Nest Round up. Late Thursday in Bird World

6 July 2023

Hello Everyone,

As promised, a quick round-up of what is happening at our nests today. I hope this finds you all well. It is nearly the end of the week and now it also is beginning to feel like July will fly by.

Cowlitz PUD: The fish are coming. I wish a few great big ones would land on this nest. The chick is growing like a bad weed and if you look carefully you can tell that this little one is nearly the size of Mum.

Collins Marsh: Everything is fine at Collins Marsh. Two nice growing osplets.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: The chick has lost its fluff and that head is pure Reptilian. A nice early fish came in and Mum fed the wee one after it scrambled to get up to the rim of the nest. At first I thought, oh, no, she is going to eat it all and not feed the chick. Wrong.

Boulder County Fair Grounds: These two parents continue to work together to feed and shade their three growing chicks. What a great nest this has become after the initial sidelining of the third hatch.

Patchogue: Big was on the perch and it looks like everyone is doing alright. Mini has been eating and eating and doing some wing flapping along with the others. ‘M’ mentioned some concerns in chat that Mini was sneezing between 0757 and 0800 and was concerned if this was true. As it turns out Mini was being fed by Mum the entire time (and at least 15 minutes prior). Mini seemed to just eat and eat today. She is growing but needs that tail longer to fly and from the look in her eyes, she really wants to fly when she sees Big hover to the perch!

The Fabulous Four from Patchogue!

Sandpoint: The second egg did not hatch and the first is a right little reptile! Seems to be doing quite well.

Outerbanks: Doing great. Fledglings return to the nest. Just perfect! I was, however, horrified, when ‘A’ sent me an image from the 4th of July where fireworks went off near to the nest…on the water under??? I do not know anything about fireworks regulations but this should not be allowed. The area should be restricted so as not to disturb the nest.

On behalf of all of us, I will write to the individuals that run the camera and see what they know and if this behaviour can be stopped. I understand from ‘L’ that it is possible in the tourist areas along the coast to have fireworks once a week, not just on holidays. Can you see me shaking my head?

‘L’ asked me if there was a way to send donations from outside RU to Dmitri who rescued the little fifth stork and cared for it so that it is big and strong. As you might recall, Dmitri has prostrate cancer and is looking for assistance to get the surgery quickly. It is scheduled for 12 July. This is the link that I was given for donations to be sent: https://www.donationalerts.com/r/storks40

There is some more sadness. The last of the three osplets of the Great Bay nest has died. That storm just keeps on giving and it isn’t good.

But there is also good news elsewhere…after the third hatch died of siblicide at The Bridge Golf Club, the camera went offline. It was feared that the storms that caused such deaths at other nests such as Great Bay also impacted the two older chicks here. Well, guess what? Just look at those two older ones! Isn’t that wonderful? I can hardly believe my eyes.

Here are the nests that ‘H’ has been monitoring – thanks so much, H.

Dahlgren – Jack and Harriet’s kids are doing great.  There were at least 5 fish delivered by Jack on 7/5, and both chicks are doing some self feeding (49 and 45 days old)

Osoyoos – There is a good supply of fish coming to the nest, and the little ones are being well cared for by Mom and Dad (Soo and Olsen ?).  Ages 10 and 9 days old.

Forsythe – They had 11 fish delivered to the nest on 7/5, and Opal delivered 4 whoppers.  A little joke is that Oscar fishes from the ‘kiddie pool’, lol, but Oscar did deliver a pretty big fish at 1344.  The chicks are 45 and 44 days old.

Barnegat Light – Life is good for Duke, Daisy and 09/N.  Daisy brought a smooth dogfish shark to the nest, yummy!  We are still awaiting a name for their 36 day old youngster.

Kent Island – There were at least 6 fish delivered by Tom that I saw.  Audrey and Tom’s little kiddo is 24 days old, and would like to have a name!

Audubon Boathouse – The sun finally shone brightly at the nest of Skiff and Dory after several gloomy days.  At 26 days old, little Skipper is growing like a weed.

Severna Park – Olivia and Oscar sure did haul in some large fish on 7/5  Big did not fledge on 7/5, perhaps today is the day.  Ages of the sibs: 59 and 58 days old.

The UK nests are fine and I will look closer at them tomorrow. We will close with a video by Gracie Shepherd of Thunder, Akechets, Scout, and 39D soaring. Enjoy.

Thank you so much for being with me this evening for this quick check on some of the nests. Take care. See you soon!

I want to thank the following for their notes, videos, posts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this evening: ‘A, H, L, M, T’, Cowlitz PUD, Collins Marsh, MN Landscape Arboretum, Boulder County Fair Grounds Ospreys, PSEG, Sandpoint Ospreys, Outerbanks 24/7, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Bridge Golf Club, Dahlgren Ospreys, Osoyoos, Forsythe, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Kent Island, Audubon Boathouse.