All eyes on Port Lincoln…Sunday in Bird World

15 October 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying the weekend.

The girls have been having a whale of a time running through the house and watching everything in the garden. Missey alerted me to something ‘strange’ happening at the back – and there was Little Red.

Note: You can also see those ‘dots’ placed on the conservatory windows’ exterior. They really did prevent bird strike!

Look at his mouth. He is untying the twine around some vines and a metal screen and taking it to the woodbox where he is readying his winter abode.

Everyone came for a visit and a good meal today. Dyson was on the table feeder and the little covered feeder shovelling up seed. It is always good to see her and she is in very good shape as winter approaches.

One of Dyson’s kits.

Hope decided she wanted to relax on the wicker hamper that Missey likes to use to look out to the garden from the sitting room. She is a bit of a cheeky one. And she gets by with things because she is a cute little kitten!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope would rather play than anything and her favourite thing is to run flat out from one end of the house to the other leaping over all the furniture. It makes Mamma tired!

Hope is the cutest thing. Sometimes when I look at her I wonder if her name should have been ‘Miracle’ – it still feels like a miracle that these two were united.

I cannot imagine her being outside. Just this morning, the saddest (and most outrageous/nauseating) posting on the ‘Lost Cat’ page – some people had murdered a missing cat and had filmed the act and then thrown its body into the neighbour’s garden. For that reason and all the cars that will not slow down, darling Hope – along with her Mamma, Calico, and Missey, will never go outside! They are destined to be voyeurs.

Mamma. It has been different having the three girls. Before Calico’s arrival, Missey was the relaxed Alpha cat. She is still relaxed. It is just her very sweet nature. She does not appear to give a toss about hierarchy within the house, and throughout Saturday, it has become apparent that Calico will probably be the dominant female. I put this down to her being able to survive outside in the community. I recall one day when she was eating at the feral feeding station, and Boots – aka ‘the boyfriend’ came up. Calico gently put her paw out, and he did not try to interrupt her. Boots waited. Calico was the boss.

They will soon figure out that there are enough sofas, enough litter boxes, enough food – and more love than they can imagine – and all this is nothing more than foolishness.

In the meantime, we will continue our stories. Tomorrow, we begin another Cara Black novel, Three Days in Paris. (We are reading them backwards – ssssssh. Don’t tell. They have no idea!). When I begin reading, Calico and Hope come to the sofa. Missey is now joining in sometimes from her wicker basket. It is wonderful!

The following post asks people not to throw food out of the window when they are driving down a road or a highway. Even a city street. I would like to take this a little further. Please put a small shovel in the trunk of your car. If you see a dead animal on the road – and it is safe for you to do so – pull over. Get out the shovel from the trunk and take the dead animal way off the side of the road or put it on the boulevard. Crows eat carrion and get killed on City streets. Help them. They are hungry and they help clean up – as do many other species.

If you don’t have a shovel, a pick stick or a piece of cardboard works wonders, too. Sadly, a car going too fast hit one of our local rabbits. I put it on the boulevard, and our local Crow family had a ‘safe’ feast.

As it happened a grey squirrel was killed on one of the busiest streets in my neighbourhood. I saw a Crow there trying to get it. We went back, stopped traffic and moved it to the boulevard. We didn’t need another death and people drive way too fast!

More challenges for our raptors. Flares.

Not an Osprey but a beautiful buzzard checking out Loch Arkaig.

Mum is rolling the eggs at Port Lincoln and everyone is waiting for that first pip as Sunday morning arrives.

At 0910 Mum is calling Dad who was seen on the old barge with a large crop but no fish for Mum. Is that an eggshell behind her? No! She flies off. I hope he has a nice piece of fish for her.

Well, it is after noon and Mum is waiting for a fish.

1341. The fish arrives on the nest for Mum. ‘A’ saw it: “At Port Lincoln, dad has just flown in with a nice fish for mum. She has been fish calling but very reluctant to leave the nest because she is being pestered by a gull who fancies one of those eggs for lunch. She has flown off with her fish, leaving dad to guard the precious clutch. He carefully settles down. He’s been a perfect dad. These eggs have virtually never been left unattended for more than the time it takes for one parent to carefully get up and the other to settle down. They have been the most diligent pair of any species I have ever seen with regard to brooding. a clutch of eggs. They have been exemplary. So let’s see how they go with the next and harder stage. I am confident this is a different dad to last year. There are photos that are sufficiently forensic to show differences between this year’s dad and last’s. We all know there were questions about the health of last year’s dad, so let’s hope this dad is a better and more reliable fisher. Think back to Ervie’s year. At that stage, the old dad was fishing enough for a family of five. As his illness progressed, he became less reliable with provisioning the family, culminating in last year’s tragedy. And now we have a new dad, who does seem to be bringing in two or three fish most days. As you say, we will have to say if he can step this up once the eggs hatch. The time is nigh! We will soon find out.”

Is there a possible pip at 19:44?

Can you see it peeking up? Lost in that big nest? That is Partner and Marrum’s only hatch (so far) at Turnby Island, South Australia. (Hatched on 12 October).

As we prepare for the arrival of these little osplets, WBSE 31 and 32 are preparing for their first flight. 31 has officially branched. 32 scoots up the branch but, when I am writing this, has not flown from the nest to the branch. LOL. Maybe 32 never will!

‘A’ remarks, “How incredibly beautiful are the sea eaglets, with their gorgeous caramel-coloured pantaloons? The camouflage is absolutely superb, presumably designed to help keep them safe in the months it will take them to learn how to hunt for themselves.  SE31 is a very proficient self-feeder. SE32 is still very happy to be fed by a parent when available. I am very confident that we picked the genders on that nest accurately. Look at the shape/size of their heads, in particular. See how narrow and small SE32’s head is compared to his older sibling? Doesn’t it remind you exactly of Dad? SE31 has the head and legs of a female, as well as the body mass. SE32 has been eating as much as or more than SE31 over the past month, so the difference in size is definitely gender-based IMO. I hope she’s as brave as SE29 last season, and that she comes home to the nest each night as SE29 did.”

Pat Burke got the most amazing screen captures of the two of them on the parent branch.

The two eyases of Diamond and Xavier will have names today! And they are nothing short of adorable. Need your spirit boosted – go and watch them!

Here are the results. Thanks, ‘A’: “NESTLING NAMES are Marri (=red kangaroo) 40.7 % and Barru (bilby) 40.3%. Others were Ganyi (echidna): 20.4% Mabi (eastern quoll): 37.4% (runner up!) Budharu ( flying fox): 17.4% Wilay (brush-tailed possum): 18.1% Gidyay (possum): 10.6% Wirrang (rock wallaby): 10.4% Dingu (dingo): 25.3% Wambad (wombat): 9.3% Naagun (koala): 20.8% Gunirr (swamp wallaby):7.6% Marradhi (spotted-tail quoll): 15.6% Walarru (wallaroo, euro): 12.4%”

Beakies and little wing flaps.

Xavier is working overtime to get prey to Diamond and the babies. Lots of feedings and these two are so adorable. It is nearing midnight in Canada and I do not see any mention of names yet.

The streaming cams are up and running at both Decorah Bald Eagle nests. When the cameras were repaired a pile of fish were left on the nest. Looks like it attracted a sub-adult eagle. Nice.

Cholyn paid a visit to the nest at Two Harbours on Saturday.

Cholyn’s daughter, Thunder (mate to Akecheta), visited Tor at the West End nest on Saturday.

Louis and Anna are having problems with owls – already – at the KNF-E1 nest in Louisiana.

Gabby and V3 are quite the couple. They fly in together, work on the nest, and have some amazing ‘discussions’. I love their chortling.

Martin and Rosa have been checking on their new nest.

M15’s new mate, F23, is quite the stunner! These two have been busy working on their nest and it is a new beginning for our devoted dad who raised two eaglets to fledge after his former mate, Harriet, went missing in early February 2023. Wishing all the success for these two love birds.

The Royal Albatross are returning to Taiaroa Head and hoping their mate, whom they would not have seen for 9 or 10 months, will return safely to the nesting area. I hope that YRK (she has returned) will find her long-time mate OGK. They were the parents of Pippa Atawhai in 2020 and Lillibet in 2022 – both Royal Cam chicks.

It is not raptors but another rewilding Scotland – wildcats. As Geemeff notes, ‘They will be able to reclaim their ancestral lands.’

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, videos, articles, posts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ‘A, Geemeff’, Birds in Helping Hands, RMRP, Geemeff, PLO, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, Pat Burke, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, IWS/Explore, Tonya Irwin, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Lady Hawk, Earlybird, and The Guardian.