DH17 on the nest…it is Friday in Bird World

26 May 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

We are back under a heat warning with temperatures expected to rise to 32 C today, which means we are slightly more relaxed than Bangkok, which will experience 38 C. The birds were relatively quiet in the garden until around 2030. Then, when doing the watering, I got a huge shock – someone had come into the small Japanese garden behind the conservatory (it is a new space with a small willow tree, lantern, and some little bushes that would resemble Japanese Maples in colour during autumn). They had come in and taken all the shrubs. Gone. Poof. I could have seen them at any time…I found it a little unsettling. Tomorrow those bushes will be replaced…but back to the birds. They only began to come in, eat and have baths – lots of playing in the bird bath – late when it began to cool off. Where did they spend the rest of the day?

I want to share some images that I asked my son to take while he is in Singapore. This is Bay South Garden. These are vertical gardens that generate solar power. They also act as air vents for the nearby green conservatories and collect rainwater. It is an excellent example of “how nature and hi-tech infrastructure can come together to address climate change and increase biodiversity in cities in the future” (Tree and Burrell, 513).

Thanks, ‘C’. These are huge. You can see the scale with the humans on the bridges or below on the ground.

Smile. DH17 is back on the nest Friday morning! That pretty much says it all…River has been taking care of camera and he is back where she wanted him to be. DH17 left the fish that River left for her the other day. S/He seems to be fine! Thanks ‘H’ for giving me a huge smile first thing this morning. Relief. Good things happen.

Little SP finally got one of his fish shakes from Mum. The huge winds blew her in to the relief of everyone. Thanks, ‘A’.

Smile. Gorgeous family portrait. Murphy and his Baby. Handsome.

Yesterday I posted the good news that Conservation without Borders had met their crowdfunding goal to help with the clean up of the HPAI birds in The Gambia. On Thursday, Birdlife International released a report that speaks to the widespread deaths from Avian Flu on the flyway along the West coast of Africa. This is devastating news.

‘H’ reports that there was some beaking and the prevention of Little Bob from eating at Severna Park Ospreys. She later observed, “Around 1710-ish the other two finally crashed and Little got a private feeding for about 7 minutes, and then followed Mom around as she cleaned up scraps, and she fed him a few.  Ended up with a moderate sized crop.  Crop before eating was concave.  Lives another day.” We take it one day at a time just like we will be doing with the nest at Patchogue.

Mini-Bob at Patchogue is also alive and has eaten. It was extremely hard to tell what was happening early Thursday with Mini and I had to leave before it got fed…so fingers crossed. I understand that PSEG would love to get the monofilament line off that nest and there are lots of willing wildlife rehabbers. I have been told that the DEC is not issuing the permit at the moment – the nest is being monitored.

There needs to be a change to the law so that wildlife rehabbers or the power companies that sponsor these nests (even individuals) can get accredited assistance to remove these dangerous materials without a lengthy permit process! Human debris on a nest is a reason to help unless the chicks are in danger of a premature fledge. This needs to be a North American effort. Right now decisions are made state by state, area by area it would appear. There are resources ready to go for this nest. Thank you PSEG.

The dangers of human debris on nests is absolutely everywhere. We see what there is on the streaming cams but imagine the nests out in the wild. Today there was a near disaster at the Dulles-Greenway Bald Eagle nest when one of the adults got a plastic bag on its head and fell off the nest. Thank you, ‘M’ for the time stamps and the photos. This occurred at 18:25:10 and 18:25. Thankfully, the bird is OK.

Sometimes debris blows off the nest during the off season but anyone, any business running a streaming cam needs to clean the nest and check it for structural stability when the birds are not there during breeding season. This is the least we can do…then of course, we need to really remind humans to take care of their own garbage. I have been on about plastic because it flies everywhere but balloons are another danger…and because of Lewis being so hyper any bag that comes into the house has to have its handle cut. If not he will find it, get it over his head and run around like he is insane. So, be careful with those bags!

The two chicks of Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0 are doing fine at the Loch of the Lowes. Fingers crossed that the fish continue to arrive as they are.

Second hatch at Dfyi for Idris and Telyn…coming out of egg 3 so only two Bobs for the Welsh couple this year. That is fine! They will grow big and strong with all those huge fish Idris, ‘Daddy Long Legs’, brings in!

Blue 33 was on and off the nest at Rutland’s Manton Bay at 0400 Friday morning. All is well.

Foulshaw Moss is on YouTube and you can use your mouse and move around the screen to change the view.

https://www.youtube.com/live/hagblE0aPh0?feature=share

This is the nest of White YW and Blue 35. Michelle Waller at the Cumbria Wildlife Trust is excited about the two chicks currently on the nest and by the time you are reading this they hope to have the third. This is the nest of Blue 464, one of the third hatches that I am tracking from 2021.

Beautiful morning at Llyn Brenig. Waiting…not yet time.

Dorcha waiting for Louis with a fish and to take a break. Owls, wind…let’s hope it calms down for this lovely couple over in the west of Scotland at Loch Arkaig.

Dylan and Seren Blue 5F make such a good team at Llyn Clywedog! Two little babes.

Aran and his new mate, Elen, at Glaslyn are all fine as well. Will be awhile til their eggs begin to hatch.

Charlo Montana will be waiting a little longer than Glaslyn for their first hatch but what a gorgeous landscape and how wonderful to have the Ospreys back on this nest. (Yes, I do love Canada Geese but…)

At the Achieva Credit Union, Middle seems to be getting all the fish. Is Big getting fed off nest? Oh, wait…

Middle was home alone and picked off the one at 15:19. It wasn’t huge but made an OK meal!

Diane brings in a fish at 1627 and Big flies in and claims it! And rain has started to fall. Oh, this area of SW Florida needs huge downpours.

Both had a fish dinner and they are relaxing in the centre of the nest as the rain appears to have stopped.

All is well for both of the Red-tail Hawk nests that we have been following. Lots of Mockingbirds being brought in by Tom for Angel and RTH5. There were at least six observed feedings at the nest today.

Everything is absolutely wonderful for Big Red and Arthur. Big Red is starting to perch on the metal frame of the light stand. It is a good spot for fledging! She will begin to give them hints on where to go…yes, it is coming that fast…in June, less than a month.

Clean and fed. Big Red loves being a Mum and any egg that hatches into a chick on her nest is absolutely lucky! Great territory, great mate in Arthur who is Mr Uber Hunter…and well, Big Red. Experience and tenderness.

Today’s Rescue comes from Bobby Horvath and helpers.

‘SP’ sent me another article on plastics in The New York Times. I hope that you can open it! One of the takeaways is that the research showed that 80 per cent of all plastic leaking into the ocean comes from just 1,000 rivers. They had studied 100,000. Why is this good news? Because the efforts to stop pollution and get rid of plastic can now be targeted to those specific sites.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/opinion/river-plastic-ocean.htm

I just received news that several cities in Canada, including Vancouver, will either be cancelling their fireworks for Canada Day (1 July) or scaling back. Many are campaigning to get people to donate a can of pet food instead of purchasing fireworks for celebrations…that would surely fill the larders at some of the rehabs if everyone in the community did that! And it would save the ears and nerves of our feathered friends. Some might remember the frenzy in the Melbourne CBD’s falcons last year.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon!

I would like to express my gratitude to ‘A’, ‘C’, Geemeff, ‘H’, ‘M’, SK, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Lady Hawk and NZ DOC, Birdlife International, Sharon Pollock and Raptors of the World, Severna Ospreys, PGSE, Dulles-Greenway, LOTL, Dyfi Osprey Project, LRWT, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Llyn Brenig, Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Owl Research Institute/Explore.org, Achieva Credit Union, Window to Wildlife, Cornell RTH, Bobby Horvath, and The New York Times for their valuable contributions in the form of notes, posts, videos, tweets, and streaming cams. Their inputs have been instrumental in creating my blog today.