Tuesday in Bird World

10 September 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is a scorcher, but thankfully, there is a good breeze. Clear blue sky, sun beating down, 30 C. We have filled the bird baths twice, and they require more water. It is 1341. Most of the little songbirds stay in the shade of the lilacs and that deep tunnel we created between them and the trees at the back. Two Blue Jays are getting peanuts off the big table feeder. I have yet to see the squirrels.

We had a bit of a fright Monday morning. All of the doors were locked and secured. Like many of you, I have a particular alarm if those doors are opened. It did not go off. Baby Hope did not come for breakfast. She always comes, but she never eats wet food. She did not come. I know precisely how quickly one can go from calm to hysterical – about 15 seconds! The storage room was emptied, and all appliances, cupboards, etc. were checked. No Hope. Eventually, she was found ‘terrified’ under the sitting room sofa. We had checked, and she wasn’t there, but she was this time. She was very skittery. She came out after four hours and nosed Calico, and they had a bit of a tumble. She is not herself. Quite frightened. I cannot imagine what has scared her so much. I wait in the hope that she will be herself soon. And, by 1600 she was fine. Very strange. It did force me to clean the storage room, though. Lots of things on the boulevard that others might want or need!

In Bird World, Antali and Finnegan are at the Hellgate nest. The image below is Iris who is also still home and who visited the nest shortly after noon on Monday. Iris has a necklace and Finnegan is white breasted like Antali. She needs a fish!

It will not be long til Antali is prepared to take flight and then Finnegan will probably eat up for a day and take off. In normal circumstances, the male will never leave a fledgling. They do not normally catch their own fish until they are on their way away from the nest, although some have been known to be precocious and do fish.

Antali was on and off the nest and the perch. Finnegan brought him a headless fish at 1240.

And away Finnegan goes!

At Charlo Montana, C16 is on the nest wanting fish. His chest is quite sunken – the kiddo needs a fish. It is very windy there. C16 got some fish!!!!!

The nest cleaners – European Starlings – were at Dunrovin.

‘H’ tells me that this camera at Osoyoos has been frozen for a number of days. It came back on Monday morning. ‘H’ identifies this juvenile as #2 or Middle. Soo delivers a fish on Monday, too. Mum is still home.

At Newfoundland Power Snow Lane’s nest, Beaumont and Hope are both home along with at least one juvenile. I did not see a fight for fish which makes me wonder if one of the fledglings has left the area.

Keo is still delivering fish to River at the Sandpoint Osprey platform.

Harvie is delivering fish to the Fortis-Exshaw nest also.

There is at least one juvenile hanging around the Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour osprey platform hoping for some fish. I did not see a delivery and I cannot tell you if it is a single osplet coming and going or more than one. No one is banded! And I have not studied the head patterns of the chicks at this nest.

I did not see any Ospreys at the Cowlitz PUD nest on Monday.

Some may be concerned about the Line Fire in San Bernardino County and Jackie and Shadow. Sharon Pollock posted news from Big Bear:

Jackie and Shadow are very experienced and they can fly and we must presume they will do so to get out of harm’s way should the fire spread to the area of their territory in Big Bear Valley.

Didn’t see any eagles at the WRDC nest when I checked. It is the home to Ron and Rose.

The latest migrator bird count as posted on the Loch Arkaig FB page! Only 36 ospreys so far.

This is Geemeff’s closing daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust. Enjoy! She will be back with us in the spring after our osprey family arrives.

Final daily summary Monday 9th September 2024

Quoting WTS George: As the dried up flounder tail of time finally descends into the expectant crop of autumn, I notice it’s nearly the end of our season… I’m sorry I haven’t an Osprey, but here’s one I prepared earlier: A rollercoaster season in 2024: triumph, tragedy, and plenty more! Season’s highlights captured from Nest Cam Two, I’ll be doing a separate highlights video for Nest One in due course which will be on my YouTube channel and I’ll also post it on Adam’s site,  

https://walkingwithdaddy.com/osprey/  To keep in touch over winter, Adam welcomes everyone to his site, it also uses Hyvor, and for those on Facebook there is the Friends of Loch Arkaig. It has been an eventful season, all part of nature in the raw, and it will be interesting to see what next year brings. Hoping for two resident families next year.

Many thanks to everyone for their company during the season, special thanks to George for this forum, and Woodland Trust for allowing me to clip bits off their livestreams for my own amusement, Steve Q for the fish stats, Liz B for the wonderful off-nest reports, Beverley for the overnight reports, and Postcode Lottery for funding the nest cams. Extra special thanks to Brenda J for keeping me up to date when I’m away by sending me frequent fishmails, much appreciated.

I look forward to Spring 2025 and Season Nine for the Loch Arkaig Ospreys.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 20.39.55 (05.57.58); Nest Two 20.35.01 (06.05.38)

Today’s videos: 

https://youtu.be/DO7XJOA6OEs A rollercoaster season in 2024: triumph, tragedy, and plenty more! Season’s highlights 2024

Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

https://youtu.be/XUYF6OEpQ88  N2 Sarafina does a fly-by before landing 2022

https://youtu.be/sUpzBM54QHY  N2 Thief! A Raven arrives and steals a stick 2022

https://youtu.be/PLOmU0AJ8nM  N2 Several little birds come and go on the empty nest 2022

https://youtu.be/BQC_B1pN3tk  N2 Lights at night near the nest – deer management team 2022

https://youtu.be/5LK7YZ2CtZ8  N2 Confirmed – final sighting of Sarafina LW6 2022

https://youtu.be/6h4T2QWS_68  N2 Three Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) visit 2023

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

The White-tailed eagle at Port Lincoln is growing. There were high winds the other day and some were concerned. It is still there – that little white bundle in the straw.

Tweed Valley’s Teddy (oh, just adorable as a youngster in the nest) is in Portugal. He made it!!!!!!!!!!

At Nova Scotia’s Russell Lake osprey nest, Oscar and Sylor are still home.

Beautiful close-ups of the Olympic Park sea eagles. The gorgeous rust is coming in at the tip of the espresso-black juvenile feathers. My goodness talk about gorgeous on that snow white! https://youtu.be/LRiIuOhlu9g?

‘A’ remarks, “Just TOO cute this morning was SE33, who tried to join in when Dad and Lady were doing their 05:39 morning duet. The tiny little honks were the most adorable thing I’ve heard in days. I couldn’t quite believe my ears, so I rewound and could see SE33’s little body vibrating with the honking it was doing. 

SE34 is growing very nicely and looking active and healthy. SE33 is fed first at most feedings, by mutual agreement, but SE34 is almost always able to eat enough once SE33 has eaten enough. And of course Lady is keeping an eye on him.

The eaglets did a lot of preening while waiting for their meal this morning. They must both be itchy, with feathers emerging everywhere! SE33’s tail feathers are becoming visible now too. Breakfast arrived courtesy of Dad shortly before 06:25. Again, it was young and feathered. SE33 was closest to the table and as usual was fed first. (SE34 still appeared to have a reasonable crop from the night before!) 

Shortly before 06:29, SE34 shuffles forward so that the two eaglets are side by side. He is rewarded with his first bite of breakfast. SE33 is unbothered until Lady goes to give SE34 a second consecutive bite, at which point SE33 leans in front of SE34 and steals the bite from Lady’s beak. Remember the pecking order, mum! Lady gives SE34 the next bite, and again there is no objection from SE33 until mum goes to give SE34 a second bite, and again, SE33 leans in to take what it believes to be rightfully its mouthful. 

Lady resumes feeding SE33 only, with SE34 a step further back from the table, waiting his turn. SE34 definitely appears larger than its older sibling as they sit side by side at this morning’s feeding. It may be extra fluff, but it may also be because SE34 is female or because SE34 has been getting the better of the feedings over the last few days (which I don’t think is the case – at least not on a regular basis). So I will be fascinated to know (if we ever do find out) what gender these two are. I do so wish they would band and sex these nestlings. It would really help SO much in establishing where they are dispersing to and whether they are breeding successfully in their new territories. That surely would be worth knowing. But obviously not. “

At Port Lincoln, Heidi caught Dad delivering the morning fish.

.’A’ brings us up to date on Xavier and Diamond, “At Orange, Xavier had nearly two hours of egg time this afternoon, though Diamond has now resumed her rightful position as incubator in chief. Diamond was swooped four times in the middle of this afternoon by a black-shouldered kite but sustained no damage. All is well between them of course, with bonding early this morning and Xavier spending quite a bit of time just standing next to Diamond as she incubates the eggs. He is such a darling. He adores Diamond…..Diamond and Xavier had a particularly early bonding session in the scrape this morning (04:36:50), after which Xavier remained in the nest box for about an hour, just hanging about and keeping Diamond company. He has been doing this quite a lot over recent days. He is just SO sweet and he really does adore Diamond. She is doing most of the incubating, but Xavier did get a half-hour of egg time shortly after 11am (Diamond has just resumed her position on the eggs). These two are just SO endearing, and we have watched them together for several years now, 24/7 all year round, so they are like family to us and we know their little habits and routines so well. Of course it makes us all experts! We like to think we understand these two, but of course we don’t. We only get a glimpse of their lives. We’ll never know what it feels like to go into a stoop at 100 miles an hour for example. We see only one part of their lives really – their relationship with each other and with their chicks. But I sometimes wish they could equip a falcon with a tiny camera that gave us a vicarious version of their true lives… At Orange, a persistent visitor today was a willy wagtail, who repeatedly landed confidently on the ledge. Such cute little birds, so well known in the Australian bush. Very brave and determined little creatures. Xavier bought himself some egg time when Diamond headed off for lunch, returning with an absolute monster of a crop. The general consensus was that it contained a luncheon pigeon and would sustain her until morning. It was so gigantic that it appeared almost as large as Xavier. All of him. He took one look at the gigantic Diamond on the ledge and made no protest at all – left the eggs and the scrape in double quick time for him. These two really make me laugh. They are so ‘human’ in their interactions, or perhaps they just make it easy for us to anthropomorphise. Hatch watch begins some time in the first week of October. I really hope there are only two hatches and that they are not too far apart. And a Dudley to lean on or to use as a pillow is always useful for the younger chick when trying to reach Diamond’s beak. Many chatters are hoping for three chicks but I don’t think they’ve watched Diamond closely enough!  We both know how lazy she can be, even with two, and the younger chick in her scrape really has to work hard for its food. Mind you, it does usually end up pretty proficient at getting fed, like darling Rufus. Such a sweet little falcon. I loved him dearly. He was such a personality for one so small, and so very determ”

There is sad news coming out of Kakapo Recovery. Thank you, ‘J’ – Ranger was my adopted Kakapo!

‘A’ sends news of the Royal Cam chick: “We are getting so close to fledge at Taiaroa Head, where TF chick was 231 days old today and TFT chick about a week younger. Neither was weighed today, as the rangers are concentrating on chicks requiring supplementary feeding (one is being fed five days a week, which is most unusual). Last week, TF chick weighed 9.7kg (average for male chicks of that age at this colony) and he has been fed by both parents in the week since. He produced a bolus on 6 September, so was obviously ready to fledge, and has been really working his wings over the past couple of days. Probably all it will take are favourable winds to launch him on the lonely journey that will be his life. When I switched on the albatross tab for a quick chick check tonight and could see no signs of TF sleeping on his nest, my heart literally skipped a beat. Is he gone? No-one on the chat is indicating that there has been a fledge but I cannot see either of the chicks (TF or TFT) right now. (It is a particularly dark night and TF’s new nest is not in the circle of light provided by the IR light on the camera.) But both chicks were still on the headland late this afternoon (around 17:30), so I doubt they have departed quite yet. I am unsure whether TFT has produced a bolus as yet, but TF has been fed by both parents since producing his on 6 September so will probably produce another before fledging. I have read nothing about the contents of the bolus he has expelled.”

Calico wants to give everyone some ways to make their phone last longer. Our reading time Monday night was an article in The New York Times. She was surprised when we read that you should not plug your phone in and charge it overnight every night – that you should check your settings and only charge your phone to 80%. The battery will last longer! There are other tips and she hopes that they will help you. Calico wants you to use Merlin when you go for a walk or go to the park and check for birds!

Wirecutter: You Don’t Need a New Phone. Here’s How to Make the One You Have Last Longer.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/how-to-make-your-phone-last-longer

One of our heroes is Bob Horvath and this year the Centreport Eagle family is donating all of the proceeds of their 2025 calendar to WINORR – Horvath’s organization that rescues and rehabilitates raptors including many of our beloved ospreys. Here is the information:

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, streaming cams, annual summaries and daily synopsis: ‘Geemeff, H, J’, Montana Osprey Project, Owl Research Project/Explore, Fortis-Exshaw Osoyoos Osprey Platform, Newfoundland Power, Fortis-Exshaw Canmore Osprey Cam, Sandpoint Osprey Platform, Blackbush, Cowlitz PUD, Sharon Pollock, FOBBV, WRDC, Loch Arkaig FB Page, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Connie Dennis and Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, and Heidi McGrue and Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Kakapo Recovery, and The New York Times.