Sunday in Bird World

28 January 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that your Saturday was a good one. In Winnipeg, it was the day to pick up cupcakes. They are a fundraiser for the Winnipeg Kitten Adoption and were made and donated by Bee’s Cakes. Missey gives them a thumb’s up! The owner loved our thank you so much that she is going to put Missey’s image on her website. How sweet. Missey is as sweet as that vanilla buttercream icing with sprinkles – so sweet that she let me trim her nails without a single flinch today. Now, let us see how Calico does tomorrow!

There were some worries at the John Bunker Wetlands Eagle nest that Mum was not feeding the newly hatched eaglet. (Remember that they can live for 24 hours on the food from the egg when they hatch.) The wind has really been blowing at the nest site and it sounded like hail, but I am told that is the rain hitting certain parts of the metal. Mum did feed that baby. A nice fish came in.

Feedings on Sunday morning. Hard to see because of the girders and the deep nest cup but a feeding is taking place!

Diane and Jack are making that Achieva Credit Union nest in St Petersburg pretty comfy. Eggs expected within the next fortnight. The way Diane is acting, we could have the first egg today or Monday.

At the nest with a Starling Sunday morning in St Petersburg.

No egg as of Saturday might at Moorings Park.

It can be argued that we always need more osprey platforms. Yes, sometimes they do not get used. Sometimes old ones are abandoned for new for various reasons including intruders and lack of fish. In Bellingham, Washington, USA, an Osprey couple wants to make a nest on an operational crane. The Port is hoping they will decide to use the new platform they are erecting. 

This happened in Manitoba and under the agreement with the five tribal councils involved in the Kesay Dam Project in our far north, the raptors got to keep their nest on the big forklift! It was deemed illegal to disturb the nest. Sometimes that part of the Migratory Bird Act is good.

Eaglet or not. Gabby and Beau are a beautiful bonded couple and if a miracle could be found, I would hope that egg would hatch! I get the feeling that if it doesn’t, there will not be a second clutch, but, hey, surprise me Gabby.

What a relief to see that R6 is OK. Well, I say OK. R6 did consume enough of that nappy to worry onlookers. The PSs have been plentiful and have looked good, and let us hope that all that marvellous engineering of the crop and acid stomach switches on and relieves this 14-day-old eaglet of any ills that might have come its way because of human garbage.

R6 went to sleep with a really nice crop and with more fish on the nest for the morning breakfast! Relief. Relief.

E23 is really growing at the SW Florida nest. I love watching her grab the food from the parents when they are feeding. As you will have noted, the number of feedings has been greatly reduced, but the amount of intake is probably more now. This is one healthy eaglet losing its mohawk slowly, gaining clown feet and getting its juvenile feathers. Don’t you love the constant squeeing…

Every wonder about the GHOs that share the property with M15, F23, and E23?

And here is that video:

Cal and Lusa are doing just fine. Cal is standing and Clive might want to reinforce those rails! Meanwhile, Lusa likes to sit like a Buddha.

Liberty and Guardian look beautiful. They were at their nest in Redding, California Saturday.

Dr Sharpe has the West End streaming cam up and working. Thunder was at the nest this morning! They are still playing highlights at Two Harbours and Fraser Point.

I sure wish Jackie and Shadow had that nice soft nest of Jak and Audacity. Their camera is working fine.

It has rained at Cornell. Arthur was in earlier making a dash with a stick. Otherwise, life at the nest was quiet on Saturday.

No one was to be seen by the time Ferris Akel’s tour got to the Cornell Campus at Ithaca. Earlier in the tour, there were geese- some Canada Geese, some Tundra Swans, and some Snow Geese. There were also hundreds and hundreds of Redheads, a few male Scaup, and some Mallards at the south end of Cayuga Lake.

The male Scaup have the white along their wing. You can see five in the image below.

Ducks everywhere..my goodness. 

Snow Geese. You can identify them immediately by their black wing tips.

There were hundreds and hundreds of them – if not a thousand, flying in or already feeding.

Eagles, Red-headed Woodpeckers…it was a good day except for the heat shimmer.

And some Common Mergansers.

Precious egg at Big Bear. Every ounce of positivity you have – please send it to Jackie and Shadow so that their precious, precious egg/s will survive to hatch. These two deserve this and so do Jak and Audacity. It would be a great year – a year where we all jump up and down and scream – if either or both nests have a chick. 

Both eagles came to the ND-LEEF nest at South Bend – crisp temperatures of 36 F.

At Port Lincoln, Mum brought in the first fish of the day at 1337. Bradley took it.

It appears that both Marri and SE31 have left their nesting territories. I have seen no recent news of their presence. Please tell me if you have seen otherwise – thank you!

The Osprey Leadership Foundation is funding and teaching young people in West Africa about Ospreys. This is the first step in conservation. Thank you, OLF! 

Let’s get everyone to participate and overwhelm them with art bringing attention and supporting Albatrosses! I know that you can do it – seriously, you can or someone you know might. 

The joy – the sheer wonder – of looking close at your own garden or the nearest green space to where you live, the place you are most familiar.

Thank you so much for being with me today and for your lovely ‘get to feeling better’ wishes. I am still under the weather but it is a head cold and a runny nose. Is it an allergy? I will find out on the 8th. Take care of yourself. Stay safe, stay warm or cool, depending on where you are. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ’A, Geemeff, MP’, NEFL-AEF, Bee’s Cakes, JB Wetlands, Achieva Credit Union, Moorings Park, The Bellingham Herald, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Saunders Photography, Window to Wildlife, FORE, IWS/Explore, Cornell RTH Cam, @CornellHawks, Ferris Akel Tours, FOBBV, ND-LEEF, PLO, Gunjur Project, Holly Parsons, and The Guardian.