Florence lays an egg!…Monday in Bird World

20 March 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy First Day of Spring! Bird World is already buzzing with Ospreys rushing from their winter homes to their spring and summer breeding grounds. Arrival reports come from the US, the UK, Sweden, and Norway. This is such an exciting time! We hope that each couple arrives home safely.

Of course, it is not just Ospreys. All the other raptors that have migrated along with the shorebirds, the waders, and the songbirds are also on the move. Soon, my garden will be teaming up with new visitors.

For Lewis and Missy, the arrival of warmer weather has meant a return to the Conservatory. Today they got to help with some spring cleaning and furniture moving. Specifically, the tansu stepped chest moved from the living room to the conservatory. Aeons ago, someone in Kyoto told me that these portable units that hold everything from tea ware to kimono were also used to access other home areas without building a permanent staircase that would be taxed. It is not clear if this is a myth or fact. What I do know is that they are ingenious pieces of furniture meant to hold specific shapes of boxes in a very orderly manner. Missy and Lewis think they are another part of the jungle gym!

They especially liked playing around the tansu until the drawers went in.

Today, the kittens saw Dyson and her three little ones from last summer and Little Red came to visit, too. This is a very poor-quality image of Dyson having just dumped the Mt Fuji bowl with the peanuts in it. So nice to see they all survived the winter. She is not bothering to take the peanuts but is, instead, eating them right there making a big mess with the shells. LOL.

We are going to start the day with a surprise. Florence, the mate of Angus, at the Captiva Osprey platform of Lori Covert, has laid an egg. ‘H’ sent me the news this morning. The happy event happened last night, Sunday the 19th, at 23:23:18. Thanks, ‘H’.

It is quite true that little Victor starts some of the fights on the Moorings Park Osprey cam. For so long, he could spar with Abby at an equal pace. Now things have changed, and he might not even realise how dangerous it is for him to ‘wake up the lion’ in his older, dominant sibling. Abby was particularly brutal at 12:20 on Sunday, going after Victor’s head and twisting his neck and body. Victor went into submission and watched and waited. When Abby entered a food coma, he got up to the table at 13:15 and had a good feed until 13:29, when Abby decided to join him. Her ferocity of Abby is making me nervous.

Victor managed to eat on Saturday. He had lots of fish late in the day. The key is for Victor to get food, any amount of food, every day. Victor – be smart! Don’t antagonise your sister. You will not win!

0832 feeding. Sunday.

Abby’s attack on Victor at 12:51. It began around 12:20 and lasted for about half an hour, on and off.

Abby in food coma. Eat up, Victor!

At 13:29 Abby is up again at the table. Victor continues to be fed.

At 16:13, Victor was getting a crop. He has figured out how to eat and crop drop to hold more.

The rain is coming down in Naples late Sunday night. Sally is keeping the little ones warm and dry. Also – and this is great – there is a fish waiting on the nest to feed them to the left.

The Duke Farms eagle nest is simply a pleasure to watch. such little fluffy butterballs! Everyone eats. Dad has tonnes of fish in the nest, which should comfort everyone.

Both eaglets at the WRDC were up and being fed on Sunday so no significant problems. Rose appears to be getting better at feeding, and there is a fish feast on this nest in Miami. No food worries here – just getting that nice fish in the beaks of those babies.

Oops. I spoke too soon. Around 19:22, for no apparent reason it could, the eldest started beaking the youngest on the WRDC nest. Oh, goodness. There is a lot of food. I wish Rose would feed these eaglets more often!

Maya seems to have held off as long as she could and has ‘forgiven’ Blue 33 any indiscretions he might have had with Blue25. That is good news. Maya is such a fantastic osprey. She has been raising osplets since 2010 – 34 of them. That is an average of 2.6 chicks fledging in a year. Incredible. Her and Blue 33 have had two clutches of four eggs hatch and fledge – which is remarkable. As I have said several times in the past few days, some nests struggle with two osplets. Just imagine caring for and feeding four!!!!!!!!!! Last year they had three large female hatches. Blue 33 is a fantastic provider and they are an amazing team. Glad to see Blue25 off that nest and away from this family.

There was a successful mating!

Ever wondered how that played out between Maya and Blue25? How about aerial combat? It looks like Maya won…but check out what Blue 33 is doing all the while!!!!!!!!!

Maya and Blue 33 are not the only ones bonding and anticipating a nest of eggs. Shadow is working diligently on the nest at Big Bear and him and Jackie have been caught on camera trying for that replacement clutch.

There are Coots winding up on Eagle nests from Miami to California!

On Saturday night, Trey, the eaglet of Anna and Louis on the KNF-E1 nest was hit 16 times by the GHO in the area. We all wondered where Anna and Louis were. Tonya (chat moderator) offered some possible explanations for the adult’s behaviour.

M15 provided no less than four fish deliveries to the Es on Sunday. I stopped counting at the 4th fish delivery at 13:13. M15 made six deliveries on Saturday. These two are spoiled for food. Nice.

Both are up on the rim of the nest and each has been wingersizing.

This is one of the best videos of a fish delivery I have ever seen. M15 flies into the nest with a Tarpon. I want you to look at his muscular legs as he lowers the fish into the nest for the Es and then gets out. Wow. My son catches Tarpon. They live in the mangroves in the Caribbean. Look at the size of this fish and imagine M15 dragging it out of the water and flying!

‘H’ writes that the second hatch at Achieva Osprey has arrived safely. Time around 13:09 Sunday, 19 March.

Big Red and Arthur continue to mate and prepare their nest. Meanwhile, their feisty fourth hatch, L4, remains in the territory. It appears that she is carving out an area for herself despite the parents wishing she would move on to another spot!

L4 is gorgeous. She is not called a mini-Big Red for anything. Gorgeous redhead and belly band. She also has her red tail now!

And now for something light-hearted, thanks to SK Hideaways…Lou settling in on the four eggs!

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. So far, two Osprey couples are back in the UK at the time of writing this: Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0 at LOTL and Blue 33 and Maya at Rutland. Take care, everyone. Happy Spring! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, tweets, videos, and streaming cams that helped make up my blog this morning: ‘H’, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park Ospreys, Duke Farms, WRDC, LRWT, @Geemeff, @Jskdell, FOBBV, Tonya Irwin and KNF-E1, SW Florida Eagles and D Pritchett, Real Saunders Photography and SW Florida Eagles and D Pritchett, Achieva Credit Union, @CornellHawks, and Cal Falcons.