Hatch at Manton Bay…Saturday in Bird World

11 May 2024

Hello Everyone!

A young woman came to relieve me of a pile of ‘junk’ – for lack of a better word – Friday morning. She was coming and going from 0900-1330. During that time, I was using lots of energy (LOL) watching the Canada Goose cam at McEuen Park in Coeur de’ Alene, Idaho. The goslings hatched on Thursday and would be ready to jump. The mother dithered for hours. Three or more.

The minute I went to pay for the cleaning and hauling – turning my back to the computer -well, they jumped! There is no rewind on HDonTap streaming channels. I hope they made it!

‘H’ turned and blinked and then there were four eggs at the Osprey Nest at McEuen Park. What’s with all the four egg clutches this year?

Things happen quickly.

The first hatch of an osplet on a streaming cam happened at Rutland’s Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya on 10 May.

‘MP’ sends good news. It looks like the female is listening to the male at Minnesota Landscape and is working on a proper nest for their chicks. Now, let’s see if he can convince her to feed all of them when they hatch! ‘MP’ notes there are even flowers! Lovely.

‘MP’ adds: “The female was on the perch and dropped her fish on the ground and she beelined it on the ground. She didn’t seem to know exactly where it was when she got there however. I’ve often wondered if adult osprey ever drop their fish while eating it. Well, she did! “

Lake Murray makes me so nervous. That nest always does. That third hatch needs some fish. I am worried we could be losing this baby. ‘H’ kept track and confers. She notes, “5/10 Lake Murray – Kenny has delivered 4 fish so far today (by 18:00), but it is not enough for his family.  Perhaps he will bring in a late fish and Little will be able to eat a decent meal before nightfall.  At 0903 Kenny delivered a partial fish.  Little was beaked by Big several different times.  It wasn’t until 0919, when Little had managed to position himself on the other side of Lucy that he was able to be fed.  He ate 19 bites of fish, but then the fish was gone.  At 1154 Kenny brought in a small whole fish which did not last very long, and due to aggression from both of its siblings, Little never made it to the table.  Kenny delivered a large whole fish at 1538.  Little suffered several vicious attacks from both of the older siblings, and was prevented from eating.  At 1802 Kenny delivered another large whole fish, and the two older osplets still had large crops, but they still would not let Little eat.  Finally, by 1810 Little had managed to position himself on the other side of Lucy and she fed him several bites of fish.  Unfortunately, Lucy soon shifted her position which in turn exposed Little and he was beaked.  Little ate 24 bites of fish at this meal. So far today, Little has only eaten 43 bites of fish.”

The little one got a couple of bites. Look at the crop on the one osplet and the size difference.

It was hot in San Francisco. Archie was in the shape panting. The Fab Four were in the shade keeping cool. Remember – we are four days away from banding at The Campanile.

Larry’s chicks are doing fantastic. You can easily tell, from the plumage, the oldest and the youngest.

In contrast, Monty and Hartley’s chicks are still pink with soft white down.

Hartley feeds the chicks.

Last year we struggled with that one little hatch at the Evergy Energy scrape in Topeka. There are eggs again this year – well, at least one so far.

Our little fluff balls at Salisbury Cathedral’s scrape box.

It was so nice to hear that my statement about ‘the green perfect lawn’ and all the companies trying to part you with your money while, at the same time, killing the bees and other pollinators, insects, and birds, touched your hearts. ‘B’ found a very timely article in The Washington Post that was published on Friday about all the reasons not to mow your lawn! Have a read. Think about it.

Years ago, one of my neighbours caught the attention of the perfect lawn brigade. They did absolutely everything to try and persuade the City to force him to clean up his garden. We will just call him ‘the man living at the corner’ was Cornell educated in math. He is quite brilliant and, also, a little ahead of his time. He had a pollinator garden and was rewinding before anyone even knew the terms. ‘The Man Living at the Corner’ won his argument and for the past twenty years has tried to educate people in biodiversity and wilding. He doesn’t own a lawn mower.

The other ad that is prominent is tree trimming. Isn’t this nesting season?

Big Red was drenched earlier on Friday. If you stopped in to check on her, you probably felt really sorry for her. She kept N1 and N2 perfectly warm and dry.

We know that the Port Lincoln ospreys fish at Delamere. Ervie learned from Dad and so did his brothers, Bradley and Giliath. Well Bazz Hockaday posted some footage so we could see what Delamere looks like! Thank you!

Missing Karl II and his family.

The golden glow of the evening falls softly on Tuffy after Harry delivers a late evening fish.

Enjoy them while you can!

‘H’ reports on Captiva: “5/10, Captiva osprey nest:  At 0703 Jack arrived with a small fish tail.  Edie fed both of the sleepy osplets.  Jack delivered a whole sheepshead at 0818…CO7 ate and CO8 waited its turn.  CO8 ate for about a minute at 0827, but was then beaked by CO7.  At 0832 and 0840 CO8 started to eat, but was beaked by CO7.  Ditto at 0844.  At 0846 CO7 moved away and it was ‘go-time’ for CO8.  CO8 had eaten for about 3 minutes when Edie suddenly became disturbed by human activity below the nest, and she flew off.  Meal over, and CO8 only had a small crop.  At 1356 Jack arrived with a small partial fish.  CO8 moved toward Dad, but Edie was distracted and CO7 stayed in the shade of Mombrella.  It seemed as though CO7 was not even aware of Jack’s fish delivery…good one, Edie…keeping the fish out of view of CO7!  Jack fed CO8 for about 5 minutes…Yay, Jack!.  At 1542 Jack delivered a large prepared fish.  Most of the feeding was blocked from our view by Edie.  We didn’t know if CO8 was eating, but we also did not see CO8 scurry away from the table as if he had been beaked.  It was a very long feeding, and eventually Edie shifted and we were able to see both siblings being fed side by side, and both had large crops!”

The trio at Venice Golf and Country Club are doing so well. I can hardly tell them apart.

Liberty and Guardian’s eaglets have been named.

Clair and Irvin’s only eaglet USS7 at the US Steel Plant nest in Pittsburgh has been named Lucky.

In Montana, the New Guy continues to bring whoppers for Iris to eat and dutifully incubates their only egg.

South African wildcats are eating seabirds.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘B, H, MP’, McEuen Park, LRWT, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Lake Murray Ospreys, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Parks Conservancy, San Jose City Hall, Energy Energy, Sue Smith, The Washington Post, Cornell RTH, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Bazz Hockaday, Eagle Club of Estonia, Moorings Park, Heidi McGrue, Window to Wildlife, VGCCO, Ofelia Finch, PIX Cams, Montana Osprey Pr9oject, and Haikai Magazine.