Category Archives: Finnish Osprey Foundation

Iris shows the kids she can fish, too!…Friday in Bird World

26 July 2024

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all your notes and photographs and news! I really do appreciate it and I love hearing from you. I might not be able to answer back straight away, but I will!

It is that time of year when overlooked nests are being entered into our data forms and when fledges and deaths continue to have to be inserted. Today, after thinking we had anything and everything that could predate an Osprey, we discovered that Canada Geese ate the eggs of one nest in Maryland. Thankfully, ‘H’ is much better at working magic with this programme that Claudio designed and we now have a category of Predation – Other. We can fill in the odd happenings. I have 43 more nests – and at least 86 more eggs/chicks – to put in the forms. So far, 37% of all osprey eggs have either failed to hatch or the chicks have died. Siblicide still accounts for the seond highest causes after DNH, then predation by owls at 11% and weather events at 11%. I did note a section ‘indirectly by humans’ and it seems to be that these weather events might fall under that as well. If we can get the authorities to recognize human caused climate change, then we might convince them to help with our ospreys. I note that a list was growing under a posting of one FB group – a wish list that included: woven and wired rails like the good folks at Glaslyn do for Aran and Elen, netting below the nest to catch chicks that fall over the edge, predator baffles, stocked ponds, strobe lights and grates to try to ward off predators such as owls and eagles, intervention with fish when required, etc. These were thoughtful listings of ways that we can help without breaking the bank. Is it too much to ask?

Speaking of stocked ponds, Anne-Marie was able to establish that the lake where Olsen is fishing has lots of fish. With the heat those fish have gone deep and he is not able to catch them as Ospreys only go less than a metre deep in their dives.

Some images of the not so wetlands yesterday. Despite the rain, the reeds seem to have taken over lots of the area.

Can you find the eagle’s nest? It is difficult with all the foliage.

It is 1939 Thursday evening and the sun is beginning to get low in the West. The day was not as hot as it has been, but it was warm enough and quite humid still. The birds have been busy coming and going. I have noticed that there has been not so many Blue Jays and my neighbour came to tell me that the local hawk got 2 of them. I took a breath. Everyone has to eat.

I really did think that there was something wrong with Hugo Yugo when I saw her.

Why would a cat nudge herself between two pillows and a hot cover on a hot day in a glass room? I have no idea. It is possible that she was hiding from Baby Hope because a few minutes later she was tearing all over the house!

Thankfully, nothing has happened to the Crows. Can you tell I adore these characters? They rest on my backlane neighbour’s shed. He said that even their bellies are covered with soft down.

Everything is getting quiet. Most of the birds are going to their roosting spots for the night. Hugo Yugo is fixated on a fly that has gotten into the house and now Baby Hope is joining her. No doubt they will have quite the time tonight chasing it and knocking things over in the meantime.

‘PB’ clicked on the McEuen Osprey nest feed just in time to catch Mum delivering a monster fish for her and the baby! 25 C so a bit cooler for them on Thursday. The high heat will return on Wednesday.

The triplets at the Osprey Centre in Australia are doing well.

Iris and her chicks survived the storm that raged through Missoula Wednesday night, but many nests were not so lucky. ‘PB’ informs me that Louis and Starr’s chicks are alright. Their nest is at the Baseball Park or near to it. (They have moved house).

In fact, Louis and Starr’s three chicks have fledged and there are five ospreys flying around the ball park. This is fantastic. Maybe both of these nests by the Clarke-Fork River in Missoula will fledge all of their chicks. That would really be something this year!

Iris is going to have a lot to put in her 2024 diary. Finding Finn, having babies, sweltering heat and then hurricane-force winds. Regardless, Finn just keeps bringing in the fish.

Beautiful Iris.

Finn and Iris have obviously been talking about the need for some small fish to come on the nest so the kids can start to self-feed! Or did they? Finn: ‘Iris, where are you? I don’t feed chicks!!!!!!!!!!’

‘Is it OK for this one to have the whole fish?’ Check out the look on Finnegan’s face.

Tug-o-war with Mum who arrives just in time.

Of course, Iris took charge. She will make sure that both chicks get fish in the heat and storms.

I guess Iris got tired of waiting for Finn to bring in a big fish so she went out and got her own for her and the kids!!!!!!!

Rest assured now that Iris is fishing no one is going to go hungry on this nest. Her first two chicks in six years. She isn’t going to let them die of starvation or Finn slowing down.

Iris has been feeding the chicks and herself for several hours. Finn is on the perch. I wonder what he is thinking?

Three hours into the feeding. Isn’t Iris getting tired? No. She is making sure that there will be no bullying from older to younger and that her and the chicks are well fed. I wonder if there is anything left if she will share with Finn?

Don’t you love the way that Iris pulls back the skin revealing the soft fish flesh? It is much easier to feed the chicks this way!

Finnegan came in with a late fish. ‘PB says it wasn’t as big as Iris’s but big enough to keep these babies well fed for the night!

‘H’ is going to be reporting on Osoyoos, but right now there is a huge fish on that nest and I hope that everyone eats and gets full.

The breeding programme for Hen Harriers in Scotland is doing well. The question is – can we keep the gamekeepers from shooting them? If you do not know about these amazing raptors, I am including some great books below this blog by Raptor Persecution UK.

Hen Harrier breeding success continues on Tarras Valley Nature Reserve – Raptor Persecution UKDownload

I posted these audio stories of the plight of the hen harrier last year. I want to do that again for those of you that might not have found my blog then or who didn’t have time to listen. This will give you a really good idea of why the attempts to increase the population of these gorgeous raptors is ongoing and the challenges that everyone faces.

So please listen! You also get an explanation of the Inglorious 12th of August which is coming up in three weeks. I hope you understand why stomping on a nest of innocent Hen Harrier chicks makes me ill and causes my anxiety to rise. The wealthy pay 1000s of GBP per day to shoot grouse but they also stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, and spend money in the villages. The fines and punishments mean nothing because killing birds is big business with the Driven Grouse Moors seen to be a ‘part of traditional Britain’ – which they are. We live in the 21st century and our attitudes towards killing have changed since medieval times.

There are three episodes. Educate yourself and listen to all of them. Imagine the vast expanse of Scotland because this is where this happens.

Part One. Susie’s Chicks

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/audio/2023/aug/15/killing-the-skydancer-episode-one-susies-chicks?CMP=share_btn_link

Part Two. The Perfect Crime.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2023/aug/16/killing-the-skydancer-episode-2-the-perfect-podcast?CMP=share_btn_link

Part Three. An Open Secret

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2023/aug/17/killing-the-skydancer-episode-three-an-open-secret-podcast?CMP=share_btn_link

This is my favourite book. It gives us a ‘true’ insight of the live of a Hen Harrier – from hatch – to being shot and what their life was like. Before you read any of the others, I highly recommend this one. It is extremely well written and pulls at your heart. Not fancy coloured photographs, just the first hand account of this magnificent female harrier and her short life.

The other excellent book is A Hen Harrier’s Year. The gorgeous watercolours of the birds are a real winner!

We are all concerned about Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay nest. Check out the feathers. This eaglet really needs to be rescued and taken into care. I honestly do not understand why nothing is being done for Blue.

At the US Steel nest, we have video footage of Lucky living his life in the skies! Wish this was Blue.

The Janakkala pair are learning to self-feed as fledge dates approach in Finland.

Kristel is 81 days old today. It is the same age as Diana at the other Golden Eagle nest in Estonia fledged.

Kristel had breakfast on Thursday – a Eurasian Collared Dove.

The reintroduction of Ospreys into Ireland begins with the arrival of the chicks today. Here is the latest information:

Nox is making the news.

Hard knocks for Nox, UC Berkeley’s youngest peregrine falcon – Berkeley NewsDownload

Only one osplet remains at the Ferguson Museum osprey platform. The other two have died from lack of fish.

This was the whole family at the Middle Farm nest on Fisher’s Island, NY, on the 28th of June. Tragedies can begin to happen without our knowing and within less than a month a family of five is now a family of three.

Cowlitz PUD fledgling returns to nest for a fish meal!

The wind has hit Sandpoint Osprey nest and Keke and River are holding on tight.

Lola at Charlo Montana needs to pick up her talons and go out fishing like Iris. The chick is 43 days old today.

Royal Cam chick news:

Geemeff sends us her daily report about Loch Arkaig for The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Thursday 25th July 2024

Today we received the wonderful news that the surviving Arkaig Osprey chick 1JW has fledged! All eleven members of the Scottish cohort took to the skies over Valencia today, more info in WTS George’s comment, link below. A bright spot in an unusual season. His dad Louis was also around today, visiting his nest bringing a stick and doing a little nest work, good to see him after an absence of a few days. Nest One also had Osprey visitors – Affric 152 arrived moments after Garry LV0 did. Neither stayed long, and both flew off in the same direction. With an identical broken feather spotted by LizB on both the blue-ringed Bunarkaig female and on Affric when she landed on Nest One, it’s almost certain they are one and the same. With an unfledged chick still on the Bunarkaig nest, what’s Affric doing on Nest One with Garry? The forecasted rain was much in evidence today, and more expected tonight with thundery showers overnight easing off to light rain tomorrow.

WTS George’s comment https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15479208

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.59.55 (04.13.42); Nest Two 22.46.53 (04.15.09)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Dy4yQvefzA8  N1 Affric 152 follows Garry LV0 to Nest One 11.57.40

https://youtu.be/ePTJwID4lmQ N2 Louis visits his nest bringing a stick 13.43.15

https://youtu.be/kroSVUdVBKU FLEDGE – the great news that 1JW has found his wings and flown 15.00 

Bonus photos – 1JW on a feeding platform near to the aviary:

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Special blast from the past: On July 25, 2020, the world came together to tell the story of a single day on Earth, hundreds of thousands of members of the public responded sending their typical day to Ridley Scott. This was my entry:

https://youtu.be/dvhu_pfem50 Life in a Day: distant cousins 2020

A simple solution that can be done right at the factory. Paint one blade black and save the lives of our birds.

Mum and Dad are having ‘some fun’ on the barge at Port Lincoln!

Just look at this!

News on Luna’s necroscopy at Redding:

There has been no word about N1 who appeared to have an accident Wednesday morning during a streaming cam event at Cornell. She was seen sitting peacefully but no one has seen her since.

There are concerns about Little who fledged on the 18th at Patuxent River Park and has not been seen on camera. People want to know why they support boat tourism and do not care for their chicks. Does anyone know what is happening here?

In Poland, the life of the Black Storklet was saved. When rescued the storklet weighed only 1500 grams when, at this age, it should have been at least 2500.

Maria Marika gives us the background information on why this little storklet fell into such poor conditions.

‘H’ reports:


7/25 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The osplets are 47 and 48 days old.  The temperature was lower today, and Olsen brought four fish to the nest.  The first three fish were small to medium in size, and Big was able to acquire all three of them to self feed.  Big had meals lasting 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 9 minutes.  The last fish arrived at 1817, and it was very large.  Although it was big, it was obviously not a 3-hour fish, but it took Soo 3-hours to feed from it.  Big was in rare form and she was a complete tyrant on the war path for almost the entire three hours.  Big was intent on preventing Middle from eating, regardless of whether Big was hungry or not.  It would take too long to provide details, so I will try to summarize.  Over the course of the three hours, Big ate the equivalent of at least 4-5 meals.  Big was almost constantly beaking or otherwise harassing Middle, even when Middle was not anywhere near Soo.  There were numerous times in the process of beaking Middle, that Big nearly pushed Middle off the nest.  There were even several times that Soo was nearly forced off the nest by Big diving over her to try to get to Middle.  In fact, at 1929 Soo did have to leave the nest briefly when she had to jump to the extension bar.  The aggressiveness of Big caused many distractions and delays as Soo was attempting to feed.  To make matters worse, the fish was very tough, and the few times when Middle was in a good position to eat, it would take Soo too long to offer fish bites.  Instead of receiving multiple bites in rapid succession, Middle would only get a few bites before Big attacked again.  There was not a single period of time when Big actually retired from the meal to rest, so that Middle and Soo would have some ‘alone time’.  I counted fish bites for Middle, and there were a few times when I could only surmise bites based on the movements of Middle and Soo.  Middle ate at least 140 bites of fish during that 3-hour ordeal, and Middle did have a moderate crop after the meal.  Due to cam downtime issues, we don’t know how well Middle ate yesterday.  Weather forecast for 7/26:  Sunny, high 84F/29C, light winds.

7/25 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  Big had spent the night on the nest so that she could guard her leftover fish, and she had a nice breakfast early in the morning.  She was joined in the nest a little later by Middle.  They both came and went from the nest throughout the day.  We did not see Little at the nest.  At 1443 an adult intruder landed in the nest, and a minute or so later, a juvenile osprey approached to land.  The intruder jumped up and intercepted the juvie, talons to the face, and flew away.  The young osprey fell below the nest out of our view.  Based on certain characteristics, we thought that the juvie was either Big or Middle.  At 1502 Middle was in the nest when Dad delivered a large partial goldfish.  Dad had been followed in by the adult intruder who immediately engaged in a battle for the fish with Middle.  Dad jumped on the intruder twice to try to help out, but his efforts were futile.  The intruder ended up with the fish in its talons and sort of fell/flew off the nest dragging Middle with him.  Middle landed back in the nest a few minutes later.

After a while we started to hear loud rustling noises and ‘wing flapping’ below the nest.  The flapping sounds were heard intermittently in spurts, as if the bird would need to rest at times.  As the tide came in, the flapping efforts started to sound more ‘watery’ like flapping in water.  We believed there was an injured osprey struggling below the nest out of our view.  The nest is 10 feet above the marsh.  If the incident at 1443 involved Big, and if Big had landed awkwardly in the marsh, she could have been injured.  Or another possible scenario, was that the adult intruder may have landed in the marsh and been injured when it went off the nest somewhat awkwardly holding a large goldfish, with a juvenile osprey attached.  A ten-foot height does not allow much time to recover and fly before landing in the marsh.

We were convinced that there was an osprey needing help…and soon!  We had a gut feeling that it was Big below the nest.  Some chatters called the park office, some called a local raptor rehabber who said she’d try to find someone with a boat.  And posts were also made on the chat to the attention of the park.  We needed help.  After many long hours, no help came.  As high tide hit, and as darkness fell, we no longer heard the flapping below the nest.  

Annie is moulting and loafing!

Yesterday, Koa was seen on the West End cam at the old nest of Thunder and Akecheta!

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, questions, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU’, McEuen Park, Osprey House Environmental Centre, Hellgate Osprey, Wild Skies Raptor Centre, Montana Osprey Project, Osoyoos, Raptor Persecution UK, The Guardian, HWF-BBC, US Steel, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Gregorious Joris Toonen, Berkeley News, Ferguson Museum, Cowlitz PUD, Sandpoint Ospreys, Charlo Montana, Bird Cams, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Factsdailyy, PLO, Heidi McGrue, Celia Aliengirl, Bocianimy, Maria Marika, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, and SK Hideaways.

Deaths, fledges…Tuesday in Bird World

23 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Late News:
Coming from the Charlo nest: “The cam was shut off while ORI removed baling twine from the nest.  When the cam resumed, chick #2 seemed to have some sort of seizure and fell off the nest.  The men returned and recovered the chick’s body.”

Before we get on with today’s news, Dr Erick Greene listened and he will open a poll on Monday or Tuesday so that you can choose a name for Iris and Finnegan’s osplets. There will be a list of potential selections – we don’t make up our own. So please watch for the survey on Montana Osprey Cams FB page! Iris has chicks to be named for the first time in six years. The last was a Le’le in 2018. This is so wonderful.

There is an interesting statement embedded in the announcement below – Finnegan is bringing fish to the nest that weigh as much or more than he does. Amazing. He really is amazing. Iris did well in picking a mate. Louis did well to stay away – and it seems he knew it. Thank you, Louis.

Maybe one way to look at 2024 is not at the sadness but at the little miracles that happened. This is certainly one of them.

We continue to have storms in the evening with lots of lightning and thunder. Hugo Yugo was quite afraid last night around midnight when the entire conservatory lit up along with a loud clap. The garden is loving the heat and humidity. Tonight it looks like the first feast of green beans! And the celery is thriving. The squirrels have not done much damage to the veggies and herbs. Dyson has even managed to leave the tomatoes alone!!!!!!! But she has been relentlessly digging in the perennials that line the path to the feeder.

There are hundreds of baby sparrows. Six baby blue jays are also pecking away at the cylinders and drinking from the bird baths. I have not seen the baby cowbirds since returning from Toronto. Perhaps they flew out of the garden to learn about the big wide world. I hope they return. It is safe here, and there is always plenty of food and water. Even the hawk has no luck now, as the trees, shrubs, and vines are so loaded with leaves that the little birds can hide easily.

Not great images. I am just using the camera phone through the glass with the Feather Friendly strips on it. Heavily cropped to get the image bigger.

They are going through seed and peanuts. A three-gallon pail of each morning and evening – oh, and, of course, the cheesy dogs. Kilograms of them!!!!!!

Cowlitz Osplet. I checked and saw no osplet on the nest. Assumed fledge! That darn bird jumped up to the top of the grate. I think we should call it ‘branching’ despite the fact it is a term that we associate with eaglets. Sometimes osplets hop to the perch! So no official fledge at Cowlitz – meaning no flying and return to the nest at the time of this writing.

I received a request to find information about what appeared to be an osprey in a box at the bottom of the Cowlitz PUD nest from ‘AM’ in Asia. Cowlitz has posted about the incident at this link. I am including the images of the osprey and the box. We have no idea what condition the osplet was in when the individual found it or the depth of their knowledge of wildlife care. But it appears they were trying to do some good.

Wild animals need to be taken to a qualified rehabilitation clinic. Do not presume that another raptor will adopt them. Try and get help if you can. If you can pick up a raptor, remember ——-they are ill. Otherwise they would be taking your face or arm off. Seriously. I always call it ‘Remembering Rubus’.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/pQ8jiJfRNf6K9QmK

It was still hot in Winnipeg today – hot and humid but not nearly as much as it was for our ospreys in Montana!

Dr Erick Greene’s post says it all – almost:

The ash from the wild fires can get into the lakes and rivers and cause the fish that the ospreys depend on to die.

Wildfires aren’t just a land thing. Smoke and ash can choke the ocean too | OceanaDownload

Fish deliveries coming in to Charlo Montana for Lola and the two osplets.

Mum is out fishing at McEuen Park in Idaho.

Fish delivery to nest #4 in Finland.

At the Golden Eagle nest #2 in Estonia, Kristel had a great day on Monday. Nice prey deliveries. Look at her. The eyes are bright and clear and the feathers are shiny with no apparent issues. (As opposed to dull and falling out). She displayed amazing mantling behaviour and also nest protection.

A large Hare was delivered to the nest.

Mum flew in and out with a mouse. It is possible that she wishes her eaglet to imprint the prey so they know it is OK to hunt for this mammal after they are independent. Big Red and Arthur bring different prey items to the nest to teach their eyases what species to hunt.

I found this entry on Looduskalender interesting:

At the BBCentral nest in British Columbia, Blue had been eating the remains of any food that he could find on the nest. A prey delivery came from one of the adults mid-afternoon. Perhaps it is just me, but Blue seems to be developmentally ‘behind’ for the age that is given to him (86 days). I am talking about his ability to hold down prey and self-feed. We know eaglets are always hungry unless their crop is about to burst open. That said Blue demonstrates excitement when a parent arrives with prey and then is not interested. Is this because of his lack of self-feeding ability? or is it something else? I wonder. We only have to look at Kristel, the Golden Eaglet above, to understand this conundrum. Kristel often doesn’t get prey and the parents almost get their talons taken off when they arrive. Kristel tears into the food eating til her crop is full and leaving any extra for another meal. Her feathers almost glow and look silky. No tears at the ends…the overall condition of the two seems to be diametrically opposed. — If you disagree, please shout out to me. I am worried about Blue.

So far Blue has not eaten from the piece of prey.

Geemeff’s report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 22nd July 2024

Today didn’t have the excitement of five ospreys visiting various nests not necessarily their own, but did see Louis and Dorcha on Nest Two, although at different times, and Garry LV0 bringing a fish to Nest One. Alas for him there were no takers so he flew off with it to a nearby tree, to munch it on his own, spotted by LizB through her long-lens. The weather was reasonably settled, a spectacular sunset seen from nest cam two ended the day, and tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy and light winds, with sunshine tomorrow. 

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.20.44 (03.53.23); Nest Two  23.23.09 (03.57.04)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/bDbqDZ8sN64 N2 Dorcha spends some time on her nest, no sign of Louis 12.27.51

https://youtu.be/g0q-Tf1BJIc N2 Louis arrives with a stick and does some nest work 15.34.26

https://youtu.be/SgnwBnDdY-g N1 Garry LV0 brings a fish but no one’s there 19.58.57

https://youtu.be/z52q-f7fFmg N2 Spectacular sunset 21.30 to 22.30 (2.3 minute time lapse)

https://youtu.be/O3qE7yHRm_M N2 Spectacular sunset 21.30 to 22.30 (one hour full version)

Today’s blast from the past is one of my all time favourites. On this day in 2020, newly-fledged Doddie JJ6 was having fun testing his wings. He was watched by younger siblings Vera JJ8 and Captain JJ7 who reacted like spectators at a tennis match. It was a perfect moment which definitely needed to be preserved:

https://youtu.be/C9r2h07HYeM  Carnival of the Ospreys (Classic Ospreys – Saint-Saëns) 22 July 2020

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

We need the Menhaden saved if there is to be any hope for the Osprey population in the Chesapeake Bay Area! Please see the comment under the post.

The osprey nests in Nova Scotia have done very well this season. I know that Connie Dennis will correct me, but I believe they have tracked 31 nests and out of those only one chick has died! That is fantastic. These ospreys do not depend on the Menhaden. There are plenty of other species available, thankfully, and they are plentiful. Looking forward to seeing this lovely Osprey family soon.

Getting ready for a fledge at Bridge Golf.

Three osplets waiting to fly at Collins Marsh, too.

They are all self-feeding!

Bruce is delivering trout to Toketee and Tree at Seaside.

Beautiful osplet at Boulder.

Coming and going at BUND Goitzsche-Wildnis in Germany.

News from ‘H’: 7/22 Osoyoos osprey nest:  It was hot again today, and the air was smoky.  There were only three fish brought to the nest, but both osplets ate.  All things considered, they were lucky to have as much as they did, and they both were able to eat well yesterday.

Olsen started things off with a fish at 0619.  I couldn’t see the fish, but Soo fed the chicks for 6 minutes.  Both osplets were fed, and Middle ate at least 49 bites of fish plus the fish tail.  There was no aggression until Middle took the tail, and Big beaked Middle at that time.  After breakfast both chicks were doing some ‘wingers’, and there was a welcome rain shower in the morning.  Olsen dropped off the next fish at 1255.  It was a medium-sized partial fish, and Big took it to self feed.  Big only ate for 8 minutes, and there was still a good size piece of fish remaining.  Middle did not attempt to eat any of that fish, so I suppose s/he wasn’t very hungry.  Soo arrived at 1339, and she fed the chicks from that leftover fish for 10 minutes.  The osplets were positioned on opposite sides of Soo, and for some reason, Soo preferentially fed Middle.  It was interesting to watch, but Big did not seem to mind that s/he was not being offered many bites.  Big ate the fish tail.  That meal lasted for 10 minutes, and Middle ate 110 bites of fish.  The temperature reached 100F/38C in the afternoon, and it was several hours before the next fish arrived.  Olsen dropped off a medium-sized partial fish at 1948.  Big took that fish and ate the whole thing.  The area will be getting a slight break from the extreme heat for the next several days.  Weather forecast for 7/23:  Partly cloudy with smoky air, high temp 92, winds gusting to 14 mph.

News from ‘A’:

A report from  WBSE: 

July 23: A quiet night and an early duet. Dad came to the nest early, at 6:30, but Lady was reluctant to leave. He circled her and hinted, but she sat tight, so he left at 6:35. She then sat for another 90 minutes, backing straight off when he returned at 8am. He gave her a good break, then, of over an hour, then both took a couple of short shifts on the nest. Both were heard calling off the nest at times, too. Lady had a good break in the middle of the day, away for 2.5 hours and returning with a full crop and some leaves. She was on the eggs from just after 3pm until dark, when she was heard calling –wanting a break? Dad was nearby but not coming to the nest. Lady backed off the eggs at 5:30, had a stretch, but then sat down to incubate again, settling for the night. That long late shift meant she spent seven hours on the eggs today. No food was brought to the nest, though both brought sticks or leaves.

And a really cute video from Taiaroa Head:

At the Tatarsan Eagle nest in RU, one of the recently ringed eaglets, Tanai, was believed to have died. It was jumping from branch to branch and fell off the tree. ‘TU’ reports that it returned to the nest five days later! This is wonderful news.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, queries, posts, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, AM, AMW, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’ Montana Osprey Cams, Cowlitz PUD, Montana Osprey Project, Jacqueline Harris, Oceana, Charlo Montana, McEuen Park, Finland Osprey Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, HWF-BBC, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Save Our Menhaden FB, Connie Davis, Heidi McGrue, Collins Marsh, Seaside Osprey Cam, Boulder County, Fischadler Cam, Tatarsan Eagle Cam RU, WBSE Eagle Cam, NZ DOC, and Osoyoos.

Moraine chick knocked off nest, fledge at Glaslyn…Sunday in Bird World

21 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

Update from Glaslyn: “Our eldest chick Blue 6M8 took her first flight at 08:50 this morning at 54 days old. She made a short flight around the field supervised by Elen before returning to the nest.” Congratulations Aran and Elen.

The beautiful osplet at Moraine that might have fledged today was not predated by the owl so many worried about, but became she became the victim of a tragic accident with Mum defending the nest against a raccoon. They will put up a raccoon baffle for next year…but maybe, every nest should be looking at raccoon and pine marten baffles and those that have owl predation a very bright solar (or hydro) powered bright light with red strobes. They will not bother the ospreys but could help with owl predation. Oh, goodness. It is hard enough for the wee babes to make it to be two or three weeks old but to die right before or at fledge, this is so sad.

I am sitting at the airport gate. It is always good to have a break, but it is even nicer thinking of home! I cannot wait to see Hugo Yugo, Calico, Baby Hope, Missey, Mr Crow, Dyson, and all the other animals, including ‘The Boyfriend’, who was caught on the security camera arriving at 0400 this morning. I hope he had food left! That camera identified him as a ‘pet’. It made me smile. It has been hot in Winnipeg – of course, unlike what it is for Iris and all the ospreys who continue to deal with tragically hot temperatures.

I am home, exhausted. More than exhausted. My head is reeling with news of tragedies….’The Girls’ were all wanting attention. What a joy it was to see them.

Her name can be seen by the public so I will include it here. I most often use initials. Ann-Marie Watson has watched over the Osoyoos nest and others in that area of British Columbia for years. When Little died and went over the edge several years ago, she travelled an hour and ventured into town during celebrations to give the little one a rite of passage. She sends this report about what is happening in the area. To me, it rings of the events of a couple of years ago when Cooper’s hawklets were jumping off their nests to save themselves from being roasted alive. I think her words bring home the tragedy that is hitting the area ——and I hope that it will emphasize how preious those nests are that have chicks that are alive. I wish that there were enough spaces for these babies so that the nests could make it through this dire time. Ann-Marie writes:

I put this up on our FB page and copy to you. I think Soo may have abandoned the nest and Dad is not feeding the chicks. I didn’t see Soo in the vicinity of the nest yesterday and the chicks are at risk right now. The sweltering heat is affecting so many nests in the south Okanagan. 

As upsetting as it is the heat has been a major factor on a lot of nests. I went and checked on quite a few other nests I know of yesterday and it seems a few the parents have abandoned the nests for their own survival.
I called SORCO and OWL rescue for any advice I could get to save our nest in Osoyoos, basically the info I received there are many nests that have been abandoned due sweltering temperatures. Basically too many nests for them to intervene..SORCO is dealing with the owls and Burnaby rescue is at capacity.
This may not be good news for our nest as Mum hasn’t been seen and Dad is not feeding the chicks.
Thinking of you all and as Ann-Mo said take care of your own mental health.
I am taking a break after yesterday’s heartbreaking visits to the nests I went too. So much wildlife is suffering.

20 July 2024

More from Ann-Marie:

Apparently Soo and Olsen returned to the nest today maybe before noon. Both had a partial fish, I’m thinking Soo went off to hunt and cool down, I honestly don’t think she would not be the mombrella for the two chicks yesterday. I have not watched the camera today as needed a break. Things are not looking good for the chicks but if enough fish comes in middle might have a chance. The older chick seems to be getting fed more. The heat is intense and will be for days to come.
I did a little ceremony for the littlest chick yesterday near the nest, I was quite heartbroken it passed away.

I wonder if the local fire department would place some fish on that nest for Soo, Olsen, and their chicks until the heat passes. I do understand from Heidi that Soo has been on the nest. Thank goodness.

There is good news coming out of Raptor Persecution UK. Finally, a fine that is meaningful. I would have liked to have seen another ‘zero’ added to it, but this is a beginning! That got hit hard in the wallet and that is all these grouse moor estates understand.

Poisoned buzzard leads to discovery of multiple pesticide offences – Ashley Game Farm & Director Christopher Hodgson fined £40,000+

“£40k fine despite not knowing who actually carried out the poisonings, plus £1.5k fine for the director. ” (Geemeff)

In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults, Robin Wall Kimmerer talks of a revitalisation of our planet, of Mother Earth. She insists that we must make a choice of the path we will take – to heal our planet and bring balance back to the world of living beings, human and non- or turn our head backwards in the blinding dust and continue to live a life of materialism. She says that how we have lived has not brought us contentment, and now it is bringing extinction to plants and animals. We need to bring harmony and balance back to our lives. We must choose ‘the Green path’ of wisdom, respect, and reciprocity’ (280). It is a good book that broaches capitalism and materialism, and market forces creating affluence for some and great poverty for others. Grain sits in elevators rotting because people cannot purchase it. Kimmerer understands that there is enough food for everyone if we view the world differently.

I would suggest that there is enough fish for every seabird, every eagle, every osprey. That the taking of millions of Menhaden is ruining the balance of the Chesapeake Bay with the profits going into the accounts of Omega while our beautiful birds, whales, and dolphins starve. Omega is leaving nothing! I hope that we can shift this and see plentiful loads of fish for our feathered friends and a return to a bay full of wildlife!

The 2024 Osprey Field Season – The Center for Conservation BiologyDownload

Waiting for fledge at Glaslyn. It was a bit of a wet day. Everyone including Bobby Bach are doing fantastic – that little one had a nice bit of fish.

Fish after fish coming in to the nest of Idris and Telyn at Dyfi. No one is going to go hungry.

Only Little Mini (4th hatch) at Poole Harbour left to fledge now. CJ7 and Blue 022 are both being Daddy and Mummy Door Dash for these four healthy osplets.

The heat in the US and Canada continues.

Iris is the most amazing mumbrella. Finn is having a difficult time getting as much fish on the nest as he did. The best times are early morning and evening.

Iris moves with the sun to keep those precious babies of hers shaded. Look at those beauties in the top image with their Mum behind them. Did we ever think we would see such a sight? I sure didn’t.

Charlo Montana is hanging in there, too.

‘H’ reports on the Osoyoos nest we are so concerned about:

7/20 Osoyoos osprey nest:  Today was a better day for Middle.  Middle had not had a significant meal since 7/17.  Olsen arrived early, at 0539 with a medium sized whole fish, and when Soo didn’t arrive to feed, Olsen left with the fish.  He returned 16 minutes later with a headless version of the same fish.  Middle grabbed the fish and mantled, and Olsen left.  Middle was being harassed by Big, so it seemed that Middle spent more time protecting his food than eating it.  Big took the fish at 0609.  Big did a much better job of self feeding than s/he demonstrated yesterday.  At 0636 Big walked away from a very large tail portion.  Middle took the fish, but was not very successful at self feeding.  It seemed as though Middle may have lacked the energy to enthusiastically pull and tear off fish bits.  After 5 minutes, Middle quit eating and Big took over.  This scenario of the siblings alternating, each trying to self feed from the fish, continued to play out on and off over the next few hours.  By 1100, there was still a piece of that fish remaining, but it was getting dried up and stiff.  

Soo, had not been seen since the afternoon of 7/18.  At 1123 Soo arrived at the nest with a whole fish.  And, at 1124 Olsen brought a large partial fish to the nest, but when he saw that Soo already had a fish, he left with his.  Soo did not start to feed until 1128, and she fed Big.  Big had beaked Middle, so Middle was in submission.  Big was finished eating at 1155 and walked away from Soo.  There was still some of Soo’s fish left over.  But, at 1155 Olsen returned with a smaller version of his earlier fish.  Soo opted to take that fish, Big beaked Middle, then Soo fed Big until 1201.  In the meantime, Middle was trying to eat some bites of the leftover morning fish, which was now the consistency of fish jerky.  Soo ate some fish while waiting for Middle to arrive at the table.  At 1202 Middle started to be fed by Soo, and had eaten 9 bites of fish before s/he was beaked by Big.  Middle retaliated this time, and there was a big fight.  Soo continued to eat.  For some reason, Middle returned to the old piece of fish jerky, while Mom ate.  At 1209 Soo picked up her leftover piece of fish that she had brought in at 1123.  Finally, Soo fed Middle a private meal that lasted for 13 minutes.  That was more than Middle had eaten in nearly three days.  Soo provided shade from the hot sun for her chicks throughout the afternoon, and the temperature reached 102F/39C by 1600.  Soo delivered a medium sized whole fish at 2058.  The siblings ate simultaneously, one on each side of Mom, and the 10-minute meal was peaceful.  It seemed that Middle was fed more than Big, and Middle ate at least 64 bites of fish.  Soo finished off the old fish-tail-jerky and fed a few more bites to Middle.   Weather forecast for 7/21:  Sunny, high temperature could reach 106F/41C, winds gusting to 13 mph.  

There has been growing concern for the fate of Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay eagle nest. The parents have been on the perch but not feeding the eaglet while a fairy has tossed up some fish bites. I have just received word that one of the adults has delivered a good sized fish to Blue. That would be incredible news. Time 1458.

Blue had a good sized crop early in the morning.

Deb Stecyk caught that fish delivery to Blue on video:

Mum at McEuen Park holding in there, too, with her only chick.

Everything seems alright at Minneapolis Landscape Arboretum.

Fledge at Field Farm.

Mum feeding her beautiful osplet at Cowlitz PUD.

So far so good at SandPoint.

There are issues with the Marder’s streaming cam. It looks like there is a single osplet being fed at the nest.

One with a full crop, one self-feeding, and the other with a sunken crop at PSEG’s Oyster Bay Osprey nest.

One of the fledglings on the nest at Patchogue calling for a fish.

At the Newfoundland Power nest of Hope and Beaumont, the chicks are getting their feathers. Hope is shading her kids and feeding them – and, I will knock on wood and not say that word that beings with an ‘f’ and ends with an ‘e’. I don’t want to jinx anything.

And then you can’t see anything.

‘PB’ reports that something knocked “CO18 Moraine baby off the nest. It looked like it tried to snatch her but didn’t, and she went off the nest.” ‘PB’ rewound and discovered what happened: “I rewound back and saw the racoon on left side of nest and moving branches and can see it’s eyes…mom was alerting and baby was looking at it…then the racoon moved over to the baby’s side of nest…baby alerted and then mom flew to chase off racoon but knocked baby off balance and baby fell. You can hear branches being hit. Now I’m worried if CO18 is safe with the racoon around. Wish someone could check but probably won’t be until morning.”

Sadly, this beautiful osplet did not survive the predators on the ground during the night. Oh, my goodness.

Beautiful babies at the Kurzeme Forest nest in Latvia.

Heidi reports on Carthage:

West End Eaglets enjoying themselves!

Geemeff’s Daily Report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust.

Daily summary Saturday 20th July 2024

A very slow day indeed, with no sighting of either Louis or Dorcha –  the first time no Osprey was seen on Nest Two since Louis returned on 28th March. The weather was very wet today, and not very inviting, so have they left on migration, are they still around, will we see them tomorrow?  Nest One saw some activity today, with visits from little songbirds and a visit from Garry LV0 who arrived with a stick and proceeded to do some nest prep before flying off. Tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy with light winds, but rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.05.33 (04.14.02); Nest Two 23.24.21 (04.24.56)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Vkh1bYP9V_U  N1 Sweet little singer visits 05.42.57

https://youtu.be/U2bBn4PpMoM  N1 Garry LV0 brings a stick and does nest prep 18.35.28

https://youtu.be/jN1-tY56wnA  N1 A pair of little birds pay an early evening visit 18.42.42

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Owl lands on Saaksilive nest #3. This is probably the same owl that a week earlier killed beloved osplet Taiko.

Monty and Hartley sure make beautiful and mischevious babies!!!!!!!

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Ann-Marie Watson, Geemeff, H, L, MP, PB’, Raptor Persecution UK, Robin Wall Kimmerer, William Dunn, The Center for Conservation Biology, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, BoPH, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, HWF-BBC, Deb Stecyk, Trudi Kron, McEuen Park, MN-LA, Field Farm, Sandpoint Ospreys, Marder’s, PSEG, Newfoundland Power, Moraine Park, LDF, Heidi McGrue, Newstflix Memories, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Finnish Osprey Foundation, SK Hideaways, Osoyoos Ospreys.

Sadness at Audubon Boathouse…Tuesday in Bird World

16 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

We have a predation at the Audubon Boathouse. For those of you that knew Steve and his mate and are familiar with Bailey, ambassador Osprey at the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, you will be familiar with the predation at this nest. I realise that there is no guaranteed way to keep owls from attacking osprey nests and killing the chicks – it didn’t even eat them, just killed them, but you would think that they would be trying out something even a huge bright light (won’t hurt the ospreys) but might keep the owl away like they did at Lake Murray) to stop the slaughter.

It was nice and cool Monday morning and a good day to go and check the geese at the nature centre. The paths were somewhat wet after the big thunderstorm that went through Sunday evening, but the geese didn’t disappoint. Two little clips of a few of them.

https://videopress.com/v/yzWKYJom?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Everywhere I turned there were geese.

https://videopress.com/v/E3hr0afJ?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Need a smile? There was a hatch at the Loon Cam! It’s slow going at first. About 12 minutes in there are some cute shots of the hatchling.

I haven’t forgotten about all those grouse moors in Scotland with their hunts and all the raptors that are killed in the process. Ruth Tingay says in her most recent posting, ” call them ‘The Untouchables’. Those within the grouse-shooting industry who have been getting away with illegally killing golden eagles, and other raptor species such as hen harriers, buzzards and red kites, for decades.

They don’t fear prosecution because there are few people around those remote, privately owned glens to witness the ruthless and systematic poisoning, trapping and shooting of these iconic birds. If the police do come looking, more often than not they’re met with an Omertá-esque wall of silence from those who, with an archaic Victorian mindset, still perceive birds of prey to be a threat to their lucrative red grouse shooting interests.

For a successful prosecution, Police Scotland and the Crown Office must be able to demonstrate “beyond reasonable doubt” that a named individual committed the crime.” ——– You might see the problem if you think about the vast landscape that is Scotland and when these men own thousands and thousands of acres of land, who will see them? Have a read:

Why-Scottish-grouse-moors-will-have-to-stop-slaughtering-golden-eagles-opinion-piece-in-The-ScotsmanDownload

You might recall that I mentioned that Waba’s battery was at only 1%. ‘J’ went on the snoop to find out about these GPS trackers on the storks. This is what she found:

Some information taken from the Ornitela website:

What factors affect number of GPS positions that can be collected?
GPS positions logged by OrniTrack transmitters represent the parameter that is most relevant for the majority of users. GPS logging primarily depends on sky view and available battery power.
Sky view is needed for GPS antenna to detect satellites. Connection with satellites can be obscured in places with limited sky view, such as under the forest canopy, in mountainous terrain or urban areas among buildings. GPS position logging in such environments often takes longer, which results in higher battery drain than in open areas.
Logging GPS positions is a relatively expensive process in terms of energy use. When developing OrniTrack transmitters we paid particular attention to achieving the highest possible energetic efficiency of this task. Extensive testing of OrniTrack transmitters in an open terrain revealed that fully charged battery of smaller OrniTrack-30 is sufficient for logging at least 1500 GPS positions and larger OrniTrack-50 can log at least 5000 GPS positions without additional recharge. But please note that data transfer via GPRS, which is more energetically demanding process, was set to infrequent intervals of one data upload per day during the testing.
Further, please be aware that GPS position logging stops when available battery power drops below 3675 mV. The remaining power down to 3600 mV is conserved for data transmission and the transmitter stops completely if battery voltage drops below 3600 mV. Once solar panel recharges the transmitter battery, GPS logging and data transmissions resume.
Therefore, it is paramount that a user monitors the available battery power and adjusts transmitter settings accordingly.

Battery charge by solar panel
OrniTrack transmitters are equipped with efficient solar panels which recharge internal batteries. We experienced that under favourable light conditions solar recharge can be fully sufficient to continuously log GPS positions at 1 minute intervals during daytime hours. But for solar panels to do their job, they need to be exposed to direct sunlight.
Overcast days offer little to no direct sunlight. Low sun angle above the horizon, like it is at high latitudes in winter, also delivers inefficient charge. Species living under the forest canopy may also receive limited charge due to scattered light.
Finally, perhaps the most frequent factor restricting battery charge is due to bird feathers covering the solar panel. This highly depends on species tracked and transmitter placement. From manufacturing perspective it is not difficult to increase transmitter height so it sticks through the feathers. However, empirical studies and experimental testing in wind tunnels revealed that externals transmitters may increase bird flight costs due to air resistance and turbulence. We therefore chose the transmitter design that minimizes possible impacts on birds.
While we supply transmitters capable of efficient recharging under good light conditions, it is user’s responsibility to consider all relevant factors influencing recharge and monitor battery status when choosing transmitter settings.

Alma and Lucia still come home.

‘PB’ reports that Mum is feeding the oldest and only surviving osplet out of four at McEuen Park. Oh, I hope this one makes it. It is just going to get hotter. Send all your best wishes to our poor ospreys.

Meanwhile at Hellgate Canyon, Iris knows Finn is around and coming with a fish. Turn the volume up for the full effect. I would like to put a fish that size at the Osoyoos nest. Soo would pass out. She probably thinks the only fish there are are those little twiddlers. Their lake in that town needs to be stocked. Did you hear me Osoyoos?

A tired and proud Mamma Iris.

The moderator at the Charlo Montana osprey nest says they have not had a fall off the nest for the last nine years. Poor baby. For those who don’t know, little backed up to do a ps and fell off the nest Friday evening. It is still hot. Charlie is delivering good fish. But these nests in the Pacific Northwest need a break.

And they are not going to get it. Temperatures are expected to rise.

Minnesota still looks good.

Some of the Field Farm babies are spreading those wings and wanting to fly.

There is still one osplet at the Cowlitz PUD osprey nest in Washington State. Let us just hope that the eagle decides not to return tomorrow. Electra and her mate worked hard in very hot conditions – surely to goodness, they deserve to have one baby fledge.

Three big osplets at Oyster Bay. What a difference it makes to have your nest in protected waters away from the Menhaden trawlers and also not to be having heat in the high 90s.

Two out of four have fledged at Poole Harbour.

It is much cooler at Seaside and Bruce and Naha’s two osplets are flapping and jumping and thinking about flying.

Moraine: ‘PB’ sent a great image of the chick with a huge crop after Dad delivered dinner. Now that is what I would like to see at Osoyoos and McEuan.

I am so grateful for the turn around at Snow Lane, Newfoundland.

‘H’ reports:

7/15 Forsythe osprey nest:  ‘Larry’, the only surviving osplet out of four, fledged this morning, at 55 days of age.  We were joyful, and grateful that there was at least one fledge this season.  We are happy for Opal and Oscar…that their efforts this season have not been completely in vain.  Larry made a beautiful landing back in the nest four hours later, and Oscar brought him a large fish to celebrate!

7/16 Colonial Beach:  The ‘kids’ are 20 and 21-days-old.  Today was the first time I have seen any significant dominance and aggression from Big during meals.  This nest averages three fish per day, but I wish David would deliver more.  The osplets need more frequent meals.  Due to the aggression from Big, Little did not eat at the first meal.  Little eventually ate very well at the second meal, and had a very long private feeding.  When the younger chicks first start to be denied food by a sibling, they don’t know what to do, so they just keep trying and can be further brutalized.  They need to learn to employ certain tactics to get fish bites from Mom.  Well, it seemed that Little was ahead of the curve.  After the third meal commenced, and Little was attacked by Big, Little scooted over to the other side of Betty and was receiving some fish bites at her left side.  But, Little soon decided that he wanted to eat beside his ‘bestie’ and went back beside Big.  I was saying, “No no, what are you doing, Little…go back to the other side!”  Little was beaked again, and after a brief period of being tucked, Little returned to Mom’s left side and was able to eat a nice meal.  Thus endeth the lesson, kiddo.

7/15 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House):  This is another nest where I wish there were more fish being delivered.  Johnny used to drop off 5-6 fish per day, but now only 2-3 per day.  31-day-old ‘Fen’ is hungry.  And for the past few days, Fen has started aggressively attacking both June and Johnny.  This nest has not been subjected to extreme heat or high winds.  However,  it is located in a summertime tourist area, with thousands of vacationers this time of year.  I wonder if there are too many boaters out on the local waterways, and that may be hindering Johnny’s efforts to catch fish.

7/15 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The extreme heat has lasted for several days and will continue for several more days.  As a result, there simply have not been enough fish brought to the nest to support three growing oplets suffering in the heat.  Little had not eaten very much for over three days.  Little passed away this afternoon, at approximately 1430.  I saw four fish delivered to the nest, and the last one was at 1731.  Big and Middle were both fed at this meal.  There have been meals over the past few days where Middle was denied the opportunity to eat by Big, including at the second meal this morning.  Middle’s survival is not a given at this point.  I’m not sure when the live stream went offline.  There could have been another fish delivered in the evening, but I was not able to rewind to check.

7/16 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  Last season, the only chick ‘Skipper’, was predated by a Great Horned Owl just days away from fledging.  Most of us have been on pins and needles watching this nest this year.  The GHO had already been at the nest twice earlier this spring, and we feared that it would be back. This year Dory and Skiff had two beautiful osplets, named Harbor and Gray.  The GHO did come back, and it attacked both chicks early this morning at approximately 0340, and killed them both.  After all the predations that have occurred at the Hog Island nest, Steve no longer uses that nest.  He and his new mate come around in early Spring to tend to the old Hog Island nest, but they do not use it to raise a family.  Dory and Skiff will need to find another nest.  The owl will never forget.  

Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 15th July 2024

Today brought more news of the chicks – some footage of them preening, looking healthy and nicely rounded, and some tweets and facebook posts with photos and more details of the translocation programme. No action on Nest One but a little flurry on Nest Two, with Louis bringing two fish today. He gave the first one quite readily to Dorcha, but teased her by mantling over the second one and flying away with it. He did return with it later on and let her take it, and both adults ended the day with full crops. Weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is misty with light winds, and the prospect of sunshine, well, sunny intervals, and a gentle breeze tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.46.29 (03.24.36); Nest Two 00.01.35 (03.36.46)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/5Y9kwM70tXI  N2 Two fish in two days! Louis brings an early breakfast  04.51.00

https://youtu.be/qJEOIijj5Hc  Valencia: the chicks are preening, plus tweets & FB posts 13-15th July

https://youtu.be/2pzx2f_0dm4 N2 Fish number two arrives but Louis won’t give it to Dorcha 16.58.40

https://youtu.be/h9oCsNTe8zE N2 Louis returns and this time gives Dorcha the fish 18.16.47

https://youtu.be/rlP1X8w_HrI  N2 Dorcha’s not happy when Louis brings sticks not fish 21.41.48

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

The three chicks at Finnish Osprey Nest #1 were ringed on the 15th. There is one male, Vaino, and two females, Valma and Vieno. Well done!

Mum caring for the chicks at Janakkalan.

Muonion is alright! Two little chicks. Three weeks old.

Latvian Ospreys. The oldest is eating really well. The second appears, at times, to be a bit shy. Both seem alright.

Kristel eating a Northern Raven – has a huge crop!

Kakapo in care after discovery of a beak injury. Thank yo so much for your annual checks. I hope this was caught in time.

Things are getting better at the Dorsett Hobby nest.

The Northhumberland Trust has an art contest and it is about Osrpeys.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, messages, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB’, LPC Loon Cam, Raptor Persecution UK, Looduskalender, SK Hideaways, McEuen Park, Weather Network, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana Ospreys, MN-LA, Field Farms, Cowlitz PUD, PSEG, BoPH, Seaside Ospreys, Moraine Park, Cathy Cohen, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Finnish Osprey Foundation, LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Kakapo Recovery, osp, Northumberland Trust, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, and Forsythe Ospreys.

Fledges at Dyfi…Monday in Bird World

15 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Latest updates: Eagle took the oldest osplet at Cowlitz Sunday evening while Mum was feeding. Third osplet at Dyfi in Wales has fledged! Eight Omega ships out catching Menhaden in the Bay this morning – fish our ospreys, whales, dolphins and other fish could eat. Talk about sad. This has to stop.

It was another hot day in Winnipeg. It’s not as hot as it has been. Just 26 C. The boulevard needed mowing, and that is now done. More mulch around the path. I finished but need more. Birds fed and watered many times. They still feel the heat but are more active later in the afternoon and evening when the shade covers the entire garden area. Thank you to everyone who wrote a note and said they enjoyed the baby Blue Jay having its bath. Every season, there is one that loves that bird bath. They are a delight. I made another video. It is 5 minutes long. The birds disappeared while I was sitting on the deck. Still, Dyson comes to the tray feeder along with two Blue Jays and a host of sparrows, old and young. Dyson makes two appearances. You can see the tree branch behind the feeder move. The second time, she goes to another feeder to the left inside the lilacs). I love the Blue Jay pounding away at the seed cylinder at the end. Enjoy. (I will figure out how to edit this!

https://videopress.com/v/p7WSRsNv?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

It is 2033, and the thunderstorm has arrived. The wind is causing the trees to blow around like a tornado. The rain is so heavy I cannot see my neighbour’s roof. It is pounding on top of the conservatory, and all ‘The Girls’ are here for security. I can see a clear sky to the west, so this will be short-lived but furious. I hope we do not lose a tree at the back. Hydro and cable, along with wifi, have just gone out. There is a vast black churning cloud moving south of me. Someone is going to have worse conditions. It’s also reminiscent of my younger years living in Oklahoma, which has all its storms and tornadoes. Did I say we have no power or wifi?

On Wednesday, I will review Connie Dennis’s book about Pickles. So please catch the blog on that day. I will also add a listing of adult Osprey books at the end. This year, the chats on some of the streaming cams were ripe with so much disinformation that many of you wrote and said you would never participate in them again. Take the ‘off-season’ once the ospreys that survive migrate and before the eagles have their eggs hatching to educate yourself. We can have a question section and a fact a day about Ospreys to prepare us. Mind you, we will have the ospreys at Port Lincoln, the falcons at Orange and the CBD, and the WBSE to keep our eyes on. So get your questions ready! I know you have a list of really intriguing ones.

Late news: You know I love Karl II and his kids. Waba, the son of the late Karl II and Kaia from the Black Stork Nest in Karula Forest, Estonia has left RU and is now in northern Estonia! Great news. Thanks ‘TU’. I want Waba to establish a nest in Estonia – maybe even his old natal nest – but only if the fish baskets will be replenished so the storklets don’t starve. We know the food supply is low at times. Speaking of low. Waba’s battery is at 1%. I am hoping he will get some sun and it will charge. This is the area where he is foraging.

The heat wave that hit the Pacific NW and caused such grief at our osprey nests is now moving East. ‘PB’ tells me that the Central area of the US where they live will hit 100 F tomorrow. It will continue to be hot at the osprey nests, and Heidi has just advised that Little at Osoyoos had a one-drop ‘ps’. Dehydrated and weak. Poor thing. Wishing for cool weather, a big fish, or a quick death- since no one is prepared to intervene in the lives of these beautiful feathered osplets (not just at Osoyoos). As you know, my position is that humans have ruined their habitat, destroyed the small quantities of fish the birds require (485-525 per nest of 3 chicks and 2 adults per season), and warmed our planet so quickly that the birds that have been here for 61.5 million years cannot adapt fast enough. We owe it to them to care. Where are the folks as brave as the fish fairies at Port Lincoln? Where are they!

Record-breaking-heatwave-shifts-east-as-millions-of-Americans-under-heat-alert-Extreme-heat-The-Download

In Macedonia, people save the storks by taking out their watering hoses and giving them this great gift of life.

This is the translation: “Humanitarian actions in Macedonia.
The situation with the storks in Gevgelisk is alarming at 50+ degrees. They fall to the ground and dehydrate. The human savior is Miki Stanojkovic from Bogorodica Gevgelisk. An appeal to everyone to leave buckets of water everywhere where there is no river, spring or tap.”

At the nest of the Golden Eagle in Estonia (nest 2), Kristel had prey deliveries from Dad late on Saturday! The eagle also finished the remains of the Raccoon Dog and also fed on leg of sibling. The eaglet is doing some great hovering and working their wings. Appears to be strong.

Note: To this eaglet and to the one at Boundary Bay, their dead sibling is no longer alive and a sibling but potential food. These eaglets are hungry. Eagles are carrion eaters (dead animals). Eagles eat practically anything.

On Sunday, Gwenlais and Senni, took to the skies at the Dyfi Osprey Project. Both returned safely to the nest. Now we are wondering if the third chick will fly on the same day!

Iris at Hellgate Canyon tells us it is still hot there just by her posture! Her and Finn are hanging in there. Iris is amazing. She might not have had a chick since 2018 but she hasn’t forgotten all the tricks on feeding them and keeping them cool and alive. She is my heroine.

Those babies of Iris are so cute. Wonder when we are going to get some names for them.

I feel for the Mum at McEuan Park. Her mate disappeared at the end of June and she had four babies to care for and a heat dome. She has one chick left. She cannot shade it all day because she has to try and catch fish to keep them alive. Where are the fish fairies?

There are two osplets at Allins Cove East. They look good. They are approximately 21 days old.

One gorgeous chick on the Allins Cove West nest the middle of June. It has fledged.

Mum at Bridge Golf Course trying to keep her only surviving Bob cool.

All appears alright at Pitkin County in Colorado.

It will be getting even hotter in Charlo Montana. Charlie is delivering huge fish to Lola and the two survivors (the little one sadly fell off the nest doing a ps). Let’s hope they all make it.

Four big ole babies at Field Farm. That nest is really crowded. Really crowded. Jumping and flapping are going to be a challenge and the crib rails are – well, gone on one side. Stay in the nest kiddos!

Only Bob at Dunrovin appears to be doing well. Enjoying a nice fish dinner compliments of Dad Swoop and mum Winnie. (One egg DNH and the other osplet fell off the nest and died).

‘PB’ noticed that some osprey mums do not shade their chicks like Iris. She is absolutely right. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

At the Snow Lane nest of Beaumont and Hope, the oldest has been doing a wee bit of bonking on the second. We hope it is short-lived. There have been intruders. Hope has done some fishing in past days. Both chicks appear to be doing well. I use that word a lot: ‘appear’. It is challenging to tell from streaming cam images how emaciated the birds can be. I got back to the eaglets Meadow, Sol, and Luna, who appeared to be doing fine but weren’t.

The pair of White Storklets on the Loburg nest were saved and taken to the local stork rescue and rehabilitation centre after their parents, Frieda and Emil, were missing. The storklets were nearing fledge and were ‘very’ hungry and would have perished if help had not arrived. Thank you, Storchenhof Loburg in Mockhem, Germany.

The only storklet of Bety and Bukacek at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic has fledged.

Storks. Migration. Routes. A study shows that older storks get to their migration destinations faster than youngsters. Migratory behavior of storks changes over the course of their lives.

“Over a period of seven years, the scientists collected and analyzed the flight data of storks on their journeys to North Africa. This allowed them to analyze how migratory behavior changes over the course of an animal’s life. According to the scientists, they found that young storks take their time to explore new places during migration. With increasing age, however, their flights become faster and more efficient. Young storks therefore take routes that take longer, but also cost less energy. Older storks, on the other hand, optimize their migration routes in order to reach their destination more directly. According to the scientists, they consume more energy. However, the total time of their flight is shorter. Storks’ routes are also based on a wealth of experience. The results suggest that the birds use their spatial memory to find shortcuts. The researchers from Lake Constance therefore assume that individual experience is also a key factor in animal migration.”

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/friedrichshafen/studie-vom-bodensee-stoerche-im-alter-schneller-am-ziel-100.html

The osplets in the Tweed Valley nests in the UK were ringed.

Another Osprey Rescue and some gifts for the rehab centre. Do you have some extra gravel sitting around? Call your local wildlife centre and see if they could use it!

Want another good story? I have posted this one previously, but it is a good reminder to us – again – that our feathered friends care about their families, will help them, and have feelings.

Eagle Parents Spend Year Nursing Chick Who Fell Out of a Tree, Forsaking the New Nesting Season

Inside the aviary where the chicks of Louis and Dorcha are waiting to take their first flight into the Spanish skies.

At the time of this writing, two of CJ7 and Blue 022’s chicks have fledged – Blue 5R0 and Blue 5R1. Both returned to the nest safely and hungry.

Nest #4 in Finland is doing well.

Issues surrounding food and rivalry are surfacing at the Latvian Osprey nest. This will pass as there are giant fish coming to this nest – we hope that continues and we have two fledges. Look at the size of those babies. Bells will toll across Latvia – surely – when these two take to the skies.

‘A’ reports on what is happening at the WBSE nest:

At WBSE, all is going well. Here is yesterday’s ranger report: 

July 13: Another lovely day and the 16th day since the first egg was laid. An early duet and then Lady had a short break when Dad came in at 6:42. Later, a couple of short breaks with Lady calling from Ironbark Roost. Dad brought in a spray of casuarina at 8:02. Around 9am, he came in for a change-over, Lady very reluctant to get up, even as he circled her. She was even a little slow rising when he brought a mullet at 11:11 – but then she got up and fed as Dad sat. There were the usual changes during the day. Late afternoon, with Lady incubating, Dad was not seen at the river – fishing maybe? He returned at 17:17 – empty-taloned. He moved nearby, and both then settled for the night.

What is going on with the New Jersey Osprey? Don’t tell the Omega ships that there is a lot of Menhaden! They might find a way to fish those shores.

Ospreys-Too-soon-for-a-victory-dance-New-Jersey-Conservation-FoundationDownload

A rescue and return to the nest!

Eagle Owls in old castle ruins. Do you know this streaming cam?

Geemeff’s daily report on Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 14th July 2024

A very interesting day today! We were given photos taken by LizB of the Bunarkaig chick during ringing yesterday, footage of the translocated chicks in Valencia, including ours, wingercising getting ready for lift off, and Louis brought Dorcha a fish on Nest Two. The first fish he’s brought since 5th July, and only the fifth fish delivery since the official fish count* stopped at 10am on the day the chicks were removed to join the translocation programme on 1st July. Are things getting back to normal? Difficult to say, but he and Dorcha have been spending time together and carrying out courtship rituals including coy-mantling and attempted mating, and today they had what looked like a proper tail-up mating attempt. No action on Nest One except for the busy little spider with its web visible in today’s sunshine. The forecast for tonight is misty with light winds, and dry with sunny intervals tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.14.09 (03.45.20); Nest Two 00.17.11 (03.54.45) 

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/F2O6Qu9bv2E N2 Dorcha arrives early, Louis arrives a little later but without fish 04.30.14

https://youtu.be/-w9xcZQB1ZA N2 Was that a successful mating attempt by Louis? 05.26.51 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/map5PyIWzDs  Wingercising ready for lift-off: Arkaig chicks in Spain 13 July and WTS tweet 14th July

https://youtu.be/f3L7h59FXrQ  Bunarkaig chick photos from LizB 13 July and WTS tweet 14th July

https://youtu.be/D2j9GKFPeTs  N2 Finally! Louis brings a headless trout 15.31.07

https://youtu.be/dH2QtdR1ffY  N2 Louis & Dorcha spend time together as the sun sets 21.21.29

https://youtu.be/w_VHNBuj340  N2 Louis returns unexpectedly with a stick 22.09.00)

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

People have been wondering about Giliath. Here he is!

‘H’ reports: 7/14 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The osplets are 34, 36, and 37 days old.  Olsen knows where to find fish early in the morning, and they are usually small ones.  At 0602 he dropped off a tiny fish.  Middle got a few bites, but Big was the primary recipient of fish during the 3-minute meal.  At 0651 Olsen brought a slightly larger fish.  Middle beaked Little.  Big and Middle were eating, and each time Little reached for a bite, s/he was beaked by Middle, and at one point was nearly pushed off the nest.  Little did not eat at this 9-minute feeding.  

Middle was once again beaked Little at 1035.  Little was so close to the edge, I thought Little was going to get pushed off the nest.  As Little struggled to grab a hold of sticks and climb back up to regain solid footing, he got a stick caught under his left wing, and could not get free of it.  Little had that stick stuck under his wing for quite some time, and Middle took further advantage of Little in that compromised state by beaking him even more.  Soo eventually seemed to help remove the stick from under Little’s wing.  That whole episode was so heartbreaking to watch.  

Another tiny fish was brought to the nest at 1106.  It was a 3-minute meal, and Little did not eat.  At 1332 Olsen delivered a large whole fish.  I thought for sure that Little would be able to eat at some point during this feeding.  Little was beaked several times by Middle, and was nearly pushed off the nest again.  At one point, Big beaked both Middle and Little.  They are all hungry.  This was a 27-minute feeding…and Little did not eat a single bite of fish.  Olsen double-backed with another large fish at 1422.  Great!  Back-to-back large fish…just what was needed so Little could eat.  Middle beaked Little again.  Big and Middle were set up on opposite sides of Soo, and Little ended up next to Big.  We only had a partial view of Little near the top of the screen.  But, it was apparent that Little was occasionally reaching in front of Big and getting bites from Soo.  Little received at least 14 bites of fish that I was sure of, but possibly ate a few more.  Big soon tired of that arrangement with Little, and started beaking Little intermittently.  This meal lasted 28-minutes, and Little only ate about 14 bites of fish.  The last fish of the day arrived at 1917, and it was a medium sized whole fish.  Little was the first one at the table, and got some bites right away.  Little had eaten 20 bites by 1919, but was then pushed from behind by Big.  Little was able to eat another 4 bites by 1920, but then Soo moved the fish, and fed Big and Middle.  It was a 6-minute feeding, Little ate 24 bites of fish, and he did seem to have a small crop.  Little ate a total of approximately 38 fish bites today.  Weather for Monday: Sunny, light winds, high temp 99F/37C.

7/14 Patuxent osprey nest:  Little slept standing up last night for the first time…Oh, Little is a Big Man!  Little was not able to eat on Saturday because his aggressive older sisters grabbed all the fish.  This morning from 0520 to 0523 Mom fed Little from a leftover goldfish.  That fish was then taken from Mom by one of the sibs.  At 0651 Dad delivered a large headless fish and distracted the sibs, so Mom resumed eating the leftover goldfish.  Little took the goldfish from Mom at 0655, and self-fed until 0731, at which time he abandoned the goldfish, and went over to Mom who now had possession of the new fish.  Mom fed Little until 0802.  Little had a large crop!   There were other fish brought in throughout the day, but Little was not able to eat anything from those fish.  There were some good wingers with leaps by Little today.

7/14 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  We are so happy for Louise after the sad season last year.  Harvie is such a wonderful mate and provider for their three offspring, ages 28, 30, and 32 days.  The kids are getting so big!

Thank you, ‘H’. Sadly unless there is a miracle, we are not expecting the third hatch at Osoyoos to make it because of the extreme heat. Send them good wishes. Soo and Olsen are trying — and no one is helping.

‘V’ sent in some images of the Cowlitz baby that was taken. She says, “Look at its wingspan. I wish there was someway to save the other baby”. I know that we all feel the same and wish those grates had held. They are so near fledge.

Thank you for being with me today. Please take care. Send out nests all your good energy. The heat continues, the predators remain, too. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU, V,’ Loodusklender, Cowlitz PUD, The Guardian Humanitarian Macedonia, Eagle Club of Estonia, Dyfi Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Project, McEuan Park, Allin’s Cove East and West, Bridge Golf, Pitkin County, Charlo Montana, Field Farm, Dunrovin Ranch, MN-LA, Newfoundland Power, Lindsay Wildlife, Eagle Owl Cam, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, PLO, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Fortis Exshaw, Storchenneste, Mlade Buky, swr.de, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Good News Network, Woodland Trust Scotland, BoPH, Finnish Osprey Foundation, LDF, BSE, and New Jersey Conservation.

More deaths…Saturday in Bird World

13 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is 40 C in Winnipeg with the heat index. So humid! We did our morning walk at the nature centre regardless packing a big container of watermelon bites and an insulated jug of water. The rain has caused everything to grow tall and the forest is cool. The breeze off the lake and the shade from the trees actually made the walk very tolerable. The delight was turning the corner and seeing a little duck, listening to the songbirds, and having a parade of over 50 Canada Geese of varying ages. I thought, for a moment, they wanted some watermelon!!!! Apparently, the pigs at the nature centre’s farm love it.

The geese came in groups, some juveniles mixed in with the adults. Everyone moving through the paths to get to the stream behind where I was sitting.

Not babies anymore. They will be ready to migrate when October arrives.

At home, Hugo Yugo decided that the perfect toy was my sun hat. She wold get under it and move towards Calico like she was going to bulldoze her down while she was drinking?

Dyson knows when I come home from the nature centre with new seed cylinders. She must have them on speed dial! I no more than get the new cylinder on the spike and she appears. I am so glad that Dyson is in such good condition. She is elderly by squirrel standards. We adore her and her kits.

Everyone is hot and wanting in the bird bath. I ‘thought’ that the Brown-headed Cowbirds had managed to sneak only one egg into the sparrow nest, but I was mistaken. There were three cowbird babies in the bird bath at the same time this afternoon. Those poor House Sparrows feeding those big things. And they are probably still feeding them.

On the far left is a baby Sparrow. You can see the size difference between the Cowbird. Both are ‘babies’.

Reets asked me if I tried the ice in the bird baths. Yes, I did. It is fantastic. I am thinking about embedding peanuts in one of the forms. Meant to take some photographs and forgot and by the time I remembered everything had been chipped away or melted. The birds did love the ice.

I am just getting news from ‘AM’ that one of the osplets was taken by an owl at nest #3 Finland. Mum tried to fight it off but to no avail.

Menhaden. I want you to dream about that word. It is those little fish that the Ospreys need in the NE United States to stay alive. I am embarrassed that Omega, a Canadian company, is taking millions of tonnes of this fish out of the Chesapeake Bay. The Ospreys are only one part of this. Heidi sent me this post by the son of the owner of Captain Mac’s Fish House. That is Fenwick Island. We are watching their osprey. He is also the manager of the fish house. This was two years ago – even the fish could not survive without Menhaden. Neither can the whales. It is time to stop them. I wonder if anyone is brave enough to do it — or will it take us, demanding a stop because of the destruction of the entire bay? The impact on the ospreys is worse than DDT, and they were almost completely wiped out then.

Note to everyone: Omega sells fish oil for humans. They are taking the krill from the Arctic that the whales and seals need. Do humans need supplements? My doctor says ‘no’.

Today’s message from Brian Collins at the Little Fish-Big Deal FB page. If you live in the US, read the notice by the Audubon Society below and write to your representative to save our ospreys.

These were the Omega ships on Thursday.

The other huge risk this year has been dehydration. Gary that does the FORE videos has put together an hour long informative video about the impact of dehydration in light of the deaths of Luna and Sol. But it is not only eagles that are at risk due to dehydration – it is ospreys and all the other animals!

Blue 8B3, the first hatch at Llyn Clywedog, a male, fledged on Friday the 12th of July. It was a beautiful flight off the nest banking to the right over the forest. Blue 8B3 returned safely to the nest.

The third hatch at the Janakkalan Nest in Finland died on the 7th of July from siblicide/starvation (as far as I know). The surviving two were ringed on Friday the 12th.

Video of the ringing by the 85 year old bander.

Beautiful chicks being fed at Saaksilvie 1 in Finland:

Sunnie Day posted a very interesting rescue of an Osprey. Very interesting, indeed.

Community-Rallies-to-Rescue-Entangled-Osprey-in-Orange-BeachDownload

Doing a bit of a roll call on some of the nests we have been watching:

Niagara Bee: All is well with the trio!

Hellgate Canyon, Iris and Finnegan: Might be a good name because of the heat! Iris is doing everything she can to protect her two precious babies in the searing heat wave.

Charlo Montana: Sad news this morning. Little fell over the edge of the nest and died. Please, please help the ospreys by secring their nests for them if you own a streaming cam! You need to do annual maintenance on the cameras so put up a secure railing, high, around the nest! Others in Wales do this for their birds. Their babies don’t fall overboard! Two babies this week lost because of a lack of a railing.

So sad. You were so healthy with such promise, little one.

Like Finnegan, Charlie is trying to get fish on the nest for Lola and the three osplets. Hot, hot.

McEuan Park, Idaho: Mom is off the nest fishing. Chicks not covered with shade. It is unclear what has happened to Dad, if anything. This nest really needs fish, several deliveries close together so #2 can get enough fish to survive. Two chicks already dead.

Later. Both chicks appear to have crops at McEuan Park.

‘PB’ caught a good ‘ps’ out of Two. It has to be eating. Relief.

Minneapolis Landscape Arboretum: 87-90 degrees F. Rain forecast for tomorrow.

Snow Lane, Newfoundland: Some fish are larger than others. The little one sometimes looks like it could use a little extra fuel. Tiny compared to Big sibling.

Field Farm: All is well with the Fab Four. This nest amazes me along with the few others that have four. Little Mini made it! Can you pick them out?

Outerbanks: ‘H’ reports that the names for the chicks are Bonker and Dodger. Quite fitting! Dodger fledged on Friday!

Sandpoint: Keo is getting some fish to the nest for Keke and River. Hot there as well – the general condition at most of the nests in the Pacific Northwest.

Clark PUD: Dad is getting fish on the nest and the Only Bob is good.

Dunrovin: It’s a cooker. Swoop is working hard for Winnie and remaining chicks.

Moraine Park: Heidi reports that the Only Bob is good.

Cowlitz PUD: Two Surviving chicks are still on the nest after the Bald Eagle took Little on Friday morning the 12th. Dad had delivered a fish and Electra was feeding the two larger siblings. Little was at the top of the nest. The eagle possibly followed Dad to try and get the fish. When it couldn’t, it took Little. An opportunistic moment on the eagle’s part. I was somewhat disheartened that the eagle came through the place where there is no fish grid. Let’s hope it doesn’t return.

Dyfi: Idris and Telyn have three beautiful osplets, Gwenlais, Coron, and Senni. They could fly any day. My money is on the only male, Senni, to go first to get away from his big sisters!

Poole Harbour: A beautiful family portrait – CJ7 and Blue 022 and the Fab Four.

News from Cal Falcons:

Geemeff reports on Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Friday 12th July 2024

Today’s main story is seeing footage of the Spanish aviary where our two 2024 Arkaig chicks are now living, and the big thrill of having 1JR walk right in front of the camera giving us a good look at him. He looks in great condition and holding his head up, not thin, weak and submissive as he was before removal, and ready to play his part in helping establish a thriving Osprey population in Valencia. Nest One had some little visitors before Garry LV0 arrived bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of housekeeping. Over on Nest Two, Louis did the same, bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of nest-scraping, although Dorcha let him know she would much rather have fish. The weather was settled and should remain so with tonight’s forecast of light cloud and light winds, continuing through tomorrow. 
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.31.09 (03.36.57); Nest Two 23.17.57 (03.38.38)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/Nb4V8EKa_os  WTS tweets and footage of our chick 1JR in the Spanish aviary
https://youtu.be/6qeyNmLWYWc  N1 Little birds visit – Great Tits and juvenile Robins, possibly 06.34.00https://youtu.be/Zv55S0PD-T0  N2 Dorcha arrives fish-calling, Louis arrives but brings no fish 09.02.36

https://youtu.be/WnoPi5nkNGY  N1 Garry LV0 brings nesting materials and keeps a lonely vigil 09.29.21

https://youtu.be/VpDVwAJsY_A  N2 Dorcha does her exercises before leaving 12.16.37

https://youtu.be/2XLYBfvjFLo N2 Louis brings nesting materials and does some housekeeping 16.25.52

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

‘H’ gives us her reports: “7/12 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The live stream was once again offline from 0300 to 0915.  We probably missed Olsen’s first couple of fish deliveries.  At 0918 Olsen dropped off a small whole fish.  Middle beaked Little, and Big beaked both of its sibs.  It was a 6-minute feeding, and Big was the only one that ate.  The next meal was a tiny fish at 0959 that lasted 3-minutes.  Little managed 10 bites of fish before being beaked.  Middle was not able to get to the table.  Olsen brought another ‘tiny’ at 1022.  There was more beaking by Big.  Middle managed to grab 2 bites of fish before being beaked by Big…and Little had nothing to eat during the 3-minute meal.  At 1037 another tiny fish was delivered by Olsen.  Little had squeezed around the right side of Soo and ate approximately 16 bites of fish.  Big was eating at Soo’s left, and Middle could not get into position.  It was another 3-minute feeding.  So far, of the four feedings we viewed this morning, Middle has had 2 bites of fish, and Little has eaten 26 bites.  

It was a warm day with light winds.  Temp at 1500 was 97F/36C.  Olsen did not make another delivery until 1505, and it was a large whole fish.  Middle was the primary aggressor toward Little.  Big and Middle ate, one on each side of Soo.  There was only room for two at the table, and each time Little tried to approach s/he was intimidated.  It was a 12-minute meal and Little did not eat.  The final fish arrived at 2002, and it was a large partial fish.  Once again, Middle beaked Little.  But, Middle stayed back, and Little managed to get a few bites on the other side of Soo, that is until Soo moved the fish.  At 2006 Soo flew off with the fish, but returned 15 seconds later.  At that point, Middle was right up at Soo’s beak and ate a few bites, until it decided it would rather beak Little.  When Middle did that, Big took that spot at the table.  By 2009 Little was eating at Soo’s right side for a couple of minutes, until s/he was beaked by Middle, and then Middle took that spot at Soo’s beak.  It was a 23-minute meal, and Big ate well.  Middle and Little both ate ‘some’, but I could not tell how much.  Middle had a moderate sized crop, and Little’s crop was small.  It will be another hot and sunny day on Saturday, with the high temp predicted to be 99F/37C, and 12 mph winds.

7/12 Colonial Beach osprey nest:  It was a rainy day at the nest.  We were worried about Little, because s/he seemed to be chilled and shivering a lot.  Perhaps Betty could have kept her littles a bit drier.  There were three meals today, and it was concerning that Little did not want to eat at the first two meals.  Finally, at around 1930 David brought a large headless fish, 8 hours since the last fish.  Little was eager to eat…good!  Both kids ended up with good crops.  Little was still shivering though, and it was quite a while before Betty provided them with some warmth from her body.”

A Woodpecker comes to check on the Dorsett Hobbies when Mum is away.

The White Stork Project at Knepp Farm has been deemed a huge success this season.

What is the Golden Eaglet doing with its dead sibling?

Humans and Wildlife. India’s Flamingoes are facing great challenges.

“This migration season has been particularly deadly for migrating flamingos in India, and these collisions are highlighting the ever-increasing tensions between human development and wildlife. “

-https://www.birdlife.org/news/2024/06/21/flamingo-deaths-highlight-development-tensions/

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care of yourselves. Stay cool! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, letters, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘AM, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Nesting Bird Life and More, Matt McGuigal, Brian Collins, Audubon, William Dunn, FORE, Gary’s Videos, Llyn Clywedog, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Sunnie Day, OBA, Niagara Bee, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, McEuan Park Osprey Cam, MN-LA, Newfoundland Power, Field Farm, Outerbanks, Sandpoint, Dunrovin Ranch, Heidi McGrue, Cowlitz PUD, Dyfi Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, White Stork Project, Nesting Birdlife and More, Birdlife International, SK Hideaways, Osoyoos, and Colonial Beach.

Saturday in Bird World

6 July 2024

Good Morning,

As I write, it is 25 degrees C in Winnipeg, and it is mid-morning. The birds in the garden are taking advantage of the water, having had their seeds, peanuts, and cheese dogs put in dishes very, very early. I am hoping that the shaded tunnel areas we have created will help keep the birds and small mammals cool. I cannot imagine what it is like in the Pacific Northwest where temperatures will be as high or higher than 100 F.

Yesterday, with that horrid medication, I had a bit of a brain freeze. Smedley was at the Audubon Centre with Bailey – a long-term resident. Don’t tell me that ospreys don’t do well in care! Ridiculous. Sorry, I am on a rant. There is so much disinformation on the chats associated with the streaming cams. That, along with people who cross over into hyper-hyper-hyperbole, causes much damage and frustration in our understanding of avian behaviour.

The sunhine of the day was the first sunflower, a gift of the birds and animals. Every year they miss some seeds and the gift is a garden full of sunflowers blooming from now until the fall.

Everyone wants water or peanuts – or cheesy dogs. Notice this one is missing its crest. The adults are moulting. The new babies have their crest!

Mr Crow is watching me and wanting more dogs before the Starlings come and take them. He can see me. He knows I am sitting here taking his photo – and then he waits and the cheesy dogs appear! On Friday night we had eight crows visit for food.

Hugo Yugo says she prefers flowers.

Thankfully, the Hibiscus is in a place where The Girls cannot get to. Poison for cats, but oh, so beautiful.

It is a work in progress. The path to the feeder is now planted with bee and butterfly friendly perennials and a huge hosta! Can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end of the summer. Mulch will be going in this weekend!

It’s hot. And it will get hotter. Here is a message about the impact on songbirds. I will have a fan out tomorrow and we continue to top up the water!

I really want to give a shout-out to one of our readers, ‘EJ’. We can make a difference, and ‘EJ’ made a bold business move to save the raptors. She told me – “I used to be a co-owner of an agricultural sales business. I did not know about the harm rodenticides did to raptors until I read about it in your blog. At that point, we stopped selling rodenticides and explained to the farmers why. I don’t know if they stopped using them or not, but I wasn’t going to be responsible for the deaths of any raptors, like little Flaco.” Wow. Thank you, EJ. If everyone would do this, the world would be a better place.

We have a fledge at the Patchogue nest on Long Island. Patches made flying look easy and her return to the nest could not have been any better. Congratulations!

It is 80 degrees F with 2 mph winds and a 63% chance of rain. Babies you need to stay on the nest and not try any bold moves when the raindrops fall. Wet feathers don’t do well with a first or second or third flight. You need practice for that.

I love the look on the siblings face as Patches flies! They are going to want to join in the fun. Keep watching. Both chicks are more than ready to fly.

Fledgling rewarded with a nice big fish!

Patchogue adults sure make beautiful healthy osplets.

Patches took off again at 12:47. Oh, the other one is itching to fly. Wouldn’t be surprised if they go today, too.

Good news coming about Louis and Dorcha’s chicks in the Spanish Translocation Project:

I have been monitoring the Snow Lane nest of Hope and Beaumont and here is some interesting observations posted by Ian Winter who lives in the area on the FB page. Hope is also fishing and feeding her two babies.

I did not take screen captures of Hope’s head in last years and would be the last person to say that I could recognise her but, the behaviour of the female on this nest is very unlike the Hope that has been with Beaumont for past years where chicks have starved. So, please, I am not starting a rumour of a new female; just wondering what’s up. But happy no matter what the answer is! The chicks look good. Let’s hope the weather stays great for fishing.

There is also great news coming through Lucille Powell’s post about the second hatch chick at Hellgate Canyon and its eye.

Tuffy on the nest at Moorings Park before the heavy raindrops begin. Cam will stay on until Monday the 8th of July.

The four osplets at Field Farm are difficult to tell apart now. Little Mini grew and is probably a female – all that feist and sass that kept it alive – with those big siblings could only be a girl. They are now working on those wings and dreaming of flying like Patches.

Rain has come to Poole Harbour and the Fab Four of CJ7 and Blue 022. Oh, dripping wet osplets. Ever wonder what a really wet fish laden osprey nest actually smells like?

The rain and gale gusts have stopped at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales.

It’s nice at Glaslyn, too. That nest is getting quite full with those big chicks!

All is calm at Clywedog.

Dad has delivered a tiny little teaser and a Starry Flounder (I think) to the Clark PUD nest on Friday before noon. Will watch for other deliveries. It is going to be hot there…Clark PUD could get to 98 degrees F. The heat warnings continue through Monday in the area of Clark PUD, Cowlitz PUD, Osoyoos, and other nests along the Pacific Northwest.

This is the fish that I think is the Starry Flounder.

There is good news coming from Kielder Forest after so many disappointments this breeding season.

‘MM’ reminds me today that Keilder Forest Nest 7 has a streaming cam. It was offline when I checked but here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/live/-1xNy-elK0Q?si=ESBdYq6o0Iy5Hx1N

The second nest at Llyn Clywedog Reservoir in an area maintained by Forestry England has just ringed two chicks – the first for the adults at this new nest! One girl weighed 1680 grams, and a boy weighed 1410. Congratulations! (They are not on streaming cam only the original Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren is live streaming).

Dad is bringing in some nice fish at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. 74 degrees F. 10 mph winds.

Chicks at the Iowa DNR nest in Des Moines are doing fantastic. Lots of fish! How wonderful.

Cute little babies of Swoop and Winnie are enjoying their fish meal in Colorado. Looks like we have Reptiles. For those learning about Ospreys, the soft natal down gives way to the ‘Reptile phase’. Notice the black oily heads, the beautiful copper feathers at the nape of the neck. This is normally the time when they get ‘cranky’ and get serious about bonking if it is going to happen. Then you begin to see their pin feathers grow in along the wings and at the little tail and it won’t be long til they begin to look like juvenile ospreys. This stage they are growing very fast and often appear ‘lanky’.

Three cuties for Charlie and Lola at Charlo Montana. Little Three needs some more food – send good wishes.

Three much older osplets at nest #4 in Finland are doing fantastic.

White Storks for the London, UK metropolis?

Rewilding-plan-aims-to-bring-majestic-white-storks-to-London-Rewilding-The-GuardianDownload

Protecting Falcons. Thanks, ‘SP’ for the link.

‘Ive-known-some-of-these-peregrines-for-15-years_-protecting-Scotlands-raptors-–-in-pictures-_-Environment-_-The-GuardianDownload

Great news from the Oakland Zoo – a treated and released Condor.

Prey in the form of several voles and a Raccoon Dog have been delivered by both adults at the Estonial Golden Eagle nest 2. While the oldest gets the majority, the youngest has mantled the remains of the Raccoon Dog, after the oldest ate some, and has eaten. This is good. The oldest still attacks. The eaglets are hungry but now that both parents are delivering again we will wait and watch – with hope.

Another sunrise and two Golden eaglets at Estonia nest 2 alive. Hoping for another Racoon Dog for them today along with a basket of small voles.

‘PB’ is “mpressed with Steelscape! Dad just delivered a lunch fish 1230pm nest time and it’s 88 there high 95 today. All 3 babies look good!” This is fantastic news. Steelscape is in the heat area, too!

Learn all you can about Menhaden – the Osprey fish of choice in the NE US. Why they are important and then learn what is decimating the numbers and why coastal osprey in specific areas are suffering nest loss repeatedly.

Inshore-The-Atlantic-Menhaden-The-FishermanDownload

I am hoping that Little Mini at McEuan Park is still with us. Mum shading and I can only see three big ones but baby could be on the other side. No, sadly, Little Mini has passed at McEuan Park sometime during the late evening of Friday or early Saturday morning.

The kids at Grand Lake want fish. Just look at that nice meal Dad just brought in. They were telling Mum to hurry up and quit messing about. “We want fish!”

What a gorgeous evening in Colorado at the Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails Osprey Nest. One of those successful osprey rescues took place at this nest two years ago. The chicks were accidentally pulled off the nest with some straw. One died and one survived and was in care for awhile because the chick needed to get well before it could learn to fly. Yes, one of those ospreys who testifies that they do well in care! Saying that they don’t is an excuse not to rescue and try.

‘H’ reports:

7/5 Osoyoos osprey nest:  This family ended up having a pretty good day.  The temperature was predicted to hit 35 C.  After two very early fish, there was not another fish brought to the nest for the next eight hours, and I was starting to worry.  But, Olsen resumed his deliveries at 1446, and brought three more fish by 2032.  There were no ‘whoppers’ today.  The meal durations were: 10, 26, 9, 5, 7, and 8 minutes in length.  The osplets were all little angels, and they ate side-by-side as Soo fed them.  

7/5 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  It was very warm at this nest, at least 97 F.  But, Dad was able to provide ample fish for his family, and everyone ate well.  The chicks are 55, 58, and 59 days old.  Chick #2 continues to be the leader in the race to fledge, showing off with a few mini-hovers.

7/5 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s Fish House):  The little 21 day old osplet is doing well.  There were six fish meals provided, with one long stretch of six hours between meals.  Because the chick was ‘hangry’, I caught the lil’ one taking its frustration out on Mom.  S/he stretched and sat up as tall as it could and repeatedly tried to beak June in the face.  “I want fish, Mom!”

7/5 Colonial Beach:  Betty and David’s 10 and 11-day-old chicks are doing well.  For the most part, there is harmony and both are getting fed.


7/5 Captiva Ospreys:  We do not have a report from CROW as yet regarding the condition of Darling, since he was rescued from the water on 7/4.  Ding had two fish meals brought to him by Edie on 7/4, but we did not see Edie on 7/5.  Ding is trying his best to learn how to catch a fish.  She made at least eight attempts to fish from the platform on 7/5, with no luck so far.  Fingers crossed that Ding has a meal today, either from Edie, or perhaps when Ding catches her first fish.

Geemeff’s Daily Report for Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Friday 5th July 2024
Louis and Dorcha are still around, and reaffirming their bond – he coy-mantled and attempted mating, she rejected his advances, and later he brought her a fish. At the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, their chicks are settling in and WTS Jill gives us this update: RDWF reported yesterday that both birds are feeding well and seem to be settled in the lovely dry aviary. But it’s still too early to say they are out of the woods entirely. The final vet screening will happen early next week, we’ll get more concrete news after that.  Nest One had a visit from Garry LV0 bringing moss and doing a bit of housekeeping, several songbirds also visited and a Hoodie preened on Dorcha’s perch for a while. The weather was reasonably settled after a wet night but more rain is forecast for tonight, with thundery showers tomorrow. The chicks are missed but the consensus on the forum is that in the circumstances, they’re better off in the translocation programme.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.06.53 (03.35.23); Nest Two 23.45.16 (03.43.32)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/zakv38LnsXI N2 Dorcha’s not impressed: no fish and Louis tries mating 08.00.12

https://youtu.be/EamXrQ5Z1TYN1 Four little birds flit around investigating the nest 09.15.32

https://youtu.be/KM9WDj8AjRk N1 Does Garry notice the two birds chasing each other? 09.36.18

https://youtu.be/rX4DKIlw6dM N2 Louis brings a lunchtime fish for Dorcha 13.20.39

https://youtu.be/kzKHN0llDEE N2 A solo Hoodie flies onto the side of Dorcha’s perch and preens 20.24.30

Blast from the past, this day in previous years:
https://youtu.be/KmKrmLCYAdk  N1 The chicks Bring Jollity doing flight prep quick time 2020 (Classic Ospreys – Holst)

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Both White-tailed eaglet fledglings on the nest resting in the Tucholskie Forest in Poland.

Bety and Bukachek’s only storklet is gorgeous.

Thank you for being with us today. Please take care of yourselves. Stay cool if you are in parts of Canada and the US. Remember to hydrate and for those feeling a little cooler down under, stay warm! Hope to have you with us again soon.

Thank you to the following for their letters, notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, EJ, Geemeff, H, MM, PB’, PSEG, Native Songbird Care and Conservation, Mary Cheadle, Ian L Winter, Lucille Powell, Moorings Park Ospreys, Field farm, BoPH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, LLyn Clywedog, Clark PUD, Kielder Forest, Minnesota Landscape Arobretum. Iowa DNR, Dunrovin Ranch, Charlo Montana Osprey Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Guardian, Oakland Zoo, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Steelscape, The Fishermen, McEuan Park, Grand Lake Ospreys, Pitkin County Osprey Cam, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Bielik On Line, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, Patuxent River Park, and Window to Wildlife.

Loch Arkaig’s chicks will go to Spain!…Monday in Bird World

1 July 2024

Good Morning,

It is 2129 in Winnipeg and this is what my family is watching. Hurricane Beryl. My daughter in law is barracaded in a safe room in their house in Grenada ready to ride out the hurricane which is expected to hit the island with no less than 100 mph winds. Sending good wishes to everyone in its path including the beautiful ospreys that I watch at the mangroves, the egret, the herons, and all the little songbirds around the island.

It is the earliest hurricane of this magnitude to hit the islands. The last major one was Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

We are just holding our breath and waiting for the hurricane to pass and to get some word that all is well.

Moving on to our beloved birds.

Louis and Dorcha’s two osplets for 2024 from the Loch Arkaig 2 nest are heading to Spain. Geemeff sends us the latest posting from The Woodland Trust.

Good evening everyone.

Having kept the situation under review again today it has been decided that the chicks will be removed from the nest tomorrow morning and handed on to the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to be translocated to Spain.

The nest will likely be visited around 10am depending on how the weather turns out. The chicks will be given another good feed on the nest before being taken out of the tree.

I know you will have lots of questions about every last detail of this procedure but I don’t have much of that at the moment.

They will go to a specialised aviary in Inverness where they will be hand fed and looked after over the following days. Beak swabs will be taken to test them for avian flu and some other infections required before they embark overseas. Assuming all is well with that, they will be flown out to Spain on July 10th likely with ten other Scottish chicks.

This programme was already planned and in motion and it has been incredibly fortuitous that the timing fits with the emergence of our crisis on the nest at Arkaig.

We have had a number of tough decisions to take in the last week but actually this last one has been quite easy. There seems to be something wrong with Louis, possibly compounded by poor fishing conditions. The rate at which he has been fishing is just not enough to give the chicks a reasonable chance of survival. Even if they struggled through to the end of the summer it is felt very unlikely they would survive migration, which calls for considerable reserves of energy.

We are fairly certain at least one of the chicks would have died by now had there not been supplementary feeding on Friday and this morning.

When Louis was absent after Wednesday we wanted to at least wait to see if he would return before stepping in. Even though he returned on Saturday, there is something not right with him and we cannot have confidence he will return to form in time to stop the chicks from perishing. Before his disappearance he perched for most of Wednesday after bringing in one fish. Today he perched up for eight hours again after bringing one fish. The family needs more than that if it is to build up enough strength to survive migration.

The window of opportunity to enter the chicks in this translocation is brief and we did not want to be in the position of hanging on longer to see if the situation improved for our family. By removing them we hopefully take the pressure off the adults and allow them to replenish themselves in the coming weeks.

Continuing to feed them ourselves at Loch Arkaig is just not a feasible option. There are risks every time we go in. If the family is not viable on its own efforts its best the chicks get a chance in Spain.

Louis and Dorcha will almost certainly stick around with the nest as the centre of their partnership before migrating a bit earlier than usual so we will hopefully see them for a good while yet.

As I said previously – Scotland currently enjoys a population of beavers, red kites and sea eagles because other countries gifted us some of theirs. It is marvellous that Scotland is giving this gift to Spain and I think we should be proud that the Arkaig pair are going to be part of it. They will be ringed as having fledged in Spain but their highland heritage will be on record. My understanding is they are going to be GPS tagged so we should be able to receive updates about them.

I am sure some people will post for or against what is happening, which is fine, but please don’t get into rows about it. There is absolutely no point. The decision has been made. It was our decision to make and we did so in consultation with osprey experts. I hope that even those who don’t like what is happening will acknowledge that we have given thorough and honest consideration of all the options before coming to this conclusion.

We were driven at all times to do what is best for the ospreys – both our family and the species as a whole. Our two chicks will get a better chance to survive. The species’ range will be increased making it more resilient in the years ahead.

We’ll miss them of course. But then we would have been parting with them in a few weeks time anyway.

And as some of you say at the end of every season – “Don’t be sad to see them go. The journey is their purpose.”

Please enjoy the last few hours of them on the livestream.

We will keep you updated on how things go tomorrow.

Beautiful Dorcha and her chicks. George is certainly right. Without the supplementary fish we could have lost one chick and maybe two. The decision they have taken is a good one. We wish Dorcha and Louis all the best – a fast recovery for our great fisher and good health for all. In years to come we will look forward to hearing about these two breeding in Spain!

Thank you Fish Fairies!

This is Geemeff’s summary for The Woodland Trust for Loch Arkaig:

Daily summary Sunday 30th June 2024

Today brought news of a bittersweet ending to the season. The carefully researched and calmly thought out decision has been made by Woodland Trust Scotland to remove the two chicks and put them into the translocation programme in the care of Roy Dennis. They will ultimately help to found a new breeding population of Ospreys in Spain. Today’s videos have a certain poignancy as we know that this is the chicks’ last evening on the nest – they leave Loch Arkaig tomorrow. However with Louis only able to provide half of one fish today, this is the best outcome for our family. Louis will have time to recover, and he and Dorcha can spend the rest of the season pairbonding before leaving, probably a bit early, on migration, and then we expect to see them return next year to start again. The fish tally effectively ends today at two hundred and fifty four, but doubtless statto Steve will continue to record any subsequent fish brought to the nest by either of the adults. The fish brought by the ‘fish fairies’ ie the licensed raptor experts only counts in that it almost certainly saved the lives of the two chicks. No action on Nest One, weather reasonably settled today with the odd moment of sunshine, but tonight’s forecast is for light rain and light winds, and more rain tomorrow. They’re off to sunny Spain, Viva España!

Woodland Trust Scotland’s statement in full:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15225467

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.20.20 (03.19.51); Nest Two 23.23.29 (03.56.16)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/vD6PgwUW6c0 N2 Dominant chick attacks submissive one despite all the fish available 08.16.00

https://youtu.be/i3mLfTb3FCk N2 Intruder or Dorcha grabbing some free fish? Looks like Dorcha 09:16:48  

https://youtu.be/DOl24pZXxzo N2 Louis arrives with his first delivery of the day, headless big trout 09.35.33

https://youtu.be/ShR7Kb12D_c N2 Submissive chick gets a calm exclusive feed 19.25.27

https://youtu.be/W7mIANPajv4 N2 The chicks enjoy their last dinner with Dorcha 20.22

https://youtu.be/6Q7UEkwIG5M N2 Chicks spend a calm final evening together with mum 20.58.35

Bonus read – info on the Spanish translocation project which is the outcome for our chicks:

https://lamarinaalta.com/en/llegan-a-su-nueva-casa-en-la-marjal-pego-oliva-doce-polluelos-de-aguila-pescadora-desde-escocia

This is information on the start of the translocation project from Scotland to Spain last year. Thanks, ‘JK’:

Osprey-Reintroduction-Project-Valencia-Birding-Guided-Bird-Watching-in-SpainDownload

Finnegan just continues to prove that he is one Super Star Dad. He brought in a fish to challenge everyone.

Finn removed the fish, flew about, returned with it to the perch where he ate before turning it back to Iris – who ate and fed the kids – and then Finn had some more. What a lovely way to end the day in Montana. I cannot imagine a more loving – more perfect – year for Iris.

Mummy is melting at Hellgate Canyon (Iris).

Good Night, Iris.

How much fish does an osprey need to eat per day? Have you been wondering this seeing nests thrive and others fail?

“Three separate studies estimated that an adult Osprey needs approximately 400 g (0.88 lb) of fish meat per day to meet its energy needs.”

All-about-Osprey-hunting-and-feedingDownload

The ospreys do come and visit the nest platform at Lake Norman in North Carolina. What a beautiful setting for a nest.

The video of Lady and Dad’s second arriving.

It is difficult to assess how much fish Little Three is getting at Blackbush. Mum often blocks the feeding. The two big ones did get full crops.

The two osplets in the Kurzeme Forest area of Latvia are looking quite good.

Both chicks at Finland’s #1 nest are enjoying some really nice fish dinners on Sunday.

It is a beautiful day on the Muonion nest where the chicks are tiny compared to those at #1.

Three gorgeous babies at Janakkala.

The 26 day report for Rosie and Richmond’s nest in SF.

There are some crab shells on Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home osprey nest. Two surviving osplets are gorgeous, big, fully feathered and will be looking forward to flying soon.

A nest full of beautiful osplets at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn.

What a beautiful view. Kiedler nest #7 and its three chicks. Mum is Blue KX7 and Dad is KM18. They have been bothered by an intruder, a fledgling form Dumfries, over the past couple of days.

Oh, one of the chicks is being a big ‘grumpy’ over on the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Elen. Aran had just delivered a nice fish! Wanting to make sure Little Bob knows who eats first!

Gosh, the trio at Great Bay are looking good, too. So many great nests with three feathered chicks.

‘H’ reports:


6/30 Patuxent River osprey nest:  The three gorgeous teenagers (ages 55, 54, 51 days) are preparing themselves for flight.  All have been practicing some wingers, even Little.  I’ve seen some hop-wingers from the two older chicks, but so far no hovering that I am aware of.  Last night, chick #1 was standing to sleep most of the night for the first time.

6/30 Forsythe osprey nest:  This nest is unsettled, even though the two remaining chicks are 41 and 40 days old.  After Mini and Little died from siblicide/starvation, things started to settle down, and there was peace in the nest for about a week.  Then the live stream went down for a few days.  When it resumed, we noticed that Big was back to being aggressive, and was preventing Middle from eating, indicating that not enough fish had been brought to the nest during the cam downtime.  The aggression is ongoing, and Middle does not get very much to eat.  On 6/29, Middle ate for a total of about 11 minutes during 5 meals.  6/30 was a bad day with stormy weather almost all day long.  There were two fish delivered, one each from Oscar and Opal.  And surprisingly, Opal pulled a tiny fish out of the rail sticks at 1740.  Middle ate approximately 31 bites of fish all day.  Today should be better for fishing… sunny, high 82 F, winds gusting to 16 mph.

6/30 Bridge Club osprey nest:  Almost two weeks ago, chatters of the live stream noticed something was wrong with the middle chick’s left leg.  S/he was not able to use the leg.  The chick propelled itself using its good leg and its wings to ‘walk’ on the nest.  However, its range of movement was only several inches in any direction, and for that reason, some thought it may have been entangled by fishing line.  There was a great deal of talk on the chat regarding the chick’s injury, and some viewers contacted the nest owners and various entities that might be able to perform a rescue.  In response …the chat was shut down.  The osplet was still able to eat as long as Mom fed close by, and she usually did.  Mom also tried to provide shade for the chick.  It was apparent to viewers that the osplet was never going to be able to fledge, and would eventually die in the nest.  Communication was taking place amongst osprey nest-cam-watchers via other chats, that didn’t mind some off-topic conversation, and in Facebook groups.  Over the next several days, a few persistent viewers continued to reach out to find someone to help this poor chick that was suffering.  On 6/30, the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center arranged a rescue of the osplet, and it was removed from the nest early in the morning.  The chick was examined and evaluated.  Here is the statement from a representative from the Rescue Center:

“Thank you for your concern.   An Osprey chick was rescued at the Bridge Golf Course in Bridgehampton, Long Island NY on Jun 30 at 7am this morning.  The chick was then transferred to the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue center where it was determined by x-ray showing an open fracture as well as a bone infection that had made the chick’s left leg unusable.  X-Rays were shared with two local veterinarians who concurred with the diagnosis.  The chick was transported to one of the Vets to be euthanized this afternoon.  Given the nature of Ospreys, who need fresh fish for survival, even if amputation was successful, captivity for this migratory sea bird is truly not an option This is of course not the ending to the story that anyone wanted, but many times in nature a compassionate end of life scenario is what is best for both the bird and the bird family remaining in the nest.”

We all wonder what might have been the ending to this story if the nest owners had been proactive ten days ago, before bone infection set in, instead of ignoring the chatters.  Perhaps the result would have been the same, but it would have ended the suffering of this young osprey a lot sooner.  But, there is also another scenario involved here… Little chick #3 at the Bridge Club nest died of starvation during this period of time, after chick 2’s leg was injured.  If chick 2 had been removed from the nest sooner, it is possible that Little 3 may still be alive.

This reminds me of the sad story of the eaglet, DH18, from the Dale Hollow nest in 2023, where refusal to acknowledge responsibility, indecision, and procrastination, lead to the rescue of DH18 that came too late for him to be saved.

‘A’ reports: “July 1: Now there are two eggs on the nest, full incubation starts. Before the second egg was laid, the first egg was uncovered for a total of 30 hours, with 22 hours total on those four cold nights. As we see most of the time, Lady alone incubated last night, leaving in the morning after a couple of early duets, with Dad coming in for his first shift at 6:37am. Both have shared incubation today, with Dad spending longer for 6:17 and Lady 5:22. The eggs were only uncovered for short periods – a total of 21 minutes. Dad returned late afternoon, though with no prey – nothing was brought in today for Lady, though she was away long enough to catch her own. Lady was on the eggs at dark, with Dad roosting close by.”

A correction. The Crooked Lake Nest is in Columbia, Indiana. I have the correct location in our data forms, but I said Iowa in my blog when noting the predation by the GHO of the three osplets. I’m sorry for any confusion.

A second note. The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest. They had many storms as we did in Winnipeg. The cities are 8 hours apart but sometimes experience similar weather if the system is large. Viewers were concerned that the camera might have been ‘shut off’ when the weather was terrible and the chicks died. My observer believed that was what happened. As it turns out, the storm took the camera offline because there were outages in the area at the time. It happens here, too. Just want to make that correction. Everyone in Minnesota does a great job monitoring the nests in the area and we live in hope that the only surviving osplet at MN ARB will fledge this year.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, J, H, PB’, National Hurricane Centre, Geemeff, George and The Woodland Trust, Vallencia Birding, Montana Osprey Cams, Avian Report, EarthCam, SK Hideaways, Blackbush, LDF, Finnish Osprey Foundation, SF Bay Ospreys, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, Dyfi Osprey Project, Kielder Forest Nest 7, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Great Bay, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Ospreys, Bridge Golf Club, and Sydney Sea Eagle Cam..

Monday in Bird World

24 June 2024

Oh, good morning. We are celebrating today. We have a late hatch baby osplet in Latvia!!!!!!!! Oh, tears and jumping up and down. Oh, please let this little one be safe. It appears the second egg has a hole in it. Just overjoyed. Ospreys are so rare in Latvia. Everyone must be celebrating. Congratulations Selgas and Svinga.

The Estonian Osprey nest of M1 and IIris has sadly failed. The ospreys continue to visit the nest on occasion. M1 has covered the egg on and off. The camera is now offline.

There is sad news coming from the Finnish Osprey nest at Seili. First two eggs did not hatch. The third did hatch and was predated by a Crow.

Look at those two beautiful osplets, fully feathered, in Napiwodzko-Ramucka in Poland.

The two Golden Eaglets in Estonia nest #2 are doing so well. It is late on Sunday and no food has arrived yet. They had good ‘ps’ early in the day.

The name given to the only Golden Eagle on the Estonian nest #1 is Diana.

The two gorgeous Eastern Imperial Eagles in Tatarstan RU are doing so well.

The Lesser Spotted Eaglet, Ieva, in Zemgale, Latvia is so cute. It is beginning to get its feathers. Mum Anna spends much time preening her little one. One thing I have found interesting is when Ieva casts a pellet, Anna will often share that pellet with Ieva as food again. There were lots of frogs on the menu for the 23rd, Sunday. After so many, many frogs, Andris shows up with a vole. I have not seen him on the nest recently so this is fantastic.

The first time the chicks in the Tweed Valley nest of Mrs O have seen the sun in 21 days. It must feel wonderful and it will dry out that nest. So many lost to weather. Glad to see these three nicely feathered and surviving!

The three osplets at the Oxford, MA nest (camera run by Oxfordma.us) look to be almost completely feathered and extremely healthy. A little older than the ones in Tweed Valley.

The four osplets at Field Farm are drying out after heavy rains.

Dad got the fish in and Little Mini is at the beak at Field Farm!

At Bridge Golf, both osplets had a nice fish lunch.

Fish on the nest at Moorings Park and Ruffy watches the water.

At the US Steel Bald Eagle nest of Irvin and Claire, their only eaglet, Lucky, fledged on Sunday! Congratulations everyone.

And now there is concern for Lucky. Send positive wishes.

Three babies at Blackush so far looking good. Weather is off and on miserable.

Last breeding season, the lovely Marders nest failed. All the chicks died for no apparent reason. The owner of the property followed all advice and protocols and had them picked up for a necroscopy. It is possible they were too decomposed. This year, the family has one two week old osplet and two DNH eggs.

Two beautiful fledglings returning to the nest for fish at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science platform.

Mum at Pitkin County working hard to keep her three osplets cool in the rising heat of Colorado.

Rainy, hot, and humid at Great Bay. It finally dries up. Three gorgeous osplets.

‘H’ hasher reports for us!

6/23 The Osoyoos osprey nest continues to do well.  The 13, 15, and 16-day-old chicks are looking good.  There were 8 feedings that I saw.  There was no sign of sibling rivalry or aggression.  Some of the fish were tiny, but some were medium in size.  Little missed out on the first meal that consisted of a small fish, because he was sleepy and waited to approach…”He who hesitates….”  Little only ate two bites of fish at the second meal, because the fish was so tiny.  Later, Little ate his/her share at the other meals, right up at Soo’s beak, side by side with the big kids.

6/23 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  Harvie is an excellent fisher, and he delivered three whoppers and a smaller fish today.  There were 8 meals, some of which consisted of leftovers from the whoppers.  There was no sign of aggression at the meals.  Little is handicapped…well, by being little, lol.  S/he simply cannot reach as far toward Louise’s beak as the bigger kids, but he manages to get fed, especially toward the end of the meals.  Little did not eat at the last meal of the day, simply because the fish was small.  All is good at this nest.

6/23 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s Fish House):  There were six meals provided for the 8-day-old babe, which was an improvement.  The meals were also a little longer in duration.  Male ospreys usually wisely remove leftover fish from the nest to avoid enticing predators, and Johnny is very diligent about that.  At 1350, it had been 5.5 hours since the last meal, and June fed from a nice sized fish.  This time, June prevented Johnny from taking the leftover piece of fish.  June fed the osplet again in an hour, and the kiddo had a very nice crop!  In fact s/he had a nice crop a couple of times today.  Good.  Now, if Johnny could just deliver more fish…

6/23 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  The 9 and 5-day-old siblings are doing well.  There is never a shortage of fish provided by Skiff.  And, Dory is a great mom, always ensuring that both of her youngsters are fed.

6/23 Captiva Osprey nest:  This family had a very good day.  The new fledgling, Ding, made several flights off the nest, and she made some very nice landings back on the nest, and also onto the perch.  Darling performed her first hover high enough that s/he was out of our view.  And, Darling walked up onto a perch for the first time.  There were five fish delivered to the nest, and Jack brought four of them.  Overnight 6/24, the kids had a 

There has been an accidental fledge at the Avon Lake Bald Eagle nest with three eaglets. More information to follow.

Even rehabbers, especially rehabbers, need to remember. IF you can PICK UP a Peregrine Falcon and hold it and you are not doing that to put on its bands, then THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE BIRD. It truly is that simple. You don’t want that raptor rendering your arm useless.

Oh, Monty and Hartley’s chicks are soooooo cute.

Iris and Finnegan have their hands full with these two osplets. You can immediately tell the difference in development just looking at them. But, oh, so cute! Finnegan spent Saturday night on the perch protecting Iris and the babies. Gosh, I love this guy.

‘PB’ reports that some bonking/dominance is taking place between Iris and Finnegan’s chicks. The oldest is in the Reptile Stage. Maybe it is a female. Iris is good, though. She makes sure both of those babies get stuffed to the top!

Bless his heart. Finnegan just keeps bringing in the fish for the family!

Cute little babies at Charlo Montana.

The camera is not great but we can now clearly see three osplets on the Collins Marsh nest on top of a relocated Wild Fire Watch Tower in Wisconsin.

Cowlitz PUD is looking good!

Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 23rd June 2024

Calm was the order of the day, the weather was settled and the two chicks behaved impeccably. Dorcha had a bit of fun with an unwieldy stick which, after causing chaos, was lost overboard. Garry LV0 paid a flying visit to Nest One and a little bird did a quick flit round too. The star of today was Louis, who loomed up out of the darkness at 14 minutes and 23 seconds before midnight with a record-breaking latest delivery fish, to take his total for the day to five fish and his season’s tally to two hundred and forty one. Tonight’s forecast for Inver Mallie which includes the nest area, is partly cloudy and light winds. Perhaps Louis will do a spot more fishing – it will be interesting to see what time he delivers the first fish tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.09.26 (03.09.37); Nest Two 23.30.31 (03.43.42)

Watch the livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Mw1wYciPyBg  N2 Fish number, one live trout, chicks line up politely 06.28.23

https://youtu.be/NiluW_gKrG0  N2 Fish number two, headless trout, chicks still polite 08.26.17

https://youtu.be/e1DJpaL8Dlo N2 Dorcha causes chaos with a stick, tbut it soon goes overboard 11.02.20

https://youtu.be/e3oZRUuHIzs  N1 GarryLV0 visits for just seven seconds 13.31.19 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/gZDgFJrJfMo  N2 Fish number three, smallish headless trout, Dorcha doles out evenly 13.47.14 

https://youtu.be/0yXwS1_ft18 N2 Fish number four, whole flatfish, chicks are not very enthusiastic but queue up anyway  15.48.34

https://youtu.be/kqS35fIdnn8 N1 A little bird makes a brief flit around and underneath 20.38.30

https://youtu.be/35Zn71fWiCg N2 Fish number five, headless trout – breaks all-time latest delivery record! 23.45.37

Bonus watch – Woodland Trust’s video for World Rainforest Day 2024:

Oh, wonderful news coming from ‘AM’ and Port Lincoln: “Ervie arrived at the nest at 11:42 in Port Lincoln! He was kicked out by his mother at 12:17:43!”

I was just able to rewind. Ervie on the nest and then on the perch. There is some suspicions that Ervie is a female because Mum kicked ‘her’ out. Mum did not respond that way to Calypso (2019 hatch) who was believed to be female but turned out to be a male. The pair mated on the nest.

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

Thank you to the following for their posts, notes, comments, pictures, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AM, Geemeff, H, J, PB’. LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Seili Osprey Cam, Pybolowy Online, Tatarstan Eastern Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Oxford MA Ospreys, Field Farm, Bridge Golf, Moorings Park, Deb Stecyk, Blackish, Marders, VIMS, Pitkin County, Great Bay Ospreys, Iowa Bird Rehabilitation, SK Hideaways, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cam, Charlo Montana, Cowlit PUD, Window to Wildlife, Fortis Exshaw, Osoyoos Ospreys, Kent Island, Fenwick Island, Greemeff and The Woodland Trust, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and Collins Marsh.

Sunday in Bird World

23 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is 25 degrees, blue sky with some clouds and predicted rain later today for Southern Manitoba. It is ‘hot’ in the conservatory. Calico is in front of Mr Dyson’s fan. Oh, she loves that fan!

The very last of the summer perennial (as opposed to the annuals) planting is finished. All of the greenhouses have their stock on sale and it is the perfect time to plant the Milkweed and Daisies. Everyone should be trying to find a place for one Milkweed on their property. For the butterflies.

‘The Girls’ are doing fine. In fact, they are adorable. Yes, I am biased. Today, each one sat on my lap while I trimmed their nails. The only wiggly one was Hugo Yugo, but we still got the job done. They love watching Mr Crow come get his hotdogs and peanuts. Today Mr BlueJay and Junior were retreating cheesy dogs which makes me think that the baby Blue Jays have hatched. Like Crows (both are Corvids), the babies need meat. It uses less energy to get the cheesy dogs than it does to chase down insects and worms – although I only give them enough to ensure plenty of food for the little ones but not enough to keep them from foraging.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will know that the Ospreys in the NE area of the US, the Chesapeake Bay Area, depend on Menhaden as their primary food source. Ever wonder why so many are dying in the nest? or nests are just failing? Take a moment to watch this video:

‘VV’ has been monitoring a number of nests that are also in the area impacted by Menhaden fishing. She says, “The nest failure rate is so  disappointing. Leading up to the past 4-5 years was a stunning population boon. The nest with the lost chicks was erected in 1990, the first of the 19+ on my excel. At its height we’d be cursing by now, every nest screaming for breakfast and really big time soiling our cars, etc. Now I’m watching a handful of bored females waiting for the boys to come in from fishing. As is proving the case with everything, the population fell faster than it rose.” ‘VV’ sent images of the nests that failed.

That water should be full of fish.

I want to run through a number of nests and just see how they are doing. Some have gotten neglected but we are going to begin with ‘H’s reports today.

“It is very hot at the mid-Atlantic and northeast US nests that I follow, with temperatures in the mid to upper 90’s, and over 100 degrees in some locations.  Not only will the young ospreys need more fish for hydration, but fishing can become more difficult, as fish may seek the cooler deep waters.

6/22 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  The dad at this nest is amazing.  He delivered eleven fish to the nest for his family.  Unfortunately, most of them were not very big.  Little did manage to eat at all but two of the meals, but only ate for a few minutes at each of the other meals.  Throughout the day, Little never had a really big crop.  At 11:25 pm Dad delivered a large partial fish to the nest in the dark!  Little had a private feeding at the beginning of the feeding for 7 minutes, then shared the rest of the meal with a sibling for the next 30 minutes.  Thanks, Dad…you are ‘way cool’.

6/22 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House):  I am always worried about this nest.  It just seems to me (not an expert), that the lil’ 8-day-old nestling doesn’t get enough to eat.  I rarely see this baby in a food coma or with a very large crop.  There were five feedings on a very warm day, and they averaged about 10 minutes in duration, but that included June eating.  The fish that Johnny delivers to the nest are usually a good size.  It is thought that June may be a new mom.  I would like to see this baby have more frequent feedings.  Get it in gear, June!

6/22 Forsythe osprey nest:  This is one of the nests I worry about in the heat.  Fishing does seem to become more difficult during heat waves at this location.  There were four fish brought to the nest, and Opal caught two of them herself (thanks, Opal).  The remaining two siblings, ages 32 and 31 days, seem to be getting along amicably.”

6/22 Osoyoos osprey nest:  This brood of three, ages 15, 14, 12 days of age, are doing well.  Dad brought fish to the nest 8 times (some may have been leftovers).  Some of the fish were tiny, but a few were a good size.  The siblings are still getting along nicely, and Little is able to eat his/her fill at most meals.

6/23 Kent Island (Chesapeake) osprey nest:  The last potentially viable egg was laid 38 days ago.  Viewers are hoping that Tom and Audrey will have a lil’ baby to raise this season.


6/22 Captiva osprey nest:  It was quite a momentous day for this osprey family.  Ding fledged in the morning, and returned to the nest seven hours later.  Ding had been seen flying circuits around the bay and nest area.  In Ding’s absence, Darling thought s/he had died and gone to heaven, lol.  Three fish were delivered in that span of time, two partials from Jack, which Darling ate, and a whole catfish from Edie that she ended up feeding to Darling.  Darling had not eaten that well for some time.  Ding’s first trip back to the nest was with a landing on top of the camera, and an eventual hop down to the nest (landing on Edie).  A couple of hours after Ding’s return, Jack delivered a whole sheepshead, which Ding devoured.  In the afternoon, Darling performed a few ‘personal best’ high hovers. “

Thanks so much, ‘H’.

That hot weather was everywhere. Even up in Ithaca where it was 87 yesterday when Ferris Akel was doing his tour.

The first egg has hatched at Dunrovin for Swoop and his new mate, Winnie. Congratulations everyone!

The two osplets and the DNH egg at Steelscape are doing very well.

The one surviving osplet at Sandpoint is good.

It is hot in Boulder, too, like in many places. Mum is shading her Only Bob.

Lola and Charlie at Charlo Montana have the sweetest kids.

The camera at Field Farm is focused on the road and not on the nest.

Bruce and Naha at the Seaside Osprey nest and their new osplets are doing fine.

Little concerned about the heat and the level of hydration and fish for the four at McEuan Park in Idaho. Will keep monitoring.

‘MM’ reports on Osoyoos: “Just wanted to drop a quick note as I was watching the Osoyoos nest and dad brought in a decent size fish compared to his usual catch. All the chicks had a nice crop and were so cute 😍. I hope things get better food-wise for this nest. “

‘Pam Breci’ reports that Little Bob did really well on Saturday. This is fantastic news. “Cowlitz looking good, little 3 just has a good dinner. Needed to wait so good thing fish are large to feed all 3 and mom.”

Dr Greene is delighted with Finnegan and the growth in his and Iris’s two chicks over the past the past ten days.

Everyone loves Iris and Finnegan and their two miracle babies.

‘A’ reviews the early morning with Iris and Finnegan: “Finn arrived at 05:27 for the big fish he brought in late yesterday (22 June). He ate for a while on the nest, then took the fish to the perch. At 05:36 he brought the fish back. Iris decides to get up for a stretch and soon after 05:42, she flies off the nest, leaving Finn with the fish and the osplets. 

She is literally back within seconds, and she comes over to the fish and begins feeding the chicks. Omigod!! What I have been waiting to see is finally happening. Both Finn and Iris are simultaneously feeding the osplets from the same fish! Little Bob is front and centre, with Big Bob behind and above him. There is, as usual, absolutely no aggression between the pair. 

It is however a fleeting moment, and Iris takes over the fish as Finn moves away. He has some blood on his breast, probably from the fish. Little Bob is doing well at this feeding but Iris is careful not to forget Big Bob, who is behind his sibling. It is wonderful to see these two getting along so well, but each day as I wait for Big Bob to transform into a mini-dinosaur, I wonder whether it is just a countdown to the inevitable bonking stage. Perhaps we have two very laid-back brothers here. I SO hope so. 

Finn has a chunk of the fish that he has picked up and turns away from the feeding with it. Iris continues giving bites to the osplets, primarily Little Bob, who remains sitting up confidently in front of his sibling. He is the cutest wee osplet with the sweetest little round bottom. He is seeing well and his balance is much better, though he does still face-plant a fair bit as he lunges forward for mouthfuls. He is managing much larger bites now. I do love the way Iris carefully feeds both chicks, sometimes changing her mind when she thinks one is getting too much. 

The other day when Little Bob ended up on his back three or four times, I was tremendously concerned, especially on the first occasion, but the way Iris was immediately aware that this situation was problematic and required intervention was impressive, as was the way she carefully circled the stricken chick and observed exactly what she was dealing with, then set about trying to right the wee one. On each occasion, she managed to do so, primarily through very carefully manoeuvring one or both feet into position underneath Little Bob so she could then lift him slightly by judicious shuffling. It was impressive. 

As you know, we have lost at least two chicks already this season to exactly such a situation, and I was really scared for Little Bob, especially when he repeatedly seemed to end up on his back – I began to fear some neurological problem or even an uneven nest surface – something that was causing this. I still wonder why, as it did not appear to happen the following day, and yesterday afternoon it did happen once, briefly, but he rapidly righted himself with a single effort (he did seem a little panicky but got it done). 

So today, I am not nearly as worried as I was, and he is eating wonderfully well. I adore the way he is getting on with his older sibling, though I am aware we are right on the verge of finding out whether we are going to go through a bonking period on this nest. Big Bob is being VERY patient, with Baby Bob getting at least twice as many bites at this feeding because he is at the front and mum doesn’t have to lean as far to feed him. Periodically, she leans over to give a bite to Big Bob, but not nearly often enough to be even-handed, and there are several moments when I am wishing she would feed the older sibling at least half a dozen mouthfuls. I don’t want an episode of food frustration! 

Iris is feeding Little Bob at least three or four mouthfuls for every one that she offers BIg Bob, who is handling the situation admirably. After a while, she starts having three or four bites herself between each one she gives to Little Bob – Big Bob is missing out almost altogether by now. There is still a huge amount of fish left over (that monster fish brought in last night is not even half gone yet). At 05:52 she finishes feeding and settles down to brood. Little Bob has a huge crop, Big Bob not so much. There is still about half the fish left. Just before 05:55 Finn removes it from the nest. Iris is not overly pleased – again, she would have fed the osplets (and herself) again in about 90 minutes had Finn left the fish (or at least some of it). “

It is so hard to believe but the Fab Four on the Poole Harbour nest are all feathered. Mini Little Bob is right there, big and healthy! These parents worked and worked to make sure there was lots of fish and every one of their babies was fed. Four are surviving. Tears.

There aren’t four but there are three big feathered osplets on the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn.

We have talked about osprey nests. We have talked about egg cups, twigs that catch little legs, and all sorts of things. Just look at the nest that Seren and Dylan have for their Bobs up at Clywedog in Wales. What a gorgeous nest.

Babies at Glaslyn of Aran and Elen are getting all those beautiful feathers, too. Nest not quite as comfy as Seren’s.

Younger babies at Llyn Brenig, both doing well.

Those babies in Germany are now as big as their mother! Unbelievable. And beautiful.

A ten-day-old baby at Finland #3 is just a fat little cutie. (One died of a nest accident and the other egg DNH).

Two chicks at Bridge Golf getting their juvenile feathers. Unclear the status of Middle Bob’s leg. Little Bob died of siblicide/starvation the other day.

Gary published a video on the passing of Sol and Luna at Redding.

Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Saturday 22nd June 2024
The weather was somewhat unsettled today but no further somersaults were done by Dorcha. Louis excelled himself bringing six fish to the nest and his tally now rises to two hundred and thirty seven. Deliveries included an early breakfast and a late night snack. Dorcha shared out the fish fairly, and the two chicks were models of patience and politemess at mealtimes. Garry LV0 visited Nest One twice today, staying for over an hour the second time. No disturbances for any of the Loch Arkaig residents as the Red Arrows took a different route home. Tonight’s forecast is for light cloud and light winds so with luck the family will have a peaceful and dry night tonight. 
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.23.51(03.19.51); Nest Two 23.15.27 (03.56.16)

Watch the livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/Bqeq0_3IguI  N2 Fish number one, headless trout, Dorcha blocks the view 04.19.55
https://youtu.be/2Rqe03hrp0c  N2 Fish number two, small whole trout 06.47.28

https://youtu.be/M8F0cHIaW1I  N1 Garry LV0 visits, flying in from the right  07.57.38
https://youtu.be/C9VqBeD-eZY   N2 Fish number three, big whole trout, the chicks form an orderly queue 11.19.12

https://youtu.be/apsDxegpiMs  N2 Fish number four, big headless trout 12.19.57 

https://youtu.be/0kqpLR6pgEw  N2 Fish number five, big headless trout, the chicks line up politely 18.39.53

https://youtu.be/MjzQ3di6UIM  N1 Garry LV0 returns for a second visit today, stays for an hour 19.42.43 

https://youtu.be/pMbvgH-OrHA  N2 Fish number six – late night snack gone in 5 mins 22.18.50
Bonus read – Woodland Trust was one of hundreds of nature organisations marching through London today calling for Government to Restore Nature Now:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2024/jun/22/restore-nature-now-march-in-london-in-pictures

The Peregrine Falcon scrape in Osaka, Japan is cleaned up and will wait for next season. Beautiful fledglings this year.

‘A’ reports:

“Both mums were in to feed the chicks at Taiaroa Head this morning (Saturday 22 June) – BOK to feed TFT chick at 08:20 and LGL to feed TF chick at 09:38. The previous day (Friday 21 June), both BOK and LGL were in, feeding their chicks, at the same time – at 12:23 we have a shot showing simultaneous feedings occurring at both Royal Cam nests. Too cute. TF has begun exercising his wings, and his wingspan is amazing. How did those sweet little wings become these magnificent gliding instruments in such a short time? The preparation begins for a solitary ocean life, surfing the thermals. It’s astounding to think how far these little ones will travel before one day they hopefully return to within metres of their natal nests. Still giant fluff balls, but with wings becoming more defined by the day. Magnificent birds. When we think of 28-year-old Iris, it is amazing to think of Wisdom, in her seventies. No wonder they are such spiritually important birds to so many seafaring cultures. And what an amazing privilege it is to be able to watch them at Taiaroa Head under the tender care of the rangers. Truly blessed.”

 

“WBSE: June 21: A quiet night, then several early morning duets and mating. Both were standing in the deep nest bowl, with Dad chewing and digging at Lady’s feet, settling leaves and twigs in the bowl . Dad brought in a fish at 8:07, but took it off the nest. He returned later with a stick and spent some time moving things about. Then they were both away for some time, then both back a few times with a stick. Off again, until Dad brought in a partially plucked coot at 13:33, which was taken by Lady and eaten on the branch. She ate for over 45 minutes, then off, leaving one coot leg draped on the branch. Dad returned, bringing a stick, just after 4pm with a full crop, so he had eaten somewhere. Lady came in as well, with duets and mating nearby. At dark, both were settled close to the nest.”

June 22: A cold and wet morning – rain started in the night and Lady hadn’t moved. An early duet at 6:21. Shortly after, a long duet as Dad joined Lady – but no mating. After, another duet and this time a mating – still raining. Dad returned with the tail end of a fish at 8:52. Lady claimed it and ate the lot nearby, then away. A duet was heard nearby at 10:03 though out of sight. Then again, and Lady returned just after 11am with a stick. They were away again until 14:13, when Dad brought another fish in, which was claimed and eaten by Lady. Then they were off again, until both returned home before 5pm, and straight into some nest arrangement. Then duet and mating, and more nest bowl work from Dad. They moved to their night roosts. Any action tonight, we shall report tomorrow.

They are everywhere. Seriously everywhere. Plastics. Microplastics. The more I try to escape them, the more they try to sneak into my life and yours. Even at the greenhouse, those bloody plants were in plastic containers. Why? Well, the answer to not taking them home is to have them wrap them up individually in the newspaper. Why can’t they use biodegradable containers??????

It’s terrible for the seabirds and for those on land who get caught in those mesh bags or have bin liners land on their nests. The only good use for plastic I have seen lately is the covers for the large bales of hay or straw on the farmer’s fields, which prevents the birds from taking the PLASTIC twine that holds them together back to their nest to entangle their babies. When did we stop using jute? (Maybe it wasn’t so good either but it was natural.) Oh, some things get me really worked up! Hats off to the company that packages frozen vegetables in the States and does it in biodegradable paper bags!!!!!!!!

Planet-vs.-Plastics-Earth-DayDownload

Very sad news coming out of Ventana Wildlife via Lady Hawk. Redwood Queen’s chick, Aurora, has passed away.

‘J’ sent us the link for Duke Farms’s Eaglet E-book for 2024. Thanks, ‘J’.

http://online.flipbuilder.com/oqzm/xrzi/index.html

It is that time of year. Those baby birds are just out of the nest and people see them and think they are abandoned.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you so much to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, Geemeff, J, H, MM, PB, VV’, Virginia Beach Menhaden PSA, Window to Wildlife, Osoyoos, Forsythe, Fenwick Island, Patuxent River Park, Kent Island, Dunrovin Ranch, Steelscape, Sandpoint Ospreys, Boulder County, Charlo Montana, Field Farm, Seaside Ospreys, McEuan Park, Osoyoos osprey Cam, Cowlitz PUD, Pam Breci, Montana Osprey Cam, BoPH, Dyfi Ospreys, Llyn Clywedog, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Fischadlerwebcam, Satakunna Saaksett, Bridge Golf Club, Gary’s Eagle Videos, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Osaka Peregrine Falcon, Earth Day, NZ DOC, WBSE Sea Eagle Cam, Duke Farms, Lady Hawk, and Nebraska Wildlife Rehabilitation.