31 March 2023
Good Morning Everyone!
As I keyboarded ‘2023’ in, I had this feeling that I have been putting ‘2022’ there for a few days. Oops.
I have been clearing many things so that the workmen can finally come – and I do mean ‘finally’ -and install a shower. It has been waiting for the ‘right person’ to put it together since the pandemic. I do not know about where you live, but few people in my City want to take on ‘small jobs’. Luckily, the person who put together the conservatory said ‘yes’ when I approached them. I laughed and said it is just a smaller conservatory without a roof!
The kittens have, of course, been right in there helping. We even found some cat toys, a kitty fountain, and a beautiful felted ‘cat rock’ made in Lithuania. They enjoyed the afternoon. I hope to have better photos of them and their exploits for Saturday. Missy thinks that boxes of any kind are first-rate! I do not know if you can tell, but her fur is many different lengths, and her tail is nothing short of a bush. She looks very sweet and is but, I would not want to mess with her.
Did you know that cats love bubble wrap? Had no idea.
There was also happiness in the garden. Little Red came and had some suet. For those who do not know, our pesky Red Squirrel, Little Red, lived in our garden shed for many years. It had to be removed for the conservatory to be built, and he was evicted. Talk about feeling guilty. I tried to build him several ‘homes’ in the garden, including a specially designed Red Squirrel house, but nothing worked. Dyson & Co chewed the opening of the cute Danish house large so they could get in and snatch the peanuts meant for Red. Eventually, he did find ‘another’ shed down the lane and survived the winter nicely. Little Red is very resourceful.
Sorry, the photos are pretty bleached out. He is a gorgeous rusty red right now.
Dyson finished the nut suet cylinder as predicted which is why Little Red is having to go for this suet. Then Dyson finished off a pail of peanuts! No peanuts for Little Red, too. Dyson is just an eating machine! Look at all those shells and that is just from this afternoon.
I am concerned about Dyson. Hopefully, the fur coming off is simply moult. The line that goes around under her front legs is disturbing me – like she got caught in something which ripped her fur off. There is no blood or cuts, so fingers crossed. What do you think?
Oh, Mother Goose. She now has six eggs at her nest in Decorah, Iowa. Isn’t she beautiful? Look at the down she has pulled from her breast to insulate those eggs. Our geese make their nests on the ground. After the floods last year that destroyed those nests, the idea of a goose using an abandoned eagle’s nest is intriguing. Can’t wait to see them jump off and go down to the stream this year. It was magnificent last year.
A few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine was with their family in India. They posted hundreds of images of birds on their FB feed. My comment was, “I am now seeing a reason to return to India!” There are villages in India counting on international birders to help their economy. If this means that the birds are protected, I am all for it!
Victor and Abby are 28 days old today. Have you noticed how much calmer the nest is?
First fish of the day and the rose gold of the sun coming over the nest.
Sally seems to have decided that this is where she likes to feed Abby and Victor. This is the second fish. The only thing that changes is the light.
And the third fish Thursday morning and it isn’t even noon! Way to go Harry.
Look at those lovely feathers coming in. It is beautiful to be out of that reptilian phase.
Victor felt the need to get away from Abby and down under Sally for some more fish later on Thursday. Oh, Abby, we know you are the boss. So does Victor. Just chill.
More fish will come. This is a fantastic nest.
Happy 4 weeks Abby and Victor! That plumage is simply gorgeous. Look at those two.
While Telyn was waiting for Idris on Thursday, she decided to take a quick trip over to Clywedog and interrupt Dylan and Seren!
Here is a map with the Welsh Osprey nests indicated. Telyn is from Dyfi, the orange teardrop shape. Clywedog is Mid-Wales, the yellow one.
Morning at Big Bear after the storm. Jackie and Shadow are on the nest and Shadow is playing with the sticks again!
They were still there in the afternoon.
Big Red has been in the nest all morning. It looks like Thursday 30 March will be the day for her to lay her first egg of the 2023 season.
Cornell called it at 13:22. Arthur will be so pleased.
The egg reveal came at 15:04:25.
Arthur wasted no time getting to the nest and ‘demanding’ some incubation time! He has been impatiently waiting for this first egg to arrive. So many are relieved. Many thought that Big Red might be ‘too old’ but as long as she is healthy she should produce eggs.
Big Red settling in for the evening.
Arthur and Big Red have been sharing incubation duties – they are so in tune with one another and Arthur is so delighted. Do we think he will get a chance to feed the eyases more this year?
Beau and Nancy are taking care of their few days old only to be eaglet in the MN-DNR nest.
Bella feeds little E7 fish at the NCTC nest!
The rain is pouring down in San Francisco and Annie is hunkered down keeping the four Peregrine Falcon eggs warm and dry! She is not wanting to share incubation duties with Lou during the rain.
Idris has arrived home at the Dyfi nest on Thursday 30 March a day after his mate, Telyn.
Yeah. Daddy Long Legs is home safely! I am so excited. Time 17:31.
There are so many wonderful Osprey couples but these two are one of my favourites. So happy to see both of you back together, Idris and Telyn.
Blue 022 arrived first at Poole Harbour and an unringed female came to the nest. Now CJ7 is home and there are three of them there. Oh, goodness. Remember. The original nest at Poole Harbour was CJ7’s!
The female visitor took the fish. Do we think Blue 022 has some explaining to do to CJ7?
Blue 22 best be getting out there and getting a fish for his gal!
Birdlife Malta is trying to get the public to report any untoward activities towards the storks during their stay and migration over the country. See down further for more news.
Blue 014, the mate of Aaron Z2 at the Post Cresor nest at Glaslyn has returned. Excellent news. We now await Mrs G and Aran.
More Peregrin Falcons are returning to Manitoba!
I have had so many letters about the Dale Hollow Nest. I do not report on this nest along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. I did last season. That said, the adult male has been missing since Tuesday. The female has been feeding the three eaglets on the nest, who are now a month old. This situation is similar to M15 – except that there are three mouths. Several female eagles have been successful in fledging three alone. Please send this nest your love and positive wishes.
They all had a good feed from a huge fish that was used many times today. The little one at the top has a very large crop.
People came out to help protect the White Storks in Malta!
wskrsnwings loves E21. She did an awesome video of that flight around the pasture, coaxing him along the way. Thank you!
Anton Outdoors shows us all those Bald Eagles in Alaska eating that salmon. If you ever wondered what it is like, here it your opportunity in 49 seconds.
Thank you so very much for being with me this morning. There are branchings and fledges to come. Eggs to be laid. Ospreys to return. Lots happening. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to everyone for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped make up my blog today: ‘H’, Decorah Goose, The Guardian, Moorings Osprey Park, CarnyXWild, Welsh Ospreys Zone Map, FOBBV, Cornell RTH, MN-DNR, Deb Stecyk and the NCTC Eagle Cam, Cal Falcons, Dyfi, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Birdlife Malta, Manitoba Birding 0 Birds and Wildlife Photography, Dale Hollow Eagles, wskrsnwings, and Anton Outdoors.
Thank you Mary Ann for all the updates. The kittens are so cute and it was good find them some new toys! Little Red and Dyson are really cute squirrels. Thanks for all the photos of them and the kittens. The geese at Decorah are amazing. Looking forward to watching them.
So glad Idris is home. We will
Have an exciting season with everyone returning home. Prayers for the Dale Hollow family. I hope Obey is ok 🙏. Congratulations to Connick! Congratulations to Big Red and Authur!
Now we are all praying for Iris’s return. 🙏❤️🙏. I wonder if Louis is home yet?
Have a great Friday evening and hope to see you again soon here with more good news.
Linda
It is wonderful to see that Big Red has laid her egg, most thoughtfully in the usual light tower. We all knew the moment was nigh! Like you, I am hoping for two or three eggs this year rather than four, though BR and Arthur did a great job with four last year (and our feisty little favourite L4 is still hanging around the campus).
It was you who introduced me to the red-tailed hawk (RTH), and I certainly thank you for it! They are so very beautiful, and I love the fact that serious bonking or siblicide is virtually unheard of in their nests (and also that, like peregrines, they tend to feed all their chicks equally).
I am also watching the Tennessee nest of the very rare leucistic RTH Angel and her mate Tom. Angel is the most exquisite snowy-white creature with a streak of red on her tail. Her initial mate, Mohawk, with whom she fledged three hawklets in 2021, disappeared, and the new mate she chose, Tom, was too immature to father chicks last season. This year, their bond has persisted and Tom has matured. Now, he and Angel are incubating two eggs.
Congratulations to E21 on his fledge.