We have had more snow and high winds, making it impossible to see more than a few meters on Tuesday afternoon and evening. I spent the time when Anne was with Don doing some errands, sitting blissfully having tea with my bestie and looking out her bay window. It was like being in the middle of a wintry holiday card. The snow was gently falling; people were walking their dogs while birds visited the feeders. These short breaks remind me that being with friends, watching wildlife, or going for a walk in the snow is something money cannot buy. It is rejuvenating.
Margaret Renkl has written several books that many of us have enjoyed, especially “The Company of Crows.” She recently wrote a thoughtful opinion piece for The New York Times. Here is an excerpt:
“A heavy snow 10 days ago brought birds out in huge numbers, often in whole flocks — bluebirds, robins, cedar waxwings, house finches, dark-eyed juncos and Carolina wrens, plus the usual mockingbirds and blue jays, tufted titmice and Carolina chickadees, every kind of sparrow and every kind of woodpecker. I kept the feeders filled. My husband spread a sheet on top of the snow and set out a mix of seeds and nuts and mealworms for the ground foragers.
This bounty also brought the mixed flock of black birds I always look for in snow — starlings and grackles and red-winged blackbirds — that compete for resources during the breeding seasons but band together in the cold. In such weather, they waste little energy in squabbling.”
As we enjoyed our tea, deer came to graze on the shrubs in my friend’s garden. I wondered if they followed the river path that connects our neighbourhoods. Is it possible that the buck staring at me with a single antler is the same one that visits my garden? There he was with a group of six females of various ages. One was a small fawn. Was this also the same little fawn that had slept under my bird feeder a few days ago? I couldn’t be sure, but it felt like they were the same ones and it felt good to see them safe.
You don’t have to go outside. Sitting quietly can wash away all the ills of the day! For many of us, one of those questions has been what happened to Akecheta. For several days, there were intruder eagles and territorial skirmishes. All of us have seen the state that Akecheta was in, along with his opponent, in stills and videos. Our hearts wept. We adore him. Unfortunately, we will not have any news about Akecheta for a while—or, sadly, never. Explore has a serious issue with the transmission from the Channel Islands, and I understand that Dr. Sharpe is not available to check until next week. I hope he survived the intruder’s injuries and has his rightful place next to Thunder on their nest when we next have the live stream.
Thankfully, we have a diversion in the form of a tiny little eaglet, NE31. Most of you have already seen Beau trying to feed his baby. It was more than magical. Dad wanted a snack. Tiny NE31 kept poking up its head out of that deep bowl. ‘Feed me fish. I want fish’ was what that little one said with every bob. SK Hideaways caught this tender moment between this first-time day and his day old chick. Even if you have already seen it, watch again and marvel at how much Beau has grown in a few years. Gabby knew he would make a great dad! I laughed at how hard Beau worked with that one piece of fish. Thanks, SK for a great smile. https://youtu.be/G4zea3983tw?
Many of you have pondered what it is with the eaglets that have hatched this year. They are strong, holding their heads and necks up high in such a short time after hatch. NE31 is no exception – there s/he is commanding attention.
Rain came and Gabby made certain that 31 was warm and dry while Beau keeps a vigilant guard over his family.
The rain is also at SW Florida with the Es.
F23 made sure they were fed, but the kiddos with their juvenile tails growing in nicely (look at how those feathers are bursting out of the quills) are far too big to be under Mum. Their plumage insulates them. and they can now thermoregulate their temperature.
On Tuesday, the entire South will experience either snow or rain. ‘L’ writes that snow is falling in southern Alabama. They have topped up their feeders, like Renkl, with good seeds to help the birds through weather they are not accustomed to in that location.
In Tennessee, Boone and Jolene are busy, and I wonder how soon we will see an egg. It looks like it could be soon!
Thousands hope that this will be the year for Jackie and Shadow. You keep telling me that if it can happen for Gabby and Beau this season, then it can happen for this much-loved couple in Big Bear. I agree! We all want to see an eaglet in this nest.
Incubation continues at John Bunker Sands. It is a beautiful day in Texas.
‘MP’ asked me if I had ever seen Jack build a nest like this one. I answered ‘no’, but you know what – he did a great job with that despicable mess. It doesn’t even look like the same platform. Jack had to have worked really hard. He is certainly trying to impress a new female.
I cannot tell 100% if this is Jack. That is the problem with not ringing birds. Ultimately, we want this family’s eggs and chicks to be safe from predators and those dreaded drain holes. Because it is now an active nest, the USFWS would not issue a permit for any alterations to the platform. So please send lots of good energy.
In Port Lincoln, Wilko and Kasse fight for every fish that lands on the nest if both are present. These skills will certainly help them when they leave the nest and find themselves competing with their older siblings, but it is hard to watch sometimes.
Find food? Ibises have special skills. “Hadedas are iridescent grey-brown ibises – jack russell-sized birds with long, curved bills and very small heads – found throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
They have a special skill called “remote touch”, which they use to find their worm, grub and snail prey. At the tip of their bills is an organ that, when they stick it into the soil, can sense the vibrations of their foodnearby.”
Next Tuesday, Don and I are going to try another holiday. This time we are heading south to find some warmth. We will stay on Basse Terre, one of the two main islands that make up Guadeloupe. We have rented a cottage adjacent to the National Park and hope to see some of the 290 species of birds that call this part of the Lesser Antilles home. I can’t wait! We will certainly take you with us. More on that later.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care everyone! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, streaming cams, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘SK’, The New York Times, NEFlorida-AEF, SWFlorida, ETSU-Johnson City, FOBBV, Gary’s Eagle Videos, Tonya in NO, John Bunker Sands Wetlands, The Guardian, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Bart M and the PLO
It is a gorgeous, albeit windy, fall day on the Canadian Prairies. I noticed about thirty-five Canada Geese feeding on the soccer field at one of our nearby high schools while five flew overhead. At last count, thirty European Starlings were feeding on the suet at the big table feeder. Mr Crow was also getting peanuts, sometimes, he would take six at a time, swallowing them (seemingly) while the Blue Jays retrieved theirs. The squirrels were eating the ones left on the deck. It was a bit of a feeding frenzy. The temperatures dropped to 0 C last night, and the birds, being more attuned to weather than most humans unless you have arthritis, must feel the end of fall is coming soon.
Notice how, in the space of a few minutes, the suet cylinder is reduced. The Starlings really peck away at it. Their beaks can only eat certain seeds so no Black Oil Seed or peanuts for them. We get this suet especially to give them energy. Tomorrow I plan to put out apples and oatmeal. We will see who is happy!
The days for our nice walks without heavier clothing are swiftly coming to an end. Tomorrow we hope to get out to the park for a goose count!
Nox. When he went back into rehabilitation three days after being released, he was emaciated and required a blood transfusion. Was he not able to hunt? I hope they keep him in and give him more training at hunting! He has had a complete blood transfusion and his condition is now stable.
The triplets at Collins Street are healthy and becoming quite independent. Not sure what the Mum F23 thinks about all of that, but they are growing and we can look forward to a lot of running back and forth and gutter-stomping it seems. It is wonderful they are so healthy! Dad slipped in and even got to feed his little ones. They look like snow people but that cotton ball coat is going to shed itself just as we are beginning to see a change in the plumage around their eyes. https://youtu.be/rucHRHj2VQ4?
There was a nice breakfast feeding with the triplets quickly falling into food comas.
As it got hotter in Melbourne, the kiddos stopped their gutter stomping and she protected them from the hot rains of the Melbourne sun. It is 16 C but hotter up on those top floors of the concrete buildings with the sun beating down.
There were three feedings at Orange before 0800 on Thursday!
More feedings at Orange and the kiddos explore the scrape checking out the Cilla Stones!
Seriously cute with its little bloody beak. Just look at those sparkling black eyes. Adorable.
‘A’ comments: “Meanwhile, the falcon chicks at both scrapes are eating machines. All five appear very healthy and active. The parents are barely able to cope with their demands and are working tirelessly to do so. At Collins Street, the littles are into the gutter and the stomping season has begun. So far, there have been no problems and no-one has got themselves trapped down there. Mum is now leaving the kiddos to get up and down by themselves, as they are capable of doing.
Darling Diamond and Xavier are feeding their pair about eight or nine meals on an average day and the chicks seem to be growing before our very eyes. At every feeding, they seem larger than at the last. Similarly, the trio at Collins Street appear to have permanently bloated crops. “
More osprey nests with eggs in South Australia.
Many will have noticed the netting that Mum brought in to the Port Lincoln nest. So many were concerned that the osplets could get caught in it and be pulled off the nest. We have seen this many times before. Pitkin County comes first to my mind where one chick died and the other spent a year in rehabilitation before being released. The fish fairies came quickly removing the netting and leaving some nice fish.
This happened on the 21st – the removal of the netting so a few days ago.
Wilko had breakfast with Mum at 0611 on Thursday. Kasse slept through all of it. It looks like a rather small fish or partial fish arrived at 1340 and had not been clocked on the obs board when I checked. Both osplets fed. They do need more fish!
Geemeff sent us an article about the Coobwie Osprey nest with the four chicks. I have yet to confirm that the fourth has made it. It was not eating when I left for Nova Scotia and I have not seen any information. If you have, please let me know.
Judy Harrington gives us a good report on what SE33 and SE34 were up to. Notice that they are way up on the branches and could fly any moment save for the fact that currawongs send them back to the nest. Personally I think this is a good thing. They need to get used to and ignore those pesky birds. Hopefully spending more time on the nest watching Lady and Dad deal with them will help.
The two could easily fly Thursday morning. They certainly have me sitting on the edge of my chair and it looks like several hundred more! They were way up in the branches. They came down to the nest several times, went higher, and then down lower. They are very aware of the Currawong. This is a good thing – the longer they stay on the nest the more they should develop skills to either fly out when the Currawong aren’t around or ignore them and follow the path Lady and Dad take to the river. Once at the River, they will be fine. They will be trained to hunt and fish by Lady and Dad. They just have to get down there, not somewhere else!
They are still in the nest at the Olympic Park in Sydney, being harassed by the Curras. That might keep them home so that they can mature more…
‘A’ sends us the latest report from the nest at Sydney: “October 24: An early quartet to welcome the day [don’t you just love the eaglets joining in the morning squawking?], then Lady was off chasing a currawong. Both eaglets moved out on the limb together, side by side. The eaglets were resting – waiting – and Lady brought in a gull just before 10am, along with swoopers. SE33 self-fed well and both were fed a little by Lady. After a quiet late morning, Lady flew in at 12:15. She must have seen Dad coming with a fish. This was grabbed by SE34, who took a long time to break into the flesh. Lady tried to join in, SE33 ate a little, until finally they left it at 2:30pm. A long feed. Dad finished off a few scraps. Both eaglets were then resting on the nest and venturing up the perch branch – flapping and exploring a little. Both eagles were seen down on the river at 16:40. At dusk, the eaglets were standing on the rim of the nest, with a magpie swooping.”
‘A’ continues with her own thoughts which parallel mine – the sea eagles do not eat the chicks of the Curra so why bother one another? “October 24: An early quartet to welcome the day [don’t you just love the eaglets joining in the morning squawking?], then Lady was off chasing a currawong. Both eaglets moved out on the limb together, side by side. The eaglets were resting – waiting – and Lady brought in a gull just before 10am, along with swoopers. SE33 self-fed well and both were fed a little by Lady. After a quiet late morning, Lady flew in at 12:15. She must have seen Dad coming with a fish. This was grabbed by SE34, who took a long time to break into the flesh. Lady tried to join in, SE33 ate a little, until finally they left it at 2:30pm. A long feed. Dad finished off a few scraps. Both eaglets were then resting on the nest and venturing up the perch branch – flapping and exploring a little. Both eagles were seen down on the river at 16:40. At dusk, the eaglets were standing on the rim of the nest, with a magpie swooping.
…
I continue to gain confidence in the eaglets gaining confidence from repeated successes in dealing with the swooping birds. It simply HAS to help, doesn’t it? This has not happened in any season I have seen previously. This is the first time they have had a substantial pre-fledge period where they have self-fed and been fed on the nest while seeing off the swoopers and using the nest as their ‘safe spot’.
You can see the difference between the magpies and the currawongs – the currawongs have totally black heads and a white band across the end of their tails. They are also noticeably larger than the magpies. From my knowledge of these birds, neither attacks in pairs or groups like the smaller birds (such as the noisy mynahs, who attack in twos and threes, repeatedly swooping at the target bird, either simultaneously or in rapid succession, from different directions). These larger birds swoop individually at the target bird, as the magpie is doing in this photo. (The white on the back of the neck in this pic shows the swooper to be a magpie not a currawong, who has no white on its head or neck.) The magpies also have white (or light grey for females and juveniles) on their backs, unlike currawongs, whose backs are black. The magpies have longer, slightly thinner beaks. Apparently, both magpies and currawongs will often steal both eggs and chicks as prey, though I personally have not seen it. They also attack fledglings of smaller birds as prey but presumably not fledglings of the size of the sea eaglets.
They continually say in the literature that the currawongs are merely protecting their young, but if this is the case, why is it that we never see the sea eagles bring in currawongs or magpies as prey? In all the years we have watched the WBSE nest, how many have you seen being eaten? No, me neither. Not a single one.”
At NE Florida, Beau and Gabby slept on the nest tree and then did some great nestorations. This is becoming a beautiful spot for eggs.
Across the state of Florida from Gabby and Beau, M15 and F23 are working diligently on getting their nest ready, too! They have been working on the crib rails and bringing in moss to make everything soft and nice for F23 and her eggs.
It was a scary moment. M15 working on sticks and F23 nearly hit by a car! This is when we are more than grateful for boots on the ground with their cameras like The Real Saunders Photography. Their images are incredible. I urge you to follow their FB feed to see all the action you miss because it is not on the cams. https://youtu.be/5AVTQD7d3Z8?
I have been helping Brian Collins get fish count figures for all the osprey nests that I can. Geemeff sent me the count for Loch Arkaig for this past year and a few earlier. Poole Harbour raised four to fledge. Blue 022 and CJ7 were really busy fishing. I was sent their count today by Jenny Moore. Thank you to Geemeff and Jenny. The individuals overseeing the regulations for commercial fishing of Menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay have no idea how many Menhaden exist in the Bay nor do they have any notion of how many fish osprey take for various size nests. We hope to educate them. If you or if you know someone who did fish counts at a nest for 2024 or earlier, please have them get in touch with me with that data. It will really help our approach.
Here is the count for Poole Harbour. This is amazing information. Notice they even include the time of day and which parent was most active in deliveries.
The fish count from Loch Arkaig:
These are the actual figures with a brief explanation of chick and egg numbers. The vast majority of fish deliveries are Brown Trout, with Mackerel and Flatfish coming in next but in low numbers, and a couple of other species in insignificant numbers eg one eel.
G Fish stats for Loch Arkaig:
2024 Male delivered 255 and female delivered 1 fish: three eggs, three chicks hatched, C3 starved to death at 23 days old due to weather making fishing difficult, C2 died before fledging at 62 days old as a result of weakness due to semi-starvation due to weather, and C1 survived to fledge after being placed on a translocation programme.
2023 Male delivered 396 and female delivered 1 fish: three eggs – one lost in owl attack, one unviable, C3 hatched and fledged
2022 Male delivered 546 and female delivered 0 fish: three eggs – C1 and C2 hatched and fledged, C3 died at 7 days old,
2021 unknown fish: female failed to return and male moved to a non-cam nest with new partner therefore number of eggs and hatches unknown, two chicks hatched and fledged
2020 Male delivered 553 and female delivered 26 fish: three eggs – all hatched and fledged
2019 Male delivered 407 and female delivered 7 fish: three eggs – C2 dead in shell, C1 and C3 hatched and fledged
Calico and Baby Hope always make sure that we take good care of ‘The Boyfriend’ by providing him with food and water, special treats, and several choices of outdoor accommodation. It is not his fault that his owners ‘dumped’ his mother and/or him to live on the streets. He is too frightened to come and live in the house so we do the best we can for him, giving him options which he can choose or not knowing that one day, we will put the food out and not see him again. Life is short for the urban feral cats. Many asked me if I think he will go in the little container home. I don’t think he will. I believe he lives under the deck where Calico had Hope (and maybe some other kittens who did not survive that litter). Calico and The Boyfriend were together before she moved into the house. They were always in the garden and at the feeding station. Although the vet felt that Baby Hope was a kitten from Calico’s first litter, I am unsure. It is possible that he is actually a surviving kitten from Calico’s very first litter (if Hope wasn’t in that litter). It is just my gut feeling. When we lived in the UK, we rescued a small Calico cat and her kitten, a tuxedo. Because he stays where Hope was born, I wonder even more. The neighbours look out by giving food and any time anyone makes a remark about trapping him, we all go crazy so that talk has stopped. He is not adoptable. But he is a gentle soul nevertheless. We do the best we can for him knowing that under that deck he is dry and away from the weather. He has now survived at least two winters there.
Baby Hope always watches The Boyfriend when he eats and, in return, he sits and looks longingly at her for several minutes before leaving. He now comes if I call ‘Kitty, Kitty’ really loud. I try to manage that he gets all the food put out at the beginning and if he wants seconds he can have it. I pick up the deworming medication this week! He is a lovely tuxedo and is now part of our family although not inside with us.
He was intently watching Little Red from a perch on the barbecue table.
Calico’s Tip for the Day concerns feeding the birds outdoors. Look over the list. There are some items that you might not have considered. That said, I disagree with ever feeding birds bread despite even the leader of our bird house building workshop saying that everyone does it after admitting it is unhealthy. So please, no bread. I always give the Crows and Jays cat kibble but I do not soak it.
Calico also found a poster about feeding ducks. The majority of the ducks resident in Manitoba during the spring and summer are now gone. Many will be showing up in ponds near the southern US (if not further). Please keep in mind what to feed them.
Calico would love it if we had hedgehogs in Canada. She reminds everyone in the UK to please leave the leaves. The hedgehogs might need them!
Cockatoo finally rescued after being trapped in shopping mall!
‘J’ has been monitoring the situation at the US Steel Plant where there is the nest of Claire and Irvin. It appears there is a new female there. We do not know the status of Claire. We will continue to monitor. Thanks, ‘J’.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care. We hope to see you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, Jenny Moore, L’, UC Berkeley News, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, SK Hideaways, Heidi McGrue, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Australian Rural & Regional News, Judy Harrington and Sea Eagle Cam, Olympic Park Eagle Cam, NEFL-AEF, SW Florida Eagle Cam, The Real Saunders Photography, Jenny Moore and Poole Harbour Fish Count, Geemeff and Loch Arkaig Fish Count, Backyard Bird Lovers, For Fox Sake Animal Rescue, Hope for Hedgehogs Woodside, The Guardian.
