Monday in Bird World

9 October 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

To those in Canada celebrating Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving to you! And to everyone else reading this, I am thankful to all of you – what a beautiful community of empathetic, intelligent, bird-loving people you are! I feel truly blessed to be in your company. Thank you for all your good wishes for today.

Sunday was coolish – an incredibly gorgeous fall day full of yellows, reds, and oranges. The nature centre was full of people enjoying the fall foliage and the Canada Geese that were landing on the lakes and fields. There were a few Mallards about and some House Sparrows and a feisty squirrel at one of the feeders.

All of the garden animals were out. A few Dark-eyed Juncos visit the deck. I did remember, after a comment from ‘J’ to get out there and carve that pumpkin up a bit to see if the squirrels would get interested. Will keep you posted. Mr Crow was on the hydro line and I wonder if he saw the pumpkin and thought it might be tasty.

Little Red has been digging around in the old planting boxes. I haven’t seen him going in and out of the wood box and this worried me a bit so it was great to see him today.

Remember the chubby little baby Blue Jay, just fledged, that slept with the two clay bird ornaments? Well, look now! Beautiful.

The ‘girls’ are doing well. I am sad to report that Lewis took a turn for the worse. He has been unable to keep any food down – and believe me, I have tried everything. Broth, Baby food, tinned food with broth, pulverised chicken. We wait and hope that this situation will change. It is hard to deal with any suffering.

Hope is growing fast and continues to want to play more than she wants to eat.

Calico and I have almost finished our WWII spy novel by Cara Black. Wonder what she will want to read next? I am imagining putting my comfy chair by the wood stove in the dead of winter with Calico on my lap reading away.

These cats have taught me so much about the need for a safe space that is ‘their own’ and how stabilising a routine is – even for cats!

Lewis always feels better after he throws up. Sleeping on one of his favourite chairs. Poor little guy. The Gaviscon bottle is being emptied as my stomach churns repeatedly for him.

Missey was caught in Lewis’s carrier. Oh, if something happens to dear Lewis, Missey will be lost. They have been glued at the hip since they were both adopted as rescues on 2 November 2022. This evening she has been very motherly – washing and washing Lewis – over and over – and comforting him.

It is all about Peregrine Falcons – we have had falcons on our minds since the news at Melbourne. The clutch at Melbourne is believed lost for this year. We hope the female will recover from any injuries she has sustained. Our new dad, M22 – remember he was not the father of the chicks last year but came in and helped like Xavier did with Diamond years ago, is refusing to give up on those eggs. He flew in and incubated them on Monday.

There was a video posted by the Bondi Vet, Chris, in Sydney, Australia. Do you know this character? A Peregrine Falcon couple at the Westfield Mall came into his care. Oh, this is good – ten minutes long. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, Diamond and Xavier and the two little ones – who will have names on the 15th of October – are doing fantastic. Gosh, golly, they are so cute. I fear those pink beaks and toes and that fluffy white are giving way, and little feathers are popping in underneath. The first hatch is visibly larger than the second now…a female? Probably.

So cute!

In this video by Elain, Xavier feeds the babies and Diamond, too! Very special moments of our incredible family.

‘A’ writes, “Dear little Xavier had a brief period brooding the chicks late this afternoon (about 15 or 20 minutes), during which he made valiant but futile efforts to cover the chicks by sitting up and leaning over them. He was obviously concerned about being unable to fit the egg underneath him too, and tried several times (eventually successfully) to cover it. So sweet but not a chance of brooding the two chicks. He really is tiny. Check him out when he delivers prey to Diamond. She is gigantic, especially with all her broody underfluffies, whereas Xavier is very sleek, which accentuates how much smaller he is.”

 

At The Campanile, Lou is sunbathing. Nice to see these two are safe and sound. I worry about them because of the poisoning of pigeons, too. Stay safe you two!

‘N’ sent me a note asking what books I recommend on Peregrine Falcons. Here is my list – not in order of preference.

Richard Sals and Steve Watson. Everything you ever wanted to know about falcons and more. A monumental book – great reference.

J. A. Baker. The Peregrine.

Christie Gove-Berg. (especially for children)

Madeline Dunphy. The Peregrine’s Journey. Similar to Belle’s Journey that documents the migration of an Osprey.

Alan Tennant. On the Wing.

There are, of course, many, many books that mention falcons.

On Sunday, Thunder and Akecheta sunned themselves at the West End Bald Eagle nest. What a gorgeous couple. Wonder if they might reconsider their nest location this year. Nudge, nudge.

Gracie Shepherd caught more of Thunder and Akecheta.

Everyone is hopeful that there will be a clutch of eggs in that nice soft nest Gabby and V3 are working on.

The adults are on the nest in Webster, Texas on Sunday.

Connie and Clive have been working on their nest at Captiva on Monday.

Gosh, 1800. Start checking on Jackie and Shadow. These two love to come to the nest in the early evening. They are certainly doing a close inspection!

In Central Park, Bruce Yolton gives us the latest on Flaco and his adventures living in the ‘wild’ of the Big Apple. (Lots of videos in the blog below)

Monday was the first time I heard Pied Currawongs in the forest while watching the Sea Eaglets SE31 and 32. Someone will tell me that I am a bit daffy, but there doesn’t seem to be an over abundance of prey being delivered to the nest.

At Port Lincoln, Dad brought three fish to the nest on Sunday. Both are doing incubation duty. Egg 1 was laid on the 6th of September. Depending on how you count, that would be 24 days in September plus 10 in October, making that egg 34 days old. Hang on, we will be on pip watch shortly!

Checking on the progress of Karl II and his family from both BirdMap and Looduskalendar Forum. The Birdmap check on all of the storks – not just Karl II’s family – is from the 6th. Please note the concern for Karl II who has not sent data from the 30th of September.

Kaia is making good progress towards her winter home in Chad.

Kaia continues and she I snow in the Eastern Desert.

Kalvi is still in Bulgaria.

Turkey is where Waba is currently foraging.

The second Condor chick in 2023 has fledged! Fantastic.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care – and please continue to send your best warm wishes to all the nests and to our dear Lewis.

Thank you to the following for their notes, questions, articles, posts, videos, photos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, J, N’, Bondi Vet, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Holly Parsons, Elain, SK Hideaways, IWS/Explore, Gracie Shepherd, Carol Shores Rifkin, Webster TX Eagle Cam, Window to Wildlife, FOBBV, Bruce Yolton, Sydney Sea Eagles, PLO, Looduskalendar Forum, and Ventana Wildlife Society.