Category Archives: endangered species

9 February 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

To those celebrating the New Year (新年) or, as it is often known, the Spring Festival (春节), I wish you great prosperity, good health, and a long and happy life. Millions will be travelling to be with their families – and, as we know, it is the year of the Dragon (the Wood Dragon). Trees may be decorated with red lanterns, and couplets will be pasted to each side of the entrance door. These are ‘wishes’ for the new year. Many of my students would cook a special stir fry that had 16 to 19 kinds of vegetables. Those ranged from cauliflower, broccoli, bean sprouts, and snow peas. Other foods were prepared – each tasting different – and served in various coloured covered dishes. I always wondered at the variety, beauty, and hard work that went into the celebration. It was the joy of my teaching career to spend time with these students, missing their families who were far away and not being able to celebrate 年夜饭 – niányèfàn – or the lunar New Year’s Eve dinner with their loved ones. They taught me a lot! Many are now good friends. 

The girls will be wanting to eat some of the spring Festival Dishes tonight – and play with the longevity noodles and dumplings. We have been practising making them and Hugo Yugo was right there – wanting to help. I will try and get some images from the festivities on Saturday night to show you our curious kitty!

In Winnipeg, the forecast for Thursday was correct. As I was sitting and laughing with the allergy doctor testing me to see if I was allergic to anything – including my beloved cats – winter hit just as predicted. The rain shifted to snow, and the winds picked up, and two and a half hours later, I was glad to be tucked inside with ‘the girls’. As it happens, I am not allergic to anything! Nothing. What a relief. Mind you, I would never have gotten rid of my cats for an allergy – and there is treatment now, but it is best for those who work with animals daily, such as vets. I have Vasomotor Rhinitis, which is being treated with a kind of inhaler. ”These symptoms are excessive at times and are exacerbated by certain odours (e.g., perfumes, cigarette smoke, paint fumes, inks); alcohol; spicy foods; emotions; and environmental factors such as temperature, barometric pressure changes, and bright lights”. It can also include wildfires and hot soup. My symptoms have been excessive and have prompted a growth in the stockmarket value of Kleenex tissues. LOL. 

At any rate, winter has returned, and I am pleased. We need the snow cover, and most people need to slow down. Winter storms can help with that! The arrangement of the newsletter is a bit different since I was gone most of the day. And the poor girls. I have a new book just for them which we will read tomorrow – Be Mine, Porcupine. I wonder what else we can get to help celebrate Valentine’s Day with them. They are my ‘loves’. Let’s see if they will cooperate and give me some nice photographs for you in the morning. They have been darlings this evening. The onset of winter has slowed them down. It is now nearly 2100 and they are not leaping about reminding me of their last meal before bed! This is highly unusual. 

Two of Dyson kits were at the feeders early trying to find seeds from under the snow.

Hugo Yugo and Missey were watching the birds landing on vines on the side of the conservatory.

Hugo Yugo wanted to leap and grab one! I sure wish I had her energy. She kept me away half the night…she discovered necklaces hanging from pegs and was jumping at the wall trying to get them! Eventually they were all taken down and hidden in a drawer. Next it was the box with all the pens in it. She has figured out how to get the lid open…never stops, always funny. Adorable. Just look at those little paws.

Baby Hope was wishing for bird videos – not the real thing. It is so funny. She doesn’t care a thing about the animals outside! When she wants the videos turned on, she will lie in front of the screen. 

Achieva Osprey Platform, St Petersburg, Florida: I am not pleased that Achieva has a third egg. Jack and Diane are not the most robust ospreys and have great difficulty if three eggs hatch. It cannot always be put down on them -. The area is full of birds, including gulls and eagles, that eat fish and steal fish from ospreys. The other issue was the extreme drought conditions in the area last year. Jack often doesn’t deliver enough fish. One year, perhaps four years ago, we thought he might even have another nest. Diane had to resort to going out and finding her catfish. I had hoped that the third egg would not come, and now it has, a little late, and that is also concerning for that third hatch. 

We are going to start off with Ospreys because they really are on my mind. It feels like there is going to be a huge flurry and now that the third egg has been laid at Achieva, 11 days after the first, I am already trying to find the box of worry beads.

The first egg was laid on January 28, and the second on the 31st. Those are expected differences in dates. The problem is the third egg, which was laid on either the 7th or 8th of February. I think you can begin to imagine my concern. That is a difference, as mentioned earlier, of 11 days. I want you to sit and imagine an 11 day old osplet and a newly hatched. I know we had a miracle at Patchogue, Long Island last year with the fourth hatch, but let’s be honest. Jack and Diane are not the parents at Patchogue. Ospreys are different from one another and circumstances are different. We have no idea the competition Jack has for fish and if he loses fish to gulls enrolee back to the nest. What we do not is that the deliveries on this nest, historically, have not proven to be sufficient. Diane has gone out fishing when the osplets were old enough and, indeed, her catfish have kept some alive that might otherwise have perished. The couple are not young either.  This is highly worrisome. 

Captiva Osprey Platform, Barrier Islands, Florida: The new female at the Captiva Osprey nest is being named Jill – so we now have Jack and Jill. They have mated and it is a good nest. Let us hope that we have some chicks here this year.

Moorings Park, Naples, Florida: Harry and Sally, meanwhile, are taking their sweet time. No first egg on that nest yet!

Pelican Bay Osprey Platform, Naples, Florida: We have hatch but it is unknown how many eggs there were or how many hatched -yet.

Venice Golf and Country Club: First egg laid on 6 February. Second expected today.

Can catch their streaming cam here:

Here is the weekly summary for Gil and Brad at Port Lincoln, our South Australian fledgling ospreys:

A Spanish site to follow. Sunnie Day comments, “The osprey is categorised in the Red Book of Birds of Spain as “EN – Endangered” and is included in the Spanish Catalog of Threatened Species, as “VU – Vulnerable.” For more information about the species, consult SEO BirdLife’s Guide to Birds of Spain: https://seo.org/ave/aguila-“

Want to send a special Valentine:

European and UK Ospreys – the very first of the monitored returnees – will be home in 6 months or 42 days! Yes. 

This came up on one of my FB groups today and I wanted to share it with you. The Return of the Ospreys to Loch Garten. Just to get you excited.

Switching back to the Bald Eagles in the US.

Big Bear Valley with Jackie and Shadow. Live fish delivery! Eggs have been rolled, both have taken incubation duties. Today is 9 February and in 20 days we are on pip watch. I am marking off my calendar, are you? 

Our loved eagles have made The Washington Post! ‘B’ kindly saved the article as a PDF so we could read about them. How nice! It is a really good read. I hope you enjoy it.

Not to worry about that fish. Jackie returns and enjoys her dinner. Thanks Baibai for capturing these events.

Redding Eagles. Liberty was on the nest checking out the flood water. She does not seem particularly concerned. She was still on the nest after dusk. I wonder.

Gabby brought in a pile of moss to the nest slightly covering that egg. Is it time for Gabby to say goodbye to the hopes of motherhood this year?

Nature Chat has added a new Kansas Bald Eagle nest to its list of streaming cams. The adults are Ellie and Harvey. Here is the link if you are interested.

US Steel Bald Eagle Nest, Pittsburg. No egg yet for Irvin and Claire. They have been fiddling with their nest, too!

SW Florida with M15, F23, and E23. That little much loved eaglet is still adored, but my goodness how it has grown. Well fed and every need has been attended to by his very doting parents. Check out that tail in the image below. You can see the quills holding the blood feathers. Then look, you can see them on the wings. Those quills will break off during preening or as the feathers grow and develop. What a beautiful eaglet with such a huge wing span. Many think our E23 is a female. That would be fantastic after years of speculating that the others were mostly male.

Florida’s Eagle Country with Abby, Blaze, Swampy, and Meadow. We all have our favourites, often little ones, that we are concerned about. I often root for the underdog, the younger one that struggles with a big sibling intent on bonking. Swampy, despite piles of fish and prey on the nest, continues to go after Meadow. Sometimes it is not even when it is a feeding. But, today, it seems Meadow got fed up and gave some back.

Swampy got its nose out of joint right before 6pm. Reminds me of Calico and Missey – the no apparent reason just to be miserable.

I think these eaglets offer some good insights into what we should be doing – finding joy and happiness and cooperation. Not beaking each other for who is the most powerful or dominant. There is plenty of fish provided by Blaze and Abby is a good Mum. Just chill you two! (I do tell Calico that every night BTW).

Rollin’ Rag had some good observations on Swampy and Meadow for today:

WRDC, Dade-Country, Florida nest of Ron, Rose, and R6. It seems that R6 is destined to eat strange things and survive. Rumour has it R6 ate the leg, and the metal ring of a bird recently brought to the nest. I cannot say…just a rumour. R6 looks extremely healthy with its fat bottom and strong wings. The dandelions are disappearing fast, and that dark charcoal thermal down covers this eaglet. He would make quite the model on the couture runway this season! Everyone seems to want expensive fleece – . Aren’t birds and animals fortunate? They don’t have to decide what to wear in the morning or do laundry! They certainly don’t contribute to the piles of waste textiles filling many African landscapes.

Captiva Eagle nest of Connie, Clive, Cal, and Lusa, Barrier Islands, Florida. The two eaglets are self-feeding. Not completely adept at this milestone, but they are sure trying hard. Standing on the rim of the nest bowl. Scary stuff. Another milestone.

PA Country, nest of Lisa and Oliver: First egg!

At Decorah North, Mr North and Mrs DNF are fiddling with the sticks for the nest. They are hilarious – like Shadow.

At the fruit table feeder in Panama, there is a visitor – a Roadside Hawk.

Cornell says, “The Roadside Hawk is one of the most widespread raptors of the Neotropics. Its name is due to its preference for the edges of forests. It is found in open to semi-open areas, forest borders, roadsides and plantations. It is usually not found in the forest interior. The Roadside Hawk feeds on a variety of small prey including reptiles, small mammals and birds, but mainly feeds on insects. This is not a social species; pairs can be seen during breeding season.”

I wonder if they would eat the hummingbirds flittering around as Cornell does not specify which small birds.

The Peregrine Fund gives us more information on these neotropical hawks:

• There are twelve sub-species of Roadside Hawks
• The Roadside Hawk tends to avoid dense forest habitat.
• The Roadside Hawk is one of the most commonly seen raptors throughout its range.
• Researches reported one observation of nestling siblicide in Roadside Hawks – meaning one nestling intentionally kills one or more of its brothers or sisters while they are all still young and in the nest.

The PF also tells us how this beautiful raptor got its name. “When you first hear the name “Roadside Hawk” you might guess that this raptor likes to hang around the sides of roads, and you would be correct. This hawk is often seen perched in trees, or on fence posts or power lines along highways, trails and paths. Just as it has a varied diet (which you can read about below), it also spends time in a wide variety of habitats including forest edges, plantations (such as pine, coffee and eucalyptus), woodland, scrubland, savannas, pine-oak forest, river edges, mangrove edges, and thorn forest. It can even be found living comfortably near humans – in suburbs and city parks.”

Thanks so much for being with me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, photographs, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ’A, B, H, J, M’, Achieva Credit Union, Heidi Mc, Moorings Park, Pelican Bay, VGCC, PLO, Sunnie Day, Mary Cheadle, The Washington Post, FOBBV, Baibai, FORE, Eagle Goddess, Nature Chat, PIX Cams, Lady Hawk, Eagle Country, Rollin’ Rag, WRDC, Window to Wildlife, Trudi Kron, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Cornell Bird Lab, and The Peregrine Fund.