Maya’s home! hatch at Achieva, Egg at Centreport …Sunday in Bird World

19 March 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

If you live in the United Kingdom, Happy Mother’s Day! And what a fantastic day it is with Maya landing on the nest. Blue 25 is there, and our guilty male, Blue 33, comes in with a fish! Thanks, Geemeff, for the head’s up!

Look at Blue 33’s eyes – like, oh gosh, what do I do now? Too funny. Go home, Blue 25. You just wanted free fish anyway!!!!!!! This is such a relief!

Oh, you can almost ‘smell’ spring on the Canadian Prairies. The snow is melting, and we have reached the balmy temperature of -5 C. Incredible. the Pileated Woodpecker has decided the garden is a good breakfast stop, and I must remember to fill up the suet logs for him. The Sparrows are singing and one Blue Jay has returned. Meanwhile, the Chickadees are busy in a tree in the front where I cannot see them. Are they making a nest?

Lewis has loved watching the squirrels and birds out the garden door! So happy he enjoys looking outside and not getting into mischief 24/7. He has only been inside the fridge twice now, and I have discovered that the loose tea packets sound like cat treats. I could not imagine what was making him so crazy. Of course, then he just had to have some treats. LOL. Thankfully he runs it all off during the day and night. Meanwhile, Missy lets Lewis get into trouble. She waits til the middle of the night for her turn when no one is looking!

After all the running around watching the birds and squirrels from room to room, Lewis is exhausted! Guess who takes up the entire big dog bed? and who has to sleep in the little basket?

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The first hatch of the 2023 season for Jack and Diane at the Achieva Osprey Platform in St Petersburg, Florida came Saturday morning! 10:22:21 seems to be about the time. These are Tiny Tot Tumbles parents and there are two more eggs to hatch. Congratulations to everyone at Achieva.

Jack looks down at his new baby – proud dad.

M15 seemed to be entered into some speed fishing derby this morning. He brought four fish to the nest for the Es, nice size fish, from 0927-12:54. I stopped watching after that, knowing that the pair were good to go for another 48 hours if necessary! M15 didn’t stop with those four deliveries, he kept on going! Are you trying to impress the new lady, M15, like you have impressed us this year?

So many fish and birds were landing on the nest today that 22 was eating one and had a spare! And 21 was so full he didn’t want it. My last count of deliveries was six.

At 17:54, M15 came down from his branch and fed the eaglets the bird that he had brought. Talk about sweet.

Lady Hawk gives us some close ups of the female and in the background you can hear E22 squeeing very loudly – if he didn’t we would think something was wrong, right? Gosh, I am going to miss that sound!

M15 has already brought in food to the Es on Sunday morning as I prepare to publish this blog. Amazing Dad and Mum.

We all love Indigo. We also know that Diamond and Xavier do, too. Alas, they are trying hard to suggest to Indigo that he is now old enough to strike out and find his territory, and it isn’t their scrape box! Poor Indigo. Oh, this reminds me of life with Izzi!!!!

Cute little Xavier. He will let Diamond take care of Indigo!

If you have been watching the Moorings Park Osprey platform, the beaking is sometimes very difficult. Abby is quite the aggressive young lady when she wants to be, and she signals to Victor she is the boss. You need to watch the feedings because Victor is getting fed. That is what we want to see. Victor eating. And he is!

The key is for the one being beaked and being submissive to never look the dominant chick in the eye. It seems to set them off. The feedings below were at 11:26 and 14:21.

The dominant chick needs to be reassured that they will get food. The younger ones learn, if necessary, to give in to that and wait their turn. Abby now has a darker, blacker head.

Victor does not always get fed at every meal. The key is that he is eating and this phase should pass. There is plenty of food and both Harry and Sally are good parents. It is part of growing up on an osprey nest. At the 1654 feeding, Victor was in an awkward position. I presume he wanted to stay out of Abby’s way. He did get some fish.

That is Victor up at Sally’s beak. He is getting some bites of the fish before Abby attacks. She is being extremely aggressive despite there being enough fish for both. Let us hope that Abby goes into food coma and Victor gets some more.

Abby leaves the feed with a nice crop and Victor wants Sally to keep feeding. Where is the fish, Mum?

Victor is fish-calling. There is nothing left. What we need, is for Harry to fly to the nest with another great big fish for the last meal. Fill Abby up, and then Victor can have a good old feed. That is what he needs.

The one thing I like about eagles is that they leave prey on the nest for the Mum to feed the babies. Ospreys do not do that. They do not leave anything that will attract predators or insects. So Sally and the chicks are heavily reliant on Harry for prompt deliveries. Any break in the pattern will set the dominant chick off into survival mode where they worry that food is in short supply.

These images are from an earlier feed in the afternoon.

If you were watching the Moorings, Harry came in right on time with a nice chunk of fish. It was 19:12. Abby was still full and Victor was right up at the table! Victor is the one that is lighter and with the more copper head.

Victor is still getting fed at 1937 – so a 25-minute dinner. Note that Abby is in a food coma and does not care what is happening. This is how you keep a nest from falling into siblicide. Good management of deliveries when things get ticklish. Over the years, I have seen the female remove fish from the nest and return with it to feed the little one once the dominant pass out. (A good example was Blue35 at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria 2 years ago).

Victor is still fed at 19:45. Abby is now at the table. No worries for our little one tonight. He just ate a huge amount of fish!!!!!!!!!!! Throughout, Victor continued to do crop drops to hold more food. Smart.

Even with Abby there, Victor has not backed down and continues to be fed. This is all good. It is 19:48. There is also a lot of fish left. Thanks, Harry!

R4 and R5 each had nice crops when I checked in on a late-feeding Saturday. Rose is getting there. Just have patience. There is plenty of food for these two, and she has Ron as a backup as she learns her new role.

Ron giving them an early morning feed.

Rose feeding in the afternoon.

Evening meal compliments of Dad, Ron. I did not see one of the eaglets eat. Full from an earlier meal? Issues? We would expect both to have their beaks up. It has been difficult to see how much prey the little ones get on the one camera as the adult’s back is to us, blocking the view.

Jackie and Shadow are still taunting us with the thoughts of a replacement clutch. Jackie was in the nest bowl yesterday and both were at Big Bear again today. We wait.

Jackie wasn’t the only one to check out the egg bowl. Shadow joined in the action, too. Now we need something to fill that ‘egg’ cup!

At the nest of Martin and Rosa at Dulles-Greenway, the third hatch was underway Saturday night as the sun was setting. Last year they raised a single super-eaglet. This year the pair are going to be triply busy!

Worried about the two eaglets at Duke Farms? Don’t. They are both doing fantastic.

Sometimes you get lucky, and today was one of those days. Tico and Pearl were up on their nest at Superbeaks, getting fed by Muhlady! They are doing precisely what eaglets are supposed to do. Remember this. When they fledge, they should return to the nest where the parents feed them while they, the eaglets, get their flying and hunting skills perfected. This can be a month or a little longer.

Connick is no longer ‘little Connick’. Clive and Connie continue to sit on the branches on the natal nest showing Connick where he will branch.

At the nest of Trey, KNF-E1, the GHO attacked all night! Poor little eaglet. Listen and watch how well Trey protects itself.

Oh, how I miss seeing the action at the nest of Thunder and Akecheta. What a blessing it is that they come to the old cliffs and nest so that we can see they are alright. Both eaglets were there on and off today, early morning and at dusk.

What an amazing eagle. I would love to see you with those little ones this year, Akecheta. You were incredible with the trio last year!

As we all know, it has been a turbulent season at the Centreport Bald Eagle nest on Long Island. Dad is no longer with us and there were a number of suitors vying for Mum and the nest. There was even a death spiral between two of then – D4 and D5. Neither died. The winner appears to be D3! Now, it looks like there is an egg.

Why is Mum not incubating the egg 24/7? It is called delayed incubation. This helps all eggs laid to hatch closer together and ultimately helps stop siblicide on nests!

A visitor was at the nest of Gabby and V3 in St Petersburg, Florida. An Osprey! According to Gracie Shepherd, this osprey is a regular visit to this nest. His name is Bogey, and he is waiting for his mate, Bacall. Someone liked the movies that named these two! Time 16:57.

Big Red and Arthur have been mating and continue to work on their nest on the Cornell Campus in Ithaca, New York. L4, the feisty little hatch from 2022, remains in or near the territory of her parents. They have tried to suggest she move but it looks like L4 is staying put.

The storks are back in Germany. These storks are in Chemnitz-Wittgensdorf and have their nest on an old industrial factory’s chimney. The nest is approximately 28 m off the ground. Here is the link to their camera which is part of a research project with the Saxon State Foundation for Nature and the Environment (LANU Sachsen).

https://www.youtube.com/live/pgtil9B_7qw?feature=share

BirdLife International does not want us to give up. Their scientists want us to understand that there are conservation efforts that are being rewarded. The following articles remind us of this, “For example, in 2005, the Azores Bullfinch was Europe’s most threatened bird, with a population of just 40 pairs. SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) helped to restore its native laurel forests, and it now numbers more than 1,000 individuals. On the other side of the globe, the Tahiti Monarch is recovering from just 19 birds through the hard work of SOP Manu (BirdLife in French Polynesia), who have managed to control not one, but nine invasive species.” We have to get out there and do what is necessary. What is good for our birds is also good for us! and our planet.

https://www.birdlife.org/projects/preventing-extinctions-bringing-the-worlds-most-threatened-birds-back-from-the-brink/

Migration is so dangerous. It is so hard to imagine the distance travelled in such a short time and the challenges that all the birds face. The other day the news carried a photograph of a kestrel that had flown from the southernmost part of Africa up to Northern Europe. Incredible. I am starting to use the other maps available to track the Black Storks of the Karula National Forest in Estonia as well as following the news on Looduskalender.

Still no news from Kaia or Bonus.

Remember to do what you can to protect their habitat, to save them from rodenticides, fly traps, song bird traps, shootings, monofilament line, lead ammunition and fishing gear, galvanised items, and the more than other 4o or more things that impede their lives.

We will be watching many places for a hatch, but Bella and Smitty at the NCTC nest – who have been fending off intruders – should have a pip on the 22nd of March. Getting ready for pip watch with Liberty and Guardian at Redding, too.

There continues to be no transmission from Zoe.

Thank you so much for being with me today and to those who wrote in hoping to help find out who banded Blue KW0. It is a considerable mystery with no records in Scotland, Canada or the US, but we hope to locate a bander in the Caribbean who did. Keep your fingers crossed. I will let you know if we are lucky! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, announcements, and streaming cams that helped to make up my blog today: Geemeff, Geemeff and LRWT, Achieva Credit Union, SW Florida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Lady Hawk and SW Florida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, Elain and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Moorings Park Ospreys, WRDC, FOBBV, Dulles-Greenway, Window to Wildlife, Tonya in NO, IWS and Explore.org, Lisa Schwartz and the Bald Eagles of Centreport, NY, NEFL-AEF, Cornell Hawk Cam Chatters, LANU Sachsen, BirdLife International, Looduskalender Forum, and FORE.