Mini is home…Tuesday in Bird World

12 September 2023

Good Morning,

First up. My e-mail and FB Messenger ‘lit up’. The messages were mostly ‘Mini is Alive’…’We knew Mini was a survivor’..’Mini wanted to show us that she is alive and doing well’. Gosh, she is a survivor and it is fitting that our dear fourth hatch came to the nest to show everyone who loves her that she is well and living her life and eating fish!

After being MIA for two days, Mini flew to the nest in Patchogue and spent a couple of hours showing us how good she had done since we last saw her. She stood well on her left leg, she played with her cardboard, and before she flew off, she did what all raptors do – a ‘ps’. This was a grand one – at 1929. She has been eating well. Mini is living the life of an osprey off the nest. Is this our last sighting? or will she come again? Whichever it is, treasure those images. She is well! She is beautiful! And she is eating.

Saying goodbye to ‘cardboard’?

That is a great ‘ps’ – one of the best I have seen. This girl has eaten fish!

Mini went from perch to perch but, at the time I am writing, has not settled on the nest to rest her leg.

Thank you for all your good wishes for Calico. We so appreciate them! She is, indeed, a very special presence and I am so happy she is part of my life.

Calico has her surgery today. She will be home around 1830 or 1900. Everyone is hoping that the lump that appeared on her side, which turned out to be mastitis, is gone (seems like it) and if that is the case, the surgery will be simpler with a much smaller incision. Tattooed, microchipped – hopefully never to be lost outside again – ever. While Calico is away having her luxury spa day (the vet gives them heated blankets), Hope will go through an intensive get-to-know-me routine that will ‘hopefully’ include more petting. She is soooooo fast and alert. The slightest movement in the wrong direction, and she bolts. A good nickname might be ‘Usain’ after Usain Bolt, the Jamaican 8-time Olympic Gold Medalist! She might challenge him for some of those 100 m times!!!!!!!!!! Hope has no idea how determined I am that she will not be ‘wild’. In fact, ‘wild’ is not an option. Do you hear that Hope?

Hope and Calico are so much alike. The tiny little black tears on their left eye, the liners of dark fur on their left sides, kohl-like eyeliner around their eyes. Hope does have a couple of differences. She is white in the front, her legs, chest, and throat. She has a tiny, white, almost graph-like line right between her eyes. She has a single white dot of fur on her back, and her head is a slightly different shape. Calico is ‘fine boned’ as my grandmother would say. Hope isn’t.

Hope often waits for Mamma to finish eating before she begins even though there are always two dishes.

The laundry has been going over time and the conservatory is going to have to be ‘aired’. It smells like sardines. Did I ever tell you that I dislike fish so much? Hope loves sardines. T hey got her into the little kitten trap and they are good for her. (There is little chance that she is a he – from all appearances – but when I get close enough to fully confirm will let you know).

Lewis continues to be slightly insecure and in his own Lewis way gets himself in trouble. Calico protects the space that Hope is in and she is not going to let anyone harm her kitten. While Calico is away, Lewis and Missey will get time in Hope’s company to ease the transition. They are all lovely kittens and each has their own story of being found under a deck with 5 siblings and a feral mother (Lewis) or Missey being found alone under a truck. They have much in common!

But look at Missey. Missey decided that she was going to try and open the door to the Conservatory! She seriously almost made it. I am going to have to lock that door. Cats are super intelligent.

Hope and Calico will be glad when the integration process is complete. Calico looks sad to me – wanting out but not wanting anyone to harm her baby she chooses to stay in the conservatory with Hope – their ‘safe’ place together.

Two days ago Hope was afraid to look through the glass of the Conservatory into the kitchen. Now she copies her Mamma only she gets closer! Soon, little sweetie. Not sure what it is about her but Hope just melts my heart like the first time I got to stroke her Mamma.

Photographs of our favourite Port Lincoln fledgling, Ervie, fishing. Remember when he lost a talon? When we thought he would have to survive on Puffers? Just look – great technique. Ervie, we adore you! This is why I support banding and satellite trackers. It is the joy when they survive. Like Mini, Ervie was a survivor.

It is bachelor days for Richmond – of Richmond and Rosie – at the Richmond Shipping Yards in California. Rosie appears to have departed for warmer climates on the 4th of September. Richmond prefers to spend the winters in the Bay Area.

‘H’ brings us up to date on Kent Island and Barnegat Light:

Kent Island – “Audrey had spent the night at the nest on 9/11 and she flew off the nest at 0625.  It was thought to be Audrey preening on a pole at a nearby dock at 0905.  There were no more sightings of ospreys until 1820, when an osprey landed in a tree. Some thought it was an adult osprey, but others thought they saw juvenile plumage.  It was difficult to say.  Unlike the previous four nights, Audrey did not spend the night at the nest on 9/12.  Molly was last seen on 9/5, and Tom last seen on 9/9.”

Barnegat Light – “As with the previous couple of days, the camera feed omitted several hours of time throughout the day due to buffering issues.  The technical issues are making it very difficult to chronicle Dorsett’s last few days before she leaves her natal area to begin her first long journey.  Dorsett was seen on the 24th Street pole with a fish tail at 0614.  At 0750 it was thought to be Dorsett on a boat mast.  That was the last time we were able to observe her on 9/11.  Dorsett is 104 days old, and she fledged six weeks ago.”

Pa Berry is home and starting to work on that nest at Berry College in Georgia.

KNF-E3: Alex and Andria working away.

Superbeaks: Pepe and Muhlady remind me so much of Jackie and Shadow. Big sticks come to the nest and the two have a lovely disagreement over placement!

Someone is supposed to be on holidays! It is incredible how these peregrine falcon families can draw you in…and don’t you love those Dads that try to feed their eggies?!

It looks like there are three eggs at Port Lincoln. Hiding in the midst of some moss, Mum laid another egg. The last. Hard incubation will begin now in earnest. Oh, please pinch me and tell me that this really is Dad2. No offence Dad1 but we worried about your health and we only want the chicks to thrive!

The Sea Eaglets are particularly beautiful…notice the ‘in style’ brick brown-rust colour and peach that is beginning to colour their plumage. Lady slept on the nest and at 0524 she found a piece of leftover fish (?). After the two got up for their morning stretch – hopefully more prey will arrive shortly.

‘A’ brings us up to date: “The day began at WBSE with an early (pre-6am) breakfast from the leftovers of the eel brought in late yesterday afternoon. SE32 had the better of the first breakfast, so when the next food was brought in around lunchtime, SE31 claimed the small-medium headless fish and ate most of it by herself. SE32 watched those last few mouthfuls carefully, and made a grab for the last bit of flesh and the tail. He had to grab four times to pull it out from under SE31 and the eaglets then had a tug-of-fish. SE32 eventually won the battle and horked down that tail piece in short order, flesh attached. Brave and determined. 

The next food item was another fish, and this one was fed to the eaglets and shared out fairly evenly between the two. It wasn’t long before another food item came in, this one feathered. SE32 got the majority of this rather large prey item and by the time he was finished, his crop was enormous. So when another chunk of prey (it looked like a part of the previous piece) arrived shortly afterwards, SE32 could not even be bothered getting out of the nest and allowed SE31 to sit and be fed 

Both eaglets went to bed with full crops, and the parents both ate well too. It was a good day at WBSE. “

At the Royal Albatross colony, Manaaki gives us a beautiful skycall while a beautiful Albie comes to visit.

‘A’ adds: “In New Zealand, nine of the 33 chicks are confirmed to have fledged. More may have left this afternoon and are yet to be confirmed. Manaaki is still on his nest. He was weighed around 11:30 this morning and weighed 9.2 kgs. He is readying for departure and has probably cast his pre-fledge bolus. UQ is still there, as we think is Quarry.”

At the WRDC nest in Miami, recent fledgling R5 returned for a quick visit around 0659 Monday. Wonder what he thought of the reinforced nest and its paint?

Quess what? There are eagles back on Farmer Derek’s land in Kansas!!!!!!!! You might recall that there was a young Bald Eagle pair on Farmer Derek’s property. Their nest got taken over by a pair of GHOs who raised a couple of clothes of cute little owls. This might be interesting.

Migration makes me nervous especially when it involves crossing through countries or resting. We anxiously await news of Karl II, the Super Dad from the Karula National Forest Black Stork Nest in Estonia.

I feel sick. At the same time I am hoping that this is only the same issue with cell coverage in some areas of Ukraine where Karl II likes to rest. Last year we held our breath also. I forget how many days it was.

Kaia:

Kalvi:

Bonus:

Waba:

Another reason to get rid of leaf blowers (besides the noise and the pollution) and allow the leaves to stay overwinter (until after May):

I am so happy to receive my Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys 2024 calendar! Thank you to Mary Cheadle for all the fundraising she does for the Woodland Trust so the streaming cam continues to operate at Loch Arkaig!

If you live in Winnipeg or Southern Manitoba, why not take in Wildlife Haven’s Annual Open House? Tickets are $10 for adults. You get to tour the facilities and meet the ambassadors and learn why they would love to have you grow some vegetables in your garden for their patients or what else is needed in terms of care such as clean old towels, sheets, hand tools, bleach, pet food. — So many of you live elsewhere – we are an international family – but, please check out your local wildlife rehabilitation centre and find out when they have their open house. It is always a day for learning and admiring the work these dedicated individuals undertake.

I will being you highlights of the tour on Sunday!

Thank you so very much for being with me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes to Calico and to all who wrote to tell me Mini was on the nest! Thanks also to the following for their comments, notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today” ‘A, H’, PSEG, Julie Lovegrove and Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Bay Ospreys by Golden Gate Audubon, Wildlife Conservation F of NJ, Kent Island, Gracie Shepherd and Raptors of the World, Superbeaks, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, PLO, Sea Eagles, Lady Hawk and NZ DOC, WRDC, Trudi Kron and KNF-E3, Trudi Kron and Farmer Derek, Looduskalender, and Wildlife Haven.