GROWLS will be back up 15 January…Saturday in Bird World

14 January 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that the start to the weekend has been a good one and that Friday the 13th was lucky for you! It is warming up on the Canadian Prairies. It will be a balmy -1 C tomorrow. How lovely! Everyone will be out and about and it might be a good day to try and see if those chickadees will come to feed in my hand. I have opted lately to go to the local nature centre instead of driving an hour. It felt a little indulgent at a time when I am trying to have a very low carbon footprint. In the garden, it was Sparrows and European Starlings today along with Dyson and her gang. We have set up a trail camera and are hoping to see if the rabbits come during the night. I will let you know!

Thank you for all your comments and letters. I am getting caught up in my replies. Apologies for being a little later than I would like. There is lots of news today and pictures…grab a cuppa’.

In the Mailbox:

‘L’ asks if Xavier is still around? The answer is a decided, ‘yes’. Xavier is still delivering prey to Indigo in the scrape and getting out as quickly as he can. No adult falcon wants their talons ripped to shreds by a fledgling that thinks they are starving (Indigo isn’t). All is well at Orange!

My daughter just sent me some news coming out of British Columbia. A Great Horned Owl has closed down 4 ski hills!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/overland-ski-club-owl-attack-closure-1.6713589

In the News:

So many of you have written in to find out what happened at GROWLS. I am so happy to report that their camera will come back on line on the 15th of January and this may also apply to their FB presence! This was home to Junior and Malala, the adopted RTH, in 2022.

More eagles are being euthanised as they arrive at the rehabbers with Avian Flu. This breaks everyone’s hearts but, we must prepare ourselves for it to get worse impacting many of the raptor families that we cherish. It appears to be almost everywhere. Reports from Virginia yesterday and Oklahoma today.

Bald Eagles are increasing in numbers but, what will be the net result after Avian flu in 2023?

More lead…

Just received the Florida Audubon newsletter and I want to share it with you if you do not receive it. There is a good discussion on how better to prepare for more and stronger hurricanes like Ian in the future – ways to help our wildlife.

Last year the two eaglets at the Hilton Head nest died of Avian Flu. Their parents, Mitch and Harriet, have abandoned the nest, according to the announcement, and it has now been taken over by Great Horned Owls. Question: Did Mitch and Harriet abandon the nest? or did one or both die of Avian Flu last year? Does anyone know for sure?

This is highly illegal (Migratory Bird Act). Sadly we see nests removed – no one seems to care. So get mad and tell the USFWS. It is egg laying season. Gracious. This really makes me angry. I hope they have to put it back in place!

Checking the nests:

It is clear that the other egg at the nest of Anna and Louis, KNF E1 is not going to hatch (same at Captiva). There are lots of reasons for why eggs do not hatch. According to Loudon Wildlife Conservancy, there are two main reasons that eagle eggs do not hatch:

There are two main reasons an egg won’t hatch.  The first is that it wasn’t fertilized in the process of mating.  It requires great timing for the female’s ovum and the male’s sperm to meet as it is going through the female’s oviduct.  Sometimes multiple mating attempts are seen on cams, but many mating attempts may occur out of cam view.  Along with needing the proper amount of mating attempts, the mating attempt must be successful.  It’s all about timing!

The second reason why an egg won’t hatch has to do with some factor that happened after fertilization halting the process of embryo development.  It could be an external factor such as improper temperature, improper humidity, or lack of rolling the egg (which helps keep the embryo from sticking to the shell).  Somewhere in the process the egg may have developed a crack that allowed bacteria to enter the egg, or it may have been accidentally damaged.  Eggs have been witnessed on web cams to be stepped on and broken open during the incubation period.

17 March 2022, Loudon Wildlife Conservancy

The AEF also believes that the age of the eagle might have some bearing believing that fertility rates decline as eagles age. There are, however, a number of Bald Eagles that challenge that theory such as Harriet at SWFlorida who is most likely around 28 years old.

Do we care? I don’t. The increasing number of eagles can cause problems in the future. Louis and Anna have the most adorable eaglet. There will be more fish for Anna – she does love her fish!!!!!!!

Just released late Friday evening by Tonya Irwin for KNF:

The two eaglets of Alex and Andria at the KNF E3 nest are really in a growth spurt. It is hard to realise that we were worrying about the wee one getting any food last week. These two are quite friendly and adorable. The eldest got up by the railings yesterday and today, the adults are bringing in moss and lining the nest around the rails. Smart. Trying to keep those feisty eaglets in the centre! Just check out the thermal down coming on the eldest!

It started out as a wet soggy Friday morning at Superbeaks. Those two eagles will be fine even with the wind and rain. They are pretty much 95% covered with thermal down and you can see in some of the images below the flood feathers coming in. Thank you to the cam operator for those amazing close ups! One day apart. Lovely eaglets. You can see eagle development by examining these three nests: 5 weeks at Superbeaks down to a week at KNF E1 (almost a week).

It is a nasty wet windy day at the Captiva Eagle nest of Connie and Clive. There are fish tucked into every corner of that nest. Clive is doing great and having spare food when stormy weather and rough seas or water sources could prevent fishing is wise.

Oh, my goodness, the high winds are really rocking and rolling Gabby’s nest up near Jacksonville. Those gusts are around 31 kph and rain is expected later.

V3 was in with a fish which he ate on the nest early in the day before the winds began to whip up. He does have lots of wounds on his talons but they are healing. Ah, if he fishes in salt water the salt will help heal them. V3 wet and drying off. Eating his fish next.

Soggy at the SWFlorida nest of Harriet and M15. Everyone in Florida will be wet at sometime on Friday it seems. It did clear and 21 and 22 are enjoying fish and rabbit meals. They are so cute. I know that many of you are afraid to watch because they might beak one another but, seriously, you are missing out on the normal development of eaglets. Harriet, to my knowledge, has never ‘lost’ an eaglet to siblicide. I sure don’t see it happening this year. Both are healthy and 22 knows that 21 is boss even if it wants to test that fact once in awhile. LOL.

Jackie and Shadow are not doing hard incubation yet. They seem to be taking turns with Jackie doing most of the incubating. I noticed that they had semi-covered the egg with nest grasses. I am not sure this would fool an intelligent Crow. Oh, take care Jackie and Shadow! Sometimes I do not ‘trust the eagles’.

Chase visited the Two Harbours nest in the Channel Islands that he shares with Cholyn, Thunder’s mother.

Caught one of the adults on the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest in St Patrick’s Park, South Bend, Indiana. This is the natal nest of Little Bit ND17 who miraculously survived falling out of the nest thanks to Humane Indiana Wildlife. BTW. They are having a big party. If you live in the area, check it out. It is a fundraiser. In addition, there was some news that local BOGs believe that Little Bit ND17 has visited the area recently. Maybe pictures will be forthcoming. The new nest is looking good after the old one collapsed. These adults believe in chair rails! Thank you Mum and Dad.

Oh, and here are those images of the visit to the nest. Oh, I sure hope it was him showing us he is doing grand.

Many of you are Royal Albatross lovers and watchers. GLY has come in to relieve L as hatch approaches for the Royal Cam family at Taiaroa Head in New Zealand. Elain captures the amazing sky calls and the changeover in her video.

Mum and Dad are slowing down their deliveries – a bit. Zoe is 118 days old. The norm for leaving the nest is 112 at PLO. It looks like Zoe might be breaking another record. On Friday, in PL, Mum brought Zoe one fish. On Saturday, Zoe dove down at 0941 but it appears she did not catch a fish. I have a feeling that if she has not caught her own fish, our girl will shortly. She certainly has the bobbing of the head and focusing down and her dives are excellent. The waters are choppy later on Saturday. Not good for a novice fisher.

Zoe does not like gulls!

Mum didn’t give that fish to Zoe! (at least not on camera)

Did you know that we can help our birds by helping ourselves and the planet? Of course, you did! Two tips for today to make the world a better place. First, dryer sheets with fabric softener. We have seen and read the ads. We have used them and loved the ways the clothes smelled after drying. They are, however, bad for the planet and bad for our health. Did you know that if you add some distilled white vinegar to your wash that it will work as a natural softener? Try it. It is amazing what distilled white vinegar is good for. Once upon a time when I worked 24/7, I had a cleaning lady once in awhile come in to give me a hand. The only thing she used was distilled white vinegar, lemons, and baking soda. My house was always spotless and sparkly. Second tip. Do you own microfibre cloths? Oh, yes, they are fantastic for their absorption but did you know that every time they are washed they will shed millions of microfibres that get into the waterways? Think micro plastic.

Oh, there is so much going on! I continue to say that it is hard to keep up with all the nests — and it is.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care wherever you are. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their letters, posts, tweets, announcements, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: ‘L’, ‘J’, CBC.CA, Terry Carman and Bald Eagles Live Nest Cams and News, Medina Raptor Centre, Florida Audubon, KNF-E1, Tonya Irwin and Kistachie National Forest Eagle Cam Fans FB, KNF-E3, Superbeaks, Window to Wildlife, NEFL-AEF, SWFL and D Pritchett, FOBBV, IWS and Explore.org, ND-LEEF, Elain and NZ DOC, and Friends of Osprey.