Clive, the bravest of the brave…Thursday in Bird World

10 October 2024

Hello Everyone,

Cams are down in Florida. We have yet to determine what happened. ‘PB’ sent the following images to me from Barb Henry. All is well at SW Florida in Fort Myers. We are waiting for the word of Clive. And I am presuming that Achieva platform is alright. It was still holding in the worst winds as the far eye wall went through last night.

This report is a kind of mixed-up stream of consciousness following of Milton and the nests. In particular, I focused on Captiva, Achieva, and SW Florida. Thursday was quite the day and many of the other nests got simply overlooked – brief mentions at the tail end. So many of you watched Clive and stayed with him til the cameras went out at Captiva. He is my hero! Let us all hope that there is some word from Window to Wildlife on his status on Thursday since power to the cameras appears to be out there.

This is the wall of the hurricane after Milton made landfall hitting the Achieva Osprey platform. Notice the surge of water in the street below.

Milton has made landfall. So far, M15 and F23’s nest is holding. Some of the upper branches might break off.

At 36 minutes to landfall…cameras went out at Captiva at 1934 or thereabouts. At that time, Clive was in the nest.

Achieva. 89 mph wind gusts at the moment. Achieva had 5 inches of rain in an hour and had more than 7 inches prior to that. Lots of flash floods. The worst of the winds seem to hit Achieva after 2100 and you could see the streets filling up with water. See second image below.

This was 24 minutes til landfall near Achieva nest.

M15 visited his nest in Fort Myers, Florida before a tornado was at Cape Coral moving towards the Fort Myers area. They are expecting that tornado to hit the area of the nest within a few minutes as I write this. This is a PDF tornado, a monster tornado with life-threatening winds. They are saying that these are some of the biggest tornadoes ever seen in Florida. There is significant damage on the north side of Fort Myers. The cells are moving to the east and the nest should be alright for now. It is 1317 at the nest.

Lots of water when that system went through but M15’s tree is still standing.

Twisting M15’s tree around. Not sure those top perches are going to survive this.

There are huge tornadoes all over the area of the nests that are covered on the streaming cams – and, of course, all those wildlife that are not covered on cam. What a horrible day this is going to be.

One of the Bald Eagles is in the nest at Captiva! Look at the time. We are within 1 hour 48 minutes of Milton making landfall. Maybe this eagle knows something we don’t. They are thinking the hurricane is going to hit Sarasota instead of Tampa Bay. That would include Fort Myers and, of course, Captiva is in that path.

Lots of power line flashes going on at Captiva.

Osprey nest at Captiva. The storm surge is hitting the island. Milton is 1 hour and 3 minutes away and the osprey nest is losing sticks and rocking but holding in there.

Cameras off at Captiva now. Clive was still at the nest, hunkered way down as the hurricane went right over Captiva on its way towards St Petersburgh and Sarasota.

‘PB’ sent the migration map. Notice how smart those birds were to avoid Florida.

In other news…

Wilko and sibling, halfway around the world, only have one thing on their mind – fish! *

Every crop is full at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne.

‘A’ reports. “Those three are voracious eaters, and mum is kept very busy indeed filling those three endlessly open beaks. The youngest is very good at getting fed – it begs ceaselessly and loudly and always has its beak wide open. When it turns forward to face mum, it does not do as well as when it has its back to her in the tripod configuration I have been talking about. When the three beaks are gathered together in the centre of the tripod, it is very easy for mum to put food into all three, even though the heights vary. So the youngest has the best access to food in this position, which it has quickly realised. Smart little eyas. Getting fed is its number one priority after all and it is working that out fast. 

These little snow people are beyond adorable. Fluffy wee falcons are the cutest things. Little dad is working hard and doing a great job. From soon after 16:24, we can hear him chirping away from the northern end of the ledge. Mum is brooding the trio, who are sprawled in front of the open garage, sleeping in a pile. Dad is eager to get mum’s attention, but she remains with the chicks, It certainly interests the chicks, who wake up at the sound of dad e=chupping. He then begins his kak-kak-kak vocalisation, loudly. He repeats it once or twice. No move from mum. “

The two little falcons appear to be doing just fine at Orange.

All is well with the Olympic Park Sea Eaglets.

Everything is good at Port Lincoln!

Thank you to everyone for being with us. Continue to send positive wishes to everyone as heavy work begins cleaning up after Milton. Take care. See you soon.

*It was reported that Mum removed Comet from the nest. This was an error. The second hatch was fed to the two other chicks as we saw at Niagara Bee.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, PR’, Achieva Credit Union, Window to Wildlife, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Google Maps, BirdCast, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, Olympic Park Eagles, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.