus was found near to where he was last seen that it took them 5 days to find him. It would have been the first place that should have looked!!!!!!!! As you can see, I am still going through the stages of grieving over Rubus and am still at ‘anger’. That said, it is so good to see that Indigo is strong and feisty.
The thing I observed about Rubus was that he hadn’t seriously worked on his “wingercizing” to strengthen his wings and he hadn’t done a lot of practice jump/flying inside the box where it was safe.
He didn’t have flight confidence and in a vid posted when he was seen on campus, he was running across a roof instead of using his wings.
In my opinion, they should have put Rubus back in the box after checking him out. We can only hope, as you said, they will create some written protocols going forward. The loss of a raptor by human failures is unforgivable. Just like not pulling those Osprey chicks from Port Lincoln.
You have amazing strength and I support your blog whole heartedly. Especially since you let me vent and don’t threaten to remove my access!
Thank you!
Yes, protocols so that humans do not cause the deaths!!!!!!! Absolutely. I just wish they would do this – they meaning everyone who has access to, researches, and has authority over a nest. It is sad, very sad..all of those loses.
I just read this. But as you said, why didn’t go back there to look for him in the first place. Too sad.
Cilla Kinross
I think he probably died shortly after I saw him on the 23rd. I’m guessing it was a flying accident, perhaps chasing a parent, he might have hit a pole by the building