1 April 2025
Hello Everyone!
I hope that your start to the week has been a good one! It was certainly nicer in Winnipeg on Monday. The sunshine, no wind, and a warmer temperature are really starting to make me think that spring is truly coming. There was a male House Finch at the feeder this morning with the normal garden characters.
I walked in and found these two on the sofa. When I see them together I choke up. Hope has the habit of not eating until Calico is finished. Even though I put down two separate dishes, she will wait. That appears to be something that Calico taught her when they were living rough under the deck of the house a few blocks away before Calico came in to live with us.
Star came to the feeder today. She looks like she is full of kittens. Oh, I hope they come here. The plan is to trap then, get them fixed so they can get out of the feral community, and get one of the cat rescues to help find homes for them. We posted images in all the local FB groups hoping to find out if either of these two belong to someone.
We had two new visitors today – a grey tabby and a solid grey. Are they lost? or were they dumped and hungry?
He is a beautiful British short hair. Not afraid. Ate two tins of food this morning. Just starving. Bless their hearts.
Brock has been visiting us for over three years now, and that’s a positive thing. However, he is looking pretty rough. I put dewormer in his food and always make sure he gets extra. We are turning the wood box into a heated home for him as he shows no sign of wanting to come into the house although he is more trustful.
Thank you SK Hideaways for giving us a memorial to Grinnell. I cannot tell you how overwhelming it was to remember Annie’s long time mate. It is hard to imagine that she is now gone, too. I don’t know about anyone else but I often check the Cal Falcons scrape and it makes me tear up seeing it empty.
Link to the memorial video: https://youtu.be/fNtZjd2npqw?
As you might have noticed, the 2025 Memorial Page is not yet published. I had hoped to have it done by the end of March but it seems that things take at least four times what they used to! It is coming! It is coming because they deserve to be remembered, but it needs to be done correctly.
Geemeff has done a montly summary of happenings at Loch Arkaig and is sharing it with us. When the ospreys return, she will start her daily posts with videos. Thank you, Geemeff!
March 2025: monthly summary for Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust:
Welcome to season nine for the Arkaig Ospreys! George WTS opened the forum earlier this month and friends old and new have been coming to say hello and join in with this lively community. We’re more than ready for the return of our Ospreys, the nests have had a visit from the intrepid maintenance crew and everything is prepared for their arrival. Both nests have had a few non-Osprey visitors this month, see video links below. We were spoilt last year when Louis and Dorcha both returned in March, but April is more usually when they arrive and with luck we’ll see them any day now. Fingers crossed for a successful season this year, but check out the warning in the bonus section. The weather has been changeable, mainly wet and windy, but with spells of glorious sunshine. Here’s a reminder of last season:
https://youtu.be/pgLrWvnETSY Woodland Trust official highlights
https://youtu.be/DO7XJOA6OEs My unofficial long highlights
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 20.48.44 (06.11.18); Nest Two 20.43.47 (06.17.29)
This month’s videos:
https://youtu.be/5eeCTuyXl-8 Nest Two A Sparrowhawk visits 8th (zoom)
https://youtu.be/upCLWUNKHJY Nest Two A pair of Crossbills visit 15th
https://youtu.be/TeGDyWSLlxA Nest One & Two Songbirds visit 22nd
https://youtu.be/UVyLxO-CFGc Nest One A Buzzard visits 25th (zoom)
https://youtu.be/uy_sYwKUSNs Nest One A Barn Owl visits 28th (zoom)
Bonus information on expectations around nest cam watching:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=2447912
Blast from the past, this day last year:
https://youtu.be/piR2Y9VrbEU N1 A Tawny Owl visits and a second calls in the distance 02.00.07 (zoom)
https://youtu.be/Ho7G2glHjwA N2 Louis brings fish but makes Dorcha wait! 06.35.18
https://youtu.be/ujpBEzlX8xo N2 Sticks come and go! However, Dorcha wants fish 07.49.05
https://youtu.be/1M_q7vylL3U N2 Louis brings a second fish, gives it to Dorcha immediately 08.27.40
https://youtu.be/6UHtfgM-UPY N1 Ravens do a flyby before landing 17.49
https://youtu.be/3Da1daASQio N2 Louis brings a third fish, teases Dorcha before handing it over 17.16.22
‘J’ sent us one of those learning moments and will make you smile and feel good. She says, “Wild ranch heart helpline explains people what to do with young birds they find. This is one reaction that came in:
‘AM’ sent me a beautiful image of a Japanese White-eye sipping nectar. I need spring and these beautiful images from Japan certainly bring me hope. What a beautiful bird and a gorgeous image! Thank you, ‘AM’.
It is relatively quiet in Ospreyland and this means that if they are coming, it will be lots of fish hawks arriving around the same dates.
Black Storks:
Latvia’s first Black Stork to arrive home was Kergu who seemed to immediately attract intruders! https://youtu.be/ZV5ffh5UcXw?
Ospreys:
At the Eschenbach nest of Herbert the Germany osprey, mates are changing. Joan Castanyer writes: “The days pass and the new female seems to have everything under control: Herbert treats her as his partner and Hermine seems to have lost the dispute over the nest to a younger, stronger and more characterful rival. Nature is like that and Hermine will have her way. There is no point in looking down on the new female. We will end up giving her a name and loving her like we do with all the other fisherwomen.”
At Goitzsche Wildnis, Joan Castanyer comments: “Zeus is very fast and mates with Fjona like there is no tomorrow. The images in the video are a good example: in the middle of the afternoon and in three minutes he mates, leaves and returns with material for the nest and mates again. He only needs to bring a fish to be the male marvel.”
This means that the females at the two German nests, Fjona and Hermine have been replaced.
University of Florida-Gainesville: I am copying and pasting the information on the website. Stella is incubating three eggs.
“March 17-19 2025: Stella has laid a third and fourth egg! So currently, there are three eggs total that are being incubated. The first egg was accidentally buried by Stellas with a plastic piece and we think it is no longer viable as she stopped incubating this first egg before the other three eggs were laid.
March 10 Update 2025: Stella has laid a second egg today!
March 10 2025: Hello Osprey fans. Unfortunately Stella accidently buried the egg with some material on March 8th and has abandoned incubation of the egg because she cannot see it. We are hopeful that she will lay another egg. Stay tuned! Any questions, email me at hostetm@ufl.edu.
March 7 2025 Hello Osprey fans! Well, Stella has laid her first egg today! Keep watching to see what happens … Send me an email (hostetm@ufl.edu) if you have questions or want to share what you saw on camera (can send me photos!).
Feb 19th, 2025 Hello Osprey fans! It looks like Stella has found another mate! If you recall, Talon disappeared during the middle of raising chicks last year and one chick named Talon Jr (after the missing father) was successfully raised by Stella. This new male has been bringing fish to her and courtship is underway. Keep watching to see what happens … Send me an email (hostetm@ufl.edu) if you have questions or want to share what you saw on camera (can send me photos!). I estimate that we probably will see the first egg sometime in the first part of March. But who knows? This is Nature after all!”
Bald Eagles:
NEFlorida: Bodie really is up on that branch!
Two Harbours: Chase and Cholyn lost their first clutch this year. They have been caught on camera on their old nest mating. They are 27 years old and Cholyn is the mother of Thunder from the West End who is currently missing.
Fraser Point: Andor and Cruz busy themselves with feeding their beautiful little bobbleheads.
Big Bear: Today, we will learn the names of Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets. Shadow brings in so much fish – 9, 10, 11 a day – no wonder these two are growing like weeds.
Just look at that crop!
John Bunker Sands Wetlands: What a great year this nest has had. Two eaglets getting along so well, thriving under the watchful eye of devoted parents and now they are ready to fledge. ‘MP’ sent us a great screen capture.
Duke Farms: Early Monday morning two prey came in and all three of the eaglets – Harpo, Meechi, and Jupi (from oldest to youngest) – ate well. There was some initial bonking til the second fish came to the nest. There was a dual feeding. All is well.
Others:
Golden Eagle Nest in Estonia: Kalju and Helju have only one egg to incubate this year which will cause it to be much easier to watch this nest. The first egg was crushed leaving the second to survive. The adults make frequent shift changes and it appears that part of the prey brought in on Monday was a Greylag Goose. Beautiful eagles.
The top image is from Looduskalender.
Latvian Golden Eagle: Nest of Spilve and Grislis. Spilve has laid her second egg on 30 March.
Image is from Looduskalender.
Here is some good summary information on siblicide in Golden Eagles. I want to point out that in places where food is abundant and the female feeds the chicks equally as we have seen in certain nests last year, the second eaglet survives. This was, of course, not the case with some nests so it is wise to be cautious when watching.
In golden eagles, siblicide, also known as “Cainism,” is a phenomenon where a stronger nestling kills its younger sibling, often due to competition for food or resources, and is estimated to claim about 80% of second hatchlings in some areas.
Siblicide, sometimes known as Cainism, is the killing of a sibling. It is typically the older and larger of the clutch. In many cases, when testing is done, that eaglet turns out to be a female.
We always ask ourselves why does this happen? Why do the parents not intervene? Well, as mentioned above, it does not always happen. About 20% (an estimate) of second hatch eaglets survive normally because of a nest in a rich area of prey. When siblicide does occur, it is because of competition for food which can be scarce, asynchronous hatching leaving one chick much older and larger, and of course, there is, in certain eagle species something called ‘obligate siblicide’ where the younger chick is almost always killed by the first which is then rewarded with food by the parents. This is typical of a Golden Eagle nest. The older and stronger normally makes intense physical attacks on the younger sibling. In one case, researchers counted 1500 beakings in an hour. The older chick may combine physical aggression with pushing the younger one away from food causing it to starve. Older siblings have also been known to push the other one out of the nest causing it to die.
So the Estonian nest will surely be safe because there is one egg. We might expect obligate siblicide to happen on Spilve’s nest.
Geemeff sends some news:
Utility company trying to help nesting Ospreys find suitable nests and prevent electrocution and / or power outages:
Moraine State Park turns on ‘osprey cam’ for 2025 season:
https://www.butlereagle.com/20250331/moraine-state-park-turns-on-osprey-cam-for-2025-season
Thank you for being with us today. There will be no news published on Wednesday. We are going to get to meet the Prime Minister of Canada today. See you on Thursday! Take care.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘AM, Geemeff, J, MP’, SK Hideaways, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Sandy Richard, AM, Joan Castanyer,UFlorida-Gainsville Wildlife Extension, IWS/Explore, John Bunker Sands, Duke Farms, Eagle Club of Estonia, NE Florida-AEF, Butlereagle.com, capeCod.com
