7 December 2025
Good Morning Everyone!
I want to start off today with something that might have waited til Monday’s newsletter but it is too good not to share today!
Thanks, Geemeff for sending us this inspiring story.
A lucky escape for this long-distance traveller! Russian Osprey saved from Kenyan fishing net:
My goodness it is cold!
We woke up to -22 C Saturday morning. Just seeing those numbers on the phone screen and feeling the cold of the conservatory floor on the soles of my bundled-up feet reminded me how much I dislike getting up on a winter’s morning. While ‘The Girls’ have their boxes, dear Toby had to head outside for his ‘business’. Poor thing. We also had to get ready to get Toby to his last grooming session of the year. My goodness. We are 24 days away from 2026. Can you believe it?
There is a forecast, our first for a cold warning (ECCC) with windchills from -35 to -40 C. This is for Saturday night and into Sunday. Extreme Cold.
Thank you so much for your letters and your comments. Today I finally got around to answering comments, some from near Thanksgiving. I do appreciate them even if I can’t sit down and respond as quickly as I did several years ago. It reminds me that there are wonderful people out there who love our wildlife and will do anything they can to help. It makes my heart (and feet) warm.
‘MP’ sent us a link to a new Bald Eagle nest in Texas with the following note:
“Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwqE5u3HXDs
Eagle nest live Texas. It’s in Bay City, TX in Matagorda county on the coast in South Texas. There are already two eggs in the nest. They are going to be naming the adults and then the chicks after they hatch. I don’t know how long the nest has been there, but it’s on a private ranch near the Colorado River in Texas. It has a chat too. The stream opened this year on 12/2/25.”
When I checked the live stream was not available. Please check on and off as they could be having Internet issues!
If you want to help all of our wildlife, then it is time to take on the issue of lead. Every year at this time, countless raptors are admitted to rehabilitation clinics in dire condition due to lead.
Lead builds up in the bodies of raptors and other carrion eaters, such as condors and vultures, by ingesting fragments of lead ammunition from animal carcasses or gut piles left in the field by hunters. They also consume lead from lost fishing weights and sinkers in aquatic environments. Our birds do not have the luxury of ordering food. They are opportunistic. They are scavengers and eat carrion, especially in winter when live prey is scarce. When they consume meat containing tiny lead fragments (often the size of a grain of rice or smaller), the lead enters their digestive system. The stomach acid quickly breaks down this lead which is absorbed in their blood stream. Their bodies do not get rid of it. It accumulates in their liver, kidneys, brains – the soft tissues of their body – and over time it will even be absorbed into their bones. Even small amounts of lead can cause severe illness or death.
The easiest solution is for anyone currently using lead equipment – either in sports or in the military – to switch to a non-lead alternative. They cost a little more but, in the end, isn’t it worth it? If humans cannot voluntarily do what is good for wildlife and the environment, then lead ammunition and lead equipment should be banned from manufacture.
Please tell anyone that you know that hunts or fishes how they can help and what happens if they don’t stop using lead!
For those who love the Decorah Hatchery Eagles, you might recall that the wonderful female, known as Hatchery Mum or HM, also died of lead toxicity.
The Kistachie National Forest nests have had a lot of drama over the past several years. It seems we are starting off this season with more!
.Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We will see you again tomorrow!
Thank you to ‘MP’ for writing in about the new Texas eagle nest! And thank you to Geemeff for that great story as well as the authors of articles and posts included today. My blog would never be the same without your input.
Thanks Mary Ann for these updates and the link for the Texas nest. I just finally got it and one beautiful eagle was on the nest and it is very windy there. The kittens look so cute ! Thanks for sharing them all. See you tomorrow on here and have a good evening!
Linda
Thanks for the laugh Linda. I was reading, and then I’m like there are kittens in this eagle’s nest? I scrolled back and discovered who you were talking about.
I have been following the California Condor (Ventana Wildlife), and this has been a big problem for the condors. Here they are scavenging for dead animals and thereby cleansing the environment only to be poisoned by a carcass shot with lead ammunition and left by a hunter. Ventana Wildife has a program where you can turn in lead ammunition for nonlead ammunition. I vaguely remember the kerfuffle about lead plumbing when I was growing up followed by lead in paint. Why are they still using lead in ammunition? Makes me wonder what happens if a human is shot and it is too dangerous to remove the ammunition. I’ve never heard anything about that.