18 May 2026
Ah, good morning!
It is cold and rainy in the Canadian prairies. The leaves are trying to burst open. Not very many little birds out at the feeders today.
Oh, the most amazing news. Bonus, the black stork, foster/step-son of the famous Karl II was at the nest in Estonia on 1 May. Bonus hatched in 2022.
Bonus was brought by wildlife conservationists (led by Urmas Sellis of the Eagle Club Estonia) from another nest and placed into the Karula National Park nest to be raised by the resident adult black storks, Karl II and Kaia. Despite not being his biological offspring, Karl II raised and fed Bonus as his own
Karl II was the most amazing Black Stork dad. Karl II, the world-famous black stork from Estonia’s Karula National Park, was electrocuted in Turkey between the night of 1-2 October 2023. His tracking data showed he landed on an unshielded electric pylon to roost near the Yazıbelen solar power plant in the Konya province of central Turkey, where he tragically perished. We were all shaken. He had been flying with a flock southward including his mate.
URMAS (birdmap)
Karl II breeds successfully in season 2023. There grow up three chicks of four eggs.
Last is Karl II to leave for autumn migration. He doesn’t know that it will be his last one.
Between 1st and 2nd October Karl II lands on electric pylon for night, but got electrocuted.
Turkish colleagues searched and found dead body, took away the transmitter.
Remembering Karl II: https://youtu.be/8IPQrTg_FXU?
After more than 82 hours without fish, Myrtle, the female at Loch Garten RSPB, left her nest but it did not appear to me that she went fishing. There did not seem to be enough time. We wonder if she is even strong enough to catch a fish. She has been incubating the last two of five eggs. The first three were kicked out of the nest by KL5, who has not been seen for over 86 hours.
GH3 has died at the Glen-Hayes Bald Eagle nest in PA. The female is not looking well. I recall that when the two eaglets died in Estonia, those who retrieved the bodies of the babies spent much time cleaning the nest of any old prey including bones so as to try and remediate harm to the adults. Will this happen at Glen Hayes?
More on this story: https://sportsmansparadiseonline.com/2026/05/18/glen-hazel-eagle-nest-gh4-passes-gh3-ill/
If this is HPAI, the source and the cause is ‘human’. Does this not qualify then for intervention?
The individuals raising funds for MoonCamp, the area of land around Jackie and Shadow’s nest, have reached 3 million. School children are now taking part in parts of the Valley – wouldn’t it be wonderful as a way to learn how to protect nature if every elementary school took part in the fundraiser? Wonder how quick they could reach the 10 million?
Big Red and Arthur’s trio are doing well.
Iris is like Myrtle. She has not eaten in awhile. NG2 is not bringing fish and this could be because the river remains rapid.
According to the daily readout on X under Hellgate Osprey, NG2 gave Iris a break at 8:03am but she returned quickly.
I saw him return around 9:10 am and he pestered Iris to take a break and let him incubate but that time she wouldn’t budge, and used some colorful language towards him. She must know the fishing isn’t good yet, and no further visits the rest of today.
Beau was seen at the NE Florida nest yesterday. Gabby has already left on migration and will return in September.
Dewey Beach had a hatch. This is where that 50-day-old chick starved to death. Wish them only one and some fish!
Oh it’s cold here!
Thank you for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon.
Thank you to Looduskalender and Maria Marika for keeping us informed about Bonus, to ‘PB’ for adding in my conversation with them that Bonus was seen, to all those who post on FB, and to the owners of the streaming cams that allow us to watch these incredible birds. Please send your good thoughts to all nests. Some are struggling.
Human industry acts as the primary accelerator and evolutionary source of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Human systems act as the ultimate engine for the infection through specific, critical vectors:
The Factory Farm Engine: Mild, naturally occurring Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) exists harmlessly in wild waterbirds. However, when those mild wild strains interact with intensive human poultry operations—where thousands of genetically identical birds live in close quarters—it creates an ideal evolutionary breeding ground. The virus rapidly mutates in these facilities, escalating into the lethal, Highly Pathogenic (HPAI) form.
The Spill-Back Loop: Once the lethal strain is generated within human-managed agricultural systems, it “spills back” into the wild bird population through agricultural waste, runoff, or shared spaces. Wild birds then catch this human-amplified deadly strain, carry it across migration corridors, and die.
Eagle Exposure: Eagles are exposed to this hyper-lethal version of the virus exclusively because they scavenge the carcasses of those wild birds that were infected by the agricultural spill-back loop.
Human Mechanical Transmission: Humans act as rapid physical vectors. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) highlights that human movement—via contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, boots, and clothing—is a primary driver moving the virus between different geographic environments and wild bird habitats.
I couldn’t have said it any better than AI did, but while an eagle does not catch the flu from a coughing human, the entire modern HPAI crisis is fueled by human agricultural and ecological footprints.