3 August 2024
Good Morning!
Well I am in tears this morning. One good and one bad. One of the beautiful fledglings at Russell Lake in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia has been electrocuted. We have talked about these poles and the responisiblity of the power companies on my posting many times. It is an easy fix and if the power company knows the poles that the birds use – they do tend to go to the same ones – then they should be required to do the necessary modifications.
The good tears is for a Black Stork. BONUS is alive!!!!!! Jan and Janikka’s beautiful Black Storkling, adopted by Karl II and Kaia when Jan died – hence the name Bonus – has been transmitting. This might tie with Iris being a mother again for the number of tissues used. Thank you ‘PB’ and ‘TU’ for catching this great news and sending it to me. I don’t know if I will stop crying all day.
We have the second fledge at Niagara Bee.
We hope that you are enjoying your weekend. For Canadians, it is a ‘long’ weekend. Is it a Bank Holiday in the UK? Another holiday somewhere else? If so, enjoy! It is still hot here, but it is going to begin to slowly cool off. It feels like a good day to check on ducks and geese this evening.
In fact, it was so warm in the garden that the Crows are starting to come to the bird bath. They have been drinking water but not splashing. I can’t wait to see which one of them will be the first to take the plunge.
Because of the heat I have been going through all the forms for the 438 eggs out ogf 151 nests. In fact, I am still adding nests from Nova Scotia with 16 more to go! But it has also given me a chance to take a peek at what is happening and to check on some nests to try and find out about fledges.
The pie chart shows that nearly half of all osprey eggs laid this year did not hatch. Siblicide was the next highest cause of mortality at 17% and weather events at 14%
For some nests there is little information. Some have videos on YouTube but no real data elsewhere. So it is a bit of a mystery hunt. I hope to cover a few of those nests that are not regularly reported.
Two growing chicks of Blue 330 and PYO from Nest 10 at Kielder Forest are a welcome sight after all the heart break and loss at other nests.
Seriously. This puts a smile on my face. A Loon that is 38 years old? (Thanks, J)
On Finland nest #1 Utu fledges on August 2. Returns to the nest! Congratulations.
Both chicks on nest #1.
Parent is on the nest feeding only surviving osplet on nest #4 in Finland. Parent also comes and goes as if monitoring the forest situation. We know that the eagle lives in that area.
Three gorgeous osplets at Janneniemi, Juurusvesi, Finland.
At the Kuopio nest, we have had a fledge with another one pending. Chicks are Eero (1), Victoria (2), and Amanda (3).
Cowlitz fledgling is still coming to the nest for fish! It is a good day.
Amazing Iris is getting some nice fish after her chicks are fed to they are full and then more full.
It is almost that time. Iris and Finnegan’s chicks will take to the sky. They will hone their flying skills and be fed by Finnegan – and maybe Mum – til it is time to migrate south. I hope that Finnegan continues with the great deliveries so that Iris can get herself fit after a grueling summer so that the migration is not too hard on her this year.
I cannot get enough of Iris and her chicks Sum-eh and Antali.
‘RP’ sent us an X but the age of Antali that Hellgate Osprey posted is incorrect. It is 46 days.
All three chicks survived at Bar Harbour despite some early worries for the small third hatch. We are expecting fledgling shortly.
The two ospreys at Balgravies Loch fledged in mid-July.
Geemeff’s Daily Summary of Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Friday 2nd August 2024
Another day with no sign of any Ospreys on either nest. Dorcha was last seen on nest cam – Nest One! – on 27th July, has she headed south already? Perhaps she’ll appear soon, but as always it’s a case of wait and see. Louis was last seen more recently, on 30th July, on his own nest, and the only thing that’s certain is that many pairs of eyes are on the lookout for any sightings of any Ospreys. HelenG’s keen eyes spotted bats swooping around Nest Two in the early hours, that and a juvenile Robin on Nest One was the extent of the action today. The forecasted rain materialised and continued until about 7pm. Tonight’s forecast is dry conditions with light clouds and light winds but back to wet tomorrow with thundery showers throughout the day until late evening.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.55.33 (04.33.24); Nest Two 23.03.47 (04.38.24)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/kTYhjh-Rrxg N2 Bats fly around the nest 02.22.40(super slo-mo)
https://youtu.be/vgs5NO-r20w N1 One of the under-nest residents pops up for a quick visit 08.34.07
Bonus video – from Scotland to Africa as the Osprey flies:
Blast from the past, this day in 2020
https://youtu.be/LEq2B4U9j-k N1 The Fishtail Waltz: Loch Arkaig Osplets in quickstep (Classic Ospreys – Strauss)
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
We are never too young or too old to watch the birds. Read the latest from Audubon.
More Ospreys going into care. The Juveniles are fledging and having their own difficulties flying nevermind finding food and coping with the intense heat.
Bolton Castle has the only known Ospreys in Yorkshire at Wenslydale. The couple raised three chicks to fledge in 2024! There are 2 males and 1 female. I have yet to get the proper Darvic ring numbers and weights but I am trying!
The only chick at Clark PUD has fledged and returned to the nest.
A whopper of fish for the kiddo.
Two of the three chicks at Collins Marsh in Wisconsin have fledged. Congratulations!
The first of the Eschenbach trio of ospreys fledged on the 11th of July. Now all three are flying and returning to the nest for fish.
Friday was a windy day for Hope and Beaumont and the two chicks. I never thought I would live to see another osplet fledge from this nest and it looks like we will have two this year. Everyone in Newfoundland must be over joyed.
At the Lipka Forest nest in Poland, the osplets have fledged and are doing great flying. One of them is eating a huge fish on the nest with the other waiting its turn when a goshawk comes out of the forest to attack. Because the osplets can fly strong, they get away!!!!!!!!
At Field Farm, the Fab four have all fledged and everyone returns to the nest rushing as fast as they can to try and get some fish dinner!
At the SF Bay nest of Richmond and Rosie, Tully continues to hover. She now holds the record for being the longest osplet to fledge!
It will not be long until our chick at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum flies. What a gorgeous osplet.
‘H’ reports:
8/2 Colonial Beach: It’s a good thing that 39-day-old Cobey ate well yesterday, as there were no fish brought to the nest today. It was quite warm (96 F), and it was a bit windy… not a good day for fishing. It was also very concerning that Cobey was left alone in the hot sun for 9.5 hours straight. Poor lil Cobey. We assume that Betty had been trying to catch fish, and she would have had to eat if she did catch one. It should also be noted that the area is known to have many osprey nests, and the possibility of fish thievery exists. Betty did not have much of a crop when we saw her at 1850, and we noticed that she was wet. David has been inconsistent with fish deliveries even in nice weather, and we did not see him today. Weather forecast for 8/3: Partly cloudy, chance of thunderstorms, high temp 90 F, winds gusting to 22 mph.
8/2 Osoyoos osprey nest: At 0556 Olsen delivered a large headless fish. Soo fed her osplets for about 3 minutes before she decided to take the fish off nest. She returned with the slightly smaller fish about 9 minutes later and fed for an additional 19 minutes. Olsen dropped off a small headless fish at 0942, that provided for a 4-minute meal for the siblings. He brought another small partial fish at 1512, and Soo fed for 6 minutes. It was a hot day, with a temperature of 102F/39C at 1700. The last fish of the day was brought by Olsen at 1906, and it was a very small whole fish. There was a tug-o-fish between the siblings, and Chick 1 gained possession. When Chick 2 tried to take the fish from Chick 1, Chick 1 bit him on the nape of the neck. Chick 1 ate the fish in 6 minutes. The osplets are 56 and 55 days old, and they were both doing some nice wingers in the evening. News Flash: Chick 1 was hovering high out of our view a few times! Weather forecast for 8/3: Partly cloudy with smoky air, high temp 100F/38C, winds 13 mph. The Facebook group Admin reminded us that it is a long holiday weekend, and there may be increased watercraft activity on the lake, potentially hindering ospreys attempting to fish.
8/2 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Everything is going well for this family. Johnny is contributing at least one fish per day. And, June was catching those huge striped bass every evening for the last two weeks. Well, that seems to have ended. For the past few days, June has been catching the large striped bass in the morning, haha! ‘Fen’ is 49 days old and has been wingercising a bit.
8/2 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: We haven’t been able to see the nest for a couple of weeks due to the camera being soiled with PS. News from the Facebook group: A local viewer, ‘YH’ was at the nest on 8/2, and was able to make a short video recording showing the presence of three osplets! Yay! So, we know that Harvie and Louise have been able to provide enough fish for their family. Thank you ‘YH’. Sorry, no images to share, the video is private. The ‘kids’ are 52, 50, and 48 days old on 8/3. There is a chance for an afternoon shower, which may help clean the camera.
Choughs breed in Kent England for the first time in 200 years! Smile.
“A young pair among eight birds released last year defied expectations to successfully breed this summer, making a nest on Dover Castle and rearing one chick, which fledged in June.”
Choughs look like a very trendy Mr Crow. They have glossy ebony plumage but it is the legs and bill that are a bright orange-red that mark them as different! Prior to this they were only known to breed along the West coast of England according to the RSPB. Aren’t they gorgeous?
“File:Red-billed Chough Sikkim India.jpg” by Dibyendu Ashis licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
At Steelscape, the osplet that was injured has returned to the nest and appears to be healing. Send good wishes.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! We hope to see you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB, RP, TU’, Maria Marika, Pam Breci, Kielder Forest, New Hampshire Loons, Nesting Bird Life and More, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Cowlitz PUD, Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab, Hellgate Osprey X, Bird Cams, Doreen Mann, Balgravies Loch Ospreys, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Bolton Castle, Clark PUD, Collins Marsh, Eschenbach Osprey Cam, Newfoundland Power, Lipka Forest Ospreys, Field Farm, SF Bay Ospreys Golden Gate Audubon, MN-LA, OpenVerse, The Guardian, RSPB, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, and Colonial Beach.
I can’t believe the BBCentral thinks turning off the cam will solve all their problems. It just makes me more suspicious. They put up Blue having a good PS but when I was watching the PS was just air. Yesterday, Blue got eight food bits shot toward the nest that the camera picked up and four Blue ate. After 9:00 PM I don’t know if any adult brought food or not. There wasn’t anything brought by adult before that. They state that it is too bad the cam won’t be fixed before 8/4/24 because Blue is just about to branch. Okay then!
Ah, I reported from the Forum the ‘ps’ but didn’t notice it was not a ‘good’ ps. Thanks, Mikel. I am curious as to why the camera is locked. I hope it is for something good but it could just be a coincidence.
That’s great news about Bonus! Thank you!
You are so welcome. I was in tears!