16 October 2024
Greetings from Nova Scotia!
Oh, what a ride. There were big storms in Atlantic Canada and our plane spent 45 minutes flying over the Atlantic Ocean waiting to see if we could land at Halifax airport or if we needed to divert ourselves elsewhere. We were late, but finally arrived and the bed at the airport hotel felt really, really nice. The pilots and the flight attendants had a great sense of humour. When we landed they said, “Welcome to Quebec!” Paused for a long time and then said, “Just kidding”.
It is particularly beautiful here this time of year. The Canadian Sugar Maple trees are bursting in shades or red, orange, and orange-yellow. This almost perfect leaf welcomed us to our temporary home.
Our cottage is about a 3-minute walk from the beach. There are still birds feeding in the fields, such as Greater Black-backed Gulls along with Crows, long-tailed ducks and other shorebirds are at the beach. I arrived with my camera, but no battery. It was charging, silly me.
The shore birds come to feed as the tide goes out.
It is 10 C and we made a small fire in the wood stove to take the chill off. Every where we drove, you could see new stacks of wood ready for winter.
Coming from a rapidly growing Canadian city that has been a construction site for several years, driving through the rolling hills with all the fall foliage is calming. You feel like you are part of nature, not alien to it. If we did not have our tiny enclave in the city with all the animals and birds, I think I would lose my mind. As you can tell, I might want to wiggle my nose and transport all of them here – along with The Girls! We have certainly noticed the ‘For Sale’ signs more this trip and have paused to take a look. One little brick house intrigued us. Several miles away was a sign about the Nova Scotia government raising the level of the dykes built by the Acadians to accommodate climate change and higher tides. The little brick house was on land below sea level inside the dykes. Sad to think this could all be under water one day, completely gone.
The pickers were out in the pumpkin and squash patches today and the apple trees are also being picked. All over little stands are selling one thing or another. Take what you want, and leave the money in the tin. The old honour system works well in a place where most people keep their doors unlocked. I hope to have photos of this for you sometime during the week.
Let’s skip over to some of the latest news in Bird World before I sign off. Thank you to everyone who sent in news items.
Morning news.
Window to Wildlife posted this image and they are 99% sure it is Connie and Clive. What a relief after seeing Clive ride out Milton in their nest! Thanks, J.
We have all held our breaths when chicks go their own way and in the wrong way. The female at Collins Street is awesome. She reached down and grabbed it. Have a look! https://youtu.be/BBb2m5Uj8sY?
Liberty and Guardian are home!
There is a CrowdFunder under way for Iris’s new camera. If you want to take part, check it out quickly as there is a deadline to contribute.
‘J’ sent news about our little green flightless NZ parrots, the Kakapo:
Latest counts from Hawk Mountain:
I am so proud of Heidi. She is taking a hawk identification course and is down at Cape Henlopen counting migrating birds as often as she can! Here is her latest news:
Using my binoculars I witnessed two more eagle/osprey chases this past Saturday at the Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch platform. There is an old WWII observation tower to the west of the platform. The remnants of an osprey nest is at the top of the tower. The ospreys using that nest fledged one chick this past season. Turkey vultures occasionally hang out in small groups on the tower, so the hawk watchers have named it the ‘TV tower’. But, I mostly see the local bald eagle pair perched up there.
On Saturday morning, the two resident bald eagles were perched on top of the TV tower, when an osprey carrying a fish approached the beach from the east. The osprey had just crossed over land, when one of the baldies flew from the TV tower and gave chase to try to steal the O’s fish. It chased the osprey back out over the ocean, and the osprey eventually dropped its fish… splash! The eagle dropped down to the water, but did not come away with the fish. The eagle casually flew back to the tower. I sometimes think the eagles are simply trying to harass the ospreys, and they are not really hungry for the fish, lol.
Later in the afternoon, the eagles were again perched on the TV tower, and one of them chased another osprey carrying a fish. This chase occurred a little further inland. It was a spectacular chase that lasted at least a full minute. It was like watching a pair’s synchronized ice-dancing competition, where the skaters precisely mimic each other’s movements. Awesome…Two very large birds, with huge wings, and the eagle a little larger than the osprey. The osprey and eagle were very close to one another as the osprey swerved and swirled all over the sky, and the eagle following the osprey’s movements precisely! It was amazing to see. At one point the eagle’s talons actually made contact with the osprey’s talons, and I heard a faint ‘clack’! That osprey was so fast and agile, and it was determined to hold on to its catch. Lo and behold, the eagle finally broke off the chase. Yay, go osprey! The osprey seemed quite unperturbed and casually flew off to the north, likely looking for a spot to perch to enjoy its lunch. I could just picture the osprey smiling. Well… I was smiling, lol.
This is enough to make you very sick and concerned for the raptors – even in trained hands!
At Port Lincoln, Wilko is full and Kasse is being fed. Both of these osplets are looking good.
And we have news of older brothers Ervie and Giliath. Both are well and doing their own osprey thing. Bradley and Shultzie are often seen on the same perch so relief. I had been wondering about Giliath.
Despite the excitement about the four hatches at Cowbootie, it appears that one of the little ones, the fourth hatch, might be struggling. It was not up wanting food yesterday. I will continue to monitor the news coming out of South Australia.
The whole family was in the Olympic Park Sea Eagle nest. SE33 was really flapping its wings. It won’t be long. I wish they would stay longer and longer and get so strong so they would ignore the Currawongs who will attempt to escort them out of the forest.
Sweet little Xavier brought a starling in for breakfast for Yira and Garramma.
Everything looks great at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne. Lots of prey and an extremely attentive Mum. In fact, Mum is out hunting with Dad to provide more and more prey for the triplets as they are in a period of rapid growth and need.
At NE Florida Gabby and Beau have both been sleeping at the nest.
Jackie and Shadow were both at the nest in Big Bear the other day. Looks like Jackie was there for a moment on Tuesday.
NestFlix Memories caught M15 and F23 working on their nest. F23 is one beautiful eagle. M15 picked well. :)). https://youtu.be/KuKpaczG-Rk?
Good News for migrating birds. Thanks, Geemeff.
In Africa, Jean-marie Dupart counted 230 ospreys using his motorbike in Senegal in a 130 mile stretch of beach between Dakar and St Louis.
Thanks for being with us today. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to everyone for the news and to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, charts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, J, Geemeff’, SK Hideaways, Julie LaLima and FORE, Montana Osprey Cams, Kakapo Reovery, Hawk Mountain, Raptor Persecution UK, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Olympic Park Eagles, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, NEFL-AEF, FOBBV, NestFlix Memories, abc334o news, Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys FB.
Great to hear that you’ve had a good start to your holiday in Novia Scotia, Mary Anne, the flight aside of course 😄 Wonderful news about Clive & Connie, & I loved the clip of mum at Collins St moving the chick to safety. How many times have we wished an osprey mum would do exactly the same 😔
Mary C
That Mum at Collins Street is something else. She is either super brilliant or very experienced. I could not believe it when I saw her wrestle with that chick’s neck to get it up. You could tell that it was painful but it didn’t appear that she even broke the skin. She is pretty amazing. And thank you. We did have a good holiday even with problems both ways with the flights.