11 February 2022
Good Morning Everyone..
Gosh, it is almost summer here on the Canadian Prairies. 0 C. We are supposed to get up to +2 today. Everything is melting and soon that white snow will be ugly and brown and melting. If the wind is not too bad today, I really want to get out and check out some birds. The numbers in the garden have been dwindling as the temperatures have risen over the past couple of days. I miss those Starlings! And only about half the number of Sparrows are about…of course, Dyson and her gang are here!
The kittens think I have been neglecting them too! So here are some recent photos. Missy is now – hold on – over 8 lbs and she is just 6 months old. It is the Maine Coon that is driving her growth and weight. Lewis is about a kilo or 2.2 lbs lighter.
What a great distraction they are when things go sideways in Bird World.
Having ignored most of the other nests completely, it was time to go and check on them and see how the naming of Anna and Louis’s eaglet is going. If you have not voted, please go and do so – if it is not too late by the time you read this. The voting ends at noon on Saturday and according to the forestry officer, Cody, this will be the last eaglet at KNF to be named. From now on, they will be numbers. So join in the fun! Go to the KNF-E1 streaming cam and click on the name of your choice. (Many of those that volunteer with some aspects of this nest would like to have a name that is associated with the area – a clear name like Evangeline. Not included. The only name that is linked to the nest is West and that has to do with the West Harbour Boat launch according to Tonya, the chat moderator).
Louis brought in a pile of fish after that Egret yesterday. According to chat monitor, Tonya, those fish were: Not sure, Gizzard Shad (GS), Bass, GS, Redear Sunfish (RES), GS, RES, GS, GS, RES, Black Crappie, RES, and GS. That was a total of thirteen fish! I do have to hand it to Louis for hauling in the most fish on any nest I have ever seen – ever!
KNF-E1 O3 looks like she swallowed a beach ball. Now why did I saw she? Well, a lot of people are looking at this eaglet and the size of its feet in comparison to Kisatchie and Kincaid and noticing the tremendous size difference. So just look above…I am in total agreement! Finally a female for Anna.
There are so many fish it is hard to decide what to eat and what to feed but one thing is for sure, no one is going hungry on Louis’s watch.
In the image below, just look at the size of 03 compared to Mum.
At the KNF-E3 nest of Alex and Andria, Valentine rushed up to claim a fish. Rhonda A caught it on video. Great mantling job. As many of you are aware, Nugget seems to have incurred an injury to its leg and talon. According to Tonya, the moderator on the KNF chat on Friday, that leg and talon are improving. Great news.
Now back to M15. How do the eyes of a frightened eagle look? one under stress? Gracie Shepherd caught the intruder at the SWFlorida Eagle nest. Sadly, this needs to stop. Will someone have to protect the property? and the natal nest? This is one reason that many nests do not give out their locations.
Do you remember the two white mice that came on the nest? ‘A’ and I wondered where these came from. They are not field mice. I thought of lab mice but you can also buy them at pet stores. Apparently some kind soul bought them and released them for M15 to catch and feed to the kids. All was done with a sense of wanting to help but, sometimes we need to trust. M15 is doing simply a fantastic job.
The police have been alerted. To be clear, this is extremely dangerous behaviour and could have meant the lives of the eaglets. People need to stay home and this person needs to be fined or go to jail. Anyone who wishes this family well will not be around this nest!
Baiba caught that great big catfish that M15 delivered on the 9th on video. Have a look:
Connick is eating, sleeping, and growing at the Captiva nest.
Connie looking down at her chick.
Good Night, Captiva!
Just down the road at the Captiva Osprey nest, Angus and Mabel spent time at the nest today, as usual. No eggs yet but just look at how inviting that egg cup looks!
For some time, Diane had some moss from the nest tangled around her legs. That appears to be gone but it did cause some worry with the Achieva Osprey platform watchers today. Things seem to be fine now.
Thank you ‘H’ for the news and photo. Diane laid her second egg at around 03:16:27 on the 11th, today.
Rose and Ron are doing a very good job incubating their eggs. If there is to be a third egg, it should arrive tomorrow. Personally, I hope not. Two is good, one healthy eaglet is great.
At the Webster, Texas Bald Eagle nest, Ringo is eating, sleeping, and growing just like Connick and E1-03 and Valentine and Nugget.
At the Superbeaks nest of PePe and Muhlady, Pearl and Tico, Pearl has branched. She managed this great achievement a couple of days ago when I was completely concentrating on SWFlorida. Congratulations Pearl. It has also been announced that Superbeaks will be back next year for another season. Fantastic!
A cute look at ‘the New Guy’ at Cal Falcons with a delivery for Annie? Where should I go he ponders. Remember. On Valentine’s Day, Cal Falcons will open a naming contest for the ‘new guy’. Names must be associated with UC-Berkeley.
Before I go, I need to tell you about a new owl streaming cam to watch that ‘A’ just alerted me to. It is GHOs Owlvira and Hoots at the Corona, California nest. That nest is 40′ high and it is 24″ round x 19″ deep (60 cm x 46 cm deep). It is constructed of wicker and is lined with coco core. There is one more egg to hatch. The first little one has just hatched on Friday evening around 19:48.
This is the link to that streaming cam:
https://www.youtube.com/live/xqvrR6dkWeg?feature=share
Making News:
A rare Northern European wading bird is in Herefordshire, UK.
Two more of the 55 Kakapo chicks that hatched in 2022 are receiving names on their first hatch day. Congratulations!
I want to thank you so much for being with me today. This is a hop and a skip over the nests. So much happening now at all the nests. Eggs being laid and incubation. Thank goodness for incubation! It gives us a chance to slow down. It is 4 days until pip watch at Big Bear Valley for Jackie and Shadow. It is 4 days until we begin to watch for Rosie to return to Richmond at the Osprey nest on the Whirley Gig in SF Bay. We are about 35 days from the first egg at the Cornell RTH nest of Big Red and Arthur….lots to look forward to. For now, keep M15 and the two eaglets in your thoughts. We never expected Harriet to disappear and not return. The fate of a nest can turn on a dime. Right now it is just magnificent – except for humans. What an amazing father M15 is to these two Es. Now take care of yourself. We will see you soon!
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Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, tweets, videos, and streaming cams that make up my screen captures and blog today: ‘H’, ‘A’, ‘J’, KNF E-1 and KNF E-3, SWFlorida Eagles and D Pritchett, Baibai and SWFL Eagles and D Pritchett, Window to Wildlife, Achieva Credit Union, WRDC, Paul White and the Webster Eagle Watchers, Superbeaks, SK Hideaway and cal Falcons, Live Owl Cam, BBC, and Kakapo Recovery.
Thanks so much again, Mary Ann! I’m so angry at people putting M15 under unnecessary stress. He’s already stretched too thin, but doing amazingly well. How can anyone try to put this situation in more jeopardy! I’m sorry, I know this nest is famous in its own right, but it’s not a celebrity without panties that you’re dying to capture for a big payday. Sorry, if I’m coming off too crass, but this just makes my blood boil. I have to stop before I become too rude. But thank you loads for all the other stories, always appreciated. And what about Louis – he’s such an overachiever. He’s like a stressed young dad in a store – wife tells you to get nappies for the newborn and you just buy fifty jumbo packs 🤣 It’s so cute! I love that you feature kakapos in your posts – they are so other-worldly 🤩
Dear Sabine, Thank you so much for your comment…I think that there are many that are going over the boiling edge on this issue – the trespassing of property, getting near an eagle nest, and endangering eagles! You are not crass. Humans need to leave the wildlife alone…except to help them in exceptional circumstances (injured or ill). Ah, aren’t those Kakapos cute. Such a success story. It demonstrates how hard they are working to keep those parrots healthy! Love NZ!
Mary Ann, I just want to say I love the email option. Thank you for enabling it! It is so nice and easy to keep up with your wonderful updates this way. I look forward to your recaps!!
Oh, thank you so much, Casey. I am so glad you are enjoying the updates from the streaming cams and so happy getting the blog in your inbox it works for you! Again, thank you for joining us!
Mary Ann,
I sent a message as I though Harriet was on the nest from 15:45 onwards but the eagle in the attic tried landing in the nest around 16:30ish..alas it appears was an intruder in the attic all along and it was M in the nest feeding the E’s.
The other eagle was chased off the nest, my apologies for alerting you.
pretty scary though another eagle coming so close to the chicks. M has so much on his plate right now but doing a wonderful job caring for the E’s
Yes, he does not need this!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so confused. The eagle on the branch looked like a male. So if that is true, then ‘the intruder’ was on the nest at 15:43. It’s all too confusing for words. So I’ll stop talking about it.
Congratulations to Owlvira and Hootie, who may have a second owlet by now (the hatch was well underway last night). Congratulations also to Jack and Diane. That’s such a happy outcome considering how concerned we were initially about Diane’s leg injury.
Now, to the intruder at SWFL. The police did turn up, and before they did, there was some extremely good footage captured of the offender. However, he was simply allowed to walk away (M15 watches him closely as he leaves), which really annoys me because an example should have been made of this individual.
It is worth pointing out that at one point, M15 was so frightened that he was away from the nest tree for nearly ten minutes, trying repeatedly to land again but being frightened away by this intruder. This was at a time of night when the GHOs would definitely be out and about hunting their dusk feed. The eaglets were put in mortal danger by this selfish idiot and we would all like to see something more substantial done about it than simply warning him off. Someone will be able to recognise him from that footage, with his glasses and his facial hair.
Finally, as if that were not enough, there was a second human intruder at SWFL last night, after the one described here. The second incident involved one person with a flashlight. I believe Lady Hawk has a video online of it somewhere. A lot of effort has gone into this nest and these eaglets. M15 needs his rest.
As always, thank you so much Mary Ann for all the work you do monitoring so many nests to keep us all up to date with our favourites. You are a wonderful champion of everything that matters in this world, and I am sure we all appreciate you beyond words. A huge hug on behalf of all your followers.