5 July 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
I am recovering from a bad reaction to a medication which I took Wednesday evening. I will first touch upon some of the nests that have been having issues and some announcements in case this posting turns out to be shorter than I imagine.
First, an update on Nox Thanks, ‘B’ for keeping me informed! Gosh, isn’t he cute?
Thursday was quite the day both on live cams and in the garden. A storm is brewing and all the birds have been frantic all morning. Buckets of food have been consumed. Now the Starlings are on top of the weeping willow protecting the nuts and cheesy dogs from the Crows and Blue Jays who want to eat. It is a bit of a standoff with 9 Starlings to 2 Crows and 5 Blue Jays. We have even spread the food out to try and prevent this. The rain is pouring and the thunder is here.
First up. Fireworks. My cats get scared and panic when we have loud thunder. Imagine all the wildlife harmed by fireworks over the 4th of July and Canada Day – and celebrations elsewhere around the world. Here is one example that could have been a tragedy. Thanks, ‘J’.
‘MP’ alerted me to weak eaglets on one of Dave Hancock’s nests in British Columbia several days ago. Sadly one of the eaglets, Bowen, has died at age 68 days. In their streaming cam, you can see the sunshade that Dave Hancock designed for the Hancock Wildlife Foundation nests. Someone has sent some food to the surviving eaglet. The temperatures in the area will be unbearable for a few days. Let us hope the eaglet gets enough!
Link to streaming cam:
Trudi Kron’s video of the nest last week:
https://youtu.be/xFjuJQEA2go?si=Qx3mCDCcv5_qdmP5
Ding was pushed off the nest at Captiva by Darling. Ding tried to land on the dock and fell into the water and was, thankfully, quickly rescued by Lori Covert’s neighbours, Mike and Mary. They also rescued Edie last week when she got caught in fishing line and was dragged by a boat. She is apparently fine. Great people.
Ding is on its way to CROW in a box and he might well get fish before Darling.
Arrival at CROW intake:
As one of the chatters said, Darling will get fish now. Had to risk their life for it. No one knows what has happened to Jack and Edie but we are 3-4 days without a fish delivery – not a typical avian behaviour so something is terribly wrong. Jack had a spike in his leg and Edie had fishing line and had been dragged by a boat before disappearing. I don’t think I need to say anything further.
‘H’ reports on Captiva, one of the nests she watches closely – no doubt I have covered some as I watched the nest and her reporting yesterday but her report is always a good read.
7/4 Captiva Ospreys: Do you believe in miracles? The situation was dire for the young fledglings, Ding and Darling. They had only recently fledged, and had not yet learned to catch their own fish. They depended on their parents to bring them fish. Unfortunately, their parents were missing… Jack for five days, and Edie for two days. Edie delivered one fish on 7/1, but it was lost. The siblings had not eaten for nearly 72 hours. Even before his last meal, Darling had not had very much to eat, because Ding had won most of the food drops.
Over the past several days, Ding and Darling had been fighting each other for control of the nest, neither one wanting the other to be in the nest. For the last two days, Darling ruled the nest, but control of the nest swung in Ding’s direction today. Ding chased Darling off the nest and refused to allow him to return. At around 1421, Darling attempted to land on the nest, then Ding and Darling were in a chase over the water. Ding landed back in the nest, but Darling tried to land on a nearby dock. Darling missed the landing and ended up in the water. Since Darling was in a severely weakened state from dehydration and lack of nutrition, he was simply too exhausted to fly out of the water. Darling had also missed the same dock yesterday, and had fallen into the water, but yesterday he was able to pull himself out and fly away.
Sponsor of the live stream, Window To Wildlife (WTW), was monitoring and immediately called for assistance from SCCF (Sanibel Captiva Conservation Fund), and CROW (Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife). Thanks to WTW, both entities had previously been apprised of the dire situation that Ding and Darling faced with the absence of their parents. Rescue plans had already been set in place if any of the ospreys were found grounded (or in the water as was the case with Darling). The property owner/cam owner (who was out of town), immediately notified her Captiva neighbors, who soon arrived to help steer Darling away from the currents of the bay, and managed to pull Darling from the water. Representatives from CROW soon arrived, and Darling was transported to their facilities in Sanibel, where he was examined and cared for. Tears of relief and joy. We await updates from CROW. Just think about how fortunate it was that this calamity happened within view of the camera. Otherwise, we may simply never have known what happened to Darling.
Meanwhile, back at the nest… after having not been seen on camera for about 54 hours… Edie flew in and delivered a partial fish to Ding at 1647. OMG! Viewers from around the world were jumping up and down and screaming. We were simply elated to see Edie… but not nearly as happy as Ding was, lol. Ding ate her first meal in nearly 72 hours. At 1933 Edie delivered a partial catfish to Ding for desert. Oh… and Ding’s level of hunger today had driven her to try to catch her own fish! Several times throughout the day, we observed Ding triangulating her vision to focus on a fish in the water, she dove off the platform, we heard a splash, and Ding flew back to the platform wet, sans fish. Good work, Ding…keep trying kiddo!
Thanks, Heidi!
High temperatures are hitting the Pacific Northwest from now through the weekend. This is going to have a negative impact on fishing for the ospreys who only dive 3 feet under. Our thoughts are with all the nests in the area that we monitor – Clark PUD, Cowlit PUD, The Port of Ridgefield, and Osoyoos. That heat is going to hit all of the US nests. Please view this weather video to understand how dangerous this heat wave is across North America.
It is 90 degrees in Osoyoos BC with 4 mph winds. It was cooler in the morning. Heidi will bring us an update as we are both very concerned about this nest. Historically the heat domes have caused poor fishing for Olsen and chicks have died. Soo desperately tried to keep her babies cool on Thursday.
We have been monitoring the Golden Eagle nest 2 in Estonia all season. We marvelled that there had not been obligate siblicide at the nest. Golden Eagles consistently have obligate siblicide so this has been unusual and we have cheered, but, without getting too alarmist, it appears that the female might have taken this into her hands with two feathered chicks. She has brought no food to the nest that I am aware. Dad brought a little. Is the female sitting and watching? Will the adults return with lots of prey when one chick dies? Will it be too late for the remaining one? We wait to see.
On the 4th this was sent to me by ‘TU’ from the chat:
“BRENDA LINS I think first prey was around 11:08, then the 2nd prey a vole or mole eaglet #1 swallowed it whole Dad came 11:08:25 mom 11.13.47 and again #1 had two voles. #1 had part of raccoon dog. #2 had leftover of raccoon. #2 had good meal though it was leftover.”
That is excellent news.
Second eaglet later has a good ‘ps’. Relief.
Tuffy catches a fish. Oh, my goodness, this bird has brought us so much joy – from the brink of being beaked and hungry and worrying to a splendid fledgling. We will miss you, Tuffy, but thank you for always returning to the nest. Rumours are the camera will be turned off on the 5th or the 8th. Sorry, I am getting conflicting dates. Keep watching to see but if it is tomorrow then…
Tuffy arrives wet with his fish. You have a long and splendid life, little one.
Tuffy finished his fish, cleaned his beak, did several calls, had a very healthy ‘ps’ and flew off. No doubt this much-beloved osprey will continue to fish and visit the nest. We won’t see it. He will get stronger and stronger. Maybe Harry and Sally will have to chase him away like they had to do with their 2023 fledgling, Victor. We may see Tuffy again, but for now, it is adios until the camera comes back online. Thanks for the fantastic year, Tuffy (and Ruffie, Harry and Sally). It was magical.
Good news is that the eye of the second chick to Iris and Finnegan appears to be improving daily. You can see that it is open a bit and quite bright, not dull which is bad.
‘A’ never watched Osprey nests but she is in love with Iris and Finnegan and their two chicks. I am so glad for her narrative. This nest really is a miracle and it is so wonderful to watch. The age difference between the two could have spelt disaster – it didn’t. Finnegan kept the fish coming and, well, we could have two little boys here, too.
Finnegan is always fishing and Iris is always feeding. These two little itchy ospreys with their pin feathers coming in have no idea how lucky they are!
There were at least five fish deliveries at Clark PUD (Vancouver, Washington) on Thursday. Whew. Great news for Mum and the osplet. Thanks, Dad. Temperatures were 88F with 14 mph winds.
News from Geemeff for the Lock Arkaig Osprey Nests and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 4th July 2024
Activity is winding down on the nests but Louis and Dorcha did pay several visits to Nest Two. No fish were delivered although Louis teased Dorcha by coy-mantling and making her think he had a fish. A pair of little birds visited, as did the Hoodies who were looking for scraps, and later Dorcha also pecked around and seemed to find a few bits to munch on. Gary was in evidence on Nest One, visiting twice, bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of housework. The weather continues to be wet, windy and cool, and tonight’s forecast is heavy rain and a gentle breeze, and wet again tomorrow. How long will Louis and Dorcha stick around now the chicks have gone? For Garry too, still without a mate despite his best efforts, surely warmer climes will beckon early this year.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.36.00 (03.28.12); Nest Two 23.21.16 (03.26.38)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/5PfRIpr1C1o N1 Garry LV0 does some nest work 09.34.30
https://youtu.be/Q78H5nhXHS0 N2 Dorcha fish calls from the high perch but no response 09.35.02
https://youtu.be/TZR8lcMqDZs N1 Garry LV0 returns with moss and does some housework 11.22.45
https://youtu.be/mUwYTyBdkxU N2 Louis arrives fishless and coy-mantles for Dorcha 12.07.40
https://youtu.be/pZKFTN-jueA N2 Louis pays a quick visit 13.17.50
https://youtu.be/rLoGqpsGXGQ N2 Dyson and Henry pay a visit 13.47.37
https://youtu.be/iIAxz-mHTgw N2 A pair of little birds visit 17.12.33
https://youtu.be/i69C0tAgKxI N2 Dorcha pays a late afternoon visit 17.14.32
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
Dorsett Hobbys are still incubating.
Here is the link to their camera. A great nest to watch!
The weather in Wales has been rainy and cooler. They might want to send some to parts of the Pacific Northwest. Idris is working to feed those growing babies of his with Telyn. He still pulls in the big mullets despite the weather (hey, do we have another Monty?). The winds have been terrible. Telyn holding on and the chicks huddled together for warmth. 10 C with rain and high winds to 47 kph. What a guy. (I bet all those Welsh males are fishing…you are all wonderful not just Idris – Aran at Glaslyn, Dylan at Clywedog, Aeron Z1 at Pont Cresor, Tegid Z2 at private nest, and the others.
Yes, Elen was almost blown overboard after Aran brought in a big one during the intense winds.
I am sorry you can’t see or hear the wind. Telyn is holding on for her life.
Oh, the winds were really gusting at Llyn Clywedog and one of those great big gals need to do a ‘ps’ and almost had an early fledge! Not ready yet. Almost. The winds appear to have calmed down as dawn approaches.
‘PB reports on this morning at Cowlitz one of the nests concerning us during the heat:
Just watched little at Cowlitz get filled up. Mom is amazing, little was blocked to get to her so she moved the fish to little to feed her baby in the dark. Side cam you can the fireworks and little crying out to find moms beak.
I want to touch on something. Sometimes things are said or answered in a chat that are not well thought out. Ospreys do brood reduction. They let the chicks kill one another. You have seen it. And oddly at Captiva, Edie came in with two fish almost immediately after only one chick was on the nest. It is an exciting thought, but it cannot be proven that Edie felt there were only enough fish for one. And ospreys do well in rehab. They eat, they thrive and they fly away. We have shown this many times in my post. Just look at Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey and their long-standing ambassadors such as Bailey. Or the Pitkin County birds or the Tampa Bay Rescue. Please correct anyone that you see saying this. I have multiple examples if you need them!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please send positive wishes to the nests. Put out water for the birds and other animals. Provide food if you can. The coming week is going to be very difficult for them if they are in high temperature areas. Hydration is paramount. And also, take care of yourself, too. Drink lots of water. Stay inside if it is too hot. Check on your neighbours. Make sure veryone is OK. We want to see you here with us!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, letters, comments, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, MB, PB, TU’, WildCare, Marathon Wild Bird Centre, HWF-BBC, Trudi Kron, Heidi McGrue, Window to Wildlife, CROW Intake, The Weather Network. Osoyoos, Eagle Cam of Estonia, Gunnar/Looduskalender, Moorings Park, Montana Osprey Project, Clark PUD, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Dorset Hobby Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Llyn Clywedog, and Cowlitz PUD.
Thanks Mary Ann and hope your getting better ! The nest with the one eaglet is very sad. I hope it gets rescued or plenty of fish. It is really grieving it’s sibling. You can tell by this eaglet that they truly do have feelings! Praying this precious one makes it. 🙏❤️🦅
Prayers for all who need them too. The weather is so hot that it is related to many birds passing away this season.
Hopefully all the nests in the newsletter will survive their young and so glad for Pathogue this season!
Take care and see you again soon here Mary Ann!
Linda
Thank you. It is so hot and we will have so many losses. Keep the prayers coming!
“Golden Eagles consistently have obligate siblicide so this has been unusual”
For any one reading this who didn’t see my comments in the earlier post, this is NOT true as far as I have been able to tell. Golden eagles are listed as facultative cainists on wikipedia, and there is no sign of a debate about this or calls for correction.
The older literature, e.g. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2407480, says golden eagles are facultative cainists. Perhaps there have been recent studies to revise this, and so wikipedia should be updated?
But the only source that I can see claiming the species is an obligate cainist is this one forum post, which is locked and so cannot be contradicted. On another thread in the forum, someone has said that 1) none of the sources cited in that post have golden eagles as obligate cainists, and 2) that several actually explicitly contradict the claim and say golden eagles are facultative cainists, and 3) that they are unable to find any literature that says golden eagles are obligate cainists.
Full post is here: https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?p=853374#p853374
and examples of their literature review below:
14. Stinson, Christopher H.: On the selective advantage of fratricide in raptors. 1979 – https://www.jstor.org/stable/2407480 – “I consider the following facts to be centrally important in any discussion of cainism in raptors: (1) cainism has been observed only in species of raptors which usually lay two eggs (Table 1), and (2) cainism is not always an obligate trait (e.g., the golden eagle, A. chrysaetos: Brown and Amadon, 1968; Beecham and Kochert, 1975).”
16. Edwards, T. C, Jr. and M. W. Collopy: Obligate and facultative brood reduction in eagles: an examination of factors that influence fratricide. 1983 – https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/file … -p0635.pdf – Contains a chart listing Aquila chrysaetos as ‘F’ for facultative.
21. Simmons, Robert: Offspring quality and the evolution of cainism. 1988 – https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio … of_cainism – Contains a chart listing Golden Eagle as ‘F’ for facultative.
35. Meyburg, B.-U.: On Cainism in the Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina) and a possible explanation for the phenomenon in this and other eagle species. 2000 – http://b-u-meyburg.de/pdfs/a_rp700p/a_rp705.pdf – “Among the congeners of the LSE, eagles of the genus Aquila, this phenomenon is widespread. It is most pronounced in the Black Eagle, where it has been studied in depth by Gargett (1978, 1990), whereas in the Golden Eagle it is not at all unusual for the second young to survive the strife between the siblings. In this species a shortage of food may also play a part.”
Hi Tavie, I seems that we might wish to agree to disagree. As a University professor I do not allow my students to use Wikipedia as an academic source. The article that you quote has many inconsistencies. I point to the following section and says facultative: “Cainism”, as it is sometimes called, or siblicide is inarguably the most controversial and confusing aspect of the golden eagles’ reproductive biology.[68] This is the habitual behavior in the nest of the oldest hatchling to attack and usually kill their young siblings. In fact, this behavior is quite common, not only in large accipitirids but also in unrelated raptorial birds such as skuas and owls.[65] Cainism is frequent, even typical in species of the genus Aquila. The traditionally classified genus can be broken down into two groups: facultative cainists (wherein fewer than 90% of known nests do the oldest nestling attack and kill their younger siblings) and obligate cainists (wherein more than 90% of nests do the older kill the younger siblings). The golden eagle is part of the facultative cainists group, along with the wedge-tailed, eastern imperial, steppe and greater spotted eagles. The obligate cainists are two tropical species, the Verreaux’s and the tawny eagle, and one temperate-climate-dwelling species, the lesser spotted-eagle.[1][65] Instead of Wikipedia, I want students to go to the journals! And see out the latest scientific information. Then compare. Not all second siblings are killed by the oldest. There are always exceptions to every rule. It depends on food availability and often the temperament of the parent.
Your reference in Looduskalender needs to include the article below it which reads: Location: Germany
Post by Felis silvestris » June 19th, 2013, 7:24 pm
Bird species of which cainism is known to occur:
Obligatory cainism:
Eagles:
Lesser Spotted Eagle (Aquila pomarina) Schreiadler
Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga) Schelladler
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Steinadler
Verreaux‘s Eagle, Black Eagle (Aquila verreauxii) Kaffernadler
Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) Kronenadler
Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) Keilschwanzadler
Wahlberg’s Eagle (Aquila wahlbergi)
Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax) Raubadler
Madagascar Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vociferoides) Madagaskarseeadler (not to be mixed up with Haliaeetus vocifer!)
Other raptors:
Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur) Augurbussard
Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) Lämmergeier
Other birds
Birds of the Sula genus like:
Nazca Booby (Sula granti) Nazkatölpel
Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) Maskentölpel
Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) Weißbauchtölpel
(some members of this species are known for facultative siblicide)
Birds of the Stercorariidae family
Whooping cranes (Grus americana) – mentioned by D. Mock, pp 54-55, interesting birds in general (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whooping_crane)
1 March 2011
Parental Infanticide Followed by Cannibalism in Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos)
Martin Korňan, Metod Macek
Author Affiliations +
J. of Raptor Research, 45(1):95-96 (2011). https://doi.org/10.3356/JRR-09-77.1
Sibling aggression and mortality among nesting eagles
April 2008Ibis 116(2):224 – 228
DOI: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1974.tb00243.x
Aquila chrysaetos
(Linnaeus, 1758)
PROTONYM: Falco Chrysaëtos Linnaeus, 1758. Systema Naturæ per Regna Tria Naturæ, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata 1, p.88.
TYPE LOCALITY: Europe; restricted to Sweden by Linnaeus, 1761, Fauna Svecica, ed. 2, p. 19.
SOURCE: Avibase, 2023
This is a generally good article on siblicide in general and I recommend it to anyone. Avian Siblicide
Author(s): Douglas W. Mock, Hugh Drummond and Christopher H. Stinson
Source: American Scientist, September-October 1990, Vol. 78, No. 5 (September-October
1990), pp. 438-449
Published by: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/29774180
I could go on and on but I don’t believe in papering someone to make a point. I am very happy that the second hatch has survived thus far.
The eldest has now killed the youngest after the parents withheld food – gave just enough to live. Deed is done. Now food is coming in. You need to watch and learn and see what is happening in the real world of the birds. The oldest could not kill the second when little. It was strong. Now, parents forced the act. It is uncommon for two on a Golden Eagle nest to survive because of siblicide.
As you are aware, the eldest Golden Eaglet did finally kill the second one.