11 November 2023
Good Morning Everyone,
The kittens hope that you will have a wonderful weekend.
All Hope thinks about are bird videos! She now cuddles up to my ankles when I fill the food dishes in the morning. She doesn’t always let Mamma take over. Hope also loves dental treats just like Mamma. What a glorious gift this bushy tail gal is!
Cuddled up with Mamma.
Sweet Calico. I so fear she has arthritis in her back legs. Sometimes Calico looks so old and frail. I continue to say that life outside in Winnipeg for the stray cats is very hard with our winters no matter how kind people are with shelters and food.
Missey has pretty much given Hope her basket and blankets. They each have their favourite perch and several places to sleep. Life is pretty much one of general civility and contentment with the odd ‘hiss’.
Missey says she adores Hope…not so keen on Calico when Calico is hissey.
Hope also says not to believe that nonsense about the new name for the Cooper’s Hawk. She does wonder if it will be that complicated, the new names. How do you change a name?
‘L’ asked if I had heard anything further about Valor 2. No, sadly, I haven’t. Because he was flying strongly no one could safely catch him to take him in to the wildlife centre to help with the eye and anything else that ails this wonderful eagle. He was the ‘root’ that kept the Trio Lovers together.
At Orange, Marri (the oldest) and Barru are getting ready to fledge. I just wonder if Barru won’t fly first. They are spending so much time looking out and extending their necks…Xavier and Diamond continue to provide prey items but it is pretty dangerous inside that scrape with these two ready to fledge eyases.
What beautiful falcons they are becoming.
Cilla Kinross announces a new tower cam:
I missed this…Xavier feeding his nearly fledgling chicks. How special is that!
While the two at Orange are more interested in the outside world and already have full crops – ignoring the prey item, that Starling on the scrape floor – Mum and Giliath and #2 are waiting for fish at Port Lincoln. Dad came in with a small fish and then a huge Trevally came in before noon.
Mum and the chicks were delighted with the delivery from Dad. Is this really a small fish??
Then the fish fairy arrived. Everyone was full!
The water was really choppy. I wonder if Dad will go out fishing again…meanwhile he had a meal from the Trivially and brought the tail back to Mum for her and Giliath and #2.
These really are the sweetest not so little anymore osplets. Do we have two little boys this year?
Food comas.
The complete report from Port Lincoln:
I have no new news from Sydney. The last was 8 November when Cathy Cook posted the footage of one of the juvies in the mangroves with the Currawongs.
Missey and Pa Berry working hard on that nest. Will they be our next Bald Eagle couple to have an egg in their nest?
Both Ma and Pa were at the Webster, Texas Bald Eagle nest on Friday.
The AEF reminds us that Gabby will not normally lay her eggs until December. So lot of time for these two.
V3.
Gorgeous Gabby and V3.
Visit at Big Bear. That pinecone is sure getting moved about. Hope it stays in the nest. Love seeing the eaglets practice holding ‘prey’ with these cones.
Playing whose nest is this. The Hooties exchange prey gifts in the night while M15 and F23 do during the day.
Meanwhile, M15 and F23 continue to work on this nest. I really hope that there is not a confrontation between the eagles and the GHOs.
Annie would like a food gift from Lou!
SK Hideaways has it in video!
There are some lovely Pelicans flying around Mobil Bay. Thanks ‘L’ for letting us share. The Brown Pelicans is the smallest of the eight different pelican species. Still, it has a wing span of 2 metres or over 6.5 feet. It will only be found near salt water.
The Brown Pelican was almost made extinct. “Unregulated shooting and pesticides were once the bane of many North American birds, including Brown Pelicans, Bald Eagles, and Peregrine Falcons. Declared Endangered in the 1970s, all three of these charismatic birds are now off the list of imperiled species, thanks to conservation legislation, public education, and decades of cooperation by a wide range of partners.” The pesticide that was most responsible for the decline in pelican populations was DDT.
The Moli (Laysan Albatross) have landed in Kauai’.
People do care. They want an end to the use of snares, and they wanting the hunting culture of the rich and sometimes famous to stop. It is reassuring – no, it is darn comforting – to read that more people want an end to these traditional practices that kill off so many of the raptors that just want a lunch. I hope that they end all of the hunting, including the poor ‘sitting ducks’ that get slaughtered every year, bred and fed to sit by a pond and be shot. How sick is that? At least go out in the wild and try your luck as they fly by…but standing in the mud like people lined up for a firing squad. Doesn’t sound so sporty to me.
The EU is calling for a pesticide free lands. Can changes to agricultural practices not only bring back the birds but also the insects that they eat?
The insects really are important – not only to the birds but also to us!
Hamza Yassin is an excellent presenter and inspirational writer. Please enjoy this article by him…seeing any bird puts a smile on our face, listening to them sing is better, and to see a raptor is elating.
Karl II’s 2023 fledgling Kalvi (the only one with a tracker) is in Israel. Send positive wishes for his safety!
Thank you so much for being with me. We wait while rubbing those worry beads for the fledges at Orange, for fish arrivals at PLO, and to have some word about SE 31 and 32. Meanwhile, we have Pepe and Muhlady incubating two eggs and we wait to see who will have the next batch of eggs. There is not a lot of news but what there is 97% good. A nice change. Take care. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Thank you to the following for their questions, pictures, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ‘L, L’, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Cilla Kinross, SK Hideaway, PLO, Marlene Louise Ripley, Paul White, NEFl-AEF, FOBBV, Gracie Shepherd, Lady Hawk, Sassa Bird, Pacific Rim Conservation, Raptor Persecution UK, PNAS, The Guardian, and Maria Marika.
