12 December 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
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News is coming in Thursday morning from Wales: The nest tree of Dylan and Blue 5F Seren has been completely destroyed in a storm that has hit Wales. Will there be time to put up a platform for them? This is very sad news for one of our favourite Osprey couples.
I still have no news as to a second egg for Gabby…I hope I have just missed the announcement.
Oh, goodness. It is -40 C with bright blue skies on the Canadian Prairies. By evening it will have warmed up to -34 C. Winter has really come with lots of snow and now the blistering cold. It even feels cold in the house despite the heat and triple pane windows.
Brock made it out for his food Wednesday morning. I am so glad The Girls are inside and safe. Brock has a warm space under the deck. I hope he is using it.
My report is short. The very cold weather seems to have brought on a cold. I will be fine, but I rested and didn’t check on many nests on Wednesday. There is also little activity.
I do have an update from a friend about the state of peregrine falcons in the downtown Melbourne area. “In the last few weeks from all over Melbourne, including some celebrity birds from Collins Street and the airport. (The vet) has successfully fixed all of them – three have been released, three are still in hospital. The Collins Street one will be released on Thursday [today – it is now 12.37pm on Thursday – so it will probably be on the news if it’s a slow news day.”
One of the Collins Street triplets died on the 28th floor from a collision and, another has been in care. Is there another in care? The life of urban raptors can be very precarious and short-lived. We are thankful to all the wildlife rehabbers and vets that put them back together and release them.
Victor Hugo spoke on radio about the Collins Street falcons and falcons in general. I am not sure you can access this link that ‘A’ sent to us. It is a good interview.
Speaking of falcons and urban ones, too, Monty and Hartley have been at the scrape! https://youtu.be/FjV_44ZbihQ?
At Orange, Xavier and Diamond are having cicada wars. https://youtu.be/lj394K91vzA?
There are many books on Peregrine Falcons. They range from simple guides, interesting children’s books, to more detailed and more academic oriented tomes.
For everything about Falcons, you cannot beat Richard Sale’s hefty well-researched book on falcons (covers 4 species of falcons including the Peregrine).
The other is J.A. Baker’s small volume. Excellent.
For children, these are really good books to get them interested in the world’s fastest bird.
An exceptional book about the work being done in Idaho.
A book that examines the challenges of an urban falcon. One of my favourites along with Maggie!
San Jose City Hall has announced that they will be upgrading the camera for Monty and Hartley. Isn’t that fantastic news? Thanks, ‘J and SK Hideaways’.
Both Wilko and Kasse have fledged. Kasse did slip out of the nest, but she recovered brilliantly to land on a nearby sailboat. Congratulations Port Lincoln! What a great year it was. We will look forward to seeing these two fighting for fish on the nest, wrecking talons, and getting their wings stronger.
Here is Port Lincoln’s video of that flight: https://youtu.be/nK95SW6Y94E?
This is the summary for part of Thursday. Kasse has no fish yet, not even supplementary fish. They were hoping she would come home.
I did some cutting and pasting. I hope that what I am seeing is Kasse getting some fish. Wilko has tried to keep her away but it appears she has eaten. He gets on their backs including Mum’s!!!!!!! Yes, Kasse gets some fish.
12:38 2 | Mum’s into the nest with the 2nd supplemental fish! Mum feeds Wilko. Kasse is still on the anchor rope. 12:43 All Wilko time stamps for now. He’s away to feak and look around. 12:53 Mum’s off of the nest with the 2nd supplemental fish tail. Feeding interupted. | ||
| 12:57 | Camera pans out and we see Kasse has disappeared from the anchor rope! Camera pans to her all the way up on a boat mast now! | ||
| 13:07 3 | Camera pans and we see Mum’s back on the nest with a supplemental fish. Wilko’s in for some more dining with Mum. 13:15 Wilko feels the urge to feak so he engages it! Mum finishes it. | ||
| 13:26 | Kasse flew above the nest and behind the camera! | ||
| 13:31 | Mum’s on the nest with a large fish! | Mum (L,Whole) | |
| 13:31 4 | Wilko, once again, joins Mum. Kasse is on the barge. But she’s up on top of the ship. 13:34 Kasse can be seen flying from the ship hood. And she’s just gonna circle over the nest and trying to figure out how to land. Meanwhile Wilko defends the nest, feaks his beak and Mum just eats away at the fish. 13:41 Kasse is finally back in the nest! Wilk pushes at her. She stays in the nest. Wilko attacks Kasse once again! Kasse fights back! Kasse is finally with Mum eating her share of fish. Kasse gets the fish tail. | ||
| 14:53 | Wilko hops from the close branch onto Mum’s back for a second! He then goes onto his sister! Mum’s out. lol | ||
Overhead cam is working at SW Florida. We will be on pip watch this weekend.
I am looking for that second egg at NE Florida with Gabby and Beau. The day began dry and then got a little wet in the afternoon.
Will we be in for a very long night waiting for this second egg? Maybe.
It’s midnight and there is no second egg at NE Florida yet.
Beau has been incubating since 0647.
At SW Florida, we are now officially on hatch watch as the first egg is 36 days old. I am guessing Friday.
Androcat has the precious eggs and some images: https://youtu.be/eb4VsqInroc?
There is trouble at Eagle Country as Blaze has to battle another eagle! https://youtu.be/At035GK-BdE?
I did not see any eagles at the NCTC nest where fog and damp seemed to be the order of the day. It looks wintery!
It’s raining at Port Tobacco.
It’s winter at the Trempealeau Bald Eagle Nest in Michigan.
Lady returned to check on her nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. https://youtu.be/17qzyZFKDu8?si=LQw2Yon27-zlDtX1
Meanwhile, Eagle-eye Cathy Cook spotted SE33 flying around the River and the Discovery Centre to land by the roost of the parents. This is wonderful news. I got locked out of FB and thankfully ‘J’ sent me the image that Gracie Shepherd reposted of Cathy Cook’s on the Sea Eagle Cam.
Isn’t it glorious to see SE33 flying free?
‘A’ gives us an update about a visitor to the Royal Albatross colony: “I wanted to give you a cute piece of albatross information. A youngish male who has been visiting the albatross colony has leg bands indicating he hatched in the Chatham Islands between 2011 and 2019. His ID is A11 (black band equals male, metal band on the left leg with coloured band on the right equals Chatham Islands, the ‘A’ denotes a 2011 to 2019 hatch). Anyway, on 8 December, he visited RLK, who was on the nest incubating his egg, and gently preened him. Then, on 11 December, A11 was back, and he did the same, this time preening GLG, who was on her nest. A friendly young chap, obviously, making social bonds?
But these albatrosses are the sweetest and gentlest of birds. Imagine quite randomly going up to males and females alike as they are incubating their eggs and gently preening them. Isn’t that just beautiful? And so loving towards birds who are presumably strangers to them, at least initially. It was the sweetest interaction.
GLG and RLK are a tightly bonded pair, and their skycall greetings and allopreening at the incubation changeovers are just adorable. TOO endearing. If this is not love and devotion, then I have never seen it. The sweetness of these precious interactions brings tears to my eyes (although of course it is an emotional night for me). Once their egg is laid, the only time they get to spend together is at these changeovers, and the precious time they spend with each other is so very short in comparison to all those months and years alone at sea. “
‘J’ brings us updates on Rita the Eagle:
It continues to be dangers near the grouse moors for our beloved feathered friends. Why would anyone enjoy killing a gorgeous free flying bird?
Thank you for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Heidi, J’, SK Hideaways, Nesting Bird Life and More, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Bart M and PLO, NEFL-AEF, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Androcat, NCTC Eagle Cam, Eagle Country, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Trempealeau Bald Eagle Cam, Gracie Shepherd and Bald Eagles 101 and thanks to Cathy Cook!, Raptor Persecution UK, abcnet, Rita the Eagle, SJ City Hall