I am finishing this posting late Sunday evening as I must leave the house early Monday morning. So, whatever happens between midnight CDT and Monday morning will be covered on Tuesday. It is also going to be cooler tomorrow. 2 C. We were 24 C last week. I do not know about the birds and animals in the garden, but it has been quite the past few months with the weather fluctuating daily.
Hugo Yugo and Missey want to wish everyone a great start to their week. These two are inseparable, just like Calico and Baby Hope. It is not just Missey that washes Hugo Yugo – that little ginger gives Missey a good going over. It is so precious.
Beautiful chortling from Jackie and Shadow to start your day.
I spent Sunday with my daughter and her three children to celebrate the granddaughter’s birthday. You will recall that this young woman is quite an inspiration to me and others. She has the most empathy and is a social worker helping those who struggle to live independently due to long-term abuse and addiction. She is also Vegan and has been for seven years. Her commitment to the welfare of animals and people warms my heart.
There are some sad and horrifying things happening in Bird World and I would like to dispense with them right away and get on to some of the more positive events that happened in our nests on Sunday.
I have great concerns for the second hatch at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. ‘R’ did a great job monitoring the nest and confirmed my fears. He writes, “At 0647 a fish was brought in. It looks like Stella as only one Osprey came into the nest. At 1247 Stella again brought in a fish. She is gone most of the time so I suspect she is doing the fishing. After this feeding both osplets had decent crops. At 1247 Stella fed part of a fish that was laying in the nest (catfish). At 1447 Talon brings in a fish. This is the only time he is in the nest for 12H. This is also the last feeding for the 12H period. Stella spends most of her time off the nest and occasionally brings in nesting material.
The birds must be getting very hungry as #1 (my numbering for the biggest and aggressive osplet) occasionally attacks #2 even when there is no feeding going on. #2 is getting very little food. Very strange and hard to follow with such a poor arrangement of the camera.”
The image below is well after ‘R’s’ reporting. Sibling 1 has been eating all the fish and has a huge crop and is attacking the middle sibling. The third hatch died of a very vicious siblicide.
Tragedy was brewing Sunday afternoon when both Claire and USS7 got caught in fishing line on the US Steel Bald Eagle nest. In an incredible effort, Claire got that line off herself and her chick. She then gathered it up and flew off the nest! Well done – an experienced Mum working to save her little one.
‘H’ reports that the two eggs laid at the Fenwicke Island Osprey nest in Delaware have been eaten by Crows. Both adults were off the nest!
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum ospreys are being rained on. The first egg which had been left in the pouring rain is now well hidden under nesting material. The second egg was laid on Sunday and it has been walked on and rained on…It could well be a blessing if it does not hatch.
Good news coming from Decorah North. NC18 no longer has fishing line hanging from its beak. It appears it has been cleared as per Raptor Resource Project.
‘B’ writes: “I couldn’t believe it! Archie snuck in there at 8:38:45 while Annie was away and began feeding the chicks. He must have had that TINY bit of prey stashed somewhere, just waiting for his opportunity. It only lasted a minute, because Annie returned at 8:39:45 and snatched it from him, also having a couple of words with him. Way to go, Archie!”
Cal Falcons caught this magical moment.
Sometimes it is hard to tell how much fish Tuffy gets, but he is being fed well and his feathers are continuing to grow and the nest appears peaceful.
Keo and Keke surprised everyone with their first egg laid late on the 27th or the wee hours of the 28th (?) at the Sandpoint Nest.
On Sunday that egg at Sandpoint had some drizzle on it.
‘PB’ found a nest in Canada in the Niagara on the Lake area. It is the Niagara Bee Group Ospreys and they already have two eggs!
Some rain got on the two eggs Sunday afternoon. It is not clear if they will be viable or not.
This is the link to their streaming cam:
Ollie and his mate have returned to the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society on Long Island. There is a new camera and the nest has been secured from a storm last year that wiped it out. Ollie returned on the 30th of March and his mate arrived a few days later. They now have one egg according to the wonderful moderator of their FB messaging who answered me promptly.
More and more fish deliveries at Frenchman’s Creek. Reflecting on this nest and the Mum who is obviously ill/injured makes me wonder how these two surviving osplets will behave as adults with their own chicks. For example, at the Hopeless Nest in Newfoundland, the female does not feed the chicks. Both died last year and I believe in all the time only one chick has survived and that was in 2019 (please feel free to correct me). Will these two not feed their chicks? if they are female? Or will their instincts or memories drive them to be good parents?
Dad continues to bring fish – thankfully he eats the head so the chicks can eat the fish easier. He is also still spending time feeding his two big babies. I think they are going to be alright. People should not worry about the fish piling up unless it compromises the nest structure. The carrion eaters will arrive and have it cleaned up in no time!
The weather is improving in Finland and the ospreys are busy mating, fixing nests, or laying eggs. There are two eggs at Satakunnan.
There is a new female this year at Juurusvesi. She is Yellow M76822 and was ringed in 2020 at a nest precisely 100 km away at Viitasaaki.
Did not see an osprey on the nest at Paltamon where there is still snow on the ground, but there was a Peregrine Falcon!
Both have returned to Janakkala – obviously eating well. No egg yet.
The male in Germany is feeding the female who is incubating their eggs a fish meal. How cute.
Louis must have been dealing with intruders. She finally got a fish and it was after 1500 – that is decidedly not the Louis we know.
There is a new couple with three eggs on the Estonian Osprey nest in Tartu County. (It is not believed that this is either the former male Ivo or his mate). This is wonderful news for a country where the osprey population is low. In 2018, 210 pairs.
No one will ever go hungry if Arthur is around. The nest of Big Red and N1 and N2 is now lined with squirrel. Do not despair of you see these two beaking away at one another. It will stop. Their eyes cannot focus properly – just like the falcons. Give them 4 or 5 days. Their heads are not steady and any beak is a potential meal! They will get rough – in this instance, it is play fighting unlike what is happening at University of Florida-Gainesville.
Buky and Bette still have two eggs at their nest in Mlady Buky.
Geemeff brings us up to date on the comings and goings of nest 1 at Loch Arkaig. “An unringed female came to Nest One and got two fish from Garry LV0! She spent a lot of time there, fingers crossed she returns tomorrow. Affric 152 hasn’t been seen since the 24th, and the unidentified pair at Bunarkaig are definitely now incubating eggs so it does look like that is her on that nest. So with luck she’ll stay away and Garry will have the time and space to woo this female and they form a bond. There is still time – just – for eggs this year but just seeing him with a mate would make me very happy.”
Geemeff has it all on video.
And then a second fish. This looks promising. There has not been a family of osplets on this nest since Louis moved to nest 2 with Dorcha after Aila did not return.
Swampy had a meal and slept like an adult perched with a parent on the natal tree.
‘H’ reports that Severna Park finally has its first egg – a fortnight later than last year. 17:26:55.
Deb Stecyk did a really nice tribute to Bella. Poor eagle…what a terrible year she had with her new mate, Scout.
When the young woman posted her linocut of Flaco on FB, I could not resist. It arrived and went off to the framers. I forgot to request non-reflective glass. Said with a loud sigh, as it was difficult to get a half-decent image without reflections for her to use on her Instagram page. I thought it came out rather well – the print with the matting and framing. It’s hard to tell the colours, but the largest matt is a deep grey-blue-black, with the little interior section the colour of a deep rust brick.
Thank you for being with us today. Please take care. We will look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, screen captures, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, MP, PB, R’, SK Hideaways, Baiba, Fenwicke Island, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Cal Falcons, Moorings Park ospreys, Sandpoint Ospreys, Niagara Bee Group, Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, Frenchman’s Creek, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fischadlercam, Geemeff, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cornell RTH, Mlady Buky Stork Cam, Eagle Country, Severna Park, Deb Stecyk, and DirtGirl Designs.
*Disclaimer: I make every effort to identify and thank those who have provided information. If I have made an error or omission, please let me know so I can rectify it. Thank you.*
When I set off to check on the Stellar’s Sea Eagle at our local zoo, it was windy, and the temperature in Winnipeg was 5 degrees C. The clouds parted, and the dreary day hinted at in the early hours soon gave way to bright blue skies and sun. It was glorious. I am so grateful to be able to get out and about exploring. It is never taken for granted. Each day is a unique treasure filled with discoveries.
At the far end of the zoo in the Asian area is one very handsome Stellar’s Sea Eagle. I love standing and watching him. Today they were cleaning out a part of his huge enclosure and he was just perched paying no mind. I wonder how long this beautiful creature has lived in a cage?
You might recall that a Stellar’s Sea Eagle landed on the eastern coast of Canada in November 2021. The huge eagle eventually travelled to Maine before returning to Canada. How it got from its regular home in Russia is unknown.
The male Reeve’s Pheasant has the longest feather of any bird globally at 2.4 metres. The layers and layers of curved feathers are quite amazing. I was mesmerised by the limited colour pattern and how using only black, white, and a golden orange-yellow nature created such spectacular plumage to attract a female!
A lone Grey Wolf captured a lot of attention.
I spotted a pair of Eastern Phoebes in the trees. They are classified as ‘flycatchers’ and are one of the first birds to arrive in Manitoba in the spring, normally in March. They depart in September after making their mud nests and raising their young. They incubate four to eight pure white eggs for 16 days. They normally have two broods every breeding season. They are gorgeous little birds with a grey-green-slightly brown head (like a light olive khaki colour) and back with creamy white underparts tinged with a slight yellow-green-grey. Their bill is black and distinctive.
Hugo Yugo is having a bit of a rest before getting into more mischief. She loves to carry objects in her mouth, including the tub stopper, any earrings that get left out, keys, bags of cookies, necklaces, pens and pencils, cables for computers and cameras, and earbuds. Nothing appears to be safe these days. She also likes to hide them.
Gosh, I adore this little ginger. She is such a character – there is never a dull moment and I cannot imagine, for a single second, my life without her.
You will remember agonising over whether Tuffy at Moorings Park would live or die. Today, almost fully feathered (if not completely), Tuffy is a prime example of why you never give up hope for these little ones. I think that it is also a good example of why you do not turn away. We will never appreciate the struggles that the raptors have if we do not hang in there with them through the good, the bad, and the sheer ugly.
Look at Tuffy’s eyes light up when he sees a fish dinner. What a darling.
‘H’ captured that feeding on video for us. Please have a look. You can watch this on YouTube by clicking the YT link at the bottom left.
Many do not make it. In 2023, out of 339 eggs ‘H’ and I monitored, fourteen died from siblicide. In comparison, eighteen starved to death due to circumstances not related to siblicide and 36 did not hatch.
Asha and Brodie have their third egg at Loch Garten. Proud Mum shows off those eggs!
Aran and Elen have their third egg at 0807 on the 28th – this morning – at Glaslyn. Aran was on the perch giving support.
Mrs O at Tweed Valley laid her third egg on the 27th.
Johnny and June have their second egg at Fenwick Island in Delaware at 0810 on the 28th.
The Ravens took the eggs of Milda and Hugo ending another sad year for this gorgeous Latvian female White-tail eagle. She is now free to find food and not sit incubating and starving – and allowing her health to deteriorate.
There is an egg in the nest of the Lesser Spotted Eagles, Anna and Andres. I have included the link Sassa Bird provided.
This is one of the most interesting articles about the Lesser Spotted Eagle and should alert any potential viewers to the fact that under normal conditions, if there is a second hatch, it is killed by the first even if there is plenty of food present. (I have posted it previously). It is the definition difference between siblicide – the killing of siblings when there is only food for perhaps one – and enough food but the first hatch, the dominant bird, kills the second for no apparent reason.
E23 is still home and still learning about those annoying small birds.
Edie feeding the two osplets at Captiva. It will be easier when they are not bobbling!
The male brought in a fresh fish at the Frenchman’s Creek osprey platform. He called the female several times while one of the osplets played tug-o-war with the fish. When the female did not come, he began to feed the chick/s. This is good news! These chicks will, despite everything, probably fledge. Thank goodness.
There are three eggs at the Radford University osprey nest in Bradford, Virginia. Thanks, ‘PB’ for mentioning this nest!
This is the link to their streaming cam:
Still snowing at some of the osprey nests in Finland.
Lots of shift changes at the nest of Big Red and Arthur – with two wiggling chicks underneath!
Meal before bedtime. Arthur has the pantry nicely stocked.
There is quite a wiggly nest full at Cal Falcons and everyone is hungry!
Gosh, we have fallen in love with Archie.
‘A’ writes, “
dinner at Cal Falcons was a lengthy affair, beginning at around 17:58 and still continuing more than 25 minutes later, with mum e-chupping to encourage the chicks to open their beaks just one more time. The two youngest chicks were at the front of the pack for this feeding, and were fed first, which was great, as the youngest is often stuck at the back and can miss out altogether at some feedings. Annie is very diligent about feeding all four, though, most of the time. At this feeding, she brought in a very large piece of prepared prey (she was gone about five minutes, unusually, and of course Archie came in to keep an eye on the eyases while she was gone – he is ADORABLE).
By 18:23, the younger ones at the front appear to have got a second wind and are again accepting bites of food. Annie is amazing. She has been feeding for 25 minutes, and remember this lot is under a week old. I cannot imagine how much work poor mum is going to be doing feeding these four over the next four weeks or so, until they begin to learn to self-feed. And so far, dad has been fantastic in terms of ensuring a pantry full of delicious well-prepared meat for the family. But of course that load is going to increase dramatically week by week, as these four grow rapidly. So both parents are really going to have their work cut out for them. I do wish them both well in this huge endeavour. Annie is not used to raising four, and we have no idea of Archie’s parental experience, if any. It will be a big task for them both. Annie is still feeding at 18:25. By 18:27, there are finally no more takers and Annie eats a bit herself before taking the carcass (not much edible remains) back to the pantry. We can hearing Archie vocalising in the background – he sounds displeased though I have no idea why (and whether that vocal is indeed one of displeasure, but it is certainly very much like the one Annie uses when she is ‘warning’ that she is not happy with or about something or someone). But surely, after that thorough a feeding, all four eyases will sleep with happy tummies tonight. “
Two little hungry osplets at Captiva.
Nesting material is finally coming in to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest. It even looked like Dad was telling Mum to incubate the egg that she kept wanting to cover up – it was the egg left out in the rain and uncovered on Friday.
‘AE’ shares news of Monty and Hartley. “From 6:05pm last night and until 6:38am today Monty was the one doing the overnight incubation duty. Hartley had visited the nest ledge. Monty never got up from the eggs so Hartley took herself over to the sunshade where she spent the entire night!”
Betsy and Frederick have three eggs. There was a wee break in the incubation to fix up some rails. Good idea!
Screen captures of Iris and Louis from Saturday. There was concern over an injury to Louis’s chest. You can see what could b e the injury on the chest close to the left wing. I realise that everyone in the world would like Iris to have a dedicated mate, but I don’t want Louis to be injured and possibly die due to an infection if that is a deep gouge with a piece of wood in it as some believe. Starr is at the baseball park, and if she doesn’t have eggs, she will soon. We know what will happen if Iris lays eggs, and that is fine – she will be free from the duties of raising chicks, which I clearly believe has lengthened her life. She eats well and cares for herself year-round. Most research indicates that female raptors lose at least 30% of their body weight, raising babies.
Swoop and the new female at Dunrovin are working on the nest. Look at that long strip of nesting material! An intruder was about and Swoop was in the nest quickly in protective mode.
There is some concern over the GH owlet at Wolf Bay. It has been slightly lethargic most of the day.
‘AE’ got a great screen capture of JBS20’s feet! She said, “Gotta love those feet! I never appreciated orange bird feet so much until I started watching bird cams. He’s waiting for breakfast to be delivered.”
Prey delivered, JBS20 eventually arrives to eat leftovers.
Swampy appears to be doing just fine since he fell from the nest to the branch and fledged and returned. Everyone keep sending him good wishes.
Have you been watching the FOLFAN eagles? Here is the latest.
All three eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy are doing fantastic. Look at the nice crop on the third hatch.
The two eaglets at the ND-LEEF nest both went to bed with full crops. I did not notice any aggression at the last feeding of the day. They both look like they are doing well.
I have written ‘R’ who is observing the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest of Talon and Stella. It looked to me that the two osplets had only one feeding on Saturday and that it was hot. Mum shaded them, but was on and off the nest. Is the Dad missing? One osplet, the third hatch, has already died of siblicide. At one time, Talon was bringing in plenty of fish. Something is amiss. Will another so-let’s life be in jeopardy? or both?
Bradley still loves eating his Puffer Fish on the natal nest!
The thawing of the permafrost is going to have a significant impact on birds and their migration. Many that travel to the UK for the winter from Scandinavia, Greenland, and Siberia, may stop migrating. What else is happening with the permafrost thaw?
Your smile for the day comes from the Venice Golf and Country Club Osprey platform where the nest is full. Aren’t those three gorgeous in their juvenile plumage? The oldest is almost as big as the female.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. We want you back with us soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, videos, articles, images, posts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, H, MP, PB’, CBC News, Moorings Park Ospreys, Heidi McGrue, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, RSPB Loch Garten, LDF, Sassa Bird, Research Gate (B-U Meyburg), Frenchman’s Creek, Radford University Osprey Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Cornell RTH Cam, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Window to Wildlife, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, San Jose City Hall Falcon Cam, OBX Osprey Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Wolf Bay, JB Sands Wetlands, Eagle Country, American Eagle Foundation, Little Miami Conservancy, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville, Port Lincoln Ospreys, American Bird Conservancy, BirdGuides, Raptor Persecution UK, and VGCCO.
The rain I wished for arrived Friday morning, along with a chill to the bone feeling. It was much needed, and the smell of the wet earth was intoxicating, especially after all the dust. The grass around the City is turning green, and the leaves on the lilac bushes in the garden are starting to emerge. I cannot wait to see the garden completely ‘green’ again. This morning, the first White-throated Sparrows arrived in the garden. They returned, again, in even larger numbers – 35 or 40 – in the pouring rain around 1930. They are easy to see with their three white stripes on the crown, but I realised that soon the leaves would be out, and I will be scrambling to tell who is where.
The White-throated Sparrow might look like a House Sparrow except for that amazing head and throat. The first time I saw one, I thought it was a plastic head stuck on a house sparrow. Silly me. There are three white stripes alternating with black to make up its crown. On each side, at the top of the black beak, is a yellow dot – someone got into their paint pot! The proper term is lores. Below the beak is a white triangle like a bib, hence the name – ‘White-throated’. [The White Crowned Sparrow lacks the white bib!]
All about Birds says, “White-throated Sparrows eat mainly the seeds of grasses and weeds, including ragweed and buckwheat, as well as fruits of sumac, grape, cranberry, mountain ash, rose, blueberry, blackberry, and dogwood. In summer they eat large numbers of insects that they catch on the forest floor or, occasionally on quick flights out from low vegetation. These include dragonflies, wasps, stinkbugs, beetles, flies, and caterpillars, as well as spiders, millipedes, centipedes, and snails. Parents feed their nestlings almost exclusively animal matter. During winter, White-throated Sparrows readily visit bird feeders for millet and black oil sunflower seeds. In spring they eat the tender buds, blossoms, and young seeds of oak, apple, maple, beech, and elm.” They were certainly busy kicking and foraging in the grass beneath the feeders in my garden. I noticed that they not only consumed the Black-oil seed but the Millet and the Corn.
The white eyebrows are normally sider than the single stripe running down the middle of the crown. You can see the yellow lores clearly in the image below.
“Female White-throated Sparrows put their nests on or just above the ground, typically in level areas in clearings with dense ground vegetation. The nest is usually built under shrubs, grasses, or ferns, sometimes even beneath dead vegetation from the previous year. Birds sometimes put their nests off the ground, particularly if they lost a previous nest to a predator. These nests may be in roots of an upturned tree, brush piles, in shrubs or ferns, or as high as 10 feet up in a coniferous tree.”
‘The Girls’ are just like our little raptors. After every meal they go into a food coma! Hugo Yugo is no exception.
I am afraid to say but it appears that Hugo Yugo is starting to grow – long. Her face still looks like a kitten. I am hoping that my eyes are just fooling me. She still fits in the shoe box.
Meanwhile, Missey still likes it when the plants are watered and will curl up in them like she did as a kitten with Lewis.
It isn’t an end table…it is a two-tier hard sofa for cats. I wish the individual had not felt the need to refinish the tops – the wicker is marvellous and it would certainly be more fitting for it to be in its original condition, however grotty.
The Fig Tree needs a nice new pot.
Richmond and Rosie are going to be grandparents! I get goosebumps when I hear of survivals like this. I am sure many of you watched ZD with me four years ago!
There is a second egg hatching at the nest of Big Red and Arthur Friday afternoon. There will be another beak to fill Saturday. Arthur is already bringing in the squirrels. I hope it is a huge population of them and chippies this spring – he will have six mouths to feed in total.
N1 is a darling. Our friend ‘A’ thinks so, too: “N1 is SUCH a strong little hawklet. It is eating like a small fluffy piglet. Mum is feeding it often and it is eating like a pro, even picking up dropped mouthfuls for itself! This is one precocious little chick. But of course that is hawklets isn’t it? Their nest time is so short compared to eaglets and osplets. They grow so fast and fledge so soon, we have to appreciate every day we have them in the nest. A bit like falcons, really, which returns me to the happy little band at Cal Falcons. A darling, hard-working little dad and a devoted, very experienced mum. This may be the first time all four of Annie’s eggs have hatched (although we have no idea what would have happened last season had that third egg not almost certainly been laid away from the nest on the day Grinnell died) but I have a lot of confidence in this pair to successfully raise all four to fledge, as long as they are not bothered by intruders.”
Too cute!
Big Red positively glows when her eggs begin to hatch and there are chicks to care for. She even looks younger and younger.
UPDATE: From ‘A’: “
The second hawklet is nearly dry when Big Red gives us our first good daylight look at the expanded family from about 06:28:20 when she gets up for a stretch. There is a stick that falls across the nest as she moves and the new hatchling has to struggle out from under it (mum moves it). The second little one appears strong and healthy. I’m sure there will be a meal soon, but at this stage, this is the first really good look we have had at the second hawlet.
Two eggs hatched and two eggs to come. I wonder whether the gaps between hatches will be similar or whether there will be different time differences. There looks as though there MAY be a pip in the third egg (left hand side at the front as we are looking at the pic), right down at the bottom on the left hand end but of course I may be wrong and it may not even be at the correct end of the egg. So I wouldn’t be relying on my ability to spot pips on hawk eggs or (especially) on osprey eggs. Just too many blotches for me to see anything definitive. “
Cutie pie falcons in Osaka being fed – look how big they are! The pin gathers are coming in and they have lost that sweet baby down but gosh, they are still adorable.
H’ reports that Angel and Tom visited their nest Saturday morning. Yippeeee.
The first egg at McEuan Park in Idaho was laid on the 26th. Thanks, ‘H’.
*Caution. Not recommended. Potential neglect from female/starvation despite male delivering fish*. The first egg of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest was laid on the 25th. This is a very problematic nest. Little to none nesting materials. Experienced Dad. Female appears to have many issues. She has failed to cover egg and it has rained heavily on the egg. ‘MP’ reports that the Dad tried to cover it with the few cornstalks available. The female later returns to incubate. Quite honestly, the kind thing would be for this egg to be unviable.
In comparison, Annie is a superb Mum. ‘A’ writes, “Annie was so careful this morning to make sure that little number 4 chick was fed after its older siblings had eaten their fill. She had to go around to the back of the pile to reach the little one, which is way too small to reach over the others and not yet strong enough to push its way to the front. So Annie is making sure that she gets the food to the little one herself. She is very deliberate about it. It has to wait its turn, but Annie keeps feeding and feeding until all the little mouths are closed, and then she e-chups some encouragement to try just a couple more bites and the little beaks open one more time. And when they have all eaten their fill, only then does Annie finish the feeding and remove the leftovers. .(Or on this occasion, she simply ate the leftovers herself, having fed the entire prey item to the chicks.)
She is a very very good mother, and Archie is doing a sterling job. He would love to do more, and is always there if he feels the chicks might get chilly waiting for mum’s return, but knows his place and is quick to depart when mum arrives back. I think brooding the four is going to be quite a challenge for him within a day or two. “
Annie wants to be in charge of the feedings!
Squirming falcons.
Audacity laid a fourth egg that was crushed. It makes me so very sad to think how much she wants a family – or for that matter all the others like Jackie and Shadow, Chase and Cholyn, and of course, dear Gabby and Beau. When I get down in the dumps about it all, I just go over to Cal Falcons or Big Red’s…you cannot help but smile and have all the gloom washed away.
Falcons are hatching everywhere including in the Netherlands near the city of Duurstede.
Raptor Resource Project staff keeping a close eye on the eaglet at Decorah North.
Later images at Decorah North.
The first osprey in all of Italy hatched on Friday.
Fish arrived at 1326 at Moorings Park and what you can’t see is Tuffy on the other side being fed first.
Look at Tuffy working those wings. Our darling little one has grown up – and is surviving.
Idris incubates the eggs while Telyn enjoys a nice fish supper at the Dyfi Osprey platform in Wales.
Contentment at Glaslyn with Elen and Aran.
I wish that Affric and either Prince or Gary would find the same kind of contentment at Loch Arkaig nest 1. How could osplets be raised with all the kerfuffle going on?
Louis found out about the other male courting Iris and might well have sent him packing. Iris is alone in the rain. Louis has an injury on his chest.
Swampy is beautiful and appears to be doing well! Prey being provided at the nest.
Two osplets at Frenchman’s Creek are self-feeding, getting fed by Mum once in awhile, and you know what? They just might fledge – they might make it!
The eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy are walking on the nest and growing like crazy. Look at that formidable female! I would not want to get her upset.
West End trio doing quite well.
Eaglets at Duke nearing branching and fledge.
The two eaglets on Farmer Derek’s property, Wichita and Cheyenne, are both doing fantastic.
Notice the difference in plumage. Port Tobacco eaglet is getting its feathers but is only beginning compared to the Duke Farms eaglets, Jersey and Leaper.
Fort St Vrain eaglets, FSV49 and 50, are so tiny. They are losing their natal down and finishing up getting their thermal. One has even been pecking at prey.
While it might look boring, the ospreys and eagles have to stay vigilant during the incubation period least their eggs get pecked by Crows (Tom and Audrey’s most recent egg at Kent Island) or they get attacked by intruders. The pair at Boulder are always on the look out for trouble.
Denton Homes eaglet trio now have their thermal down.
Andor and Cruz’s pair are doing well – and are simply lovely.
Jackie and Shadow give me the warm fuzzies – it is like ‘everything is going to be OK’ when I see them together.
The new male at Anna and Louis’s nest, E1, at Lake Kincaid seems to have a fetish for turtles. Tonya Irvin worries that they could become endangered at the lake!
Hoping that the first hatch at Captiva is kind to the second and letting it eat enough.
There are three eggs at Cowlitz PUD.
Nothing is happening, yet, at Oregon Law’s osprey nest.
Liberty and Guardian’s eaglets at Redding are well looked after.
An unexpected snow in Finland has hit areas where the ospreys are nesting.
Others were not affected. The female at Janakallan, Yellow XKT, was on the nest today. Has her partner, Red CCL, lost his Darvic ring?
I have been following the plight of Milda and her two eggs since Hugo went missing. On Friday, Milda left the nest at 1759 and had not returned by 0700 Saturday morning. She cannot do this alone and new males have proven to her to be unreliable. Better unhatched eggs than starving chicks – precisely how I feel about other nests, too.
Researchers in Australia have found that noise from urban pollution (traffic) stunts the growth of baby birds.
An Osprey rescue in Belgium that could have a very happy ending.
If you missed it, here is April’s Ventana Wildlife Condor Chat.
Our birds and wildlife need habitat, clean water, and food. Humans need to examine the land we use and begin to see a different vision than houses – larger and larger ones – taking over land. In my City, they should be building up, not out.
Did you read Watershed Down? The local community has lost their battle for the iconic and inspiring landscape for that story to housing.
Thank you so much for being with me today. I am always so happy to hear form you! Take care. We hope to have you with us again soon.
Thank you, as always, to those who sent me notes, provided posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MP’, SF Bay Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, Osaka Peregrine Falcons, McEuan Park, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Cal Falcons, Wijk bij Duurstede, Raptor Research Project, Parco Natural Regional di Porto Conte, Moorings Park Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Geemeff, Montana Osprey Project, Eagle Country, Frenchman’s Creek, Little Miami Conservancy, IWS/Explore, Duke Farms, Kansas City Bald Eagles, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Fort St Vrain Eagles, Boulder County, Denton Homes, SK Hideaways, Tonya Irvin, Window to Wildlife, Cowlitz PUD, Osprey Law, FORE, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Guardian, Gregarious Joris Toonen, Ventana Wildlife, and the Daily Mail.
*Disclaimer: I have made effort to thank everyone who has contributed to today’s post. If there has been an error or an omission, my apologies. Please let me know so that I can correct my omission.*
It was a beautiful spring day on the Canadian Prairies! The hundreds of Dark-eyed Juncos remain in the garden. They hop and hop, scratching and pecking trying to find seeds. They are adorable. We will enjoy them for awhile longer and then they will leaving, heading north to return again in the fall.
Calico has asked me to post her ‘new look’. She is now down a little over three pounds. She runs down the hall, through the galley kitchen and straight up to the top of the cat tree. The energy and the joy in play have returned!
In California, it was sheer happiness as the second eyas of Archie and Annie hatched on Earth Day, too!
Archie meets his chicks for the first time.
The chicks first meal.
Can’t get enough of Annie and Archie!
There will be a third one soon!
And then there were three for breakfast on Tuesday! Way to go Archie and Annie!
The first eyas has hatched at Cromer Peregrines, too!
At Mispillion Harbour, Della loves bringing things to the nest she shares with Warren. Sometimes it is something yellow, Della loves yellow. Sometimes it is something else..
The pair also have a full clutch of three eggs.
I did not get a chance to watch Tuffy as closely on Monday. He is definitely being fed. Ruffy is so big compared to Tuffy and requires much more food that it often feels as if Tuffy gets short-changed.
A nice meal at sundown and Tuffy will get a nice crop and go to sleep dreaming of more fish for breakfast.
Heidi reports that there is a possible pip in one of the eggs at the Captiva Osprey nest of Jack and Edie. This would be a welcome surprise. Some have said that they do not have late hatches in the Barrier Islands – so let us wait and see!
And it was a hatch! Welcome to the world little miracle osplet. We now know that opera eggs can hatch with a live chick this late in the season on the Barrier Islands.
Surprise! Two chicks at Lake Murray. Wow.
First egg or Mr and Mrs UV at Kielder Forest nest 5A on the 22nd at 19:47.
The Ospreys are returning to Finland. Some are finding open water with snow melting while other nests are covered with no ospreys yet (smart).
#1 Nest: The male, Ura, arrived on 14 April at 1516.
#2 Nest, Satakunta: Nothing
#3 Nest: Nothing
#4 Nest: Nemo, the male arrived on 8 April with Nuppu, the female, arriving on the 14th.
#5, LS: Roni and Sara are together. Sara arrived on the 16th with Roni arriving on the 21/22nd.
Janakkalan: nothing
Juurusvesi: nothing
Muonion: nothing
Aran and Elen at the Glaslyn nest in Wales have their first egg.
The second egg has been laid at Dahlgren for Helen and Doug.
What is happening at nest 1 at Loch Arkaig? What is wrong with Prince
Poor Affric. Two males. One female. One nest.
Meanwhile on the other Loch Arkaig nest, Louis is taking very good care of Dorcha.
This is the situation at Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys. The nest is full of fish, the older two osplets are alive and self-feeding. The streaming cam is up and running with notices from Frenchman’s Creek about stealing content, etc. You can go to their site on YouTube to check on the osplets. So far they are alive and it looks as if they are sleeping on fish!
In Latvia, Milda is in the midst of a snow storm. She is trying to care for her two eggs by herself since the absence of Hugo.
The female at the Trempealeau Eagle Nest in Wisconsin has done a top rate job caring for her two little eaglets all by herself! She had to leave alone to hunt for them so the three could eat. They survived that and now have their thermal down. Send positive wishes to this nest, please.
Oh, thank you Stephen Basly. I know we have talked about Meadow but let us go back to ND17. Starved by its two older siblings. We know that he had to eat skin and bones to survive and then he fell from the nest. Spent 3 full days and a bit more on the ground and then, thankfully, Humane Indiana Wildlife rescued ‘our baby’ – he was everyone’s baby. ND17 survived. They taught him to fly and hunt and returned him to a spot near the nest site where he engaged with his parents.
I want to thank Trudi Kron who has been keeping a close eye on the Mum at the JB Sands Wetlands Bald Eagle nest. You will recall that Mum injured her foot and was unable to care for JBS20 for a few days. Dad did a heroic job and continues to help out. But Trudi got a great screen capture and enlarged it and it is showing improvement and healing! Great news.
Watch for Swampy to fledge anytime! S/he is climbing higher on the nest and really working those wings.
The trio at Decorah North are getting their blood feathers. They are growing so fast. It seems only yesterday that they were white little chicks sitting in the morning sun.
There are three eggs at the Great Bay Osprey nest in New Hampshire. The third was laid on the 18th of April.
‘A’ has been keeping a wishful eye on the nest of Angel and Tom. “A male red-tailed hawk that we believe to be Tom just flew onto Angel’s nest. He left after 15 seconds, and there is some debate now about the tail markings, which were apparently different from those of the RTH that shared beakies with Angel on 5 April at 09:02:08. Others say it was definitely Tom, based on the confidence with which he entered the nest and based on the fact that this is Tom and Angel’s territory. There is a view that Tom’s plumage is still changing, even in a the two and a half weeks since 5 April, and that this was definitely Tom.
Obviously, we all very much want it to be Tom, and it does confirm the report I made of hearing RTH vocals when I was typing my earlier email to have been accurate. It’s now 11:42 on the Tennessee nest and I can again hear the sound of a RTH very nearby. This is probably what I heard originally when I lost the TS – it sure sounds like it. If I check the PTZ cam at around the 11:42 onwards TS (the noises are continuing), I may be able to spot whether it is Angel there or whether it is Tom. or even whether it’s neither of them and some visitor instead.
I will keep you posted, but I would call that a very hopeful sighting, and I am fairly confident it was Tom. Talons crossed. He (or she, if he was accompanied by Angel) is continuing to vocalise, and it sounds as though the vocals are coming from either the nest tree itself or somewhere within one or two trees either side of that microphone. It sure sounds extremely close. I am hopeful. “
The three Bald eaglets at the Sutton Centre in Bartlesville, Oklahoma are thriving.
Three Osplets at Venice Golf are all feathered and fine. Gosh, isn’t this a relief.
Our darling Ervie.
‘EJ’ wrote to remind me that Any Tan’s book on her backyard birds is being released tomorrow. There will be many articles and there is a wonderful interview with Tan on YouTube. My copy should be in the mailbox by Wednesday. I am so looking forward to reading it, but most of all seeing the drawings that Tan made of ‘her’ birds. She took classes, taught herself. That should encourage all of us to look closer, keep a nature journal, and get really involved with the wildlife right around us.
Another senseless death due to a power pole. This time a White-stork mother with five eggs on a nest. The male stayed for two days incubating and then eggs were removed. Power poles kill. Every new install should be safe at the outset – every old pole should be retrofitted so it does not harm wildlife. Yes, there are a lot of poles, but the solutions are often simple as shown to use many times by Dave Hancock of Hancock Wildlife Foundation and Christian Sasse. So sad. It happened in Germany.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Stop in and see Annie and Archie’s little fluff balls. Turn the sound up to get the full impact during a feeding. Smile. Little falcons can quickly take away the glum of the day. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams: ‘A, Geemeff, EJ, H, PB’, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Heidi McGrue, Sharon Pollock, Mooring Park Ospreys, Joanna Dailey, Lake Murray Ospreys, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dahlgren Osprey Cam, Geemef, Frenchman’s Creek, LDF, Aiva Vantere, Stephen M. Basly, Trudi Kron, Raptor Resource Project, Window to Wildlife, PLO, Npr.org, and VGCCO, NY Audubon.
We woke up to a little more snow Friday morning after the rain and snow mixed on Thursday. It is quite cool at 0 degrees C today compared to other days, and it is quite windy. That snow continued on and off during the day and has now accumulated late Friday night. I feel for the birds who do not know if it is winter or spring. They do better in the snow than in the rain as some of the food does not get sloppy and wet. There were hundreds and hundreds today and south of where I live, people had hundreds of Robins on their lawns pulling up worms!
I should introduce new readers to some of the garden animals so they know who I am constantly mentioning.
Dyson is the matriarch of the Grey Squirrel family. She is named after the inventor of the famous vacuum cleaner because of her skill in ‘sucking up peanuts’ faster than anyone! She is at least five years old; my diary tells me seven. Last year, she had three kits. They still come to the garden. She is much adored and has her own fan club! She is extremely healthy this spring. I love how her little fingers cup the small Black-oil seed and peanuts.
Little Red lived in our garden shed until it had to be torn down for the conservatory two years ago. I tried to build him a new house. Then we purchased a special squirrel house from Finland – Little Red didn’t like it and then Dyson ate the wood around the hole so she could get in and eat the peanuts I had placed in there to lure Little Red. Little Red was always alone. Then Miss Little Red arrived and well, now we have at least four Reds living in and about the garden.
A baby?
There are also Mr and Mrs Blue Jay, who are the parents of Junior, who had his little jays starting two years ago. He does not migrate, and last summer, we had two Blue Jay families living within 10 metres of the garden. The fledglings arrived and ate at the feeders. There are currently six Blue Jays around. I cannot wait for this summer. The garden could be filled with Blue Jays!!!!! Their colours are so magnificent, and the white pattern on the tip of their tails is different for each one – that is how I identify them. Junior’s feathers are a bit of a mess right now. It looks like he has been in a fight, as it seems a bit early for moulting. Indeed some of the feathers appear broken.
Then there is Mr and Mrs Downy, Mr and Mrs Hairy, and Mr Pileated that come throughout the day. I caught Mrs Downy on the suet this afternoon.
The European Starlings are having a feast in the large table feeder. Today they seem to be attracted to the suet while the squirrels – both Dyson and the three kits from last summer – and the two little Reds – forage for peanuts. I have not seen the Blue Jays so far and it is 1322 Friday afternoon.
Four cats bring me more joy than anyone could ever imagine. Missey arrived with Lewis on 2 November 2022; they were adopted from the Humane Society, which takes in stray cats and kittens. Sadly, we lost Lewis in September 2023. Calico lived in the garden and was dumped as a kitten (or so it seems). I lured her into being friends in the winter of 2023 and then once she had her kittens – only one survived (Baby Hope) – they moved into the house. It was quite the ordeal tracking her and then hoping the kitten would find us (it had left their nest and was eight weeks old). The most recent addition is Hugo Yugo, who is a rescue. Her mother was starved when she was carrying her seven kittens. As a consequence, Hugo Yugo continues to be the size of an 8-10 week old kitten despite the fact that she is now eight and a half months old. She was supposed to be a male but turned out to be a Ginger Female (only 20% of Gingers are female). She is a character. I would not part with any of them. They create a life around me that is like a symphony.
Missey has been talking to the Dark-eyed Juncos through the window and Hugo Yugo along with Calico and Baby Hope went into a food coma and have yet to surface.
Mamma Calico and Baby Hope. They posed. I could not believe it. My heart just stops every time I see them together – and they are like this most of the day unless eating or playing. Inseparable. Calico raised Hope. She would come and eat and run back to take care of her quickly. Hope was the healthiest feral kitten I had ever seen. Calico did a superb job. Cannot imagine them living on the streets.
And for those wondering who I am, well, I am a Retired Professor who has undertaken a long-term study of siblicide on Osprey nests. Last year, I increased the number of eggs observed to 341 with ‘H’. This year, we are aiming for 500. The results will be published when we have good annual comparisons – starting with 2 years and then moving next to 5 years. In 2023, many chicks were lost due to a Nor-eastern in the Chesapeake Bay Area and overfishing of the Menhaden. Perhaps that will not happen this year. I am not desensitised to the tragic events on the nests that have deaths – I take each one pretty hard. It is the joy of seeing the chick we might believed would perish thrive – to wonder at their perseverance, determination, and cleverness. Ultimately, I would like to see if these beaten chicks that do survive the nest to fledge have a higher return rate in the second year. Sadly, due to the fact that so few nests band their osplets, it is impossible to determine.
I want everyone to enjoy nature. To marvel at how beautiful the world is right outside our own windows and to realise how important it is to get out and breathe the air and listen to the birdsong. Life is stressful and it is one proven way to calm ourselves down!
Friday was a day for egg laying…I continue to tell everyone to mark their calendars. That third week in May is going to be a very busy one.
On Friday afternoon, 19 April, Dorcha was injured in an encounter with a large raptor—a golden eagle or a Sea Eagle—at Loch Arkaig. According to Geemeff, Ravens were escorting the large raptor out of the area when Dorcha got involved. Dorcha returned to the nest at 1501 with scratches, blood, and an injured leg.
The injuries to the right leg – it looks like a large puncture to me – can clearly be seen when Dorcha gets up from incubating her egg when Louis brings her a fish.
Poor Dorcha. She was due to lay her third egg and she did at 02:26 Saturday morning, the 20th of April. Hard incubation should begin.
I am expecting the third egg if there is to be one at Loch of the Lowes today, the 20th.
All eyes are on the eggs of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus anxiously awaiting the sign of the first pip.
Positively nothing at the nest of Angel and Tom. Is Tom missing? ‘A’ seems to think he is.
At Eagle Country, Swampy is going higher on the natal nest tree. S/he will fledge shortly. What a seemingly strong and healthy eaglet.
Tuffy had a Good Friday. Harry delivered a huge Tilapia at 0941 at the Moorings Park nest on Friday. Tuffy was in and out of the feeding, but by 1055 was finished and had a nice crop!
Tuffy has had big crops all Friday. This little one is eating well.
Later than the image above, after another fish. Harry must have an excellent spot to land these whoppers…
A fish arrived at 1423. Tuffy had a nice crop at the end of that meal, too!
Tuffy had a crop when the 1602 fish arrived. He looked but didn’t bother to go over and eat. He was full already.
A little bit of a fish came at 1831..Tuffy even got some!
It ‘feels’ like Tuffy and Ruffie have done nothing but eat all day. Each time I go and check Tuffy is up at the beak. If this little one continues to eat this much fish per day, we will have to change the middle letters of its name from ‘F’ to ‘B’. Sssshhhh. Don’t say it out loud. We don’t want to give the second hatch a complex. All kidding aside, Tuffy did really well on Friday. In fact, both were so full that Sally got to finish off a nice fish as the sun was setting on the nest.
First egg for Cowlitz PUD is 18 April! Love these folks. They put up metal fish grates to protect the osplets from being taken by the Bald Eagles!
Egg #1 or Bruce and Naha at Seaside on the 18th of April, too!
We have an egg at Oyster Bay on Long Island.
‘H’ reports: “Opal did it again…she laid the 4th egg at 17.46.” I caution new observers that this is a tough nest to watch if all eggs hatch and fish deliveries are few. Siblicide warning.
All three chicks at the Venice Golf and Country club platform look fine.
The camera has gone black again at Frenchman’s Creek. Now it is only listed as Private so I presume residents only that wish to sign up. We will sadly never know the fate of the two older osplets. I hope that they continue to self feed and that someone from Frenchman’s Creek will let us know if they fledge.
All three eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy have nice crops on Friday.
Snow on Finland’s Osprey nests.
Egg three at Llyn Clywedog nest of Seren and Dylan arrives on the 19th as well.
‘L’ reports: “New female at Charlo is OJ (Wakati) from 2018 Dunrovin nest. She’s got her leg banded.” This might get interesting. Happy for you Charlie if Charlotte does not show up!
Lucy and Kenny’s three eggs at Lake Murray Ospreys. For new viewers, a GHO took all three chicks off this nest in 2023. Former mate, Ricky died and difficult for Mum to feed, hunt, and offer security.
Iris was at her nest in Missoula, Montana on Friday.
It is hard to believe that these two are Liberty and Guardian’s little eaglets.
Lots of soft bedding for the two tiny eaglets at Fort St Vrain – and a good thing, too, as the snow began to fall Friday evening.
Port Tobacco’s only eaglet appears to be doing just dandy!
Do you have a dream to see the geese that winter in the UK? Before the climate changes so much that they stay in Greenland and Siberia? Here is a file to help you identify them. It is on my bucket list!
To my knowledge, all nests are doing well. The snow has again started, and I am behind in my data entry. I will check on some of the eagle nests tomorrow, along with what is happening at our hawk and osprey nests. Take care everyone. Thank you for being with us today.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, L, PB’, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Eagle Country, Moorings Park, Cowlitz PUD, Seaside, PSEG, Forsythe Osprey Cam, VGCCO, Little Miami Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Charlo Montana, Lake Murray Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, FORE, XCel Energy, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, BBC Countryfile, and Audubon.
*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to acknowledge those that provide information and material for my posting. If I have failed to credit someone, please do let me know so that I can correct this. Thank you,’
My plans for Friday and Saturday have altered. There will be blog posts but they will be briefer than normal for those two days.
It is Wednesday evening. The second egg at the NCTC nest of Bella and Scout is hatching. The chick can be heard on the microphone. Thanks ‘T’ or your keen eye! Send the most positive energy to this nest so that Scout does not kill this second miracle chick! Perhaps Bella will feed the little one when he is there so he can understand that it is not a prey item.
For dear Bella, I hope, like each of you, that this little one fledges and thrives.
Scout has been acting ‘odd’ again. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
It was another gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. 14 degrees C. There was a cool breeze blowing off the lake at the nature centre that made it feel much chillier. The geese and the ducks arriving did not mind! Everyone walking on the trails was happy and one of the rangers remarked that the muskrat had been seen in the swamp. There were Saw-whet Owls, a Blue Heron heard but not seen, woodpeckers, geese, ducks, Red-wing Blackbirds and the Song and Fox Sparrows have returned from their migration.
I heard the Saw-whet Owl but did not see it and this is not unusual for these nocturnal birds.
Cornell Bird Lab gives us some cool facts about these smallest of owls.
The Northern Saw-whet Owl may have been named for giving a call that sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whetting stone, but there is no consensus as to which of its several calls gave rise to the name.
The main prey items of the Northern Saw-whet Owl are mice, and especially deer mice of the genus Peromyscus. Saw-whets usually eat adult mice in pieces, over the course of two meals.
The female Northern Saw-whet Owl does all of the incubation and brooding, while the male does the hunting. When the youngest nestling is about 18 days old, the female leaves the nest to roost elsewhere. The male continues bringing food, which the older nestlings may help feed to their younger siblings.
The female saw-whet keeps the nest very clean, but a mess starts to accumulate when she leaves. By the time the young owls leave the nest, 10 days to 2 weeks later, the nest cavity has a thick layer of feces, pellets, and rotting prey parts.
Migration in saw-whets has historically been poorly understood, because of their nocturnal, reclusive behavior. In the 1990s researchers began Project Owlnet, a collaboration that now consists of more than 100 owl migration banding sites. Researchers use the too-too-too call to lure owls in to mist nets, and band thousands of saw-whets every fall.
Migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls can cross the Great Lakes or other large bodies of water. In October of 1999, one landed on a fishing vessel 70 miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean near Montauk, New York.
The oldest Northern Saw-whet Owl on record was at least 9 years, 5 months old when it was captured and released by a Minnesota bird bander in 2007. It was originally banded in Ontario in 1999.
In the urban area where I live, habitat loss is one of the primary reasons for wildlife decline. My goal over the past decade has been to create a corridor or the birds – an area populated by bird feeders, bird houses, bee houses, and, ironically, safe places for the feral cats to feed, drink, and sleep. (I have discovered that the feral cats do not bother the birds at the feeders. It is the domestic pets that do!) Cornell Bird Lab is reaching out and asking that each of us do something to provide habitat for the birds.
Make a Difference for Birds Facing Habitat Loss “As I was setting up the nest boxes, I saw my first Tree Swallow of the season and had a pair of bluebirds checking out the boxes right after I put them up—looks like the boxes are bluebird approved!”—Kim Savides, Ithaca, NY Experiences like this are more common than you might think! Creating a nesting space for birds helps replace missing habitat elements and alleviate competition for good nest sites. Cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, chickadees, swallows, and titmice will appreciate the additional space, while you get to enjoy the magic of witnessing nature close to home. You can get personalized guidance on which nest boxes to install for your region and habitat—along with free construction plans—on the NestWatch website. Don’t have space for a nest box? Create other nesting opportunities by hanging flower boxes or adding potted plants to your outdoor space. Just don’t wait too long; birds are looking for the ideal nesting spot right now!
I promised you some images of ‘The Girls’. Missey and Hugo Yugo have been getting into far too much mischief. They have their own ‘feather’ collection, which consists of a vase full of Canada goose feathers, which they can play with at any time. Ah, but since one feather looks like the other, they have also been into my Pheasant and Peacock feathers vase. The Peacock feathers are quite old. My grandmother’s younger sister raised peacocks on her farm in Oklahoma. I remember their tails fanned out in the front garden as a child.
I there is trouble or anything ‘going on’ you can count on Hugo Yugo being involved. Dear Hope was sitting minding her own business when Hugo Yugo decided it was time to play!
Remember. Hugo Yugo is very, very tiny for her age. She easily fits into that shoe box with room left over. She plays like a kitten and continues to be the size of one even though she is seven months old.
Hope loves to watch the squirrels out of the window and is very curious about the ‘outdoor’ cats. Here she is sitting minding her own business.
Hugo Yugo has spotted Hope and is ready to play!
Hope has so much patience – like the others because of Hugo Yugo’s size.
Hugo Yugo never seems to get tired of play fighting.
She easily pushes Baby Hope over on her back.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, Baby Hope gets some peace. Hugo Yugo’s battery is out of juice.
The sweetest cat…Calico.
‘J’ sends us the latest update on Meadow:
Mid-week Meadow update: We sent the DNA sample to the lab on Monday, so we expect results back sometime in the next couple of weeks. Meadow is eating well from tongs in the kennel — and all that food gets pretty expensive! Meadow is fed four times a day, as eagles grow incredibly fast in order to leave the nest at 12-14 weeks. The average Bald Eagle rehabilitation costs our Center more than $5,000 including medical care, housing, and food. To support Meadow’s care, please contribute at https://act.audubon.org/onlineact…/ar8crC6bIUGX9UsdFBWdnw2
‘H’ brings us the fully daily report from Moorings Park:
“Harry brought a small whole fish at 0711. Tuffy received one bite and was beaked by Ruffie. Tuffy moved away and Ruffie ate. At 0716 Tuffy was beaked again even though he was not in a position to eat. The fish was gone by 0722. One bite for Tuffy.
At 0920 Harry delivered a large live fish. There was no initial aggression toward Tuffy other than ‘the look’, which was enough to keep Tuffy from the table. At 0928 Tuffy got one bite and was beaked and driven away. One more bite for Tuffy at 0934, and he was beaked. Tuffy ate another bite of fish at 0937 and was severely beaked by Ruffie. By 0940, Ruffie quit the feeding, but she blocked Tuffy from Sally. There was still a fair amount of fish remaining. Sally ate some, and at 0945 Ruffie ate some more. At 0946 Tuffie started to make his move to get around to the other side of Sally, but by the time he got there, Ruffie was finished eating and moved away. At that point Tuffy was fed a nice breakfast. Tuffy was seen crop dropping a few times to make more room. The fish was gone by 0959, and Sally found a few scraps off the nest to offer Tuffy as well. Tuffy ate at least 63 bites of fish.”
… At 1131 Harry brought a headless fish. Tuffy moved away as he has been conditioned to do. Ruffie was fed. Ruffie wasn’t very hungry and moved across the nest at 1135. Tuffy could not believe his luck! Tuffy had Sally and the fish all to himself, and he ate at least 98 bites of fish by 1147, at which time he walked away from Sally. Then, Ruffie ate again for a few minutes, and Sally finished the fish tail.
…At 1519 Harry delivered a fairly large headless fish, four hours after the last fish. Tuffy stayed near the front, but turned away from Ruffie, and Ruffie was fed. At 1521 Tuffy received one bite, then was intimidated by Ruffie with ‘the look’. The video live stream froze at 1524, and resumed at 1536. So, while we have no idea what transpired in those 12 minutes, we found the siblings eating side by side. The meal was over by 1539. Tuffy had a huge crop…enough said!
‘H’ caught Harry coming in with two fish! A double-header.
“Master-fisher, Harry, delivered two whole fish at 1655, a medium-sized one and a large one. Harry flew off with the larger fish. Ruffie ate while Tuffy stayed back. Tuffy still had a decent sized crop from the 1519 meal, and he did not seem hungry. Sally and Ruffie ate all of the fish by 1703.
… At 1703 Harry returned with the headless one.”
Everyone loves Tuffy and MM caught this great image! It sure looks like Tuffy is giving Ruffy an earful. ‘MM’ says that Ruffy did not retaliate. Yeah for Tuffy.
This image of Tuffy telling Ruffy the what for touched so many hearts. After I saw MM’s image and H’s little video for me, The Tuffy Fan Club lit up my inbox. If only this little osprey knew what a cheering section it has – my goodness. This is a memorable moment. This is what it is all about—watching the very difficult times and seeing some of these little ones come out fighting and surviving. You never forget them.
‘H’ captured the moment in the video, making my day. I love it when these little beaten ones turn around to their perpetrator. You know that this nest is turning around.
And then, there was a late delivery. ‘H’ writes: “Harry dropped off a small partial fish at 2150. Sally ate, and she had a difficult time connecting with little beaks due to the darkness. It was peaceful, but Ruffie got the most simply because she could reach out further to Tuffy. Tuffy ate 5-6 bites.”
Thursday morning report at Moorings Park from ‘H’: ‘At 0759 Harry arrived with a very large headless fish (possibly catfish). Ruffie beaked Tuffy immediately, setting the tone. Tuffy tucked. At 0808 and 0810 Tuffy tried to approach Sally, but he was intimidated by Ruffie, so he moved further to the sidelines. Tuffy remained tucked at the sidelines for a very long time. Ruffie was not being fed that entire time, but she kept an eye on Tuffy. The fish was very tough, and it was slow-going for Sally. At 0825, Tuffy started to slowly inch closer to Sally, and by 0826 he was at her right side letting her know that he was ready to eat…but, Ruffy was obviously ready to pounce. Sure enough, at 0826 Sally offered Tuffy a bite, and he was immediately beaked by Ruffie. At 0832 Tuffy scooted even further away from the feeding line, but Ruffy followed him. At 0835 Ruffie saw that Tuffy was trying to sneak around to the other side of Sally and she moved across the nest and beaked him. By 0849 Tuffy was still tucked at the far rail, and Ruffie was getting bites of fish whenever she could as Saly continued to struggle with the tough fish. It’s Interesting to note, that since Ruffie has grown so much, she can reach Sally’s beak from almost across the nest, so at 0850, Ruffie was still getting a few bites from Sally all the way across the nest. This increased range of Ruffie seemed to greatly reduce Tuffy’s ability to sneak around to get into a better position. Slowly, Ruffie seemed to be relaxing as she got full, and Tuffy was once again near Sally at 0852. Tuffy ate 6 bites of fish and was beaked. Ruffie soon moved away from Sally, and by 0855 Tuffy was finally being fed. Ruffie laid down across the nest and Tuffy had a private feeding. Tuffy ate at least 102 bites of that tough catfish! This feeding of Tuffy was made possible because of the large size of the fish Harry brought. For survival of the non-dominant osplet.. size matters.”
‘H’ said that right! You can count fish, but you need regular deliveries of large fish to prevent siblicide. The delivery of 8 small fish does not help! Catfish also seem to help. The head is tough going and slows down the feeding. The oldest gets full and goes away leaving fish for the little one. Diane’s catfish at Achieva certainly pulled that nest through tough times.
‘H’ also caught the second egg at Carthage – four days after the first and Mum has been doing hard incubation since the first one was laid. Can I say, oh, dear before they have even hatched? All chicks were lost on this nest last year.
‘H’ reports that “First egg at Forsythe today, 20.10.02.” Opal is the same Mum from last year but this is a new Oscar.
Like so many others in the area, this nest was hit hard by the Nor’easter in June and then the overfishing of the Menhaden.
The weather is horrible at Loch Arkaig’s nest 2 with Louis and Dorcha. Dorcha is there in the middle of the wind and snow and it appears she could be laying her first egg.
‘J’ sends us Karen Mott’s photo of the three eaglets at Centreport on Long Island. What a surprise when their heads all pop up!
Unless you are an expert on California Condors, I really suggest you grab a cuppa’ and watch this 24 minute film. It’s new. It is by Tim Huntington and the cinematography is gorgeous.
It feels like video day! Dani Connor Wild gives us her last instalment of her trip to Antarctica with leopard Seals, more Penguins, and story after story.
JBS20 continues to make his fan club nervous as he continues to explore the tower that would be a tree. Fledging within the week probably.
Despite the miserable wet weather, Bonnie and Clyde keep their eaglets fed and warm.
The weather is wet and miserable for the Little Miami Conservancy eagle family, too. Bette is doing a great job as Umbrella while Baker is keeping food on the nest.
The ND-LEEF babies of Dad and Gigi appear to be doing fine.
USS7 – Claire and Irvin’s little one – is super! We can certainly be thankful for these little ones with their soft downy heads and little wings and feet.
Ellie and Harvey filled up Cheyenne and Wichita on Wednesday.
I know that the prey deliveries get fewer as the eaglets get older, but after hearing about Meadow being emaciated, it would be so nice if the parents could keep up the deliveries like they did when the eaglets are in their growth period. The Dukies would have liked some more today I am certain.
Hearts continue to break for Jackie and Shadow and their dream of a family.
Port Tobacco’s ‘Only Eaglet’ is certainly benefitting from all that food brought to the nest and not having to share but Chandler, the Dad, is missing.
Update: B17 has died. Please send your good wishes to Ma and Missey at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest in Georgia. Their only eaglet B17 appears to be unwell. Did it get sick from the damp weather? This photo is from Tuesday.
This is the today’s state of affairs at the eagle nests from ‘J’:
New eaglets: Bald Canyon 2 Folfan 3 Avon Lake 2
Eaglet died: Berry College
MIA: Chandler, the male, at Port Tobacco. Not seen at the nest since 9 April. Intruders about.
‘J’
The eaglets at Decorah North must bring us some happiness. They are lovely.
We have a Finnish Osprey at home. Cara arrives at the Janakkala Nest on Tuesday the 9th!
Then, almost simultaneously, Stefu arrives at the Seili Nest! They are coming home.
Falcons hatching in Eindhoven and in Japan!
At Port Lincoln, Bradley loves to show off his fish!
‘A’ brings us news of the Mums at Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony: “The mums are obviously foraging closer to home than the males in the Royal Cam families, with both BOK (arrived 12:46) and LGL (13:04) coming in to feed their boys some lunch today (11 April). I thought you might be interested in this footage, not for general consumption because it is a bit long (18 minutes) but it is the beginning that was fascinating to me. The story here is that BOK returned when she was ready to find a mate (so probably aged about four) and this bird, at the time known as Red, was her preferred suitor. This was the footage of the day Red was banded and became WYL, father of TFT chick with his mate, BOK. The thing that interested me the most was that this is a mature bird, ready to court and find a mate. They don’t return to Taiaroa Head until then. So Red must have been at least three and probably four or even five years old. And he allowed the rangers to approach him, extend an arm (for self-protection) and pick him up while holding his bill closed. There is no attempt to flee, struggle or engage in self-defence. He just quietly submits to the rangers’ tender care, while they equip him with the White, Yellow and Lime banding that identifies him as WYL. Imagine doing that to an eagle at the same age! You’d lose a limb. And an eye or three. The stately gentle beauty of these amazing birds never ceases to take my breath away. Looking at those adorable little snowmen with their tiny little fluffy wings that will soon become like the wings of a glider plane, steering their direction as they ride the thermals. These are wings designed not to flap, which would be pretty much impossible given their enormous spread, but to surf the wind currents. Truly amazing birds. So very precious. A haven such as Taiaroa Head shows human beings at our best. Those rangers (and the NZ government that finances their work) dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of the toroa, which are particularly special to the Indigenous people of NZ (the Maoris). How wonderful is it to know that these chicks are hatched in an incubator to protect them from fly strike, and are then weighed weekly, supplementary fed if necessary, and generally given optimal care throughout their prefledge period? Or knowing that the adults, too, will receive supplementary feeding and/or hydration as required, such as if one parent does not return to relieve its mate for an over-long period of time? Or that the sprinkler system will be turned on to keep the chicks and adults on the nests cool on days where heat stress might otherwise impact them? What a joy.
Small colony of Dorset Puffins on the brink of extinction.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care and feel free to send me any bird news that you see!
Thank you to the following for their notes, photographs, screen captures, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, J, H, MM, T’, Deb Stecyk, NTCT Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Carthage – DTC, Forsythe Osprey Cam, The Woodland Trust, Karen Mott-Centreport Eagles, Ventana Wildlife Society, DaniConnorWild, JB Sands Wetlands, Cardinal Land, Duke Farms, SK Hideaways, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Kansas City Eagles, ND-LEEF, Pix Cams, Berry College Eagle Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Yvonne M, Japanese Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Lady Hawk, and BirdGuides.
Spring is here and the geese continue to fly in. The songbirds are quickly following! The Prairies are waking up from a not-so-bad winter.
This pair of Geese kept their eyes on me while I read my book and sipped some mint tea at the nature centre. It was a perfect afternoon to fall asleep in the warm sunshine.
The Blue Jays – now six – are coming to the garden and have difficulty deciding which peanut to take when there is a big pile! It is incredible how long they ponder the selection if Dyson is not rushing them. The squirrels and the Blue Jays have arranged to take turns at the feeder.
This is the one!
After the other birds and squirrels are gone, the Black-capped Chickadees arrive for seeds. They are making a nest in a Blue Spruce tree in the front garden to my sheer delight.
Dyson and the kits are now moulting. Everyone survived the winter. It feels so good to see all of them.
‘The Girls’ are fantastic and I will get some new images tomorrow for you.
Did Tuffy figure it out? Did Mum Sally position herself so that her little one could get on one side away from Ruffy? We won’t know, but both happened and Tuffie got most of the breakfast on Tuesday!
‘H’ reports: “At 0820 Harry brought a whole fish to the nest. The usual feeding scenario took place between the siblings. Tuffy got a couple of quick bites, then was beaked by Ruffie. Over the next 20 minutes or so, Ruffie made sure that Tuffie could not eat. Tuffie had been slowly moving around to the other side of Sally, and at 0845 Tuffie started to receive more bites from Sally. Ruffie appeared to be thinking about acting tough, but ultimately decided to let Tuffy eat. Tuffy had a private feeding for the rest of the meal. There was a break for a minute as Sally was alarming due to an intruder, and both osplets pancaked, but then the feeding of Tuffy resumed. Tuffy had eaten at least 110 bites of fish by 0901, and then he moved away from Sally. Sally finished the fish.”
Harry brought in a second headless large fish at 11:24. Tuffy was in a bad position and did not move up to eat at the beginning. Sally was hungry and fed herself and Ruffy. At 11:28 after scooting around, Tuffy got in position and Sally gave him a bite of fish. Tuffy moved a bit and returned, had some more bites before Ruffy approached and Tuffy backed away afraid of being beaked.
‘H’ reports: “Harry brought a headless fish at 1122. Tuffy automatically moved away instinctively to avoid being attacked by Ruffie.. Ruffie was fed. Tuffy did try to approach the feeding a few times, but shrank away after getting the ‘stink eye’ from Ruffie. At 1130 Ruffie backed up to PS, and Tuffie got one bite. Ruffie returned to eat. At 1132 Ruffie went out of her way to move across the nest and beak Tuffy even though Tuffy was nowhere near Sally. Tuffy got a bite of fish at 1135. At 1136 Ruffie was full and moved away from the table. Then Tuffy ate until 1142, when he started refusing Sally’s offerings. Tuffy was crop dropping at 1145, then he ate some more. More crop dropping by Tuffy at 1147, and by 1148 Tuffy was just too full to eat any more and turned away. At 1150 Ruffy returned for a few more bites, but quit at 1153. Sally finished the fish. Tuffy ate at least 53 bites of fish at this meal.
At 1514 Harry delivered a small-ish whole fish. Tuffy did not initially make a great effort to get to the table, nevertheless, Ruffie beaked and harassed him. And, while Ruffie was eating she took the time to pivot and harass Tuffy a few times. By 1532 the fish was gone. Zero bites for Tuffy.”
Tuffy is aware of Ruffy’s every move and chooses not to be beaked. Instead, Tuffy will move away. He will return and get a nice private feeding.
‘H’ catches us up at Moorings Park: “At 1602, less than an hour after Harry delivered the last fish, he dropped off a headless fish. Ruffie should have been full from her last recent meal, which would have favored Tuffy’s chances of eating…but, it didn’t work out that way. Ruffy blocked every attempt made by Tuffy to get up closer to Sally’s beak. The fish was gone by 1624. Tuffy did not eat.Wow, good for Harry, he brought the third fish in two hours time… a nearly whole fish at 1715. Tuffy started to get bites at 1718, and ate a total of 14 bites before Ruffie beaked him. By 1724, Tuffy was back at the table, and was eating freely beside Ruffie. Tuffy ate 59 bites by the end of the meal and then Sally found 5 scraps to give to him. Total for Tuffy = 64 bites.
Total bites for Tuffy so far today: at least 227 bites of fish.
That was not the end of Harry’s fishing. ‘H’ has a last report for us unless Harry brings in another fish!
“At 1822 Harry delivered a large headless fish (6th fish of the day). The osplets ate side by side for the entire meal. I did not count bites for Ruffie, but it really seemed that Tuffy had more to eat than Ruffie. Total bites of fish for Tuffie at this meal = at least 121.
Total fish bites to Tuffie so far today = 348.”
Tuffy having bites of fish this morning:
‘A’ brings us news of Angel and Tom: “After a no-show day on 8 April (related to the eclipse?), we were graced with a brief afternoon visit from Angel and Tom today. She arrived at 4.41.39pm, with Tom flying in soon afterwards (4.42:22pm). Interestingly, neither brought any nesting material with them. Angel just stood in the middle of the nest, surveying her surroundings. Tom stood on the side of the nest, watching her intently. She clears any fallen debris out of her nest bowl. Tom seems fascinated by that nest bowl. She then moves a couple of sticks. Again, Tom watches her every move, giving her actions his absolutely total attention. After Tom flies off at 4.43:39. Angel remains until shortly after 4.45pm, flying off at 4.45.1The behaviour was interesting today. There was no nest-building material brought in, and the only nest arrangement that was done (by Angel) involved moving a couple of items that had fallen into or over the nest bowl since their last visit on 7 April. Before she left, Angel did a big rouse, which began with her feathers slowly standing up a bit, until she look like she was wearing a puffer jacket. Then the rouse. Then the gradual lowering of the feathers back to their usual ‘flat to the skin’ positioning. It was fascinating to watch. Searching as we are for any sign that Angel is going to give us an egg at any moment, I am wondering whether this puffed-up eggy’ look she has is just my imagination, and whether the fact that they have finished the building phase and are only lining the nest bowl with bark etc (6 April and 7 April) or moving things that have blown or fallen down over the nest bowl. So that should mean that eggs MUST be nigh. Surely. We wait, talons crossed. Speaking of which, how absolutely exquisite are Angel’s ‘nails’? She must be at the nail salon every week to have them looking like that. So perfect. She is such a miracle of nature. I give thanks every time I get to see her on cam. And what a handsome, healthy falcon Tom looks this season. I cannot wait to see him being a mature dad this time around. “
How many would have liked to have transported either or both of the NCTC or Hanover eaglets to the nest of Shadow and Jackie?
Morning diamonds pouring down on the dreams of these two Big Bear Eagles.
Jackie partially buries the eggs Tuesday morning.
The time passes so quickly and Lady and Dad are working on that nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest!
Meanwhile, in the UK, Threave is wishing for their first egg.
At Dunrovin, Swoop arrived and Harriet was not there. She is late. Will she return this year?
Swoop waits…
Geemeff writes excitedly: Now all three, Prince, Garry LV0 and Affric 152, are back – the Lochenders soap opera continues! —– This is the old nest of Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig.
We need to be ever so thankful for those little eaglets that did survive this year. So many nests failed alongside the many tragic moments. ‘J’ has been keep track of the Bald Eagles and this is the tally this morning:
Overview Chicks: 111 eggs 67 chicks 2 died 1 got killed by sibling 2 got killed by dad 1 rescued 3 fledged
No chicks this season: Big Bear still incubating 3 non-viable eggs Chippewa Falls both eggs did not hatch Dulles Greenway abandoned Hanover died within hour, killed by it’s dad KNF E1 abandoned due to Anna’s death KNF E3 abandoned due to Andria’s death NEFL one lost in nest, one abandoned Pittsburgh Hayes crushed egg Sauces crushed egg Two Harbors nonviable egg
Deb Stecyk and what happened on Monday.
Thankfully everything is positively fine with Claire and Irvin’s new arrival at US Steel.
So far all is well at Fort St Vrain and their new arrival in Colorado, too.
The pair at Decorah North have thermal down and don’t look anything like those little cutie pies in the golden sun last week – and thank goodness for that. They are growing and doing well.
The trio at Little Miami Conservancy are – so far – doing fantastic. Quietly think of the effort these parents have to make to feed a family of five!
Viper at Bluff City is huge! Mum Frances protects the only surviving chick (siblicide) in the rain and is well-fed as it gets its juvenile plumage.
Franklin flew in with a big fish dinner around 1831 for Frances and Viper.
Leaper and Jersey are doing well. How long ago was it when we worried that little Jersey would survive? Well, a change of fortune at Duke Farms certainly changed that – juvenile feathers coming in nicely now.
A comments: “Watch the 10.45am (9 April) feeding from Duke Farms today. Mum brings in a nice fresh whole fish and Jersey is at the table when she arrives. He stays there without any sign of submission. He just sits up at the table, waiting for mum to prepare a bite. Leaper lumbers up beside him and he does not move. He does not duck his head or even lean away. He just waits for his food. Leaper sits nicely beside him. When the first bite is ready, mum offers it to Jersey (she has moved the fish slightly to one side so that Jersey is favoured) and he takes it without any hesitation. Not even a glance to check on Leaper’s mood or position. It was MAGNIFICENT. This nest is a triumph for our wonderful mum. It made me SO happy. “
Just look at those crops!
In Scotland, Louis is making certain that Dorcha is well fed and strong for the new breeding season.
Good thing for all that fish – watch this stick display in fast motion.
News coming from Paula in the Forum at San Jose City Hall Falcons from ‘AE’:
Incubation time has been going smoothly most days with an occasional floater coming thru but nothing of a concern so far. :-). Monty has really matured into a really great mate for Hartley. He comes in fairly early to give Hartley a break from all those overnight hours of incubation duty. Hartley takes full advantage of her breaks and at times is very hard to find taking her breaks. This morning I was lucky enough to capture her as she flew up to the cam 2 bar that attaches it to the roof of the City Hall building. Sometimes we will find a bit of her tail feathers to let us know she is up there OR finding the shadow of the full bar may give us a clue.
Have a wonderful day! — Paula A. Forum Moderator
Archie’s has a nap while waiting for his turn to incubate the eggs at The Campanile.
At the Achieva Osprey nest, it has been noticed that one of the eggs has collapsed and is now bean-shaped. We will have to wait and see if any of the eggs are viable and what will happen to this one. My understanding is there is no obvious pip – the shell just began collapsing over the course of the day.
That egg is clearly crushed this morning.
Everything and more you wanted to know about Osprey eggs. I had hoped to find more information on these collapsing eggs. Is it humidity or is it something else?
There is a new streaming cam at the Port of Ridgefield Osprey platform. It is run by Clark Public Utilities in Washington State.
Good news at Abernathy.
The water is beginning to thaw in Finland. Ospreys returning soon.
Bradley and Mum were seen eating fish together at Delamere. I continue to marvel at this wonderful year at Port Lincoln and the fact that brother Ervie is often seen with Bradley, Gil, Mum, and Dad, too.
Congratulations E23. You have now passed the 100 day mark and are 101 days old! What a fabulous season you, your Dad M15 and your new mum, F23 gave us.
Fraser Point kiddos have so many bugs in their nest but they are doing fine.
Maya continues to be monitored at Rutland Water. Please send her positive wishes.
We are in agony when any of our little raptors die. Imagine the beautiful Hen Harrier chicks stomped to death in their nest or shot from the sky after fledging. This happens consistently near the grouse moor hunting estates in the UK. When will society have enough of this killing simply to protect the sport of grouse hunting?
New laws are coming into place, but will they be enough? And will the law provide the kinds of sentences and fines to finally deter this medieval practice?
I want to close with a rescue. You might have seen it, but it makes our hearts warm and glad when a human reaches out and gives a second chance to one of raptors and that is precisely what happened to a Bald Eagle.
The news comes from World Bird Sanctuary: On 3/23/24, a fisherman noticed 2 Bald Eagles floating in the Mississippi River. One was making its way to shore and flew off once it reached land. The other appeared to be drowning, struggling to keep her head above water. The fisherman was able to haul the bird up onto a bank and called Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for help. MDC picked up the exhausted eagle and transported her to our hospital for care. Upon arrival, the eagle, now patient number 24-120, appeared near death. She was limp when picked up from the transport box, unable to even hold her head up. She was suffering from hypothermia and was soaked down to the skin from her swim in the river. Her breathing was wet and heavy. In this condition, the stress of being handled for an exam could be enough to kill her so our only treatment option was to provide her with heat and oxygen support and hope she survived the night.
24-120 was placed into our eagle oxygen therapy unit and propped up in a support of dry towels to both absorb some of the moisture and put her in a more comfortable breathing position. In the morning, we were delighted to find her standing and alert. An exam showed bruising to her left wrist as well as to the top of her head and her face around both eyes. The pattern of bruising makes us suspect that it was from impact with the water and that head trauma from the impact likely contributed to her inability to swim to shore.
24-120 recovered quickly and was ready for release after 2 weeks in care! It was windy at release time but 24-120 was up for catching the breeze to gain altitude. The MDC officer who picked her up was able to be there to open the door and send her on her way back to the skies! We are so grateful to fellow organizations and individuals who care about our bird species and help make our mission possible. This bird would not have survived without the fisherman who pulled her ashore and the MDC officer who rapidly responded and transported her to our hospital.
Thank you to everyone for being with us today. It was certainly a good day for Tuffy. I hope that you, like me and ‘H’, are beginning to feel that this nest is turning around and that the little one who longs to live so much will thrive!
As always, a first big thank you to ‘H’ for her diligence in keeping up with Tuffy. Thank you also to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, H, J, MP’, Moorings Park Ospreys, Window to Wildlife, FOBBV, Gaye Kelly, Threave Ospreys NTS, Kitty Carlyle, Red Wing, Deb Stecyk, Gracie Shepherd, Jenna Dorsey, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Little Miami Conservancy, Bluff City-ETSU, Duke Farms, Geemef, Paul-San Jose City Hall Falcon Cam, JB Sands Wetlands, SK Hideaways, Osprey Camera Blog, Clark PUD, Jeff Kerr-Abernathy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Port Lincoln Ospreys, SW Florida Eagle Cam, IWS/Explore, Oakhum Nub News, World Bird Sanctuary, and The Guardian.
We hope that you had a really nice weekend and that the coming week will be full of delights, laugher, and love. Plus healthy eaglets and more Osprey arrivals. It is so wonderful to see the bonded pairs reunite and all those males rushing to find a nice fresh fish for the female.
The weather on the Canadian Prairies continues to be mild with +2 temperatures, blue skies, and sun. It is dry and I want everyone to blow those rain clouds my way! The trails are now slushy at the nature centre. More geese flew in today to join the overs on Devonian Lake. I keep saying – at least they have water. If the rains would come the grass would turn green and they might get some nutrition. If the shallow ponds thaw, they can get the pond grasses. I know there are some ducks in with the geese in the image below but I did not have either my binoculars or my long lens – just my phone and it is really rather useless for identification.
The Bison were up close to the road for part of the time on Sunday.
Deer tracks.
Some of the taxidermy exhibitions in the Interpretative Centre. I love this old Snow Goose!
Or the Boreal Owl looking down.
We have a lot of owls in Winnipeg. It is not unusual to see a Great Gray like this one in our urban environment.
The following panel at our nature centre helps explain the change in the winters in Winnipeg.
Calico always knows which of the tiles have the best heat under them.
Baby Hope is never far away from Mamma. Inseparable they are except when Hugo Yugo is around.
Hugo Yugo was nearby but she was sound asleep for most of the day.
Sometimes Hugo Yugo’s tail appears to be bigger than she is.
Missey was the Queen of the Cat Tree on Sunday! It was a nice change. Except for claiming this sacred spot, the four of them are getting along splendidly.
The Ospreys continue to arrive in their summer breeding grounds.
The male, LJ2, is now back at Llyn Brenig in Wales as of Sunday.
Both FS2 and Oscar are at Tweed Valley as of Sunday.
Aeron Z2, Tegid’s brother, is at home at the Pont Cresor nest with his mate Blue 014.
Bay has arrived at the Island Beach State Park Osprey nest.
A memorial plague has gone up to Harriet at the Pritchett Property. I am so glad that they included a tribute to the heroics of M15 last year in raising E21 and E22.
There is the first hatch at the University of Florida-Gainesville nest of Stella and Talon. Eggs were laid on February 21, 23, and 27. If this is egg one, it is 38 days at the time of hatch.
It seems that Richmond and Rosie are building two nests. I find this rather interesting. One is on a light stand the other is on the old Whirley Crane they have used for years.
Jersey did very well, indeed, on Sunday. Food was plentiful – including a squirrel for a change – and there were no perceived hostilities on the nest. This is an enormous relief. ‘A’ gives us a fantastic narrative for the entire day!
Mum stuffing Jersey to the top of its head and those little dandelions that are left.
‘A’ gives us a great narrative: “The chicks had to wait until 10am for breakfast this morning (31 March). They played nice, and were so cute cuddling together and playing with nesting material. Both had healthy PSs. Food eventually arrived in the form of a nice whole fish, courtesy of mum, and although Jersey turned away and allowed his sister to take first turn at the table, he did not take up a submissive posture. He had another PS while he waited for his turn. At 10:04, dad flies in to contribute yet more dried grass, which he spreads about. He then decides to move a large stick, which is partially beneath Jersey, who thinks he is being bonked and goes into submission. Mum has paused the feeding, as dad continues to arrange sticks, and Leaper turns away from the table. Jersey is in submission, wings outspread for balance, and Leaper leans over him, almost as if to check that he is okay rather than to peck him. Whatever the contact, it was exceptionally minor – just a brush of Leaper’s beak against the back of Jersey’s neck/shoulder. It actually looks as if Leaper loses her balance, her crop working against her effort to turn away from the table and head over to the rails to snuggle, and her beak just brushes Jersey. I would not call it a bonking incident. Whatever the reason, Jersey has missed out on breakfast, though there are still a few remains on the side of the nest. Shortly before 10:06 Leaper does another PS and heads over towards Jersey and dad. She is looking hopefully at dad. She shakes her head and in the process brushes the edge of dad’s wing. He responds by making a sudden lunge to his left, as if warding off something invisible in front of Jersey. I had to watch it a couple of times to realise he is reacting to the slight touch with an attacking move, with his head down and neck extended. A reflex action, aborted in mid-air – he withdraws his head as quickly as he had extended it. Shortly after, he flies off. Jersey has not yet eaten. A minute later, Jersey turns around and makes his way to his sister, where he snuggles up beside her and begins preening. He flops down and plays with some grass. Leaper too is playing with nesting material. These two are such cuties now they are getting along so nicely. Little Jersey is not so little any more.. In fact, he is catching up with Leaper, with the size gap not nearly as great as it was a week or ten days ago. So much so that I am starting to think we may have a couple of boys here. Leaper is not so very much bigger than Jersey now, and her (or his) behaviour towards Jersey has not been that of a Zoe. Perhaps, especially given the speed with which the aggression has ceased as soon as the food supply was restored, Leaper’s behaviour has simply been that of a first hatch in a food shortage. In the interests of clarity, however, I think I will leave it as she and he at this stage!! Jersey doesn’t have to wait too long for some brunch. At about 10:16:40 what looks like dad (only his feet and a small bit of head is visible, so it could be mum) flies in with something large and mammalian that I’m sure all Americans could easily ID but which is foreign to me. It has a very long bushy tail and a white stripe. Leaper is closest, and Jersey turns away to one side, just slightly. He does not approach the table but nor does he go into submission. He watches. Dad begins feeding Leaper without defurring the food. I’m not certain Leaper appreciated the taste/texture but she ate several bites. Jersey waits less than a minute before beginning to sidle along the rails towards the table. At 10:17:27, without any hesitation, he takes the first bite dad offers him. And the second. Leaper moves forward beside Jersey, who stays exactly where he is. Dad begins giving alternate bites to each eaglet. Leaper moves forward a couple of steps and Jersey, who is a little closer to dad, immediately shuffles two steps forward himself, leaning in to grab the next bite. This is most definitely not the Jersey we were watching five or six days ago. He takes the next half dozen bites, moves even closer, and eats some more. Leaper is obviously wanting more food but is making no objection to Jersey taking bites from in front of her eyes. The two are side by side at the table, Jersey closer than Leaper to dad, and competing for bites. Mostly, Jersey wins, though occasionally, it appears that he sits one out and allows Leaper to take the bite. This is a very big piece of prey and both eaglets eat until they cannot manage any more. This will be a complicated task if Jersey tries self-feeding, though over recent days, as the food supply to the nest has so dramatically improved, he has not needed to resort to feeding himself, reverting to the joys of being fed by his parents. He occasionally nibbles on something, but only when it’s being held down by a parent. The little one is still very nervous around food when Leaper is nearby. A couple of times during the mammal feeding, Leaper would move suddenly (such as to scratch an itchy spot over her shoulder) and Jersey would immediately turn away in case the sudden movement represented an attack. So although he is much more confident than he was a few days ago, he is still wary of his sister, and I doubt the memories of some of those beatings will not quickly fade for Jersey. The feeding lasts for over 45 minutes. At 11:03, Jersey is still being offered the final leftovers. These eaglets have totally demolished that giant piece of prey with a tag-team eating effort to be proud of. Now, however, they are so full, they can barely move. Mum is back shortly after 12:49 with a nice big fish (again, I think it is mum but it could easily be dad). Dad has darker plumage but that can also be a trick of the light. And their feet are the same colour too, so as I said yesterday, they are hard to tell apart even when they are both on the nest together. The lengthy feeding this morning was more mum’s style, but as we could see very little of the parent, I could not guarantee which parent it was. The same is true with this fish delivery. However, these eaglets only finished a 50+-minute feeding 45 minutes ago, so it will amaze me if they can eat another morsel. Jersey is nothing if not determined, though, and of course he manages to eat some fish. He was asleep at the table when the food came in, so found himself in prime position for the feeding, with Leaper behind him. Of course this made him nervous, and he refused the first bite he was offered, turning away and doing a small crop drop. Thereafter, he took whatever mum gave him. Leaper watched, still resting that gigantic crop, one leg fully outstretched. At 12:54:20 Jersey gets offered such a gigantic piece of fish that he is intimidated by it. You can see him thinking omigod, what does he expect me to do with that? Leaper thinks she is up to the challenge, however, and moves up behind Jersey, which causes him to duck and tuck. Mum reaches over Jersey to offer this massive chunk of innards to Leaper, who grabs at it. But mum thinks better of it, and pulls the food back out of Leaper’s mouth and eats it herself. Leaper is not impressed. She is soon given a few more pieces but that’s all she could manage. She backs up for yet another PS and then heads for the centre of the nest. This is the signal for Jersey to lift his head and return to eating. He manages half a dozen more bites but it is obviously hard for him to fit anything into that giant crop. He has learned his lessons well over the past week, and he knows he must eat as much as he can when he can. So he does a valiant job, but even he has limits, and he reached them around 13:00. As he turns away, Leaper returns to the table for a second (or is it a third?) helping of fish. By 13:04 the feeding is over. At least half the fish (possibly three-quarters of it) remains on the side of the nest. Mum hangs around the nest with the eaglets for a while after lunch. Both eaglets are in food comas. Mum leaves shortly before 14:06. At 16:20, Jersey lines up for a PS while Leaper plays with nesting. By 16:21:30, both are side by side at the table, playing beakies. SO adorable. Their crops are still gigantic. That size gap is shrinking rapidly. I think that in another week, or even sooner, these two will be the same size.At 16:39:25, Mum returns to feed the eaglets the remainder of the lunchtime fish. Leaper is in prime position and appears to have a smaller crop than Jersey, so Jersey just lies and watches until 16:44:30, when he heads up to the table. Mum feeds him about ten consecutive bites. Leaper eventually stands up and leans in for a mouthful. Mum feeds three bi9tes to Jersey, then Leaper leans in and grabs one. Another three bites for Jersey, then one for Leaper. Jersey is given the next 14 bites in a row. Leaper tries to grab one about halfway through the 14 but fails and sits back to watch in awe. This pattern continues, with Jersey eating multiple consecutive bites and Leaper occasionally leaning in to try and grab a mouthful. She fails more often than she succeeds – when competing for bites, Jersey sure is the king of this nest. Soon after 16:49, Jersey begins to flag and Leaper gets some bites. Jersey still takes one bite in three or four but at this stage, Leaper is finally getting her share of the fish. By 16:54 Jersey has had enough and turns away. He has a HUGE crop pillow for tonight. Leaper stays at the table. Somehow, Jersey finds a bit more room and returns to eat a bit more. The fish is finally finished at 17::03, and Mum cleans up the nestovers. She finds a chunk of something (the remains of the mammal perhaps?) and starts to feed it to Leaper. Jersey stretches and moves up for his share. He is eating AGAIN. By 17:09 the food is finally gone and mum flies off the nest. These are two very well-fed eaglets. They will both go to sleep with happy tummies tonight. They are in a cuddle puddle in the middle of the nest when, at 17:30, yet another fish arrives, this one from dad, I think, but it is so hard to tell because we can only see his feet, and part of his head when he reaches forward with a bite. At 17:32, Mum arrives with some grass, which she spreads around. Already, both chicks are too full to eat. I think you get the drift – a great day at Duke Farms. Lots of food for both eaglets and not a hint of aggression that I witnessed.”
And here is the text or Monday morning. “
Mum left the babies alone overnight, flying off the nest shortly before 00:40. An early fish was delivered for breakfast by what looks like dad, but in this light, the difficulty in telling these two apart is even greater than usual. Either way, food arrives at 07:04:19. It looks like a large fish.
Leaper immediately heads for the table. Jersey looks up but remains where he is, sprawled in the middle of the nest. He makes no move of submission. Dad is slow to get a bite off the food for Leaper, then drops the bite he does prepare. This frustrates Leaper, and at the same moment, Jersey decides to stand up. This provokes the first aggression I have seen in days, as Leaper turns around, spreads her wings and looms over Jersey, to grab him on the back of the neck. He lets go, then grabs Jersey again by the back of the head. She quickly drops him and returns to the table. Jersey is a little startled and remains ducked and tucked. Wake up on the wrong side of the nest this morning, Leaper?
Leaper eats. At 07:06:20 Jersey unfurls himself though he stays low. By 07:07 his head is up, and he periodically glances at the feeding. At 07:08:36 he stands up, his back to the table. I’m fairly sure this is dad – his plumage is looking darker as the light improves and his normal feeding technique involves much smaller bites than mum’s. Just before 07:09 he stands and leans over forwards for a big stretch. Leaper turns and looks at him, then turns back to eat more.
Jersey is glancing over his left shoulder at the food now, He moves closer to the rails, the start of an attempt to sidle around to dad and the food. When Leaper drops a large bite, Jersey sees his chance. He moves closer, and when dad picks it up, he offers the big bite to Jersey, who leans in and grabs it. There is no reaction from Leaper, who has a good crop by now. After Leaper takes one more bite, Jersey takes over, with all but one of the next couple of dozen bites going to him. Small bites, in the main, as is dad’s pattern;.
By 07:11 they are both eating, most bites still going to Jersey, who is eating confidently but still being careful to defer to Leaper, ensuring she does not want the food before claiming some bites. He has had a recent reminder of who is the older sibling on this nest. (Mind you, that’s all it was – Leaper was frustrated that dad took so long to get that first bite to her, and Jersey bumped into her at exactly the wrong instant, it appeared. It was a fairly tokenistic bonking effort.)
By 07:12:30 Leaper has had enough, refusing a bite offered to her by dad at least four or five times, then standing up, stretching and turning away from the table. Jersey is left to continue eating. Leaper has a good PS and flops down in the middle of the nest. Watch her turning her head almost upside down at 07:13:37 as if she’s looking up dad’s nostril. TOO funny. What IS she doing? Dad thinks she’s asking for food so offers her a bite. She refuses so he gives it to Jersey. He also has a few bites of breakfast himself. Good for you, dad. He sure got the short end of the stick (fish) yesterday.
Jersey seems to have had enough but Leaper gets a second wind and dad feeds her as she lies duckling style in the middle of the nest. Jersey is sitting up beside her, watching, and occasionally refusing a bite of food. By 07:15 both eaglets seem to be full. Dad eats some more himself. There is a lot of food left over on the nest and the chicks both have excellent crops. A nice start to the morning, with the exception of Leaper’s minor temper tantrum. Nothing more than an older hatch reminding the younger of the pecking order. Certainly not something to worry about and nothing to stop Jersey from eating his full.”
I do not think we have to worry about Little Jersey any more.
Duke arrived at the Barneghat Light Osprey platform in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon! What a mate – he flew in with a partial fish for Daisy. Time was 1623. Avid viewers had been watching and worrying – this is such a relief.
Watching for Iris to return to her Hellgate Canyon nest in Missoula, Montana.
Snow remains at some of the Finnish Osprey nests. No signs of any returnees yet.
Watching the Ospreys at Old Town Home Western Maryland for an egg.
Thunder and Akecheta are busy feeding the trio at the West End. Lots of really awful looking prey on that nest – must seem like a Sunday buffet to the kids!
Feeding behaviour and confirmation of a hatch at Centreport!
Cute little bobbleheads in Iowa! Denton Homes and Decorah North.
At Decorah North, I am afraid the chicks are having the Easter Bunny for dinner.
Port Tobacco had squirrel. The mammals are awake and the raptors are catching them.
The pair at Little Miami Conservancy Bald Eagle nest are enjoying their Sunday dinner, too.
I am not seeing any issues at the Bald Eagle nests unless it is eggs that are not going to hatch. All eaglets and ospreys on the other nests as of Sunday evening appear to be doing well.
Ruffie and Tuffy at Moorings Park had lots and lots of fish thanks to Dad Harry’s phenomenal fishing skills.
E23 likes being with its parents high up in the nest tree!
Swampy and Meadow and the turtle Dad brought to the nest.
Yesterday, I included a post from FB by Toni Hoover. That post identified Lewis and Rosa at the Dulles-Greenway Nest. After much consultation with many and comparing images, I believe TH is incorrect and this is the new couple on that nest.
What happens when birds experience a total solar eclipse? Remember, it is coming on 8 April.
Missed the Condor Chat? Want to catch up with what is happening at Big Sur and Pinnacles? Here’s your chance!
On Monday, Prince returned for a visit to Loch Arkaig nest 2.
I reported that Elen returned to her nest at Glaslyn on the 26th of March. Aran returned but Elen has been no where to be seen. (Did they make a mistake in identification?). We will wait to see what transpires. Did Elen go for a fly about? Did she get injured? Maybe it wasn’t her.
The bird with Aran is 372 who visited Llyn Brenig the other day.
Thank you so very much for being with me today. It is always a delight to hear form you – either by email or through your comments. Thank you for taking the time! We hope to have you with us again soon. Take care.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, MM, SP’, Fort Whyte Alive, Llyn Brenig Osprey Cam, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Welsh Osprey, Erica Crowley, Diane Lambertson, Pam Kruse, Wildlife Consere of NJ, Montana Osprey Project, Finland Osprey Foundation, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, IWS/Explore, Centreport Eagles, Denton Homes, Raptor Resource Project, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Moorings Park Ospreys, Lady Hawk, Eagle Country, Earth Sky, Geemeff, and Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn.
Spring is coming and with it the arrival of Canada Geese, songbirds, and Ospreys amongst other raptors.
Today, more than a thousand Canada Geese turned the sky black at Fort Whyte Alive in Winnipeg. Most landed on the Bison fields while a few went to the open water on Devonian Lake and others decided to peck at the ice inside the nature centre.
As the Ospreys arrive at their nests around the world, laying eggs, and hatching osplets, I begin to be a ‘little more scattered’ than I might normally be. Last year, the total number of eggs that ‘H’ and I observed was 338. This year we hope to bring that total to 500. It is an enormous task. I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to me, offering to send me information on the nests that they are watching. So, as a reminder, if you watch a particular osprey nest, please feel free to send me the date the eggs were laid and the dates of the hatch, and please do tell me if you are observing the chicks bashing the daylights out of one another. This could be ‘dominance play’, or it could be serious and result in siblicide. Even if you miss all of the major events but tune in to a nest and notice aggressive behaviour or something worrisome, do let me know. I appreciate any and all messages!
Let us go back to Dr Alan Poole’s talk. In my last blog, I talked about his first main topic—issues related to fish and the problems that the Ospreys face with the Chinese fishing trawlers taking huge nets of surface fish such as Manhadan and Mullet along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the US and West Africa. The other three topics were Problem Nests, Restoring Osprey Populations, and Streaming cams.
Problem Nests: Dr Poole pointed out that not having enough nests for ospreys is a ‘positive’ problem when you have too many ospreys. He notes that Greece has not a single osprey. Poland is shooting all of theirs, the Balkans have none, etc. There are 8-10,000 Osprey pairs in the Chesapeake Bay Area of the US alone. Imagine. There are 5000 nesting pairs in Florida. So, what do they use? Ospreys have adapted to use human-made structures because there are not enough good trees. In fact, this is becoming a serious problem for Bald Eagles. One human-made structure that Ospreys use are the hydro or power poles. The power companies don’t like this. They try to kick them off. It is, in fact, easy for the power companies to add an auxiliary appendage or put up an additional pole for the birds. But it takes time, employees, and money – something the companies either don’t have or don’t want to use. So when you see a power company that actually helps the ospreys, thank them! Poole is trying to find ways to get the power companies on board. In Florida, a lot of ospreys are using cell towers. So far, there has not been a problem. Of those 8-10,000 pairs in the Chesapeake Bay region, 20-30% use channel markers. The Coast Guard needs an award, according to Poole, because they allow the birds to have their nests there as long as they do not interfere with the markers. Some people put up very short poles with predator guards in salt marshes. It was pointed out that salt marshes might be a good place to try and locate some of the birds. In Finland, there are very few suitable trees for the ospreys, so the Finns cut off the top of the conifer trees and put up human-made platforms for them. It is brilliant. This could be done for the eagles and ospreys in various parts of North America, too. In the UK, we know that artificial platforms are being built, which is also happening in France.
Restoring Osprey Populations: Poole calls Ospreys “the stay-at-home birds”. Most of the time they stay within a region around the nest where they fledged. We know that this is especially true for the males. But this behaviour causes issues with overpopulation, especially where there is a lack of fish, bad storms, etc. So what do you do? You try to relocate some of the population to places without food and birds. The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation is well known in England for translocating ospreys to places like Italy, Spain, and the UK. Poole mentioned that Massachusetts ospreys are now being flown to Illinois to try and get them to populate along the Mississippi Flyway. If you move ospreys where you want them, you must provide them with nesting platforms. This is imperative. Switzerland is currently trying to reintroduce the raptors. They have released 50 young in the last five years. Starting a breeding population in a new area takes at least a decade.
There was a slight move off topic before looking at streaming cams but it was an important one – one of the most important in my mind. That is getting people knowledgeable about the history, the persecution of ospreys, their behaviour, what makes me different from other birds, etc. Poole noted that various places have set up visitor centres where people can watch the ospreys on a monitor or at hides. One is Loch Garten in Scotland, which had 2 million visitors look at their birds. These visitors paid to see the raptors. In Finland, the visitor centre, which is quite small compared to Loch Garten, had enough visitors that it paid for all of the Osprey research. One way to create awareness is through education. Tim Mackrill was not mentioned, but he has set up the Osprey Leadership Foundation and, like Sacha Dench and The Flight of the Osprey, they have forged links between individuals in the UK and West Africa. It is fundamental to have the youngsters in both countries (their parents and teachers) appreciate the birds they share. Poole also noted that some places have fairs and events and there are osprey mascots to encourage interest.
The last topic was streaming cams, and I felt that while quite knowledgeable, Poole knew less about the current number of streaming cams and the amount of research that is going on using them. Perhaps I am wrong. He suggested that one way to understand the ‘fish problem’ was to monitor the fish species brought to a nest, the number, how those fish were divided up in terms of feeding the little ospreys, etc. ——– I sighed because I knew that so many of you have counted the fish, the bites, have cried, pulled your hair out, etc at many of the nests including Achieva and Patchogue – just two examples from 2023. Citizen scientists are doing it every day. Your work – meaning each of you -needs to find a way to channel itself to the researchers who need more time, the funds, or the staff to monitor enough nests. I know this from personal experience. Various other species have individuals watching, and we now have observation boards set up at several Osprey cam sites thanks to Bart Molenaar. I can think of three he has established – Rutland Manton Bay, Seaside, and Port Lincoln. Every aspect of the life of the nest was recorded through observations and the chat. It’s a really valuable archive.
At Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 is eating well and working on her nest. She awaits the arrival of Laddie, her mate (LM12).
At Achieva Credit Union’s osprey platform in St Petersburg, Florida, Jack brought in a nice fish and Diane gently fed the wee babe often. Jack was also kept busy being security guard for the nest.
Dad was so excited. ‘MP’ observed Dad listening and walking around Diane. Part of the shell was out from under Mum, but the little one was still partially in the shell, with Mum being very secretive. You could tell Dad was quite happy to have a wee babe in that nest.
Mary Kerr put in some interesting notes about Maya and Blue 33 on FB today. As you know, Maya arrived a couple of days ago with Blue 33 returning Wednesday on Rutland’s Manton Bay platform. On Thursday, Blue 25 came to the nest and Maya sent her packing.
Blue 25 does cause some mischief. However, Geemeff reminds me that she is the mother of Blue 4K, the subject of Simon Curtis’s book, If you build it, he will come, the story of waiting 200 years to have ospreys at Belvoir.
First Osprey sighting at Forsythe! Thanks, ‘H’,
Was there an Osprey at Patchogue? There was!!!!!!!! They have a lot of work to do but thankfully much of the harmful debris is ‘under’ the nest.
It is extremely difficult to watch the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta today because he wind was really whipping it about. The majority of the time I could only see two heads getting fed. That said right after 1106 you can see the blur of the third and it appears to have eaten.
That 1106 feeding.
Others.
There is plenty of food and Thunder and Akecheta are experienced adults.
Dixie and Mason are scooting all over the Superbeaks nest. It won’t be long til they are walking on those big clown feet.
The kids at Johnson City are both eating well. Boone has lots of fish in the nest and Jolene is a great Mum to these two.
Leaper and Jersey both had crops at Duke Farms today. At one point, Leaper was so full she looked like she would burst!
Swampy and Blaze are huge compared to these bobbleheads.
At Captiva, Cal flew off the nest on Wednesday. He flew around the area constantly observed by Clive and Connie. Today, he flew back to his natal nest. Well done, Cal!
Nothing like a lot of flying to make you want to go home to your bed and sleep duckling style.
Ron brought R6 a fish in the early afternoon. So cute. R6 had been working his wings Thursday morning. Not ready for fledge yet and still working on the self-feeding. No hurry, R6.
A lot of people thought E23 had fledged but he was up above the camera on Thursday. He could fly anytime!
Caught Gabby at the NE Florida nest today. She’s a beauty. We adore her and I am so glad that her and Beau are so bonded. Next year!
Chase and Cholyn’s only egg at Two Harbours was laid on February 22nd, making itay. In a fortnight, we should be expecting a pip/hatch on March 28th. 22 days old todMark your calendars.
Liberty and Guardian had three eggs. One was broken in the nest and it is unknown which of the three was lost. Those eggs were laid on Feb 15, 18, and 21. That would make them: Egg #1, 29 days, #2 26 days, and #3 would be 23 days old. We have at least a week to find out if egg #1 is alright.
It is now officially confirmed that Frederick and Betsy are back at the Carova Beach, North Carolina Outerbanks Osprey platform. — Don’t get me started. Look at those plastic carrier bags on the nest and around the foot of one of the adults!
I thought Annie might be ready to lay her first egg today. She was napping in the scrape when Archie, Daddy Door-Dash, came in with dinner.
There are currently three Peregrine Falcon eggs at the scrape in Eden, Netherlands. The third was laid on the 13th of March.
Waiting for Duke and Daisy to return to Barnegat Light in New Jersey. The couple lost 2 out of 3 chicks to starvation/siblicide during the Nor’easter of June 2023 and it was feared, for some time, that Duke might have died also. His return some weeks later was such a great relief for everyone.
Lucy was on the Lake Murray platform on Thursday.
Did Spirit visit her natal nest at Big Bear on Thursday? Cali Condor thinks it could have been her.
I am so looking forward to the Cornell RTH season. Big Red and Arthur were both checking and tweaking the nest and spending time on the light stand. Eggs could come any time.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Remember to go outside and smell spring! It will lift your spirits more than you ever will know. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, presentations, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘H, J, MP’, Alan Poole, Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Achieva Credit Union, Mary Kerr, LRWT, Forsythe Osprey Cam, PSEG, IWS/Explore.org, Superbeaks, Johnson City-ETSU, Duke Farms, Eagle Country, Window to Wildlife, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, NEFL-AEF, FORE, Carova Beach Osprey Cam, SK Hideaways, EDE Peregrine Falcon Cam, Lake Murray Ospreys, and Cali Condor.
It is -21C on the Canadian Prairies. The cold weather has arrived. It was a good day to wake up to hot coffee and warm cardamon rolls out of the oven. LOL. The girls didn’t care! They wanted breakfast and story time before I started my day. Calico now ‘walks’ me out to the conservatory sofa to read. It is too funny. The cats have me fully trained.
As you know, if you have read my blog over the summer of 2023, a large family of Crows lives in my neighbourhood. They bring their fledglings to the garden to get peanuts and for the bird bath, where they dunk their food and have baths. The numbers have decreased since the end of autumn, and I am worried about them. Today, I was happy, but simultaneously sad, to see a single crow at the corner waiting for another person who feeds birds. I know she specifically feeds the crows, but where are the others?
I have also been reading more about Crows, and if you are interested in the intelligence level of the members of the Corvid family include Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays, I have a book for you! It is called Bird Brains, and it is by Candace Savage. This is the latest edition from 2018.
I was impressed by the writing that drew me in and made the new findings on this amazing species’ intelligence level relatable. The photographs are top-notch. (Sorry about the glare from the light)
The introduction included mention of anthropomorphism. Put simply it is ascribing human traits to animals. if, however, you study the behaviour of animals, the apologies of individuals such as many on chat for doing just that will more than irk you.
Savage discusses the ‘ascription of meaningful intelligence to nonhuman creatures’ as problematic. She notes that at a point, scientists and researchers into behaviourist psychology who looked into memory, insights and thoughts stopped looking at nonhumans. Some had been tricked, and she noted that no one wanted to be embarrassed. It paused the subject of knowledge and intelligence…She notes that anyone who dared to state that nonhumans were intelligent was accused of the dreaded anthropomorphism. Savage’s entire book bunks the notion of ‘dumb animals’, stating that humans ‘have a lot invested in keeping animals dumb’ (19). Think about it – humans can treat animals any way they want if they believe they do not feel pain, have feelings, share emotions, solve problems, etc. Savage points to the research of many, including Irene Pepperberg from the University of Arizona, who concludes that Corvids are superbly intelligent, capable of identifying items by name, able to distinguish similarities and differences in objects, as well as ‘capable of acquiring complex vocal and nonvocal behaviours that many scientists believe are co-or prerequisites for referential communications’. Pepperberg, in her research, discovered that Corvids have the same cognitive capacities as primates. Indeed, their superior powers might be higher than primates (18).
If you are interested in avian behaviour and love the Corvid family or want to learn more about the intelligence of our feathered friends, this is an excellent book. It is well-written, wonderfully illustrated, and at a good price point.
One of my favourite Corvids, the baby Blue Jay from the summer, came to visit the feeder on Monday. Delighted to see it!
The girls are doing great. The plumbers were here again today – they will be finishing up tomorrow – and I could not ask for better behaviour. They all stayed out of the way of any danger!
Missey has a new sleeping spot. It is on top of one of the tallest cabinets – almost touching the ceiling – next to a carved cat on a skateboard that my late friend, Charlie Scott, made. Missey is very smart. What a safe place and out of the way of Calico. They do not always get along. I would say they tolerate one another.
Hugo Yugo and Calico slept on the cat tree together, ignoring the workers who dumped the vanity behind them piled with anything and everything.
I was so delighted when ‘AM’ sent me some beautiful images they had taken of Blake Kites near their home in Japan.
Nature Japan gives us some information on one of the country’s most beautiful raptors: ”The Black Kite or “Tobi” トビ as it is known in Japanese is a common sight in the skies throughout Japan. This raptor is thought to be the world’s most abundant bird of prey. Its numbers are healthy and is under no threat.
This bird can be mainly found in Eurasia, Australasia, Oceania and is a year-round resident here in Japan. You can see this powerful looking bird often soaring in the thermals high above coastal areas, rivers and lakes. I’ve also seen them in farming areas throughout the Kansai region of Japan. They are very graceful flyers that soar with ease and turn with precision.
Male and female Black Kites look very similar and are very opportunistic hunters. They prey upon fish, rodents, and other birds. They are also known to scavenge which is one of the reasons they are so successful a species. I have watched them dive towards the ocean plucking fish from the water and I have also seen them dive-bomb people at highway rest stops trying to steal their rice balls and bento box lunches.” Their only predator is the Eurasian Eagle-owl. “This powerful owl can easily pick off even adult Black Kites and can sometimes be found in northern parts of Hokkaido (common throughout Europe and other parts of Asia).”
Wilde Nature gives us the size variations for these birds of prey: “The Black-eared Kite is a medium-sized bird of prey, measuring about 45–55 centimetres in length with a wingspan of up to 150 centimetres. The distinguishing feature of this subspecies is the black patch of feathers on the sides of the head, located behind the eyes, which gives it its name. Its eyes are dark brown; its bill is short and hooked. The outer wing feathers are black, with dark crossbars and a mottled base. The underparts are pale brown and become lighter towards the chin. The body feathers have a dark shaft, giving it a striped appearance. The corner of the mouth is yellow, but the bill is black. Male and female birds look the same, but females are slightly longer with a larger wingspan.”
Black-eared Kites are opportunistic hunters and feed on various prey such as small mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles. They are often seen soaring high in the air on thermal updrafts, effortlessly gliding while searching for potential prey on the ground.
Thank you ‘AM’ for allowing us to share these beautiful images of the kites.
Look at this beautiful White-tailed Eagle that visited one of Finland’s Osprey (Selli Island) nests on Monday. Gorgeous.
Connie with C10 and C11 today. Note more dandelions are missing! There are pin feathers coming in along the wing tips.
‘A’ comments on these little eaglets: ”Speaking of having enormous appetites, so does CE10, who is absolutely massive in comparison to baby brother CE11. I am still not entirely sure that CE10 has the temperament of a female, but certainly she has the physical characteristics of one. Little CE11 seems to eat his fill most of the time, but she can eat SO much more. Today, both of them had very big crops mid-afternoon (of course CE10’s was larger), and then Connie came in and CE10 was fed the majority of a good-sized speckled trout! CE11 lifted his head from his afternoon nap and initially decided not to bother, but about 20 minutes later, he eventually got up and made his way to the table, by which stage you might have expected CE10 to have long since fallen into a food coma, but no, she was continuing to eat, so that CE11 still had to wait some time to get perhaps a dozen mouthfuls out of the entire fish. CE11 is definitely getting enough to eat, but CE10 is bottomless. She is making no specific effort to prevent CE11 from eating, and has not really done so at any point in their development. She eats and eats and eats, while CE11 is a confident eater but not a pushy eaglet at the table. Occasionally, when big sibling is asleep, CE11 gets a quiet private feeding, usually from Connie, but the size differential continues to grow between the two eaglets. Fortunately, there has been no real food shortage (except one day where there was an inkling of ‘hungry’ experienced on the nest). The bonking has been minimal throughout (and instigated often by CE11, who has been prepared to look his older sibling in the eye from an early age, despite the inevitable results). “
‘J’ has a reminder: Today is also Connick’s first birthday. Connie and Clive’s 2023 hatch will be the Ambassador at the Smithsonian. Maybe you will be able to travel to see him!
Changing before our eyes. Thanks for the close-ups, cam op.
Faxinating caught the whole fish drop to F23 for her and E23 today – we all cheer when the Dad doesn’t eat the head, but we also cringe when the fish flops everywhere. Not to cause alarm, but these live fish have killed eaglets and Osplets. (more on SW Florida below)
Tonya Irwin reports on the action at the Kistachie National Forest E1 nest that Louis shared with his late mate, Anna.
Not a lot of action at the nest of Beau and Gabby. I really hope Gabby is getting to eat enough. It looks like Beau is busy with the defence of their territory.
All is well with M15, F23, and E23 at the SW Florida Eagle nest after the earlier fish delivery. Dad stopped in before bedtime to feed the cutie pie some fish.
The Great Horned Owls are nesting at the Hilton Head nest it seems.
On their social media page, the Hilton Head Island Land Trust posted a short video of the male bringing prey and being in the nest with the female. You can see the two eggs.
Meanwhile at the nest of Bonnie and Clyde on Farmer Derek’s property in Kansas, it is snowing. No sign of the owls.
Just northeast of Kansas, in Iowa, the snow is coming down in Decorah, home to the Decorah North Bald Eagle family as well as the Hatchery Bald Eagle Family.
Snow was also coming down on the Denton Home Nest.
Baiba caught Blazer going after a squirrel coming up to the Eagle Country nest where he is incubating his and Abby’s eggs.
At Port Lincoln, Gil got himself a really nice fish off the nest. This is not just any fish – this is a delivery by the fish fairy at 0938.
The lads have been fighting for the fish and today Gil was the clear winner until…
Mum came in with a really large fish at 1344. The lads struggled. Gil had a nice crop – come on, Gil. Let Brad eat! Brad was hungry and got that fish and really enjoyed it. Well done, Brad.
‘A’ sends the report for the WBSE: “January 9: Early this morning, just one eagle was spotted at the river, moving between roosts. Just before 9am, SE31 was finally seen soaring high above the wetlands and the river. Then, at 9:15am, she was at River Roost with Lady, both flying back and forth a bit. At 9:20am, SE31 took flight, followed by Lady, up high, circling then off over Homebush Bay. Neither had returned at 10:15am. Just after 12 noon, SE31 was seen at River Roost, but no parents. But then we heard that at 11:06am, she had been seen catching a fish shortly after returning from her flight with Lady. At 4:30pm, one adult was seen at River Roost, and it then flew off to the west. Shortly after, at 5pm, both adults were spotted on the island, then SE31 was seen there as well.”
BirdGuides review of the week for the UK, including some unusual finds.
Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretative Centre is closed for renovations, but they have some online events for people living in my province. Want to know where to go birding? Check this virtual information session on the 14th of January from 1300-1400.
Thank you so much for being with me. Please take care everyone. See you soon.
I would like to thank the following who also helped me with my blog today: ’A, AM, J’, Nature Japan, Wilde Nature, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Window to Wildlife, Faxinating, Tonya Irwin, Carol Shores Rifkin, Hilton Head Island Trust, Farmer Derek, Raptor Resource Project and Explore.org, Denton Homes, Baiba, PLO, Bart M, Eagle Cam, Bird Guides, and Oak Hammock Marsh Wetland Centre.
