Cobey dies, USU lives!…Friday in Bird World

9 August 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is with a heavy heart that I write that little Cobey has died. He had convulsions, like we have seen in other chicks, who had restricted access to food. Unfortunately, he was not rescued several days earlier as he arrived at the rehab in critical condition. I wish I knew the argument that the woman made because it was effective in getting some action, just so late for this sweet baby. (Many are upset as Cobey was left in the cold rian overnight and fear that this might have accelerated his demise).

Thursday turned out to be a day for a pot of soup, a sweater, and warm socks. Damp and cool compared to the 32 degrees we had a few days prior. Hugo Yugo was right there helping with the soup – every ingredient except for the carrots came from the garden. It has been a bumper year for herbs, peppers of all varieties, and tomatoes. Even Celery. There is nothing nicer than fresh celery just cut. It could make a celery lover out of anyone! Calico says ‘the secret’ to the soup was the inclusion of finely chopped Jalapeno peppers along with the Persian and Hungarian ones. What a nice broth! But the nicest part was the dessert – Passionfruit Ice Cream. Calico has kindly offered to share her ‘secret’ recipe: 1. Get a nice tub of vanilla ice cream. 2. Use about 4 ripe Passion Fruits for a litre – although we love Passion Fruit and often use more! Slide the fruits in half and scoop out everything from inside. Put in a bowl. 3. Let the ice cream get soft. We put it in a large bowl. 4. Taking a whisk gradually pour in the passion fruit and mix thoroughly. 5. Re-freeze. Calico says you can thank her later. She also says to not worry about those seeds. Leave them in there!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because of the rain, today’s walk was ‘inside’. Some people go to the local malls, a practice that gets into full swing in the winter months. I do not like the bright lights, and the crowds and loud noise cause havoc with those struggling with mental health issues. It’s not the place for someone with dementia, so off it was to The Leaf. I have written about this space before – a huge, wonderfully designed conservatory with a rainforest area, a Meditteranean area, a special exhibit space, and a butterfly garden.

In the beginning I wondered if, after several visits, the gardens would become ‘boring’. Not so. Today many of the plants in the tropical zone had fruit for the first time and some beautiful flowers.

A third visit to the Healing Garden, the special exhibit, did not disappoint either. One of the plants, Sage (often associated with cooking and in particular Sage Browned Butter of Thanksgiving day stuffing) is a plant believed to have the capability to cleanse and purify the mind. It is often used in smudging ceremonies by the Indigenous people of our province to clear out negative energy.

Torch Ginger.

Star Fruit.

Silver Sparkle.

The Koi in the pond were particularly active today. (Apologies for the voices of individuals watching – turn volume down).

Things are not moving forward for non-lead ammunition, but backwards. Can you lend a hand and help all of the raptors that eat carrior – not just Condors but also Eagles, Vultures, and some Corvids?

At 07:34:04, the only surviving osplet on the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest fledged!

The fledgling has been on and off the nest and is perfecting that return landing.

In Finland, ‘AM’ brings me what could be sad news of little USU at nest #4. During the night, the osplet toppled off the nest. There is a slight chance it could have gotten to the branches of some trees in the forest. This was the osplet believed to have had the wing injury. Its two older siblings, UPU and URA, taken by the White-tail Eagle. ​​USU had just had a nice meal from Mum and was looking rather well. The time was approximately 20:46. And in joyful tears – USU is alive and the ringers will be there!!!!!!!!!!

Geemeff sends the daily summary from Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Thursday 8th August 2024

A pair of Coal Tits and a Robin, or possibly two, took advantage of the absence of any Ospreys and spent a little time on Nest One. Nest Two had zero activity again. The rain and wind continued as forecasted, and no change expected overnight or tomorrow. 

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.18.36 (04.49.42); Nest Two 22.09.31 (04.57.00)

Today’s videos:

 https://youtu.be/P5S76XoQiuE N1 Coal Tits and Robins visiting in the absence of any Ospreys 07.29.42

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

Geemeff sent me this posting giving us an update on Louis and Dorcha’s surviving chick (amongst others). They are all flying. Isn’t this grand!

‘H’ reports:

8/8 – Osoyoos osprey nest:  Well… it seems as though the Osoyoos osprey nest has a ‘Fish Fairy’.  The live stream was down for most of the day.  When it resumed, we were pleasantly surprised to see two good sized partial fish just laying on the nest, and being ignored.  It had apparently been a good fishing day.  At 1423 Olsen arrived with a small partial fish, and since no one was interested, he ate it.  It was unusual for Dad to stay in the nest and eat.  It was even more unusual in that he actually offered Chick 2 a couple of bites.  Chick 2 did eat the morsels Dad offered, but then walked away because s/he was already too full.  Soo had been standing on a large leftover fish, and at 1426 she took that fish off the nest.  I assumed that she would eventually return with a smaller version of it, but at 1529 Soo arrived empty taloned.  At around 1553 Soo fed Chick 2 from the other leftover fish that was in the nest.  Later, at 1742 Soo brought a large partial fish to the nest.  It looked to be the same size and species of fish that she had removed from the nest 3 hours ago.  Chick 1 flew to the nest for supper.  Soo fed a very long meal to her two big juveniles.  So what about that fish fairy?  This story was related to us on the Facebook group:  One of the local viewers, ‘AMW’, visited the nest in the afternoon.  She found a fish lying in the grass below the nest, and had the idea to move the fish onto part of the road that was not accessible to traffic (and, it is not a heavily traveled road, anyway).  ‘AMW’ said she sat very still in her car for a long time.  After the coast was clear, Soo swooped down and picked up that fish and took it to the nest!  It was indeed the fish that Soo flew off with at 1426, and that Soo subsequently fed to her youngsters at 1742.  So, ‘AMW’ is a Fish Fairy (sort of), lol.  Chick 2 spent the night on the nest all alone for the first time.  

Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  As you may know, all three of Dory and Skiff’s chicks were killed by a great horned owl the last two seasons.  The past several weeks, our beloved pair have been busy building another nest… just a little north of the boathouse nest, and over in the pines.  Good for them.  It has given them something to do this summer, and has strengthened their bond.  We don’t know which nest they may use next season.  But, neither nest will provide refuge from the owls.  So sad.”

The movie trailers are gone form the parking lot and Iris, Finn, Sum-eh and Antali will enjoy a much nicer view.

Waiting for fledge at Charlo. The nest lost two chicks, but if all goes well this one will fledge.

What is there not to love? Two little cutie pies so white and fluffy with those huge black beaks! WBSE 33 and 34 – the ‘apples’ of Lady and Dad’s eyes. Dad is keeping fish on the nest and Lady is busy providing tiny bites every hour.

Full house at Field Farm waiting for a fish delivery.

It appears River fledged from the Sandpoint nest on 8 August around 14:56. Had a short flight, returned, and did a few others.

The oldest Black Stork at 21 years! That gives you a moment to have a huge smile. Thank you ‘TU’ for the notification and the translation! I am simply over joyed.

Hortobágy National Park Directorate 9 h. · Methuselah is still alive! Although it has been quite stormy… We finally got the world’s oldest black stork! It’s hard to believe, but the bird is already years old, which means that it is the leader of the species, we are not aware of such an old, ringed black stork. The bird was tagged by Béla Kalocsa in Hercegszántó in 2003, while it was still a chick, and the plastic tag that can be read from afar has provided a lot of information about the stork since then. The number 5082 has already been read 11 times – once in Israel. The fact that it has been going back for so long is also the success of practical nature conservation. If it returns next year, we will give the bird a name, which is unusual in nature conservation. Let’s hope that we can do it and then we can not only refer to the iconic black stork as 5082! ️ ️ What difficulties do you have to face year after year? Why is it important to protect its habitat and breeding habitat? More information can be found on our website: https://www.hnp.hu/…/termeszet…/1946/meg-el-a-matuzsalem Gábor Nagy Gábor Nagy and Ákos Monoki Nature Protection Guard Service

I want to give a shout out to an individual in Osoyoos, British Columbia. Soo dropped a fish from the nest. ‘AMW’ picked it up and placed it in a safe place for Soo to grab not knowing if Soo would try to get the fish or not. Soo did grab that fish and flew away with it returning to the nest to two screaming chicks. I wish more people would stop and see a fish at a bottom of a nest and place it so the adults could get it. And if anyone says that ospreys only eat freshly caught fish, they are ‘dead’ wrong. Thanks ‘AMW’ for this wonderful gesture and also for taking Little to your own garden and burying the wee one that was loved so much. I am in tears.

No sightings and no news of Blue who fledged two days ago from the HWF-BBCentral nest in Boundary Bay. As CG says, “We’re all blue—no Blue​ today.  No mention of parents seen on the cams either.”

Mum might have been hoping for a fish but it looks like Dad found her a dead bird. Perhaps he wants to make a feather bed? If you want to guess on the day of the first egg at Port Lincoln, be sure to put it in a comment on chat.

At Orange, Diamond has been sleeping on the Cilla stones. Wonder how long til we have eggs here? Two and a half, three weeks?

Bonding with Xavier before dawn.

A sad story with a golden lining about Mother Goose:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/udgbWD4WNmRjEBa4/

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, summaries, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘AM, AMW, CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU’, Colonial Beach, Destination Winnipeg, Ventana Wildlife Society, MN-LA Ospreys, Saaksilvie 4, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, David Warrington, Osoyoos, Audubon Boathouse, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Olympic Park Eagles, Field Farm, Sandpoint Ospreys, PLO, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.