4 September 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
It was 29 C on Tuesday in Winnipeg. Hot. Ice cream weather. There was a hawk high on a pole near to a grain elevator just outside the city. Skeins of geese flew into the City as the sun began to set. Migration is truly on. I look forward to heading out to the marsh for the geese landing later this month and at the nature centre. These can be amazing moments with hundreds, sometimes thousands, flying in and landing on the water. It is so beautiful.
I was with my best friend today. She lost her husband a little over a week ago. So today’s blog is a little thin. Events in Bird World are also very thin! It is that in-between time except for the Australian streaming cams.
We are going to start with Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Tuesday 3rd September 2024
A damp day with occasional fogging of the camera lenses but with the prospect of a dry night tonight and a few sunny patches tomorrow. A Raven flying near Nest Two being carefully watched by the Mistle Thrushes perching on the nest was today’s only activity.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.15.35 (05.31.19); Nest Two 21.28.54 (05.43.26)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/SANdIv1GZKc N2 A pair of Mistle Thrushes visit, and a Raven flies nearby 13.42.31 (zoom)
Bonus action – plenty of time to select your favourite and vote for Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year:
https://www.timeout.com/uk/news/these-are-all-the-shortlisted-trees-for-tree-of-the-year-2024-090324
Please note one of the candidates, the Darwin Oak, is under threat from development, link to the petition to save it:
https://www.change.org/p/save-the-darwin-oak
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
Oscar and one fledgling are still at Tweed Valley.
The Melbourne Ospreys are having to fight off intruders. Stay safe, Dad! We don’t want a repeat of 2023. https://youtu.be/zOGHyN6snQ8?
Dad not only defends the Melbourne scrape, but returns to relieve Mum from incubation duties! What a guy. https://youtu.be/XvTDg9J8OIg?
Ron and Rose were at the WRDC nest!
Antali was on and off the nest most of Tuesday. Breakfast was a smaller whole fish around 10:39.
Finnegan supplied a nice headless fish later in the day to his screaming juvenile!
Rose Shields gives us the latest news from Border Ospreys. Thanks, Jeff, for posting it!
Pam Breci posts the last sighting of Mum Winnie at Dunrovin Ranch.
Dad not only defends the Melbourne scrape, but returns to relieve Mum from incubation duties! What a guy. https://youtu.be/XvTDg9J8OIg?
You might have heard about the kerfuffel about renaming 150 birds that was instigated by the American Ornithological Society. Mark Avery from the UK has his say:
Tulley, Rosie, and Richmond were still at the SF Golden Gate Audubon Osprey nest on 3 September. https://youtu.be/X2YoikLzBnU?
Dad LJ2 and Mum 372 were still at the Llyn Brenig nest with the two fledglings on Tuesday.
Blue 33 has not been seen on the Rutland Manton Bay nest since the 2nd of September. It is presumed he has begun his migration. Maya was last seen on the 30th and Blue 1R0 last seen on the 29th.
Ospreys are really moving down from the UK to their winter homes in West Africa.
There is an eagle on the Dulles-Greenway nest on Tuesday. https://youtu.be/UIC9KOR70hw?
Olympic Park sea eaglets are growing and growing. Enjoy them in their lovely white down, because all of those pin feathers are going to be gorgeous feathers very soon.
Both Sea Eaglets had full crops at the Olympic Park Eagle nest. https://youtu.be/1W5VeBHOI98?
These additions to the UK Red List of Birds make me sad. The Arctic Tern. I read, during the dark winter months, a book about a woman who followed what she believed would be the very last terns to fly from the Arctic to the Southern Hemisphere and she followed them. It was incredibly moving. The book was Migrations. And this is a note about it, “Migrations follows Franny Stone’s journey following the last of the Arctic terns. The time is in the not too distant future and almost every bird, fish, and wild animal is extinct. Almost all domestic and farmed raised fish, birds, and other animals are raised for food.”
This is the article in The Guardian about the addition of the two birds to the Red List. Again, said twice, this breaks my heart. The future is at our doorstep.
From Geemeff: Sad news – anglers, PLEASE take your rubbish home!
https://www.birdguides.com/news/kingfisher-found-dead-in-fishing-line/
For all you SW Florida fans, ‘J’ sent a historical summary by Wskrsnwings to us:
Season 1 2012-2013 Videos link: http://bit.ly/1wJAphi
Season 2 2013-2014 Videos link: http://bit.ly/1U9p0Av
Season 3 2014-2015 Videos link: http://bit.ly/1FlPEjc
Season 4 2015-2016 Videos link: http://bit.ly/1Nqaxz8
Season 5 2016-2017 Videos link: http://bit.ly/2cSOUcL
Season 6 2017-2018 Videos link: http://bit.ly/2w7FeqH
Season 7 2018-2019 Videos link: http://bit.ly/2Nthd2w
Season 8 2019-2020 Videos link: http://bit.ly/2lvqYnC
Season 9 2020-2021 Videos link: https://bit.ly/3iGSmI5
Season 10 2021-2022 Videos link: https://bit.ly/3h6Hmow
Season 11 2022-2023 Videos link: https://bit.ly/3qFa6sQ
Season 12 2023-2024 Videos link: https://bit.ly/3sVHAaT
Season 13 2024-2025 Videos link: https://dickpritchettrealestate.com/videos/
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, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘J, Geemeff’, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Gracie Shepherd, Montana Osprey Project, Rosie Shields and Border Ospreys, Pam Breci and The Joy of Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Mary Cheadle and Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Charlotte McConagy, Migrations, The Guardian, Dulles Greenway Eagle Cam, Geemeff and BirdGuides, ‘J’ and Wskrnwngs.
