6 December 2024
Hello Everyone,
Top News: SE33 has been released to live in the wild.
News of both Ervie and Giliath! Thank you Fran Solly!
Thursday was another cold blustery day on the Canadian Prairies. We decided to visit the new display at our biosphere, The Leaf. Spending the day inside a tropical environment was just what we needed. It was so much fun. This year they have a display of trees featuring some birds that live in Manitoba during part of the year and migrate to the tropics for the winter. There were others like ostriches that we just love but only see at the zoo. It was lovely! We were so jovial that when we ordered our hot chocolate, the young man preparing it decided we needed sprinkles because we appeared to love life so much. He is spot on. The sprinkles and the whipped cream just made it ever more special.
The attendant said to us to stay til it started getting just a little dark as the lights glimmer more. Great advice. We hope you enjoy our afternoon as we are so happy to share it with you!
The Blue Jay Tree!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah. Isn’t it beautiful? You must look closely for the little birds.
The Pheasant Tree was one of the most popular.
The tree dedicated to all owls, but in particular, the Barred Owl, which lives in Manitoba and is so threatened due to habitat destruction.
The owls were made out of natural materials. They were so fascinating.
The Peacock Tree.
Cardinals.
The Dove or Tree of Peace Tree.
Little birds popped up everywhere.
We have not seen Brock since Monday when the temperatures dipped to -15 C. Everything and anything that happen to an outdoor cat went through my mind. To our delight, he was waiting for us when we got home from The Leaf. He ate two large tins of wet food before taking a breath. Did he get locked in somewhere?
There is news coming in from Bird World.
Nox, Annie and Archie’s 4th hatch of the 2024 season died of pneumonia. Breaks our hearts. Nox was the love of everyone’s life! Soar high, little one.
In South Australia, Fran, Bazz, and Janet got quite the shock. A storm triggered the camera at Turnby Island to start working again. Well, and what they saw was a big healthy chick of Marrum and Partney.
That chick is big. Maybe another girl??. If all goes well, Ian Falkenberg will ring and put a satellite tracker on this fabulous osplet on the 14th of December. Partney and Marrum, congratulations.
In New Zealand, GLG shows off the Royal Cam egg – for a split second. Don’t look away. https://youtu.be/D7TcU0SP_8M?
At Port Lincoln, Mum brought in 1 fish with the fairies supplying 4 on Thursday. So far, everyone is waiting to see about fish on Friday!
It is 12:35, Mum, Wilko, and Kasse are still waiting for some fish.
Dad is catching fish from the barge just like Mum now at Port Lincoln. Wonderful. But the count was 1 for Mum and 4 for the fairy to the nest on Friday.
At the time of my writing there are no additional Bald Eagle eggs.
Life is more than challenging for the albatross, whatever the species.
Want to guess when the first egg of M15 and F23 will pip? Here is the information.
‘A’ loves Beau and sent a note: “You know of course what a huge fan of Beau I have been since he first came into Gabby’s life. I loved the way he was gentle with her and didn’t hassle her before she was ready and just generally seemed to want to comfort her and be her friend in that first season. Last year, the mating attempts were clumsy and unsuccessful but still she did not substitute Beau for a more virile partner.
This season they do seem to be fairly strongly bonded, and this video just made me smile.
It really did seem that she was a little shaken up by the GHO assault – certainly, that quiet whining she kept on with for some time afterwards suggested that she wasn’t happy – anthropomorphising, it definitely felt to me as though she was asking for reassurance. And Beau was such a sweetie, with some gentle beakies, and then putting that branch over her as if protecting her and camouflaging her from another GHO strike. She did seem reassured by his actions, which quietened her whimpering. It really was adorable, the way he appeared to try and care for her and make her feel safe.”
Fledgling at Osprey House Environment Centre in Australia is home and begging for fish!
Beautiful Rose. https://youtu.be/2kHZ4hzP-BY?
Handsome M15 takes a break to have a bath. It won’t be long until he is a Dad again! https://youtu.be/1DG-FdjIxAo?
The eagles at John Bunker Sands Wetlands are busy!
The Girls had a small squeezy treat to celebrate the anniversary of Hugo Yugo’s arrival in our home last year.
The other sisters seem to know that Hugo Yugo is not well. Baby Hope took time this evening to cuddle and wash her.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A’, Judy Harrington, Fran Solly, The Leaf, Cal Falcons, UC Berkeley News, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Cornell Bird Lab, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Hob Osterlund, Nancy Babineau, Lady Hawk, Osprey House Environment Centre, Heidi McGrue, SK Hideaways, Dixie Rottler and Bald Eagles 101, The Girls
Mary Ann, thank you for the beautiful pictures of the Christmas trees, so festive, and cool idea to center the theme on birds. Our library in town has Tree Fest every year, and participants choose a children’s book and base their theme on that book. The trees are judged the week before Christmas. I think folks prepared the whole year before to make the decorations for these trees. Such a wonderful way to get the community involved. Thanks for sharing the photos! ~~Reets
I do love the way the girls look after each other. My three as you know are sisters, and they snuggle up, use each other as pillows, wash each other’s faces and generally emotionally reassure each other. The youngest and smallest rules the household with an iron paw. Calico is a very solid girl, isn’t she? So is Hugo Yugo. But little Hope is still quite tiny. Such a sweetie.
Wonderful news on SE33. Let’s hope there is an opportunity for the parents to do some hunting training before our fledgling heads north. And you are right – he is living for his sibling. I hate to think of how poor SE34 suffered before being picked up. Surely, something can be done for these eaglets. I refuse to accept that this annual misery is inevitable.
On a happier note, it is SO rewarding to watch the lives of Ervie and Bradley – I hope this pair joins them in hanging around the Port Lincoln area. I suspect our female osplet may disperse much further, though – hopefully, with a better sense of direction than Zoe (aggressive AND an airhead – what a poor combination for survival that personality turned out to be). Forgive me for attributing human traits to an osprey. Hardly fair, I know.
Thank you Mary Ann for such a great newsletter and beautiful pictures!
The Leaf looks like a wonderful place to visit and the trees are gorgeous!
I love all the birds and the colors. Thanks for sharing them with us !
Thanks for all the links and so sad to hear about Nox. 🙏🥲.
Glad to know the release of SE33 went good and praying for a great life !❤️🙏. Looking forward to the eggs hatching soon and good luck for the ones who are starting to nest now. Rose is gorgeous! I’ve never seen an eagle do that way for such a long time and it is a special video indeed. Thanks to Heidi for sharing it! ❤️🦅
The kittens are so cute and I wish Hugo Yugo a speedy recovery 🙏❤️
Thanks Mary Ann and have a good afternoon and see you soon here !
Linda
Also Mary Ann I’m so thankful that the news coming from Ervie and Goliath is good and they are still
Around close. Thank you Fran!