26 June 2023
Good Morning Everyone,
Thank you for your wonderful notes and your cheerful suggestions on what you do when you feel stressed. Gosh, what a wonderful ‘Bird Family’ I have! so caring and compassionate. ‘M’, I will watch those sparrows netting under the Ospreys at Patchogue! Every time I get mad at Big for raising its head when Mini has a chance to eat I promise I will seek those birds out!
There is some good news coming in from Sunday. I have already posted it but everyone is so thrilled that Duke has returned to Daisy at Barnegat Light. Gone a little over 72 hours. Not sure if he has eaten. Duke looks thin and was interested in Daisy’s fish. Daisy has done magnificently as a single Mum for a few days despite losing two of three chicks…she could ahve lost them all. It is sad to see a big healthy Middle, a fat little osplet, on the nest dead. What a few days it has been in osprey World.
Happiness is a walk around a duck pond or through the forest when the sun is warm on your face and at every turn there is a new surprise. Today it was in the form of little ducklings and goslings and all the birds enjoying the bird bath or the fledgling Blue Jays trying to crack a peanut so that it is the right size to eat.
The Canada Geese or moulting. There will be feathers all over the area around the pond for the next 4-6 weeks. T hey undergo an entire moult and cannot fly during this time.
This lucky family had five goslings. Dad was behind being security guard.
A juvenile Mallard.
Proud Mum had several of those little fuzzy duckling juveniles.
Coming home, the fledgling blue Jays were having a wonderful time in the bird bath!
Our top tip of the day comes form Amy Tan and it is great advice – costing around $1-$5 – to keep birds from colliding with windows and being injured or dying.
Now see the spider webs.
For the first time, Ospreys are breeding in an area of Germany where there were none! The ringing of the beautiful osplets today. Talk about happiness.
It is only 1515 at the Barnegat Light nest of Daisy and Big Bob. Daisy has already brought in four fish on Sunday. Big is eating well and Daisy is eating, too. They will be fine unless another catastrophic event happens. Daisy adjusted quickly to being a single Mum providing for the nest – the weather did not cooperate but she will get to raise one healthy chick to fledge, hopefully.
Daisy protecting her only surviving osplet. Big is 26 days old today.
Well, of course, the good news is that Duke has returned to Daisy and their nest. He looks thin. He was gone over 72 hours.
‘H’ notes that Daisy hid the body of Middle on Duke’s arrival. Poor Mum. She did her best and we have no idea what Dad went through…just glad they are together with one chick. ‘H’ also confirms that Duke did steal the fish that Daisy had but went fishing and brought another one in for the family. Poor guy. He was so hungry. Wonder where he had been?
The other great news is that Little Mini at Patchogue lucked out and had two good meals so far on Sunday. The first was at the crack of dawn at 0500 and the second came at 13:28. Little Mini ate the entire fish! No one else was interested. This is what will save our Mini…and it is Sunday. So good going!
Oh, thank goodness. Mini got a little more fish from the 1707 delivery. How much before the big ones come to the table…well, unknown. Mini is so hungry it is not leaving the table but is increasingly intimidated by the bigger siblings.
Mini stays and starts getting fed again at 1812. What a relief. Nope. The Bigs come back! Mini needs to grab that fish. Mum offers and he keeps his head down.
Mini has a tiny mini crop.
Mini did really well Monday morning. Right up there with Three eating! This is a really good break through for our wee one who is getting so many feathers it is hard to tell 4 from 3.
Thanks Stephen for this great photo of another survivor at South Bend.
Continuing to be grateful to the Finnish Osprey Foundation for removing the surviving chicks from nest 3 for care.
At the Forsythe Nest, ‘H’ confirms that Oscar brought in 13 fish on Sunday. Big was extremely aggressive and almost pushed Middle over the edge. That aggression died down a bit and Middle did eat. Let us hope that this all stops. Big is 34 days old and Middle is 33.
Osoyoos: ‘H’ was then that called the pip! Sunday 23:21. Oh, I hope this nest has a good year without the heat domes of past.
Boulder County Fair Grounds is sometimes not an easy nest to watch. There is plenty of fish but Little sometimes appears to get shut out. It had a couple of reasonable feeds by 1600 on Sunday.
Cowlitz PUD: Did not see any fish deliveries up to and including 1330 nest time. Where are the fish?
Seaside: Those two chicks are really growing! Would love to ship the Cowlitz baby over to them some days!
RVA Ospreys, James River: Two Ospreys on the nest on Sunday. No clutch this year. Maybe next.
Great Bay Ospreys: LOTS of fish. Some dominance issues with the Big sibling but the second hatch got some fish!
Moraine Preservation Fund: Trio are doing well and this is a nest where the Dad steps up to feed the chicks! We need more of that wired into their system!
Outerbanks 24/7: Chicks are well fed. Betsy flew off with a fish at 1431 when kayakers came too close to the nest. The osplets pancaked. There need to be barriers around the nests and notices to people in boats, motorised or not.
Oyster Bay: Everything is good.
Maryland Western Shore for Old Town: Fantastic day!
The Bridge Golf Club Ospreys, Noyack, NY: Trio on the nest. Larger two siblings will not let the very tiny third hatch eat. To be fair, the second hatch is quite thin and the little one is so tiny and so hungry. This nest is not thriving.
Sandpoint: Chick hatched on 22 June. Eating well.
Cape Henlopen: No ospreys and the Black Vultures have come to use it as a spot to rest and scope out the area.
White Stork Nest, Tukums, Latvia: Since the rain this nest has been doing fantastic. Storklets growing and appear to be very healthy.
The construction of the new nest for Martin and Rose is now finished. Thank you Window to Wildlife. Pi and Pat were apparently watching from a distance. It is approximately 6 ‘ x 3’.
‘A’ is worried about some events at the nest of Angel and Tom and Deyani. She writes, “at Angel’s nest, there was no food brought to Deyani today (Sunday). She visited the nest several times during the day, attacked the nest a little, pancaked for an afternoon rest for a while, but left late in the afternoon and did not return. There were early evening storms in the area, and about an hour ago, there was very heavy rain and thunder. Then, about 15 or 20 minutes ago, and once more as I type this, there were several shots fired. They were about 30 seconds or so apart and there were three or four of them. Then, as I said, about a minute ago, another shot rang out. It was pitch dark when the first shot was heard. They were fairly close to the microphone (which is in a tree at least 100 metres from the nest). I have no idea what anyone would be shooting at out there in the dark, but I sure hope it’s not Angel. The others would not be visible to a shooter. I am presuming all is okay, but it’s always worrying. Deyani is unlikely to be starving, and could easily have been fed off-nest today, but we will see what happens tomorrow. She is a strong flyer and seems able to manoeuvre around the trees well, so I am fairly confident she will be fine.” Lamping is the term for hunting at night with lights. I really hope that nothing untoward has happened to anyone in our hawk family. This is one reason the location of nests is often not disclosed. — Angel is sleeping on a branch Sunday night so is OK.
Window to Wildlife has a fundraiser to upgrade Angel’s camera for next year. Information is under the streaming cam above the live chat. There are lots of worthy fundraisers out there….
In the mailbox: ‘D’ shares a photo from her holidays. An osprey nest above a Go-Kart track in a busy shopping mall in North Carolina. She was surprised that the ospreys were not bothered by all the humans and the noise and adds that when asked the people at the mall and track said that the osprey return every year.
Ospreys have had to adapt based on humans taking over their natural habitats and cutting down dead trees. Ospreys prefer the top of a dead tree with a clear view in every direction. This differs from eagles that like to build their nest on the tops of conifer trees. Both have suffered good nesting sites due to our increasing demand for land, and artificial nests and platforms are being constructed in almost every country. Living around humans is a high cost compared to a nice site near a lake. “The Ospreys’ ability to adapt to and prosper within urban and suburban areas, combined with their recent reproductive success and thriving populations, has resulted in conflicts between Ospreys and the electric utility, communication, and transportation (e.g., aviation) industries. Human–Osprey conflicts vary widely in scope and scale, ranging from minor conflicts, such as an individual Osprey nest built on a human-made structure (e.g., cellular tower), to major problems, such as local populations of Ospreys directly or indirectly impacting human safety near civilian airports and military airfields through nesting and movement activities. Creative, mutually beneficial management and mitigation practices for both people and Ospreys are needed to allow for the successful coexistence of Ospreys and humans, especially in landscapes highly altered by humans.” Here is the full article from the Journal of Raptor Research:
Thank you so much for being with me. I hope to cover more of the international Osprey nests tomorrow and in particular, the UK ones where ringing is taking place. Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to everyone that sent notes, videos, tweets, posts, and operated streaming cams that helped to make up my blog today: ‘A, D, H, M, T’, Amy Tan and Nor Cal Birding, Gregarious Joris Toonen and Ospreys, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, PSEG, Stephen M Basly, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Boulder County Fairgrounds, Cowlitz PUD, Seaside Ospreys, RVa Ospreys, Great Bay Ospreys, Moraine Preservation Fund, Outerbanks 24/7, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, Bridge Golf Club, Sandpoint Ospreys, Cape Henlopen State Park, Latvian Fund for Nature, Window to Wildlife, Forsythe Ospreys, Osoyoos Ospreys, and the RRP.
I’m so sorry for all the troubles ospreys are going through. I must admit I cried for Barnegat Light and for Finnish ospreys. But there’s a silver lining – Duke’s thankfully back and the surviving Finnish ospreys have been rescued. So, yes, we must concentrate on that…Out of 6 ospreys at least 3 will have a chance to survive…I worry about those little ones from the Finnish nest, there are still miles to go for them to grow healthy and thrive. Heartbroken over their mother..that nest was doing so well. It’s actually awful when you have to recall more terrible things in order to feel better about this situation. I remembered the terrible tragedy of Finnish ospreys Alma & Ossi…I know you wrote about them…I truly hope the things turn for the better at those struggling osprey nests. Thank you so much for featuring our white stork nest. I’m beyond thrilled for them. I try to keep my eye on the nearby white stork nests, and if my vision doesn’t betray me, I must say that I see a fewer storklets than last year. Many nests have only two. However, it was raining again today, so hopefully there will be as many fledges as those storklets that I have seen in nests. The photos with your garden inhabitants are just wonderful. Thank you for that and all the other good news!
Yes, we have to look to the positive. I already had Duke on the Memorial Board and it was sheer happiness to delete him from that listing. He is not young. At 17, that is old for a male Osprey. Their lives are shorter than the females (or so the research tells us). So for him to come home was a triumph after all the sadness. I hope that the little ones in Finland survive but a big thank you to the FOF for trying – like Urmas and Dr Madis – we cannot give up! We have to continue to fight for them and hope they survive. Hoping for better news after all the chicks on the nests get a little older. Fingers crossed always…Thank you for loving the garden animals. They bring me joy and calm.