Bobbleheads everywhere…Thursday in Bird World

23 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I want to thank everyone that send a note to Lake Murray. They have installed some strobe lights and will turn on music. I hope it works but I would encourage Lake Murray and all nests that have the chance of predation by eagles or owls to look to Cowlitz PUD for the solution – cost effective fish grates on poles positioned on opposite sides of the platform. It is so cheap. They are permanently positioned. No energy is used. The larger raptors cannot swoop to get the chicks!

Your kindness and caring mean so much!

Two beautiful babies. I hope they are not ‘sitting ducks’ tonight.

Lake Murray has the strobe lights on! Lucy is on the perch not in the nest.

Tears. There are two ospreys at Lake Murray this morning. The strobes worked!

Two other females on eggs being attacked regularly by GHOs need strobe lights installed now – Moraine Park where hatch is imminent and Iris at Montana.

I took time on Wednesday to decompress from the predation of Little at Lake Murray. That brave little soul. Sometimes we just have to go out into nature and that is what I did to rebalance myself. It has been a staggering year. Today’s post is going to be rather short. I hope that you will go outside and listen to the birds, stroke your favourite pet or pets, and marvel at the good in the world – it is out there. Sometimes we have to look hard to find it.

‘A’ writes, “I could not stop crying after watching that footage. Did you notice that Baby Bob seemed to have some kind of instinctive warning of the impending attack. He stirred and woke up, moved, snuggled back down, looked up again, and then swoop. Mum immediately woke and alerted, but all too late. Why weren’t the strobes on LAST NIGHT? Why have they not been used since the evening Lucy decided to sleep on the perch instead of on the nest with the osplets? And of course Baby Bob was still alive when taken, and I’m not sure how (or if) the owls really kill their prey or just ‘inhale’ it like a snake. I do love GHOs and their owlets are just the cutest things, so I tried to remind myself that mama and papa owl are only trying to feed their own baby (or babies), but it didn’t help much because I adored that osplet. From the moment he hatched, his courage and determination won my heart. He was a darling little man and I remain convinced he would have had the skills needed to have a great wild life as a fledgling. RIP Baby Bob. Another for the 2024 rainbow bridge memorial wall. Brutal.”

There is so much news in Bird World and today, we will look at a few nests.

First hatch at Poole Harbour for CJ7 and Blue 022. Congratulations.

Dylan and Seren welcomed Bob Two at Llyn Clywedog and Dylan made sure they had a nice trout dinner. Precious little ones. These are great parents with a good return rate and, sadly, a goshawk that lives in the forest who is brave.

In Scotland, Louis and Dorcha welcomed their second hatch! Bobbleheads everywhere! Now if we can keep the predators away from them that would be wonderful.

Thie was Big Bob’s first dinner at Loch Arkaig.

It is snowing in Montana. Poor Iris.

Colonial Beach have their third egg.

Forsythe have their third hatch. This nest was hit badly last year with lack of food during the June storm.

Smallie remains outside the scrape at Amersfoort. Adults place food inside scrape for food tug-o-war by oldest. Will they feed Smallie?

Oh, my goodness. This little one is determined to live. Smallie jumped back in. Now let’s get this baby some food.

Smallie was rewarded! We can all sleep a little better tonight.

Smallie in the corner sleeping with its siblings.

‘PB’ sends us an image of Smallie’s crop today! Lovely.

At Cal Falcons, Little got the prize.

Fledge at Duke Farms on Wednesday. It was Snickers!

All eyes at Denton Homes as we await the return of the eaglets. Was informed by gr8lakes that all three are good. One might have a sore leg. If that is the case then this was a real miracle. So grateful for the quick action by Denton Homes.

One great family taking care of another that could not care for themselves. The nest was checked for structural soundness and comfort. Hats off to Denton Homes! Babies returned and waiting for Mum and Dad to come to the nest. The goodness of these people brings the most joyful tears to my eyes. Send them a thank you in their comments if you have not done so!

One adult has been on the tree but none have returned to the nest. There were storms all over the area last night with the possibility of many other nests being lost.

‘JH’ sends us news about the Peregrine Falcon family in Harrisburg, PA – thanks ‘J’.

If you follow the Grand Lake Ospreys, their first egg was laid today.

Does anyone follow the Blackbush at Old Tracadia Harbour Osprey nest?

https://www.youtube.com/live/_5Oyw-Za2xg?si=g7By8APN9C6RTIHP

Gorgeous Ruffie (fledged) and Tuffy (yet to fledge) at Moorings Park. Life is good for them. Wonderful parents.

What is happening at Patuxent nest 1? ‘H’ tells us, “5/22 – Patuxent River Park (nest one):  The three osplets are 15, 14, and 11 days old.  The oldest chick, ‘Big’ is very dominant, and aggressively beaks both of its siblings during feedings.  ‘Middle’ does manage to eat at most meals, but there are many meals where ‘Little’ does not get fed.  The days where Dad is able to catch at least one of his specialty giant goldfish, Little and Middle are both able to eat well.  There were 7 feedings on 5/22, and Little was observed to eat at least 69 bites of fish.  The latter part of meal #5 was blocked from our view, but it appeared that Little was eating.  When Little came into view, it was evident by his small crop that he indeed had eaten some fish.”

All three on the nest at Venice. Yes! We know they are safe and sound and are now fighting over fish deliveries. Excellent news.

We are on pip watch at Seaside!

Three sweeties at Maryland’s Western Shore Old Town Home are still alright.

The trio at Goitsche-Wildnis appear to be fine also.

‘H’ reports on Captiva: “5/22 –  Captiva ospreys: CO7 is 29 days old, and CO8 is 28 days old.  They are only 36 hours apart in age, but CO7 has always been the dominant one.  Today wasn’t quite as good a day as yesterday for the youngest osplet, but there were 7 feedings, and CO8 still managed to eat quite a lot of fish.  Thanks to Edie and Jack (Mom and Dad), their two chicks are doing very well.”

I sometimes give shout outs to organisations that are fundraising. Today I want to draw your attention to the Friends of South Australia. That is that wonderful group that provided the fish for the osplets at the Port Lincoln barge – the fairies that saved the lives of the babies in 2023-24. They build platforms, put lights under the water at Port Lincoln so that the adults can fish at night. They put trackers on the osplets like Ervie, Giliath, and Bradley. For $20 AUS you can help them continue their good work.

Thank you so much for being with me. It is 2200 in Winnipeg on a Wednesday night and I hope to wake up in the morning and see two osplets on the nest at Lake Murray. If so, then the lights worked. Now leave them on Lake Murray! You cannot – until they disperse -turn them off. We know this from the predation of goshawks against fledged osplets in the UK (Poole Harbour). Take care all. See you soon!

Thank you so much to the following for the notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, JH, PB’, Lake Murray Ospresy, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Llyn Clywedog Ospreys, Geemeff, Montana Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, Amersfoort Falcons, SK Hideaways, Duke Farms, Denton Homes, Falcom Cam news, Diane Lamberson, Moorings Park, Patuxent River Park nest 1, VGCCO, Pam Breci, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, Goitsfche-Wildnis, and Fran Solly.