14 January 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
Hearts were breaking. The worry beads were out. E23 had something stuck in its mouth. Was it a fishbone? Both M15 and F23 tried to get it out. Finally, around 0910, M15 got it out and that little eaglet was fed the RK Rabbit. (Thanks, ‘H’ for the great captures). Thousands of people breathed a little quieter. M15, you are amazing. Let us all send good wishes to this little one with the hope that there was no injury.
It is a cold -25 C as I write this – with the wind chill it is -45 or -50 C in areas with cold weather warnings not to go out. Postings are up for people to please keep their pets inside. Winter has come. We will have several more days of -25 C and then it is going to warm up to -8 C. The weather has done this before and those little reprieves were great help – just to get outside and get some fresh air and go for a walk.
Extremely cold temperatures. How could I not worry about this adorable Tuxedo? He won’t come inside but will tell me when his dry kibble bowl is empty by banging on the garden door. ’The Boyfriend’ now has a heated bed in his insulated home. It all worked out. Calico gifted hers to him, and I crawled under the deck and got it all hooked up. Yes, he is in there! He should be very toasty. His insulated house has straw bales surrounding it on the top, the back and the sides. Only the front is open. There is straw inside and now a heated cat bed. He might never leave! I wonder if he will be wanting room service.
Calico is gorgeous. I love how the sun gives her a soft, golden look. On Monday, I will have ‘known’ Calico for a year. On 26 January, we will start the 7th month of Calico living inside. So far, she has not wanted to go out, but she has looked on occasion.
Missey washed Hugo Yugo for over 30 minutes. I wonder if she is going to clean that eye! Notice how she is really holding that little one down. Hugo Yugo’s fur is getting very frizzy.
Baby Hope is watching Missey clean up Hugo Yugo – she is also hoping she is not going to be next. Calico still holds her down and cleans her, too, despite the fact that she is almost as big as Mamma.
‘H’ is overjoyed and has sent me a close up of the pip at the WRDC nest of Rose and Ron. This egg is 38 days old today, I believe. The chatters have been wringing their hands in anxious anticipation. Now the wait for hatch!
Another view of that pip.
Rose on Sunday morning. Hatch in progress.
Over at Superbeaks, Muhlady has laid the first egg of her and Pepe’s second clutch. Congratulations! The time I was given was 1437.
No confirmed pip at Berry College at 1510 but chatters note some ‘suspicious’ spots.
We can clearly see the pin feathers coming in on the wings of E23 at the SW Florida Bald Eagle nest of M15 and F23.
You can see the ear. See the ‘hole – like a black dot’ in line with the corner of the beak. It will be covered with feathers as the eaglet develops.
C10 and C11 have not quite lost all the dandelions that make up their Mohawks, but the time is coming. There is lots of dark thermal down covering their bodies now and C10 was doing some standing today. Clive is keeping the nest full of prey.
Lori Covert is looking for names for C10 and C11. Here is that announcement so you can take part.
*NAMING* Time to name CE10 & CE11! The landowner is taking name suggestions. Around 1/19/2024 the land owner and her family will pick 2 names from the suggestions. If you’d like to submit names you can direct message Lori on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/C2A0dTTpZr8/) or you can email her at lcovert@covertmarketing.com
Beau continues to help out with incubating the egg at NE Florida. Gabby and him have a short conversation at the last turn over of the day Saturday night.
Snow continues in Iowa. It looks wet and heavy. You can really hear the wind. Compare the top image with the bottom captured later in the evening.
Raining in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh-Hayes nest.
Chat moderators are reminding us that the first mating of the 2024 eagle season for Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear was 31 December. Some are thinking we could have eggs soon. I wonder. It is really windy Saturday night at the nest. I did not see the eagles there today, but I might have missed them.
At Port Lincoln, the day has started off good for both Brad and Gil have had a fish breakfast.
Report from WBSE, thanks, ‘A’: ”January 13: The first observation for the day was of one adult at River Roost at 11am, shortly joined by the other. Then, at 11:45am, what appeared to be a subadult was seen circling overhead, though neither adult seemed to take any notice. At 12:25pm, our juvenile was seen circling higher and higher, out of sight. Shortly afterwards, at 12:50pm, she was seen at Juvie Roost. More tomorrow if there’s any action.”
And here is that report: ”
January 14: Our juvenile was spotted on Mangrove Island at around 8:20am, though no parents were seen by our river watcher. Shortly before, one eagle was seen to fly to the Goat Island area and catch a huge fish, which it sadly dropped. SE31 was spotted flying high over the river, over the Homebush Bay area, for a good 30 minutes, returning to Mangrove Island at 10:20am with a raven escort. At around the same time, an adult was reported at Goat Island. Heavy rain began at around 4pm, steaming up our cameras. SE31 was seen at around 5pm taking a short flight around the island, watching the water intently. “
Nice to see Sally at the nest at Moorings Park on Saturday.
The Sauces Cam in the Channel Islands of Jak and Audacity is now live.
Hartley and Monty are flirting…. I wonder when we will have eggs. Any thoughts?
Ever since the discussions of Beau’s ‘missed opportunities’ at the NEFL nest with Gabby, there have been more and more postings of young males ‘missing their mark’. D3 at Centreport is one, and in ‘Red-tails in Love’, it was pointed out that Pale Male, the resident RTH in Central Park, was amorous with a head as well. They learn. But then you have the shock of the egg to the first time Mum (and/or Dad) and then that chick screaming for food. It has to be as overwhelming for them as it is for us.
Parrots. I recently posted a short blurb about the parrots in the UK. There are also parrots all over Stuttgart, Germany. I am including this because these are our feathered friends, but it also demonstrates how a small action can make a big difference to the lives of the birds we love so much. It does not take thousands of people just a few informed, dedicated, and persuasive individuals to get to the right government departments. They need to be organised and convince these people that helping the birds is also helping humans!
So where did the parrots in Stuttgart come from? Bianca Han writes in the Stuttgart Amazonian: ”It all began in 1984, when a yellow-headed amazon (Amazona oratrix), presumably escaped from a private enclosure, was repeatedly spotted on the grounds of Wilhelma in Stuttgart. Apparently there were several unsuccessful attempts to catch the amazon and it is rumored that animal rights activists took pity on the lonely amazon and bought another one and set it free. The two parrots found each other as a pair and raised three young in 1986. The population has grown steadily ever since. In 1995, 16 were counted and a further 10 years later as many as 38 parrots. At the end of the 1990s, two ringed blue-fronted amazons joined the population. It is not known where they came from. One disappeared after a short time, the other became a long-term partner for the yellow-headed amazon “Thea”. The population is growing very slowly. It stagnated for many years and even declined in some cases. Some years it fluctuated between 50 and 60 Amazons. In the winter of 2017 to 2018 and the following year, the population grew to 65 amazons each year (including one amazon that was in care to recover from injuries). In January 2021 I was able to count 62 parrots.” An organisation was formed to save the parrots. ”Regularly from February, the wild parrots begin to eat tree hazelnuts on the ground. Unfortunately, in recent years many places frequented by parrots have been thoroughly cleaned by the Stuttgart City Cleanup. On a smal strip of green just under two meters wide, the parrots have found their way. On one side runs the tram and on the other side runs a busy road. At the beginning of 2023, we were able to register many accidents. We were able to see some collisions with vehicles, which luckily turned out glimpse. Two Amazons had to be treated by veterinary surgeons. One remains permanently incapacitated another could return to the flock after 5 weeks. We miss some Amazons, who regularly visited the place for food intake. We have become aware of the urgent need to create alternative safe feeding grounds for them and to maintain existing ones. For this reason we have now established the association “Freundeskreis Stuttgarter Amazonen”. Hahn adds, “You can support the unique wild population of the Yellowhead Amazon by becoming a member of our association, by making a donation or by purchasing our annual calendar. More information at www. stuttgarter-amazonen. de
The first success of the Association Freundeskreis Stuttgarter Amazonen e.V. was the planting of two Hazelnut Trees by Netze BW Wasser GmbH. They also agreed to protect the Stuttgart Amazons. “On Thursday, November 23, 2023, the replanting of two tree hazel trees took place on a Netze BW site. Especially in the fall, the Amazons spend some days in this protected and inaccessible area, as there are already fruit and walnut trees here. It is to be hoped that the newly planted hazel trees will become a focal point for the Amazons in the winter months in the medium term.”
Parrots have been in the Hesse region of Germany for millions of years. ”Fossil finds have shown that around 50 million years ago, in the Eocene period, parrots lived in Hesse. Their remains can be found today in the sediments of the Messel Pit near Darmstadt. Parrot bones from the so-called Miocene (around 29 million years ago) have also been found in France and Germany. After that, Europe was long considered the only continent on which no free-living parrot species could be found. The colorful birds could only be admired in private holdings, bird parks or zoos.”
It is fascinating. I hope to learn more. Thank you to ‘J’ for bringing this to my attention after the UK posting and for translating the information from German to English using the free version of DeepL.com
Saturday is Ferris Akel’s tour around the area of Ithaca, New York. Of particular interest today were a lovely Red-headed Woodpecker and a pair of Mute Swans that are not local. Mute Swans are identified by their orange bill, and the know between their eyes at the top of the bill.
This would be true for all our wildlife.
Thank you so very much for joining me today. Please take care. See you soon!
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Thank you to the following for their notes, information, posts, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ’A, H, J’, WRDC, Lloyd Brown, Superbeaks, Berry College Eagle Cam, Lisa Kitchens Simms, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Window to Wildlife, NEFL-AEF, Raptor Resource Project/Explore.org, PIX Cams, FOBBV, PLO, Bart M, Eagle Cam, Moorings Park, Gracie Shepherd, SK Hideaways, Teresa Rose, Ferris Akel Tours, and Animal Welfare Watch.
