Arrivals and Hatches…Saturday in Bird World

30 March 2024

Good Morning,

It was a busy Friday. Eaglets were hatching, problem nests to be watched, and ospreys were arriving in the US. I spent the day watching prey deliveries at Duke Farms while trying to catch up with entering data in the forms for the siblicide research project. At noon, I stopped and walked for 7 km. It had gotten warm. +3. The geese continue to fly in. The ones heading to the nature centre have water and some grass. The pond at St Vital Park, where I took my first walk and goose check, is mostly frozen, but it was beginning to show promise of a nice thaw if the +3 temperatures held. The trunk of my car is full of corn, and these poor things will get some tomorrow. What a misery for them.

There was one deer near the hide eating corn and a red squirrel desperately trying to get a peanut out of one of the feeders.

It is such a privilege to walk outside – gosh, it is such a gift to be reasonably healthy and go outside. I cannot imagine being shut in a bed in a room and not going out. The animals in the garden, the girls, and all of those that cross my path during my walks bring such joy and create this wonderful space of contentment.

Scientists continue to discover how intelligent birds are —-.

Loch Arkaig’s Louis is on the BBC!

Idris is home at the Dyfi Osprey nest. Telyn is already there, so another couple has reunited!

UV, the male at nest 5A in the Kielder Forest, arrived home this morning.

A 2021 fledgling of Dylan and Seren at Llyn Clywedog has landed on the Loch Arkaig nest!

Possible pip or Stella and Talon at the University of Florida-Gainesville campus. The eggs were laid on Feb 21, 23, and 27th. This makes egg #1 38 days old today.

FORE fans have had their fingers and toes crossed for the second clutch. Now, Liberty and Guardian have two precious eaglets at their nest in Redding, California. What a happy image. They are so white!

Life on the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta could not be more perfect. The ‘kids’ are starting to look like eagles with their thermal down. That first hatch is enormous. Think she is going to be a granddaughter for Cholyn?

The third hatch is tiny. Akecheta thinks he has a boy.

Gifted parents, Thunder and Akecheta looking out over their domain.

Harry returns to his beloved Flora at Alyth on 29 March.

The situation at Duke Farms was not as good on Friday as I hoped. Remember. Jersey had a nice full crop Thursday afternoon but received no food at the last feeding Thursday night. A small prey item came in at 1104 on Friday. Leaper got it all. There was no prey delivered to the nest when I last checked which was 1649 nest time.

A fish came at 1729 and little Jersey got fed! This nest can go either way. Mum works hard to feed Jersey but there remains tension in the nest.

Little Jersey is smart. He works his way around the rim of the nest. You have seen this behaviour many times before – Patchogue last year, Achieva. They watch and listen and move carefully ready to get into position if there is any food left for them when the older sibling stops and goes into a food coma.

“‘A’ sent us her most welcome Friday summary: “It is notable that Jersey had a crop before the second breakfast of leftovers, which Leaper got to eat all of. Jersey was still exceptionally nervous about approaching mum and the food while Leaper was still up at the table. Watch them from about 11:16am (and especially 11:17). Jersey is lying comfortably, one leg fully outstretched, when Leaper comes over to him and lurches at him as she sits down beside him. He watches her but makes no move to protect himself. She leans over him, nuzzling his head with her beak. Caution, but no significant reaction from Jersey. The pair are seemingly the best of friends. The only time that things seem to get out of control is in the presence of food, especially if Leaper is hungry. Then, I hold my breath. They did wait a long time for breakfast this morning – I did not see it come in or the first feeding, so I don’t know whether there was associated aggression. Due to the waiting, there may have been. But Jersey did have a discernible crop when waiting to see if there would be anything left for him from the second breakfast feeding at about 11:04 (very short and consisting of a tiny leftover and some dropped pieces). There weren’t. 

Jersey’s little beak has been opening and closing, as if he is calling for mum. He might be hungry. Leaper is playing with sticks as it nears noon. But it is 14;46 before a parent arrives, and it is dad with a giant stick!! It reaches right across the nest. Leaper heads immediately towards the table. Jersey, perhaps thinking he is being bonked by the giant stick now lying across him with dad manoeuvring it, goes instantly into submission. It is all to no avail, as there is no food delivery and he soon leaves again. The next parental visit is from mum, who arrives at around 15:42:35 and simply perches on the side of the nest. She has no food either. She soon leaves again. 

At 15:45, poor little Jersey is sitting hopefully up at the table, searching for leftovers, without success. He is hungry. He finds something that looks impossible to swallow but picks it up and tries. Leaper is alerted to this and comes to investigate. Jersey turns away but hangs onto his piece of whatever it is. As he makes another effort at swallowing, Leaper behind him has a stretch, which causes Jersey to become submissive, dropping his leftover (it was only pellet material at best anyway). Note that submission has often become a bowing of the head rather than a full tuck, which is progress – he gets up faster too. 

At 15:47:30, Jersey gives up, turns around, and heads back to the middle of the nest to snuggle up with his sister. Sweet. A cuddle puddle is formed. By shortly after 15:52, Leaper is literally lying on top of Jersey, right across his back. By 16:33 they are both up, standing, and hungry. This nest needs a food delivery asap. And sure enough, even as I type this, Leaper heads across the nest towards Jersey with obvious intent. Jersey turns away and huddles for the coming attack. It is short-lived, consisting of two pecks only, one to the head and one to the wing, but we have returned to a situation where Leaper is hungry. This is NOT GOOD. 

At 16:43 Jersey picks up a bony leftover and tries to swallow it, but Leaper grabs it from him and downs it fairly easily. It was almost pure bone, by the look of it. It may have been the piece Jersey was trying to swallow earlier. It looked very similar. FINALLY, at 17:28:35 dad brings in a long thin whole fish. Mum immediately comes in about a minute later to take it from him. He leaves. She gets down to the job of feeding her babies. When the fish arrived, Jersey was sleeping with Leaper lying on top of him. So when the food came, he just stayed where he was. It wasn’t until dad’s departure that he ducked his head. Interestingly, so did Leaper, who was standing up but turned away from the table with his head ducked down. Strange. Jersey had the front position at the table, so was probably aware that Leaper would lean over him to eat. So he was cautious. 

Mum starts feeding Leaper. The eaglets are side by side at the table but Jersey has turned his back on Leaper and the food. The fish is still moving, the tail striking Jersey and making him more nervous. As the fish tail hits him, Jersey shuffles further away, ending up down at mum’s tail. There, at 17:35, he suddenly has a brainwave. He realises he has space to go up to mum on the other side, putting her between himself and his sister. He thinks. He looks. Then he starts putting his plan into action, moving towards mum’s head along her left flank. 17:37 and he is nearly there. Mum knows he is there, and at 17:37:20 reaches out to him with a bite. He snatches it. Seven seconds later, a second piece. He takes that too. And a third – he is so grabby that it takes him three or four tries to take the food, but mum is patient, staying still until finally he grabs the bite. She is waiting for him to swallow each bite so she can give him the next. He realises he is safe where he is and moves right up beside mum’s beak and the fish. She is feeding him exclusively at this point, with all the bites going to Jersey. There is nothing Leaper can do about it whatsoever. 

Jersey eats a little less quickly now, grabbing the pieces but not snatching at them. Mum waits for him – occasionally, he is scared to take a bite but she waits until he turns his head back and accepts the food. This mum is a gem. She is caring so carefully for her youngest;. I am certain she made a decision three days ago that this little one wanted to fight for his life and she was going to help him any way she could. And that is what she has done. At about 17:38:15 Leaper leans in for a bite and Jersey instinctively turns away, but mum waits for him with the food, and he turns back and takes it. Another few bites from mum before this happens again at 17:38:45. Again, mum waits for Jersey to turn back towards her for the bite. She has not fed a single bite to Leaper since Jersey made it up to her beak soon after 17:37. Jersey has had a couple of dozen mouthfuls, some quite large. Finally, mum gives one bite to Leaper, then returns to feeding Jersey. After half a dozen bites, she gives a single mouthful to Leaper, then back to bites for Jersey. 

Mum then becomes more even-handed, giving a bite to one then to the other, occasionally giving two consecutive bites to one or the other, But both eaglets finish this fish with good crops. Both will have happy tummies tonight. Good for dad. He took a while to bring in dinner, but when he did, it was a whole live fish, and although it was skinny, it was pretty long. So that’s a huge relief because this mum really needs a bit of a break, if looking after two eaglets can be considered restful!!! She has worked so very hard over the past week, and she deserves to have dad step up the hunting for the family. These two will need more and more food as they grow of course, so it’s a big job for a single parent. I’m glad of the fish stocking you mentioned and hope it affects this nest. 

Just after 17:41, Jersey grabs a HUGE bite. He turns away with his prize to eat it but drops it. He wonders whether to have another try at swallowing it or instead return to mum’s beak for more fish, deciding eventually to try the former course. He fails, as the bite is at the wrong angle. He drops it again, picks it up again, this time at the correct angle, and downs it easily. After a moment of triumph (and just checking to make sure crops really don’t burst) he turns back to mum and continues to accept bites. He has a very large crop but has learnt to eat and eat and then eat some more, regardless of how full you may be. 

Another day, another important lesson learnt. Today’s lesson was: you can use mum like a shield to protect you from Leaper during feedings. What an important lesson this one really is, as we all know. Many is the younger hatch who has survived as a result of being A+ students in this particular subject.”

This is A’s summary for Saturday morning, so far, at Duke: “Mum wakes at 6am at Duke Farms and leaves the nest at 06:03:30, presumably to organise some breakfast. There are no leftovers on the nest, though both eaglets went to bed with full crops. Jersey, whose head is underneath Leaper, doesn’t even stir in his sleep. It is still dark. Leaper does some preening, waking Jersey up, and actually does some allopreening of Jersey’s head. Or reaches out to gently touch Jersey’s head or face with her beak. He is a little wary but basically without fear. She can be SO sweet towards him. I am convinced that once these two reach that certain age, they will become firm nest buddies (assuming, of course, a n adequate and consistent food supply). I hope they don’t wait too long for a nice big breakfast fish. 

At 06:47, they are still waiting, snuggled up together, doing some preening and so far behaving themselves nicely. It will be an important day for little Jersey. Are we setting a new pattern of sibling interaction on this nest or will circumstances send us spiralling back into food shortage and insecurity-related aggression? After three days now of little or no aggression from Leaper, another day without violence may well be enough to cement a reversion to pre-famine peaceful sibling interaction. 

Mum is back at 07:03:46 but she has no food – just a talonful of dry grasses. Leaper jumps up and heads straight for the table while Jersey goes into submission. There is no bonking, but nor is there any food. Mum searches the nest for bites of anything she can find to feed Leaper and finds perhaps six to eight bites of something that has been dropped or spat out yesterday. By 07:09:12 Jersey’s head is up and he is lying on his tummy, albeit with his back to mum. She leaves again soon afterwards, at 07:09:28. At 08:30 they are still waiting for breakfast but are cuddling, asleep, and there has been no aggression so far. “

Please send continued energy to this nest – they need all the good vibes they can get.

There is a little bobblehead at the Little Miami Conservancy Bald Eagle Nest in Ohio – but, wait…there are now two of them!

There is a pip at Denton Homes in Iowa Friday evening and DH14 is with us this morning.

The fish that Telyn Blue 5F brought to the Dyfi nest would sure look good on the Duke Farms nest! She is a master angler.

The new dad at Pittsburgh-Hayes brought Mum a fish gift on Friday.

There is an Osprey on the Steelscape nest in the US.

The pair at Allins Cove West are working on their nest. Dad arrived on 18 March with Mum landing a few days later.

Both ospreys are home at the Bridge Golf Course Osprey platform.

I don’t often recommend a FB group but I would like to draw your attention to Della and Warren’s Osprey Platform at Mispillion Harbour, Delaware. It is at the Dupont Centre. Heidi has put together a FB page for this adorable osprey family. Let’s surprise her and see if we can get 50 members over the Easter weekend! She is making videos and knows these birds and their behaviour inside and out. By signing up, her hard work doesn’t go to waste.

They are both home at Clark PUD.

The storks are arriving. Betye and Bukacek are back in their nest in Mlade Buky.

Bradley photographed at Port Lincoln.

Wow. A White-tailed Eagle in California! It is a rarity.

I hope to have the news of the Imperial Eagles soon.

Volunteers have done a clean up where Richmond and Rosie fish at SF Bay. Every area should be cleared, every nest cleaned annually before our ospreys arrive (if possible) to try and make their lives start off safe.

Captured and convicted for leaving dead raptors and animals in front of a shop in the UK.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care all. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, The Guardian, The BBC, John Williams, Dyfi Osprey Project, Joanne Daly, University of Florida-Gainesville, Vicki Jacques, IWS/Explore.org, Jeff Kear, Duke Farms, Little Miami Conservancy, Denton Homes, Dyfi Osprey Project, PIX Cams, Steelscape, Allins Cove West, Carol Craig, Heidi McGrue, Clark PUD, Mlade Buky, PLO, SF Ospreys, BirdGuides, and Raptor Persecution UK.