Beau is back…Sunday in Bird World

25 August 2024

Hello Everyone,

Calico and Baby Hope (aka Calico Kitty Kitty) hope that you have a very pleasant Sunday. We are getting ready for a party. Calico came into the house on the 27th of August 2023. Five days later, Baby Hope showed up at the feral feeder and within three hours was joined with her Mamma. Hugo Yugo’s birthday is on 2 September – so we will have a three-for-one party!

Calico was in the small office to get acquainted. We would read to her 5 or 6 times a day when she was fed. We continue to read to her to this day.

Her favourite book is still I can hear the Cuckoo. A lovely tale of a relocation to Wales.

Mamma and Baby reunited. Thanks to all my neighbours, Baby Hope was the most well-fed feral kitten. Just look at how healthy she was! I am still brought to tears that we were able to tame Calico and get her and her kitten inside. They bring me so much joy. And they are inseparable to this day.

Saturday was the day to clear and clean the laundry room. It is the bi-annual cleansing of the house (spring is the other). It is a time to look at the linen clothes and think more about jumpers, even if it is 31 C outside. They finished the new bathroom in the spring, but there was one last thing that needed doing, and I just knew we could do it. That was finding the door with the glass panels in the basement to separate the new bath from the laundry room. We found it, lugged it up the stairs, and, to our great surprise, shimmed it up and attached it as it had been before the renovations. Of course, six hours later, our bodies started to feel the actual cost to us. I ache all over. We also found the tin of paint – Old School White – thankfully. Maybe tomorrow?

I don’t often get to listen to Ferris Akel’s live tour (or watch it) on Saturdays, but it is something that I enjoy. (It is on YouTube). Ferris goes around Wildlife Drive, Montezuma, East Drive, and the Cornell Campus every Saturday. Well, he hardly misses a weekend. He didn’t find Big Red or Arthur today but did locate several Green Herons at Sapsucker Lake, several Ospreys, a Bald Eagle, and a variety of waterfowl. I was surprised at how low the water levels were in the area.

Sun setting over Wildlife Drive.

Shortly after, Ferris found the roosting spot of the Great Egrets! Along with some Cormorants and an Osprey on the way. There was waterfowl of all sorts feeding and then Sandhill Cranes began to fly in.

Well, there were 8 of them in total (you can see the babies on the wire). All of the summer babies and a couple of adults are on the wire above the cheesy dog feeder. They were ‘hot under the feather’. The first issue was Dyson, who decided to eat her peanut by ‘their’ dish, and the second was the presence of the Blue Jays.

For those of you who wanted the Nova Scotia Brown Bread recipe, I suggest eating it in two days. I don’t know how it freezes, but I like it much better. You can also halve the recipe and make one loaf. That is what I did yesterday, and it works.

Well, my heart skipped a beat when ‘J’ wrote to tell me that Beau was back on the NE Florida Bald eagle nest waiting for his Gabby to return! He came with a fish, left some, and it wasn’t Gabby that cleaned it up, but a turkey vulture. And then today, my mailbox was full – Beau is home. Everyone is so happy.

F23 was at the SW Florida nest a couple of days ago, and it appears that M15 has joined her. We need Gabby home safe. https://youtu.be/m6Vx0kJtUBw?si=8b1K_aTztyR1wsdm

Nest checks at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta, too! Looks like Thunder as she lost her blue wing tag.

Comings and goings at Hellgate Canyon nest of Iris and Finnegan, Sum-eh and Antali.

The baby at Poole Harbour, 5H6, and 5R2, caught on camera at Poole Harbour. Didn’t catch the ID of one.

Nice crop!

Idris is still delivery fish at Dyfi in Wales.

Great White and Cattle Egrets are now breeding in Nottinghamshire!

USFWS report on duck populations is in.

Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Saturday 24th August 2024

Wet and windy, and not an Osprey in sight. A pair of Great Tits visited Nest One briefly, and apart from the valiant spider attempting to defy the weather and build its web, that was it for today on either nest. There’s sufficient light for about 16 hours on day cam daily, and the weather forecast for the Inver Mallie area which includes both nests is wet and windy for at least another week – it’s still August but it already feels very autumnal.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.32.10 (05.20.53); Nest Two 21.30.30 (05.29.30)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/G0P_EDGq-Rk N1 Pair of Great Tits visit briefly 07.05.40

Bonus early bird retail opportunity – Woodland Trust Christmas cards on offer until 30th August:

https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/christmas-cards

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

At the Olympic Sea Eagle nest, both babies have crops early Sunday morning! Yahoo.

We are waiting for eggs at the Charles Sturt Falcon Cam of Diamond and Xavier and, of course, Mum and Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge.

Dad didn’t fail – even with white caps and blowing winds, Mum got her breakfast fish at Port Lincoln.

‘A’ sends us a video of Jackie and Shadow. “From FOBBV, we get this gorgeous footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVhhlYKLlnY&list=TLPQMjUwODIwMjQzOuskGtbTAg&index=9

Don’t these two always put a smile on your face? Shadow adores Jackie. It’s a bit like Finnegan adores Iris. There are just some couples that seem to have a level of emotion between them that is obvious even to humans. And Jackie and Shadow certainly fall into that category.”

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We look forward to having you with us again soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, J, PB’, Ferris Akel Tour, NEFL-AEF, IWS/Explore, Montana Osprey Project, Eagle Goddess, BoPH, Dyfi Osprey Project, BirdGuides, USFWS, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Olympic Sea Eagle Cam, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, and Port Lincoln Ospreys and FOBBV.