12 July 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
Today, I got a notice that another new tree is going in front of my property. What joy! I hope they grow fast. With all the new baby crows and squirrels, we need all the big trees fast.
I want to be overjoyed by this notice – and believe me, I am. But a quick walk down the street shows me that four more of the 1902 trees are set to be cut down due to disease. Each has a bright orange circle. I know they must go, but Dyson and her family need trees. There will be some left. Thank goodness.
Does anyone have any good plans for squirrel houses that work? So far, they have balked at the beautiful house I had sent from Sweden!!!!!!! Little Red finally took to the crates in the wood pile but the Greys need a tree. Maybe a fake tree??
The baby Crows have been visiting. I could not grab my camera quick enough to take a photo of them dancing on the glass roof of the conservatory. One was in the birdbath later while three tried to balance themselves on the hydro line coming into the house. The other two were walking around the fence. There are six of them with soft downy heads calling their parents to come and feed them. They are as big as Mr Crow!!!!!!!! The only way that you can tell the difference is that they are thinner and their heads are soft down, not feathery.
Look at the baby Crow’s soft downy head. The water feels good on their hot feet. These are just the cutest crows…
I think it is time for more cheesy dogs!
Let’s start with some good news. Nox. Thanks, ‘B’ for sending me the latest update on Annie and Archie’s fourth hatch. Look at those eyes and tell me this isn’t the cutest little falcon you have ever seen!
At San Jose, Alma has been hunting.
There are nests that I check on but don’t often report on especially when it is osprey season. Here are a couple that I know many of you are interested in!
If you have been wondering about the Centreport Eaglets, they did fledge and they are soaring and locking talons together! Amazing footage by Rob Schwartz.
LGL comes in to feed the Royal Cam chick!
Two little Hobbys. Dad has been hunting and had four bird meals for Mum to feed the little ones before mid-day.
Jackie and Shadow have been visiting the nest. Their chortling is music to my ears. No matter what is thrown at them, they always manage to over come it and bring us smiles.
Seren and Dylan were amongst the lucky nests this year. Indeed, Wales did good in the scheme of things. The weather around Kielder and Border was horrific – we saw it, too, at Loch Arkaig. These three are just beautiful osplets. Don’t you just love the look of the kid staring at the camera?!
Aran and Elen started out with three beautiful chicks and it looks like they will fledge three from Glaslyn in Wales.
Idris and Telyn started out with three and they will fledge three as well at the Dyfi nest in Wales!
Llyn Brenig in Wales started out with three eggs. One DNH and now there are two nice big Bobs ready to fledge.
Alyth SSEN started out with three chicks. One died from a nest accident and the other from weather induced causes. This only surviving Bob looks great. Alyth is in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
Sadly, Laddie was possibly shot and Blue NC0 waited for her mate. The nest failed this year at Loch of the Lowes. Only time will tell who the nest belongs to next year. Blue NC0 has been with the dark-coloured osprey but there has also been another around. It was very sad as Laddie LM 12 was much loved. Much loved. The dark one has a fish for Blue NC0. Where is she?
Time to bid Tuffy goodbye! Remember his head pattern for years to come.
H wrote: “This was Tuffy’s last day on camera, before the camera was shut down for the season. Tuffy treated viewers to some extended appearances today. We witnessed Tuffy dive into the water to try to catch a fish (3:00). He didn’t appear to come away with a fish on that attempt. But, about an hour later, Tuffy flew to the nest carrying a tilapia (4:35). He was wet, and shaking off water. Tuffy took a long time to eat that tilapia, and we enjoyed watching him eat it. As we watched, memories surfaced of when Tuffy was so little, and he barely had enough to eat due to the dominance of his older sister, Ruffie. “We have been blessed to witness your life thus far, Tuffy… through all your struggles and your victories. You are a survivor. We wish you a long and productive life. We will never forget you.”
At the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Mum is trying to keep her chick cool. It will go up to 90 and then 92 F on Saturday before the heat breaks a bit in Minneapolis.
Dad continues to bring in the fish and Mum continues to feed. The chick looks good.
At 0555, Finnegan arrived on the nest with a very large headless fish. He was still wet. I hope that Iris got a lot of that fish to eat. It is going to be hot today in Missoula. The temperature is 97 F. Remember that is not the heat index which will be higher.
‘PB’ alerted me to a late fish delivery by Finn for Iris and the kids. – a headless whooper!
‘A’ loves Finn – welcome back! We are so glad you are feeling better. “Finn is doing his usual superb job. There was a whole fish (small by his standards but a good medium at any other nest) delivered late in the afternoon, and Iris fed it all to the osplets within 10 minutes or so, creating respectable crops for both osplets (of course, Baby Bob’s was the largest, as always bigger than his head – seriously) but that wasn’t enough for Iris, who immediately began nagging Finn for more fish, although he was still preening and drying himself on the perch from his previous fishing expedition.
But off he went, dutifully obeying Iris’s instructions, and at he returned with one of his patented baby sharks (Pacific whitefish, I understand), minus head (a whole one was not only too large to get to the nest easily but also nearly brained an osplet last week, so Finn has learnt from that episode) around 20:34.
It is wonderful to see that Little’s left eye appears to have healed almost totally. I do hope he is not left with any residual corneal damage. I know I’ve been banging on about it but we both know if Baby Bob cannot triangulate, he cannot fish, and if he cannot fish, he cannot survive. So obviously, it has been my number one concern for some time now. There were four or five days there when I was truly distraught with worry for my little man.
These two are males. They must be. Not a single bonk or beaking. Nothing to suggest any aggression, at meal times or otherwise. They simply have to be brothers. Iris is looking good – she is eating better I think. And Finn is my favourite osprey dad of 2024. I know he has some competition out there, with some of the successful four-osplet clutches this season, but we all know that watching Iris being loved and cared for by a worthy mate who is helping her raise two exquisite osplets is the highlight of the season for many of us. She is blissfully happy and SUCH a good mum. (What a mumbrella she makes, shading them from the heat, sheltering them from the rain and cold – just totally devoted to her babies.)
I ADORE this family. Could you tell? “
I agree and so does everyone else. Finn is amazing. Here is his big whole fish for the family first thing Friday morning!
It is so hot at Charlo Montana. Lola is doing an amazing job. Charlie is getting fish in – every nest in the heat dome area could use much more fish. The adults as well as the osplets are all suffering. Today is Friday. Let us hope this heat dissipates soon.
I thought we might lose Middle at McEuan Park on Thursday but Mum went out and got a big fish and everyone ate. What a relief. Unless someone tells me otherwise, it appears that the male is now MIA.
The youngest of the two siblings at McEuan Park crop dropped quickly. It is difficult to know how much fish it got. Probably not nearly what it should have as Big is extremely aggessive and hungry. Hoping Mum goes out again and catches a huge one so that all can get their fill before bed time. No rewind, no time stamp, cam freezes. Hard to tell what is really happening.
Another fish came to the nest and the camera froze. I have no idea if number 2 got any fish or not. How frustrating is this.
The fledglings, both Patches and Rainer, do return to the nest at Patchogue. Fingers crossed for both of them. This is Patches with a fish from Dad.
Steelscape had a good delivery! Keep it up, Dad.
Looking good at Black Bush:
Continued concern for Little at Cowlitz PUD:
Geemeff sends us her summary for the day’s activities at Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 11th July 2024
The big news of the day is the safe arrival of our chicks at their new home in Valencia and they are now sporting their new yellow Darvic rings. The submissive chick is 1JR and the dominant one is 1JW, and they looked cosy together in their nest in the photo posted by Woodland Trust Scotland on their social media channels, link in the bonus section. Their parents spent time together today on the nest before an unseen intruder caused them to flee, Louis did a little nest-scraping and a fair bit of coy-mantling but still didn’t bring any fish for Dorcha, although we don’t know what fish exchanges might be taking place off-nest. Garry LV0 visited Nest One bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of housekeeping, but there was no sign of the Dark Female. it would be good to see him with a mate, perhaps they are connecting off-nest. The weather was settled today, the sun broke through a few times, and the forecast for tonight is partly cloudy with light winds.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.32.11 (03.36.07); Nest Two 23.26.04 (03.40.16)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/CscB0UbvO3c N2 News update – chicks safe in Spain and have been ringed 09.00
https://youtu.be/hT20jh6SGBU N2 Dorcha & Louis together on the nest but no fish 09.56.50
https://youtu.be/RQNxDQEbg5s N1 Garry LV0 visits but no sign of the Dark Female 13.08.50
https://youtu.be/VS4q1tY2vks N2 Dorcha & Louis spend time together until scared off by an intruder 18.08.40
Bonus photo – our chicks in their new Spanish nest:
Bonus song – The Osprey Song – performed by the Juniors at Hurst Lodge School:
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
‘H’ reports for the day:
7/11 Osoyoos osprey nest: The live stream was offline until just before noon. Olsen has a habit of fishing early in the day, so hopefully he had delivered a few fish for the family earlier. The first fish we saw delivered was at 1736. I never got a good look at the fish, but Soo fed the osplets for 7 minutes. Little quickly found a spot on the other side of Mom and seemed to be eating. At 1739 Little was beaked by Big, but being on the rim, Little had nowhere to go. I could not tell at that point if Little was getting bites of fish, or was in submission. Big beaked Little again at 1740, then Middle beaked Big, and Big beaked Middle! A short time after the meal ended, we saw that Little had a small crop. The next (and last) fish of the day arrived at 2004, and was a large partial fish. Nice going, Olsen! Once again, Little set up on the other side of Mom from Big and Middle. We could not see how much Little was eating, but everyone ate, and there was no aggression. It was a 16-minute feeding. After the meal, Little had a small crop, and also had a good PS at 2119. The high temperature on 7/12 is predicted to be 96F/36C, and it will be sunny, with winds gusting to 13 mph.
7/11 Colonial Beach: David brought fish to the nest for Betty and the kids six times, and a couple of those were huge! The osplets are 16 and 17-days-old. There is some occasional beaking between meals, but the meals are peaceful. Yay!
7/11 Fenwick Island: I only saw two fish brought to the nest today for June and young ‘Fen’. Johnny usually averages 5-6 fish per day. The temp was in the low 80’s, and the wind was gusting to 17 mph. Fishing should not have been very difficult, but I’m not an osprey, so what do I know, lol.
7/11 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: It was a rather uneventful day for this osprey family…other than the youngest osplet, Gray, falling over and being stuck on his/her back for several long minutes! Finally, Dory arrived at the nest and pulled on some nesting, and then Gray was able to right itself. What a good Mom. Whew!
7/11 Kent Island (Chesapeake): Dear Audrey is still incubating her two non-viable eggs.
7/11 Captiva osprey nest. The chat has been shut off for the season, but the livestream will continue for a while. Jack had an injury to his leg, and we have not seen him for a while. Edie may have an issue with her health, and she stopped bringing fish regularly to Darling and Ding. Ding has dispersed. She had learned to catch her own fish, and has likely moved to find a better fishing spot. Darling died at CROW on 7/5. I have a huge hole in my heart. And it hurts.
When you see all those gulls rushing for the chips at the beach? Well, they would rather have fish new study finds.
Ventana Wildlife continues to vaccinate the California Condors for HPAI.
‘PB’ reports that Steelscape has had a fish this morning. Cowlitz PUD had no late night fish and nothing has arrived Friday morning so far. Send them good wishes.
Connie Dennis reports that the osprey nests in Nova Scotia are doing very well compared to others in the US and the UK. She is the founder of a group working to get Nova Scotia Power to put up poles, and she organises the monitoring of the province’s nests with information on their FB page, Ospreys of Nova Scotia. She has written a book for children on Ospreys with photographs by her husband, Don, that I will review in the coming days.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, messages, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, PB’, California Raptor Centre, SK Hideaways, Rob Schwartz, Lady Hawk, Dorsett Hobbys, Llyn Clywedog, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Brenig, Alyth, LOTL, Heidi McGrue, MN LA, Montana Osprey Project, McEuan Park, PSEG, Pam Breci, Cowlitz PUD, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Charlo Montana, The Guardian, Ventana Wildlife Society, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, Window to Wildlife, Kent Island, Audubon Boathouse, and Connie Dennis Ospreys of Nova Scotia.
Thanks for your report and pictures today. The bay crow’s head looks like I can pet it with my finger 😊 That would be cool to see how the frozen containers of water turned out, please post some pictures. I had forgotten about the eagle nests, but somehow the church song “On Eagles Wings” has been playing in my mind-low and below, a picture of Jackie and shadow.
I will definitely take some pictures of the ice. So far it has been so hot that they love it! I miss Jackie and Shadow – they are such a comfort when everything else seems to be falling apart.