21 April 2023
Good Morning everyone,
It is 2 degrees C with snow and blowing snow and a weather warning going from Thursday evening until Friday morning, which will be extended to Saturday. Possibility of 10-20 cm of new snow accumulation. The snow in the garden had melted, and as of the time I am writing – it is 1922 Thursday evening; only a few Dark-eyed Juncos are left on the branches and hopping about looking for Millet. The European Starlings have been here in great numbers today, and you could feel that ‘something’ was coming, and it has now arrived in the form of heavy snow.
The second Hibiscus bloom of the year. If you live where the grass is green and the flowers are blooming it is hard to imagine how much people living in the snowy wintery areas crave flowers and greenery! It has been such a delight to see this Hibiscus survive for the past several years. It goes out in the summer and then comes in before the first frost. That used to be in August but now it might not happen until late September or October.
Missy and Lewis believe in ‘looking up’. You never know what is going to fly over the glass ceiling! Today they have been watching low-flyin Ring-billed Gulls.
Lewis thinks the best thing to do on a snowy day is to have a nice long nap!
The European Starlings have emptied the Meal Worm and Bark Butter feeder three times today. They are so beautiful, and despite rumours to the contrary, they get along quite nicely with all of the other birds in the garden including the House Sparrows.
Always grateful when a kind person makes an effort to care for our wild birds migrating here for their spring and summer breeding grounds.
Coming out of the UK is news that will make you weep. At the same time, the individual who tore down the trees and demolished the ecosystems along the river on his property will pay for the damage dearly as will all the wildlife and birds for his actions. The message is clear: You cannot destroy the planet even if you own the land. We are, after all, only stewards, and we need to do a better job caring for our planet.
This is the most unbelievable idea I have ever seen and it could decidedly endanger the adult ospreys as well as the hatchlings. The nest of Audrey and Tom at Kent Island is covered with sticks with yellow and blue in support of Ukraine. My problem is not the support but the plastic and the fact that it is in the nest. The plastic can break off, entangle the osplets and do all manner of destruction to the environment. It isn’t cool.
There are some very strange things going on around the world these days including a proposal by the NZ Government to have children kill feral cats. It was revoked because of public outrage but who would ever consider such a thing?!
Moving on to things more delightful. Louis and Dorcha have their first egg. Thanks, Geemeff, for sending me the good news. Nice to wake up and see something positive these days! That egg arrived at 05:44:19. Louis was there to support Dorcha during the entire event. He brought her a nice fish at 06:31:05. What a great guy!
Oh, those nice fish gifts. Sweet, Louis!
Annie and Lou’s little fluff balls are getting ‘to that stage’ when only a mother and dad can love them. Ahhh…no, I am wrong. We love them regardless. They will look more like their dinosaur ancestors for a few days as those pen feathers come in .
These babies are beginning to explore the scrape box and flap their little wings.
And just look at this feeding by Lou- 5 minutes! Really, watch it…those babies are soooooooo cute.
The little one has a nice crop – and still wants to eat. These three are always hungry!
There were at least three fish brought to the Achieva Osprey nest on Thursday. Two in the morning and another at 18:20. Both osplets are doing splendidly and had huge crops and I am hoping Diane got some fish, too. It was large, the last one, and Jack had taken the head.
Let’s all hope that the wind calms down, that Mother Goose gets a good meal, and that the weather is perfect for the hatch on Saturday (or Friday if it is early)! Following their Mum, the goslings will remain in the nest for 24-48 hours before they leap to the ground and then swim in the stream. This is the most fantastic sight. You will never forget it.
Murphy and the Eaglet update:
There is continuing concern over R4 at the WRDC Bald Eagle nest in Miami. Alison writes: “I am worried about R4 at WRDC. There is definitely something wrong. With the two feedings I watched, R4 seemed to be dropping or spitting out the bites of food. It made me very fearful of trich. If he does have it, swallowing will be becoming very painful, which could account for the way he was dealing with the food he was being given. He was hungry, and still trying to intimidate R5 and stop it from eating, so it wasn’t that. But according to chatters, he ate little or nothing all day, and his eating has not been ‘quite right’ for up to three days. Some suggested he may have a pellet, others that he has suddenly become a picky eater (as we know, there is no such thing with bald eagles – there are preferences, but very little they will actually refuse to eat if they are hungry, and R4 is hungry). But there is consensus that something is not right. R4 is hungry but not eating.”
R4 is 38 days old and R5 is 36 days old today. R4 had a big crop yesterday. I hope that it is just a bone injury and his mouth is a little sore but, sadly, all we can do is wait to see what is happening.
‘H’ reports that, “R4 did eat this morning, has a decent crop, still was spitting out some bites though; and, R5 is getting a good feeding!” This is Friday morning reports so this is good. It seems that R4 is trying to cast a pellet, according to ‘H’ and this could be the issue. Fingers crossed for a good outcome.
Second hatch at Lake Murray on the 20th!
I have to admit to having a really soft spot for the nests with single hatches. That little one at Decorah Hatchery is adorable. Just love the delicate way the huge parents feed this little baby.
Soft dry nesting material was brought in for the baby today. At one point it was covered like it was a blanket!
Another little cutie pie belongs to Chase & Cholyn at Two Harbours. Today, for awhile I could not locate that little one on the nest and almost panicked. I began to think about Lancer going over the edge but, no, there this one was! Can you spot the eaglet?
A third cutie pie is at US Steel. USS6 is adorable. They are all about the same age (I think USS6 is just a day or so older, must check my charts). Lots to look forward to as they develop.
Good view of USS6’s ear! It will be covered with feathers but right now appears as a black dot behind the beak. This little one is eating well. Note the feet beginning to turn yellow and the area around the mouth.
River has brought in fish and there is still a nice piece on the nest for DH17 and DH18 to peck at. Where is the monofilament line of DH18? I cannot tell. I can, at times, still see that raccoon pelt with what appears to be line tangled in it.
Update: Both eaglets may now be entangled in the line. Let us all hope that this resolves itself without either eaglet being injured.
Sally and Harry continue to feed Abby and Victor lots of fish with Sally staying on the nest with the youngsters at night. They have all their juvenile feathers and are getting really steady on those gorgeous legs.
Tom did not return to the Chesapeake Conservancy nest and Audrey has finally chosen another Tom to replace her mate from last year. Good luck!
With Kaia’s arrival on Thursday, Karl II is busy working on the Black Stork nest in Estonia’s Karula Forest. Karl II looks like he is smiling today!
The climate crisis might be changing where some birds choose to live. See what is happening with the Alpine Swift in the UK. We will also begin to notice changes in North America.
Bazz Hockaday provided some images of Calypso and Ervie going about their lives as osprey in South Australia. Here are two of the photos of Ervie from the Friends of Osprey S Aus FB.
Wondering what is going on with Connick from the Captiva Bald Eagle nest? Deb Stecyk reached out to Lori Covert the land owner and this is the response she received:
Thank you so much for being with me today as we stop in at a few of the nests we have been monitoring. The only concerns are with R4 at WRDC and the eaglets at Dale Hollow. Everyone else seems to be doing alright at the moment. As we all know everything can change so quickly. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, videos, tweets, photos, posts, and streaming cams that helped to make up my blog today: Alison, ‘H’, Geemeff, Geemeff and Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Pembina Valley Hospital, Dr Amy-Jane Beer, Chesapeake Conservancy and Explore.org, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways and Cal Falcons, Achieva Credit Union, Decorah Goose Cam, World Bird Sanctuary, WRDC, Lake Murray Ospreys, Raptor Resource Project and Explore.org, IWS and Explore.org, PIX Cams, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Moorings Park Ospreys, Carol Craig and Osprey Friends, The Guardian, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bazza Hockaday and Friends of S Aus Ospreys, and Deb Stecyk and Bald Eagles 101.
Oh, it makes my morning to learn that Louis and Dorcha have an egg at Loch Arkaig!
And that makes me very happy, too! It is exciting.
I have definitely seen R4 appear to make several attempts over the past couple of days to pass a pellet, and that may be what is going on here, but if so, it is taking an unusually long time. I am leaning towards an injury in the mouth, that is allowing R4 to eat, albeit painfully. The eaglet must be able to swallow to have a crop, though it seems to be eating small pieces, often off the nest after it has dropped them. At least R4 is still eating and none of the other birds on the nest seem to be having any problems, which would suggest it is not trichomoniasis. We can only wait, watch and hope at this stage.
As for Dale Hollow, I see no reason whatsoever for an intervention to remove that filament (human problem) from the nest. Perhaps enough said about that entire subject.
I see no dinosaurs at Cal Falcons, just adorable fluffy white eyases. They are gorgeous at this stage and at every other. (To me, only osplets in the reptilian phase look like dinosaurs.) But adorable is little Lou and what a good job he makes of feeding the chicks. He is a wonderful dad. Annie really does seem to attract the good ones. Alden was also a darling dad and of course, Grinnell was a legend. To be honest, I think Lou is probably a better feeder than Annie – he certainly prepares the prey incredibly well and he feeds all three chicks. And once the baby of the scrape stops falling flat on its face, it will get even more food.
Clarification: The filament at Dale Hollow is obviously a human-created problem, which is apparently when intervention is supposed to be allowed to occur, especially on army land. But based on what happened last year, they obviously have no intention of helping the eaglets on this nest, and we don’t want to rock any boats, do we? Even if eaglets die. It does make me angry, but I agree that is is probably best to just avoid this nest altogether.
River has done a mighty job trying to deal with an incredibly difficult situation. She has already lost one eaglet. It is outrageous that there is no help coming for her eaglets, when she has already done as much as she can to remove that filament. I will leave it at that rather than say anything I might regret.
Yes, it is decidedly a human created problem at a lake that hosts endless fishing tournaments. The problem is when the fish breaks the line and goes off with line and hook in its mouth along with people not cleaning up after themselves. It is tragic and the only thing we can hope is that River gets this mess out of the nest without injuring 18. The folks at Dale Hollow will not allow anyone near the nest even if you put a highly qualified trained German tree climber right there to help.