19 April 2023
Good Morning to Everyone (or evening depending on where you live!),
It is Tuesday evening, as I write this, and the temperature is dropping on the Canadian Prairies. There was to be a drizzle, and the forecast is for three-day snow. I hope they are wrong! As a result, I did not stay inside. My motto is: do not put things off! If you feel good today, get up and go out if it works! There were two surprises at the nature centre. One was a fast-running Muskrat, and the other was a Wild Turkey. I do not have pictures of either. There were geese, ducks, and the usual feathered friends – the Goldfinches, the charming Chickadees, the Dark-eyed Juncos, and myriads of squirrels running everywhere. Even the frogs and garter snakes are waking up. It is, after all, supposed to be spring.
Jack and Harriet have their third egg at Dahlgren. ‘H’ clocked it at 02:00:43. Does it look like some of the garbage is off the nest? Oh, let’s hope! Thanks, ‘H’.
Just look at those beautiful eyes, wide open and round, of Annie and Lou’s little eyases. Precious. Everyone is eating!
Lou finally gets a chance to feed the chicks. ‘A’ notes, “By the time Annie comes in and takes over, the youngest (as usual, front and centre) has a crop! I just knew Lou would find the baby. What a sweetie. Annie, you can relax – he knows what he is doing and even removes the feathers properly instead of stuffing them into the chicks’ beaks. Good on you, dad. And he is certainly keeping the prey deliveries coming. Things will obviously get harder for him as these three grow but so far, he is keeping the pantry well stocked with fresh and well-prepared prey. Annie may have stumbled on a real keeper here.
Annie and Lou made the Berkeley News.
Sweet little Eaglet at Decorah survived that snowstorm. It was a gorgeous Tuesday morning in Iowa for the hatchery family to awaken to.
Laundry baskets are becoming a must want item for many wildlife rehabbers. Have any good extra ones? Call and see if your local clinic could use them!
World Bird Sanctuary just posted a time line for Murphy, the Rock Baby, and the Eaglet.
Gabby and V3 were at The Hamlet working on the nest and just hanging out together today. They are a gorgeous couple. I sure hope M15 gets himself a ‘Gabby’!
Confirmation of the second egg at Foulshaw Moss comes on Tuesday from Polly Turner for White YW and Blue 35.
About once a year I remind all my readers about a conversation that I had with Tiger Mozone a number of years ago. I wanted to know what made a ‘good’ Osprey. I kid you not that was my question. How do you determine if the Osprey parents are what it takes to raise really good, healthy chicks. Our conversation ended with Tiger telling me to think about race horses, their breeding, and the winners they sired. It is the genetics not ‘the physical’ look of the bird. One of those incredible male birds was Monty at the Dyfi Nest in Wales. His return rate for children and grandchildren is huge…he is a winning breeder. Monty bred with Glesni from 2013-2017. In the chart below, you can see that of the 12 chicks Monty and Gleans had that fledged, five of them have been positively sighted and have returned. Of those, all but one are male (according to Emyr Evans’ records). Monty bred with Telyn (she is currently the mate of Idris and one of my favourite couples) from 2018-2019. Of their six chicks, three have returned. Sadly Hesgyn was found dead last year but he did return! That is a 50% return rate. Fantastic. Of all those returnees, all are males but 2 – hence the reason that you will often see the term, ‘Monty’s Boys’.
I am particularly fond of 2016 hatch Tegid Z1 that was the chick of Monty and Gleans. One of Z1’s chicks, Z5 is back. She is Monty’s granddaughter. She needs a great mate and a nest. Tegid’s brother, Z2 Aeron, has just had his first egg laid with mate Blue 014 at Port Cresor.
You might recall that it was Z1 Tegid on Aran’s nest at Glaslyn the other day telling his mate to get home! LOL.
Karl II continues to wait for Kaia. Oh, this makes me so sad. She was so close behind when she entered Ukraine. Has something happened?
In Webster, Texas, Ringo is still returning to the nest for food and rest.
Sure do miss Thunder and Akecheta! Glad they had two eaglets hatch this year. So wish we could watch them!
Both on the West End cam on Tuesday.
Gorgeous Thunder.
15 and the Es are still going strong in Fort Myers. The female intruder has visited the nest to steal prey from the babies and the Es continue to enjoy one another’s company and to make milestones. Thanks EJ for this link.
Beautiful Bety incubating the four eggs at Mlade Buky nest of Bukacek. You might recall that two years ago Bukachek’s mate was electrocuted on a hydro pole and he took care of the nestling storks with the help of the community. They fledged! Great Dad.
Gosh, Harry continues to deliver a lot of fish. It seems like every time I check Abby and Victor are being fed. That is, of course, fantastic. These two are busy flapping their wings and getting those legs strong.
Iris had another one of her whopper trout on the owl pole but it was really windy and then the raining snow came. Iris stayed for a few minutes and off she went to find a better place to enjoy her lunch. Oh, if you are wondering…Louis and Iris have connected, literally, several times. There will be eggs, no one to look after them, the Crows will get them, and then Iris will spend her summers being a lady of leisure eating lovely Montana trout and getting healthy. Love you, Iris.
Only on really slow speed could I begin to capture the pounding rain-snow pelting our Iris.
Mother Goose was eating snow. It has all melted and hopefully she got time to go and find some food for herself. The male geese will guard the area but do not bring food. She needs to go and forage in and around the water.
Both chicks ate well at the Achieva Osprey nest on Tuesday. They are flapping their wings and attempting to walk on those sticks.
River brought in three fish for DH17 and 18 on Tuesday. They are 47 and 48 days old today. It is looking good.
River looking out over the Obey River – hence the names of her and her mate, Obey, who has now been missing for far too long to be classified as missing.
This memory came up on FB. This year we watched M15 raise E21 and 22 while grieving for his mate Harriet, contending with intruders – both human and raptor. Several years ago, Decorah Mum cried for her mate until she could not vocalise anymore she was so hoarse. She raised her three eaglets in Iowa by herself. She was amazing. Three of them!
Charlie arrived at Charlo Montana Osprey Platform Tuesday at 1825. Both are home!
‘H’ reports that both Rs have been eating at the WRDC nest. “At the Dade county nest – R4 ate well for a total of about 35 minutes in two feedings yesterday. Prey was reduced at the nest, not as many feedings. R4 was not interested in eating when offered fish at 1855, but wouldn’t let R5 eat either, so Rose ate.”
Two great big eaglets at Duke Farms hopping and flapping those huge wings.
Those little bobbleheads melt your heart. The single eaglet at US Steel, USS6 is no exception!
‘A’ has reminded me to tell everyone that pip watch for Angel and Tom at the Leucistic Red-tail Hawk nest begins on Thursday!
Good Night, Big Red. It won’t be long til we are announcing your pip watch!
Another article on the importance of wetlands in the east of England but…it is not just there. The world needs a wetland system for our wildlife and our feathered friends. Wetlands need official protection. It ensures that they will survive despite changes in the mood of local politicians.
You might recall that Missy was reviewing a book, Water Babies. She loved the pictures but suggested that I would get upset by some of the text, including the part about Canada Geese. She asked me to pass on it! Too funny.
I have on the desk a couple of books – one that is a study of the use of birds during World War I and the other is about geese, The Meaning of Geese. Since spring has arrived, it might take me longer but I will get a good review out for you of the two.
Thank you so very much for being with me today. There are lots and lots of stories happening around the world. We are waiting for Ella to lay her second falcon egg in Winnipeg—poor thing. Hopefully, the winter weather will be gone when those babies hatch! Take care. We hope to have you with us soon!
Thank you so much to the following for their notes, observations, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped make up my blog today: ‘A’, ‘H’, ‘EJ’, Cal Falcons, Berkeley News, Raptor Resource Project and Explore.org, The Raptor Rescue Society, World Bird Sanctuary, NEFL-AEF, Polly Turner and Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Welsh osprey and Loch Garden and Other Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Paul White and Webster TX Eagle Cam, IWS and Explore.org, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Mlade Buky, Moorings Park Ospreys, Decorah Goose Cam, Achieva Credit Union, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Sydney Wells and Bald Eagle Live Nest and Cams, Owl Research Institute, WRDC, Duke Farms, Cornell RTH, and The Guardian.
Thank you Mary Ann for the updates and photos and links to watch and follow.
Congratulations to Dahlgren with three eggs already! So glad all is going well with all the eaglets and ospreys chicks and the cute little falcons! Way to go Lou!
The little Decorah eaglet is so cute looking up for us! Everytime I see Murphy and the eaglet together just makes my day! I’m so happy for both of them!❤️💕🦅
Thanks Mary Ann and have a great afternoon! See you soon again on here!
Linda
There used to be a show on British TV called Lovejoy and it was about an antiques dealer. Great show. I learnt a lot about antiques. But on one episode, they had two porcelain geese to sell, and one of the two enthusiasts they got to bid the price up was obsessed by geese and their role in history. He was writing a book about it, and told a story about a raid on a Roman garrison where the flock of geese alerted the Romans to the intruders by cackling, thus waking the soldiers and saving the garrison. So the idea of a book about geese is not as crazy as it may sound. Nor one on the role of pigeons in World War 1, which of course was critical, as they carried messages on the battlefield and elsewhere. Birds deserve more respect than they are accorded, and it’s great to see books that recognise their important role in our lives.
The goose book is excellent…will report on it and Chicken Boy is even better. it will make you want to populate your garden with chickens.