30 June 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
In Canada, it is a long weekend. Canada Day is tomorrow. I wonder how many towns and cities will opt to do something for the environment instead of burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in fireworks??? Then on the 4th it is Independence Day in the US and I am certain there are other holidays around the world coming up. Fireworks need to be banned. We can celebrate without them and use the money for good works – and no balloons. Oh, I sound like a tired record and just yesterday I saw balloons all over the trees at a house for a party!
We are carefully watching the hurricane in the Caribbean. It will impact the island of Grenada where my DIL and friends are (son in Asia) as well as all the wildlife in the area and other islands. Even on the fringes, they are predicting 100 mph winds.
Thinking of Blue KW0 and our friends in Barbados, too. Stay safe everyone.
In the garden, Dyson was enjoying the need seed cylinder.
Later, one of the many Little Reds came to have some seeds, too.
Everyone has been accounted for in the garden except Hedwig, the rabbit. Mr Crow has been very noisy today. The Starlings have returned, and he isn’t happy. Of course, it doesn’t help that ‘The Boyfriend’ (Calico’s former outside Tuxedo cat friend) likes to eat the cheesy dogs. That seems to set Mr Crow off in the wrong direction. There are many baby sparrows around trying to ruin my herbs and beans!
On Saturday, I posted the update from The Woodland Trust on the Loch Arkaig nest of Dorcha and Louis in western Scotland. We will wait to see what is decided regarding the chicks. No one wants Louis to be injured or ill. At the same time, no one wants the chicks and Dorcha to be hungry and become weak. It is a very delicate situation.
This is the Daily Summary from Geemeff:
Daily summary Saturday 29th June 2024
Midnight, and a tumultuous day ends. What started with the triumphal return of Louis in the morning, seemingly unharmed and bearing a fish, quickly turned to worry as he only brought half a fish and the dominant chick got most of that. The irony was that just as licensed raptor expert Lewis was preparing to climb the nest tree and hand-feed each chick a mackerel as he’d done the previous day, Louis appeared with fish, and inadvertently cost the chicks the chance of a solid meal. It was around 8pm before Louis returned with a second half fish, and the submissive chick was bullied away from the fish and not allowed to eat, forcing it to seach for scraps and eat bits of grass. The fish tally now stands at two hundred and fifty three including Dorcha’s contribution of one fish. There was much discussion on the forum, often at great length, of the best way forward, but behind the scenes, George and Woodland Trust Scotland were consulting the experts and a plan has been drawn up. This includes Lewis feeding the chicks tomorrow and a strong possibility of the chicks joining a translocation programme under the auspices of the UK’s foremost raptor expert, Roy Dennis. Link to George’s comprehensive post outlining the details: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15217474. In other news, Garry LV0 visited Nest One twice, and was in turn visited by a male Osprey who looked like Prince, the mate of sometime visitor Affric 152. It was wet and windy overnight and rained on and off during the day – tonight’s forecast is for drizzle and light winds, with the prospect of a cloudy but mostly dry day tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.55.42 (03.27.10); Nest Two 23.14.07 (03.56.34)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/eNupYkdkQ8w N2 The welcome reappearance of Louis, bringing fish number one 08.26.37
https://youtu.be/Q6y-LYkhTFo N1 Garry LV0 is intruded on – is it Prince? 09.20.18
https://youtu.be/eANzFRFw8ik N1 Garry LV0 returns with a stick 09.34.07
https://youtu.be/T1ef16z0eKs N2 Fish number two, but only one chick gets to eat 19.56.39
https://youtu.be/TiKtuGDYD4I N2 Submissive chick desperate for food eats grass 20.21.57
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
UPDATE: The fish fairies came and fed the chicks and left fish. Words is that the chicks also fed themselves and it looks like Dorcha had a good meal, too. Thank you, Woodland Trust.
Louis did come in at breakfast with a half of a trout for his family. Something is obviously wrong. Get well, Louis. You are trying!
I had a question from a reader, ‘RM’: ‘What happened to the little osplet that always got picked on whose name began with a ‘T’? Turns out this is Tuffy! And I was so glad to report that Tuffy fledged and that s/he returns to the nest often for fish! While I was telling them Tuffy was on the natal nest waiting and watching for a delivery. Ruffie and Tuffy are doing so well. Great parents. Good location for fish.
At The Campanile, Aurora and Nox show up to let us see how well they are doing! Just lovely.
Still around San Jose, too. So nice to see the fledglings.
Osprey babies in care…lots of them. If you re in the area and you fish, why not drop some off?
I hope to get out and see these two Skylark and Heidi flying around chasing their parents for fish in August before they leave on migration. The photo is by Don Dennis and Connie Dennis is the admin for the Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB page. These two are real beauties. They are growing nice and strong due to lots of fish availability.
Port Lincoln wants to install more platforms. They have done an amazing job! The community spirit behind this Osprey project is incredible.
Some nests had trouble raising three chicks, some had trouble with two, and a few raised four!
The four at McEuan Park in Idaho are doing well.
The four at Field Farm are super. We sure didn’t know if Mini Little would make it, but the spunk of that kid in the face of those big siblings just makes your heart beat a little faster. You actually have to look really close to figure out which one is Mini Little – bet this feisty bird is a female. That would account for the increasing growth and the tenacity.
When the fourth egg at Poole Harbour hatched, my heart sank. I just didn’t know if CJ7 and Blue 022 could do it, but gosh, golly, they did. Look at those beautiful babies!
The other nest with four, ‘H’ reminds me, was Forsythe and they are now three. One died.
There has been concern over the past week for the leg of the second hatch at the Bridge Golf course osprey nest on Long Island. Heidi gives us the latest:
The Green Ledge Light Preservation Society on Long Island has named this year’s three osplets: Goose, Peach, and Shea!
At Newfoundland Power, Hope eats about 10 bites to every one she feeds her chick but, luckily, Beaumont has brought in some nice fish and the baby is getting fed. Gosh, could we hope for a fledge. Last chick to survive on this nest was in 2019. All others have starved. Hoping other 2 eggs are non-viable.
Ferris Akel caught up with Big Red, Arthur, and N1 and N2 on Saturday.
The Ns together on the adjacent light tower to their nest.
Big Red on Bradfield ready to roost for the night.
Arthur flying to Bradfield.
He arrives.
In Australia, ‘A’ reports on the WBSE: “Lady slept on the nest last night, brooding her egg. She has not left the nest at all today, except for a three-minute period when she backed up for a PS and a stretch. When Dad brought in some bedding at 08:23, she took the opportunity to fly off, perhaps for some breakfast, but not before making it clear to Dad that the egg needed brooding. So he settled down to keep it warm until her return. So far, we don’t have a second egg, but I expect Lady to lay one some time today. I would be really surprised if she only has the one, though she is ageing, so I suppose it is possible that the number of eggs laid could drop from two to one at some point for that reason alone.
There was no verbal communication between Dad and Lady but she was confident to leave him with the egg, knowing he would incubate it until her return. It was obvious. She would not have left the egg otherwise. So I enjoyed that little moment of non-verbal communication between two birds that know each other so intimately. I love that they are together year-round, not migrating alone like the ospreys (I think that is such strange behaviour) or spending years living a solitary life at sea like the albatrosses. “
‘A’ sends news that we have another egg in Sydney: “We knew the second egg had to arrive today, and tonight it did. The egg was unattended for only 17 minutes in total today, and last night it was incubated overnight, so with 75 hours between the two eggs, we will be hopeful the delayed incubation does its job and gives us two hatches about a day apart. Talons crossed. This pair is so bonded, they don’t even need to communicate verbally any more. It is lovely to watch them working together like the well-oiled team they are. I cannot believe we have two eggs already – it is freezing cold here, mid-winter. Yet this is a normal schedule for these two so I’m sure they know what they’re doing. I just hope there is not too much rain – young chicks certainly do not need to be in damp nests, as we know too well.”
Later…
‘A’ comments on Iris and Finnegan and their chicks: “Finn brought in a lovely fish for an early breakfast at Hellgate this morning – well before 6.30am – and he had not eaten himself. Nor did he fight Iris for the fish. He delivered it immediately for the chicks to be fed and waited on the perch until they’d been fed. Also noteworthy was the fact that Little Bob was first to the beak (as usual), with Big Bob using his height to lean over Little Bob when offered a bite. But Iris fed Little Bob first, then Big Bob. No aggression from Big Bob, who happily waited for its little brother to eat. Little Bob has hit the reptilian phase himself and no longer looks like the cute fluffy chick he was only a couple of days ago. He is getting his oily look, though he’s still not woolly like Big Bob.
These two are doing wonderfully well, but I am worried at how exhausted Iris is. She lights up when she feeds her babies, though. She is patient and careful and dedicated to them both. I keep feeling more and more that you may well be right, and I hate to think of Iris having to migrate at the end of this season. That thought genuinely terrifies me. She is going to be put under massive physical stress by that, and as the climate changes, there’s no guarantee the area she winters in will have any fish for her, with temperatures soaring above 50C in some of those north African countries. So I am desperately worried for her, though like you, I believe if this season is the last time we see her, we can be happy that she spent this year doing what she obviously loves doing the most. What a mother she is. I’m so grateful to have been able to see her raising chicks. ” “Breakfast at Hellgate today was timely and large, and the kids were fine until early afternoon, but by the time Finn brought in a nice fresh whole fish at 17:50, Iris still had a good crop but the chicks looked a bit hungry. As always, the osplets lined up nicely at the table, and Iris favours Little Bob early in the feeding. Both osplets attempt to eat literally from each other’s beaks but there is no aggression. Each chick is prepared to wait for their turn, and Iris feeds a few bites to one, then a couple to the other. She feeds them and feeds them until their crops are bloated with fish, but I think they still need more frequent feedings. I may have missed some feedings today though – I am going only on the crops, which appeared to be essentially non-existent when the late afternoon tea arrived.
By 18:09 Big Bob is crop-dropping to fit in the bites mum is giving him/her. Little Bob has given up on trying to hold his crop up and is lying down at mum’s feet, watching Big Bob attempting to stuff in even more fish. He looks impressed. By 18:10:30, Iris has swallowed the tail and quite a bit of attached fish. The osplets are full, but Big Bob has a nibble on some leftover fish. Iris is having a lot to say to Finn, who has returned to the nest, but I’m unsure what she is saying. His snake eyes make it clear he is not happy that there are no leftovers for him! He did deliver the fish whole, after all. But Iris and the two chicks demolished it entirely in slightly over 20 minutes. “
H’ reports:
6/29 Captiva osprey nest: Edie and Darling both returned to the nest today! Darling had not been in the nest since 6/27 when Ding had been very territorial and aggressive toward Darling and forced him off the nest. The past two days, we had seen Darling in a few flybys, and we had heard him, so we knew he was okay. Well…apparently in the 48 hours that Darling was off the nest, he spent some time thinking about his big sister Ding. I can just see him shaking his head, and shuffling his feet back and forth on a nearby branch, staring at Ding on the nest… and he came to the conclusion that he simply wasn’t going to accept Ding’s bossy ways. “No siree…that’s my nest too!” Darling wanted to be back in his nest to try to get some fish from Mom and Dad. At 0929 Ding was in the nest, Darling landed, a scuffle broke out, and they both went overboard. At 1105 Jack delivered a partial fish to the Ding at the nest.
Now, about Edie… We had not seen Edie since 6/23. She had delivered fish for two days after her ‘fishing line incident’, so her absence was not thought to have anything to do with that. It was believed that she was exhausted and needed a break to recharge her batteries a bit. But, we didn’t know for sure, and we were worried about her. At 1219 Edie landed in the nest with a partial fish! We were thrilled to see her, but she looked a little thin. Ding grabbed the fish…but Darling flew in and he landed right on Ding’s back. They battled for the fish, Darling grabbed it and mantled, Ding tried to grab it, Darling maintained possession…but eventually Ding won the fish. At 1357 Edie brought a small piece of a catfish, and Darling got that one. The siblings spent the next couple of hours coming and going. At 1523 Darling was in the nest, and Ding flew in and chased Darling off the nest. Edie delivered a whole catfish at 1600 and Ding took possession. Finally, at 1718 Edie delivered a medium sized partial fish, and since Ding was still working on her catfish, there was no competition for this meal. After he finished his fish, Darling ate some of the catfish that Ding had left behind, and he had a nice crop. The two ‘non-besties’ spent the night sleeping in the nest. We hope that Darling gets a really big fish of his own tomorrow.
6/29 Osoyoos osprey nest: The fish deliveries by Olsen got off to a later start than usual. The first fish dropped off by Olsen was a medium sized whole fish at 0808, that Soo fed for 10 minutes. There was another fish at 0952 that provided a meal that lasted 11 minutes. At 1025, Olsen delivered a large whole fish that Soo fed to the chicks for 14 minutes. There were no more fish deliveries through 14:40 that I saw. When I next checked the cam, it turned out that the live stream went down at approximately 1515. The high temperature was 84F/29C, and the winds were 5-8 mph. For 6/30 the temp is predicted to be a little cooler, but with gustier winds.
6/29 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: Life at Canmore continues to be splendid for this osprey family. Louise sure did pick a fine mate in Harvie! Six good sized fish were brought to the nest, and I think there was a leftover fish, too. Louise fed some long meals to her kiddos. And, speaking of the kiddos…they love each other…well, I mean they get along great!
6/29 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s): There were only 4 meals for this little 15-day-old osplet. And, they went from 0625 to 1555 (9.5 hours) without eating. Three fish came in after that time, and June was able to feed her youngster meals lasting 18, 10, and 7 minutes in length. The high temp was only 80F, with light winds, so I can’t think of why Johnny may have had difficulty fishing. Being a Saturday, the waters in that area may have been crowded with recreational boaters and fishers.
6/29 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: 15-day-old Harbor, and 11-day-old Gray are doing well. There’s always lots of fish where they live, and they have a wonderful Mommy and Daddy. But, young Gray is often subjected to what most of the youngest osplets on a nest have to endure…that is dominance and aggression from their older sibling. Hang in there, Gray!
6/30 Colonial Beach: It seems that the youngest hatchling has died. It hatched overnight on 6/28. Our view is always partially blocked by some sticks, but we last saw movement of the baby on 6/29 at around noon. Fly high sweet osprey baby.
H’ reports also that it appears that a rescue is under way at Bridge Golf for the second chick with the injured/deformed leg.
‘PB’ reports about the state of the nest at Steelscape in WA on FB:
The Dyfi Osprey Project has posted the weight of their chicks over the years alongside some information I am attaching.
‘J’ writes that Actor Raymond Franco has a thing about Ospreys. You can check out the videos on his FB page.
Late word is coming in that the last osplet at Terrapin Bay could have been predated. Will update tomorrow.
Thanks for being with me today. Please take care. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, questions, announcements, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RM’, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Moorings Park, SK Hideaways, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Ospreys of Nova Scotia and Don Dennis, PLO, McEuan Park, Field Farm, BoPH, Heidi McGrue, Green Ledge Light Preservation Society, Newfoundland Power, Ferris Akel Tours, Sea Eagle Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Window to Wildlife, Osoyoos, Fortis Exshaw, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, The Dyfi Osprey Project, Ramon Franco FB, and Pam Breci.
