Category Archives: bird cams

Wednesday in Bird World

21 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

Gosh, golly. The big story continues to be the weather here in Canada. There was a huge storm that blasted through this region in the late afternoon, and then it stopped. The skies were absolutely black. The winds calmed a bit and then the sun tried its best to glimmer through the thick clouds. It is difficult to describe how serene it was sitting on the rocks by the water below – the waves pounding against the shore. Compared to the human ‘noise’ in the city this was idyllic.

There was no chance to count Bald Eagle nests along the Black Wolf Trail where the nests are constructed along the shore. The trail was once again ‘closed’.

This looks like a good place for waterfowl but, it was quiet.

Ah, caught one of the gazillions of Dragonflies working hard and eating well this summer along the Grassy Narrows boardwalk.

There are also lots of large Spruce trees and dense forest everywhere.

Today was the day for Pelicans!

In the City, the heat warning is for a humidex rating of 51 C and they are also expecting a big thunderstorm. In Alberta, not far from the Fortix Exshaw nest is snow. I went and checked on that Mum with her three little ones. I fear for the damp wet so we all hold our breath and send them good wishes. The three chicks and Mum were eating fine.

Thanks for everyone who kept an eye on Little Mini for me. ‘R’ gives a great synopsis of Monday: “I checked on mini several times yesterday.  She had a large crop most of the day and has figured out how to have a large meal by herself.  She is almost as big as 3! It is amazing how, in a nest of 4 osplets, she gets to be fed by Mum at almost every feeding, especially in the morning and the last fish at night.  Dad was really good yesterday.  Everyone was well behaved except one minor tussle between 1 and mini. Mini is fun to watch as she outsmarts the rest of her siblings!” ‘R’ and I have watched many nests with siblicide so it is so refreshing to see Mini doing well.

‘L’ reports on Tuesday: “Our little Mini went to bed hungry and crying tonight. I read that she /he got breakfast but only a few bites here and there today. The dad brought in a lot of little orange fish. Maybe from someone’s pond. Each one of the bigs got their own and I think three had to share some with them and Mom ate in between too.   I feel really sad for Mini but they seem to be trying to train the three bigs to eat on their own but at the same time Mom feeds the bigs plus they get a fish too all day. Then they bigs won’t let Mini eat and attack.”

Sundays are write-offs because Dad can never bring in enough fish. Then the Bigs eat everything on Monday. It is a good thing that Little Mini likes to get up early. On Tuesday, that saved Little Mini – a good feed in the morning! 

0817 – has a huge crop! Good thing. Mini didn’t seem to get fish before bed and ‘L’ reports the wee one went to bed fish crying to Mum!

‘L’ reports that Little Mini had breakfast today. Yippee and ‘rats’. Those big ones were awake, too.

‘H’ reports on Barnegat Light which has been a problem nest in the past and is turning into it this year. I hope things calm down but this is the rundown of the feedings on Tuesday.

“Feeding 0629 to 0647 -Lined up [2,1,3], Big beaked Little at 0630 (pretty severely).  At 0634 Little tried to approach and was given ‘the look’, and then Big beaked Middle.  At 0635 Little got one bite, and was beaked by Big.  At 0636 Big again beaked Little.  0638 Little got another bite.  At 0639 Little started to get consecutive bites, apparently with Big’s blessing.  Total bites for Little = 39.  Feeding 0859 to 0906 -Positioned [1,2,3].  They actually ate well together, until 0905 at which time Big beaked Middle and then Little.  Total bites for Little = 16.Feeding 1051 to 1059 -Little stayed away from the feeding for quite awhile, but I had not seen any bonking of Little.  The view was blocked by Daisy.  My impression was that Little had been bonked, though.  At 1055 Little approached the feeding line, but was intimidated by Big.  At 1056, Little scooted up beside Middle [1,2,3].  Daisy continued to feed Big and Middle.  It appeared as though she may have reached over to Little three times.  Bites for Little = 3.Feeding 1226 to 1234 -Little rushed to Mom as soon as she took possession of the fish, and immediately started to receive bites of fish. When the others got there they were widely spaced apart at [3,1,2] positioning.  For some reason, there was no aggression.  For part of the feeding, Little had a piece of fish hanging from its beak and Big tried to get that piece off Little’s beak.  Little beaked Big, but Big did not beak Little.  Total bites for Little = 66. Feeding 1339 to 1351 – Little hesitated at first, but eventually moved to the feeding line beside Big [3,1,2].  Daisy moved to block our view of Little.  It did not appear that Little was beaked during the feeding, and Daisy’s head did appear to go in Little’s direction at times.  It was impossible to quantify how much Little ate.  Little had a small crop before the meal, and a larger crop after the meal.Feeding 1610 to 1621 -Little went to Mom first and got the first few bites.  They lined up [1,2,3].  There was no bonking during the meal!  Little ate at least 65 bites.  Then Little bonked Middle.  Middle did not retaliate.Feeding 1850 to 1901 -Lined up [1,2,3].  1852 After Little had eaten 5 bites, Middle beaked Little very aggressively, and repeated this at 1853 and 1854.  At 1855, Little dropped back, and to my surprise, did an end-around all the way to the other end of the feeding line (next to Big).  Little managed to get some more bites.  At 1859, after Big dropped out, Little beaked Middle, and Middle beaked back.  Big beaked Middle at the end of the feeding.  Total bites for Little = 19.”

‘H’ reports that there is no aggression on Tuesday at Forsythe and all are well fed.

At Kent Island, there were a couple of feedings for the wee babe.

Cowlitz PUD: Two fish on the nest at one..chick eating well! Relief.

Oyster Bay: Everything is great.

Boulder County Fair Grounds: Enough fish for Mum and Dad to feed one another. Lots of submission.

Marders: The only surviving osplet appears to be doing well. Now…someone is missing a slider.

Outerbanks 24/7: Everything is great! Just look at those three gorgeous chicks. One self-feeding and the other being fed. Beautiful.

South Cape May: ‘H’ reports that Hera is a good feeder with some good bites but sometimes blocks the screen so you can’t always see how much Little gets. Fingers crossed.

First District Utility: Cannot see much but, you can hear those large osplets cheeping away, fish calling. And once in awhile you can see the juvenile feathers coming through the fog of a dirty lens.

Poole Harbour: Three very healthy osplets.

Llyn Brenig: All is well.

Loch Arkaig: A family portrait.

Glaslyn: Two feisty Bobs.

Loch of the Lowes: Big Bob often sending Middle into submission…

Deyani had rain and nice weather but no Mum – Angel did not appear on Tuesday.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Nest: Looks like there could be problems.

In comparison, check out the great feeding at nest 3 in Finland!

At Cal Falcons, Lou was just hanging around!

An update from Nick Beres on the eaglets that were in the nest when someone chopped down their tree. Unbelievable.

It is impossible to understand the mind of anyone who would due such cruel acts.

Swans-decapitated-amid-rising-attacks-against-waterfowl-in-England-and-Wales-Birds-The-GuardianDownload

‘R’ sent me a very informative and frightening article on the impact that human activity over the past 70 years has had on our ‘nest’.

Are-we-in-the-Anthropocene-Why-Canadas-Crawford-Lake-may-hold-answers-Washington-PostDownload

The whole weather situation – with systems turning life upside down for many – ties in nicely with the article from the Washington Post. It all impacts our beloved feathered friends. Thank you to everyone who wants to take on the no-plastic challenge! It was so lovely to hear from you. As a good example, I went to buy a new broom to take care of all that cat hair – instead of always taking out the Dyson. It is difficult to find a broom that is not plastic! Wooden handle and hay bristles. I just wanted to let you know that it can be done. Pat yourself on the back. We can do this.

Thank you for being with me today. Take care of yourself. See you soon.

Thank you to everyone for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped to make up my blog this morning: ‘A, H, L, R’, PSEG, Conservancy Foundation of NJ, Forsythe Ospreys, Chesapeake Conservancy, Cowlitz PUD, Boulder City Fair Grounds, Marden’s, Outerbanks 24/7, First District Utility, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LOTL, Window to Wildlife, Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch, Finnish Osprey Foundation, SK Hideaways and al Falcons, Nick Beres NC5, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.

World Albatross Day…Monday in Bird World

19 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that each of you had a lovely weekend. It is World Albatross Day today and the theme this year is the harm that plastics due to the sea and to these fish eating beauties. They fill up with plastic ‘things and then get so full they cannot eat real food and die. They feed plastic to their babies like SP at Taiaroa Head, NZ. Th e Royal Cam chick of the year. Then they die. How can we help? Let’s start at home. The next time you purchase an item, try to go plastic free. Then do it again. Soon you will be doing so much good for the environment, yourself, and our precious wildlife.

“‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ on World Environment Day 2018” by United Nations Information Service Vienna is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Today is a run-through of many nests because I have not caught up with some for a few days. There are only brief notes to say that they are alright. I know that many of you wait for the news of some of the nests that we are concerned about. Hopefully, this will give you a quick sense of how they are doing. I apologise that this reads a bit like a grocery list. It is also the day that I drive north to the Grindstone/Hecla Island Provincial Parks to attempt a count of the Bald Eagle nests around the island. Last year the nests were flooded. All of the eggs were lost. I will take you to the islands and show you a different part of my province and its wildlife.

The area was initially settled by people migrating from Iceland and many of the communities in the surrounding area are populated by people of Icelandic descent.

I am also looking forward to stops along the way and little day trips to areas where I have never been…a breath of fresh air from the City OR will it be with the forest fires?

We need a smile. Thanks, Cal Falcons.

I want to give a big shout-out to Kathleen at Marder’s. Two of their osplets died, and the third is not in good shape. They responded quickly. Marders has a lift ready to retrieve the two little eaglet bodies. They will be refrigerated so that they can be collected by the DEC. Dr Gavin Hitchener will perform the necroscopy if the bodies are not too decomposed. Marder’s loves their ospreys. This has been a sad year for them and others along this coast.

Nest and Scrape Round Up:

I am going to start with a couple of the Latvian nests. My friend Sassa Bird is dancing with glee as the rains are coming down in Latvia. I hope she doesn’t mind…her note was so joyous. She says, “I can happily report that it has been raining for two days in Latvia. Finally!!! I can’t remember the last time when I was so overjoyed about raining and taking it in with all my senses. I’m so happy for all the wildlife getting some relief. We already see a rapid change in the feeding pattern at our live-streamed white stork nest – they’re getting more and more of all the little creatures that have come out of hiding.”

When I went to check on the nests, the forest is so alive with song and life!

White Storks, Tukums, Latvia: They will be so happy because of the rain! Sassa Bird says they have been eating much better since the rains began.

Lesser Spotted Eagles, Latvia: The nest of Anna and Andris and their only surviving eaglet. The rains have brought out the small animals and Andris brings a vole to the chick on the nest who is hungry.

Video of Anna bringing a bird for the chick, Arturs, on 18 June.

Karl II and Kaia Black Stork Nest, Karula National Forest, Estonia: No rain yet for this couple and their three storklets after the brood reduction of Little Benjamin. Send them good positive energy. Let the rains come and the frogs come out of hiding! Such a lovely family.

No rain but Karl II found some fodder for the storklets and Kaia gave them water…Here are the feedings from Sunday.

Kaia giving water to her storklets.

Black Stork Nest, Lodz Poland: The only surviving storklet was getting a feeding when I last checked! Good news.

Black Stork Nest, Wolsztyn, Poland: Missing Tytania returns to the nest after a three-day absence. Want to see ‘stork’ happiness? Watch. Do not, for a second, ever let anyone tell you that wildlife do not have emotions.

White Stork Nest, Mlady Buky: The four storklets of Bety and Bukacek have been ringed and are growing and growing. The food source must be very good in this area of The Czech Republic.

Collins Marsh: The third osplet has died either late on the 16th or the 17t of June, 9-10 days old. Image is of Mum with her two surviving osplets and a partial fish.

Cowlitz PUD: Looks good today.

Newfoundland Power: Three eggs being incubated at the nest that is considered a ‘lost hope’. Let’s see if we can get a fledge here this year! That would be brilliant.

Fortis Exshaw: There are two hatches. The second shortly after the first. Yeah for delayed incubation! Rain is there and windy. Fingers crossed. It is a really deep nest cup and this could help these hatchlings.

Boulder County Fairgrounds: Gosh, this nest is doing well today.

HellGate, Missoula Montana Ball Park: Star and Louis have three osplets this year. That is why Louis has been so busy! He doesn’t have time to go over to that ‘other’ nest.

Severna Park: ‘H’ says that everything is fantastic. Big and Middle are now thriving and we remember Little. Great screen caps, ‘H’. Thank you.

Forsythe: ‘H’ reports that the nest has settled down with the death of Mini and that all were lined up eating without beaking.

Dahlgren: This osprey nest has just been civil and peaceful all season. The chicks are doing great. Thanks’ H’.

Kent Island: It seems that Audrey has figured out that she needs to feed her Only bob! As ‘H’ says, ‘thank goodness’.

Patuxent I: Serene.

Patchogue. Sunday is always a bad day for fish on this nest. I wonder if it is the number of people going outside to the creeks and lake? Mini never gets all the food it wants, but the wee one started out alright with a massive crop at 0908. That was good because Mini got shut out of several fish later in the day. Keep an eye on Mini for me on Monday. Send me a note telling me how it did. Thank you!

There is so much rubbish on our osprey nests. Mum tried to get rid of that clear plastic. Every nest should be cleaned, thoroughly, before the next breeding season starts.

Oyster Bay: The three seem to be doing alright.

Outerbanks: Kathryn reports that the nest is tranquil compared to the other two nests she observed. It has to be – 9 fish before 1230! Gracious. Incredible.

Barnegat Light: This is now the problem nest with Big beaking Little almost constantly. ‘He’ kept close tabs on this nest on Sunday and Little did manage to get a total of 239 bites but there were a lot of feedings. Hoping the aggravation and dominance from the first hatch settles down.

Finland Saaksilvie 1: All is good.

Finland Saaksilvie 5 (LS): Nice fish deliveries. Chicks are in the Reptile phase. All is good.

Poole Harbour: Life is sweet for the trio of CJ7 and Blue 022. Lots of fish, growing like mad. Little Reptiles in the making.

Llyn Brenig: All is great in Wales!

Loch of the Lowes: Laddie brought in a huge trout for the family. All is good.

Manton Bay: The problem is this is such a successful nest that I don’t always check in. Beautiful trio. Banding soon…Proud parents Maya and Blue 33.

Dyfi Ospreys: Wet chicks! Banding in about a week. Well done Idris and Telyn.

Loch Arkaig: Many have said that they are glad that Louis and Dorcha had only this Bob as it is a handful and a half. Cannot even imagine with all the fine fish the life the Middle might have had! LOL.

The latest news from Kielder:

New-post-Nest-5A-newsDownload

Imperial Eaglets, Tatarstan, Russia: The two eaglets of Alton and Altynay are doing fantastic! So big and healthy!

Evergy Topeka Scrape: The older siblings have fledged and are getting fed at the scrape and mid-air while the third hatch with its underdeveloped plumage waits in the scrape hoping for a feeding. The company and a wildlife rehabber in the area have been contacted by the situation. The eyas is beginning to develop feathers but is very late and some have not come out of their shafts. Looking better each day.

San Jose City Hall: What can I say? Soledad is trying out for the role of The Hulk.

Angel and Tom RTH: “Deyani is still on the nest at 6.15pm so hopefully we won’t get a late afternoon fledge (it is light at that nest until well after 9pm). Deyani finally killed the pine cone early this morning. It is now just a small piece. It is astounding to me that she is still on the nest. She is flapping and jumping all over the nest, prey spotting on the ground (we thought she was about to take the plunge this morning when she saw something particularly interesting) and perfecting some very vicious-looking grabbing and killing skills on innocent nest material. Such an exquisite hawklet.”

Later ‘A’ remarks: “Deyani’s only meal today was a bird (catbird according to some chatters) after 4pm, so the parents are definitely giving her the hint, I think. Angel spent the previous two nights sleeping on the branch near the nest (until then, she had spent every night on the nest with Deyani). Tonight, she is not there, but is presumably perched elsewhere in the nest tree, within eyeshot of her precious hawklet. So yes, six are clearly there, the food has been cut right back today and mum has left the building (or at least the near vicinity). So it’s time to fly sweetheart. We want you to stay forever but your parents have other ideas.”

One of the ways that we tell if a hawk let is ready to fly is to count the lines on its tail. It is better if you can clearly count six lines before fledge. Deyani clearly has 6!

Cornell Red Tail Hawks: The Ms. Big Red and Arthur’s kids. Flapping, jumping, and walking…But count the stripes on the tail of this one. Not 6.

Whew! Yes, like a grocery list. I will not be listing nests like this again but there could be some that are unfamiliar and you might want to check them out.

Wondering how it is going in The Gambia fighting Avian Flu? The fundraiser was successful and Conservation without Borders also got some additional help.

And last, climate change affects our feathered friends in many ways.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, tweets, and streaming cams that helped me to create my blog today: ‘A, H, Kathryn, Kathleen, Sassa Bird’, OpenVerse, Cal Falcons, Marders Ospreys, Latvian Fund for Nature, Arlene Beech and the Latvian Fund for Nature, Looduskalender Forum, Eagle Club of Estonia, Lodz Poland Storks, Mlady Buky Storks, Collins Marsh, Cowlitz PUD, Newfoundland Power, Fortist Exshaw, Boulder County Fair Grounds, Louis Matteau and Montana Ospreys at Hellgate, Severna Park, Forsythe Ospreys, Dahlgren Ospreys, Kent Island Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, PSEG, Outerbank 24/7, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, LOTL and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, LRWT, Dyfi Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Kielder Forest, Imperial Eagles Tatarstan, Evergy Topeka, SK Hideaways and San Jose City Hall Falcons, Window to Wildlife, Cornell RTH, and Geemeff and Conservation without Borders.

Fly high Forsythe Mini…Sunday in Bird World

18 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone!

To all the males in the world – raptor or human – who have cared for any living soul in their lifetime, Happy Father’s Day! Rejoice in your compassion and humanity. We thank you.

There is so much news, so I decided to stop and make apricot and cherry jam on Saturday just to shut down. It is necessary sometimes but, first, we have new members of the ‘garden club’. Dyson brought her two kits to the garden today for the first time. My calendar notes show they are 8-9 weeks old (give or take). Dyson has been busy taking peanuts to and from her nest, which I have not located. We have numerous very tall and old trees nearby, and it may be in one of those. Grey squirrels are born without fur, no teeth, and closed eyes. Those eyes do not open until the kits are about six weeks old. Dyson was here with them and I made sure that there were peanuts in all of the tray feeders and on the deck. For some reason, the little ones do not like to get on the ground and good thing – those bloody cats!

Dear Dyson – named because she can suck up peanuts faster than any of Sir Dyson’s vacuum cleaners can get at the cat fur! She is so precious to me and to have her bring her kits into the garden warms me from the top of my head to my big toe.

It is difficult to put in perspective how small they are because they are not standing at the table feeder with Mum.

Dyson is moulting. She looks tired to me. She is not a youngster. Hopefully, lots of good nuts will help her replenish her health now that the two youngsters can fiend for themselves.

We lost two osplets at the Marder’s platform at East Hampton, Long Island, NY, on the 16th, Friday. Thank you for the head’s up ‘SW’. Dr Gavin Hitchener of the Cornell Lab will do a necroscopy if the specimens can be retrieved and if they are not too deteriorated.  He is with the Duck Lab on Long Island. So grateful. What is causing this? It would be good to find out… the number of unexplained osplet deaths this season grows.

The areas of recent sudden deaths are included in this map and begin at Edgewater, Maryland (near the D in Maryland-lower left) and follow the coast to East Hampton, Long Island and then to Cananicut Island, Rhode Island (Jamestown). You can see the coastal/water path that this pattern is taking.

The female at Marders with her only surviving chick.

Today, remembering Mini at the Forsythe Nest who died during the night after surviving horrific conditions of siblicide/starvation. ‘H’ noted that before it died last night, it did a tiny PS Saturday afternoon and took a direct shot at Little who had been the problem with it getting food. Fly high, little one!

There were two more osplets that hatched overnight. The first hatch for Fortis Exshaw is reported by ‘H’ for day 40 of egg 1 on 16 June and the the third hatch for Hera and Zeus on the 18th at South Cape May Meadows. Thanks ‘H’ for monitoring these nests!

As most of you know, this has been a tragic year at many of the US Osprey nests. It feels unprecedented. ‘H’ and I have been monitoring – along with Kathryn and ‘L’ – a number of nests and when we see beaking at a certain stage, we get nervous. With the death of Mini at Forsythe, directly from siblicide/starvation, we are watching carefully the Barnegat Light nest in NJ. Chatters have commented how cute the beaking is – it isn’t. As ‘H’ and I know far too well, this can quickly turn deadly. If you see people considering this light-hearted play, let them know that it is very serious dominance behaviour that could lead to the one being abused being shut out from food. Thank you!

‘H’ reports: “Duke arrived with a partial fish at 1905.  Just prior to the feeding, Middle beaked Little, and then Big beaked Middle.  So both Little and Middle were tucked.  After a moment, Middle was up and joined the feeding.  It took longer for Little to raise up, in between Middle and Big.  After Little received a few bites, he was again beaked by Middle and tucked again.  Little did return to the feeding and received enough bites to have a crop.  It was a relatively short feeding, and the majority of the feeding was peaceful.  After the feeding, Middle and Big engaged in a bit of a beaking-fest.” 

Many of you have wondered what the impact of the wildfires has on the behaviour of wildlife and raptors. ‘R’ sent me an informative article. Have a read!

Researcher-Smoke-from-wildfires-impacted-bird-behavior-Local-News-standard-journal.com_Download

Last night I took the time to check in with the Finnish Osprey nests to see what was happening. Here is a brief encounter with the nests and their chicks – all have three osplets but nest #5 which has only 2. There are two nests without any occupants and one that is curious.

#1: There are three wonderful little osplets.

#3. Three osplets!

#4. There are also three!

#LS-5. Two Osplets.

I am trying to find out what happened at the osprey nest at Janakkalan – the nest of Boris and Tito last year. Female and one if not both chicks are believed to have died of Trichomoniasis. There were two osplets on the nest. Then it appeared that something had happened to both of them and today the female is back on the nest. Very confusing. Do you know?

Second chick hatched on 8 June after the first on the 7th.

The history of the Osprey in Finland:

Keeping with a focus on some of our international osprey nests, I went back to check on a German nest we checked on earlier in the season. Those osplets are doing fantastic.

There are also three osplets at the Urdaibai platform in the Biosphere which is part of the Basque region. It has been raining and miserable – and in past years the chicks have died of exposure. Let us all hope that these three make it.

In her 2006 M.Sc. thesis, FACTORS INFLUENCING MORTALITY IN NESTLING OSPREYS (PANDION HALIAETUS): AN ANALYSIS OF BREEDING STRATEGIES, Jennifer Anne Rettew confirms that “Weather is a significant influence on breeding success. There are fewer young in years of heavy rainfall. Even when brooded, if the nest becomes wet, the mortality of eggs and chicks increases. Younger chicks are vulnerable to becoming too cold. Direct sun can also cause significant mortality among nestlings. This is especially true for younger chicks. Small young are susceptible to overheating on hot summer days (Poole et al. 2002). Severe storms can also cause nestling mortality. Storm killed young are most often older young because they are too large to be effectively brooded by adults. Poole (1984) found that severe storms caused a substantial number of deaths in a third of study sites. However, chicks were also emaciated, indicating that both starvation and exposure during the storms led to mortality. Weather can also cause a decrease in parental provisioning, which in turn can decrease nestling viability. Cloud cover or sun does not have a significant effect on hunting ability but wind speed and water surface conditions do. Precipitation increases the length of hunt duration such that prey delivery rates to the nest decrease in rain. Hunting is no longer profitable for adults in terms of energetic costs when wind speeds are greater than seven meters per second (Machmer and Ydenberg 1990).”

We have seen this several times on streaming cams where the chick cannot get under the female who is brooding in bad weather and dies of exposure. Indeed, it is quite common especially in large broods or where there are large chicks and one smaller one that cannot get underneath Mum to stay dry and warm.

I love it when I get mail where the excitement jumps right off the computer screen. That happened this morning when ‘R’ wrote to tell me about the antics of Little Mini at Patchogue. So instead of taking screen captures, I did a very short video clip and then a little longer one. Our Little Mini is a tour de force!

Little Mini had such a good day that on several occasions, it appears that she is so full she can hardly walk. It is difficult to imagine having to worry about Mini any longer. This is a formidable, intelligent osplet that is determined to eat as much fish as it can, when it can – and survive!

One of the neighbourhood children saw this image and thought that Mini had quite the costume on but that the ‘grey sweater’ was ‘too tight’. LOL. I was hysterical! Out of the mouths of youngsters! They all love Little Mini and are so excited she is thriving.

‘A’ reports that Deyani ate a skunk today – amongst other prey items. Oh, gosh golly. Tom fed it to his girl who has been jumping and flapping all over the nest. Fledge is near.

The little RTH living with the Bald Eagles in Redding took a bit of a fright today.

Big Red and Arthur’s hawklets are doing fantastic…getting too close to fledge, too.

Oh, but they still love to be fed by Mama.

I am always amazed at all of the things that a wildlife rehabilitation centre needs – and let’s face it, they rescue wildlife in the strangest of locations, build and repair enclosures, and do all the health stuff. Do you have an unused kayak you could donate? Just think about all the waterfowl that get tangled in line or trapped….they need a way to retrieve them!

Want to learn how to catch a fish? Let Ervie teach you! That third hatch of the 2021-22 Port Lincoln season continues to live and thrive in the area of the barge. And guess what? Mum and Dad were on the barge together the other day…the season will begin to kick off in Australia soon enough.

Gosh, he is a handsome osprey. Perfect form!

Cal Falcons are all fledged and grown up but still hanging around the scrape! Thanks, SK Hideaways.

If you are missing fuzzy little Peregrine Falcons, well, here is a scrape with four little ones and an egg in Alberta Canada! Link to camera is below image of this cute little family:

And last, a beautiful tribute to M15 – the Bald Eagle of the year – from SK Saunders Photography. They did an amazing job with all of their footage! Warning: G et the tissues out.

Thank you for being with me today. We will be back to some full nest checks of the osprey in the US and UK for tomorrow. Take care!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped to create my blog this morning: ‘A, H, R, SW’, Google Maps, Marders Osprey, Forsythe Osprey, Fortis Exshaw, SCMM, Barnegat Light, The Standard Journal, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fischadlerwebcam, Urdaibai Biosphere, PSEG, Window to Wildlife, FORE, Cornell RTH, Birds in Helping Hands, Fran Scully and Friends of Osprey Sth Bus, SK Hideaways and Cal Falcons, The Real Saunders Photography, and Scotfold-Alberta Falcons.

Too much news…Thursday in Bird World

15 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone!

The inbox was bulging with happiness as each of you watched Little Mini at Patchogue eat its heart out Wednesday morning. My goodness, that little one even went back for seconds! More on Mini, later, but suffice it to say it made my day on Wednesday just a wee bit better.

The wildfire smoke is somewhat gone, the air outside is a little cleaner, and the skies are clear in southern Manitoba. There is no sign of the Blue Jay fledgling in the garden Tuesday evening, but I will check again as it gets late. Maybe. What a joy that little one was to observe! And the parents, too, keep a close watch. Overhead, at least 150 Canada Geese headed north to find space, food, and cooler temperatures. They might find some of this smoke from the burning fires. These are the ones without families to care for – so many, and this is not the first chevron of geese going over in the last week. So many without families this year. It is worrisome.

On Monday the 16th, I will be travelling north to do a Bald Eagle nest count. I hope to have some good images of wildlife for you on Tuesday. Today I am going to Delta Marsh on the southern tip of Lake Manitoba to see if I can find some shorebirds! Wish me luck. I will be out all day so hopefully, Little Mini will be persistent and get some nice fish.

Lewis was growling at the rain at couple of days ago.

Today he decided to play with his piece of Honeysuckle branch.

Missey just wants to remind everyone that she is ‘sweet’.

Both kittens remind everyone that planting a tree to remember someone or some pet is good for the environment!

Lewis and Missey also remind us that if you are doing some late spring cleaning, see if there is anything you have and don’t need that your local wildlife rehab clinic could use. It is incredible the things they need – check their wish lists and then also think of power tools to help build and repair buildings and fences. Anyone die recently leaving a lot of tools? Find out if the rehab can use them. What a lovely way to remember a loved one by donating to a good cause.

Wednesday turned out to be a mixed blessing day. We might as well start with the ‘good’ before I throw in a little of the sadness.

‘H’ reports that the Dahlgren Osprey platform and its osplets are doing fantastic. You can see the age difference in the plumage…this is good news.

It is day 41 for the second egg at Kent Island. I wonder if that one is unviable as well.

The other nests that ‘H’ has been monitoring are all doing well and she hopes that there are no turn arounds on them! Me, too.

Severna Park: Oh, we worried about Middle after we lost Little to siblicide but, things continue to go well. Middle is older and bigger and the pair are eating side by side. ‘H’ reports that fish are plentiful.

‘H’ reports that the Barnegat Light feeding 0944 to 1006:  The feeding was peaceful eating side by side until, at 0955 Big beaked and bit Little.  Little was able to return at 1001 and ate beside Big.  Total bites for Little = 60. (I hope this nest won’t go sour now, like so many others that started out peacefully).” We wait and see. Send good wishes..that Big one is rather vicious. Let them make it out of the reptile stage!

At the Cape May Osprey nest, it is day 38 for egg one and ‘H’ says we are on pip watch.

I spent the day checking on some nests that I monitor but do not often report on – or a few even that have fallen through the cracks for one reason or another. At the Collins Marsh nest in Wisconsin, there are three osplets for what I believe to be new adults at the osprey platform near the local nature centre. This nest is very difficult to watch as fish are not always plentiful – at all! Malin, the only surviving osplet, force fledged in 2021. I criticised the local caretaker consistently because help was not at hand and the little one died on the ground. There is a new person at the nature centre. I hope if there are issues they will get out and look for those babies on the ground! The nest is on top of a fire tower that was moved. There is no perch and access to the desk would be difficult (or so I was told by the last caretaker – I don’t believe it!).

No chicks yet at Fortis Exshaw near Canmore, Alberta. You can see the fires burning in the distance. It was raining when I checked in. That is good…no chicks! Bad for little ones.

What you are seeing below is the Marsh Meadows osprey platform in Jamestown, Rhode Island. It is one of several nests on Conanicut Island. The three eggs hatched on May 29, 29, and 1 June. By the 7th of June, all three chicks were dead. Was it starvation by parental neglect? or was it starvation through mitigating circumstances – male was missing?

Both adults were on the nest this morning so, since the male is not missing (so he did not die of Avian Flu as suggested on 7 June), did the chicks die of starvation from inexperienced parents?

Bay and Beau’s two little osplets at Island Beach are doing well.

The three at Wolf Bay, Alabama are thriving. Gosh, look at those three big osplets!

The three at Oyster Bay should be getting along but, there is often beaking.

Dad delivering a fish to the Oceanside, NY, Osprey platform.

Two chicks at Seaside. So far so good.

‘H’ reports that both of the Patuxent River Park Osprey nests have osplets that are full and civil!

I just caught the Dad at Patuxent II bringing in a monster of a fish at 2002. Wow.

Oh, just sit down and cry – joyful tears. It really is OK. Newmann is feeding his peregrine falcon babies. Their Mum, Savanna was killed protecting her nest from a GHO. Newmann has called Savanna and called her and is now taking full responsibility for their last chicks together.

Dale Hollow DH17 has been caught on cam and appears to be doing quite well. River has a new mate (or so it appears). Only time will tell if she rebuilds at the original nest she shared with her partner, Obey, who disappeared this spring.

Bonus and Waba are on the move (slightly).

Now, let’s take a look at Little Mini at Patchogue. Is the saying ‘The Early Bird gets the fish’ applicable? Mini did well for when the Big ones were sleeping. That early fish that landed on the nest at 0536 was a bonus. Little Mini ate, then the Bigs woke up, and by 0639 Little Mini decided he would go back to the table for seconds. He finished eating at 0652. Mini got some from the 0846 delivery between 0908 and 0912. He had nothing from the 1526 delivery. He was in submission. At 1537 two of the Big siblings are having a tug o war with the fish. Then it rains. During some of this time Little Mini seems to be shoved down and around. Parents are trying to encourage self-feeding amongst the big siblings. This may or may not be an issue for Mini. If he can get those early feeds, he is OK.

According to someone on the chat there are three lakes nearby and 2 creeks connected to the bay. Should be lots of good fishing.

0540

0639 Up for seconds.

0652. Full. Leaving the table for the second time.

0912. Enjoying a meal. How does it feel to go hungry and see all the other siblings fed. I hope Little Mini feels full and alive this morning!

Later…after ‘they’ wake up. LOL.

1536. Mini shut out.

1537. Tug o war for the fish.

Fish – teasers and big fish – land at the Patchogue nest after the rain and all the time that big chunk of fish is still on the nest. Mini is quick to take opportunities when the Big ones show no interest. Mum feeds a small live fish at 1723 and then moves to the big chunk left at 1736. Mini rushes and is at the beak at 1737 . He ate until 1751ish. Then another big fish comes on the nest at 1800. Mini is right there – two big pieces of fish. He starts getting fed at 1802 and is moved out of the way at 1830. We should really see some growth in Mini by Friday with all this fish.

Smart Mini. He is filling his crop and then dropping it so he can hold more fish. I hope Mum has a good look at this persistent third hatch. It reminds me of Tiny Tot Tumbles from Achieva or Blue 464 from Foulshaw Moss. A Survivor.

Mini had a really good day and he is going to sleep well tonight. Happy Osplet dreams, Mini.

Mini was up and had an enormous crop Thursday morning…way to go Mini! Dad came through at Patchogue with three large fish by 0959.

Speaking of the Foulshaw Moss nest, White YW and Blue 35 have three osplets again this year.

At the Boulder County Fairgrounds, a team feeding by the adults really helped the third hatch, Little, who has been beaked and shut out from most feedings. This nest is still problematic…and each pulls at our heart.

After…this little guy is really struggling. Send your best wishes that they team up to feed the chicks until Little is old enough to hold its own.

At the SWFlorida Eagle nest, M15 visits. Unclear if E22 is still around. Not seen at the nest for a couple of days. M15 will not leave the area until E22 is known to be gone. M15 has taken his parental duties very seriously since Harriet went missing in early February. Thanks Vijay!

The Ms are well…growing up on Big Red and Arthur’s nest. Fledge watch is what? a week away? They may be big but, when the rain came they all wanted under Mum! Oak leaves. Across Tower Road there are Oak Trees. Big Red likes her chicks, when they fledge, to fly to those trees. The eyases have imprinted everything from the type of prey that is safe to eat to now these leaves. (The pine is for insects).

Big Red’s E3 was out doing an educational visit today.

Murphy is enjoying the life of a single foster dad now…it is quiet and no one takes his food!

There is now only one eaglet in the Estonia hybrid eagle nest. ‘T’ explains: “Good news in Estonia is that the baby hatched in the nest of Greater and Lesser Spotted eagles. There are not enough Greater Spotted eagles, and many of them are lost during their massive European-African migration. They create mixed couples. This nest, in Harju County, Estonia, was the nest of male Tõnn, who used this nest since 2016. Sadly, Tõnn, did not return from Spain in 2020. We don’t know what happened to him.”

Here the chick is taking a mouse form one of the adults.

‘T’ writes that the Russian Ornithologist “Michail Korepov went to the National Park “Sengileevskiye Gory” to check the breeding situation of large raptors. So this year, they found 12 white tail eaglets, 6 owlets and 2 Imperial eaglets – they are growing up in the national park! And the number is not including 2 chicks of Altyn and Altynay.” Very good news on trying to increase the population of these critically endangered raptors for the area.

‘A’ has been keeping an eye on Deyani and writes, “Meanwhile, there are either storms on the way or Angel is having a sudden burst of empty nest syndrome at the thought of Deyani fledging, because at 7.30pm, Deyani has an OBSCENE crop and the nest is FULL of prey. A rabbit, a vole and something unrecognisable are literally filling the nest bowl. I have NEVER seen this on this nest. Any food that arrives is dealt with in seconds by Deyani and nestovers are non-existent. But not tonight. Angel is attempting to tempt Deyani, who is taking the occasional small mouthful from her, but essentially, mum and daughter are standing side by side at the back of the nest, surveying the smorgasbord spread out at their feet. Deyani is going to have to find an appetite if she is to sleep on that nest tonight. It is just after 9.30am here in Melbourne, and it is another cold day. Sunny thus far, but that will change apparently.”

Baby bunnies. They seem to have cleared out an entire nest! Oh, dear.

‘H’ reports that Mini at the Forsythe Nest had only 30 bites on Wednesday. It is, as she says ‘feast or famine’ for this little one.

The third hatch at the Evergy Topeka Falcon scrape still has feather issues. The feathers have grown but have not broken the shaft and it is having difficulty jumping up to the ledge of the scrape to get food.

Will be sending a note to Evergy. The little one tried to jump up to the perch so it could have prey but failed…

Everything about Peregrine Falcons in a nutshell:

Peregrine-biology-natural-historyDownload

Just look who has returned to the Cal Falcons scrape!

Doug Gillard reports on the little Red-tail hawk, Tuffy, let that has survived in the Bald Eagle Nest with his foster sibling, Lola.

Kathryn reports that one of the goshawks in Estonia has branched. She adds, “I have somehow watched this nest since the eggs were laid and I thought none of them would hatch since they were left out in the cold so often! But look at them now!” Beautiful hawks.

At the Black Kite nest in the Kurzeme Forest, the only chick of Gold and Griegis is doing well.

Dulles-Greenway gives us an update on Pat, the eaglet of Rosa and Martin, that is in care.

Meanwhile, Pi and Flora are being fed by the adults in the wetlands.

Each of us needs to know that what we do matters. We can change the lives of our raptors, but we have to take action. Sometimes it is simply ‘baby steps’ towards our goal, but each success will lead to another. We must realise and inform others that the fate of our wildlife, our beloved raptors depends on us because most of their challenges are human-caused.

Thank you to everyone for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, videos, posts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, Kathryn, T’, Dahlgren Ospreys, Severna Park Ospreys, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Collins Marsh Ospreys, Fortis Exshaw, Marsh Meadows, island Beach Ospreys, Wolf Bay Ospreys, PSEG, Oceanside Ospreys, Seaside ospreys, Patuxent River Part Ospreys, Lachelle Koestert and Peregrine Falcons at Great Spirit Bluff, Aliengirl and Bale Eagle Live Nests and Cams, Maria Marika FB, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Boulder County Fairgrounds Ospreys, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Vijay and SW Florida Eagle Cam, Cornell RTH, Cornell Cam Chatters, World Bird Sanctuary, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender Forum, Window to Wildlife, Evergy Topeka Falcon Cam, SK Hideaways and Cal Falcons, Canadian Peregrine Falcon Foundation, Doug Gillard and Nor Cal Birding, Latvian Fund for Nature, Dulles-Greenaway and Forstythe Ospreys.

Both Minis Eat…Wednesday in Bird World

14 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

It is the middle of the week and it continues to be another heat wave on the Canadian Prairies – 30 C. There is also another problem – the smoke from the wildfires is set to envelop our City from 1600 Tuesday to 0700 on Wednesday. Right now, the garden ‘looks’ empty but in the midst of the thick lilac bushes, I can see Little Red eating on the solid suet cylinder along with various types of sparrows. A Black-capped Chickadee was sitting on the line for the cable company. On the deck, Calico has turned up again! She appeared, out of nowhere, around 1700 last evening and a big feed was put out for her. She was ravenous. Calico is a really gorgeous cat. She has been living under the deck since last fall. At times I wonder if she has an irresponsible owner. She has had her breakfast and lunch and is lounging in the darkest depths of the garden where it is cooler. She has an insulated house under the deck and food. She appears to have no interest in coming into the house and Lewis and Missey might not like that either.

The sky is now a light pink-grey colour. Solid. If I go outside, it is very smokey. You can smell the wildfires that are being fanned by the high winds. The smoke has driven the animals into the garden where they are eating frantically. All of the squirrels are here, more than 100 sparrows of various types.

In the middle of all this is a small fledgling Blue Jay. It had drinks from the low bird bath and then snuggled up with a pair of very old bird ornaments that my youngest son made eons ago. Then poof, it was gone. I put seed and a very shallow bowl of water down on the ground. Junior and Mrs. know their baby is in the garden. They survey the area from the hydro line and then fly into the garden. Now where is this little one? It was healthy and hopping. I did not see it fly but it had to get to the deck somehow.

They must be so frightened by the smell of the fire.

Oh, and I found the little one. In the corner eating peanuts before it hoped across the back lane and under its nest tree.

Let’s start with something a little fun. Geemeff made the cutest video of Aran feeding Elen and the chicks. Oh, I do adore this Glaslyn nest!

The other day ‘A’ gave us a wonderful narrative of Deyani with the pinecone. Lady Hawk made a video of those moments. Enjoy! Thanks, ‘M’ for sending me the link!

The good news is that Mini had one good feed. The bad news is that Mini was aggressively attacked several times. Mini did not give up though. He waited, listened, watched and tried to get food whenever he could.

On Tuesday morning, Little Mini had a bit of a feed off the 1019 fish. At 11:33 Mum found an old piece of fish tail and Little Mini horked it down. Thanks, Mum! She knew her baby was hungry.

At 1327 another fish comes to the nest. But will Little Mini get any fish? No.

At 13:48 Little Mini did a terrific PS! This tells me we are not dealing with hydration issues.

I have never figured out how to put in those arrows and circles. Apologies. But here is Little Mini’s PS falling…that swirling line attached to the longer straight line to the left over by the pole. Yeap. That is Little Mini’s PS falling down to the ground…wonder who or what might be under there. Now that is a healthy PS!

At 1403 Little Mini has a big crop and is hoping for some fish.

At 1610, Little Mini has a nice crop.

It is now 1720 and three little fish have landed on the nest…obviously intended for the three big siblings to each have their own and self-feed. Will Mini get anything? No. So why not bring in four fish? Or was it coincidence?

Mini is slowly dropping its crop. We need several big fish this evening. Fingers crossed.

Mini looks over longingly at 1736 when Dad comes in with another small goldfish—none for Mini. Maybe this was to be the fourth fish for Mini. Oh, those big siblings.

By 1806, Mini has completed dropping its crop.

Another fish came on the nest at 1819. Big attacks Mini and Mini does not get any of the fish. Will there be a late big fish and will Mini get some? There is another fish at 2023. Maybe Mini will get some. I really hope so.

At 20:37 Mini is at Mum’s beak screaming for fish. Mini gets fed. Mum has been feeding bony fish all day and she is still feeding Mini at 2109! There is no fish left. Well, tears and tears. One good and one great feeding for Tuesday.

‘L caught an early fish – at 0535 and there was our Mini right up there getting fed by Mum while the bigger sibs were ‘waking up’. There was another fish at 0848 and Mini had enough room left from the earlier feed to eat again. This is, indeed, a grand start to Wednesday for our Mini – a full crop Tuesday night, a fuller crop Wednesday morning. Now watch this little one grow before your eyes!

Mini is still eating at 0642.

0907

In his 1991 article, L Scott Forbes (Forbes, L.S. Hunger and food allocation among nestlings of facultatively siblicidal ospreys. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 29, 189–195 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166400) states: “Previous studies of food allocation among nestlings of siblicidal birds have focussed on the proximate link between food and aggression. However, food sharing among sibs (and brood reduction) need not involve aggression. Here I examine the role of hunger (defined operationally in terms of the amount of food eaten recently) within the broader framework of passive and aggressive food-sharing among nestlings of facultatively siblicidal ospreys (Pandion haliaetus). Feeding among brood members was hierarchical; senior, dominant sibs ate more when hungry, leaving a smaller residual share of food for junior sibs. Senior sibs did not become more generous at large meals (i.e., the prospect of a large meal did not quell the selfish tendencies of senior sibs). That individuals ate more when hungry indicates a proximate link between food and the allocation of resources among siblings. Overall, aggression was infrequent and seemed to be used when junior sibs contested food allocation at meals. Aggression was diminished and food allocation was skewed toward the junior sib in broods with artificially exaggerated hatching intervals, suggesting that senior sibs were more generous when their dominant status was not threatened.” —–We have learned much since 1991 and aggression is not just about food but, at the Patchogue nest, it certainly began when the food supply began to diminish and now the senior siblings are flexing their dominance to eat. On a positive note, Mum has been much more receptive to finding food for Mini since Tuesday morning after a bit of a hiatus starting on Sudan.

AND…

‘H’ reports on Mini at the Forstythe Nest: “Feeding 1627 to 1705, large partial fish. Wasn’t it the old Timex commercials that said: “Takes a licking, and keeps on ticking” ?  Well, that’s Mini, for sure.  Same scenario, Mini takes punishment from Little, but keeps coming back to Mom whenever possible during a feeding.  And, a large fish will always increase the chances of Mini’s success.  Mini was at the table a few times during this feeding, including a long private feeding at the end.  Total bites for Mini = 59. Total for the day for Mini = at least 311 bites. Good fishing day for Oscar.” That is good news for our other Mini. (more on Forsythe below).

At the Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails Osprey nest at Emma, Colorado there are three osplets. What a surprise…in the midst of watching so many nests sometimes certain ones get ‘lost/forgotten’ and certainly Emma did. There was concern that the eggs might not be viable and the last time I checked there were two eggs…now there are three chicks in the reptile phase!

The two oldest chicks hatched on 31 May and the third on 2 June. There has been periods of little fish as per a posting on FB.

Here they are today.

Mealtime was, however, pleasant!

The third hatch at the Boulder Colorado Fairgrounds Osprey platform got some fish. It stayed still – playing possum – until the two oldest ate and then went up and had some nice fish. Relief. It had been raining hard most of Tuesday morning.

‘H’ has been monitoring the Forsythe nest for me and this is her report for Tuesday up until the time indicated…just look at that last feeding for Mini. Wow.

Here goes:

Feeding 0733 to 0750, large whole fish – 

Little beaked Mini tight away.  At 0736 Little beaked Mini even though Mini was behind the line.  No opportunity for Mini to eat.  Bites for Mini = 0.

Feeding 0903 to 0910, small headless fish – 

Mini got 4 bites, then was beaked by Little.  At 0904 Little beaked Big, and Big retaliated, but this beaking frightened Mini who tucked.  Big sent Little into ‘timeout’.  So they were then positioned [4,1,2], and Mini ate.  At 0909 Little came up from behind and beaked Mini.  Mini tucked briefly, but did not move away, stood his ground, and continued to get bites!  At the end of the meal, Little beaked Mini.  Total bites for Mini = 36.

Feeding 1031 to 1043, large whole fish – 

Positioned[4,1,3,2].  Big beaked Little, so Little dropped back.  Mini ate.  By 1036 positioned [4.,1,2,3].  Mini ate.  At the end of the meal, Little beaked Mini.  Total bites for Mini = 52.

Feeding 1151 to 1158, small partial – 

Little beaked Mini right away away from the feeding line.  Mini stayed there.  When the feeding was over, Little beaked Mini.  Bites for Mini = 0.

Feeding from 1235 to 1415, huge whole fish (probably actually constituted 2-3 meals)

Well, rather than recite the play-by-play of who bonked who and how many times, suffice it to say that Little beaked Mini several times.  Big beaked at Little a couple of times, Big beaked Mini once, Middle beaked Mini once.  They each were fed to being full, left the table and came back to the table several times, including Mini.  Mini would always come back, and there were a couple times when Mini had a private feeding.  Total bites for Mini = 164, from that huge fish.

H, 13 June 2023

‘H’ reports that it was a beaking fest at the Barnegat Light Osprey Platform and that it was started by Little! Not very smart.

Tom and Audrey have one hatch at the Chesapeake Conservancy. This one came on the 12th. W ill there be others? Looks like there could be another pip.

Still three eggs at South Cape May. F or a moment – in my state of tiredness and bewilderment (at Patchogue), I thought I heard a chick.

Cowlitz PUD had a nice fish and one of those small goldfish, too…oh, sometimes the fish are so small. The chick seems to be fine and Electra is getting some fish, too…not huge amounts but they are eating.

Big was at the Achieva Nest hoping for some fish and looking to perch for the night. Last news was that Middle was doing well in care.

The camera is down this year at the DuPont Centre, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys. Someone just posted a short video clip showing the couple with three osplets. Oh, I would love to know if this is the same couple from last season. That Mum loved the colour yellow and would bring in all manner of decorations but only in yellow. t hanks, ‘H’ for your keen eye in finding this video.

Bety and Bukacek’s storklets get banded!

R4 and R5 are still hanging out together around the nest tree at the WRDC. Look at the tree between the nest and the house.

One of the fledglings from Thunder and Akecheta’s new nest has made its way to the old West End nest Tuesday afternoon.

Thunder keeping an eye.

Some of you have been concerned about the Surrey eaglet – part of the Dave Hancock Foundation nests. Here is a video update on the little one who appears to have some mobility issues. Great news.

“Recorded June 12 2023, 7:04 pm – as some of you know, younger eaglet SR8 at our Surrey Reserve bald eagle cam nest seems to be having some issues with his right leg, though it doesn’t usually keep him from getting to the food, or standing up to his slightly older and more than slightly larger sibling. We are hoping this spunky youngster will thrive, and I’m always happy when an expert has some promising comments. Please read the forum post that goes with this video – link is https://forum.hancockwildlife.org/vie… (Note – we don’t know the gender of either eaglet; I’m using “he” for simplicity, and because male eagles are normally smaller than female eagles, and SR8 is quite a bit smaller even though less than a day younger, and generally getting plenty of food.)” ~JudyB

Big Red’s Ms are fine after the intervention to clean out the 50 plus maggots out of their ears. They are hopping, flapping, and self feeding. They must feel a whole lot better. Thanks, Cornell!

There is a reason that Jackie and Shadow at the Big Bear Valley Bald Eagle nest are loved by more than 9000 people. Just look.

Does M15 have a potential new mate?

So sad…Savanna died protecting her four eyases from the GHO struck on the 12th. Thanks ‘SP’.

Newmann continually calls for her. Let us hope that he can raise these four to fledge.

Just look at this Cromer eyases! With hawks and falcons we blink and they are ready to fledge! And what an interesting place.

Do you follow the latest on the Chichester Falcons from the UK, too? Here is their latest newsletter. Thanks, Janet Shaw.

newsletter-5Download

At the Olympic Park in Sydney, we are waiting for eggs. ‘A’ reports: “

At Olympic Park, dark is falling at around 17:30 and dad is mating with Lady on the branch behind the nest. She really is not just receptive to but openly encouraging mating, obviously very keen to get some eggs laid in that nest. The pair is protecting the nest and nest area most of the time now, including one or both of them sleeping in the nest tree overnight. (Sometimes, dad will sleep in a tree nearby, but Lady’s early morning vocals bring him in very quickly for a bonding/mating/nest-checking session.) We all feel the heightened sense of expectation – eggs any day, perhaps any hour! As it nears 6pm, Lady is tucked and sleeping on the branch behind the nest. Dad is presumably somewhere very close by.”

Oh, there is so much going on. Soon we will be watching Diamond and Xavier and anticipating the camera coming back on for the CBD Falcons in Melbourne.

Thanks for being with me this morning. Fledge will be soon for Deyani and the Ms. Be sure to check in on their cameras. Take care. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, newsletters, and streaming cams that help to make up my blog this morning: ‘A, H, Geemeff, JS, L, M, SP’, Geemeff and Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Lady Hawk and Window to Wildlife, PSEG, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Boulder County Fairgrounds ospreys, Forsythe Ospreys, Conservancy Wildlife of NJ, Cowlitz PUD, Achieva Credit Union, Mlady Buky Storks, Heidi McGru and the WRDC, IWS, Hancock Wildlife, Cornell RTH, FOBBV, Carol Shores Rifkin and the NEFL and SWFL Eagle Cam Club, Steven Smith and the Peregrine Falcons at Great Spirit Bluff, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, Raptor Resource Project, SK Hideaways and Cromer Falcons, and the Chichester Newsletter.

Mini finally gets some fish…Loud and feisty Soledad…Tuesday in Bird World

13 June 2022

Good Morning!

So what do you do when you worry? This morning after seeing Tiny shut out of food at the Patchogue nest for another day, it seemed like a good idea to head out for a walk in the forest despite the 29C temps. Tiny has not eaten since it had a huge crop late Saturday. Nothing is better to clear the mind than walking through trees with a slight breeze and looking at ‘the living’.

Fort Whyte Alive is restoring and building wetlands. They are being so careful not to disturb the waterfowl that the new area is intended to benefit. Two days ago, I could see only two Hooded Mergansers despite others saying there were three. Today, I turned, and there were three! Two drakes and a hen. Then turning away – I did not make a peep, but I sure wanted to – there was another hen with ducklings! There were eighteen. After so few goslings and Mallard ducklings, this was just overwhelming. Hooded Mergansers do breed in southern Manitoba but, according to all the ‘counts’, they are more populous in eastern Canada and Ontario than where I live.

Happiness in a pond full of Dragonflies and mosquitoes! A tip: if you go to wetlands and there are mosquitoes about, do not wear open-toe sandals. Yes, I did. LOL. Silly me. But I did have on long pants and a long sleeve shirt. Thank goodness. The running joke in Winnipeg is that people get eaten so severely by mosquitoes that they feel like they have given blood to the Red Cross. There were t-shirts to that effect for one year. The Dragonflies must be eating well!!!!!!!

In addition to the Hen, there were also two Mallard hens with eight ducklings. This was just a wonderful sight.

The two Mallard drakes were having a siesta!

Hooded Mergansers are ‘climate endangered’ according to Audubon. Many hope that the species is adjusting to climate change.

Valley-News-Adaptable-Hooded-Merganser-Adjusts-to-Changing-EnvironmentDownload

There are always Red-winged Blackbirds standing sentry at the top of the trees, flying around and following the humans on the paths if they get too close to their nests. This fella kept a really close eye on me and was vocalising very loud.

But then…just around the bend, there were geese with their five goslings. Talk about growing! This is the couple in the water two days ago.

Just lovely. School children were everywhere with nets checking the water, some were in kayaks or canoes, and others were heading to the Interpretative Centre. It is a great place to introduce youngsters to nature and hopefully, they will grow up to be good stewards of the land.

Lewis and Missey literally go and hide when they hear a Peregrine Falcon! It is incredible. Not frightened by eagles or anything else but let those falcons start and off they run! Her name is Soledad, the only eyas of Monty and Hartley at the San Jose City Hall scrape. Nice name.

Soledad is one ‘tough cookie’. Very strong and curious…she goes all over the place! After a meal, of course.

Sometimes Monty looks terrified.

In case you are going to miss, Deyani, SK Hideaways did a really cute video of this gorgeous hawklet before she fledges!

Patchogue is heartbreaking. The fish have changed. There are big bony ones coming on that take a long time to feed so that by the time it could be Mini’s turn, the Big ones are hungry again. Mini is very intimidated but that does not stop it from watching and trying to get up to some fish. It has been beaked by one of the big siblings and has lost out on food on Monday – at least anything more than a few bites by 1606 that I have seen.

Mini hopeful at 1607, but no fish left. This little one had tried and tried. Did I say that I have to go for walks in order to watch this nest now? Pray for lots of fish…we need a fish right after one another.

Mini had only a few bites of food today and was brutally attacked by the older siblings. How sad this has all become. It is unclear if any intervention could take place. ‘L’ is on it -. PSEG says that the osplets are all “doing fine”. It is 2300 and Mini has not eaten for 52 hours…OK. 3-4 bites. By Tuesday evening it will be the very critical 72 hours. Let us all collectively hope for a fish.

It is Tuesday morning and three large boney fish came to the Patchogue nest prior to 1019. Mini had 3 bites before it was sent into submission. The little one tried to chew off a bone. Mini is starving and persistent and a survivor…if it gets a chance. Mum was being so slow to start to feed it from this fish that I thought she was going to refuse. Mini does not understand.

Mum works around that bony head of the fish and finally starts feeding Mini a few decent bites. Is it possible Mini will get the rest of that fish before the others wake up? If so, Mini will survive to live again. Go Mini!

Tears. This nest desperately needs fish delivered like this or Mini will continue to be shut out and desperate. Send your most positive wishes. We need Mini to be another week older and he should be able to handle the Big ones better.

1100. Still being fed. Mum is fighting the bones and trying to eat, too. Mini is getting a crop. So Mini went more than 60 hours. Tears. Come on Mum…feed this baby more quick!

Mini ate until 1108 when the Big ones came up. Now why can’t Mum feed Mini as fast as she does the Big ones? It would make all the difference.

The weather has turned nasty in the UK with thunderstorms, high winds, lightning and hail. Maya kept the three osplets warm and protected as best she could teaching them to tuck their heads in. The minute the storm stopped Blue 33 was on the nest with a fish. Yes, he caught it during the thunderstorm for his family. Great guy! My choice if I were an Osprey!

It might be clear in Rutland but it is pitching down rain at Glaslyn. Elen is keeping the babes warm and dry.

The camera at Dyfi seems to be down.

At Llyn Brenig, Mum is spread out in a great umbrella protecting her chicks.

Dylan is home with Seren at Llyn Clywedog. The storm is passing.

At Loch of the Lowes, Laddie delivered another small gold fish. This nest is hungry. The issue is down to intruders.

Good feed on Tuesday. No animosity at LOTL. Yippeee.

At Loch Arkaig, the storm arrived quickly and left. Dorcha took great care of her Only Bob in the heavy rain and hail – but not until she had bolted off the nest when loud thunder frightened her. Just listen to the wind and heavy rain. Poor thing.

No shortage of fish at Poole Harbour. I saw one on the nest while CJ7 was feeding off another. All Bobs are little reptiles now.

Continuing to watch the Evergy Topeka Peregrine Falcons, where the third hatch is only a day younger than the two oldest and yet…the plumage is underdeveloped. Grateful that the feathers are starting to come out of the shafts but, what will happen to this baby?

‘H’ reports that the feedings remain civil at Barnegat Light. That is fantastic news…We all know that this can change. All it takes is a bad day for fish deliveries to set the nest off so please enjoy it now! You can see they are turning into little reptiles…itchy and a little anxious, they will be.

Birds in Helping Hands reminds us:

We are monitoring the Great Spirit Bluff Falcon scrape. There was a fierce GHO attack and Savannah defended the nest. Hoping she returns and is uninjured.

Newmann, the Dad, has been dropping off food. Savannah has not been seen since the GHO attack. Send your wishes. The eyases are old enough that Dad can raise them alone but our thoughts are with this brave Mum who might have fought that owl to the death to save her chicks.

Young Benjamin has caught up with the other storklets and is now six days old. This is excellent news. This wee one was so tiny. See the change!

There are still four storklets at the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. There were numerous feedings throughout the day and at the evening feeding by Karl II the storklets had huge crops. Kaia arrived to feed but seeing no one was hungry enjoyed all the fish herself. the parents have to eat, too. This is great news – everyone full and the storklets all growing.

Bety and Bukacek’s storklets are growing and growing and doing fabulous. There are five of them.

This is the latest update on Dulles-Greenway Pat:

Ithaca, New York needed rain. We noticed this on Ferris Akel’s tours and it was getting it on Monday. The Ms were soaked! But with all that beautiful plumage, they are fine. Big Red was on the nest at one point and you could not tell her from one of the Ms.

Not sure they moved!

Murphy and his Eaglet have now been separated. Here is the latest news from Wild Bird Sanctuary.

If you are a fan of Kielder Ospreys then you will be delighted to hear that Blue 437 named Elsin, the only offspring of UV, and grandchick of Mrs G and 11 (98) – the original Glaslyn pair – was spotted in Cumbria. He survived his first migration!

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Thank you so much for being with me this morning as we skipped around the nests. My focus remains on Mini at Patchogue (as well as Mini at Forsythe who had 36 bites this morning and Boulder County that I need to check on). Send your best wishes to all the nests. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, videos, posts, and streaming cams that helped to make up my blog this morning: ‘H’, ‘L’, ‘SK’, San Jose City Hall Falcons, SK Hideaways and SJCH Falcons, SK Hideaways and Window to Wildlife, PSEg, LRWT, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Llyn Brenig, CarnyXWild, LOTL, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Evergy Topeka Falcons, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Birds in Helping Hands, Linda McIlroy and Raptors of the World, Maria Marika, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlady Buky Stork Cam, Celia Aliengirl and BE Live Nest Cams and News, Cornell RTH, Kielder Forest, and Wild Bird Sanctuary.

Hatch for Tom and Audrey…Monday in Bird World

12 June 2023

Good Morning,

Oh, Sunday was a beautiful day – much cooler with a super breeze. A nice day to be out in the garden – it has really been neglected. The tiny tomatoes needed picking and the w—- hole hanging to—–mato plant needed a good spray with Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts). Did you know that about a 1/4 of a cup in a gallon container – mixed well – and sprayed on the leaves will rejuvenate them if they are yellow with green veins. Try it! Planted three oak trees for the future and three more peony plants for me. The bees have really been visiting the climbing rose-s and the rest of the garden is quiet except for Junior, one grey squirrel, and some sparrows. Talk about lonely – missing those critters.

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With the Ms safely back in their nest and everyone talking about ear parasites, how much do we really know?

Everything you did and did not want to know about nest parasites and maggots in the ears of hawks!!

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Taking a wee bit of a break from the ospreys to check on some of the other nests that we like to follow such as the Black Storks in the Karula National Forest in Estonia of Karl II and Kaia (the foster parents of Bonus). Oh, they are adorable. There has been or had been some difficulty with getting food as the Blue Herons were taking the fish from the baskets provided by Urmas. The chicks are hungry and for the first time it has been noticed that Karl II was pulling on both chick 4 and 3…perhaps to do a brood reduction due to poor foraging. This is highly unusual. I do not know of Karl II ever initiating an attempt at brood reduction. He must be very concerned about the foraging and the ability of him and Kaia to provide for four on the nest. This is so sad. Urmas has worked hard to supply the fish baskets for the storks but, he cannot stop other species from feeding. They are also hungry.

When they were feeding, Kaia put the food down in front of storklet 1. Parents want at least one of their offspring to survive when times with food shortages are intense. So many nests of all species have food shortages this season.

The only eaglet at the Bucovina Gold Eagle nest in Romania appears to be doing well.

Oh, the love-life dramas of single male Ospreys. W6 needs a mate at Keilder Forest and he would be a fantastic catch. Read about his latest escapades!

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There is much concern at the Kielder nest 2 where the third chick has hatched and it is 75 hours younger than egg 2! The record at Kielder is 100 hours. Please send this nest your best wishes…we are all nervous already.

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‘H’ nest updates at Barnegat Light: “Another feeding observed, 1517 to 1530 -Little was late arriving to the table as s/he was sleepy.  The three siblings ate side by side without any bonking.   At one point Big accidentally knocked Little flat on his back, but Little recovered and went back to Daisy for more bites.  Little had a total of 30 bites, and some of them were pretty big ones. Later, per the chat: feeding at 1646 “They eat so nicely”  “All three in a food coma”

Hatch for Tom and Audrey at Kent Island! ‘H’ reports that this baby was out of the shell around 0330 and that if it is egg 1, it was 42 days old – H was told that Audrey’s eggs tend to hatch at the far end of the scale.

Tom sees his baby for the first time. (This is new-dad, Tom – all ospreys at this nest are named Tom and Audrey).

Dahlgren looks good, also. “Feeding 1413 to 1455, very peaceful, both Osplets well fed.  Ya, know, at 4 days apart, this nest is just a pleasant surprise.  It still amazes me.”

At the Forsythe nest, Mini is getting battered by Little. Like Mini at Patchogue, it has missed out on a number of critical meals on Sunday. There were ten fish deliveries and ‘H’ counted that Mini got 159 bites of fish. I remember dancing when I counted 97 bites for Tiny Tot Tumbles. Mini will live to see another day but Little appears to be getting much more aggressive…going after Mini which tells me the third hatch is a female, most likely.

‘H’ complete report to give you an idea of how a nest is watched when we think siblicide could become an issue: “Feeding 0818 to 0829, small partial fish – Mini was up front and did not get any bites from Opal before s/he was beaked by Little.  Crazy Little beaked big at 0820, and was beaked back.  Little did make it back to eat, but Mini never even made an attempt to get back to the feeding line.  Total for Mini = 0I’ve noticed that the attacks on Mini by Little the past day or so have become more violent, and include the biting, and last longer.  Oh, geez.Feeding 1236 to 1251 – medium whole fish. Over 4 hours since the last fish.Little beaked Mini at the start.  Mini in submission.  I took until 1248 for Mini to get into a good position [3,1,2,4], but then Middle beaked Mini ! Total for Mini = 0Feeding  1340 to 1353 – medium whole fishMini wasn’t even up at the feeding line, but at 1342, Little reached back and beaked Mini, and again at 1345, and 1346.  At 1346 Big Beaked Little.  By 1348 Mini had found a safe spot to try to get fed, between Middle and Big, but Big beaked Mini !  Mini never came back.  Bites for Mini = 0Feeding 1456 to 1501 – small partial. Mini was not bonked at all, but s/he seems timid of all of them now.  Big only had a couple bites and dropped out.  Mini held back, sort of between and behind the other two.  Mom reached out and gave Mini one bite. Total bites to Mini = 1 Feeding 1529 to 153230 – small fish piece. Poor Mini scrambled across the nest to get to Mom first, and got two bites, before Little caught up with him and beaked him.  Total for Mini = 2 bites. Feeding 1608 to 1615 –  small fish. Mini first to Mom’s beak, but is soon bonked by Little.  Things shuffle around a bit, Mini gets back to the table, then positioned [4,1,2,3], and Mini got some bites.  Total bites for Mini = 17. Feeding 1647 to 1654 – small partial. Once again Mini rushed over to Mom, received one bite, then was beaked by Little.  At 1652 Little tried to reach between Middle and Little, and Little beaked Mini.  Total for Mini = 1. Feeding 1749 to 1803 – partial fish. Mini was bonked by Little at the beginning.  At 1752 Mini wasn’t even close by, but Little just had to beak him again.  At 175942, Mini got its first bite.  Only Middle was still nearby, but at that point Mini got nearly a private feeding.  Total bites for Mini = 36. So far, today, 10 feedings (I sent a report on the first two earlier).  There may be another feeding this evening, I’ll check in the morning.  Total bites for Mini so far today = 159.” How sad it is that your birth order has such an intense impact on your life (as it often does with humans, too). — The feeding for Mini did not change with other deliveries on Sunday night. Mini went into submission even though there was fish left that Mum ate. It is not looking good for this fourth hatch at all.

At the Patchogue Osprey platform, Mini is as keen as Mini at Forsythe for fish but has been often locked out due to the Big ones barging in or the intimidation that comes now from both Big and Third. Thankfully, Mini is older, wiser, and waits and watches…and I am certain that this Mini is a female.

Mini at Patchogue stretching and flapping its wings after finally getting a fish feed. Mum fed the three for over an hour. It is unclear how much was left of that bony fish when Mini got its ultimate time to eat by itself in peace. But, Mini did get some fish.

In the UK, Louis turns up with a late night fish snack for Dorcha. So sweet…and the talon tapping osplet slept through it!

Oh, how I have been missing Jackie and Shadow. Popping in and what a surprise. Our gorgeous Big Bear couple were on the nest! ‘B’ tells me this is an unusual low-lying cloud on the mountain obstructing the view. These two are looking good and they are protecting their territory and taking care of that nest!

Today has been a different posting…I will do a quick sweep of some of the Osprey nests but not all of them. My concerns are with Forsythe and Patchogue. We will go back to tracking the daily happenings of most of the nests for Tuesday.

Patuxent I appears to be good today. Nice crops on both osplets.

Loch of the Lowes: Despite having to defend the nest, literally, from intruders, Laddie managed to get a big fish in and both of the osplets had bulging crops. Blue NC0 had to help Laddie defend…go away intruders!

Dyfi Ospreys: It was raining in Wales. Telyn had been a keen mumbrella for the two. Dry and fish in the nest. Thanks, Idris!

All is well at Glasyn with Elen and Aran and the two osplets.

Poole Harbour: Three itchy Reptilian Bobs for CJ7 and Blue 022. All is good.

Manton Bay: All is well, feathers are coming in – you can see the shafts. But the condensation doesn’t let us get a very good look at Blue 33 and Maya’s three Bobs.

Llyn Clywedog with Dylan and Seren Blue 5F: All good.

Llyn Brenig: As far as I can tell-without watching closely-, all is OK.

Loch Arkaig: Louis brings a large whole fish to Dorcha and chick for breakfast. Well done, Louis.

Boulder County Fairgrounds: My concerns are growing for the survival of the third hatch. Is anyone watching this family closely? Any comments? Hatch dates are May 26, 27, and 29 but that little one appears to be struggling. Please correct me if I am wrong!

In Germany, at the Fischadler web scale, the trio are doing great. T he third hatch just barrels in and pushes its way through the two bigger siblings to get fish. Way to go!

‘A’ watched Deyani yesterday for us and reports, “Deyani had an interesting day, with three breakfasts between 07:10 and 07:33, then nothing until shortly after 7.30pm, when dad brought in a partial rabbit for dinner. As occurred yesterday, the food brought to the nest was about half what they had been bringing up until that point. So it is obvious that over the past two days, the parents are preparing Deyani for fledge – she does presumably need to lose a little bit of weight before she can fly (power-to-weight ratio, spoilt, greedy only chick and all that). Today (12 June) will be the first day of fledge watch – I am not ready, but it appears Deyani is, and Angel and Tom certainly believe their hawklet is on the verge of taking the plunge. The chick is SO curious. I will miss her antics on the nest. Today, she had an epic battle with a pine cone, which landed on the nest with quite a big ‘thud’, obviously from high in the tree. (Had it landed on Deyani, she would really have felt it, I suspect, from the sound dit made and the size of it.) The hawklet had no idea what it was, and initially gazed at ity in astonishment. She then became concerned it may be alive. The tentative approaches with her talon, followed by kicks and other attacks on the pine cone were just TOO funny. Watch her from 5.59pm as she hangs onto it tightly with her right talon and attempts to pull pieces off the pine cone (or defur it). She also had an entertaining moment when a Daddy Long Legs crawled across the pine cone and up the tree. She was entranced as she watched its progress.”

Darling Luna visits the scrape giving us a really good look at how much those chicks of Lou and Annie have grown since fledge.

Birdlife Malta is concerned about changes to EU laws that had allowed for the creation of biodiversity spaces – the Restoration Lawls – and a move by politicians to delete or water down what is in existence. If you live in the EU, speak up!

That said, I know that each of you is interested in so many things, and a new essay in Emergence Magazine might interest you. It is about migrations. The writing is fantastic. Have a read “Creaturely Migrations on a Breathing Planet”.

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Thank you so much for being with me today. I hope that you found something of interest – and that you will always look out for the birds. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to create my blog today: ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘H’, Parasitism in Hawks, Looduskalender Forum, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bucovina Golden Eagles, Lady Hawk and Bucovina Golden Eagles, Kielder Ospreys, Barnegat Light, Dalhgren Ospreys, Forsythe ospreys, PSEG, Geemeff and Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, FOBBV, Patuxent River Park, LOTL, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Poole Harbour Ospreys, LRWT, CarnyXWild, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Boulder County Fair Grounds Ospreys, Fischadler Web Cam, Birdlife Malta, SK Hideaways and Cal Falcons, and Emergence Magazine.

Mini self-feeds…Saturday in Bird World

10 June 2023

Good Morning, Everyone!

I am, as usual, starting my newsletter/blog on Friday, and Friday doesn’t ‘feel like Friday’. Does that happen to you sometimes? The garden has been unusually quiet for the past week – and when I say quiet, I mean quiet. One or two Crows, maybe. One Blue Jay. A few House Sparrows and a couple of squirrels. Their absence makes me nervous. There was always a feral cat, a Calico, but a week ago, she went MIA along with the other cats that came to try and catch a bird. It is just odd…And then, to my horror, a dead grey Squirrel was on the lane in front of my house. I moved the poor thing off the road but could not tell if it was Dyson – or another large squirrel. Dyson showed up Friday evening around 1930 for peanuts, to my great relief. She has babies somewhere…Tears of joy.

Also, to my delight, on Thursday evening, there were Ladybirds on the hanging tomato plants, and this morning, there were more than a dozen Honey Bees on the climbing roses. Taken with my phone from a bit of a distance, so not so clear…but they are there! Feeding and pollinating!

It has been quiet at the ponds in town, too. There is not the number of Canada Geese that I counted last year. So why? Well, the geese (and ducks) that have no goslings – no parental responsibilities – are taking off for the north of my province where there is more space, more food, and it is cooler!

It is known as the second migration. Why are so many geese failing to reproduce this year? Why so many singles? Or couples who did not have eggs? Or unviable eggs? I do not know the answer….but they sure have left town!

Your giggle for the day comes from Geemeff and that rambunctious osplet of Dorcha and Louis at Loch Arkaig.

This just about gave me a heart attack at the Oyster Bay PSEG nest. Please cut every loop and handle on anything that you dispose of! And tell everyone you know to do the same.

The adult worked and got that packing strap material from off its neck and is putting it into the rim of the nest. If you observe this nest and see this loop or another around the head of any occupant of this nest, I want you to phone PSEG immediately, as I might miss it! 1-800-490-0075 OR 631-755-6000. I was more successful with the second number when complaining about human rubbish in the Patchogue Nest than the toll-free line, but try them both. Don’t take no for an answer. Bobbie Horvath can be contacted on FB as well. Take a screen capture and make sure they see it! They need to contact USFWS immediately to get permission if the osprey’s life is in danger from human rubbish. But be sure it is when you call. This time the adult worked that packing material off.

There were several nice fish on the Oyster Bay nest today and it appears that all had a chance to eat fish.

The mystery of the Carthage TN Osprey nest may have been solved thanks to Sunnie Day. The lake has small trout, which were brought in for the osplets to eat. Fishers there are told to cut the line when they catch the trout – meaning that the little fish swim about with a tiny hook inside them and line. Two points: Sunnie Day continued to look through the footage and saw choking in both osplets trying to expel the hooks. Second, we know that the zinc hooks can cause toxicity, which killed Alo from the Bald Canyon nest. We observed zinc toxicity in Victor from Fraser Point (did he also have a hook that was expelled after the zinc made him sick? What about Molate? Sunnie’s observations, “The parenting is excellent, many fish delivered. After reviewing so much recorded video, I was wondering about the cam pole being treated; it was not. It is a light pole in the park. I reviewed more and have recorded videos of both choking. First was the youngest, at 6 days, I have footage of its death. The second was the oldest, 9 days old, and was struggling to eat in the last feed before dark, shaking to expel something. The next morning, that nestling too expired. The last 8 fish were small trout. I tried to see if there was a small hook in one, but my guess, with catch and release both succumbed to small hooks fed, you see this, head shaking to expel with this…Pretty much, I have determined it was very probable to be fish hooks consumed from small trout. They tell you to cut the line, and Osprey young are so vulnerable to that/ even older birds, few survive the surgery to remove.” Thanks, Sunnie.

Of course, no one should be told to cut the line and return the fish to the lake. Could the line and hook be in the fish, could they take them home? Tossing them back into the water to grow bigger so they might be caught later is only a means to harming the wildlife that feeds off the fish. Can you imagine the suffering? This is very sad and a great explanation.

Checking in on Mini at Patchogue before the day begins. At least three fish by 1009. The first arrived at 0513 and Mini was seen with a crop at 0651 so it got some fish. Hard to see through Mum!

The second fish arrives at 0756. Mini was caught at the back.

Trying to get up to eat at 0806 by stretching its neck – geez…that is a long neck.

By 0811 Mini is at the beak and is still eating at 0819. But Mini is nervous of Little. Mini has a little crop.

Fish three arrives at 1009. The male drops the fish on the nest and Mum makes no effort to get it – they are trying to see if anyone will self-feed. Well, guess who did? If you said Mini, you would be right!

Mum takes the fish and feeds and Mini is up there at 1042.

Is there another fish around 11:42. Mini is sitting on it and I wonder if it is left overs from before but…there is lots of fish. Mini gets to eat a lot! Feeling relieved.

1227. Mini and its crop.

More fish at 1300 and 1524. Mini has a huge crop at 407 and was under Mum and getting fed at 1541. Mini has not gone hungry – it is determined to get up to the fish and has no problem standing up and looking the third hatch, Little, right in the eye. Mini rarely backs down in that situation but it will go into submission if Big ‘looks’ at it.

At the 2012 feeding, Mini was beaked by one of the older siblings when he tried to get to the table. Head of big sib beaking Mini behind Mum’s tail.

Mini went into submission. It is not a giant fish. Mini still has a crop. Holding my breath, hoping this does not become a pattern. When Mum finished, Mini was still at the back in submission despite raising its head to see once in a while. No worries. Mini did eat well, but we don’t want a pattern to begin!

Mini eating breakfast on Saturday. Always a relief. That private feeding lasted from 0539-0616 when Third came up and Mini left.

At 0616, Third comes and Mini knows to leave.

But, at 0636 (it was a big fish!), Mini is back up at the table wanting more. Good for Mini. He missed out on the next small fish at 0922.

Just look at Dmitri’s storklet!

The second Red-tail hawklet at the Bald Eagle nest is alive!

‘H’ report on Severna is great for today: “At the earlier feedings the chicks were well fed. Oscar brought a whole fish at 1536, and seemed to want Olivia to show up to feed, so he waited.  Eventually he began to feed at 1542.  OMG, it was like pulling teeth, what a slow (or reluctant) feeder. At one point Big got impatient and grabbed the fish and attempted to self feed.  Oscar took the fish back after a couple of minutes and continued to feed.  While Oscar was still feeding, Olivia landed with a whole fish, and both parents were feeding for a few minutes.  At 1711, while Olivia was still feeding, Oscar landed with another whole fish.  So, the siblings literally had a fish feast from 1542 to 1740.” Isn’t this fantastic news?! This nest really deserves a break.

At Patuxent 2, ‘H’ reports: “Feeding at 1050 was peaceful and all ended up with good crops.  Big beaked Little after the feeding, I believe simply because it wanted to head in a certain direction and Little was in the way.  They hardly have any room to get around each other in that deep, narrow bowl.”

The Dahlgren nest appears to be harmonious while there is still trouble with the third hatch, Little, at the Forsythe Nest, and Mini. Because there are four -like Patchogue – we are paying particular attention to the Forysthe nest.

‘H’ reports on Forsythe:

Feeding 0623 to 0641, partial fish: Same general scenario, lined up [2,1,4,3], Little beaked Mini a couple of different times.  Big beaked Little after one of those times, and Big even gave Middle a couple of bonks, but I don’t know why.  Total bites for Mini = 2.

Feeding 0837 to 0915, large whole fish: Lined up [2,1,4,3], and later on [1,2,3,4].  Mini doesn’t realize h/she needs to get away from Little.  Again, same scenario, Little beaked Mini intermittently (more severely a couple of times), so MIni spent a great deal of time in submission.  By 0859 Middle had dropped out, and Big was in between Little and Mini, and Mini finally got bites.  Eventually both Little and Big dropped out and Mini had quite a long private feeding.  Total bites for Mini = 98.  

(You know I count very conservatively, if there is any doubt, I discount it as a bite).  It’s nice when the fish is large, so Mini can wait for the others to be sated.  Opal was able to eat a bunch too.

Feeding 1037 to 1102, whole fish: Mini started with a pretty good size crop.  When Mini had Middle or Big as a buffer, then Mini got bites, but positions do get shuffled around, and then Little will attack Mini.  By 1047 Mini started to get bites, and it lasted until Big and Middle dropped out and Mini was exposed to Little again.  Total bites for Mini = 18, but s/he had a big crop.

Feeding 1350 to 1411, large fish: Sounding like a broken record, but positioning is everything. Little had many opportunities to beak Mini.  At one point Mini was in back, and Little turned to beak Mini, but beaked Middle by accident, so Middle beaked Little, Big beaked Little and Middle and Big beaked each other, then Middle beaked Mini.  Goodness!  Long story short, Mini got 15 bites.

Feeding 1526 to 1612, large whole fish:Mini was behind the other three, but eventually squeezed between Big and Little [2,1,4,3].  Why always next to Little?  Mini did not get bites and was beaked by Little intermittently.  At 1534 Big took it upon himself to beak Little out of the way for a bit, so Mini was able to eat until 1540, at which time Little returned.  By 1544 Mini was back at Mom’s beak and ate a ton until 1551.  Total bites for Mini = 97.

‘H’ mentions something very important – the position of the smallest to the sibling that might attack is paramount. This is also true of Patchogue.

Rosa has gotten awfully aggressive…poor Annie!

At Moorings Park Abby is still around as she was seen a couple of days ago. S he is being fed off-camera, most likely. Victor enjoys the whole fish and the nest to himself!

A report from Audubon on the end of the 2023 Florida Bald Eagle nesting season. You might find this to be of some interest. In addition, please be advised that the camera at the SW Florida Eagle nest of M15 and E22 will be turned off at the end of June unless it is taken out by a storm earlier. When it is safe, camera maintenance will be undertaken. Please check the SWFlorida FB pages for the local photographers and their information after.

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Vijay has a short clip of what appears to be E22 flying, and if you look carefully towards the end at the bottom right in the grasses by the pond you will see an adult.

Two teeny fish and one red nice one before the rains started at Cowlitz PUD.

Dulles-Greenway’s Flora was caught flying around the wetlands and over the creek. Gosh, she is looking good!

Meanwhile, Dulles-Greenways Pat is being moved.

Have you peeked at Dayani lately? ‘A’ reports: “Dayani is the same size as Angel, so I think the gender is fairly obvious at this stage…I am astounded at how large the local vole population must be, considering how many Deyani eats each day. Dayani is SO close to fledging. I am not ready for her to go. Her wingspan appears to be the same as that of her parents now – those wings are gorgeous – and she is jumping and really flapping those wings, feeling the air and the lift under them. She is really testing out her power-to-weight ratio and her parents will probably reduce the food supply a bit this week. Her chest is pure white like her mum’s, with just a little colouring on her tummy. Apparently, two of Angel’s three 2021 chicks had the same colouring as the Ms while the third looked like Deyani, so it must be an individual thing.”  

Big Red and Arthur’s Ms will be getting ready to fledge soon…M1 is already flapping and jumping. Oh, these hawklets and falcons grow up way too fast.

There is also good news about L3, last year’s fledgling.

Eyas at San Jose City Hall gets banded and this fearsome eyas is a girl!

One healthy falcon…oh, if every nest could be so lucky…these two young parents figured it out… look at this fearless gal. Congratulations Monty and Hartley.

Banded Baby was starving or she thought so by the time Monty and Hartley arrive with food! Gracious. You have to watch this! They both have food. turn the volume up for the full effect!

Kathryn reports some energetic beaking at the Barnegat Light nest today. Let us hope that it is just playful fun. They can sure be angels when they want to be!

For those wondering about Dale Hollow 17, the new male continues to bring food to the nest for the fledgling. Super! The UK nests are doing fine, although concern continues about the visits of the Tawny Owl to the Loch Arkaig nest of Louis and Dorcha.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon.

If you would like to be part of our Bird World family, please subscribe. You will get an e-mail with the day’s newsletter. No fees. No ads. And you can unsubscribe anytime!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that help to make up my newsletter today: ‘A’, ‘H’, Kathryn, Sunnie Day, CTV News, Geemeff and Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, PSEG, Dmitri’s Storklet Cam, Doug Gillard, Severna Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Ospreys, SK Hideaway and Cal Falcons, Moorings Park Ospreys, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Vijay and SW Florida Eagle Cam, Cowlitz PUD, Dulles-Greenaway Eagles, Bald Eagles Naturally and Dulles-Greenaway Eagles, Window to Wildlife, Cornell RTH, Jenn Johnson Graff and Cornell Hawk Cam Chatters, SJCH Falcon Cam, SK Hideaways and SJCH Falcon Cam, and Barnegat Light.

Middle is doing good…Friday in Bird World

9 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

To put a smile on your face – this is our Ervie eating a fish on his favourite light pole. Thanks, Bazz Hockady for posting on Friends of Osprey Sth Australia! You just made our day brighter.

As I start writing the blog for Friday on Thursday afternoon, I have to say that my heart has sunk just a little bit. I received an e-mail that Middle was looking ‘good’ Wednesday evening from the rehabbers and then, there was a post on the Achieva FB page that Middle is in ‘guarded’ condition.

This is the latest update that I have seen on Middle – and it is good news. What a relief. Middle might not be out of the woods yet, so continue with your best wishes, and please send a big thank you to Birds in Helping Hands. They have an online form…no donation is required. We need more people willing to go the extra mile (literally), and these folks sure did.

There were supposed to be more thunderstorms in our area but they did not materialise. A visit to one of the local areas to count goslings/ducklings turned into a wonderful experience – one of those moments when the worry of Middle vaporised for a bit. When I opened the car door, an osprey flew overhead – about 7 metres. It was fishing. The time was 1930 and it would have been looking for the last meal for it, its mate and any chicks that could be on a nest. Perhaps she is still incubating. The osprey nest that is normally near the tennis courts at the University is not there this year so I do not know where this couple reside.

No photographic awards for these silhouettes…remind me of cutting out black construction paper as a child and putting it on white paper! But there, this beautiful osprey is looking for food right above me.

The American White Pelicans preening…last year there were some huge fish in this tiny urban pond. The water is so clear compared to some of the parks. An ideal spot for an osprey to fish, too.

Goslings with their parents up on the hill above the Pelicans.

Do you know the band, The Cure? Started in the UK eons ago and morphed along the way doing The Lost World tour in the US? What captured my eye is that their poster for Thursday night’s gig in Minneapolis shows two Ospreys.

My constant obsession appears to be Mini at the Patchogue nest. The three larger siblings get larger – yes, Mini is growing, but the size ratio issue continues. Thankfully, Mini is spunky. Thursday started with the female being wholly preoccupied with intruders. A fish arrived at 0606, but she flew off, leaving most of the fish and Mini fish begging. He did not understand why Mum would not feed him when he was at the beak. Mini was shut out several times despite being upfront. He managed to get some food from the 11:43 delivery. At the 1320 delivery, Mini got himself up, and finally, at 1330, Mum fed her tiniest baby. Mini was shut out of a later feeding, and I am now quite worried about him. The coming days will be critical as Mum always appeared to care and hang back fish for Mini.

At 1647 everyone ate but Mini.

Just an observation at the Patchogue Nest. The raptors often pile up together by gender. This may be why there is little aggression to Mini. Are Big Bob, Second Bob, and Mini all males? And is Third Bob a female? (the more aggressive one). Or are Big, Second, and Mini all females and Third a male?

It was a frustrating day at the Patchogue nest but then a huge fish landed a little after 1930. Thank goodness. At 1944, Mini, who had been in line moves over to avoid Big but in less than a minute is back up in line determined to finally get some fish. And Mini eats – Mum feeds her tiny baby and he is still there at 20:06 when he walks away with a huge crop. Relief.

1835. Mini wants some fish.

1740. All lined up and eating that huge trout.

At 1945 Mini lets Mum know it is hungry and wants food! This time she listens and feeds Mini. Now look at the fish that is left. Mini is going to get all of this except for what Mum ate. Fantastic. He needs the food. He is in a big growth state. Indeed, Mini needs to eat more than the others to reach its peak size.

1948. Mini is being fed!

All the others are away and Mini is still being fed.

2006. Big Crop for Mini!

‘H’ reports on Severna Park: “The cam was down until 10:30.  I could not find a fish delivery until 1524, Olivia brought a monster fish.  Surprisingly Middle ate first, with Big holding back.  Wow.  Then at 1528, Middle peeked over at Big, and got ‘the look’, so Middle moved aside and cowered.  Big commenced eating, and at the first fish-feeding position, there really wasn’t anywhere for Middle to go to get fed, so s/he just waited, and Big gave Middle ‘the look’ a few other times. After Big was sated, Olivia decided to move the fish to the other side of the nest, and resumed the feeding, primarily feeding Middle.  Both Osplets were stuffed.  It was a 55 minute feeding.” Well, that is good news coming out of that nest. A key to the smaller one’s survival on the nest is not to ‘look’ directly in the eye of the larger sibling especially if it has been abusive. It just seems to set them off.

‘H’ also reports on the Patuxent River Park nests which she observes for our data collection.

Patuxent I: “Feeding from 1538 to 1611, from a huge live fish.  Very peaceful, both were full.”

Patuxent II: “What a strangely shaped bowl, deep and elongated.  Mom positioned herself so she could only feed two at a time.  Big and Middle started up close to Mom.  #3 displayed the patience of Job, and waited a very long time for his turn.  They all were well fed.  They all were up at the table several times.  I only saw two bonks: At 1433 Big was behind and wanted to get back up front so beaked #2, #2 simply obliged.  And at 1537 Middle bonked Little once, just for good measure. I had expected to see slightly more aggression from these three as I had seen previously, but it just didn’t happen.”

All lined up nicely at Oyster Bay. Did they all get fed? Hard to tell.

The ‘Only Bob’ at Cowlitz PUD did an incredible PS mid-day on Thursday while waiting for Mum to feed it. And she did…

CJ7 feeding the chicks before bed and Blue 022 brings in another fish, just in case.

The two Bobs at Llyn Brenig appear to be doing just fine.

Geemeff caught Dorcha and Louis’s little one trying to self-feed. Dorcha was preoccupied – with an intruder? – during the meal and the wee Bob didn’t think those fish flakes were coming fast enough!

Louis delivers fish 3 at Loch Arkaig for Dorcha and Only Bob. It was a whopper!!!!!!!

Elen feeding two healthy osplets at Glaslyn.

Aran gets to feed his chicks again, too. These two make a great couple. so happy for Aran since Mrs G, his long term mate, did not return from migration.

Telyn is feeding the Bobs at Dyfi while Idris is preparing another fish for them! Sure would have loved to have seen this at Achieva!

Maya and Blue 33 and their three are doing fine at Rutland Water. It is hard to see because of the condensation on the cam but, lots of fish coming in.

There was a good feeding at Barnegat Light early on Thursday morning.

‘H’ reports that the two later feedings were also good at Barnegat Light. Fantastic. “Feeding 1427 to 1438, Little was up front.  All got bites. Short feeding at 1515, was almost entirely a private feeding for Little.  The other two were too sleepy, lol.”

Lovely image of E22 taken on 7 June.

Big Red looks so good to be 20 years old and well, she has been raising chicks for at least 17 years of that. Never waivers. Always takes the best of care with them!

‘L’ remarked that Iris had a ‘boyfriend’ the other day in comments. I waited to see if Louis would come and chase him off. There have been rumours of her hanging about off-camera with a few younger males. Louis is busy with Star and their babies, so this could be a perfect time for a nest takeover. Keep delivering fish to Iris! Yes, we know she can beat them all but, Louis hardly ever brought a fish…

I love this!

It will not be long until Murphy and his ‘Rock Baby’ Eaglet will be separated so that Rock Baby can get the flying skills it needs for release into the wild. What a story this has been – a beautiful one.

Are you a fan of the Royal Albatross. Voting is on for the name for SP! Here is the information so you can take part.

And last that scrappy little falcon on top of San Jose City Hall of Monty and Hartley’s. Getting banded today…

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, tweets, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to construct my newsletter today: ‘H’, ‘L’, Bazz Hockaday and Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, #Chris Packham, PSEG, Severna Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Cowlitz PUD, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Bwywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, LRWT, Conserve Wildlife of NJ, Carol S Rifkin and NEFL and SWFL Eaglecam Watcher’s Club, Cornell RTH, Diane Lambertson and Montana Ospreys at Hellcat, Susan Dimitrakopoulos and Montana Ospreys at Hellcat, Louis Matteau and Montana Ospreys at Hellgate, ABC7 Southwest Florida, World Bird Sanctuary, Holly Parsons and Albatross Lovers FB, and SK Hideaways and SJCH Falcons.

Wednesday in Bird World

7 June 2023

Good Morning Everyone,

Today’s nest report is a little scattered. Lots of information on birds in rehab, some funny moments, and some sad ones.

Let’s start with something fun. That little eyas at the San Jose City Hall scrape broke free today!

The Bald Canyon Eaglet with the hook and line in its GI tract will be undergoing surgery today. Please send your warmest wishes to Alo and continue to educate people on the dangers of fishing tackle – line, hooks, and lead weights.

Then there is the human rubbish…

We need to educate people..not just children. Air guns have no place in animal cruelty. This poor Osprey had, “It had three airgun pellets in its body, a fractured le wing, a ruptured right eye and flesh wounds.” Parents have to teach kindness but they also have to model it.

Osprey-put-down-after-being-shot-with-airgun-in-Washington-BBC-NewsDownload

Sometimes I take a deep breath and hold it when I can’t see Mini on the Patchogue nest immediately. But there he was eating and flapping its little wings and walking on its feet, not its ankles today.

0801 – eating

And a PS. Mini is trying to anticipate the next fish delivery and be up close to Mum. It has been a few hours and he is hungry.

There were not as much fish at Patchogue today but Mini did eat in the morning and at 1902 was up there getting fish as well.

Right up at the beak!

There was another fish delivery after this one. I cannot tell who got what…Mum was blocking the view. It was 2006. Still, the Big ones kept eating and I could not see Mini. Then after the fish was finished, Big went ‘over’ Mini. I continue to say this is ‘not good’. Mini remains too small and the Big sibling is really showing its dominance as it requires more and more fish. I remain very concerned for Mini – but always hopeful of a miracle.

There are plenty of fish at PSEG Oyster Bay but is the little one getting its share? The oldest is moving into the reptile phase. I hope this nest stays calm!

There is nothing sweeter than a newly hatched osplet – and nothing worse that a hungry Osprey fledgling (like Big and Middle). The three at Barnegat Light are doing fine so far. But they are small and cute.

The Only Bob at Cowlitz appears to be doing well. How many times do I wish there was only one spoiled, well-fed chick at each nest?

‘A’ asked me if there are more than three and four chick osprey nests this year, and the answer is yes. When all of the ospreys have migrated or fledged and left their territory (September), Claudio and I will crunch the numbers. At that time, we can tell you the % of 2, 3, and 4 chick nests, % that fledged, the % that died and how they died. We will also know the DNH rates. I will share that information with you, but there are more nests with larger broods. I cannot say if the death rate is higher, but it ‘feels’ like it is.

At Glaslyn, Aran has been feeding the chicks under the watchful eye of Elen.

The trio on the nest of CJ7 and Blue 022 in Poole Harbour are thriving. Lots of fish. Lovely kiddos.

The Achieva Osprey platform is simply heartbreaking. The first hatch, Big Bob has taken all of the fish and Middle is hungry – so hungry that calls have been made to the local wildlife rehab clinic. It is difficult – or as ‘R’ says, ‘it breaks your heart’ to watch one bird eat and eat and eat and one get nothing.

At the Severna nest, Big is also exercising its right to all fish but Middle is getting some – because Mum is still feeding. She does not always do what I want her to and turn around and feed her second hatch but he is getting some fish.

On Tuesday, the third hatch osplet at the Patuxent River Park I nest in Maryland died in care after being removed from the nest for sibling aggression/starvation.

Laddie LM12 has delivered a big fish to the Loch of the Lowes nest and Blue NC0 and the two chicks went to bed with full crops. Relief. I do so worry about this nest that should be thriving -. He had earlier delivered two fish. The eldest ate the first and then the second got some of the second delivery.

Ferris caught a Doe and her fawn on video…not a raptor but lovely.

What impact does the haze and fine ash from the Canadian wildfires have on ponds and fishing for the Osprey? This article in The New York Times talks about the fires and their impact outside of Canada but…what about our birds?

Haze-darkens-skies-across-northern-USDownload

Big Red has ‘something feathered’ she is plucking. I really do not want to think about it but, it looks like a small Blue Heron. Don’t hold me to that. Chicks are excited and Big Red is looking good. (All of the cameras are hazy from the fires in Canada).

It is 2041 and Big Red is just beginning to feed the trio. They have grown so much and we will be waiting for fledge watch far too soon.

SK Hideaways caught the trio chowing down! Big Red’s kids are never hungry. They all eat – you will never see the type of food rivalry that you would on an Osprey nest.

If you have been watching the story of the two Red-tail hawklets in the Bald Eagle nest, there is a sad update. I am so glad that these eaglets were not RTH5 or any of the Ms.

Angel and Tom’s RTH5 is growing and you can see similar plumage to the eyases of Big Red and Arthur. This little one will be fledging shortly, too. RTH5 will also have a name in the morning when I post this blog. Angel brought in a small Cotton-tail bunny for a late night dinner for her and the chick.

Angel has arrived with the prey and RTH5 spots her on a branch below.

Confirmation of the prey item when Angel flies to the nest.

Tom was on the nest earlier, feeding RTH5. He has turned into a good mate and parent.

E22 might never leave the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle nest. S/he is right at home having hatched in the nest, played in the pond, and caught its first fish there. Why would it leave? Right now there is no pressure from M15 or any potential mate of his. But, we never know and every second must be appreciated as if it were the last —- precisely the way that we should live our lives. Nothing is promised. So enjoy this amazing fledgling…you might remember that, at one point, we worried E22 would get enough to eat! M15 was an incredible parent. He did well by his last two eaglets with Harriet…better than many nests with two adults to care for the young.

Kathryn has been helping me observe osprey nests this season and sadly, the first two did not do well. She is also aware that I am looking for examples of osplets going into care, surviving, and fledgling – to try and convince some organisations that intervention can help, that Osplets do well in care – at least in the US. Seaside Seabird Sanctuary showed a short clip of two little osplets doing well…Thanks ‘K’. Know of any others? Have you seen any posts? Please let me know. Thanks, everyone.

Right now I would like to see Middle at Achieva having a big bowl of fish.

Karl II and Kaia looking after their four storklets in Estonia.

Oh, I love storks…the four of Bety and Bukachek were wanting some fish! or worms.

The chicks learn from their parents and mimic their behaviour. Sadly, Murphy’s eaglet is hopping and not trying to fly so, the pair will need to be separated and the eaglet placed with an adult who can fly. Thanks, Murphy! You were a great Dad. Gosh, he is going to miss his eaglet.

‘H’ reports that R5 has returned to the WRDC nest! Fledged/fludged on the 4th and returned on the 7th. Lovely. Great video of that reunion with Mum and R4. Love the squeeing and the chortling.

‘H’ reports on several other nests: “Patuxent 1:  1156 fish delivery, Big almost immediately launched an attack on Middle, but it didn’t last that long.  But surprisingly, when the feeding began, it was entirely peaceful.  Go figure, another nest with some aggression, but not at the feedings.  Also surprising, #1 didn’t really try to eat very much, laid down part of the feeding, even though it did not have a big crop and they had not been not recently fed.  Middle’s crop was 3x the size of Big’s at the end of the feeding.  After the feed, Middle remained alert, and Big laid down.”

Patuxent 2: Difficult to see feedings as view is often blocked. “Feeding from 1610 to 1731, huge fish.  Little was intimidated by ‘the look’ and stayed back. Middle and Big ate.  At 1619 Little tried to approach and was bonked.  At 1624 Little started to eat with Big’s blessing.  1628 Big and Middle backed away, Little had a private feeding to 1636.  At 1638 Little beaked Big, big mistake, lol.  But that brought out the beast in Big, and Big then went after Middle, and came back and went back after Little again.  By 1646 Little was back at the table.  All three ended up with large crops.”

Thank you for being with me…for all the nests that continue to struggle with aggression or lack of fish, send your positive wishes their way. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped to make up my newsletter today and a big shout out to ‘L’ who kept in touch with the rehabbers in St Petersburg on Tuesday about Middle at Achieva. ‘A’, ‘H’, Kathryn, ‘SK’, SK Hideaways and SJCH Falcons, IWS, The Friends of Island Beach State Park, BBC news, PSEG, Barnegat Light and Conservancy C of NJ, Cowlitz PUD, SW Florida Eagles, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Achieva Credit Union Severna Park Ospreys, Ildiko A Polk and Patuxent RP Osprey Nest, LOTL, Ferris Akel, The New York Times, Cornell RTH, SK Hideaways and Cornell RTH, Birds of Prey and Doug Gillard, Window to Wildlife, SK Hideaways and SWFlorida, Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky, Patuxent River Park, World Bird Sanctuary, and Heidi McGru and the WRDC.