Osprey eggs!!!!!!…Thursday in Bird World

21 December 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy Winter Solstice! 

The girls are pretty good. Baby Hugo continues to baffle me with her runny eyes and sneezing. Tomorrow, we pick up the antibiotics if the sneezing doesn’t stop. We continue on the Polysporin for Pink Eye. Does she have an allergy? Or will this be a respiratory issue all her life due to her poor beginning? The latter is what the vet thinks. She does have a good appetite if I sit with her and turn the dish. She is playing but not as much as the other day. Hence, I am feeling the need for a little help here. 

Baby Hope is perfect. No problems, not even a weight one. And her temperament is that of a very gentle soul. She loves to get right up to the camera and will sometimes still do those Famous High Fives.

Hope loves to pose for me. Just pull out the camera and she gets ready.

Missey is beautiful. Lots of brushing! 

Calico has one thing on her mind – Hugo. Where is Hugo?

The days are cloudy but warm for Winnipeg, aka Winterpeg, in December. -2 C. It was slushy out by the bird feeders. My phone tells me we are +5 degrees C higher than the norm for this time of year. It was nice enough to clean up the shells from the Black Oil Seed. I have cut the seed down in half, and the birds are still not eating it all. I said I was concerned that the numbers have dropped significantly at the feeders. This normally does not happen in the winter. I have not seen the Starlings for nearly a week and the Blue Jays for a bit longer. Dyson and Gang, along with Little Red, are taking advantage! They are getting the peanuts.

The Boyfriend was here several times today, too. He loves that Kitten Kibble!

V3 at NE Florida has been given a name. ‘H’ sent me the link to the AEF FB page. It tells us why they chose the French name, Beau, to go with the French Gabriella. Be careful. ’L’ said it teared her up!

But remember, there are two. One at NE Florida and the other with Nancy up at the DNR-Minnesota nest.

https://www.facebook.com/AEFNestCams

Beau guarding Gabby and their first egg. The question now is: will he help Gabby incubate? will he bring her prey items? will he feed the eaglets? We wait. I love the couple together but he seems to lack the instincts that other young male eagles have had. I am thinking of Harry at Minnesota as one of those. 

V3 brought in a fish for Gabby, but will he help her? I worry. Let us hope that his instincts kick in!

Oh, I get excited when there are Osprey eggs. Sorry, eagles. Sunnie Day posted the first on a streaming cam in Naples, Florida. Check them out – cut and paste the link to the live cam if you cannot click and connect.

OK. C10 and C11 are really cute and C11 looks like it will be able to hold its own against its older sibling! Still…..I dream of that little stripe and the black eye liner of the little osplets.

Gil and Brad on the nest at Port Lincoln waiting to squabble over the first fish delivery. If you haven’t noticed, Mum has really been pulling the weight of the fish deliveries since the fairies stopped providing.

That Brad is sure handsome. Look at that crest – and it looks like some whitecaps in the background. Hope the fishing isn’t bad today. Maybe Mum has a good spot.

This is how the day went so far. Most agree that Brad is going to get pretty hungry if he doesn’t step up and snatch that fish! Gil got the first one and is still eating the one that Mum brought in at 12:57.

Look at all the fish…there were many feeding times!

How exciting! Marri visits the scrape at Orange but gets frightened by the pump!

These are some great screen captures of Marri during her visit. Marri is gorgeous. You could confuse her for Diamond if you didn’t look carefully at the chest bands.

Mr President and Lotus were at the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest in DC. Oh, how nice to see them.

Abby and Blaze were at Eagle Country.

Lots of hay being delivered to the nest at SW Florida – getting it nice and cosy for those little eaglets when they hatch.

Dad and the new female F were working on the nest at ND-LEEF in South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday.

Eagles at Decorah North on Tuesday.

Egg rolling at Berry College with Pa and Missy.

‘A’ brings us the wonderful report of the WBSE at the Parramatta River:

“December 21: A cooler start to the day and more rain. At 7am, SE31 was on the island and both adults were on River Roost. A little later, the juvenile was seen flying from behind the island to land on the other side, then going into the mangroves. Adult was seen with fish in the morning and then again at 2:28pm. The juvenile possibly took the fish, but was hidden in mangroves behind River Roost. Wind was strong today at times, affecting their flight.

‘J’ recommended a lovely little book to me. It is Peterson’s Birds. The Art and Photography of Roger Tory Peterson. It was published in 1994, thirty years ago, the year at Peterson died. Full of biographical information on what led Peterson to his love of birds along with pages of his gorgeous and skilful sketches and photographs. Mine is an ex-library copy in mint-condition. It is only available ‘used’ but worth the effort to find a copy for yourself or someone special.

I like the size of it and Calico will approve. Perfect for petting a cat on the chest while holding and reading!

Bald Eagle released at our local wildlife centre includes a short mention of the eagle’s importance to my province’s indigenous people.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, photos, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ’A, H, J, L’, AEF FB, NEFL-AEF, Judy Harrington, Sunnie Day, Window to Wildlife, PLO, Bart M, SK Hideaways, Helen Matcham, National Arboretum Eagle Cam, Eagle Country, Lady Hawk, ND-LEEF, Raptor Research Project/Explore, Berry College Eagles, Peterson’s Birds, and Wildlife Haven.