Mini Meals…Tuesday in Bird World

18 July 2022

Hello Everyone!

Today feels a little bit different. This blog comes out of a long season of frustrations -needing help at some of the nests and being unable to get it. It is frustrating. The information the streaming cams provides if there is an emergency is dismal, and many chats need to have informed moderators.

But first, good news. An intervention took place at the Pitkin County Emma Lake Open Space Osprey nest on Monday. A fish hook with a long line was attached to one of the osplets nearing fledge!

Geemeff reminds us it is time to ‘Name the Loch Arkaig chick’ of Louis and Dorcha. Here is the information:

Name that chick! Voting now open to name Loch Arkaig Osprey chick LY7. Open until tomorrow, Wednesday 19th. Details in the pinned comment on the video, or use this link:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=11126397
https://youtu.be/XJXVHw8d6mI

Darach which is Gaelic for oak.
Hector was put forward by patients at the local hospital in Fort William who watch the livestream during kidney dialysis.
Ludo combines the names of our chick’s parents – Louis and Dorcha.
Murray is in honour of Scotland’s famous tennis dynasty – mother and sons!
Shooglenifty is in honour of the music group of that name, whose late leader was fiddler Angus R Grant who grew up at Caol near Loch Arkaig.

Thanks to ‘H’, the Cape May Rescue – the closest to the Ocean City Osprey platform that lost its adults and two nearly ready-to-fledge chicks – has been texting me. Trying to find the precise location of the platform took some doing – digging through old YouTube videos, etc. We finally found the area of Ocean City and the marsh and the nearby creek. But this all takes precious time. Sadly, we have time. The chicks are dead. It just brought up the need to have information to make quick and informed calls to the agencies that can help – if permission is given. So…

‘H’ reminded me of a link I posted a while ago. Please write this down somewhere important and look at ‘H’s easy instructions for finding the nearest wildlife rehab clinic to the nest with the emergency below. In fact, ‘H’ located the Cape May Rescue which is the closest to the Oceanside Osprey nest. No, Bobby Horvath on Long Island is not close! Cape May Rescue wrote to me Monday morning. They were willing to go and help, but it was too late. Now if they can locate the nest, they will retrieve the body of the osplet to try and determine the COD. We must act fast when there is an emergency but, at the same time, make sure it is an emergency.

Animal Help Now

It is very useful.  Enter the city and state, or zip code, and select “Wildlife Emergency”.  Then over on the left-hand column, select ‘animal type’: Bird.  

Wildlife. (If you are politically allergic, skip this section!) What we want to do is to watch happy families thriving in the wild. What we often see is precisely the opposite – human debris littering the nests, fishing line and baling twine entangling their babies, and weather patterns caused by climate change…’caused by humans’ that cause mayhem often killing many such as what has been happening in the NE USA. Those weather patterns are drying up wetlands, causing massive storms and floods, upending the fishing, and sending salt water into freshwater areas. This all impacts our feathered friends. To say that Wildlife is political is an understatement. Political leaders need to show more understanding of the crisis that our planet is undergoing. They have their heads buried in the sand or sewage, literally.

We long to do our part to help but often, we do not know who to contact or feel helpless and do nothing. What was proven by Dale Hollow and the rescue – even though it took too long and DH18 died a tragic death – is that our voices do matter. Want to change the migratory bird act so that interventions for human debris on nests or emergencies can go forward without all the red tape hindering them now? Then this is the person to write: Jerome Fort, Assistant Director for Migrator Birds, Fish and Wildlife Services in Washington, DC. His e-mail is: Jerome_ford@fws.gov

No one will know that we care unless we tell them! And you have to be loud and sometimes a little pushy. Career politicians care about the next election – they lack a long term view for our planet and they don’t have the back bone to make the tough and right decisions. It is deplorable. So write the civil servants that care. Thank you.

Those in charge of the streaming cams have a responsibility as well. They must provide emergency contact numbers so that help can be arranged. They do not have to provide the specific location of the nest, but someone needs to know this so that rescuers can find the nest and/or platform. Every chat should have an informed moderator! And they should take responsibility and care for the birds they are streaming. Some (not all) make much money off the streaming cams in ad revenue and/or donations. Many are wonderful educational sites with good chat moderators, websites, and FB pages.

I will not be checking on lots of the nests today but a day cannot go by without checking on Little Mini numerous times. Is she eating? has she flown?

Mini had a nice fish early on Monday and when I next checked in, there was Mum feeding Mini around 1130. How wonderful!

Mini has been enjoying more fish! Gosh she has grown into such a beautiful osplet. Simply gorgeous.

Three is often on the nest and Mini now appears to be larger than its older sibling…so is three a male? and Mini a female even with those skinny legs?

Poor Little Mini had to fight off wasps to eat its fish!

Thanks to ‘PB’ who has been watching The Bridge Golf Club Ospreys and she is delighted to report that Mum brought in a huge fish at 1845. Was it a baby shark? This nest is hungry like the others in the area that have been battered storm after storm, heat wave, and then low fish numbers on top of that.

Everything is good at Minnesota National Arboretum.

Dad delivers and the not so little osplet at Cowlitz is happy to eat that fish all by itself.

Life is sweet at Boulder County Fairgrounds.

Beautiful Iris showed up at her nest and did some renovations today. Gosh, it was nice to see her.

At nest #4 in Finland all is well.

The sun sets on Finnish nest #1. All looks good.

It appears that everything is alright on Finnish nest #5 also.

‘H’s report on the osprey nests she is monitoring:

Audubon Boathouse: Oh my goodness, young Skipper is growing up too fast!.  Skipper is 38 days old, and is simply luvin’ life!

Forsythe:  There were only two fish delivered to the nest, one each from Oscar and Opal.  But, that monster fish brought by Opal lasted for several meals.  There was plenty to eat for Ollie, the lone remaining nestling.  The fledgling, Owen, has not returned to the nest since fledging at 1351 on 7/16.

Barnegat Light:  ’09/N’ is 48 days old, and is the only one of its siblings to have survived the storm at the end of June that caused fishing to be impossible for days.  S/he is doing very well, and will be on fledge watch soon.  Gosh, it would be so nice if 09/N would be given a name before s/he fledges!

Kent Island:  Tom and Audrey’s little 36 day old youngster is doing very well, and s/he really wants a name.  After all, the stuffed pink octopus that Audrey brought to the nest was given an official name.  Sorry to say the stuffed octopus, Molly, ended up in the drink . . oh, but not to worry, after all she is an octopus.”

Fortis Exshaw: There was so much activity at the nest, and Louise’s new mate, ‘Mr. O’, had an increased presence.  It was fun to watch the interactions between Louise and Mr. O.  There were a total of eight fish delivered to the nest, including two from Mr. O.  At 1212 Louse brought a fish and began to feed her offspring.  Five minutes later, Mr. O landed with a fish, and the kids turned toward him to be fed.  Louise abandoned her fish, accepted Mr. O’s fish and fed the kids from that one.  Mr. O proceeded to pick up the remainder of Louise’s fish and eat.  When Louise finished feeding from the fish Mr. O brought, she took her fish from Mr. O and fed the siblings some more.  Mr. O also brought sticks to the nest four times, and rearranged some sticks around the nest.  He even engaged in a brief event of mutual nestorating with Louise that was cute.  Mr. O is very comfortable around Louise and the kids, kind of like a comfy old pair of slippers.  In the eyes of  some viewers, Mr. O seems like an experienced family man, and not a young male that is unfamiliar with the ways of taking care of a family.  Perhaps Mr. O lost his mate, just as Louise has lost hers.  Mr. O is the real deal . . heaven sent. 

Karl II is in early to feed the beautiful storklets at his and Kaia’s nest in Estonia.

In Latvia, the little eaglet is so cute. You can hear the rain falling in the background and this baby is waiting and wanting food.

The sound of an eaglet squeeing on the nest of Milda in Durbe County, Latvia just makes my heart beat a little softer and warmer. After two unsuccessful very sad years, Milda and her new mate, Voldis, had two White-tail Eaglets fledge in 2023.

The list of rehabbers who have successfully treated ospreys is growing. Here is another one but it is the mention of previous success that intrigues me. If you know of any osplets that have been in care and released, please let me know.

Isn’t this baby cute?

And guess what? A Place Called Hope has two osplets/ospreys in care, too.

The developers could not wait! Geemeff sent me the following article. As we watched what climate crises do to the NE nests and the death of the two osplets at Ocean City, another group of osplets fledged just a week ago on 10 July. Two days later, the developers cut down the pole that held their nest. Now the chicks have no place to return to for the next month to be fed. How do you spell despicable?

The second chick in the Booted Eagle nest in Spain has starved to death. It is customary for only one eaglet to fledge, and there has been concern, expressed by my friend ‘T’, over the plumage development of the second chick. While the oldest had developed the beautiful rust plumage, the youngest still had its white head. The older eaglet ate well. You can see how strong it is and its big crop in the image below.

We must always look for the good and the hope. I know if the Hilton Head nest had been in Nova Scotia they would have erected the new nest before tearing down the old! Where in the world is the compassion? Yes, legally the developers could take down the pole since there was no chicks ‘in’ the nest but we all know they do return for 4-6 weeks (or longer like Victor) to be fed by their parents. So why didn’t the wildlife specialist tell them this and make arrangements?

There is good news that Geemeff points out about the 13 osplets being translocated to Spain. And soon there will be osplets heading to Ireland.

Twelve Scottish Osprey chicks have arrived at Marjal de Oliva-Pego in Spain, part of a translocation project run by Roy Dennis. The lady quoted in the news item, Itziar Colodro, a member of the Migres Foundation, is the same person who tried to get the Spanish utility companies to properly maintain their power lines after Lachlan’s ‘cousin’ Pean JH3 was electrocuted by one in 2019.

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Take Part. Not everyone is sitting back and doing nothing. Wild Justice is working to make certain that wildlife does not suffer!

Good morning!Today sees the launch of a major campaign by over 70 wildlife and countryside organisations aimed at the political parties ahead of the next UK general election. Politicians need to know that wildlife matters to you. Please add your voice to #Nature2030 today – click here. In England, there is a legally binding commitment on this and future governments to stop wildlife declines by 2030. You helped secure that commitment back in spring 2021 – you really did. Despite the tiny size of Wild Justice, our supporters contributed tens of thousands of signatures to the e-action that led to change. It’s time to follow through on that to influence politicians ahead of the next general election. Although the legally binding commitment applies to England we ask all of our supporters, wherever they live, to sign the petition – you’ll be doing English wildlife a favour and the strength of response will be noticed by decision makers across the UK. The five priority areas are:

1. A pay rise for nature and farmers: double the nature-friendly farming budget
2. Make polluters pay: require polluting big businesses to deliver environmental improvements
3. More space for nature by 2030: restore wildlife-rich sites and create a Public Nature Estate
4. Deliver green jobs: create a National Nature Service for habitat restoration 
5. A right to a healthy environment: establish a human right to clean air and water and access to nature

Please add your voice on Day 1 of this campaign – sign here.Thank you! Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).

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Moorings Park will never look the same without Victor waiting on the nest for Harry to deliver a fish. Victor was last seen at the nest at 0935 on the 16th of July. Like his sister, Abby, he has left to find his place in the world. W hat joy he brought to all of us!

‘A’ reports that the camera is back on at Port Lincoln for the 2023 breeding season. “The live stream was turned on at the Port Lincoln barge about 12 hours ago. Mum and dad were both on the nest around 11.30 this morning, with mum continually (but relatively quietly) demanding fish and dad ignoring her. As we speak, it is 10.40pm and one of the pair is tucked and sleeping on the perch at the far end of the barge, away from the nest.” Here is the link for this season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZylkLZNaT5w

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, PSEG, Bridge Golf Club, MN Landscape Arboretum, Cowlitz PUD, Boulder County Fair Grounds, Montana Osprey Project, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fortis Exshaw, Audubon Boathouse, Kent Island, Forsythe, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Wild Justice, Eagle Club of Estonia, LDF, media Raptor Center, A Place Called Hope, The Island Packet, Euro Weekly, Moorings Park, and the Booted Eagle Cam Spain.