What a day it was in the garden. A former student -now great friend- is moving and came to spend the afternoon with us. The Crows certainly put on a show, but, at first, we didn’t know what was happening! Then we saw him swoop through and land on the large bird feeder after having spent time on the fence – a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. He had everyone being cautious including ‘The Boyfriend’. Crows and Jays were alerting loudly. Dyson was flat as a pancake!
According to my neighbour, this hawk comes every day around 1800. Isn’t it lovely?
I hope you enjoyed Geemeff’s story of their adventures at Poole Harbour and the Birds of Poole Harbour tour. How exciting! It is on my bucket list for next year.
On Thursday, the New York Times published an article on changes at the Grand Teton National Park (and other parts of the US). All of this will impact our raptors from dying forests to no water, meaning no fish and fewer and fewer small mammals for the birds to eat. I am becoming more and more concerned as weather-related events are driving the starvation of our ospreys and eaglets.
At Hellgate Canyon, Finnegan feeds his second chick, Antali, at the nest. What a whopper it was, even with the amount that Finnegan took for himself on the owl pole. What a glorious year this has been. Finnegan really gave us a different outcome than we had come to expect when Iris returned from migration. I bet she was blown off her talons, too!!!!!!!
Antali knew Dad had a whopper and really wanted him to hurry up!
Late evening fish delivery to Antali who flies off the perch to get his meal.
Two fish at the Charlo nest at the same time -. Nice.
Will Gwenlais break the record for a fledgling staying on the nest before migration?
Some news about Giliath (Bradley’s brother from the 2023 Port Lincoln nest)!
There is also good news about the sea eaglet! It is still with us and appears healthy. Fantastic news.
And there are the markings for the second egg at the Port Lincoln osprey barge. Lovely.
Congratulations to those who work so hard and care so deeply for the ospreys in South Australia!
Last year, donations helped with platforms and the purchase of fish for the fish fairies—just look at Bradley and Giliath and smile. Those fairies saved their lives. Membership is only $20, which has big dividends for the ospreys. It doesn’t go to administration fees!!!!!!
The new couple at 367 Collins Street are adorable.
Some videos of the birding tour at Poole Harbour from Geemeff:
Peregrine chases Black-Tailed Godwits seen from Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise 28 Aug 2024: https://youtu.be/fa-q7SiBiys
Osprey in 40x super slo-mo seen from Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise 28 Aug 2024:
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 29th August 2024
Tonight’s summary is fast becoming the norm – nothing to report except rain, wind, and no avian activity. Forum friends are drifting off and promising to return in spring, and season highlights videos are nearing completion. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season, but one chick did fledge successfully in Spain, and we hope for another update on his progress soon.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.21.06 (05.34.42); Nest Two 21.10.24 (05.35.23)
Today’s videos: none!
Bonus update on the Irish Osprey translocation programme:
Fledglings fighting for fish in Omaha. Still at home.
Both juveniles at the Osoyoos Osprey platform. Nice crop on one. It looked like a couple of small fish delivered on Thursday.
At Minnesota Landscape, an adult visitor has been coming on and off to the nest on Thursday and was also seen there on Wednesday. No sign of the juvenile or Dad. The visitor has no federal band (Dad does).
Ospreys coming and going at Field Farm. Decidedly hard to identify.
It is almost time to say goodbye to the Royal Cam chick who will spend from 5-6 years on the water looking for food before ever setting their webbed feet on land again! Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
Beautiful sea eaglets. Both had a crop after the morning breakfast.
‘A’ remarks: “Little SE34 had to wait until nearly 01:28 for breakfast, although SE33 ate a little a lot earlier. At the second feeding, SE33 ate first, then turned away, full. SE34 got fed from about 13:28 until SE33 rejoined the feeding about 13:38. There was am incident of bonking before SE33 turned away but SE34 didn’t stay down for long. He was shuffling closer and closer to mum during her feeding of SE33 and for the first time, he was brave and determined about getting himself fed. I was overjoyed to see this, because it has, as you know, been seriously worrying me that his drive to live does not seem strong enough. But today, it was. He was hungry and he was brave. When his sister rejoined the feeding and Lady turned back to feed SE33, SE34 leaned in and stole the bite from in front of his sister’s nose. It was very reassuring to watch.
I am hoping that this will represent something of a turning point for this nest. Once the attitude changes, the behaviour normally follows. So perhaps SE34 is going to be a bit more proactive about his own existence, which would be a huge relief.
The two are looking adorable. Their head shape and faces are so different from one another. Little SE34 is the prettier of the two, with more delicate features and cranial bone structure. “
This week’s migration statistics from Hawk Mountain, PA, USA:
Handsome Beau waits for Gabby to return. Her return dates have been 1 September, 8 September, and several times on the 12th. I am hoping for the 1st!
One of our Big Bear eagles with a large crop!
‘J’ notes the following eagles present in the last few days at their nest: At Duke Farms both of the adults were seen on the nest. Boone and Jolene were at Johnson City while Scott and Bella were at the NCTC nest. Beau returned to NEFL and we await the arrival of Gabby. Both adults at Trempealeau with two adults at Kistachie nest E-1.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, summaries, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, J’, The New York Times, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Jeff Kear and the Dyfi Osprey Project, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Fran Solly and Friends of Ospreys Sth Aus, 367 Collins Street Falcons, The Guardian, Geemeff, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, SK Hideaways, Pam Breci, Field Farm, Androcat, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, NZ DOC, Olympic Park Eagles, Hawk Mountain, NEFL-AEF, FOBBV,
Be sure to read all the way down. There is some terrific news waiting for you today.
Oh, Friday started out with a trip to the wildlife rehabilitation centre for this little fellow. The baby is one of the Blue Jays with a nest in a tree across the lane. He was in the garden trying to eat a cheesy dog. He appears to have a problem with one eye, and his tail seems to have some issues as it was turned to the side, not straight. He could not fly. The rehabilitation centre said they would happily take him into care as they agreed on both issues after seeing a photograph. Send him good wishes!
It is not clear what caused the issues/injuries or how he will do but it was unsafe for him to be hopping around on the ground with the feral cats and the hawk about.
Next was a visit to check on the American White Pelicans at Lockport. There were a few there along with about forty Double-crested Cormorants on the other side of the dam. (Taken with iPhone at a great distance so not the best!)
Since it is now the 10th of August, the Pelicans will be making their move to go south in about a month or five weeks.
Bird World is fairly quiet. It is a good thing. As the weeks went by ‘H’ and I got wearier and wearier and at times just couldn’t wait for osprey season to end.
I was very grateful for a comment by ‘DV’ on my blog post on FB. They write: “Discussing the rescue of the chick of Saaksilive #4 nest on the chat of #1 nest, I thanked them for responding so quickly, and was told, “It’s in the law in Finland, you need to help an animal who can’t keep up or is struggling”. In view of the procrastination of the ‘permission authority’ in the Colonial Beach rescue, maybe we should do something about such a law, here. No wonder Finland is rated the ‘happiest’ country in the world….they seem to be the most sensible, as well.”
What do you think about trying to get the laws changed for immediate intervention like they do in Finland in Cobey’s name? I am certainly willing to lend a hand to try and get the archaic Bird Migration laws changed in North America – and attitudes around the world. Thank you ‘DV’.
The person who might be able to help is:
Mr. Jerome Ford, Assistant Director, Migratory Birds Program, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240. Via Email: jerome_ford@fws.gov
Paraphrased from a letter regarding the Dale Hollow Nest to Ford in 2023: Citing article 50.CFR.22.76-22.80 of the Migratory Bird Act, a “take” anticipates a rehabilitation permit will authorize the rescue, or take, and further expects the temporary possession of and/or transportation of an eagle and/or eaglet to an authorized and permitted rehabilitation facility. The guidance from USFWS advises take permits will not be issued to address “interference with the natural course of events at the eagle nest”, however, a take would be authorized if such a take “is necessary to protect an interest in a particular locality. The Dale Hollow situation had to do with harm done to the eaglet through manmade materials – fishing line. In the instance of Colonial Bay and other nests in the region, I believe it can be argued that the lack of restrictions on the taking of Menhaden hgas caused the ospreys to starve to death. That coupled with an extreme heat situation – also caused by human activity – should be grounds for an emergency ‘take’ in the instance of starvation, etc. Something can be argued. Evidence can be gathered.
That adorable Dorsett Hobby is about to fledge. What a darling.
Nox (Annie and Archie’s 4th hatch that got himself into a bit of mischief has some company).
Tuesday was a special day for our Heidi (aka ‘H’) as she got to Mispillion Harbour. She runs the Mispillion Harbour Osprey Nest FB group and reports on Warren and Della whose platform is at the DuPont Centre.
Richmond and Rosie’s two chicks have now fledged. Pax on July 24th and Tulley on 7 August.
The late Toni Costello and I used to banter back and forth about which were the most beautiful juveniles of the raptors. Her pick was always the White-bellied Sea Eagles. They sure are cute as little bobbleheads, too.
Antali isn’t a little fuzz ball any longer and is getting those wings working towards fledging. Iris is such a proud Mamma.
Antali is one handsome boy with that pure white chest just like Finnegans’.
Iris just looks so proud.
The Dyfi Osprey Project posted a video of Idris delivering a fish and all of the chaos ensuing when the fledglings each want it! It was on the Dyfi Osprey Project FB page. Here are a few screen captures. There is no love lost when it comes to a much wanted fish and fledgling siblings. Reminds me of Ervie, Bazza, and Falkey.
In New Zealand, the Royal Cam chicks were ringed.
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust.
Daily summary Friday 9th August 2024
Same as yesterday – except it was some Great Tits and Coal Tits taking advantage of the absence of Ospreys and spending time on Nest One. Nest Two had zero activity again. However, we did get some news and a photo of 1JW in Valencia – he’s doing well and enjoying exploring the Pego Oliva marshland, link below. The rain and wind continued as forecast today, with thundery showers expected overnight changing to light rain showers tomorrow. Both nest cams went down shortly before 21.00 and are still down now (23.45).
Season highlights for the Lodze Bociany Black Storks in Poland.
The trio at Blackbush at Old Tracadie wishing and hoping for fish.
At Charlo, Montana, C16 is really working its wings. Fledge is near. The chick ate all the fish Charlie brought in but lost the tail over the edge – and didn’t share a morsel with Mum Lola.
Two beautiful well-fed osplets at the Newfoundland Power platform in Snow Lane. Mum Hope and Beaumont have done a commendable job this season!
If your pet is treated for fleas and then gets to have a swim in a pond, a river, a stream, or a lake, the toxins in the treatment are killing wildlife.
The Storks are on the move, both Black and White -. This Polish stork is already in Egypt.
I promised to include some of the memories that were forgotten with the first listing. Have some more smiles!
‘B’: “hi Mary Ann — Thanks for compiling the wonderful list of birds and nests and events that made us all smile. There are so many things that have touched the followers of your blog and these nests, and we all clearly share many of the same happy experiences. If there is one that I kick myself for not remembering it is the SW Florida nest of M15 and his new mate F23 and their eaglet E23. It was so nice to see life go on for M15 with a wonderful new mate and the lively and joy-inspiring E23. I apologize to M15 for totally forgetting them when my eagle attention moved on to the midwest and western eagles — it’s inexcusable!
SE31 also definitely makes my list, and I even thought of him, but it was so long ago that I thought the fledge and remaining in the area must have all been before the first of this year.. It brought so much joy to see one of Lady and Dad’s sea eagles be able to stay in the area and remain with parents for a very reasonable amount of time. I still am sad (and mad) about the chick of several years ago who was euthanized after she had worked so hard to fledge in spite of their injured leg. I forget the number — SE26 or 25?
And I agree with “L” that pictures and stories of your “girls” — Missey, Hope, Calico, and Hugo Yugo — and your garden visitors always bring a smile.”
‘R’: “Thank you for all the memories today. Sorry I did not get my email to you sooner, my fav was Flaco 🦉🥲❤️ and of course, Iris’s prayers being answered by Finn 💕💞”
‘J’ : “Just read the newsletter and it made me smile, laugh out loud and cry. What a wonderful (can’t think of the correct word, “habit”) to do an “what made you smile” to end the season.
I thought of two more moments that really made me laugh.
M15, F23 and E23 all down by the pond. E23 flew away, both parents followed him with their heads, then, at the same time, lowered their heads and looked at each other. Precious!
Made me think of when Harriet and M15 were perched next to each other, Harriet looking at E15 from behind M15, and someone captioned it “honey, what are we going to do about our kid?” (that didn’t want to leave).
The other moment was Archie feeding his chick, trying to be all stealthy and then scampering out of there before Annie could have a go at him.
I have more great moments to share:
On the way back from the pond I watched a beautiful (as opposed to mangy and thin, which often is the case in the city) fox.
Unfortunately when I had no camera with me, all four swallow chicks were on the nest, next to each other and all four looking out. So my view were 4 little faces in a row. MELT!
Yesterday just before I left the cemetery, on the bench were I usually take off/pull on my shoes, was a squirrel eating a eh, what’s the word, pine cone? He made rapid work of it. Beautiful bushy tail, he was very small, so I think it was a baby.
I went to a hardware store that also sells garden stuff, and it always makes me smile that birds are flying about inside. But this time I laughed out loud, to see a pigeon stand in front of a sack with bird feed. I have no doubt that he’d managed to open it.”
‘V’: “OMG. I forgot M15 and his new lady! How could that happen?”
A miracle? Is it possible that these are the two osplets from Cowlitz PUD? Thanks, ‘PB’.
No words from ‘H’ this morning. We all remember last year and the intruders at Fortis-Exshaw with Jasper and Banff.
The intruder is now on the perch.
And at Osoyoos!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to everyone who sent a comment, a note, to others for their posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘AM, AMW, B, Geemeff, J, H, PR, RP, V’, SK Hideaways, California Raptor Centre, Heidi McGrue, SF Osprey Golden Gate Audubon, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, Dyfi Osprey Project, Sharon Dunne, Lady Hawk, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Polish Osprey Cam Highlights, Blackbush at Old Tracerie, Charlo Montana, Newfoundland Power, The Guardian, SOS Tesla-Save the White Storks, Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue, Fortis Exshaw, and Osoyoos Ospreys.
Don’t forget to send me a note or a long list with your favourite moments of the 2023-24 season (every bird counts, no matter the species). I will publish these on Wednesday, August 8th. We need to have some smiles and I just know that there are some surprises lurking out there that have not been mentioned! You can put the list in the comments or send me an email: maryannsteggles@icloud.com Make sure I get this before midnight CDT on Tuesday August 7. Thank you so much!
Another hot day. 32 C. The bird baths needed filling continually. The Crows and Jays kept quiet during the high heat of the afternoon and are just coming into the garden. Dyson should be joining them soon!
We are nearing the time when every osplet should be fledgling. They will then have time to gain their muscle strength and get lots of practice. Some very precious osplets might even catch their fish before they leave on migration, but most will depend on their parents and, in particular, Dad as Mum will be departing well before anyone else. The females lose from 10-15% (some even have been found to lose up to 30%) of their body weight, and it takes them extra time to build up for their long journeys.
The University of Toronto reminds us of the simple facts, “There are two distinct populations of osprey with respect to lifestyle, the Residents and the Migrants. Residents are the ones, which breed in the subtropical latitudes in winter; they either stay in the same area all year round or move only locally during the non-breeding season. The other ones are the Migrants, which nest in the temperate latitudes and fly off each autumn to spend the winter in the tropical regions. North American ospreys start migrating south to their wintering grounds in Central America and in the northern parts of South America, around mid-August. By early September, most nesting colonies in the northern latitudes are empty. The numbers of migrating ospreys observed at selected watch points along their southward route are at their greatest during mid-September and early October. They reach their wintering grounds by late November. During winter, the only thing an osprey does is to eat, rest, recover from the stress of the previous breeding season and prepare for the next breeding season. It has been observed that during winter, they become more tolerant of each other as they congregate in loose flocks and are even known to hunt together in small groups, a few birds hovering over water, looking for fish might also stimulate others to join in the frenzy. Adult ospreys start leaving their wintering grounds in early March, by late March, more than half of the wintering ospreys have left the wintering areas, for their natal nesting grounds. Yearling ospreys stay on their wintering grounds for another eighteen months, returning to their natal nesting grounds at the age of about two years. Two-year-old ospreys however, leave the wintering grounds much later than the adults, and may reach their natal nesting grounds as late as June, by then; they are already too late to breed. However, pre-adult ospreys may become a nuisance to the breeders, because they try to take over nest sites and may interfere with the breeding pairs, as they explore and search for nesting sites of their own. They are also sometimes known to replace a partner in a breeding pair if it dies or is incapable of performing its duties. Ospreys arrive back at their natal nesting grounds by early May.”
If you are looking for interesting books on Osprey migration, here are my top two.
Soaring with Fidel by David Gessner is not your typical academic book and that is why it is my favourite choice for anyone wanting to understand the migration of ospreys and, in particular, those on the NE coast of the US. Gessner follows Fidel down the coast, to Cuba, and into South America. I promise you that you will want to travel to the mountains near Manzanillo, Cuba to see the hundreds if not thousands of ospreys that fly over heading south. It is the top of my bucket list. And I will get there!
The second choice is more for older chidren but Heidi expressly told me that it is not just for children, adults can enjoy it, too, and I agree. Belle’s Journey. An Osprey Takes Flight will touch your heart. It is the true story of a GPS tracked osprey. Rob Bierregaard takes us from Belle’s fledge, to her first successful fish catch, through a tumultous trip down the coast of the US to South America.
Which leads us into these amazing birds that are hopping, jumping, and hovering and will soon spread those wings with confidence and fly for the first time.
Oldest chick fledges from Saaksilvie nest #1 while the remaining chick gets some high hovers!
I haven’t reminded anyone about the benefits to birds of shade grown coffee for awhile. It is time to do that as we examine, on occasion, agricultural practices that can benefit not only humans but wildlife. The Snithsonian certifies ‘bird friendly’ coffee. They even sell it. In Canada, it is Birds and Beans. Yes, it is more expensive than brands where the tree canopy has been clear cut but, compared to other high quality small roasters in Canada, it is only about $3 more per 454 grams (one pound). It is discounted if you get a subscription. And no, I don’t get a commission! But I do support every effort to rewild and to make our planet more inhabitable for all living creatures so I cut back on the amount of coffee that I drink so I can purchase the bird friendly brand.
Ventana Wildlife is not all about Condors. They are a Species Recovery Programme. This is a recent video about the success of the restoration of the Bald Eagles in Central California. It is beautiful and short, 1:27 minutes.
Some news about Blue and a lot of flapping at Boundary Bay.
Food deliveries for Blue:
‘CG’ sends her report on Blue’s Day: Mere. Ha, ha. I’ll bet she was the twitterer I kept hearing yesterday. Blue knew she was there and was squeeing at her. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before.
Blue greeting the day from her favorite spot. Wonder what she thinks of the fog.
I thought she had a pretty good day. She was very active all day long and did quite a bit of squeeing. I wondered if a parent was around but didn’t hear any adult twittering until later in the day. She spent the morning wingercising, hopping, and dancing across the nest. It was so cute that they put together a video.
Great Flapping From Blue on YouTube with a message from Hancock Wildlife regarding concern about Blue.
There was a food delivery of fish around 1000 hours. Blue pounced on it, and there was a struggle to release it from Mere’s talons. I’d called it a medium sized piece, and it was all gone by 1018 hours.
,During the afternoon, she spent time moving around the nest, looking out, preening, wing stretching, and more dancing, skipping, and flapping across the nest. She lay down a few times today but not for long except when she lay down in her favorite spot in the late afternoon. I think she was dozing.
There was another food delivery at around 1830 hours, and she accomplished a good clean snatch. It was a large piece. It looked like moist fresh meat, a little more work than fish, but she did a good job of holding it down and pulling pieces off and all the time was squeeing while eating. After dinner, she stood for a while, and after squeeing, she was answered by a lot of twittering. Someone asked about Pere. He is still around. In fact, it looked like he delivered the last meal. When chicks become “exuberant” trying to grab food when delivered, dads tend to retreat. All chicks are bigger than dad, especially the females. Poor Akecheta delivering food to his 3 eaglets at the West End Territory ended up on his back in the melee.
At 2200 hours, Blue was up and started doing a lot of preening. I had seen a lot of moths on previous nights, but tonight, as well as the moths, there were lots of tiny flying insects. Had to be annoying.
I checked in at 2244 hours, and she was asleep lying down with her head to one side. She looked so adorable. Funny, the flying insects and moths were gone.
WEATHER: Thursday, 8/1, at 1715 hours, it is 82F, mostly sunny, wind 8 mph, humidity 63%, feels like 90F, low tonight 61F.
Friday, 8/2 through Monday, 8/5: Highs ranging from 79F to 82F with lows ranging from 50F to 62F.”
If you missed it, Finnegan and Iris’s chicks were named. This article includes the overwhelming numbers of people who voted and how many chose the winning names.
Iris, Sum-eh and Antali see Finnegan coming in with a fish!
This nest just makes me smile. Thank you and good night Iris, Finnegan (wherever you are), Sum-eh, and Antali.
‘RP’ found this on X. So cute.
When fish deliveries come, everyone wants in on the action and some of that nice dinner! Fledglings who have been civil to one another on the nest take on a new energized stance as they prepare to live independently in the world.
Dyfi Osprey Nest.
It is precisely the same at every nest.
Glaslyn.
The baby, 5H6, claims the fish at Poole Harbour!
Later, other siblings want some fish, too.
At McEuen Park, the fledgling is enjoying a fish dinner all by itself.
It feels like things are finally settling down in the nests. The last of the osplets will be fledging and then they will need to eat and fatten up a bit – so will Mum and Dad – before they begin their migrations (if they migrate, some don’t). What a year it has been.
Annie and Archie are finally getting some quiet time after successfully fledging four! Dear Nox, the fourth hatch that landed in the water at the marina is improving. Great news. If I had a list for cutie pies this year I bet Nox and Smallie would tie. Interesting that they are both Peregrine Falcons!!!!!
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 1st August 2024 Not much action today but after a quick pop in on Nest One from a pair of Warblers, we did have the pleasure of seeing an Osprey – Garry LV0 arrived and spent a few quiet minutes looking around and preening before flying off again. Chaddie 14 gave us the exciting news that the chick at Bunarkaig has fledged, this chick is thought to be the offspring of Affric 152 & Prince. Link to his update: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15536809. WTS George says we would really appreciate people signing our Living Legends petition to protect our ancient trees: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15532685. The weather was settled today, but tonight’s light cloud and light winds will change into heavy rain tomorrow. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.32.55 (04.30.46); Nest Two 22.32.34 (04.38.42) Today’s videos: https://youtu.be/9LKihnfJAjo N1 A pair of Warblers visit 10.31.12https://youtu.be/QTRqeePpg8I N1 Garry LV0 arrives, stays a while, and preens 13.07.21
Bonus watch – Soar with a Golden Eagle as it flies over Scotland wearing a go-pro eagle cam:https://youtu.be/JDmgtkaKx6c
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Royal Cam Chick is loosing all his baby down and transforming into a beautiful albatross that will be fledging in another 5-6 weeks. Isn’t he lovely?
Everyone is still home at Blackbush.
Morning rained stopped. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum chick is certainly ready to begin some great hovering and flapping. My goodness, I hope some fairies bring some soft material to this nest next year to help the ospreys get a head start.
Fledgling at McEuen Park waiting for Mum to bring some fish! This is actually a bit of a miracle, too. It is hard enough for a single parent to take care of chicks in a perfect world. Then imagine a single parent with four chicks, intense heat, and babies not able to thermoregulate. I think we are lucky that we had one survive on this nest in Idaho this year.
My goodness. The two chicks at the Latvian osprey nest in Kurzeme seem to have grown even more overnight! Look at the wing spread and look at that healthy ‘ps’. Another miracle nest and congratulations to Singa and Svings. The chicks were ringed on the 30th of July. The oldest is Red 59T, a female weighing a whopping 1750 grams. The second is Red 59V, a male weighing 1400 grams. The third egg DNH.
It’s very windy there.
Dorsett Hobby scares everyone by climbing to the rim of the nest. Is chick hungry?
Chatters have expressed some concern over what appears to be a wing problem with the chick on nest #1 in Finland.
Many of you will know that the largest wildfire in California history is burning and could be a threat to many nests. Here is an update on Liberty and Guardian.
Russian Imperial Eagle fledglings waiting at the nest for prey deliveries.
‘A’ sends the latest posts from Australia if you have not seen them:
At the Olympic Park, we are very close to hatch:
August 1: The 35th day since the first egg was laid. Early duets, and then Dad came in and took the fish tail off himself. He returned and sat for a short while. Lady returned after only 31 minutes. Another shortish shift each, then Lady came in at 9:20 with leaves and incubated again. During the morning, both were in for short shifts, with calling and duets. Later, both took their turn at incubating during some light rain. Late afternoon, Dad relieved Lady briefly, until she returned for the evening at 5:20. Lady spent some 7 hours on the eggs today, and they were uncovered only briefly during changeovers. No prey was brought to the nest.
August 2: A cold wet night for Lady. After a few calls, Dad came in at 6:30, and Lady was off for a break but heard close by. She returned after only 33 minutes – a quick break for her. There was some rain in the morning, and several changes. Lots of calling off the nest. Some rain on and off. Dad had a long (two-hour) shift from just before 9am, and again in the afternoon. Is Lady out getting prey for herself? Both brought some greenery in today, though again, no prey was brought to the nest. Lady was home from 15:35, and other than a few short stretches and rolls, she sat on the eggs until evening- though there was quite some muttering from the nest. A few late ups and downs, then settled. Both parents spent a similar time on the eggs today, with the eggs only uncovered for brief periods.
‘H’ sends her reports:
8/1 Osoyoos osprey nest: Breakfast consisted of the large leftover fish from yesterday. Soo fed her youngsters for about 18 minutes. The first new fish of the day did not arrive until 1221, when Olsen dropped off a very large partial fish. That fish provided for a 46-minute feeding for the osplets. I did not see any more fish brought to the nest the rest of the day, but I noted that the chicks both still had large crops late in the afternoon. It was a very warm day, with the temperature reaching 101F/38C. Soo was acting as Mombrella to help shield her big kids from the sun most of the afternoon. Weather forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high temp 102F/39C, light winds.
8/1 Colonial Beach osprey nest: It was a better day for this nest. Four fish were brought to the nest, three of from Betty. And, David delivered a fish after he had not been seen on cam for three days. So, little Cobey ate pretty well today. Betty was even seen acting as Mombrella for a while to shade Cobey from the hot sun…that’s progress! Forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high 95, winds 16 mph.
8/2 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: There is a patch on the ground at the very top of our nest-cam-view where the marsh grass is thinned-out a bit, and I have seen both fledglings fly to that spot on occasion. There’s something they like about being on the ground, and they think they are hidden by tall grass. It was getting dark, and at 2030 in the evening on 8/1, I saw both of the fledglings fly from the nest to that spot. I could make out one of their heads, while the other one was just out of view. I have not seen a fox this season, but I have in the past. They roam the marsh at dusk. I didn’t like the fledglings being on the ground at that time of day. How would they learn to stay up high out of harm’s way from ground predators, especially as darkness approaches? Shouldn’t it be instinctual? Or, is it something that they would somehow learn from their parents? Certainly learning from experience doesn’t sound like a very good idea. Well, I worried all night, and I was very grateful to see those silly juvies fly to the nest early this morning. I wonder where they actually spent the night.
If you happen to be near St Louis, Missouri, there are celebrating Murphy at the World Bird Sanctuary (Thanks, J)
And they continue…Omega will be there til they get the very last Menhaden. Perhaps it is time for a world wide boycott of Omega!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their wonderful reports, posts, pictures, videos, articles, books, and streaming cams that helped me write my post today: ‘A, CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RP’, Amazon (book covers), David Gessner, Rob Bierregaard, Nesting Bird Life & More, Oxford Brookes University, Ventana Wildlife Society, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, All About Birds, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, BoPH, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Blackbush Beach Ospreys, MN-LA, McEuen Park, LDF, Finnish Osprey Foundation, FORE, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Olympic Park Eagles, Sharon Dunne, Montana Osprey Project, DancinLionHeart, and Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal.
Thank you so much for all your notes and photographs and news! I really do appreciate it and I love hearing from you. I might not be able to answer back straight away, but I will!
It is that time of year when overlooked nests are being entered into our data forms and when fledges and deaths continue to have to be inserted. Today, after thinking we had anything and everything that could predate an Osprey, we discovered that Canada Geese ate the eggs of one nest in Maryland. Thankfully, ‘H’ is much better at working magic with this programme that Claudio designed and we now have a category of Predation – Other. We can fill in the odd happenings. I have 43 more nests – and at least 86 more eggs/chicks – to put in the forms. So far, 37% of all osprey eggs have either failed to hatch or the chicks have died. Siblicide still accounts for the seond highest causes after DNH, then predation by owls at 11% and weather events at 11%. I did note a section ‘indirectly by humans’ and it seems to be that these weather events might fall under that as well. If we can get the authorities to recognize human caused climate change, then we might convince them to help with our ospreys. I note that a list was growing under a posting of one FB group – a wish list that included: woven and wired rails like the good folks at Glaslyn do for Aran and Elen, netting below the nest to catch chicks that fall over the edge, predator baffles, stocked ponds, strobe lights and grates to try to ward off predators such as owls and eagles, intervention with fish when required, etc. These were thoughtful listings of ways that we can help without breaking the bank. Is it too much to ask?
Speaking of stocked ponds, Anne-Marie was able to establish that the lake where Olsen is fishing has lots of fish. With the heat those fish have gone deep and he is not able to catch them as Ospreys only go less than a metre deep in their dives.
Some images of the not so wetlands yesterday. Despite the rain, the reeds seem to have taken over lots of the area.
Can you find the eagle’s nest? It is difficult with all the foliage.
It is 1939 Thursday evening and the sun is beginning to get low in the West. The day was not as hot as it has been, but it was warm enough and quite humid still. The birds have been busy coming and going. I have noticed that there has been not so many Blue Jays and my neighbour came to tell me that the local hawk got 2 of them. I took a breath. Everyone has to eat.
I really did think that there was something wrong with Hugo Yugo when I saw her.
Why would a cat nudge herself between two pillows and a hot cover on a hot day in a glass room? I have no idea. It is possible that she was hiding from Baby Hope because a few minutes later she was tearing all over the house!
Thankfully, nothing has happened to the Crows. Can you tell I adore these characters? They rest on my backlane neighbour’s shed. He said that even their bellies are covered with soft down.
Everything is getting quiet. Most of the birds are going to their roosting spots for the night. Hugo Yugo is fixated on a fly that has gotten into the house and now Baby Hope is joining her. No doubt they will have quite the time tonight chasing it and knocking things over in the meantime.
‘PB’ clicked on the McEuen Osprey nest feed just in time to catch Mum delivering a monster fish for her and the baby! 25 C so a bit cooler for them on Thursday. The high heat will return on Wednesday.
The triplets at the Osprey Centre in Australia are doing well.
Iris and her chicks survived the storm that raged through Missoula Wednesday night, but many nests were not so lucky. ‘PB’ informs me that Louis and Starr’s chicks are alright. Their nest is at the Baseball Park or near to it. (They have moved house).
In fact, Louis and Starr’s three chicks have fledged and there are five ospreys flying around the ball park. This is fantastic. Maybe both of these nests by the Clarke-Fork River in Missoula will fledge all of their chicks. That would really be something this year!
Iris is going to have a lot to put in her 2024 diary. Finding Finn, having babies, sweltering heat and then hurricane-force winds. Regardless, Finn just keeps bringing in the fish.
Beautiful Iris.
Finn and Iris have obviously been talking about the need for some small fish to come on the nest so the kids can start to self-feed! Or did they? Finn: ‘Iris, where are you? I don’t feed chicks!!!!!!!!!!’
‘Is it OK for this one to have the whole fish?’ Check out the look on Finnegan’s face.
Tug-o-war with Mum who arrives just in time.
Of course, Iris took charge. She will make sure that both chicks get fish in the heat and storms.
I guess Iris got tired of waiting for Finn to bring in a big fish so she went out and got her own for her and the kids!!!!!!!
Rest assured now that Iris is fishing no one is going to go hungry on this nest. Her first two chicks in six years. She isn’t going to let them die of starvation or Finn slowing down.
Iris has been feeding the chicks and herself for several hours. Finn is on the perch. I wonder what he is thinking?
Three hours into the feeding. Isn’t Iris getting tired? No. She is making sure that there will be no bullying from older to younger and that her and the chicks are well fed. I wonder if there is anything left if she will share with Finn?
Don’t you love the way that Iris pulls back the skin revealing the soft fish flesh? It is much easier to feed the chicks this way!
Finnegan came in with a late fish. ‘PB says it wasn’t as big as Iris’s but big enough to keep these babies well fed for the night!
‘H’ is going to be reporting on Osoyoos, but right now there is a huge fish on that nest and I hope that everyone eats and gets full.
The breeding programme for Hen Harriers in Scotland is doing well. The question is – can we keep the gamekeepers from shooting them? If you do not know about these amazing raptors, I am including some great books below this blog by Raptor Persecution UK.
I posted these audio stories of the plight of the hen harrier last year. I want to do that again for those of you that might not have found my blog then or who didn’t have time to listen. This will give you a really good idea of why the attempts to increase the population of these gorgeous raptors is ongoing and the challenges that everyone faces.
So please listen! You also get an explanation of the Inglorious 12th of August which is coming up in three weeks. I hope you understand why stomping on a nest of innocent Hen Harrier chicks makes me ill and causes my anxiety to rise. The wealthy pay 1000s of GBP per day to shoot grouse but they also stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, and spend money in the villages. The fines and punishments mean nothing because killing birds is big business with the Driven Grouse Moors seen to be a ‘part of traditional Britain’ – which they are. We live in the 21st century and our attitudes towards killing have changed since medieval times.
There are three episodes. Educate yourself and listen to all of them. Imagine the vast expanse of Scotland because this is where this happens.
This is my favourite book. It gives us a ‘true’ insight of the live of a Hen Harrier – from hatch – to being shot and what their life was like. Before you read any of the others, I highly recommend this one. It is extremely well written and pulls at your heart. Not fancy coloured photographs, just the first hand account of this magnificent female harrier and her short life.
The other excellent book is A Hen Harrier’s Year. The gorgeous watercolours of the birds are a real winner!
We are all concerned about Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay nest. Check out the feathers. This eaglet really needs to be rescued and taken into care. I honestly do not understand why nothing is being done for Blue.
At the US Steel nest, we have video footage of Lucky living his life in the skies! Wish this was Blue.
The Janakkala pair are learning to self-feed as fledge dates approach in Finland.
Kristel is 81 days old today. It is the same age as Diana at the other Golden Eagle nest in Estonia fledged.
Kristel had breakfast on Thursday – a Eurasian Collared Dove.
The reintroduction of Ospreys into Ireland begins with the arrival of the chicks today. Here is the latest information:
Only one osplet remains at the Ferguson Museum osprey platform. The other two have died from lack of fish.
This was the whole family at the Middle Farm nest on Fisher’s Island, NY, on the 28th of June. Tragedies can begin to happen without our knowing and within less than a month a family of five is now a family of three.
Cowlitz PUD fledgling returns to nest for a fish meal!
The wind has hit Sandpoint Osprey nest and Keke and River are holding on tight.
Lola at Charlo Montana needs to pick up her talons and go out fishing like Iris. The chick is 43 days old today.
Royal Cam chick news:
Geemeff sends us her daily report about Loch Arkaig for The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 25th July 2024
Today we received the wonderful news that the surviving Arkaig Osprey chick 1JW has fledged! All eleven members of the Scottish cohort took to the skies over Valencia today, more info in WTS George’s comment, link below. A bright spot in an unusual season. His dad Louis was also around today, visiting his nest bringing a stick and doing a little nest work, good to see him after an absence of a few days. Nest One also had Osprey visitors – Affric 152 arrived moments after Garry LV0 did. Neither stayed long, and both flew off in the same direction. With an identical broken feather spotted by LizB on both the blue-ringed Bunarkaig female and on Affric when she landed on Nest One, it’s almost certain they are one and the same. With an unfledged chick still on the Bunarkaig nest, what’s Affric doing on Nest One with Garry? The forecasted rain was much in evidence today, and more expected tonight with thundery showers overnight easing off to light rain tomorrow.
Bonus photos – 1JW on a feeding platform near to the aviary:
#ArkaigOsprey in Spain, 1JW is a wild bird once more!
He fledged today just before 3pm.
Here he is on one of the feeding platforms near the pen that has been home for the last couple of weeks. Now he will start exploring the marshes of Valencia. pic.twitter.com/t2jUfcAK6l
— Woodland Trust Scotland (@WTScotsocial) July 25, 2024
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Special blast from the past: On July 25, 2020, the world came together to tell the story of a single day on Earth, hundreds of thousands of members of the public responded sending their typical day to Ridley Scott. This was my entry:
A simple solution that can be done right at the factory. Paint one blade black and save the lives of our birds.
Mum and Dad are having ‘some fun’ on the barge at Port Lincoln!
Just look at this!
News on Luna’s necroscopy at Redding:
There has been no word about N1 who appeared to have an accident Wednesday morning during a streaming cam event at Cornell. She was seen sitting peacefully but no one has seen her since.
There are concerns about Little who fledged on the 18th at Patuxent River Park and has not been seen on camera. People want to know why they support boat tourism and do not care for their chicks. Does anyone know what is happening here?
In Poland, the life of the Black Storklet was saved. When rescued the storklet weighed only 1500 grams when, at this age, it should have been at least 2500.
Maria Marika gives us the background information on why this little storklet fell into such poor conditions.
‘H’ reports:
7/25 Osoyoos osprey nest: The osplets are 47 and 48 days old. The temperature was lower today, and Olsen brought four fish to the nest. The first three fish were small to medium in size, and Big was able to acquire all three of them to self feed. Big had meals lasting 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 9 minutes. The last fish arrived at 1817, and it was very large. Although it was big, it was obviously not a 3-hour fish, but it took Soo 3-hours to feed from it. Big was in rare form and she was a complete tyrant on the war path for almost the entire three hours. Big was intent on preventing Middle from eating, regardless of whether Big was hungry or not. It would take too long to provide details, so I will try to summarize. Over the course of the three hours, Big ate the equivalent of at least 4-5 meals. Big was almost constantly beaking or otherwise harassing Middle, even when Middle was not anywhere near Soo. There were numerous times in the process of beaking Middle, that Big nearly pushed Middle off the nest. There were even several times that Soo was nearly forced off the nest by Big diving over her to try to get to Middle. In fact, at 1929 Soo did have to leave the nest briefly when she had to jump to the extension bar. The aggressiveness of Big caused many distractions and delays as Soo was attempting to feed. To make matters worse, the fish was very tough, and the few times when Middle was in a good position to eat, it would take Soo too long to offer fish bites. Instead of receiving multiple bites in rapid succession, Middle would only get a few bites before Big attacked again. There was not a single period of time when Big actually retired from the meal to rest, so that Middle and Soo would have some ‘alone time’. I counted fish bites for Middle, and there were a few times when I could only surmise bites based on the movements of Middle and Soo. Middle ate at least 140 bites of fish during that 3-hour ordeal, and Middle did have a moderate crop after the meal. Due to cam downtime issues, we don’t know how well Middle ate yesterday. Weather forecast for 7/26: Sunny, high 84F/29C, light winds.
7/25 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: Big had spent the night on the nest so that she could guard her leftover fish, and she had a nice breakfast early in the morning. She was joined in the nest a little later by Middle. They both came and went from the nest throughout the day. We did not see Little at the nest. At 1443 an adult intruder landed in the nest, and a minute or so later, a juvenile osprey approached to land. The intruder jumped up and intercepted the juvie, talons to the face, and flew away. The young osprey fell below the nest out of our view. Based on certain characteristics, we thought that the juvie was either Big or Middle. At 1502 Middle was in the nest when Dad delivered a large partial goldfish. Dad had been followed in by the adult intruder who immediately engaged in a battle for the fish with Middle. Dad jumped on the intruder twice to try to help out, but his efforts were futile. The intruder ended up with the fish in its talons and sort of fell/flew off the nest dragging Middle with him. Middle landed back in the nest a few minutes later.
After a while we started to hear loud rustling noises and ‘wing flapping’ below the nest. The flapping sounds were heard intermittently in spurts, as if the bird would need to rest at times. As the tide came in, the flapping efforts started to sound more ‘watery’ like flapping in water. We believed there was an injured osprey struggling below the nest out of our view. The nest is 10 feet above the marsh. If the incident at 1443 involved Big, and if Big had landed awkwardly in the marsh, she could have been injured. Or another possible scenario, was that the adult intruder may have landed in the marsh and been injured when it went off the nest somewhat awkwardly holding a large goldfish, with a juvenile osprey attached. A ten-foot height does not allow much time to recover and fly before landing in the marsh.
We were convinced that there was an osprey needing help…and soon! We had a gut feeling that it was Big below the nest. Some chatters called the park office, some called a local raptor rehabber who said she’d try to find someone with a boat. And posts were also made on the chat to the attention of the park. We needed help. After many long hours, no help came. As high tide hit, and as darkness fell, we no longer heard the flapping below the nest.
Annie is moulting and loafing!
Yesterday, Koa was seen on the West End cam at the old nest of Thunder and Akecheta!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, questions, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU’, McEuen Park, Osprey House Environmental Centre, Hellgate Osprey, Wild Skies Raptor Centre, Montana Osprey Project, Osoyoos, Raptor Persecution UK, The Guardian, HWF-BBC, US Steel, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Gregorious Joris Toonen, Berkeley News, Ferguson Museum, Cowlitz PUD, Sandpoint Ospreys, Charlo Montana, Bird Cams, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Factsdailyy, PLO, Heidi McGrue, Celia Aliengirl, Bocianimy, Maria Marika, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, and SK Hideaways.
Remember that I mentioned those two year old returnees are coming! In the regions where banding is not done, you can never get as excited as those platforms that know their chicks have survived. Another one of Dylan and Seren’s fledglings has returned this year. Blue 555 from 2024 landed on Telyn who is incubating eggs at Dyfi a few miles away from his natal nest at Clywedog Reservoir.
Here is the sequence. Telyn hears/sees another osprey approaching. Blue 555 lands. Blue 555 is sent off by our excited mom-to-be. Idris arrives to save the day – all within about half a minute or less.
Telyn looks up.
Here comes 555.
Here comes Idris. No one is going to mess with his Telyn!
Did you see this? Murphy is a foster again!
At Captiva, Jack is keeping the fish coming and it was a good day for the little one. ‘H’ reports: ” CO8 did okay today, and basically I would have the same summary as yesterday. S/he takes a beating from CO7 at times, but it’s too soon to worry. CO8 may not get as much to eat as CO7, but he did have a good crop a few times today. Jack even fed CO8 for 8 minutes at meal #4. ” And then…”Jack delivered a large partial fish at 1907, that provided a long feeding for both of the siblings. They ate side by side without any aggression, and both of them ended up stuffed.”
At Loch Arkaig, Louis has been busy and it was a late fish delivery for Dorcha.
Gosh, Louis is such an attentive mate. Some hardly bring the males any fish. I wonder what those new males will be like when chicks arrive?
Tuffy has grown into an exceptional osplet. Oh, how worried we were.
It appears that one or both of the osplets at Frenchman’s Creek have ‘branched’ to the camera pole OR the camera cannot get sight of one area of the nest. The shadows change and you can see the wings flapping.
The streaming cam at Redding is back up and running. Everyone is OK.
Mason is way up high in the natal tree at Superbeaks. Dixie looks out to the world beyond from the rails. These two will be flying soon. They are very active!
‘H’ reports on Lake Murray: “C3- ‘Little’ at Lake Murray is doing OK. There is some aggression toward C3 by both older siblings, but there was only one meal on 5/7 where Little was shut out from the feeding. Kenny is supplying lots of fish.”
‘A’ sent in a long report on several nests that she is tracking:
“I can hear Iris on an open tab – she is very chatty with her new man. He seems very proud of their eggs (they must be his and not Louis’ or he would doubtless have got rid of them by now). And – omigod, he’s brought in a tree now!!!! Sorry. I just turned over to Iris’ tab and what do I see? The most massive branch that resembles a small tree without leaves has been brought to the nest. I told you that yesterday he was bringing in some large, awkwardly shaped branches, but this one takes the cake. I wonder if he intends to plant a small forest around the outside of that nest. Or perhaps he too is worried about the dangers of an osplet being blown off that platform by that extra strong wind. But seriously, have a look at that tree! Talk about a laugh for the morning.”
Now, let us think about a time for us to begin to watch for these eggs to hatch of Iris and New Guy: 11 June? Pip watch?
Cal appears to have dispersed. Today he is 140 days (exactly 20 weeks) old and it will be the seventh day since he was seen at or near the nest, though of course Connie and Clive are maintaining their territory. So the general consensus is that he has left to find his own mate and territory. Godspeed little one. You will always own a tiny piece of my heart. And remember, you fly for two, as you will also carry Lusa with you in your travels. How sad it is when we say goodbye to them, knowing their chances at reaching their first birthday are relatively low. All we can hope is that Cal learned well on the nest, with that bossy older sister, and has had the very best parental preparation for adulthood. He has great genes and we can only hope he gets the chance to pass them on.
In Tennessee, Angel was last seen briefly (for just two minutes) early on the morning of 3 May, while Tom was there very briefly the following morning. There have been heavy thunderstorms in the area over the past couple of days, and they usually fail to appear on very wet days, but I think we have to admit now that the window is closing fast and that there will be no eggs for Angel and Tom this season. Now, we wish them a safe year until we see them next. Angel is such a rare beautiful creature, and I know her survival is far from assured. To add to the natural hazards they all face, she of course is unable to camouflage herself and even has to worry about unscrupulous individuals who have offered large sums of money to anyone prepared to divulge her whereabouts so she can be captured or killed as a trophy. I find it appalling that Connor has been offered tens of thousands of dollars for that information, though sadly it does not surprise any of us.
At Taiaroa Head, our gorgeous boy was 7.9 kgs yesterday (7 May) at 105 days of age (the average for males of that age at this colony is 7.8 kg) – the same weight as the week before (when he had been fed by both mum and dad just before the weighing). Over the past week, he has had frequent feedings, with both parents visiting more than once, some feeds quite small and others larger. There had not been a feeding for a couple of days before this latest weighing, though, which accounts for his weight remaining the same as the week before. Mum came in yesterday afternoon and fed him around 4.15pm, and both our on-camera chicks have been fed this morning (8 May), with mum LGL feeding TF chick at 7.17am and dad BOK coming in to feed TFT chick shortly before 10am. He is doing well, as are both his parents. Every time they leave on a foraging trip, we worry about when and whether they will return. Of course OGK never did. He has now, finally, been officially declared deceased at this point, as he would have returned to breed this season had he been capable of doing so. Sad news, but this year’s beautiful Royal Cam chick cannot but bring a smile to your face. His gorgeous plumage is pristine, revealing that he has lived his first 105 days of life without an incident of fear that has caused him to ‘spill’. So those snowy-white feathers are, in a sense, the sign of an stress-free childhood (or a very brave little chick or both). Whenever you need a smile, just turn to the albatross chicks on Taiaroa Head, where the rangers are constant and devoted guardians and we get to love our chicks for seven months or more. New Zealand truly is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. “
Those Cal Falcon chicks of Annie and Archie can put a smile on your day, too.
Annie and Grinnell’s grandchildren are ahead in development (they are obviously older). Look at their tail feathers and they are walking around the scrape. Larry (Annie and Grinnell’s daughter) and his mate are doing fantastic. What a treat to have a camera at their Alcatraz scrape!
Speaking of falcons, a wonderful soul posted an image of the screen at the CBD in Melbourne on FB and the falcons are there on the ledge! Maybe there will be chicks this year. I knew you would be excited.
Oh, I am getting excited that they might turn that Melbourne Live Stream on early. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they left it on all year?
The chat for the Cornell RTH is on the livestream and is open in the mornings. Check the time. Arthur had just brought in a nice little chippy for N1 and N2 when I tuned in.
Gosh those kids are cute. It won’t be long til they are pecking away at those chippies.
Watching for Rutland. The two eggs deemed unviable by Maya could have been the first ones that were laid so, it could be a few more days. Good news at LOTL. The new male has removed all the eggs from the egg bowl and maybe Blue NCO will start thinking he could be a ‘catch’. I am hoping so!
Thank you so much for being with me today. I am feeling better in the mornings and pretty horrible in the evenings still. The sun is out and it will be a good day for a walk, regardless. I am wondering if we have more little goslings hatching? Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you as always to those great people that send me news of the nests they are monitoring – I am calling them the Fabulous Four: ‘A, Geemeff, H, and SP’ along with all the others, the cams, the postings, the videos that helped me to write my post this morning including the Fab 4 and Dyfi Osprey Project, PBS, Window to Wildlife, Geemeff, Moorings Park, Frenchman’s Creek, FORE, Superbeaks, Lake Murray, Montana Osprey Project, NZ DOC, Cal Falcons, Parks Conservancy, Maya Rowe, and Cornell RTH.
Thank you to everyone for your continued good wishes. I am very, very slowly feeling a wee bit better. A good friend dropped off two different types of Covid tests, just in case. Both were negative. So, not Covid. Whatever this is – well, I continue to say I do not wish it on anyone! Keep sending those positive vibes!!!!!!!!!
There is a rhythm to the events in the garden. The Juncos return first, then the White-throated Sparrow, and by then it is time for Mr and Mrs Crow to begin to bug me to fill up their food bowls. I have seen them during the winter but, for some reason, they return at the beginning of breeding season to remind me of their presence. I put out whatever I can gather from the fridge and from neighbours along with their usual cheesy dogs and hard boiled eggs along with cat kibble. This year events are earlier by about 14-16 days, but they are, nonetheless, happening in the same way. After spending the winter ignoring me, the first Crow has returned yesterday. In June, the little crows will come to get peanuts and to learn to dip them in the water. It is something that I look forward to with great delight.
The Crow first checked for peanuts and then went to chip away at one of the solid seed cylinders with large nuts and mealworms. It had previously been on the roof of the conservatory demanding treats! They watched as I filled the bowl with cheesy dogs, some cooked food from a neighbour including carrots….their favourite. (During the winter I have a secret feeding station for them).
The Baltimore Orioles will be here shortly. No matter what happens, the wildlife carry on, perhaps a little earlier, but what fun it will be to look forward to those little Crows splashing about, the baby Sparrows all puffed up sitting quietly waiting for the adults to tell them they can move, and the arrival of the Hummingbirds.
Calico talked to the Crow while it was coming and going during the day. Others slept.
We are now entering the period when the two year old returnees are causing havoc at the established nests – some of them their natal nests. We get a brief look at how this is impacting Kielder Forest, but it is happening everywhere.
There is no new news on the killing of LM12 Laddie near Loch of the Lowes. Scottish Wildlife Trust posted the following information on this amazing osprey.
Our hearts continue to break over this ‘murder’. Blue NCO continues to fish call and incubate the eggs although she is having to leave to try and feed herself.
There is always concern when there are three osplets and Lake Murray is no exception. ‘H’ is keeping a close watch.
The little one is trying. Just look at the size difference. Oh, I hope this sweet baby makes it. Fingers crossed.
The 1610 feeding – ‘H’ reports that all ate and there was no bonking. Yippee.
Wish that little one had some of the fish that landed at the Venice Golf Club. Mum might have even brought in two big fish. Wow.
Despite the mess, the two at Frenchman’s Creek are fine.
Both are eating at Captiva but there is still some unrest and bonking by the oldest.
Amongst the Ospreys there have been several nests that have had eggs out of sync. Today, ‘H’ notes that ” The Fenwick Island nest of Johnny and June: June laid eggs on 4/25 and 4/28, and both eggs were predated by a pair of crows on 4/28. June’s third egg would have been due on 5/1.” ‘H’ notes that that egg did not arrive. We both wonder if this third egg that was laid on the 5th of May belongs to a first clutch or a new one. At Achieva, the egg dates were ‘off’ as well (normally every 72 hours). They were “1/28, 1/31, and 2/8”. (The last one could have been very, very late on the 7th but was not seen until the morning of the 8th).
We are wondering if these could be four egg clutches with the third egg laid somewhere else accidentally. It happens.
Tuffy still likes to be fed. Just look. Sally and Harry have the prettiest babies.
N1 and N2 could not be cuter. Look at the size of the crop on that little one.
Everyone loves Iris and each of us is worried, on the one hand, that raising a clutch of chicks might shorten her life or excited at the potential of the world’s oldest osprey getting to raise her first chick since 2018. I am just like all of you. I have been thrilled when Iris and Louis’s eggs have been taken by the Ravens and Iris has had a gentle summer fishing. Now that she has an attentive mate – and gosh, golly, Louis isn’t doing much about it – bringing her fish, I am getting rather excited and torn. I guess we wait and see what happens. Whatever it is, isn’t it nice seeing our Queen being treated well? Getting fish delivered to her for a change!
Here he is at 1640 bringing her another fish. I love this ‘Snake eyed guy’.
Iris flies off and takes it to the owl pole to eat.
There is something magical going on. Maybe it would always be Iris’s last year and maybe this is an extraordinary year for her. I watch with wonder.
Second egg expected. It was raining and I did not see anything. Iris not on the nest.
The New Guy is incubating the egg while Iris is off eating breakfast. Iris tells us ‘I will do it my way’.
The GH owlet at Wolf Bay is doing fine. Look at those legs!
Lady Hawk’s last coverage of E23, the darling of the SW Florida nest of M15 and his new mate, F23. Why oh why doesn’t someone band these hatches?
They are getting a little itchy at Cal Falcon scrape with all those pin feathers coming in.
If you need contentment:
‘PB’ reports that the second egg at Charlo Montana was laid on Sunday. It looks like her name is Lola.
‘H’ sent news that we have another egg at Cape May Meadows for Hera and Zeus. “5/6, The South Cape May Meadows osprey nest of Hera and Zeus: Hera laid egg #2 at 06:29.”
Louis continues to take good care of Dorcha at Loch Arkaig. The killing of Laddie at Loch of the Lowes had made everyone nervous. So good to see the others at their nests as we wait for the first hatch at Rutland.
Adorable baby eaglet that fell out of the nest has a foster!
The eaglets at the Bald Canyon nest have names and both are happy that they are in the nest together! Another great rescue.
Muhlady and Pepe continue to provide prey on the nest for Dixie (fledged) and Mason (still at home). There are continual prey wars when there is a delivery. Both look to be doing very well.
Full crops for the two eaglets of Dad and Gigi at the ND-LEEF nest.
Those two will soon be as big as Jersey and Leaper at Duke Farms who are anxiously awaiting their first flight.
For the two eaglets of Liberty and Guardian at the Redding nest, the votes are now being submitted for the final round in naming. Make sure you vote! The deadline is 7 May – that is Tuesday!
‘A’ sends us the latest from the Sydney Olympic Forest: “
May 5: Both eagles were at home last night and woke early, well before 6am, with duets and mating. They both left by 6:19am, and over the next hour or so, more duets could be heard. Mid-morning at 10:15am, neither could be seen at the river but were spotted at Goat Island. Mid-afternoon, both eagles were still there, and at 16:45pm, one was noted flying off to the west. Both turned up at the nest around 17:16pm – one may have brought a stick – then mating nearby. A duet, and mating again at 5:42pm, with Lady bowing her head to indicate she was ready and willing to mate. Both then settled by the nest for the night. There was rain on and off today.
May 6: There was lots of rain overnight, with both eagles close by. They were awake early, with mating, then both flew off and one returned with a stick. Then both were off again before 6:30am. At 9am, both were seen at the very muddy river , landing on River Roost. Shortly after, there was a duet at 9:15am, and then both were seen flying together, heading north and further. The rain had stopped by then, but it was very windy. There have been issues with the cameras today, with livestream not available for most of the day. One eagle was seen flying over the forest at around 3pm. Just after 4pm, it seemed that two eagles were at Goat Island. Neither was reported at the river at 4:30pm. Then we were able to see the adjacent camera live and saw Lady come home late. She seemed to have just eaten, wiping her bill. She then settled.
This is interesting, especially with Lady initiating mating. But is it really early for Lady and Dad or is it their normal pattern of behaviour? They presumably regularly engage year-round in various forms of bonding behaviours, including mating, to maintain the strength of their pair bond. Yes? So maybe it’s not at all early for them to engage in the early phases of nest-building. “This is interesting, especially with Lady initiating mating. But is it early for Lady and Dad or is it their normal pattern of behaviour? They presumably regularly engage year-round in various forms of bonding behaviours, including mating, to maintain the strength of their pair bond. Yes? So maybe it’s not at all early for them to be engaging in the early phases of nest-building. “
LGK comes in for a feeding for TF chick! Always good to put a smile on your face. TF is so fluffy – like a soft cloud floating around the hill.
There is a lot going on at the nests. I hope to be able to provide some news each day until such time as I am back 100%. We are waiting for hatch watch at Rutland! Take care. We hope to see you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, PB’, Kielder Ospreys, Jeff Kear and SWT, Lake Murray Ospreys, VGCCO, Frenchman’s Creek, Window to Wildlife, Fenwick Island, Moorings Park, Cornell RTH, Montana Osprey Project, Wolf Bay, Lady Hawk, Cal Falcons, Charlo Montana, SK Hideaways, SCMM, Jann Nichols, Gracie Shepherd, Superheats, Geemeff, ND-LEEF, Duke Farms, FORE, Sea Eagle Cam.
Earth day is the 22nd of April but we have celebrations today across my City so that everyone can participate as Monday is not a holiday.
Today is Earth Day. It is a day for us to remember that conservation, sustainability, biodiversity, and working together to help create a healthier planet for our wildlife and us are paramount. There are many events and initiatives. “The 2024 theme for Earth Day, “Planet vs. Plastics”, calls to advocate for widespread awareness of the health risk of plastics, rapidly phase out all single-use plastics, urgently push for a strong global agreement on plastic pollution, and demand an end to fast fashion.” (Canada Gov). “For over 50 years, Earth Day has been celebrated across the planet as a way to educate the masses about the environment, enact conservation efforts, and promote action towards the environmental movement. It’s a day of action to adjust human behavior and create policy changes for the good of Mother Earth. The annual event is marked with a wide range of events that are coordinated globally by earthday.org—reaching 1 billion people in more than 193 countries!” (Pioneer Woman)
‘The Girls’ and I are working hard to completely end our use of plastics and continue to ‘forest’ our urban garden. This year we will be planting 5 native shrubs along with four new native trees. It only makes a dent. The City’s Million Dollar Tree Project has only planted 44,000 trees, and the City has been cutting down diseased trees to the point that neighbourhoods have lost their gorgeous ambience with the birds and squirrels losing homes. We can all help by doing our part – and often it is close to home. What will you be doing to celebrate Earth Day? I suggest a short walk or a sit outside!
Correction: At the Lake Murray Osprey Platform in 2023, the third hatch was the victim of siblicide. The older two were taken from the nest by the GHO.
Morning Updates to eggs and hatches: The first egg has been laid at Tweed Valley by Mrs O and FKO at 11:35. Likewise, Asha at RSPB Loch Garten has laid her first egg at 10:47. Flo and Harry at Alyth have egg three at 06:53 and the first hatch has happened overnight at Lake Murray in the US.
Dorcha has not been able to catch a break so far this season.
We have been watching several nests getting ready for hatch watch. We should be having pip/hatch watch for Big Red and Arthur at Cornell in a week. On Saturday Arthur spent a lot of time incubating the eggs before Big Red took over later in the day. I wonder if her leg is bothering her and if it helps to have Arthur there during the day since she has to be there all night and if the position over the eggs doesn’t put strain on that leg.
But what is happening at Captiva? The first egg is 42 days old today. Too late to hatch. That would make the second egg 39 days and well, if it was the one that was crushed and went into a bean shape, then that leaves us with eggs 3 and 4. Will they be viable? Egg 3 is 36 days and should pip right away and hatch soon I it is going to. It is late and some believe that no osprey eggs ever hatch this late on the Barrier Islands.
Moorings Park. Harry Delivered a Fish at 0907 much to the delight of Sally who chirped when she saw him approaching the nest.
Harry comes in with a second small fish at 1044 and Tuffy will get some bites this time. Fish were small. Hoping for larger ones.
Tuffy with his/her feathers coming in.
Harry brought in a nice big chunk of fish at 1412 and Tuffy did get some of that fish. Ruffie is being a bit of an agro.
Fish at 1648.
Tuffy had some first bites – for about seven minutes -.
Tuffy had a good day and notice in the last image how ‘healthy’ and how beautiful he is.
It is Sunday morning and Tuffy is enjoying breakfast.
E23 still likes to be a ‘nestling’ and F23 and M15 like having her/him at home. This nest is a very good reminder of how post-fledge should work – fledgling returns to nest, adults bring food, fledgling learns to fly better and strengthen their wings, fledgling observes and learns to hunt all the while being fed by adults.
Thankfully M15 and F23’s nest is reasonably secure but those GHOs did visit. The GHOs and Canada Geese are taking over the eagle and osprey nests at other sites. This situation is not good at Cape May Meadows as ‘H’ is watching for Hera to lay her first egg. GHOs are formidable enemies and are top Apex raptors. They have taken many osplets off nests and injured and killed other raptors. They might be ‘wise’ – all of our feathered friends are – but they are also dangerous, not soft and cuddly!
GHOs took over the Wolf Bay Osprey platform this year in Alabama. I thought there were two owlets but only one is on the nest and waiting for adults to deliver food. Do you follow this nest? Do you know what happened to the other owlet?
Late spring snows have been hitting the nests in and around Montana and Colorado.
This is Boulder County Fairgrounds on Saturday.
The snow is gone at Dunrovin and Swoop is on the nest with his potential new mate.
Three eggs at Clark PUD.
It is nice in Scotland and Blue NCO was right on time with her second egg.
There are now three eggs at the Foulshaw Moss nest of White YW and Blue 35 in the Lake District.
The cam at UFlorida-Gainesville is frozen. There has been rain or so it appears. Do we still have three osplets? Can’t tell. They are under Mum.
At Tweed Valley, it seems to be a bit of a nest swap.
I have been very worried about the fate of Black-Stork Karl II’s family since he was electrocuted in Turkey last fall on his migration south. I have contacted Maria Marika on Saturday and there is no news. She is also concerned about Kaia. The younger storks she tells me return to the north the end of April. I hope we have some news of Bonus and Waba. Last word on Bonus was his battery did not charge on 28 August 2023.
The Royal Albatross Centre asks us to imagine what it would be like if there were no albatrosses. Today, they are protected (have a read how this happened), but what will happen with warming seas and overfishing and if the long haul trawlers do not change the way they load their lines.
I was able to confirm from ‘VV’ that Star and Louis did return before Iris. For a moment I fantasied about whether or not, if Star had not returned, would Louis turn out to be a good mate and provide for Iris and any osplets. — Well, squash that idea.
Loch Garten. Impossible to tell if there are any eggs. Look at that nest!
Great Bay has three eggs. The last one was laid on the 19th of April.
I don’t know why, but I still worry about that tiny third hatch at Little Miami Conservancy.
Bonnie and Clyde’s two eagles at Cardinal Land Conservancy are doing quite well.
Oh, just look at them all lined up being so civilised. They have their Mohawks and are getting their pin feathers – these are the Majestic eaglets from Denton Homes near Decorah, Iowa.
Almost at the precise stage of development, the Decorah North eaglets are quickly losing the downy soft white plumage of their heads and their pin feathers are clearly noticeable.
It was raining in Texas. JBS20 was lured to the nest for a meal.
ND-LEEF eaglets are getting their thermal down and are doing well – it is so good to see so many healthy and well cared or.
Swampy is still on the nest but continues to branch higher and higher. S/he will take to the skies shortly. Let us all hope that Swampy returns to the nest over and over again like JBS20, E23, Cal, and the others who have survived this year to fly.
I realise that camera angles make objects appear larger or smaller depending on the position and angle. That said, just look at how large the eldest chick of Thunder and Akecheta is compared to Akecheta!
Andor and Cruz with their two eaglets. What a beautiful image.
Well, I will say it. I wish more food were coming to the Duke Farms nest for the two eaglets.
Sassa Bird reports that White-tail Eagle Milda, whose partner Hugo has disappeared, finally had a full crop after leaving the nest on Saturday to eat. The eggs were not harmed in her absence.
Have you seen this very informative 25 minute film about the White-tail Eagles in Latvia? Please watch! These are such beautiful and rare birds. It follows the life of the couple from nest building, to an egg tragedy, to a fledge.
Close monitoring of the nests and the eagles in Latvia gives researchers much information on these large raptors.
Thank you so very much for being with me today. We look forward to having you with us again soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, MM, SB, SP, VV’, Earthday.org, Geemeff, Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Heidi MC, Wolf Bay, Boulder County, Dunrovin Ranch, Clark PUD, Colin Douglas, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainsville Osprey Cam, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Royal Albatross Centre, Montana Osprey Project, RSPB Loch Garten, Great Bay Ospreys, Little Miami Conservancy, Cardinal Land Trust, Denton Homes, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, JB Sands Wetlands, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, IWS/Explore, Duke Farms, Sassa Bird, the LDF, and The Guardian.
Thursday and Friday were difficult days. Jackie and Shadow said goodbye to their eggs after one cracked, with Jackie covering them later. The miracle babies hatched at the NTCT nest of Bella and were killed and eaten by the male, Scout. Audacity surprised everyone with another egg, but it broke Friday morning. Little B17 died and Meadow is ill. It felt a little bit like a roller coaster of emotions. Others call it ‘hope fatigue’. These events take their toll and sometimes we need to go outside and listen to the birds or sit and stroke a beloved pet. Then we need to stop and be very thankful for those that survive – they are very precious.
Bella feeds her second little eaglet before flying off to find food. She returns, looks around the nest, cannot find the baby while Scout is on the perch, then Bella flies off saying goodbye. It would have been difficult, if not impossible or Bella with the attitude that Scout was exhibiting. Many wondered if this was not a blessing in disguise.
The empty nest says it all.
The Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey is expressing concern over Meadow’s condition on Friday. Send your positive energy to this eaglet.
So what is giving us hope?
Iris returned to her nest at 20:51:22 Friday night. She looked like she had a full crop. So the Matriarch is fine! She stayed til after 0633 Saturday morning. Perhaps she didn’t want Louis to see her!
Annie and Archie. We are 11 days away from hatch watch. ‘A’ is getting excited. “Annie is looking particularly lovely this evening – she really is an exquisite specimen of a bird. Just beautiful. I cannot wait to see four little fluffy eyases lined up with their beaks open in that scrape. Poor little Archie is going to be run off his talons. And if he thinks it’s difficult to incubate four eggs, wait until he tries brooding four chicks. That should take some serious enfluffling.”
Tuffy is getting smarter and is sometimes braver. This nest gives me hope because of “H’s great observations.
‘H’ reports on how Friday morning began well for Tuffy: “At 0728 Harry arrived with a large live tilapia. Sally started to eat, and for once Sally was positioned near the rail facing outward. Her positioning would afford Tuffy an opportunity to position himself on the other side of her from Ruffie. Tuffy was on Sally’s right, and Ruffie hung back a bit. Tuffy received 5-6 bites of fish before Ruffie reached over and beaked him. So much for Sally’s new positioning. Tuffy scooted away and tucked. At 0728 Tuffy was trying to move around to the other side of Sally, but Ruffie saw him and cut him off at the pass. At 0750 Tuffy was getting a little too close to Sally for Ruffie’s liking, so she beaked him. By 0753 Ruffie moved away from the feeding, but still kept an eye on Tuffy and was giving him a warning look. Soon, Ruffie started to eat some more. At 0803, brave lil’ Tuffy decided to go for it, and shuffled right up to Sally in front of Ruffie, and started to get some bites. Ruffie turned away for a PS, and she then stayed away. Good. By 0813, Tuffy had eaten approximately 100 bites of fish. The view was partially blocked and I was not able to see if bites were dropped. I just had to count when Sally leaned toward Tuffy, and he leaned toward her. At that point Ruffie returned to the table to eat some more, and she beaked Tuffy. Ruffie was finished, this time for good, at 0816…Tuffy untucked and resumed eating his breakfast. Tuffy took a break for about a minute at 0822, then resumed eating. At 0831 Tuffy simply couldn’t eat any more and shuffled away from Sally sporting a very large crop. Sally finished the fish. Tuffy ate an estimated 180 bites of fish. Great way to start the day!”
Look at Tuffy’s crop!
“… At 1128 Harry brought a nearly whole tilapia. Ruffie was fed, and Tuffy remained on the sidelines. Harry stayed in the nest for a while, so Tuffy gradually moved to get into Dad’s shade. Even after Harry left, Tuffy stayed away from the feeding line. At 1207 Tuffy moved to be closer to Sally, and was beaked by Ruffie. By 1214, Ruffie had moved aside slightly, Tuffy moved in, and it appeared that Sally was feeding Tuffy (view was blocked). Sally did move a little bit and we were able to see that Tuffy was eating. By 1218 Tuffy had eaten 40 bites of fish before being intimidated by Ruffie, and he shuffled away. Ruffie continued to eat, and around 1222, Sally reached over to Tuffy to give him some bites, before Ruffie again banished Tuffy to the sidelines at 1224. At 1227 Tuffy was again reaching to Sally to receive fish bits. Ruffie simply did not want little brother to eat, so at 1228 she made a big physical display of dominance and Lil’ Tuffy scurried away. At 1234 Ruffie seemed to be finished eating, and our view was partially blocked, but it was obvious that Sally was feeding Tuffy. The meal was over by 1248 save for a few scraps. Tuffy ate at least 78 bites of fish.”
.”..Harry delivered the third fish of the day at 1705, a headless tilapia. It was a smaller piece of fish, which did not bode well for Tuffy’s chances for a nice meal. Ruffie approached Sally, Tuffy moved further away from Sally. I noted that Tuffy’s crop was flat at that time. Ruffie was giving warning glances to Tuffy as Ruffie was fed. However, Sally managed to periodically sneak a bite to her little one who was standing off to the side. Many of those quick bites to Tuffy went under Ruffie’s radar, but some did not. When Ruffie would notice Tuffy getting a bite she leaned toward Tuffy to intimidate him. So, Tuffy would move a little further away, but would then slowly inch closer to Mom as he dared. By 1731 Tuffy had eaten 14 bites of fish by Sally quickly sneaking bits to him. Then he received 5 bites in quick succession while Ruffie was trying to eat a big piece of skin. Ruffie was not able to eat the skin, so she dropped it, but seemed irritated that Tuffy had eaten those bites…so she charged Tuffy who went to the rails. Ruffie then wedged herself in between Sally and Tuffy. Finally, at 1743, Ruffie was full and moved across the nest and laid down. Tuffy made a beeline to Sally, but unfortunately there wasn’t much fish left. Tuffy ate, and some bites were a pretty good size. Sally did her best to pull every last bit of meat from that fish tail, then she offered the tail several times to Tuffy, who simply could not do anything with it. Total bites for Tuffy at this meal = 46, and he had a small crop. Total for Tuffy so far today = 304 bites of fish.”
Sally was calling for fish at 1957.
The three osplets of Talon and Stella at the Florida-Gainesville campus continue to do well. This is excellent news. They are all lined up like the three lads at Port Lincoln in 2022. You can see the size difference now between the first hatch in the centre and the baby on the right. At one time, they were almost all the same having hatched within a 36 hour window.
‘H’ reports that the Canada Geese and the Ospreys have switched nests at McEuen Park in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. Grateful for Geese and not owls!
In the UK, Idris and Telyn have their first egg of the Osprey season on Friday at the Dyfi Nest in Wales.
Waiting for Seren and Dylan at Llyn Clywedog to have their first egg of the season. Seren was not impressed with the food gift o a frog that Dylan brought to her and when he wasn’t looking, she dropped it overboard.
Intruders have been bothering Aran and Elen at Glaslyn. It was sent packing over to the Pont Cresor Nest of Aeron Z2 and Blue 014.
Louis fishes in the worst weather and delivers beautiful fish to Dorcha.
I am grateful that Laddie LM12 made it home safe this year to Blue NCO. No eggs at Loch of the Lowes yet.
Blue 33 guards Maya. He has been bringing in gold fish – beautiful bright orange-gold Koi. Someone’s pond is getting raided. He must like the colour!
Bradley makes me smile and it is fantastic that Port Lincoln continues to post videos of him bringing his fish to the barge. It is heartwarming when these fledglings thrive. A still form that video. Check out what is happening at Port Lincoln by going to their FB group.
And there are these various stages of some of the bobbleheads that are doing well:
US Steel 7: It is pitching down rain but Irvin has the nest full of fish and Claire is trying to keep the wee one dry while keeping it fed.
Little Miami:
Johnson City-ETSU:
Superbeaks, Dixie and Mason:
Kansas City, Cheyenne and Wichita:
Duke Farms, Jasper and Leaper who will be ringed on Monday:
ND-LEEF – Dad’s new mate Gigi appears to be doing well:
Eagle Country – Swampy in the nest and Meadow in care. Hoping dear Swampy is not sick, too:
Denton Homes – three Majestic babies:
Decorah North:
Redding with Liberty and Guardia:
Port Tobacco:
Bluff City and Viper:
Fort St Vrain. Two little bobbles doing well.
West End. Aklecheta and Thunder showed us how to deal with three healthy energetic eaglets this year:
Fraser Point, two adorable eaglets for Andor and Cruz:
PA Country Farm – a family who can consistently raise three:
Dade County, R6 has fledged and returns to the nest:
SW Florida, E23- so grateful that M15 had a new family this year after the sorrow of losing Harriet and the joy of raising E21 and 22 to fledge by himself:
Poor E23 has had to defend its nest!
JB Sands Wetlands, JBS20. We lost JBS21. Please keep Mum in your thoughts because of her injury:
Trudi Kron captures JBS20 getting ready to fly.
It isn’t all of them, but count these as blessings. In a year when many nests did not have a single hatch, we can be grateful. There is no news on Meadow Saturday morning form the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey.
Jackie and Shadow start over. What an amazing pair of eagles these are! ‘A’ writes: “Meanwhile, the sadness at Big Bear is felt by thousands of BB viewers. Jackie and Shadow are much loved by so many. This video really broke my heart. They take it in their stride and carry on, together. While they have each other, there is always next year. Spirit was such a miracle. It was a joy watching that couple caring for their precious eaglet. They were so devoted. That little one sure was spoiled for love. And fish, obviously.”
The Royal Albatross are always bittersweet. Little fluff ball TopFlat Chick, the Royal Cam chick, waits for food deliveries. LGK Lew in on Friday to feed the little one who can be heard squeeing. At the end, you see TF flap its little wings copying the adults.
The top bird sightings in the UK. Please note the huge decline in House Sparrows since 1979 and the growth of some others. House Sparrows live amongst humans that is why they are seen so often and we are destroying their habitat which is why the huge decline. Feed them. Be joyful when you hear their song. Just imagine if they were not there.
Thank you for being with me. Step outside. Celebrate spring, listen to the birds that live around you. Smile. There are things in the world that we have no control over. We change what we can, when we can doing the best we can. We mourn the little ones that are lost, but remain joyful and hopeful for those thriving on the nests.
*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to credit individuals who send me information, those who take screen captures, create videos or posts, those who write articles, and those who operate streaming cams. If I miss acknowledging someone’s contribution, please let me know so I can rectify that omission. Thank you.*
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, streaming cams, videos, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, J, H, PB, SK, TK’, NCTC Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Cal Alcons, Moorings Park ospreys, Florida-Gainesville, McEuen Park, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, The Woodland Trust (Loch Arkaig), Geemef, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), LRWT, Port Lincoln Ospreys, US Steel Eagle Cam, Little Miami Conservancy, Johnson City-ETSU, Superbeaks, FARMER DEREK, Duke Farms, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, Denton Homes, Raptor Research Project, FORE, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Bluff City-ETSU, Fort St Vrain, IWS/Explore, PA Country Farms, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, SK Hideaways, JB Sands Wetlands, Trudi Kron, Lady Hawk and The Guardian.
My plans for Friday and Saturday have altered. There will be blog posts but they will be briefer than normal for those two days.
It is Wednesday evening. The second egg at the NCTC nest of Bella and Scout is hatching. The chick can be heard on the microphone. Thanks ‘T’ or your keen eye! Send the most positive energy to this nest so that Scout does not kill this second miracle chick! Perhaps Bella will feed the little one when he is there so he can understand that it is not a prey item.
For dear Bella, I hope, like each of you, that this little one fledges and thrives.
Scout has been acting ‘odd’ again. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
It was another gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. 14 degrees C. There was a cool breeze blowing off the lake at the nature centre that made it feel much chillier. The geese and the ducks arriving did not mind! Everyone walking on the trails was happy and one of the rangers remarked that the muskrat had been seen in the swamp. There were Saw-whet Owls, a Blue Heron heard but not seen, woodpeckers, geese, ducks, Red-wing Blackbirds and the Song and Fox Sparrows have returned from their migration.
I heard the Saw-whet Owl but did not see it and this is not unusual for these nocturnal birds.
Cornell Bird Lab gives us some cool facts about these smallest of owls.
The Northern Saw-whet Owl may have been named for giving a call that sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whetting stone, but there is no consensus as to which of its several calls gave rise to the name.
The main prey items of the Northern Saw-whet Owl are mice, and especially deer mice of the genus Peromyscus. Saw-whets usually eat adult mice in pieces, over the course of two meals.
The female Northern Saw-whet Owl does all of the incubation and brooding, while the male does the hunting. When the youngest nestling is about 18 days old, the female leaves the nest to roost elsewhere. The male continues bringing food, which the older nestlings may help feed to their younger siblings.
The female saw-whet keeps the nest very clean, but a mess starts to accumulate when she leaves. By the time the young owls leave the nest, 10 days to 2 weeks later, the nest cavity has a thick layer of feces, pellets, and rotting prey parts.
Migration in saw-whets has historically been poorly understood, because of their nocturnal, reclusive behavior. In the 1990s researchers began Project Owlnet, a collaboration that now consists of more than 100 owl migration banding sites. Researchers use the too-too-too call to lure owls in to mist nets, and band thousands of saw-whets every fall.
Migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls can cross the Great Lakes or other large bodies of water. In October of 1999, one landed on a fishing vessel 70 miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean near Montauk, New York.
The oldest Northern Saw-whet Owl on record was at least 9 years, 5 months old when it was captured and released by a Minnesota bird bander in 2007. It was originally banded in Ontario in 1999.
In the urban area where I live, habitat loss is one of the primary reasons for wildlife decline. My goal over the past decade has been to create a corridor or the birds – an area populated by bird feeders, bird houses, bee houses, and, ironically, safe places for the feral cats to feed, drink, and sleep. (I have discovered that the feral cats do not bother the birds at the feeders. It is the domestic pets that do!) Cornell Bird Lab is reaching out and asking that each of us do something to provide habitat for the birds.
Make a Difference for Birds Facing Habitat Loss “As I was setting up the nest boxes, I saw my first Tree Swallow of the season and had a pair of bluebirds checking out the boxes right after I put them up—looks like the boxes are bluebird approved!”—Kim Savides, Ithaca, NY Experiences like this are more common than you might think! Creating a nesting space for birds helps replace missing habitat elements and alleviate competition for good nest sites. Cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, chickadees, swallows, and titmice will appreciate the additional space, while you get to enjoy the magic of witnessing nature close to home. You can get personalized guidance on which nest boxes to install for your region and habitat—along with free construction plans—on the NestWatch website. Don’t have space for a nest box? Create other nesting opportunities by hanging flower boxes or adding potted plants to your outdoor space. Just don’t wait too long; birds are looking for the ideal nesting spot right now!
I promised you some images of ‘The Girls’. Missey and Hugo Yugo have been getting into far too much mischief. They have their own ‘feather’ collection, which consists of a vase full of Canada goose feathers, which they can play with at any time. Ah, but since one feather looks like the other, they have also been into my Pheasant and Peacock feathers vase. The Peacock feathers are quite old. My grandmother’s younger sister raised peacocks on her farm in Oklahoma. I remember their tails fanned out in the front garden as a child.
I there is trouble or anything ‘going on’ you can count on Hugo Yugo being involved. Dear Hope was sitting minding her own business when Hugo Yugo decided it was time to play!
Remember. Hugo Yugo is very, very tiny for her age. She easily fits into that shoe box with room left over. She plays like a kitten and continues to be the size of one even though she is seven months old.
Hope loves to watch the squirrels out of the window and is very curious about the ‘outdoor’ cats. Here she is sitting minding her own business.
Hugo Yugo has spotted Hope and is ready to play!
Hope has so much patience – like the others because of Hugo Yugo’s size.
Hugo Yugo never seems to get tired of play fighting.
She easily pushes Baby Hope over on her back.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, Baby Hope gets some peace. Hugo Yugo’s battery is out of juice.
The sweetest cat…Calico.
‘J’ sends us the latest update on Meadow:
Mid-week Meadow update: We sent the DNA sample to the lab on Monday, so we expect results back sometime in the next couple of weeks. Meadow is eating well from tongs in the kennel — and all that food gets pretty expensive! Meadow is fed four times a day, as eagles grow incredibly fast in order to leave the nest at 12-14 weeks. The average Bald Eagle rehabilitation costs our Center more than $5,000 including medical care, housing, and food. To support Meadow’s care, please contribute at https://act.audubon.org/onlineact…/ar8crC6bIUGX9UsdFBWdnw2
‘H’ brings us the fully daily report from Moorings Park:
“Harry brought a small whole fish at 0711. Tuffy received one bite and was beaked by Ruffie. Tuffy moved away and Ruffie ate. At 0716 Tuffy was beaked again even though he was not in a position to eat. The fish was gone by 0722. One bite for Tuffy.
At 0920 Harry delivered a large live fish. There was no initial aggression toward Tuffy other than ‘the look’, which was enough to keep Tuffy from the table. At 0928 Tuffy got one bite and was beaked and driven away. One more bite for Tuffy at 0934, and he was beaked. Tuffy ate another bite of fish at 0937 and was severely beaked by Ruffie. By 0940, Ruffie quit the feeding, but she blocked Tuffy from Sally. There was still a fair amount of fish remaining. Sally ate some, and at 0945 Ruffie ate some more. At 0946 Tuffie started to make his move to get around to the other side of Sally, but by the time he got there, Ruffie was finished eating and moved away. At that point Tuffy was fed a nice breakfast. Tuffy was seen crop dropping a few times to make more room. The fish was gone by 0959, and Sally found a few scraps off the nest to offer Tuffy as well. Tuffy ate at least 63 bites of fish.”
… At 1131 Harry brought a headless fish. Tuffy moved away as he has been conditioned to do. Ruffie was fed. Ruffie wasn’t very hungry and moved across the nest at 1135. Tuffy could not believe his luck! Tuffy had Sally and the fish all to himself, and he ate at least 98 bites of fish by 1147, at which time he walked away from Sally. Then, Ruffie ate again for a few minutes, and Sally finished the fish tail.
…At 1519 Harry delivered a fairly large headless fish, four hours after the last fish. Tuffy stayed near the front, but turned away from Ruffie, and Ruffie was fed. At 1521 Tuffy received one bite, then was intimidated by Ruffie with ‘the look’. The video live stream froze at 1524, and resumed at 1536. So, while we have no idea what transpired in those 12 minutes, we found the siblings eating side by side. The meal was over by 1539. Tuffy had a huge crop…enough said!
‘H’ caught Harry coming in with two fish! A double-header.
“Master-fisher, Harry, delivered two whole fish at 1655, a medium-sized one and a large one. Harry flew off with the larger fish. Ruffie ate while Tuffy stayed back. Tuffy still had a decent sized crop from the 1519 meal, and he did not seem hungry. Sally and Ruffie ate all of the fish by 1703.
… At 1703 Harry returned with the headless one.”
Everyone loves Tuffy and MM caught this great image! It sure looks like Tuffy is giving Ruffy an earful. ‘MM’ says that Ruffy did not retaliate. Yeah for Tuffy.
This image of Tuffy telling Ruffy the what for touched so many hearts. After I saw MM’s image and H’s little video for me, The Tuffy Fan Club lit up my inbox. If only this little osprey knew what a cheering section it has – my goodness. This is a memorable moment. This is what it is all about—watching the very difficult times and seeing some of these little ones come out fighting and surviving. You never forget them.
‘H’ captured the moment in the video, making my day. I love it when these little beaten ones turn around to their perpetrator. You know that this nest is turning around.
And then, there was a late delivery. ‘H’ writes: “Harry dropped off a small partial fish at 2150. Sally ate, and she had a difficult time connecting with little beaks due to the darkness. It was peaceful, but Ruffie got the most simply because she could reach out further to Tuffy. Tuffy ate 5-6 bites.”
Thursday morning report at Moorings Park from ‘H’: ‘At 0759 Harry arrived with a very large headless fish (possibly catfish). Ruffie beaked Tuffy immediately, setting the tone. Tuffy tucked. At 0808 and 0810 Tuffy tried to approach Sally, but he was intimidated by Ruffie, so he moved further to the sidelines. Tuffy remained tucked at the sidelines for a very long time. Ruffie was not being fed that entire time, but she kept an eye on Tuffy. The fish was very tough, and it was slow-going for Sally. At 0825, Tuffy started to slowly inch closer to Sally, and by 0826 he was at her right side letting her know that he was ready to eat…but, Ruffy was obviously ready to pounce. Sure enough, at 0826 Sally offered Tuffy a bite, and he was immediately beaked by Ruffie. At 0832 Tuffy scooted even further away from the feeding line, but Ruffy followed him. At 0835 Ruffie saw that Tuffy was trying to sneak around to the other side of Sally and she moved across the nest and beaked him. By 0849 Tuffy was still tucked at the far rail, and Ruffie was getting bites of fish whenever she could as Saly continued to struggle with the tough fish. It’s Interesting to note, that since Ruffie has grown so much, she can reach Sally’s beak from almost across the nest, so at 0850, Ruffie was still getting a few bites from Sally all the way across the nest. This increased range of Ruffie seemed to greatly reduce Tuffy’s ability to sneak around to get into a better position. Slowly, Ruffie seemed to be relaxing as she got full, and Tuffy was once again near Sally at 0852. Tuffy ate 6 bites of fish and was beaked. Ruffie soon moved away from Sally, and by 0855 Tuffy was finally being fed. Ruffie laid down across the nest and Tuffy had a private feeding. Tuffy ate at least 102 bites of that tough catfish! This feeding of Tuffy was made possible because of the large size of the fish Harry brought. For survival of the non-dominant osplet.. size matters.”
‘H’ said that right! You can count fish, but you need regular deliveries of large fish to prevent siblicide. The delivery of 8 small fish does not help! Catfish also seem to help. The head is tough going and slows down the feeding. The oldest gets full and goes away leaving fish for the little one. Diane’s catfish at Achieva certainly pulled that nest through tough times.
‘H’ also caught the second egg at Carthage – four days after the first and Mum has been doing hard incubation since the first one was laid. Can I say, oh, dear before they have even hatched? All chicks were lost on this nest last year.
‘H’ reports that “First egg at Forsythe today, 20.10.02.” Opal is the same Mum from last year but this is a new Oscar.
Like so many others in the area, this nest was hit hard by the Nor’easter in June and then the overfishing of the Menhaden.
The weather is horrible at Loch Arkaig’s nest 2 with Louis and Dorcha. Dorcha is there in the middle of the wind and snow and it appears she could be laying her first egg.
‘J’ sends us Karen Mott’s photo of the three eaglets at Centreport on Long Island. What a surprise when their heads all pop up!
Unless you are an expert on California Condors, I really suggest you grab a cuppa’ and watch this 24 minute film. It’s new. It is by Tim Huntington and the cinematography is gorgeous.
It feels like video day! Dani Connor Wild gives us her last instalment of her trip to Antarctica with leopard Seals, more Penguins, and story after story.
JBS20 continues to make his fan club nervous as he continues to explore the tower that would be a tree. Fledging within the week probably.
Despite the miserable wet weather, Bonnie and Clyde keep their eaglets fed and warm.
The weather is wet and miserable for the Little Miami Conservancy eagle family, too. Bette is doing a great job as Umbrella while Baker is keeping food on the nest.
The ND-LEEF babies of Dad and Gigi appear to be doing fine.
USS7 – Claire and Irvin’s little one – is super! We can certainly be thankful for these little ones with their soft downy heads and little wings and feet.
Ellie and Harvey filled up Cheyenne and Wichita on Wednesday.
I know that the prey deliveries get fewer as the eaglets get older, but after hearing about Meadow being emaciated, it would be so nice if the parents could keep up the deliveries like they did when the eaglets are in their growth period. The Dukies would have liked some more today I am certain.
Hearts continue to break for Jackie and Shadow and their dream of a family.
Port Tobacco’s ‘Only Eaglet’ is certainly benefitting from all that food brought to the nest and not having to share but Chandler, the Dad, is missing.
Update: B17 has died. Please send your good wishes to Ma and Missey at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest in Georgia. Their only eaglet B17 appears to be unwell. Did it get sick from the damp weather? This photo is from Tuesday.
This is the today’s state of affairs at the eagle nests from ‘J’:
New eaglets: Bald Canyon 2 Folfan 3 Avon Lake 2
Eaglet died: Berry College
MIA: Chandler, the male, at Port Tobacco. Not seen at the nest since 9 April. Intruders about.
‘J’
The eaglets at Decorah North must bring us some happiness. They are lovely.
We have a Finnish Osprey at home. Cara arrives at the Janakkala Nest on Tuesday the 9th!
Then, almost simultaneously, Stefu arrives at the Seili Nest! They are coming home.
Falcons hatching in Eindhoven and in Japan!
At Port Lincoln, Bradley loves to show off his fish!
‘A’ brings us news of the Mums at Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony: “The mums are obviously foraging closer to home than the males in the Royal Cam families, with both BOK (arrived 12:46) and LGL (13:04) coming in to feed their boys some lunch today (11 April). I thought you might be interested in this footage, not for general consumption because it is a bit long (18 minutes) but it is the beginning that was fascinating to me. The story here is that BOK returned when she was ready to find a mate (so probably aged about four) and this bird, at the time known as Red, was her preferred suitor. This was the footage of the day Red was banded and became WYL, father of TFT chick with his mate, BOK. The thing that interested me the most was that this is a mature bird, ready to court and find a mate. They don’t return to Taiaroa Head until then. So Red must have been at least three and probably four or even five years old. And he allowed the rangers to approach him, extend an arm (for self-protection) and pick him up while holding his bill closed. There is no attempt to flee, struggle or engage in self-defence. He just quietly submits to the rangers’ tender care, while they equip him with the White, Yellow and Lime banding that identifies him as WYL. Imagine doing that to an eagle at the same age! You’d lose a limb. And an eye or three. The stately gentle beauty of these amazing birds never ceases to take my breath away. Looking at those adorable little snowmen with their tiny little fluffy wings that will soon become like the wings of a glider plane, steering their direction as they ride the thermals. These are wings designed not to flap, which would be pretty much impossible given their enormous spread, but to surf the wind currents. Truly amazing birds. So very precious. A haven such as Taiaroa Head shows human beings at our best. Those rangers (and the NZ government that finances their work) dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of the toroa, which are particularly special to the Indigenous people of NZ (the Maoris). How wonderful is it to know that these chicks are hatched in an incubator to protect them from fly strike, and are then weighed weekly, supplementary fed if necessary, and generally given optimal care throughout their prefledge period? Or knowing that the adults, too, will receive supplementary feeding and/or hydration as required, such as if one parent does not return to relieve its mate for an over-long period of time? Or that the sprinkler system will be turned on to keep the chicks and adults on the nests cool on days where heat stress might otherwise impact them? What a joy.
Small colony of Dorset Puffins on the brink of extinction.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care and feel free to send me any bird news that you see!
Thank you to the following for their notes, photographs, screen captures, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, J, H, MM, T’, Deb Stecyk, NTCT Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Carthage – DTC, Forsythe Osprey Cam, The Woodland Trust, Karen Mott-Centreport Eagles, Ventana Wildlife Society, DaniConnorWild, JB Sands Wetlands, Cardinal Land, Duke Farms, SK Hideaways, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Kansas City Eagles, ND-LEEF, Pix Cams, Berry College Eagle Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Yvonne M, Japanese Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Lady Hawk, and BirdGuides.
Sunday was just the most gorgeous day. Blue sky and a warm +5. Great to get outside as much of that ice is now gone.
It was a great day to go for a walk, weather-wise. When we got to our destination, there were approximately nine deer, several of them quite young, in front of us. Then, an individual with a Golden Doodle let their dog off the lead, instructing them to chase the deer. The dog began barking loudly and running at the wildlife, at which time I stood and spread my arms, and told it to go back. This was not before the deer were quite frightened and began to run across a road in the park that was rather busy today. Now, why on earth would someone do this?
The feeders were busy. There were a couple of Pine Siskins and a Dark-eyed Junco, along with the normal group of sparrows, the two Blue Jays, and a female Downy Woodpecker. The Crows could be heard but not seen. Little Red and more Little Reds were eating peanuts along with Dyson. It is always so good too see her.
Dyson looks good!
Sunday’s news is that Jack and Edie have their first Osprey egg together at Captiva. That egg and all that bark have caused a bit of an issue.
‘H’ reports: “Well, at 14.49.39 both Jack and Edie left urgently due to an intruder, and Edie accidentally kicked the egg out of the bowl when she flew off (that’s exactly what Flo did to egg #1 last season). Jack had been trying to roll the egg back to the center for a while, and finally had to move some bark, then rolled the egg toward the center by 17.08.38, but the egg was still on top of palm fiber. Jack sat on the egg to incubate at 17.10. Then a short while later Jack stood to move a bothersome stick, and since the egg was on the fiber, it rolled outward again.”
The egg rolled out again and ‘H’ reports that Edie is incubating palm fibre with the egg being covered by the material to her right. If they could get that egg under Edie by the time she gets to hard incubation of her other eggs, I wonder if it would be viable.
The saga of the egg continued during the night as Edie and Jack tried desperately to get it back to the middle of the nest. ‘H’ reports that the wind finally took the covering off. Now the egg is free! Wonder what will happen now.
We have a first egg at the Decorah Goose Cam!
Thunder and Akecheta welcomed their second hatch. This makes my heart beat a little lighter. Of all the Channel Islands eagles, these two have the best luck with eggs and raising chicks. They will need it this year. These two are already bonking furiously. Thunder appeared to get fed up with this and went back to brooding the pair.
Thunder makes sure they both get fed. Gosh, these two produce feisty chicks. It is a bonk fest.
Everyone continues to root for Jak and Audacity and Jackie and Shadow. The positive energy and love going their way is tremendous. If only it could produce eaglets.
Audacity.
Jackie.
‘A’ reports on Tom and Angel: “That nest of Angel and Tom’s looks very much ready to receive a brace of eggs (not three yet Angel – Tom is a bit inexperienced still to feed a family of five, I fear).”
The battle for the nest at Dulles-Greenway continues. Rosa’s mate, Martin, disappeared in December. They had raised three eaglets – Pi, Pat, and Flora in 2023 to fledge and the nest collapsed. It was rebuilt. Rosa’s new mate, Lewis, did not help and she quit incubating the two eggs she had laid on the 23rd of February, 9 days after she laid the first egg. Did she just leave? was she killed by another female wanting the nest? Currently, Lewis is on the nest with a new female according to the latest reports. I have now placed Rosa on the Memorial Page for 2024.
It looks like Swampy and Meadow have a possum to practice their self-feeding. Later, a parent helps them. They are now in training! These two just about gave me a heart attack today when they were both leaning way over the edge of the nest!
E23 wants to fly and is doing really high hover moves.
More fish stacked at the Duke Farms nest. This new dad is fantastic! There has been some concern about Jersey, the smaller eaglet. Leaper is the oldest. Comments on the chat seem to indicate that Jersey has had some good feedings on Sunday.
Very windy at the nest of Jolene and Boone in Johnson City, TN on Sunday. Eaglets are Little John and JC. I have had some concerns here, but that little one came back to eat after some pretty good bonks.
It is not clear how much food the second hatch is getting at Bluff City yet. Yesterday, Franklin made sure that BC 25 was fed. The chicks are Oliver, the oldest, and Willow, the youngest. Their parents are Franklin and Frances.
Isn’t this Osprey beautiful? Frank Borja took it while watching a Saturday track and field meet in San Diego. We are looking for more information. Osprey has a blue colour band on the left leg, with a numeric, either 61 or 19, depending on which way it is to be read. Do you know this osprey number? We are searching and have sent a query to USFWS and reported the band sighting. The osprey looks to be in very good condition with a nice fish dinner.
‘J’ sent news that Ojai is banning glue traps! This is great news if the stops and on line retailers will stop selling them! Despite a ban in my city, I continued to find these for sale in big retail chains.
Sharon Dunne reporting on the TF chick and its visit with Mum.
Love TF chick? His parents? All the other albatross and seabirds? PLEASE stop using plastic. It is bad for humans (you can find endless articles about forever toxins used in plastic), and it is deadly for Royal Albatross chicks whose parents forage in the sea and fill their babies with plastic! What a garbage dump we have created on our planet. It is time to do something about this. Refrain from purchasing plastic items. Do not use plastic in your microwave. Tell your shops to stop buying cheap imported plastic items that are thrown away. Start investing in buying less but better. The world will thank you.
Milda and Mr H are working fast and hard to get that nest ready for eggs! I am thinking around the 25th.
I honestly cannot get enough of the Port Lincoln Lads hanging out together. This is pretty awesome.
Arthur was working on the Cornell nest for a few minutes before the snow started Sunday evening.
Off he goes over Tower Road.
We love seeing our falcons out and about the urban areas staying safe.
Olivia and Oscar are now both back at Severna Park’s Osprey Platform.
Dr Sharpe has cancelled his retirement. Please note his comment about the build-up of DDT in the older eagles in the Channel Islands – and this would apply to other areas such as Big Bear Lake where DDT was sprayed extensively.
As many as half a million barrels of DDT were discovered leaking in the Channel Islands in 2020. Leaking. Hidden at a depth of 3000 feet so that no one could discover them – the ocean and inlets are garbage dumps used by humans. Out of sight but not out of mind and certainly harming the wildlife.
We love Jackie and Shadow. Everyone sat and hoped that with three eggs one of them would be viable. As we close in on the final days that egg #3 might be, let us all applaud this couple who have laid 14 eggs together with 5 of those eggs hatching. It is known that 2 or 3 of that 5 have survived into adulthood. One of those most of you will remember as Spirit from two years ago. I hope that Jackie and Shadow will have another opportunity to raise an eaglet, but if they don’t, they can sure teach us much about getting on with life in the face of adversity. Send them your love!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, photographs, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, FB, H, J’, Window to Wildlife, Decorah Goose Cam, IWS/Explore.org, FOBBV, Dulles-Greenway Eagle Cam, Loudoun Times-Mirror, Eagle Country, Lady Hawk, Duke Farms, Sylvia, Johnson City-ETSU, Bluff City-ETSU, Rollin’ Rog, Frank Borja, Ojai Raptor Center, Sharon Dunne, NZ DOC, National Geographic, Open Verse, Biruta Lapa, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Cornell RTH, Linda McIlroy, Lucille Powell, Dr Sharpe, and The Los Angeles Times.
