9 April 2026
Hello Everyone,
I will just start with the sadness and move on to some gladness and some ‘bloody plain anger’. The third hatch at the Brevard County Osprey platform has died. Food was not always plentiful, the weather turned miserable, and the entire family was hungry. Thankfully, the wee babe did not suffer long.
There continues to be concern about food at that nest and the second hatch at Achieva needs more food, too. Thanks, ‘PB’ for being eyes and ears at these nests for me.
Brood reduction is a real thing by females experiencing hunger and understanding there is not enough food for everyone. Alan Poole wrote an article in 1982 on this subject. Here is the abstract:
In an effort to understand patterns and causes of nestling loss in Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), I studied brood reduction in three eastern U.S. Osprey colonies during 1978 and 1979. The colonies, located in Florida Bay (1) and on coastal Long Island, N.Y. (2), differed in the average daily amount of food delivered to nestlings; Florida nests received 43% and 11% less fish per day than nests in the two N.Y. colonies, largely because latitude and season restricted day length and thus foraging time for the winter-breeding Florida Ospreys. Increased distance from stable food sources accounted for the lower rate of feeding at one of the N.Y. colonies. Variation in clutch size in the three colonies reflected differences in latitude more than in food availability; average clutch sizes in Long Island were larger than Florida clutches by 0.5 of an egg, but were similar to each other and to those in other northeastern U.S. Osprey populations.Increased nestling loss coincided with reduced food delivery rates and, in food stressed colonies, this loss was 2-3 times greater than any recorded for Ospreys. Starvation was the primary cause of nestling death, with mortality concentrated on third chicks, which hatched on average 3.9 d later and from eggs 5.6% smaller than chicks hatching first. Sibling aggression accounted for the preferential feeding of older nestmates,but only in colonies or nests where food was limited. Aggressive chicks nearly always stopped fighting after being fed. This behavior provided a reversible mechanism for controling brood reduction that was based on nutrition. Growth rates of young measured during the first half of the growth period were more variable between colonies than within nests. This is interpreted as reflecting both the differences in colony food delivery rates as well as the evolutionary pressures of sibling competition to equalize the growth of nestmates.
Title of full article: Poole A. Brood reduction in temperate and sub-tropical ospreys. Oecologia. 1982 Apr;53(1):111-119. doi: 10.1007/BF00377144. PMID: 28310611.
I don’t know about you, but I need some cheering up. Winter feels like it is never going to end. We woke up to snow everywhere Wednesday morning and then rain. The sun did come out and the skies turned blue and it was brilliant. It seems that I am not the only person in the world that needs birds to feel the joy. Jackie and Shadow’s babies made The Guardian (along with at least fifty other news outlets). The author says, “Over Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.”
Hatchings of two California bald eagle chicks delight vast livestream audiencehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/06/bald-eagle-chicks-hatching-california-livestream?CMP=share_btn_url
Cumbria Wildlife Trust is ever so excited their breeding osprey pair has returned!
https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/news/dramatic-return-ospreys-foulshaw-moss
Keep dogs on leashes. Osprey attacked!
It just seems to continue on those big estates in the UK and, particularly, in Scotland. Why makes gamekeepers and other humans think that they can shoot or poison beautiful raptors that are protected? Sometimes I would like the penalty to match the deed! That is how sick I am of reading about these offenses.
From Geemeff:
Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Wednesday 8th April 2026
Another exciting day full of action and nest-swapping! Aurora 536 and Garry LV0 invaded Nest Two and Garry even attempted mating there, until a furious Dorcha swept in and chased them away, with the aerial battle visible on nest cam in the distance. Aurora was given two fish by Garry on Nest One, took the first and ate it, and rejected the second – along with Garry’s advances – until it had been on and off the nest a few times. They did however appear to have at least one successful mating attempt but many more are needed if we’re going to get chicks on Nest One this season. Another intruder female, not yesterday’s, tried to hang out with Garry until he chased her off, and the day ended with an endearingly clumsy juvenile Barn Owl putting in an appearance on Nest One. No Louis yet but there’s still time, and the weather is good.
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/HpfyjOiT3xA N2 Aerial battle as Dorcha ejects Aurora and Garry from her nest 10.47.23
https://youtu.be/4WHoq31W6gI N1 Aurora finally gets a fish from Garry 13.46.53
https://youtu.be/KtlqD3h_Af8 N1 Unringed female intruder Osprey is chased away 14.04.51
https://youtu.be/-LYzzfoiwWI N1 Garry brings a second fish but Aurora’s not interested 15.40.10
https://youtu.be/8tkUV6gqrTk N1 Clumsy and cute little juvenile Barn Owl visits 21.14.15
Bonus read: All about Loch Arkaig, and the Mile Dorcha that gave our Dorcha her name:
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/speanbridge/locharkaig/index.html
Blast from the past, 8th April in previous years:
https://youtu.be/YADMDipmet0 N1 Aila gets the brush-off 2020
https://youtu.be/9DmoNXRo4u4 N1 Louis nearly pulls Aila off the nest 2020
https://youtu.be/MOwOw_Okoq4 N2 Magic rainbow diamonds 2022 (Artistic Ospreys)
https://youtu.be/uBJT3Gullpc N2 Louis’ one and only visit – Dorcha’s not home yet 2023
https://youtu.be/rWdpjJV1mFg N2 Louis chases an intruder 2024 (zoom)
https://youtu.be/cU7dI1sudXs N2 Louis pole vaults onto the nest 2024
https://youtu.be/in2K_CSR5Mg N2 Intruder Osprey overflies Dorcha on the nest 2024
https://youtu.be/cULExhyJn2s N1 Welcome back! Affric 152 & Prince arrive (zoom) 2025
https://youtu.be/I6GhPq9RQEo N1 After a hasty departure, Affric & Prince return to the nest 2025
https://youtu.be/cSkecFnZ3i8 N2 Louis swoops in with a whopper trout 2025
Why not come and join the lively community at Woodland Trust’s Osprey forum, it’s friendly, free and everyone’s welcome:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
Nests are not settled. Mispillion Harbour is one of those and resident female, Della, is fighting or her nest with her life on the line. Aran appears to have abandoned Glaslyn and is over near a grove of trees so that one of the monitors can keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t have a mate, like he did last year, it will be a shame. His last chick with Mrs G has been seen in the area and his first two chicks with Elen are also in the area. Good DNA there! Elen you are missing out. Elen has also not been seen at the nest since last Sunday (I believe that to be correct) with Teifi arriving to make matters worse if Elen and Aran did show up together.
Louis has not returned to Loch Arkaig but his favourite date to return is 11 April so I am holding on to hope.
Dyfi wants you to join the fun and guess the first egg!
Some more Nestflix – the birds are so much more interesting than what is on the streaming cams!!!!!! Seriously.
And more…
Heidi is watching so many nests this breeding season and sadly some of them are in areas where getting fish to the nest is a challenge. ‘PB’ has been watching the Florida nests and we have some serious issues at Brevard County. The weather is not letting up and Dad cannot fish with those waves. Mum is really hungry and the two surviving of three babies are starving. Mum fed them their dead sibling this morning.
Heidi reports we have egg 2 at Moraine Beach.
Ospreys are now on the Barnegat Light platform – the camera is up and running. I am not entirely certain on the identity of these birds.
Lola has returned to Charlo Montana.
And, of course, we still have Bald Eagles. Dearest little Peanut keeps getting ravaged by that bloody owl at the Winter Park nest.
I do support them and their campaign and this is not a commercial site so I hope I don’t get into too much trouble by putting up images of Jackie and Shadow and their babies. This nest brings nearly 40,000 viewers at the moment great joy. That is what nature does for us – not the news! I know that many are without jobs, have been recently laid off, are living on a fixed low income, and cannot support the Moon Camp campaign. But, you can do other things. Why not send -emails to various businesses to try and get them to sponsor the saving of Moon Camp? Put out water for your local birds. They really need it more than food. Think about what you can do without spending a cent!
Mum and Baby at Duke Farms are doing very well.
There are now three eaglets at the Fort St Vrain Bald Eagle nest.
The Ventana Wildlife Society cares for the California Condors. You should care about this amazing bird that cleans up our environment and protects us. Watch – find out how many still exist in the wild, what is happening this breeding season, and how people are helping. https://www.youtube.com/live/th4-OBjWAxw?
It is going to be a very difficult year for many nests. Seas and waterways, as well as our planet, are warming, and this has enormous implications for our wildlife (and us).
The Guardian has the article:
Non-survivable’: heatwaves are already breaching human limits, with worse to come, study finds, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/08/extreme-weather-heatwaves-breaching-human-survival-limits-study-finds?CMP=share_btn_url
This really is a wake-up call for all of us. Please take care of yourself. Send our nests good positive wishes. If you have a wand that can drop fish on nests – please send some to Achieva and Brevard.
See you soon!
Thank you to ‘PB, Heidi, and Geemeff’, to those who create videos and post information on FB, to The Guardian that continues to monitor the environmental news and post it for us to educate ourselves, and to the owners of the streaming cams that allow us to see these remarkable families – thank you. Thank you to the authors of very informative articles including Alan Poole.
