Fortis Exshaw Ospreys – Page 3

Iris the Swamp Cooler…Thursday in Bird World

11 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

The heat is still around. It was 29 degrees, which is cool compared to many places. I saw an idea that popped up on one of the FB pages. It was to freeze water in containers, then remove the solid ice and put it in your bird bath to keep the water cool. I am going to do this tonight!

Today was busy despite the heat. First was a walk at the zoo. The Polar Bears were ‘hot’. They were off in a corner where there was a bit of a breeze and shade, then a swim.

At home, we are making certain that there is always water and food. The birds and animals are coming out mostly in the early morning and later in the afternoon and evening until about 2100.

Mr Crow and all the family have been busy eating apple pieces along with his cheesy dogs and peanuts.

Washing peanuts in the water.

The baby squirrels, three of them, are in and out of the garden with their parents. They love those nut cylinders.

On Wednesdays, we have our local farmer’s market. It is now well-attended. Lots of local honey, veggies, ice cream, some great food, flowers, music, and neighbours. We have several ice cream companies. Fete is one of them. Delicious on a 29 C day.

The Girls have been busy chasing a fly that managed, sadly, to get itself in the house. They stalked, ran, jumped, and nearly broke their necks trying to catch it.

Hope thought she could stare it down.

Missey did, too!

Hugo Yugo (poor thing needs her eye cleaned) flew everywhere. She just about knocked everything off of anything it could be on. But the fly got away!

Calico thought they were all idiots running all over the place for a fly!

This morning the baby Cowbird landed on the sill of the conservatory and they all went nuts – including Calico. Good thing this lot will never be outside by the feeders.

Thank you to everyone that sent me a joke or a photograph to make me smile in the midst of all the tragedy lately. I really do appreciate it. I don’t know what I would have done this year withot these beautiful girls and all your friendship. So far there has not been a death on Wednesday that I am aware. Sadly there could be some today. We will see.

A smile before we move on. The magic of watching birds fledge!

Country-diary-A-young-kestrel-wings-its-way-into-the-world-Birds-The-Guardian Download

Heat is on everyone’s mind and how it is impacting people of the world – as well as our dear wildlife

I wonder why more of the females do not do this? Swamp Cooling.

Finn delivers.

Cornell Lab posted a video showing Iris keeping her chicks cool.

‘H’ sends us reports: 7/10 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was predicted to be a very hot and sunny day. Olsen was at work bright and early, and delivered his first fish at 0448. Little was beaked, but still managed to eat 32 bites of fish during this 13-minute meal. Olsen brought a medium sized fish at 0522. There was not a lot of aggression, but Little never found a good spot to be able to access Mom’s beak, so s/he did not eat at this 15-minute meal. The next fish at 0940 was very small, and it only took Soo about 4 minutes to feed. Little and Middle ate on opposite sides of Mom, until Big beaked Little. Little ate 13 bites of fish. More than 8 hours passed before the next fish arrived at the nest, and up to this point, Little had only eaten about 45 bites of fish. My weather source indicated the Osoyoos temperature at 1500 was 104F/40C. At 1800 Olsen delivered a very large whole fish. I watched for nine minutes, and our view of the feeding was partially blocked, but there did not appear to be any beaking. Little was behind the pack however, as the real estate near Soo’s beak was very limited. Due to the size of the fish, I wasn’t too worried, knowing that Little would eventually get its chance to eat after Big was sated. My time zone is three hours later, and I was tired, so I went to bed knowing that I could resume viewing the feeding early in the morning. Well, I was wrong. When I went to watch that meal, I found that the live stream had gone offline again. Ahh…but fortunately, ‘A-M’ had posted in the Facebook group: “Sleep well tonight little ones, all have full crops after nearly an hour long feeding. Mum got lots too, kudos to Dad for being a great provider in the sweltering heat.” Appreciate the update, ‘A-M’. Weather for 7/11: Sunny with slightly cooler temperatures, high 98F/37C, winds 15-22.

7/10 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: We were thrilled to see the newest fledgling, when Chick #1 returned to the nest at 0759 after fledging yesterday morning. Dad brought a few massive fish to the nest and everyone ate very well. It was a good day!

7/10 Forsythe osprey nest: At 50 days of age, Larry performed his highest hovers to date. Larry is looking good to fledge in a day or so.

7/10 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: The 24, 26, and 28-day-old osplets are doing quite well, and they are getting big!

Thanks, ‘H’.

I will be running through the Osprey nests again to check how our families are doing in the heat:

Clark PUD: At least several fish have come to the nest but the position of the camera doesn’t always catch their size. Hoping that enough food and hydration are coming in the hot days.

Charlo Montana: Another really hot day for Lola and the trio. Charlie has been bringing in fish. Thank you, Charlie!

McEuan Park: Hot and hotter. There are two chicks surviving. This nest really needs a lot of fish and a lot of positive wishes.

Mum left the nest and came in with a fish. Big ate. Middle is very submissive and needs to eat. Almost falling off the nest to get away from Big despite being ravenous.

Is the male at this nest missing? Are you watching this nest and can you let us know. Thank you.

Two moved up. Is there any fish left? Fish taken off nest by parent.

No fish for Two. Crop totally shrunken, head drooping. So sad. This was an original nest of four chicks. I just wonder if the deaths have been mitigated by no male, the heat and then, of course, no fish???

No sign of the male again. Mum off nest probably trying to fish. Poor babies.

Seaside: Bruce is delivering some big headless fish to Naha and the two osplets.

Pitkin County: The nest looks good. Weather is much different than in the Pacific NW.

More fish. Such beautiful babies on this nest at Pitkin County.

Boulder: Hot. Mum trying to keep Only Bob cool. Notice the difference in heat in Boulder than in Pitkin County.

Sandpoint: Keke doing a great job keeping River cool while Keo continues to bring in the fish. Mum and baby have a nice crop.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Dad is bringing in the fish and everything seems to be alright.

Bridge Golf Course: Cooler there and very windy. Mum and Only Surviving Osplet appear to be fine.

Snow Lane, Newfoundland. I have tears in my eyes for this nest. Beaumont has been hauling in the fish, and Hope has fed her chicks this year. The oldest is getting into the Reptilian phase, and if you look carefully, so is the youngest. I want the weather and fishing to stay good for Dad. If Hope continues, we could have two chicks fledge from this nest. I am afraid to get hopeful.

Steelscape: Oldest is self feeding. Hope Mum steps in so all get some fish. The heat is much less later in the day!

Cowlitz: ‘PB’ reports that Little is continually attacked on the nest by the older sibling. So far it has had about 66 bites of fish on Wednesday. This nest is in a very hot area and this baby needs more fish to survive during this long heat dome.

Cowlitz PUD posted a video of one of the feedings on Wednesday. They really care about their ospreys. They put up the metal fish grates to protect them and they know that there is competition to steal their fish from the local eagles.

‘PB’ reports that Little had no fish this morning.

Geemeff reports for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Wednesday 10th July 2024

Today was quite a contrast to yesterday with all its action going between the two nests. Instead we had Louis making just the one early appearance on Nest Two, and no sighting of Dorcha, Garry LV0, Affric or the dark female, just a banditry of Coal Tits making a couple of brief visits to Nest One. We did however get the news that our two chicks travelled safely over to Spain today, precious cargo entrusted to Heathrow Animal Control and then on to their new home. It’s very reassuring to hear that in just nine days, they’ve gained half their body weight again, going from 1.1kg on the 1st to 1.5 kg today, 10th. We wish them good luck and look forward to hearing more news in due course. Weather was reasonably settled, and the forecast is a dry night tonight with light cloud and light winds, and more of the same tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.35.23 (03.49.41); Nest Two 23.39.33 (03.55.36)

Today’s videos plus a late one from last night:

https://youtu.be/SRSKU62lfrE N2 Colourful sunset seen from Nest Two last night 22.00 (time lapse)

https://youtu.be/HOdzu0e6hQc N2 Skydancing is heard nearby then Louis lands on the nest 05.50.00

https://youtu.be/X7KHs2yg6EI N1 A banditry of Coal Tits flitting around, no sign of any big birds 15.33.30

Bonus watch – bird stopped play at Wimbledon:

Bonus read – a good summation of the soap opera that is the Ospreys of Loch Arkaig:

https://12ft.io/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13612473/hapless-husband-nest-Scottish-osprey-soap-opera-Louis-dorcha-chicks-bird-camera.html

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

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

It is a nest full of four apparently healthy osplets at Poole Harbour. Blue 022 and CJ7 will be one of only a couple of nests on streaming cams to successfully fledge four this year. What a feat!

The information on the Foulshaw Moss ringing of the chicks for 2024.

Ringing-2024-Cumbria-Wildlife-Trust Download

In readying for the 2024-25 Osprey season in South Australia, Port Lincoln has set up a camera at Tumby Island for Marrum and Partner. Fingers crossed!

It is so wonderful when all of us, no matter what we do, consider the wildlife. Well done Hungarian farmers? Living in a farming province of Canada, this would be very helpful.

Mum delivered a Raccoon Dog pup to the surviving Golden Eaglet at the Estonian nest #2.

‘TU’ reports that the two Eastern Imperial Eaglets in RU were ringed today.

Two healthy osplets on the osprey nest in Latvia.

It looks like there are still only two little Dorsett Hobbys. I could be wrong.

Congratulations to the Roy Dennis Foundation and the Poole Harbour Ospreys. It is the 7th anniversary of the translocation project and just look – a nest of four osplets doing very well. Everyone has to be delighted.

Here are Louis and Dorcha’s two osplets in their new nest in Scotland. I am glad they were taken for the project. As you will undoubtedly know by reading all of Geemeff’s reports and seeing their videos, Louis continues to ‘not be himself’. No one is certain what is wrong but please send him good wishes along with all of our raptors under the heat dome and these two precious little ones.

More information: “The two young ospreys are settling in well to their new surroundings in Spain. They have been given Spanish rings which are yellow in colour. The dominant bird is 1JW. The submissive one is 1JR. The aviary contains nests made from woven sticks and foliage which the birds sit in together just as they did at Loch Arkaig. They can see the surrounding area and when the time comes to fledge the sides of the aviary will be opened up to let them come and go as they please. Food will continue to be provided in the aviary nest until they migrate which will likely be in August or early September. We hope to have some images to share today at some point. These will be posted on Woodland Trust Scotland’s twitter and facebook accounts. We will alert you here once they are up.”

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, announcements, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’, The Guardian, Montana Osprey Cams, Cornell Bird Lab, Clark PUD, Charlo Montana, Weather Network, McEuan Park, Seaside Ospreys, Pitkin County, Boulder County, Sandpoint, MN Landscape Arboretum, Bridge Golf Course, Newfoundland Power, Steelscape, Cowlitz PUD, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, BoPH, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, David Attenborough Fans, Eagle Club of Estonia, Imperial Eagles RU Cam, LDF, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Ospreys, Fortis Exshaw, Dorsett Hobby Cam, and The Woodland Trust.

Too many deaths…Monday in Bird World

8 July 2024

Good Morning!

Oh, Sunday was a joyful and a tearful day. My superb neighbours have moved. To their little daughter, I was the ‘Tomato Fairie’. She loved the little grape tomatoes and paper baskets of them appearing regularly on her front porch. I shall miss them terribly. Friends visited, and later, we took the grandson, who works too hard and who we don’t see so often, for dinner and then picked up his sister to go for ice cream. We found a new little ice cream shop – they are popping up everywhere. It was delicious. Then we went for a walk to check out the river, which has flooded the walks and bike paths down to The Forks. We spotted a family of ducks who seemed fine.

It was a good day to be outside and to be with friends and family. The killing of the second Golden Eaglet by the first, followed by the little Dunrovin chick falling off the nest to its death, and the discovery that all three Redding osplets were dead in the nest —–well, it was a difficult day. These deaths should always remind us to hold those alive close and to celebrate those who survived this year. So many didn’t. As one of my friends told me today, please don’t wait for the politicians and policymakers to do anything to improve the lives of our wildlife and environment. If we each do something good positive, however small, our planet will be a better place.

My posting may meander a little today. Several people are monitoring nests, especially for fish drops in this heat so there might be some later inclusions.

Was it true or is it just a rumour? I am still trying to figure this out. It was reported that the second hatch, Raider, at the Patchogue nest on Long Island fledged at 0511 with a successful return to the nest. Patches was flapping and Raider joined in hopping and flapping and away it went!

Not true.

Raider fludged later. See post below by Heidi.

Check out the look on Raidier’s face as he slides down the perch. Patches is paying no mind. That fish is good!

Also from Patchogue, ‘MP’ says “Chickie takes dad’s toe almost off thinking it’s a fish. Fish under green line.”

We have been worried about Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay Nest. Deb Stecyk gives us an uplifting video showing Blue’s crop and a good ps. Relief.

At the Snow Lane nest in Newfoundland, Beaumont often brings fish to the nest and then flies to the camera pole to have a wee bit of a dinner for his efforts and returns the fish to the nest for Hope to feed their two chicks. She is doing much better than in previous years. Feeling hopeful.

Plenty of food continues to arrive on the Golden Eagle nest #2 after the eldest killed the youngest on the 7th of July. At one time, I hoped there was a shortage of prey. I even rationalised this to myself but, then, when the prey came on the nest, item after item, after the eldest had killed the youngest, it just confirmed that it was a strategy to get the one to kill the other. That second hatch survived the first attempt at killing it. Why not feed them both so close to fledge and see which one survives in the wild? Well, we will never know.

Great Bay nest is doing well. Osplets are really perfecting their self-feeding. I cannot confirm how much fish came on this nest on Sunday.

The males in areas where the extreme is going to be a factor appear to be going out fishing early and later in the day with success. Today’s high at Charlo, Montana will be 97 with 4 mph winds. It is forecast to be 99 on Wednesday. Let’s hope that the fishing continues to be good despite the heat.

This is Charlo Montana very early Sunday morning.

Finnegan also brought in an early fish at 0556.

In past summers, Iris would be in the shade catching her own fish. She is now trying to keep her two chicks cool while they wait for Finnegan to bring in another fish.

If Finnegan thought he was going to have some fish, Iris might have had another thought for him. She stuffed those two osplets to their little tiny talons and then back to the top of their heads. She knows it is hot. She knows they need hydration. Finnegan is making sure his family does not go without.

Just look at that crop!!!!!

The little one raises its neck and stands up and looks at the older sibling. It was hilarious.

Date Night on the Perch with Iris and Finnegan! (Thanks PB for alerting me to where they were!)

I did not see an early fish on the nest at Dunrovin but I might have missed it. The pair are enjoying a late breakfast or early lunch around 1130 on Sunday. This nest might miss much of the heat that other areas are getting. And then…the most horrific sadness hits the nest. The young one fell off the nest over the railing. Such a loss. A beautiful healthy osplet on a nest with food. Soar high, little one.

Note to self: I love how some nests are annual inspected and repaired by the owners of the property and the streaming cam. Glaslyn (if I remember correctly) checks the woven railing and rewires it if required when they do their annual renovations. Many nests could use nesting material, too. Thinking of MN LA. What if we helped the Ospreys this way? Could save a life or two.

Melbourne police rescue an osprey! Thanks, Geemeff. We need a good news story.

Melbourne Police Officer Helps Rescue Injured Osprey Friday Night

Steelscape is one of the nests in the high heat area.

‘PB’ watches Cowlitz PUD and despite the heat it was a good day.

There is no end to sad news and I thought June was the worst month. The Osprey family whose chicks survived the fireworks in Redding have died.

Fireworks are not the only stressors. Humans around nests trying to take photographs, dogs, motorised vehicles, etc. have been known to cause great stress. I am sure there is a list as long as my arm.

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

Daily summary Sunday 7th July 2024
There was an intruder but no fish today – Louis teased Dorcha again by appearing several times without fish and staying nearby within sight so she kept calling to no avail. The nest was overflown by an intruder who returned and landed on the nest next to Louis and was seen to be a dark female with striking markings, possibly the same one who intruded in 2021, see bonus video. Dorcha arrived and chased her off, all the way past Nest One where Dorcha dropped in briefly for her first ever visit to that nest. Weather was settled today, tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy and light winds, but rain is due again tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.51.05 (03.18.25); Nest Two 23.54.50 (03.27.43)Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/FrXbbUeLP1k N2 Louis arrives without fish – Dorcha yells at him 13.01.45
https://youtu.be/2OI2t67rNhU N2 Intruder overflies Dorcha on the nest 13.35.35
https://youtu.be/rzFuxemIvPE N2 Unringed intruder female lands next to Louis 13.55.40
https://youtu.be/LwP5OtDRWKY N1 Dorcha’s first ever visit to Nest One! 15.06.42
https://youtu.be/AX4rxHJaSWoN2 Louis arrives and coy mantles but no fish for Dorcha 15:21:08

Bonus video – compare and contrast today’s dark intruder with the very dark one seen once only on 27 May 2021, is it the same bird?:

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

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

Tuffy landed on the nest with a nice-sized fish he had caught. What a joy to see him. The camera will be turned off today. It could be already by the time you read this. At one point, we did not think Tuffy would survive Ruffie. Well, he did. Please notice the distinctive head marking. You will always know that it is Tuffy. There is a dark patch at the back of the head, too. Their heads and underwing markings never change in an osprey. So even without rings on their legs, if you know these, you can tell which osprey is which.

Tuffy is one of the good survival stories of the 2024 breeding season and we will always remember him (or her). What a great nest. Camera will be turned back on when Sally and Harry return to the nest.

See Heidi’s report below.

For the Decorah North eagle family, there is no place like home even if it is a dead tree without a nest. They are all fine. What a joy it is to see them, too.

Fish are coming in at Boulder. It is 46 F and 1 mph winds. The high this week will be 80 at the nest.

It is a lot hotter at the Seaside nest of Bruce and Naha. Bruce flew in with a really big Red-tail for Naha and the kids at 1649. This will keep them nicely. Temperature is expected to be 90 degrees F with 14 mph winds on Monday.

‘PB’ reports that a nice late fish came into Steelscape. They are in the hot zone, too.

Cowlitz has fish, too. The Dads on that Columbia River are really working hard to get fish to their nests in this heat.

‘H’ reports:

7/7 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was a sunny day, and the temperature reached 100 F/38 C yesterday afternoon. Olsen brought eight fish to the nest, but most of them were quite small. When the ‘kids’ were little, that would have been ample, but now it may be only half (or less) of what they need. Five of the fish were delivered before 0900, while the sixth fish was delivered at 1657. Meal duration times were: 5, 7, 4, 3, 18, 5, 8, 5 minutes. Our views of the feedings were partially blocked at times, making it difficult to determine how much Little was eating. There was no aggression at the first three meals, and Little seemed to eat some fish at each of those meals. Big beaked Little at the third meal, which consisted of a tiny fish, and Little ate one bite of fish. The fifth fish, at 0849, was the largest. Little was beaked, but managed to start receiving some bites on the other side of Soo at 0855 for a couple of minutes. I could not tell how much Little was able to eat. When we say the osplets are ‘at the table’ or ‘at the chow line’, we are referring to them being in a position to receive bites of fish offered by the parent. When the ‘kids’ were little, the ‘table’ was small. They could all fit side-by-side compactly in a small area, easily within reach of Soo’s beak. But, at the current size of the chicks, the ‘table’ is wide. There was no aggression at the sixth feeding, at 1657. Little was skittish, and waited a couple of minutes before approaching. When Little was ‘at the table’, s/he was positioned closer to Soo’s tail. It was only a 5-minute feeding, and I did not see Soo reach back and offer a bite to Little. There was an 8-minute feeding at 2058, and once again, Little hesitated to approach. But when s/he did get to the table at 2103, he ate two bites, then was beaked. The last meal of the day was at 2122, and lasted five minutes. Little was beaked, and was not able to eat. Little’s crop was noticeably hollow. Unfortunately, Little did not eat much today, which is all the more serious due to the extreme heat which can hasten dehydration. Little’s last good meal was around 11:00 on 7/6. Middle was not prevented from eating today. It’s going to be another hot sunny day on 7/8, with the high temperature predicted to hit at least 102F/39C. Winds will be 14-22 mph. Wouldn’t it be nice if Olsen could find a big whopper of a fish? Surely, Little would then get a good meal. Good luck out there Olsen…we know that you are doing your best.

7/7 Patuxent River Park: The osplets are 57, 60, and 61 days old. A few days ago, Big and Middle were making some progress with wingersizing and managing some brief hovers. But, over the last couple of days, their activity has been reduced, possibly due to the extreme heat and calm winds. The temperatures have been in the upper 90’s.

7/7 Captiva osprey nest: Ding is 75 days old, and fledged 15 days ago. On 7/6, Ding caught her first fish, and it was a needlefish. This morning, on just her third fishing attempt of the day, Ding caught another needlefish! After she finished her breakfast, she resumed diving for fish. On her sixth fishing attempt of the day, Ding caught another needlefish, just 32 minutes after her last successful catch. You go girl! Ding may be known by some viewers as the ‘Needlefish Kid’. Ding made numerous attempts at fishing over the next six hours. Edie was not seen on 7/7. Ding is expending a lot of energy with her fishing. It would be wonderful if Edie would drop off a fish for Ding in the morning.

7/7 Moorings Park osprey nest: Monday morning at 0900 the camera will be turned off for the season. Tuffy treated viewers to some extended appearances today. At 11:29 we witnessed Tuffy dive into the water to try to catch a fish. He didn’t appear to come away with a fish on that attempt. About an hour later, Tuffy flew to the nest carrying a tilapia. Tuffy was wet, and shaking off water. He took a long time to eat that tilapia. How wonderful that we got to witness those events on the last day of the live stream. We have been blessed to witness your life thus far, Tuffy… through all your struggles and your victories. You are a survivor. We wish you a long and prosperous life.

Studies identifying the extent of the bycatch problem and our beloved birds like those cute little Royal Cam chicks. We do not want them, their parents, or any of the colony ending up like the ones below. Those trawlers gather the fish to provide feed for salmon and chickens. Want to save our seabirds? Stop eating farmed fish and industrially grown chickens.

New study shows the real scale of seabird bycatch in European waters.-https://www.birdlife.org/news/2024/07/03/bycatch-tragedy-we-are-losing-200000-seabirds-annually/

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, MP, PB, TU’, PSEG, Heidi McGrue, Deb Stecyk, Newfoundland Power, Eagle Club of Estonia, Great Bay Ospreys, Charlo Montana Osprey Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Space Coast Daily, Pam Breci, FORE, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Moorings Park, Raptor Resource Project/Explore.org, Boulder County, Seaside Ospreys, Steelscape, Cowlitz PUD, Birdlife International, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, and Window to Wildlife.

Ringing, lots of ringing…Wednesday in Bird World

3 July 2024

Good Morning,

It’s the middle of the week. I thought we would have a wonderful Tuesday. It looked like a great day for a long walk at the nature centre and then the rains came – pouring rain you could hardly see 3 metres in front of you. And then finally the grey skies left and the blue skies and fluffy clouds arrived. The birds are singing for joy. The squirrels are running around looking for peanuts and Mr Crow is yelling that his cheesy-dogs are gone. The Starlings ate them! Life is back to normal. ‘The Girls’ survived the July birthday part and the horrific thunder and lighting of Monday night. We are all hoping that the rain will stop and we can have a few days of sunshine and warmth.

It is now July and I am hoping, beyond hope, that fledgling and osplet deaths are over. Many of the osprey chicks are now past the 3 week mark – a few aren’t. I am hopeful that without any major storms all will survive but, we continue to watch a few nests closely such as Captiva, Cowlitz, Forsythe, and Steelscape.

The latest for Steelscape comes in late Tuesday from Pam Breci:

I have still been feeling a bit low after the removal of the chicks at Loch Arkaig, even though I support interventions in such cases of great need. It just makes me sad seeing Louis and Dorcha without their babies. So, I want to start with a story that will amaze you. I added some quotes, but please read the entire article. You will be amazed.

Geemeff sent me the link:

“A pair of White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Mull have amazed experts by continuing to care for their injured offspring into its second year of life, going so far as to skip breeding this year to focus on tending to the youngster.

The chick injured its left wing in July last year after its nest fell to the ground during unseasonably wild weather. Despite its sibling surviving unscathed and fledging not long afterwards, the injured youngster’s story has been a little less smooth.

As the parents continued to support the chick its wing continued to heal and it finally took to the skies in the autumn, in rather wobbly fashion, with little hope from locals that it would survive the long, harsh winter ahead.

Here is the full story!

White-tailed Eagles on Isle of Mull continue to care for injured offspring into its second year of life

Ringing took place at Glaslyn late on 2 July 2024. Heather Corfield reports “We have two females and one male. 6M8, 6M7 and 6M9 in age order. The youngest is the male. No surprises there.”

I continue to call for a boycott on eating tuna and salmon and this is one reason not to eat farmed salmon! They have destroyed the stocks of fish in the Chesapeake Bay and are now moving to the coasts. Multitudes are concerned and the regulating authorities are not listening. This is one of the main reasons that osprey chicks are starving – the fish they need is being taken to feed fish! Please tell your friends and find a viable alternative if you eat salmon or tuna.

Bad storms in Croatia are having an impact on our feathered friends. Many storks are being found dead.

‘H’ wondered if I had been checking the ND-LEEF nest lately. I haven’t and I am sorry that I have been occupied by the ospreys. Dad went missing on the 8th of May. The two eaglets were just a month old (like Harriet’s at SWFlorida in 2023). Gigi raised them alone. They fledged on June 26 and June 30. Isn’t that wonderful? Dad would be proud of Gigi and his babies. Phillipe Josse posted this photo of Gigi and her fledglings. Aren’t they lovely?

Iris’s youngest chick has a closed left eye. We are hoping for improvements. The chick is eating and moving well and the eye apperared to open a little Tuesday afternoon. Send good energy.

Meanwhile, Finn is being security guard!

‘A’ comments: “Darling Finn was in early with a nice fresh fish for the osplets’ breakfast. He arrived at 05:49 and Iris got straight into feeding the kids. He stays less than a minute before moving to the perch to dry off. As always, Little Bob is at the front for the feeding and the chicks are perfectly behaved. There is not a hint of aggression between them. This has to be the most laid-back osprey nest I think I’ve ever seen. It’s like watching a pair of RTH chicks or a couple of peregrine eyases. Just lovely.

By 6am, Finn is getting a little impatient. He returned to the nest about 05:58 and picked at some dropped bites and random pieces, but Iris has not finished stuffing her osplets, with Big Bob still managing to find some space in that massive crop. By 06:02 Finn is stalking the fish but Iris moves away from him, not yet ready to give it up. Big Bob has eaten very well but Iris hasn’t and Little Bob could definitely eat some more. So she continues feeding Little Bob, with Big Bob having finally left the table, full as a tick. Finn already has a very respectable crop.

At 06:03, with Little Bob turning away, Iris lets Finn take the half fish from her. He begins eating on the nest. Or is he preparing to feed the chicks? Within ten seconds, Iris has retrieved her fish and returns to feeding Little Bob and eating herself. Finn gives up and returns to the perch at 06:03:50. Iris keeps eating. She needs to have her own breakfast. But she still keeps trying to give bites to both osplets, but especially Big Bob, who has come back for seconds (or is it thirds?). Eventually she eats, and eventually, Finn gets his share. “

“When our darling Finn brought the lunchtime fish in at around 11:50, it was another humongous whole very floppy (well, more thrashy) fish, so Iris waited for Finn to disable it before she took it from him. Probably teaching him that large floppy fish and small osplets should not mix. She is a thinking woman’s mum, is Iris.

Both chicks are hungry but they behave perfectly while they wait for mum to get the fish bites ready. Finn is arranging sticks, periodically bonking Little Bob on the head with his tail. Little Bob gets confused about which direction he should be facing.

At this point, I’m going to raise something I’ve been worried about from the beginning really. But yesterday I watched something that again worried me a great deal – could you keep a close eye on Little Bob and see whether you think his sight is compromised in some way. Yesterday, he was grabbing at the bites and missing them to the right-hand side each time, as if one of his eyes was not focusing properly. I have noticed this before, but not to that extent. Mind you, it was 10pm and he may not see well in the dark. (We of course have the IR lights.) But I would like your considered opinion on it over the next few days or so, if you have a chance.

Obviously, he is still managing to stuff his face but it would not be a great way to live as a fledgling, so I am a bit worried, which is why I am finally asking your opinion. (The fact that nobody else has questioned it reassured me until that feeding last night around 10pm when it really was very noticeable. And how does he still end up facing the wrong way at his age? I wonder and I worry. Let’s hope I’m just totally mistaken.

Anyway, spoiler alert: although it was a wet morning, the chicks dried out in the afternoon and ate well all day. The midday fish was almost the size of Big Bob and, obviously, significantly larger than Little. Iris had some trouble (and had to use her wings) to even move it around the nest, and I cannot imagine her being able to rip it out of the water. That would take a very strong bird, which says something about our hero, Finn. He surely is a diamond and Iris SO deserves him. And wow, is he a looker. Such a handsome osprey. He is glorious.

At the noon feeding, Little was closest to mum and was fed first. His older sibling simply watched and patiently waited for his turn. Finn obscures our view as the feeding proceeds, but it appears that at noon, ten minutes after the arrival of the fish, Big Bob is still waiting. When Finn finally moves, at 12:04, we can see that Little Bob is still at mum’s beak but Big Bob does have a small crop so may have had some bites.

Finn decides he will start feeding himself from the tail end of this monstrous fish while Iris continues feeding Little Bob from the head end. I’m hoping Finn will feed Big Bob, who has turned to face dad and is obviously hopeful. Just before 12:07 Finn, who has come around to the head end of the fish, attempts to pull the fish from Iris’s grasp. She pulls back. She continues feeding Little. Big Bob is still hungry, and Iris turns her head to reach him, deciding Little Bob has had enough for now and her other chick needs his turn. So she feeds Big Bob bite after bite. Little turns away from the table. Finn plots his next attack on the fish.

Around 12:09 Finn gives up and heads for the perch. Mum keeps feeding BIg Bob. Just before 12:10 he begins alerting, looking upwards. That chirp of his is incredibly melodic for an osprey. Quite beautiful. Little, who has face-planted, sat up for a short while, then face-planted again, is not turning back to the table yet – I’m sure he will manage some seconds shortly. Just before 12:12 Iris joins Finn in alerting at something above. Finn is tracking it across the sky. He is concerned. At 12:12 the chicks both pancake.

At 12:12:28, another osprey attempts to land on the nest! Iris immediately rears up, flapping her wings with menace, and the bird flies off, with Finn in pursuit. Iris soon returns to the fish, but the chicks stay pancaked. Iris returns to eating herself, then feeds Big Bob again when he lifts his head. Little stands up but then decides his eyes are bigger than his stomach (well, not literally, obviously) and lies back down.

At 12:20 Iris is again looking upwards, and soon resumes alerting. Twenty seconds later, Finn lands back on the nest, much to our relief. This boy is strong and young and determined to protect his family. He is doing a wonderful job at it. Here is a big statement: this is a male with what it takes to become an M15. He is not quite there yet – I cannot see him raising two month-old osplets single-taloned as M15 did with his eaglets. But with another season or two of paternal experience, I can certainly see him becoming a dad of that calibre. I adore Finnegan. I cannot say enough good things about him. “

The nest is a mess but the chicks are fantastic at Niagara Bee.

Things continue to go well at Blackbush for the trio.

Concerns for the two osplets at Newfoundland Snow Lane nest of Beaumonth and Hope as bad weather continues. Prior to the rain a large fish was on the nest and Hope was feeding the chicks.

Big fish and four big osplets at Field Farm.

There are so many big osplets just eating, growing, and waiting for their day to fly. That is Great Bay, too.

The trio at Charlo Montana are changing from cute little bobbleheads and into Reptiles!!!!!!

So, it is too close to call for three of the Poole Harbour four. The little one is believed to be a male but the three older ones are either small females or large well fed males. Can’t sex. I am going to go with four males because of their behaviour – too sweet and nice.

Louis has been consistent in bringing in a morning and evening fish. Dorcha was on the nest around 2000 and Louis came in with her dinner. You could hear him returning her calls.

The video of that fish delivery:

The two chicks of Louis and Dorcha are believed to be two males! Here is Geemeff’s report:

Daily summary Tuesday 2nd July 2024

Today was the first day waking up to the reality of an empty nest. However, Woodland Trust Scotland spokesman George tells us the chicks are reported to be doing well after a warm, dry, peaceful night with plenty of fish. They have been initially assessed as two males, although a more thorough assessment will take place in due course when they are ringed and satellite tagged. Questions were raised on the forum as to the feasibility of continuing to feed the chicks on the nest rather than placing them in the translocation programme – WTS gives the reasons why that’s not possible, details here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15244841. It might have been thought that activity on the nest would tail off now but Garry LV0 stepped up to provide plenty of interest by intruding not once but several times on Nest Two. He even brought nest furnishings. If he does fancy Dorcha as a potential mate, both Dorcha and Louis have other ideas, and there was much flying on and off, alarm-chipping and hasty exits. Once Garry had left for the night, Louis turned up with a good size late night supper which was eagerly seized by Dorcha. No improvement in the weather, it’s deteriorating if anything, with a forecast of heavy rain and light winds tonight, and rain all day tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.44.17 (02.50.32); Nest Two 23.34.00 (03.23.23)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/xLYMFTjW5IQ N1 Incy Wincy spider’s midnight visit 00.42.41 (quicktime)

https://youtu.be/PcbM4KE7w-I N2 Hooded Crow intrudes on Dorcha 11.13.28

https://youtu.be/W32p5HJcb5A N2 Garry LV0 intrudes 13.07.20 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/Q9R-mWtaQiw N2 Action N2 involving Dorcha, Louis & Garry LV0 13.37.03

https://youtu.be/lgNojG-NglE N1 & N2 Garry LV0 brings a stick to N2 then takes it to N1 14.59.25

https://youtu.be/qghrnyyuS00 N2 Louis brings Dorcha a late fish supper 20.11.11

Bonus read – visiting Loch Arkaig and the Dark mile that gave Dorcha her name:

https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/speanbridge/locharkaig/index.html
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

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

This is a video showing where the chicks of Dorcha and Louis will be translocated. Thanks, Mary Cheadle for posting this. We are all curious.

We have had more osplet deaths and the Memorial Page is now up to 90. The only surviving chick on nest 4 at Kielder Forest in the UK became lethargic and was not growing properly and died at 39 days right before ringing. It is believed to have been a lung infection due to all the cold rainy weather.

Nest 7 at Kielder had three healthy chicks that were ringed on Tuesday. Two females and a male. Very interesing names. Have a read:

Nest-7-ringing-Kielder-Ospreys Download

All is well at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Please be careful if you are looking for this nest. There is a lot of archived footage on YT that might cause you to not be seeing the current time/day.

Lots of feedings. Mum is very attentive. Chick is doing well. The colouring is off – everything appears darker than it is. The chick is normal osplet plummage. On my screen, it looks very dark.

Here is the link:

The lens is all fogged up at the nest of Dylan and Seren in Llyn Clywedog. The chicks are feathered and doing great. Fledging shortly.

The little one at Cowlitz does wait for the other two and then, if there is fish, it gets a few bites before it is moved away. There was not a lot of fish coming in on Tuesday. It was 69 F with 10 mph winds.

Here are Heidi’s reports for the day!

7/2 Osoyoos osprey nest: After the live stream was offline for 2.5 days, it went live at 0938 this morning. The chicks looked good. The first delivery we saw was a tiny fish at 1006. What struck me was that Little immediately shuffled away and tucked as Soo prepared to feed. That was a new behavior that Little had acquired since the last time we watched. This indicated that there had been some dominance and aggression at meals. It was only a four minute feeding, and Little got 3 bites. The next fish at 1146 was also tiny, for a 5 minute feeding, and after some initial intimidation, Little ate. At 1212, Olsen delivered a Whopper! As Soo was dragging the large fish into position, Middle beaked Little into submission, but then Big beaked Middle! So there it was…yes there has been aggression at meals. By 1218 Middle was able to start eating beside Big. By 1222 Little had worked his way around to the other side of Soo and was getting a few bites…but, don’t ya’ know Soo moved the fish, so Little had no protection. After several more minutes passed, Little was eating right up beside the other two osplets, and all were having a good meal. At 1242 the cam went down for more than an hour, so we don’t know how long the meal was, or if Olsen removed some leftover fish. The next (and last) fish of the day was at 1553, a large whole fish, for a meal that lasted 13 minutes. Everyone ate peacefully.

7/2 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Things are going well for Johnny, June, and their 18-day-old youngster.

7/2 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: The oldest osplet, Harbor, seems to be calming down a bit, and is less aggressive toward Gray. I was able to observe a few meals and they were peaceful. Good news. The nestlings are 18 and 14-days-old.

7/2 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: Della, Warren and their two 35 and 36-day-old osplets are doing great. There is never a shortage of fish from Warren.

7/2 Forsythe osprey nest: This has been a very sad season for this nest. Only the oldest osplet (named Larry) remains out of the original four chicks. It seems that there’s not enough fish in this area. There were six fish delivered to the nest, including two from Opal. Larry is 42 days old, and should be able to make it to fledge.

7/2 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: Everything is going well for this bunch. There may be a fledge in a day or two…and I am predicting that Middle will be first to take flight. Middle is a bit smaller than Big, so has less body mass to get into the air. Middle has been getting some nice lift while flapping/leaping across the nest. (Ages of the osplets: 56, 55, 52)

7/2 Captiva osprey nest: Darling dominated the nest all day. Ding was prevented from landing on the nest many times. Edie delivered the only fish of the day at 1114. Ding flew in, there was a scramble with Darling over the fish, and it appeared as though Ding left in possession of the fish, or she may have dropped it. It was obviously not a good day for fishing. You may recall that Edie took a 6-day break, and returned on 6/29. In Edie’s absence, Jack worked his tail feathers off fishing for his kids during that period of time. It seems as though Jack may now be resting and taking a well deserved break. He was last seen on cam on 6/29.

Oh, those San Jose siblings!!!!!!!!

And more from this adorable family who continue to visit their scrape for us!

Ventana Wildlife continues to vaccinate the California Condor population against HPAI.

Plastics are everywhere. They are not good for our birds – not good in the sea, in nets, in human garbage, mesh bags, etc. As humans we need to try and minimise the number of plastic items that we purchase. I know that it is difficult. I made a vow several years ago to sever ties with plastic – they are everywhere. If you are heading to the lake or the beach, The Guardian ran a good article on how to avoid plastic. Even if you live elsewhere, there are good ideas here for everyone everywhere. We can help our wildlife.

From-swimwear-to-toys-how-to-go-plastic-free-for-a-day-at-the-beach-Plastics-The-Guardian Download

Want to adopt a very important Kakapo?

I have a number of nests to report in Canada during the coming week. At least one of them has four healthy chicks! Stay tuned.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, questions, posts, announcements, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Pam Breci, Scottish Field, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal FB, Menhaden Defenders, Phillipe Josee and the ND-LEEF Eagle Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab, Niagara Bee, Blackbush, Newfoundland Power, Field Farm, Great Bay, Charlo Montana, BoPH, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Mary Cheadle, Kielders ospreys, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Llyn Clywedog Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Forsythe, Mispillion Harbour, Audubon Boathouse, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, SK Hideaways, Ventana Wildlife Society, and Kakapo Recovery.

Chicks arrived safely…Tuesday in Bird World

2 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is Monday evening. Thank you for your notes. My DIL is safe as is the Island of Grenada. The small island of Carriacou was almost destroyed. It is a beautiful little place reached by boat from Grenada that holiday makers particularly enjoy. I am hoping that no one was killed.

It was rather appropriate that the rain was pouring down all morning in Winnipeg. The sky was a heavy grey and, that is pretty much how I felt. Sad. It wasn’t that I disagreed with the actions that The Woodland Trust and the Roy Dennis Foundation took, I did. It was just the ‘weight of the situation’ that got me down. Everyone hopes that they got it right. We must believe they did. I wish that Louis had rallied; he didn’t. The chicks needed to be saved before one or both starved. It still hits you hard seeing Louis bring in a fish to Dorcha and the chicks and the chicks not being there.

Those that have loved Louis and his mates for all these years will be processing this slow. We might not see Dorcha or Louis at the nest very much, if at all. All we can do is hope that Louis rests, eats and his health or whatever is bothering him dissipates and he becomes his old wonderful self. We wish Dorcha a recovery from caring for her babies. The females lose weight and she always fed her chicks before herself.

All went smoothly at Loch Arkaig and Louis and Dorcha’s two chicks have arrived safely at Inverness.

Geemeff sent her Loch Arkaig summary:

Daily summary Monday 1st July 2024

The 8th season for the Arkaig Ospreys effectively ended today with the removal of the two chicks from the nest to join a translocation programme which will see them go to Spain. Louis brought an early fish this morning which gave the family their final opportunity to be together, and this season’s tally ends at two hundred and fifty five fish. Woodland Trust Scotland spokesman George says: All went well this morning and the chicks are now with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. More information on the reasons behind the removal can be read here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15225467. LizB provided another one of her valuable off-nest reports to inform us that Louis & Dorcha were perched together while the raptor team were doing their work. The removal of the chicks is such an unprecedented event that it made the STV evening news, and there was much lively debate on the forum. Dorcha returned to the nest several hours after the team left, but only stayed long enough to grab some of the extra fish the team had placed there, and to see off the Hoodies who were also interested in grabbing some free fish. Although Louis returned this evening with a fish for Dorcha, that and subsequent fish will not be included in the count. Steve Q says: there is no value in the data of any fish brought to the nest post removal of the young. Garry LV0 paid a visit to Nest One bringing moss but spent his half hour there just perching quietly. It rained during the morning and cleared up in the afternoon, tonight’s forecast of light cloud and light winds suggests it should remain dry tonight.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.15.26 (03.29.30); Nest Two 23.57.38 (04.03.48)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Q_HakxODigs N2 Final family gathering for the 2024 Arkaig Ospreys 04.53.34 (freezeframe)

https://youtu.be/OX4_U4q4U4U N2 Dorcha returns to the nest after the chicks have been taken away 15.11.38

https://youtu.be/7EOiOedhNo0 N2 The chicks star on STV news 19.30

https://youtu.be/12Pe__3E3eo N1 Garry LV0 arrives bringing moss19.56.59

https://youtu.be/y2RIy-5tqEQ N2 Louis brings a fish but only Dorcha is there 20.00.44

https://youtu.be/0v65YxWPJvw N2 Two Hoodies appear and steal fish from the empty nest 20.04.34

Bonus read – the removal of the chicks makes the news:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-osprey-chicks-bound-spain-33146033

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

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

Two questions in the mailbox that you might also be wondering about. Thanks, ‘EJ’. Question 1: “Although I am sorry Louis seems to not be well, I am happy for the chicks going to Spain. How cool is that? So do they put them in a nest there? How do they find their way around? Will they migrate back to Spain or try to go home?”

Answer: ‘Hacking’ is the term often used for translocation. The chicks are fed and collected before they reach the fledging age, typically about six weeks or 42 days. They are placed in crates and carefully taken to a holding area. They will be thoroughly checked over, weighed, and recorded, and they will be fed very well. In the past, these compartments were in Roy Dennis’s garage near Inverness, Scotland. Once they have the total number of chicks – twelve (12)- preparations will be underway for them to be flown to Spain. There, they will be fed, checked over, and they will fledge from the chosen site. They will be satellite tagged and will have Spanish ring numbers but all their forms will say they hatched in Scotland. Ospreys ‘imprint’ on the area where they fledge which is why the timing is crucial. These chicks will imprint on this place in Spain. This ensures that they will return to this location when they are old enough to breed, not their natal nest in Scotland.

EJ’s second question: What happened to the male osprey who had the spine thingie in his leg and his leg was all swollen?

Answer to Question 2: EJ is referring to Jack at Captiva. According to the log kept by Windows to Wildlife, Jack has not been seen on the nest since 11:05 on the 29th of June. Edie has been bringing in fish and intruders have been around attacking the chicks, according to the same log. I have seen no information on the current status of Jack. I would not like to speculate at this time.

To keep my mind off Hurricane Beryl (everything is fine in Grenada, thank goodness), The Girls had their birthday party. Missey is now 2 and Hope is 1. Birthday parties are chaotic events. Their favourite treats are tossed all over the table along with some new toys, brushes, and scratching blocks. They seem to have a good time. Next party is September for Hugo Yugo who will be a year old; Calico will be two in November.

To put a smile on your face. Little Cowlitz 3 had a private feeding, and the result was a huge crop. Sometimes I am afraid to check, but Monday was good. Thanks, ‘PB’.

Only Bob at Clark PUD is feathered and beautiful.

Boulder’s Only Bob is doing great, too.

Bruce and Naha’s two chicks, Tsee and Toketee, are really enjoying some nice fish including a trout on Monday.

It is always feeding time at the nest of Iris and Finnegan. Not only Iris feeds the kids, but dear, darling Finnegan steps in, too. What a guy! He is feeding the oldest while Iris keeps the baby warm and dry in the rain. Talk about cooperation. Reminds me of Blue 022 and CJ7 this year at Poole Harbour. It is wonderful to watch this nest. I just wish I could read Iris’s mind!

A comments on the top image: “The rain set in at Hellgate by 17:20. After the feeding, Finn not only listened to Iris, but came back with another fish around 17:28, which he then fed Big Bob while Iris watched and kept Little Bob warm (his crop ended up larger than his older sibling’s – not unusually). Unfortunately, Iris did not get any of this second headless fish, She is the only one who hasn’t really eaten enough, but she has a larger crop, which was well filled this morning and is still visible. I loved the way Finn fed Big Bob in the pouring rain rather than get Iris up. He is looking after her as well as he possibly can. He is a gem. “

‘A’ writes: “Darling Finn brought in one of his traditional giant fish for Iris and the kids just before 05:52. She is pleased. The kids line up nicely at the table and wait for mum to wrangle the fish. Finn ate a few bites of the head end while waiting for Iris to get up (he was moving the fish around to a position from which he could feed her when she decided she needed to feed the kids).

Interestingly, as it’s raining, Big Bob does his usual bend and flap stretch, flapping the water off his wings, and in the process, bonks Little Bob with one wing. Little Bob totally ignores it. Had he ever been bullied, he would definitely have instantly ‘flinched’ at this.

Mum is taking a bit of time to get the fish to the kids – she too is flapping water off her wings (and she has a lot to get rid of!) and Little sees Dad moving around the nest towards the perch. Keeping his eyes on dad, he turns to face him. What’s he doing? Ah!! Clever dad. Remember that leftover fish I said must still be on the nest somewhere? (I saw it left there last night and did not see Finn leave the perch during the night or Iris having or feeding the chicks a nighttime snack.) Well, clever Finn knows exactly where it is.

Finn heads straight for the place mum left the fish last night (on the edge of the nest, near the perch) and uncovers what reveals itself in daylight to be almost all of a giant fish (just like the one he has just brought in this morning). I am a little concerned Iris didn’t remember it between 5am when she started pestering Finn for food and 05:52 when breakfast arrived. Maybe she’s a sushi girl and only likes her fish fresh. Finn takes his breakfast to the perch.

Little has turned back to the actual feeding adult and both chicks are getting an excellent breakfast. Oh they are just so exquisite, and their size and development gap makes it even more interesting in the sense that it appears there are actually two different species of creature on that nest (neither really bird-like, in all honesty).

By 6am the rain is teeming down again and Little Bob takes shelter beneath Big Bob’s crop!! Mum reaches to feed Big Bob. Little Bob backs up towards the camera and does a large PS. My goodness that is one very very plump osplet. Little decides he’d rather have shelter than food right now and huddles under Big Bob again, this time beneath his left wing. (I’m assuming Big is male, despite his size, based entirely on his behaviour, which just isn’t aggressive enough to be that of a female.) TOO cute.

But even from beneath Big Bob, Little is still fish crying, and eventually has to decide how badly he wants that fish. Yes, badly enough to turn around to face mum and stick his little head out from under Big Bob to ask Iris for a bite. His decision, though, comes just a few seconds too late, as the rain is heavier and soon after 06:01, Iris decides the chicks need to be kept dry more than they need more food at the moment. There is plenty of fish for everyone (Finn is still working on the giant fish on the perch – there is no way he can eat all of it and still be able to polish off the leftovers on the nest). Iris has left at least two-thirds (probably more) of the fish Finn brought in at 05:52.

This is an amazing family and Finn is the best ever mate and parent. He is a natural (or has experience) and he is devoted to his family. He has learned he needs to make more deliveries. He has learned how to feed the osplets with confidence. Some of the other stuff – feeding Iris, sleeping on the perch – is obviously just him. He may have had another mate (and perhaps chicks) or he may just be the paternal type (full of the right hormones, I presume, which is far less romantic). “

Cute little babies at Charlo Montana have fat healthy little bottoms. They are turning into Reptiles.

Alma and Lucia horsing around in San Jose.

Eastern Imperial Eaglets in RU are doing very well. They are getting stronger and standing, walking around, and pecking at their food.

Latvia’s osplets in the Kurzeme area are growing and growing!

Just look at those two Golden Eaglets in Estonia with their juvenile feathers growing. I blinked. They were white with those gorgeous deep chocolate brown feathers and now it is the opposite! Their ‘ps’ all over that branch tell me these two should be healthy despite the second one looking rather thin. Fingers crossed I am not fooling myself. I often wonder how cameras can distort things – eaglets look healthy like Meadow and turn out to be thin and dehydrated and full of mites and parasites.

Lady is in full incubation mode in the Sydney Olympic Forest now that her and Dad have their two eggs. I can’t wait!

The two Decorah North fledglings that lost their nest when it collapsed cannot stay away from that nest tree. ‘Home is where your heart is’ and it is that old broken tree for this family.

One of Thunder and Akecheta’s fledglings returns to the natal nest on Monday.

The Fab Four at Poole Harbour were ringed. The ring numbers are 5RO (1), 5R1 (3), 5R2 (2), and 5H6 (4). Tim Mackrill has advised Poole Harbour that the Roy Dennis Foundation believes these are four well-fed males. That indeed, would account for the civility on this nest!!!!!!!!!! I await for some more clarification as there were earlier reports of a mixed-gender nest.

‘H’ reports:

7/1 Captiva ospreys: Wow, what a day! Darling did not have any food yesterday (except a fish tail). On 6/30 Edie delivered three fish to the nest, but one of the fish went overboard during the melee between the sibs fighting over the fish, and Ding ate the other two fish. This morning, Darling woke up ‘hangry’, and was quite aggressive toward Ding. Darling attacked Ding in the nest and chased her off the nest many times. But, the young fledglings were soon having issues with an intruder, an osprey that was believed to be male. The intruder was buzzing the nest, and flying toward the nest with talons extended. It was also in pursuit of Ding several times when Ding flew from the nest. Almost every time Ding returned to the nest, she was attacked by Darling, and many times Darling pushed her off the nest. Darling also prevented Ding from landing in the nest several times. At 0852 Darling was attempting to force Ding off the nest, and the intruder landed on Darling, and forced Darling off the nest! At 0925 Darling was attacked again by the intruder. Finally, at 1053 Edie showed up with a large fish, and Ding got it. The intruder landed on the right perch and Edie chased it off and flew in pursuit of the intruder. At 1208 Edie delivered a large partial fish and Darling got that one (the viewing crowd went wild!). It was Darling’s first meal in about 42 hours. Chow down, Darling! Edie brought a fish at 1544, and that one also went to Darling. At 1801 Edie delivered a partial fish that went to Ding, so each osplet had two fish for the day. It was quite an educational day for the young ospreys. It was good for Darling to be assertive, and good for Ding to experience the new and improved Darling. And, Ding and Darling had their first significant encounter with an intruder. They will learn from all of these experiences to help prepare them to face the world on their own.

7/1 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: There have been a couple of rare occasions of Big beaking Little, but not at meals. Everyone gets to eat at the feedings, and Little is often front and center at Mom’s beak. The kids are looking good and getting big.

7/2 Colonial Beach osprey nest: David and Betty are doing a nice job of parenting, and their 7 and 8-day-old nestlings are doing well.

7/2 Osoyoos osprey nest: The live stream has been offline since Saturday afternoon.

Thanks so much, ‘H’.

This is a beautiful view of the Glaslyn Valley in Wales. It is home of Aran and Elen and their chicks are being ringed at the moment.

Beaumont and Hope welcomed the arrival of their second chick, from egg 3 ( egg 2 DNH) on Monday. Beaumont is bringing in lots of fish and Hope is feeding the chicks well. Fingers crossed!

Have you checked on those two beautiful osplets at the Patchogue nest on Long Island lately?

You might want to watch Blue 1RO at Rutland Water. Maya and Blue 33’s Only Bob will be fledging soon! What a gorgeous bird.

The latest edition of Cornell’s Living Birds is out and there is a nice article on how to bring birds to your garden.

To-Bring-Birds-to-Your-Garden-Grow-Native-Plants_-Heres-How-to-Get-Started-_-All-About-Birds-All-About-Birds Download

Some of you will have read the news that a male Bald Eagle, a few miles out of the territory of M15 and F23, was hit by a vehicle while on the road. It was NOT M15. Please relax if you were worried, but also tell people to slow down. Animals are killed every day by the hundreds because of speeding motorists.

You will have noted through Heidi’s reports that the nest at Forsythe New Jersey of Opal and Oscar never has enough fish. Here is the map of the huge trawlers (I am embarrassed Omega is a Canadian registered company) leaving the waters of Virginia and heading to the NJ area. Want to know why there is not fish for the Ospreys? This is your answer! The ships need to be banned. I understand that this is also the nursery of the East Coast Striped Bass and Rockfish and they are being wiped out.

There are elections coming up in some of these areas. If you live here, talk to the candidates. Try and get this stopped before it is too late.

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

Thank you to the following for their questions, comments, notes, announcements, postings, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, C, EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, WX Chasing, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Mary Cheadle, Cowlitz PUD, Clark PUD, Boulder County, Seaside Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, SK Hideaways, Eastern Imperial Eagles RU, LDG, Eagle Club of Estonia, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, IWS/Explore, BoPH, Window to Wildlife, Fortis Exshaw, Colonial Beach, Newfoundland Power, PSEG, LRWT, SWFlorida Eagle Cam, William Dunn -Menhaden- Little Fish, Big Deal FB, and Cornell’s Living Bird.

Sunday in Bird World

30 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

In Canada, it is a long weekend. Canada Day is tomorrow. I wonder how many towns and cities will opt to do something for the environment instead of burning hundreds of thousands of dollars in fireworks??? Then on the 4th it is Independence Day in the US and I am certain there are other holidays around the world coming up. Fireworks need to be banned. We can celebrate without them and use the money for good works – and no balloons. Oh, I sound like a tired record and just yesterday I saw balloons all over the trees at a house for a party!

We are carefully watching the hurricane in the Caribbean. It will impact the island of Grenada where my DIL and friends are (son in Asia) as well as all the wildlife in the area and other islands. Even on the fringes, they are predicting 100 mph winds.

Thinking of Blue KW0 and our friends in Barbados, too. Stay safe everyone.

In the garden, Dyson was enjoying the need seed cylinder.

Later, one of the many Little Reds came to have some seeds, too.

Everyone has been accounted for in the garden except Hedwig, the rabbit. Mr Crow has been very noisy today. The Starlings have returned, and he isn’t happy. Of course, it doesn’t help that ‘The Boyfriend’ (Calico’s former outside Tuxedo cat friend) likes to eat the cheesy dogs. That seems to set Mr Crow off in the wrong direction. There are many baby sparrows around trying to ruin my herbs and beans!

On Saturday, I posted the update from The Woodland Trust on the Loch Arkaig nest of Dorcha and Louis in western Scotland. We will wait to see what is decided regarding the chicks. No one wants Louis to be injured or ill. At the same time, no one wants the chicks and Dorcha to be hungry and become weak. It is a very delicate situation.

This is the Daily Summary from Geemeff:

Daily summary Saturday 29th June 2024

Midnight, and a tumultuous day ends. What started with the triumphal return of Louis in the morning, seemingly unharmed and bearing a fish, quickly turned to worry as he only brought half a fish and the dominant chick got most of that. The irony was that just as licensed raptor expert Lewis was preparing to climb the nest tree and hand-feed each chick a mackerel as he’d done the previous day, Louis appeared with fish, and inadvertently cost the chicks the chance of a solid meal. It was around 8pm before Louis returned with a second half fish, and the submissive chick was bullied away from the fish and not allowed to eat, forcing it to seach for scraps and eat bits of grass. The fish tally now stands at two hundred and fifty three including Dorcha’s contribution of one fish. There was much discussion on the forum, often at great length, of the best way forward, but behind the scenes, George and Woodland Trust Scotland were consulting the experts and a plan has been drawn up. This includes Lewis feeding the chicks tomorrow and a strong possibility of the chicks joining a translocation programme under the auspices of the UK’s foremost raptor expert, Roy Dennis. Link to George’s comprehensive post outlining the details: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15217474. In other news, Garry LV0 visited Nest One twice, and was in turn visited by a male Osprey who looked like Prince, the mate of sometime visitor Affric 152. It was wet and windy overnight and rained on and off during the day – tonight’s forecast is for drizzle and light winds, with the prospect of a cloudy but mostly dry day tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.55.42 (03.27.10); Nest Two 23.14.07 (03.56.34)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/eNupYkdkQ8w N2 The welcome reappearance of Louis, bringing fish number one 08.26.37

https://youtu.be/Q6y-LYkhTFo N1 Garry LV0 is intruded on – is it Prince? 09.20.18

https://youtu.be/eANzFRFw8ik N1 Garry LV0 returns with a stick 09.34.07

https://youtu.be/T1ef16z0eKs N2 Fish number two, but only one chick gets to eat 19.56.39

https://youtu.be/TiKtuGDYD4I N2 Submissive chick desperate for food eats grass 20.21.57

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

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

UPDATE: The fish fairies came and fed the chicks and left fish. Words is that the chicks also fed themselves and it looks like Dorcha had a good meal, too. Thank you, Woodland Trust.

Louis did come in at breakfast with a half of a trout for his family. Something is obviously wrong. Get well, Louis. You are trying!

I had a question from a reader, ‘RM’: ‘What happened to the little osplet that always got picked on whose name began with a ‘T’? Turns out this is Tuffy! And I was so glad to report that Tuffy fledged and that s/he returns to the nest often for fish! While I was telling them Tuffy was on the natal nest waiting and watching for a delivery. Ruffie and Tuffy are doing so well. Great parents. Good location for fish.

At The Campanile, Aurora and Nox show up to let us see how well they are doing! Just lovely.

Still around San Jose, too. So nice to see the fledglings.

Osprey babies in care…lots of them. If you re in the area and you fish, why not drop some off?

I hope to get out and see these two Skylark and Heidi flying around chasing their parents for fish in August before they leave on migration. The photo is by Don Dennis and Connie Dennis is the admin for the Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB page. These two are real beauties. They are growing nice and strong due to lots of fish availability.

Port Lincoln wants to install more platforms. They have done an amazing job! The community spirit behind this Osprey project is incredible.

Some nests had trouble raising three chicks, some had trouble with two, and a few raised four!

The four at McEuan Park in Idaho are doing well.

The four at Field Farm are super. We sure didn’t know if Mini Little would make it, but the spunk of that kid in the face of those big siblings just makes your heart beat a little faster. You actually have to look really close to figure out which one is Mini Little – bet this feisty bird is a female. That would account for the increasing growth and the tenacity.

When the fourth egg at Poole Harbour hatched, my heart sank. I just didn’t know if CJ7 and Blue 022 could do it, but gosh, golly, they did. Look at those beautiful babies!

The other nest with four, ‘H’ reminds me, was Forsythe and they are now three. One died.

There has been concern over the past week for the leg of the second hatch at the Bridge Golf course osprey nest on Long Island. Heidi gives us the latest:

The Green Ledge Light Preservation Society on Long Island has named this year’s three osplets: Goose, Peach, and Shea!

At Newfoundland Power, Hope eats about 10 bites to every one she feeds her chick but, luckily, Beaumont has brought in some nice fish and the baby is getting fed. Gosh, could we hope for a fledge. Last chick to survive on this nest was in 2019. All others have starved. Hoping other 2 eggs are non-viable.

Ferris Akel caught up with Big Red, Arthur, and N1 and N2 on Saturday.

The Ns together on the adjacent light tower to their nest.

Big Red on Bradfield ready to roost for the night.

Arthur flying to Bradfield.

He arrives.

In Australia, ‘A’ reports on the WBSE: “Lady slept on the nest last night, brooding her egg. She has not left the nest at all today, except for a three-minute period when she backed up for a PS and a stretch. When Dad brought in some bedding at 08:23, she took the opportunity to fly off, perhaps for some breakfast, but not before making it clear to Dad that the egg needed brooding. So he settled down to keep it warm until her return. So far, we don’t have a second egg, but I expect Lady to lay one some time today. I would be really surprised if she only has the one, though she is ageing, so I suppose it is possible that the number of eggs laid could drop from two to one at some point for that reason alone.

There was no verbal communication between Dad and Lady but she was confident to leave him with the egg, knowing he would incubate it until her return. It was obvious. She would not have left the egg otherwise. So I enjoyed that little moment of non-verbal communication between two birds that know each other so intimately. I love that they are together year-round, not migrating alone like the ospreys (I think that is such strange behaviour) or spending years living a solitary life at sea like the albatrosses. “

‘A’ sends news that we have another egg in Sydney: “We knew the second egg had to arrive today, and tonight it did. The egg was unattended for only 17 minutes in total today, and last night it was incubated overnight, so with 75 hours between the two eggs, we will be hopeful the delayed incubation does its job and gives us two hatches about a day apart. Talons crossed. This pair is so bonded, they don’t even need to communicate verbally any more. It is lovely to watch them working together like the well-oiled team they are. I cannot believe we have two eggs already – it is freezing cold here, mid-winter. Yet this is a normal schedule for these two so I’m sure they know what they’re doing. I just hope there is not too much rain – young chicks certainly do not need to be in damp nests, as we know too well.”

Later…

‘A’ comments on Iris and Finnegan and their chicks: “Finn brought in a lovely fish for an early breakfast at Hellgate this morning – well before 6.30am – and he had not eaten himself. Nor did he fight Iris for the fish. He delivered it immediately for the chicks to be fed and waited on the perch until they’d been fed. Also noteworthy was the fact that Little Bob was first to the beak (as usual), with Big Bob using his height to lean over Little Bob when offered a bite. But Iris fed Little Bob first, then Big Bob. No aggression from Big Bob, who happily waited for its little brother to eat. Little Bob has hit the reptilian phase himself and no longer looks like the cute fluffy chick he was only a couple of days ago. He is getting his oily look, though he’s still not woolly like Big Bob.

These two are doing wonderfully well, but I am worried at how exhausted Iris is. She lights up when she feeds her babies, though. She is patient and careful and dedicated to them both. I keep feeling more and more that you may well be right, and I hate to think of Iris having to migrate at the end of this season. That thought genuinely terrifies me. She is going to be put under massive physical stress by that, and as the climate changes, there’s no guarantee the area she winters in will have any fish for her, with temperatures soaring above 50C in some of those north African countries. So I am desperately worried for her, though like you, I believe if this season is the last time we see her, we can be happy that she spent this year doing what she obviously loves doing the most. What a mother she is. I’m so grateful to have been able to see her raising chicks. ” “Breakfast at Hellgate today was timely and large, and the kids were fine until early afternoon, but by the time Finn brought in a nice fresh whole fish at 17:50, Iris still had a good crop but the chicks looked a bit hungry. As always, the osplets lined up nicely at the table, and Iris favours Little Bob early in the feeding. Both osplets attempt to eat literally from each other’s beaks but there is no aggression. Each chick is prepared to wait for their turn, and Iris feeds a few bites to one, then a couple to the other. She feeds them and feeds them until their crops are bloated with fish, but I think they still need more frequent feedings. I may have missed some feedings today though – I am going only on the crops, which appeared to be essentially non-existent when the late afternoon tea arrived.

By 18:09 Big Bob is crop-dropping to fit in the bites mum is giving him/her. Little Bob has given up on trying to hold his crop up and is lying down at mum’s feet, watching Big Bob attempting to stuff in even more fish. He looks impressed. By 18:10:30, Iris has swallowed the tail and quite a bit of attached fish. The osplets are full, but Big Bob has a nibble on some leftover fish. Iris is having a lot to say to Finn, who has returned to the nest, but I’m unsure what she is saying. His snake eyes make it clear he is not happy that there are no leftovers for him! He did deliver the fish whole, after all. But Iris and the two chicks demolished it entirely in slightly over 20 minutes. “

H’ reports:

6/29 Captiva osprey nest: Edie and Darling both returned to the nest today! Darling had not been in the nest since 6/27 when Ding had been very territorial and aggressive toward Darling and forced him off the nest. The past two days, we had seen Darling in a few flybys, and we had heard him, so we knew he was okay. Well…apparently in the 48 hours that Darling was off the nest, he spent some time thinking about his big sister Ding. I can just see him shaking his head, and shuffling his feet back and forth on a nearby branch, staring at Ding on the nest… and he came to the conclusion that he simply wasn’t going to accept Ding’s bossy ways. “No siree…that’s my nest too!” Darling wanted to be back in his nest to try to get some fish from Mom and Dad. At 0929 Ding was in the nest, Darling landed, a scuffle broke out, and they both went overboard. At 1105 Jack delivered a partial fish to the Ding at the nest.

Now, about Edie… We had not seen Edie since 6/23. She had delivered fish for two days after her ‘fishing line incident’, so her absence was not thought to have anything to do with that. It was believed that she was exhausted and needed a break to recharge her batteries a bit. But, we didn’t know for sure, and we were worried about her. At 1219 Edie landed in the nest with a partial fish! We were thrilled to see her, but she looked a little thin. Ding grabbed the fish…but Darling flew in and he landed right on Ding’s back. They battled for the fish, Darling grabbed it and mantled, Ding tried to grab it, Darling maintained possession…but eventually Ding won the fish. At 1357 Edie brought a small piece of a catfish, and Darling got that one. The siblings spent the next couple of hours coming and going. At 1523 Darling was in the nest, and Ding flew in and chased Darling off the nest. Edie delivered a whole catfish at 1600 and Ding took possession. Finally, at 1718 Edie delivered a medium sized partial fish, and since Ding was still working on her catfish, there was no competition for this meal. After he finished his fish, Darling ate some of the catfish that Ding had left behind, and he had a nice crop. The two ‘non-besties’ spent the night sleeping in the nest. We hope that Darling gets a really big fish of his own tomorrow.

6/29 Osoyoos osprey nest: The fish deliveries by Olsen got off to a later start than usual. The first fish dropped off by Olsen was a medium sized whole fish at 0808, that Soo fed for 10 minutes. There was another fish at 0952 that provided a meal that lasted 11 minutes. At 1025, Olsen delivered a large whole fish that Soo fed to the chicks for 14 minutes. There were no more fish deliveries through 14:40 that I saw. When I next checked the cam, it turned out that the live stream went down at approximately 1515. The high temperature was 84F/29C, and the winds were 5-8 mph. For 6/30 the temp is predicted to be a little cooler, but with gustier winds.

6/29 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: Life at Canmore continues to be splendid for this osprey family. Louise sure did pick a fine mate in Harvie! Six good sized fish were brought to the nest, and I think there was a leftover fish, too. Louise fed some long meals to her kiddos. And, speaking of the kiddos…they love each other…well, I mean they get along great!

6/29 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s): There were only 4 meals for this little 15-day-old osplet. And, they went from 0625 to 1555 (9.5 hours) without eating. Three fish came in after that time, and June was able to feed her youngster meals lasting 18, 10, and 7 minutes in length. The high temp was only 80F, with light winds, so I can’t think of why Johnny may have had difficulty fishing. Being a Saturday, the waters in that area may have been crowded with recreational boaters and fishers.

6/29 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: 15-day-old Harbor, and 11-day-old Gray are doing well. There’s always lots of fish where they live, and they have a wonderful Mommy and Daddy. But, young Gray is often subjected to what most of the youngest osplets on a nest have to endure…that is dominance and aggression from their older sibling. Hang in there, Gray!

6/30 Colonial Beach: It seems that the youngest hatchling has died. It hatched overnight on 6/28. Our view is always partially blocked by some sticks, but we last saw movement of the baby on 6/29 at around noon. Fly high sweet osprey baby.

H’ reports also that it appears that a rescue is under way at Bridge Golf for the second chick with the injured/deformed leg.

‘PB’ reports about the state of the nest at Steelscape in WA on FB:

The Dyfi Osprey Project has posted the weight of their chicks over the years alongside some information I am attaching.

‘J’ writes that Actor Raymond Franco has a thing about Ospreys. You can check out the videos on his FB page.

Late word is coming in that the last osplet at Terrapin Bay could have been predated. Will update tomorrow.

Thanks for being with me today. Please take care. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, questions, announcements, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RM’, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Moorings Park, SK Hideaways, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Ospreys of Nova Scotia and Don Dennis, PLO, McEuan Park, Field Farm, BoPH, Heidi McGrue, Green Ledge Light Preservation Society, Newfoundland Power, Ferris Akel Tours, Sea Eagle Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Window to Wildlife, Osoyoos, Fortis Exshaw, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, The Dyfi Osprey Project, Ramon Franco FB, and Pam Breci.

Where is darling Louis? …Friday in Bird World

28 June 2024

Hello Everyone,

Thursday was not a good day. Indeed, it has been tearful and solemn. Our beloved Louis at Loch Arkaig has not been seen on camera since 1151 local time on Wednesday. Intense storms with gale-force winds in the area almost blew the two osplets off the nest. Dorcha is trying to keep them safe, and she did fly off and returned with an eel so they would have something to eat. Geemeff writes, “Only one fish yesterday, and just the tail end of that. No fish today, so Dorcha went off and came back with an eel. Concern is growing for Louis.”

Many of you will have watched Loch Arkaig nest 1 during the pandemic where Louis and Aila raised three amazing osplets, JJ5, JJ6, and JJ7. Sadly Aila did not return and he bonded with Dorcha. Louis moved them from the Loch Arkaig nest 1 to the current nest where, sadly, the weather is worse. Louis has always been an amazing provider. My heart is breaking. It feels like someone hit me really hard in my abdomen. This just can’t be happening.

As Thursday passes, concerns continue to grow as Louis has not been seen all day after being perched in his favourite tree late on Wednesday by Liz Bracken who can view the area with her scope.

Dorcha is feeding the chicks but eating very little herself. She needs to eat, too. Oh, please come home safe, Louis.

Dorcha is desperately trying to protect her two chicks during the storm.

Geemeff’s report for Loch Arkaig:

Daily summary Thursday 27th June 2024

Midnight finally arrives to end a dreich day filled with worry over Louis – where is he? The usually reliable super-fisherbird hasn’t been seen for over 24 hours, and concern is growing. He only brought a partial fish to the nest yesterday and Dorcha and the chicks are hungry. So taking matters into her own talons, Dorcha went off and returned with an eel which she proceeded to feed to the very eager chicks, once again, she didn’t get much herself. Dorcha’s fish (yes, eels are fish) takes the tally to two hundred and fifty one. Despite the official forecast the weather has been atrocious and at one point, both chicks were nearly blown off the nest in a violent gust of wind. What’s described as a ‘moderate breeze’ and heavy rain soaking the nest and its occupants is set to continue until tomorrow afternoon when there is a prospect of some sunshine. As the chicks’ plumage isn’t fully waterproof as yet, Dorcha still needs to act as mumbrella to shelter them, which she can’t do if she’s off fishing. With luck, Louis will turn up tomorrow. No action on Nest One.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.38.27 (03.25.18); Nest Two 23.00.49 (03.57.48)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/BQMQTT_q0yg Dorcha goes fishing and brings back an eel 15.14.44 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/lJMENKfuHSI OMG! Chicks nearly blown off the nest! 15.16.18 (super slo-mo repeat)

Bonus read – something different to think about, here’s Woodland Trust’s guide to foraging and what’s in season:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2021/06/foraging-in-june

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/things-to-do/foraging/foraging-guidelines

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

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

This is the latest news from The Woodland Trust:

After taking advice we have decided to place some fish on the nest today if Louis or Dorcha do not bring anything in meantime. This could be within the next hour or two subject to legal clearance. The camera may be switched off for this to happen. Given the weekend is approaching, a licence is also being sought to remove the chicks from the nest so we have that option over the weekend if we need it. The advice we have received is that if Louis has not returned by the end of the weekend, then he likely will not be returning. That being the case it is unlikely Dorcha would be able to successfully raise the two chicks to the end of the season and migration. Even given her best efforts to protect them and fish, they would likely not make it. Enquiries have revealed that among the options there is potential for the chicks to go into an existing translocation programme for the benefit of the species. We won’t commit to that until we are sure Louis and Dorcha don’t have a good chance of continuing undisturbed to raise their family. The tricky thing is not intervening too soon when Louis might turn up at any moment, and not leaving it too late until the chicks won’t be in good enough condition to survive translocation. The advice we have is that it is too soon to write Louis off yet, but if he continues to be absent until late into the weekend then we should look at removing the chicks then. The licence to do that is being sought today, even if it is not needed in the end. In order to increase the chance of a successful outcome for the chicks should they be removed in a few days time, they are going to be fed today to tide them over for now. They may also be fed tomorrow. To provision the nest Lewis will climb the tree and leave fish. You will appreciate we have a lot to sort out and I may not be able to answer the many questions I am sure you will have. So please bear with us.

If you are interested in Ospreys in Canada, I have just joined the very informative Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB group run by Connie Dennis, who monitors the nest of Ethel and Oscar at Russell Lake in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Connie told me that the birds in Nova Scotia have “lots of fish”. My goodness, that makes me want to dance!

Ethel feeding Skyor and Heidi at the Russell Lake osprey nest in Nova Scotia. Photo credit: Connie Dennis.

There are no streaming cams but if you want to see some pretty well-fed babies head over to that group!

The trio at Charlo Montana – Charlie and Lola’s kids – are doing well. It has been raining but fish has come in and they seem fine.

I wish every nest had a Finnegan and, like all of you, I continue to be overjoyed that Iris has such an incredibly amazing wonderful magnificent mate!

‘A’ comments: “at Hellgate, Finn removed the fish from the nest around 07:15 and it was so heavy, he could hardly drag it off the nest, let alone lift it! I wondered why he didn’t just eat on the nest and feared he would drop it. And it appears that’s what must have happened, because although he had a good crop when he next returned, it was nowhere near the size it would have been if he’d eaten even a third of that fish. So obviously, he has dropped it, which is unfortunate, as it would have fed the entire family at least four big meals today. When Finn does come back at around 08:35, it is not with the remainder of the fish but with a huge branch. He then manoeuvres it into position and moves another large branch further around the nest. It appears he has noticed, as I have over the past 36 hours or so, that Big Bob is beginning to become very adventurous and is exploring the surface of the nest and heading out towards the rails on his own, sometimes even ending up out there at 3am and having to be brought back into the warmth of Iris’s underfluffies. Big Bob really does look to be right in the middle of his reptilian phase (I have to believe now that he is also a male, given how incredibly laid-back he is and how he tolerates Baby Bob in front of him for feedings, waiting to reach over to get a bite once Iris has stopped giving Little Bob consecutive bites, often for some time. Yesterday evening, she was feeding Little Bob for so long that I became worried Big Bob would lose patience, leaning over Little for a bite and continually missing out. Surely, he would become frustrated by this sooner or later. But no. Mum just kept feeding Little Bob until, essentially, he was too full to compete and sat down. The rain has now really set in (it’s nearly 9.30am and the camera keeps freezing) and although poor Iris is saturated, she still manages to keep both osplets absolutely dry. She is truly amazing – and the best mumbrella ever in both rain and sunshine. This is the most magical nest. First, of course, we have the gift from the gods that is Finnegan. Then, we have two viable eggs, both Finn’s, laid a full week apart, which both hatched. As if that were not enough, despite the serious concerns raised by the massive time and size discrepancy between the two hatches, we discover we have a second chick, nowhere near as well developed at hatch than was its much larger older sibling, that somehow still manages to get itself fed without any fear of getting to mum’s beak (once he could see it). And now, to cap it all off, we have a much older, larger sibling deep in the reptilian phase who still has not raised a talon or a beak in anger towards his younger sibling. So I can only think we have two brothers here. Surely even parents as devoted as Iris and Finn have demonstrated themselves to be could not have controlled the sibling aggression to this degree with a female first hatch and a male second hatch. It has been one miracle after another. Still, as we have seen, Iris is an amazingly experienced, patient and dedicated mum. She never ceases to impress me. And as for Finn, what a man. He has his quirks, but Iris really has found a keeper in this handsome, devoted young mate. You go girl! What a cougar she is. Oh don’t you just ADORE the way he feeds her? ” She continues, “I do wish Finn would stop removing the leftovers from the nest. He eats a huge meal from them, then doesn’t feel hungry and obviously doesn’t realise that the chicks cannot eat enough to get them through the long gaps between fish deliveries that are the result of this behaviour. It would be far better if Finn caught much smaller fish, but these gigantic fish that seem to be the only thing on offer at this location will be great in a few weeks’ time but at this stage is proving annoying. Still, Iris is ensuring that the babies are fed into a food coma every time she has the opportunity to do so, even if it means sacrificing the time to eat properly herself on occasion. Finn has fought her for the fish more than once while she is feeding the osplets, and she has had to insist that he leave it alone until she’s finished. (It’s as if he wants to show the fish off, then take it away and eat the head before returning it. But of course this excites the chicks, who then wonder what has happened to the fish, so Iris argues loudly about it and usually wins – at least temporarily.) It is this particular quirk of his that does lead me to believe this is his first time. He should know by now that babies need small, frequent feedings not two or at most three massive feedings a day. “

At Field Farm, all four osplets are feathered and accounted for! ‘A’ writes, “Mini was self-feeding at Field Farm yesterday. What a cutie he is. All four are looking wonderfully well. “

CJ7 and Blue 022’s chicks should be getting ringed soon. They, too, are doing quite well. Dedicated parents, good fish supplies. It all makes a difference.

Steelscape appears to be doing alright.

Salt Point is good.

At the Newfoundland Power nest, Hope continues to feed her chick.

At Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Mum is feeding the only surviving baby, too. Some relief. I hope these two mothers continue.

The weekly highlights in video for Richmond and Rosie in SF:

A message from Kelly Sorenson of the Ventana Wildlife Society:

My link to Thursday’s Condor Chat did not work. I asked ‘B’ to let me know if they found out anything about Aurora’s death. Here is what he reports, “There is no definitive answer on the cause of death for Aurora, but the possibility VWS considers to be most likely seems to be possible lead poisoning from contaminated prey that was fed to the chick. This is mainly because they report that they are seeing high lead concentrations in many of the birds that they have trapped. They were not able to recover Aurora’s body for analysis because the nest tree was so compromised by the Dolan fire that it would be too risky for a climber to retrieve the body. VWS says that Zenith, the father, consumed the remains, so if there is indeed lead poisoning there would be concern for Zenith’s health, and they will watch for that.

Neither mother Redwood Queen nor Zenith are currently vaccinated for avian flu. The fact that both Redwood Queen and Zenith seem to be healthy makes them think that avian flu is less likely to be the cause of Aurora’s death, but they will be watching Redwood Queen and Zenith for signs of illness, and both parents are now “at the top of the list” for trapping to be vaccinated. 28 out of 100 of the free-flying condors in the flock are currently vaccinated. 8 more have now received the first of two doses of vaccine in June and remain in isolation pens awaiting the second dose. (Only adults that are not nesting and juveniles can be vaccinated, so it has not been possible until now to vaccinate Redwood Queen or Zenith this year, since they were nesting until now,) Two more condors that were trapped recently were found to have high lead concentrations and have been taken to the Oakland Zoo for chelation treatment before they can be vaccinated.

One other potential cause for Aurora’s death that cannot ruled out is that s/he may have been attacked by a predator (even possibly by another condor) at night when Aurora was not visible on camera.”

Heidi will, no doubt, include this in her report. This attack reminds me of Ervie and his siblings after they fledged – out and out monstrous effort to keep the other away from the nest and food. Let us hope that neither is injured.

Heat. Dehydration. Lack of food.

‘J and PB’ called my attention to the report from FORE on Luna:

“6/27/24 Update on Luna’s Necropsy & the effects of extreme heat on eaglets & other nesting birds. I contacted our Raptor Rescue Angel Marily Woodhouse from Defiance Canyon to get an update on Luna’s remains & she shared this important information with me…

“I emailed with the Lab, and she said on the 21st that she would be getting the body in the next few weeks, when someone from the Redding office is going to Rancho Cordova. Luna’s body is being kept frozen at the CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife Office until transport. Dehydration is an effect, but the initial cause is high heat and/or becoming too weakened to eat for that and additional reasons. All young birds grow incredibly fast, but eagles go from less than a quarter lb. to 8-10 lbs. in 10 weeks, which is a high level of physical stress. It’s difficult to keep up, even in optimal conditions. Extreme conditions exacerbate the stress. When I looked at the temperatures for the 10 days from June 5th to June 14th when Sol died, the average high this year was 101; in 2023 the average high for the same 10 days was only 88. An article in the Guardian today talks about the heat issues, focusing on people, who have more ability to escape than an un-flighted bird:

“One degree celsius of warming may sound relatively small but it can translate into quite substantial impacts as it’s an average and the extremes of that average can cause much higher likelihoods of deaths from heatwaves, as well as agricultural impacts and wildfires,” she said.

Here is the article in The Guardian, FORE is referring to. We need to realise that heat and lack of food is going to kill so many, many more and that where possible we should provide supplementary fish:

Visualized-the-parts-of-the-US-where-summer-heat-has-risen-the-most-Extreme-heat-The-Guardian Download

In case you do not open files, here is the map. You will see that many of the problematic nests are within the upper heat reaches of 3 C.

It is the hard reality of our heating world and how terrible the impact is going to be on our beloved friends.

Oh, how lovely to see them. Larry and mate visit their Alcatraz scrape!

Look at that crop on Tuffy! Just saying…when food is plentiful.

Ferris Akel caught up with the Ns and with Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus Thursday evening.

Big Red is moulting. She will be ‘Blondie’ soon.

One of the Ns.

Big Red and Arthur on Bradfield at the end of a busy day.

David Gessner’s book on Flaco, the Eurasian Owl, that escaped from the Central Park Zoo, who died nearly a year after gaining his freedom, will be released in 2025.

‘H’ reports:
6/28 Colonial Beach had their third hatch overnight.

6/27 Osoyoos osprey nest: The live stream resumed at 0930. It is not uncommon for Olsen to deliver three fish by that time of the morning, and when the cam went live, we could see a partial fish in the nest. Soo fed meals from that piece of fish at 1007 and 1044, finally finishing the fish at 1057. There were two more fish delivered that I saw. A large whole fish was delivered at 1513, that Soo fed for 11 minutes, and finally a bedtime snack fish at 1829. Things are looking good for this bunch.

6/27 Forsythe osprey nest: Due to Bigs dominance, Middle had not had very much to eat for a couple of days. There were four fish delivered to the nest, including one from Opal. The first fish of the day, at 0856, was a very large fish from Oscar, that Opal fed for 55 minutes. Big was determined not to allow Middle to eat. Despite the long meal, Middle was only able to eat 20 bites of fish! Almost seven hours passed before Opal delivered the next fish at 1550. It was a good size fish that she fed for 18 minutes. Early on, Middle managed to position himself on the opposite side of Opal from Big, and Opal fed both of the siblings. Sometimes, the moms will inexplicably move the fish, and blow the cover of the underdog osplet being fed to one side. I was worried that Opal might do that…but she didn’t. Middle ate for 18 minutes. Middle was not able to get to Opal’s beak at the third meal consisting of a tiny fish. At 1753 Oscar brought a fish that Opal fed for 13 minutes, and Middle was able to be fed on the opposite side from Big for 10 minutes. One day at a time.

6/27 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s Fish House): There were six meals averaging about 12-15 minutes in duration. This lil’ 13-day-old baby is growing, getting plump, and looking good.

6/27 Captiva Ospreys: It has been an unusual, but successful season for Jack and Edie, and their two offspring. Most of us always root for the underdog, youngest osplet. Darling was younger by only 36 hours. But, the siblings may as well have been three days apart in their ages, based on the degree of dominance from the older sibling, Ding. Darling fought for his meals on an almost daily basis, including surviving a 3.5 day period of starvation. Darling is a survivor.

Darling fledged on 6/26. On 6/27 Darling flew back to the nest for the first time, and made a good landing. Unfortunately, the fledgling Ding no longer wants to share the nest with him. Ding acted very aggressively toward Darling for nearly half an hour, eventually forcing him off the nest.

Ding’s instinct is simply one of survival. Ding is not being ‘mean’. She is a strong osprey, and that is a good thing to be. Ding is territorial, and now only sees Darling as competition for food that a parent may bring to the nest. Jack has been delivering five fish a day to the nest for Ding and Darling. Today, Jack brought three fish to Ding at the nest. Perhaps Jack took two fish to Darling on a branch. That would be more fish than Darling would get after food fights with Ding on the nest.

We were very glad to see Darling this morning. We may or may not see Darling again on camera. This is not an unprecedented turn of events at some raptor nests after fledging. Jack will continue to bring fish to Darling away from the nest, Darling will learn how to fish, and he will continue to be a survivor.

Many thanks to the wise and capable Mods of the Captiva live stream, for assisting us with our thought processes on these events.

‘PB’ reports that Baby Cowlitz had 75 bites of fish Friday morning and is a survivor! How wonderful. It will live another day. Wish for fish! And gentle siblings.

Thank you so very much for being with me today. This was a hop skip and jump through some nests with some information on what is impacting our most loved birds. Take care of yourself. See you soon!

Thank you to the following who sent me comments, notes, for their posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today. I could not do it without you! ‘A, B, CD, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Connie Dennis, Ospreys of Nova Scotia, Cowlitz PUD, Charlo Montana, Montana Osprey Project, Field Farm, BoPH, Steelscape Ospreys, Salt Point, Newfoundland Power Snow Lane Osprey Cam, MN Landscape Arboretum, Ventana Wildlife Society, Heidi McGrue, FORE, The Guardian, SK Hideaways, Moorings Park, Ferris Akel Tours, David Gessner FB, Colonial Beach, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Forsythe Ospreys, Window to Wildlife, and Cowlitz PUD.

Darling Fledges…Thursday in Bird World

27 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Oh, the solar-powered fountain for the bird bath has arrived. It is not as hot today, only 20 C. I will see if anyone enjoys it. – Well, not so far. I think they are afraid of the shower.

It is nice to wake up and converse with people thousands of miles away about Ospreys and their lack of food. I am specifically speaking of Menhaden in the Northeast US but, of course, warming water and pollution plus overfishing in other areas cause huge problems as well for our beloved fish eating raptors. What the folks at Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal and I hope to do is bring enough attention to bear on the issue of Osprey population decimation due to lack of fish that we can cause a ban on commercial fishing and get all of the authorities involved in cleaning up areas and restoring them as clean natural habitats. I am certain that those in the 1970s calling for a DDT ban faced similar challenges and the Osprey, at the time, was the canary in the mine. They certainly are again. It would be fantastic if each of us could add a voice and make a huge difference. We would all sleep better at night.

Our Ospreys in the NE USA depend on the Menhaden. Educate yourself with what is happening. This is one FB group that will. I will also post articles in the coming days.

So today I am reaching out to those watching osprey nests anywhere along the eastern coast of the US or on the Mississippi. If you have seen a nest fail, a nest where there has been a lack of food and chicks die, please send me the name of the nest and the link to the camera or web page, if possible, and anything you can remember. If you know what kind of fish they were primarily eating, even more better. Dale Neal writes to me, “Thank you, if we can show there are issues in other places along the coast, that could be large. I know herring forage fish populations are also an issue in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, not sure how many of the osprey problems further north may be related to that.” Any information will help, no matter how small and even how insignificant you might think it is. Every piece adds up to the big picture of depleted fishing stocks. Thank you so much – from the tip of my tiny little toe.

My first thought is that inland osprey nests are doing better than those along the East Coast and up in Washington and BC. This has to be proven – or disproven. If it is true (except for severe weather issues) then why? Is it a lack of fish? warm waters? over commercial fishing? or all of the above?

Let’s go with the bad news first and that comes from ‘PB’ who has been watching the Cowlitz PUD nest and Steelscape. The third hatch at Cowlitz PUD is starving to death. It has had little food for the past 2 days. It sounds cold. It is no longer trying to eat, even if a big fish is there. Poor thing. Their organs begin to go and something like cancer patients, the desire to eat leaves them. It is terrible. And it is happening repeatedly at nests we cannot see due to a sheer lack of food. I have yet to learn precisely what is happening in this area this year. Still, historically, it has been difficult because of competition with eagles who take the fish from the Osprey, according to Cowlitz PUD staff.

Electra is off the nest and may have gone fishing. Send this nest your positive energy.

In the UK, attention is coming to the plight of the Golden Eagles and the Peregrine Falcons with some good news coverage of the people who protect and help find evidence to convict.

South-Scotland-golden-eagles-peregrines-feature-on-BBCs-Countryfile-and-Landward-programmes-–-Rap Download

On Tuesday Finn had a tough day fishing. Only two came to the nest – very early morning and late evening. Iris was very anxious when he came in with a whole fish on Wednesday morning and she wanted to feed her babies and not let him take that fish. Finn was hungry, too and you can bet Iris was as well.

Everyone on the nest and kids still eating after 10.

Iris and Finn had a good meal with the kids.

Finn brought in another whopper! Is anyone going to be hungry?

Finnegan’s fish is huge. Iris called and he brought it to the nest. Oldest chick eating first, but we know that this fish is so big that both chicks will be filled to the brim with even some crop drops and Iris will have some nice fish, too. Finn ate the head.

Iris makes certain her smallest chick eats.

‘R’ sent us a great little clip from a local radio show about Iris and Finnegan. Thanks, ‘R’. I was so impressed with Dr Greene’s excitement. By now, Iris must be like his own daughter and he is cheering Finnegan on!!!!

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/26/nx-s1-5009211/followers-of-iris-the-osprey-celebrate-her-chicks-hatching

‘A’ comments on Finnegan and his fish: “No-one is going to go hungry on this nest. They ate last night from a fish Finn brought in around 6pm and they ate until they couldn’t eat any more and then Little Bob took a break and Big Bob kept eating, until Little Bob finally snapped out of his food coma and came back for seconds. There were still leftovers, which Finn claimed later.

This morning, that fish came early and it was huge! Absolutely massive. Finn had removed the head, having gone fishing very early this morning. He’s being a really good dad. These chicks are going to make very little dent in this monstrous fish. It really is the biggest of the season so far I think. Again last night, he spent the whole night on the perch, protecting his family. He has been doing this for several consecutive nights now – perhaps a week.

You could be right that he HAS done this before, but I still think he was very clumsy around the nest early on and has been learning quite a lot during the season. He is a quick learner, and his fathering is continuing to improve. So if he has, he is still very young. I cannot get over how handsome he is. Just a magnificent osprey. “

Oh, you have been waiting and they are back! The Dorset Eurasian Hobbies!!!!!!! They are incubating three eggs. There is a new basket for the birds and a new camera with IR. There is also a chatHere’s the link:

Precious osprey chicks in Latvia. It is estimated that the osprey population in Latvia has doubled since the 1990s with there being approximately 200 nesting couples in the forests. They make their nests on the tops of the tallest trees.

That second hatch at the Golden Eagle nest #2 in Estonia is truly brilliant. It is not having any difficulty self-feeding as compared to the #1 hatch who occasionally has problems. Both are doing well and this nest will really help inform studies on Golden Eagle behaviour. Plenty of food, good parenting – there does not have to be siblicide.

Great Bay Trio look fantastic.

At Field Farm, even Mini Little is getting some nice juvenile feathers.

Four beautiful civilised Bobs at the Poole Harbour nest of CJ7 and Blue 022. If you ever get to Poole Harbour, go for the Osprey cruise. You might get to see one of these amazing ospreys.

‘MM’ writes: ” found a new nest today but I’m sure it’s already on your radar but If not there are two more of the cutest chicks to add to your list. They are so little and absolutely adorable 😍 I only had a chance to watch one feeding today but will keep an eye on them as much as time allows me. From what I learned through a quick Google search the nest is on a horse ranch in Montana. Attacking a pic of the two cuties. Have a great day.” I haven’t had a chance to check on Swoop and Winnie. I am so glad that ‘MM’ did. Aren’t they adorable!?

Loveland Colorado osplets doing really well, too. Gosh they are lovely in those juvenile feathers.

Gorgeous babies at the Mashpee NWR MA osplet platform. There are three of them- oh, they are feathered and appear to be really healthy.

Did anyone follow the Pleasant Hill Osprey Platform in Perrysville, Ohio?

Two beauties at the Blackwater Refuge in Cambridge, MA.

We are sadly up to 86 on the Memorial Wall. The second osplet at Terrapin Cove in New Jersey died from lack of fish on Wednesday. Fell off nest.

The surviving chick at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum looks pretty good.

At the Allin’s Cove East nest, the adults continue to make adjustments to the rails. Will there be a hatch soon? Let’s hope!

LGL returns to feed the Royal Cam chick a squid smoothie.

Columbia science create an artificial tropical rain forest to try and save the Harpy Eagle.

In-Colombia-a-long-perilous-romance-to-save-the-harpy-eagle Download

USS Steel Fledgling Lucky is believed to have been spotted after many worried about whether or not he had survived. Such good news.

The trio all lined up at Charlo Montana!

Once in awhile, Hope feeds her first hatch at the Newfoundland Power nest in Snow Lane.

‘H’ reports:

6/26 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: The chicks are 12 and 8-days-old, and have been named “Harbor” and “Gray.” From AudubonGloria (Mod): “These names come from the two year-round seal species that are found in Maine, which can be frequently spotted right in Muscongus Bay off the Hog Island docks and Boat House.” Young ‘Harbor’ has started to express its dominance over ‘Gray’, with some serious beaking and biting (aww, poor lil’ Gray!). So far, this aggression has not seemed to prevent Gray from eating.

6/26 Forsythe osprey nest: Sometimes one can try to piece together some missing nest history after a live stream has been down for a couple of days. It seems as though fishing in the area has become difficult for Oscar and Opal. There were only four fish delivered to the nest by Oscar today… two were small, one was tiny, and one was a good size fish. I noticed that the dominance by the older sibling has returned after the nest had been peaceful for at least a week. Big was aggressive and was trying to prevent Middle from eating. Middle ate for five minutes at the longest meal, and only had five bites of fish at another meal. Opal left the nest for a couple of extended periods, so she may have tried to fish as well. The osplets are 36 and 35-days-old.

6/26 Osoyoos osprey nest: They had a very good day. There were only six fish brought to the nest before the live stream went down in the evening. But, one fish was large and another fish was officially considered an Osoyoos Whopper! The kids were all bug-eyed…they had never seen such a large fish. Nicely done, Olsen! Since there were no fish with tough skin, you can judge the mass of the fish by the duration of the meal times. The first five meals took Soo 8, 10, 12, 8, and 22 minutes to feed (there were no minnows today). And, at 1715 Soo fed 1/2 of the whopper for 28 minutes! That’s fantastic for this nest.

6/26 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: It was banding day for the osplets…they all got their silver Federal bands. They were banded in the morning, and there were no complimentary fish left on the nest by the banding crew. So, their feedings got off to a late start, and perhaps due to the stress of banding, Big resumed her aggressive ways toward Little. Nevertheless, they all ate very well today.

6/26 Captiva Osprey nest: Some viewers are a little disappointed at this stage in the osplets life, because the oldest, Ding, acquires (sometimes after fierce battles) most of the fish brought to the nest. This is fairly typical however, and Darling is not starving. Darling did eat 1/2 catfish in the morning, and a small part of a catfish later in the day. Jack is doing a fantastic job, and brought five fish for his youngsters today. We also witnessed what appeared to be Ding making her first dive today!

But, the really BIG NEWS: DARLING FLEDGED at 63 days of age! Well, it wasn’t exactly planned…the siblings had been in a prolonged epic battle for the last fish of the day. Then, trying a different tactic, Darling was playing it cool, trying to act all nonchalant, and sort of casually walked around Ding (but Ding was on to him, lol). When Darling went for the grab, Ding made a big wing slap at Darling, and in order to avoid the strike, Darling propelled himself off the nest. It was actually a nice take off, and he immediately flew! Darling flew two circuits around the nest area. Darling did not return to the nest in the evening.

Sydney Sea Eagles, Lady laid her first egg. ‘J’ adds: “27th June, 2024 – 17:28 Lady finally laid her first egg of 2024! Dad joined Lady in the nest bowl, till he realised he wasn’t going to be able to help. Lady then got down to business and a few minutes later, one big push and SE33 arrived.”

https://www.facebook.com/Sea.EagleCAM

Thank you, Heidi. My goodness that is good news at Osoyoos! Congratulations Darling and well, the season has begun down under!

Geemeff brings us her report for all the activities at Loch Arkaig:

Daily summary Wednesday 26th June 2024

Well, there’s not a lot to say – Louis seems to be having a rest as he only delivered one fish to the nest, and that was merely the remains of his large meal, and then spent the rest of the day perched nearby. Dorcha fed it to the chicks and got very little herself. She kept calling over to Louis without response – will he spring into action and go catch a fish before the day ends? His all-time late delivery record, set just a few days ago on the 23rd, is 23.45.37 so there was still time but no fish appeared. That one fish takes his tally to two hundred and fifty. No action on Nest One today, there was a bit of light rain overnight, and more expected tonight with a forecast of light rain showers and a gentle breeze.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.09.10 (02.06.06); Nest Two 23.34.54 (03.49.01)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/AITavG2FXxw Fish number one, small trout remnant, Dorcha gets very little 11.51.50

Bonus read – BTO history of ringing (you might be surprised at how long it’s been carried out):

https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/bird-ringing-scheme/about-ringing/history-ringing

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

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

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, MM, PB, R’, Dale Neal, Raptor Persecution UK, MontanaOsprey Project, npr.org, Dorset Hobby Camera, LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Great Bay, Field Farm, BoPH, Dunrovin Ranch, Pam Breci, HDonTap, Ildiko A Pork, MN Landscape Arboretum, Allin’s Cove East, Cornell Bird Lab, pays.org, Gracie Shepherd, Charlo Montana, Newfoundland Power (Snow Lane), Audubon Boat House, Forsythe Ospreys, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Sea Eagle Cam, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust.

Wednesday in Bird World

26 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that the first half of the week has treated you well. Thank you so much for your notes and the news that you sent that arrived in my Inbox this morning (Wednesday). I will put those great items in for tomorrow! So appreciated.

I could not believe the number of Blue Jays in the garden Tuesday afternoon. A pest control person would say we have an ‘infestation’ of Blue Jays – there were 16 in the garden at once. No, not some flying in and out and being counted twice, but sixteen! What an amazing feeling to see so many. Ever since I was luring Calico into the house and met people from another street near where I live, I realised that many people were feeding the birds and the feral cats. It has helped to increase the population numbers.

Below are some lousy images taken through the conservatory windows with the iPhone.

Too many choices!

This one loved digging in the plant pot.

This Blue Jay really wanted a peanut, but one of Dyson’s kits was on the table feeder. This one is also moulting but have a look at those beautiful markings especially around the eye. Looks like it has been practising the latest look with the kohl markers.

The markings around the eye are entirely different on this one. Gosh, I love Blue Jays. These images will go in the file form last summer to see if I can identify any of the birds.

Hope is almost ready for her first birthday and she has the most beautiful eyes. She has only to stare at me and I melt – not beautiful Baby Blues but Baby Greens.

Hugo Yugo has the most beautiful tail. It is as big as she is!

While Omega is taking record catches of Menhaden (its quota), the Ospreys in the Bay area are noted to be having difficulty finding food. This is the saddest thing I can think of. The ASMFC makes the quota and every state is represented. IF we want our ospreys to have food and not have their population completely decimated then the people that make quota decisions need to understand that commercial fishing of Menhaden needs to stop and stop now. The list of those decision-makers is below.

I also learned this: “The Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay are two separate ecosystems.Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) uses ocean only survey data from NOAA on Menhaden to set an Ocean and Bay quota. No wonder the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is on the verge of collapse – the 112M lb Bay quota is set by throwing darts.” (Brain Collins, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal FB).

Commissioners-Atlantic-States-Marine-Fisheries-Commission Download

‘EJ’ sent me some great news about the intentional release of balloons. In Florida, it is now against the law. You can still have balloons, you just cannot intentionally let them fly free. But what about those accidents? Now can we get an all out ban on the use of balloons for anything? Just ban them. People who leave them tied to the gate posts on their drive cause as much trouble as those who release them into the air. They still get into the environment. Just take the big step and ban them.

DeSantis-signs-law-banning-intentional-release-of-balloons-Fox-News Download

A Himalyan Vulture has been photographed in Armenia for the first time.

Western-Palearctics-first-Himalayan-Vulture-photographed-in-Armenia-BirdGuides Download

England is getting another protected area in Cumbria. It may be baby steps to some but any success is worth the effort!!!!!

Englands-largest-rainforest-becomes-protected-reserve-BirdGuides Download

Waiting for hatch at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

All is well with CJ7 and Blue 022 at Poole Harbour and their four osplets. One is wanting to nibble and get that fish away from Dad!

The two Golden Eaglets at Estonian nest 2 Kaljukotkas are the sweetest things. Yes, you read that right! Prey was brought in and older sibling left some for the younger. Seriously it doesn’t get much better than that!

Aran and Elen’s trio at Glaslyn are marvellous. I can’t wait til they are ringed. What an idyllic spot to hatch! The sound of cows and sheep, the beautiful green of the Welsh countryside. They will be ringed shortly.

The two surviving chicks at Maryland’s Western Shore nest are really wanting to self feed. Mum still likes to control those fish!

They are very loud – oh, that beautiful sound of an osplet fish crying. And they are the size of their parents.

Nox and Annie – you might want to turn down the volume!

‘PB’ reports that in the late afternoon the third hatch at Steelscape finally had a crop! The little one has had trouble getting any food. We are concerned.

The baby had a tough time at Cowlitz PUD today, too, but ‘PB’ counted 50 nice sized bites of fish at the last feeding. That is not good but might be survivable providing more fish comes in early on Wednesday. A confirmed late evening large fish has arrived. The two older chicks ate their fill. Little three had nothing.

Marders Only Bob is doing very well.

I have to remind myself that those tiny third hatches can survive when I look at Blackbush. I am thinking of Tiny Little Blue 464 at Foulshaw Moss, Tiny Little at Achieva in 2021, Little Mini aka Tiny Dancer at Patchogue…but they have to have spunk and a bit of creativity to get to that fish.

Looking at the two osplets at Bridge Golf Course you might not notice that there is concern for the leg of the second hatch.

Geemeff sends us the Loch Arkaig Daily Summary – thank you, Geemeff!

Daily summary Tuesday 25th June 2024

A day with few fish but plenty of good manners, and confirmation of two chicks on the Bunarkaig nest (thanks Chaddie), whose parents may or may not be Prince & Affric 152. Louis only delivered three fish today, none of them especially big, so Dorcha gave the two chicks, who queued up politely and took turns, most of the fish and only took a little for herself. Louis’ tally rises to two hundred and forty nine (249), although judging by his bulging crop, he may well have caught more than three today. Dorcha took out her hunger on some sticks and the chicks paid close attention making sure to keep out of her way. Garry LV0 paid several visits to Nest One, bringing nesting materials and doing housekeeping as well as perching quietly and preening. The weather was settled today, and more of the same tonight with a forecast of light clouds, light winds and a low of 12 °C.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.18.32 (03.29.13); Nest Two (04.08.47)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/K3WvjHDOV-M N2 Fish number one, not much left for Dorcha 09.29.00

https://youtu.be/Z_3zm3AQWgc N1 Garry LV0 brings bedding but only stays a short time 12.04.22

https://youtu.be/Y2Gv_Oh4iNk N1 Garry returns and does some nest prep 14.45.25

https://youtu.be/dFLYF7Ayh0E N2 Fish number two, chicks queue politely 16.44.47

https://youtu.be/ySDyxYVtZpw N2 Personages with long sticks 17.17.01 (Classic Ospreys – Saint-Saëns)

https://youtu.be/4vw_4rNXK2g N2 Fish number three, small headless trout, Dorcha gets hardly any 20.02.23

Bonus shopping – bag a bargain in Woodland Trust’s sale – every purchase made from WT’s shop funds vital work to plant and protect trees and woods across the UK: https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/summer-sale

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

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

Oh, look at my guy. Blue 33! He is delivering fish #10 at 20:18 for Maya to feed their Only Bob. Oh, there are nests that could only dream about this number and size of fish. So what is the difference? Rutland has a stocked pond.

Blue 1H0 has the same ‘snake eyes’ as Daddy Blue 33. Just gorgeous.

Oh, Iris. You are looking tired to me. But you are taking such good care of those babies.

On Tuesday, it appeared that Finn had trouble fishing with only this very early morning fish. Will there be another? What is the problem?

Darling Finn brought in the second fish of the day for Iris and their babies. Thanks, ‘PB’. Was he on security duty all day? or was fishing particularly difficult? That was a huge gap in time.

SF Bay Ospreys are giving us a 26 day report – that is the age of the oldest of the two chicks of Rosie and Richmond. It is now half way to fledge. Gosh, time passes so quickly.

Anna and Andrew’s Beautiful Lesser Spotted Eaglet at Zemgale, Latvia, Ieva. Several voles coming in for food. I wonder how many small mammals are available in the forest for food? Have the population of small mammals changed in the area?

Selgas and Svinga have at least one miracle little osplet in that nest in Latvia. I strained my eyes to try and see if there were two of them on Tuesday.

And yes, it was a second little head. Thanks, ‘J’.

In Newfoundland, the first egg has hatched at the nest of Hope and Beaumont in Snow Lane.

It’s raining and it is unclear to me if the baby has been fed.

‘A’ keeps us up to date on what is happening with Dad and Lady in the Sydney Olympic Forest: “Meanwhile, an egg is surely just around the corner at WBSE: June 25: After some time on the nest, standing and keeping us in suspense, Lady went to her sleeping branch and slept quietly for the rest of the night. Both woke early, with several early morning duets and finally mating at 6:25. Both were away just before 7am. Dad returned with a small bream, head eaten, and left it on the nest at 7:13. Both eagles were seen from the river at 7:50, one at River Roost, the other near Ironbark Roost in the forest. Dad returned and took the fish himself just after 9am. He brought a stick in just before 10am, followed by Lady, and left again after a little work. Both returned just before 11am, Dad with another stick. Both left again, no prey. Dad was back again an hour later, followed by Lady – no prey – and off again. Then he brought a leafy twig, again followed by Lady – then she was off again. Dad returned with a big whiting at 16:19, quickly claimed by Lady and taken off to eat at Ironbark Roost. She returned the last scrap to the nest at 16:48. Later, at last light, both were on the nest, then moved to nearby branches for the evening. Will tonight be the night?

Syracuse University confirms that Oren and Ruth’s two Red-tail Hawklets fledged.

‘H’ sends her great reports!

6/25 Colonial Beach Osprey nest: Yay! Betty and David now have two lil’ babies. Their second baby hatched at approximately 17:48. One more egg to go.

6/25 Fortis Exshaw: Things are going very well for this family…Harvie brings in so much fish, that there is no feeling of food insecurity by the osplets. Two years ago, Louise and Jasper fledged three chicks. Last year, Jasper disappeared early in the season, and Louise had a difficult time fishing for her three young kids, while at the same time dealing with some really mean intruders. Louise had some assistance for a few weeks by another male, Mr. O. He brought fish and helped with nest security, but I fear that Mr. O may have also been a victim of the intruders. Only one osplet of three fledged. That was Banff. Fingers crossed for Louise and her new family this year.

6/25 Osoyoos osprey nest: In my mind, fish size is relative to any given nest. A ‘whopper’ at Osoyoos would be considered a medium sized fish at many other nests. Olsen mostly brings tiny, small, and medium sized fish to the nest, and rarely is he able to catch a large fish. There are variables such as: is the fish headless, is the fish thin or thick (fish mass)? I like to judge by how long it takes Soo to feed her three kids from any given fish. From my observations: A feeding from a tiny fish only takes Soo 3-4 minutes to feed, 5-7 minutes for a small fish, 8-10 minutes for a medium sized fish, and 11-15 minutes for a large fish. This is not a perfect system by any means…a tough fish will take longer to feed, and if Soo becomes distracted for a bit, that will prolong a feeding. There were ‘only’ five feedings for the osplets today, down from their average of 7-9 meals per day. No aggression was observed during any of the feedings. The meals lasted (in minutes of duration): 5, 11, 5, 8, and 15 minutes. The chicks are growing rapidly, and their appetites are increasing. Due to the size of the fish, Olsen needs to catch a whole lot of fish for this hungry brood in order to prevent any food insecurity. Fingers crossed.

6/25 Forsythe osprey nest: The live stream had been down for 2.5 days, and upon return of the stream just before noon today, we saw one of the osplets self-feeding. And, after a while, the other chick stole the fish and also self-fed. The self-feeding is a new development. The 35 and 34-day-old osplets are looking good.

6/25 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: Della and Warren are doing a great job, and this family is doing well. The 29 and 28-day-old osplets are simply gorgeous (this is one of my home nests…so I’m a little biased, lol).

In Oklahoma, excessive heat is killing songbirds. Many Robins found dead. Some people are putting frozen gel packs in their water bowls and bird baths to help keep the water cool. Please put out water for all the feathered friends and critters! Shallow dishes with pebbles help. Food if you can, but water is so important. Thank you and thank you to everyone who sent me a note to say they are doing their part with providing water. You are saving lives. Smile. Every little bit helps.

It is about that time. 1 July in Canada and the 4th in the US. And I am sure there are celebrations elsewhere. I continue to imagine celebrations without things that harm the wildlife – like balloons and fireworks. Just think what the money spent on fireworks could do to help non-humans and humans.

Persuade your community that there are alternatives – that might even include a free picnic for everyone. Anything but fireworks and balloons.

Final note: The little one at Cowlitz had no fish from the first feed at Cowlitz PUD and the same at Steelscape. So sad.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: A, EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Brian Collins, ASMFC, FOX News, BirdGuides, Trent University, BoPH, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, SK Hideaways, Steelscape Osprey Cam, Cowlitz PUD, Marders, Blackbush, Bridge Golf, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, LRWT, Montana Osprey Project, SF Bay Ospreys, LDF, Newfoundland Power, Sea Eagle Cam, SU Hawk Nest Cam, Colonial Beach, Fortis-Exshaw, Osoyoos, Mispillion Harbour, Forsythe, and Spay-Neuter Coalition of NM,

2 kg female osplet ringed in Wales…Tuesday in Bird World

25 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

‘The Girls’ and I are sitting in the conservatory despite the high temperature. It is 29 C. We have gotten hotter in the summers, but everything feels strange – like a big storm coming. The trees are twirling around and the clouds are moving quickly covering up the sun and yet, there is no prediction of anything happening. Cold water has been put out for the birds and more food for the Corvids as they are feeding babies and fledglings are coming to the garden now. I hope to get some good images of them one day.

I am not complaining. I understand from ‘MM’ that it is 96 F with a heat index of 101 in North Carolina. This is why all those osprey babies (and eagles) should hatch in the winter. So much better!

The garden is a shady paradise in the lilacs and the tunnel created with the vines and other trees. There is also shade on the deck in the late afternoon. The birds come out to feed again after having a siesta.

Junior wants a peanut but Dyson is there.

So he decides to have a bath.

It is hot everywhere. Please remember to leave out shallow bowls of water for the animals. You will save their lives. Water is more important than food when the heat is so high. Even pie pans with water – put try and put them in the shade. Thank you.

This just puts a smile on my face. Someone doing something to help birds. Enter mosquitoes to the Hawaiian Islands.

Millions-of-mosquitoes-released-in-Hawaii-to-save-rare-birds-from-extinction-Hawaii-The-Guardian Download

Idris and Telyn have set a record at the Dyfi nest in Wales. One of the females broke the weight record for a chick ringed in Wales. She came in over 2 kg. Here is the announcement with the names of the osplets!

That is incredible. ‘Daddy Longlegs’ Idris has really been hauling in the fish. Even that male has a nice healthy weight.

‘MM’ sends news that we have the first hatch at Colonial Beach. It is hot there. 31.3 C or 88 F. Chick has already had its first feeding! Well done, Betty and David. See also ‘H’s report below on this nest.

Iris’s oldest chick is rather precocious. It is already nibbling on the fish!

‘A’ comments on something magical: “Finn brought in a leftover chunk of fish at about 18:44 and just stands with it on the nest for about 25 minutes. Finally, he starts nibbling at it and Iris stands up, but Finn just keeps eating himself. Baby Bob spots who has the fish and is promptly over to dad, although both chicks already have good crops. It takes dad a while to stop feeding his face (and giving the odd bite to Iris) and start feeding Little Bob, and then he looks the wrong way when dad offers him fish, but around 19:16 a feeding of sorts begins. Soon, Big Bob sees what is happening and lumbers up behind Little Bob but does not interfere. Dad leans over to feed the older chick and at this point, he gives up on eating and starts feeding the two osplets in turn. It is wonderful to watch. This guy really is a keeper. He has a bit to learn about leaving leftovers on the nest and if he is only going to catch two or three whoppers a day, to bring them back more than once so they represent more than one feeding, but none of that will matter shortly, when they are big enough to handle fewer, larger feeds.

Finn has been an amazing first-time dad, guarding his family and the territory with great dedication and bringing in enough fish to feed the family (albeit his delivery schedule needs a little adjustment – see above). He has fed Iris on several occasions when she is tired or when it is wet, and now, he is feeding the osplets as well. This is one fantastic dad in the making. And Iris has chosen well. “

‘B’ writes that we have fledges! “Fledges at both Fraser Point and Bald Canyon this morning — the second FP chick (usually referred to as Reign) at 8:32:09 and Selene at BC at 10:07:54. Reign was back on an adjacent branch at 10:38:06 and on the nest proper within a minute…So all the Channel Islands eaglets that are on nest cams have now fledged.” Congratulations everyone. A wonderful year!

‘B’ also sent us a link to an article in The Washington Post. Do you think the Bald Eagle is the official bird of the United States? Have a read!

Opinion | You probably think this is our national bird. Think again.

‘TU’ has sent us some news. A pair of Egyptian Geese took over a stork nest. Their chicks took the leap this morning. Video below.

In Montreal, Peregrine Falcon chick Polo fledges! Beautiful flight. Oh, how I hate those windows.

Let’s catch up with the news from ‘H’:

6/24 Colonial Beach Virginia osprey nest: Congratulations to Betty and David on the hatch of their first baby!

6/24 Barnegat Light osprey nest: Even though Daisy and Duke did not have any eggs this season, they continue to hang out together in the bay area. We are delighted when they grace us with their presence on camera. Theirs is a love story.

6/24 The Osoyoos osprey nest had another nice day. They had nine feedings, and all three of the osplets had good crops. Meal times remained peaceful, but I did catch a pretty good beaking battle in between meals, and that kerfuffle was started by Little!

6/24 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s fish House): Okay now…I am starting to be impressed. June is keeping her leftover fish, saving it for more feedings, and she is feeding longer. Just look at the crop on that lil’ 10-day-old osplet. Now, that’s what I’m talking about!

6/24 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: It was a veritable fish-feast-day. There were a total of six long meals throughout the day . Something really cool happened in the afternoon… At 1410 Mom brought a large fish to the nest (first fish for her this season), and two minutes later Dad landed in the nest with a large fish. A dual feeding took place, with Dad primarily feeding the two older siblings for 1/2 hour before he left with half his fish. And, Mom primarily fed Little. She continued to feed everyone from her fish after Dad left, and her fish lasted an hour.

6/24 Captiva ospreys: The day started off with a surprise for Ding and Darling when they had a visitor in the middle of the night…a young heron landed in the nest for a short period of time. The kids maintained their cool, but we’ve never seen their eyes so big! Jack brought three fish to the nest today, and Darling had his very own hardhead catfish. He was able to unzip it, and ate the whole fish. Edie was last seen on cam on 6/23, but there have been sightings of an adult osprey landing in a nearby tree, and some believe that they have heard Edie. It is believed that Edie is taking a short break, and that her absence from the nest has nothing to do with the fishing line incident of 6/21. After the fishing line incident, Edie delivered fish to the nest on 6/21, 6/22, and 6/23, and she seemed just fine.

Thanks so much, ‘H’. That Fenwick Island baby is too cute – and oh, so full! Love it.

That little osplet in Kurzeme Latvia is also so cute. OK. They are all cute little dinosaurs.

Four hot ospreys at Field Farm. Little Mini is getting its feathers.

Birds of Poole Harbour Fab Four are deliriously wonderful. CJ7 and Blue 022. I can’t tell you how much I adore them.

And then there is Louis at Loch Arkaig that brought in a fish at midnight to Dorcha. Yes, midnight. Do ospreys hunt in the dark? how light was it in Scotland at midnight? Oh, I just wish I could send one of those fish over to Osoyoos.

Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig: Monday 24th June 2024

The day started out a bit soggy but soon improved, and Louis had a bit of a lie-in after yesterday’s midnight fish, not turning up until lunchtime with today’s first fish. He followed it up with three more, taking his tally to two hundred and forty six. Dorcha had fun with a stick but was left hungry as the growing chicks devoured most of the fish, however the arrival of a large 11pm fish supper meant she didn’t end the day hungry. The nest seems to be getting a little crowded now that the chicks are mobile and stretching out their suddenly long wings, perhaps that’s why one chick took a pop at the other and a short sharp fight broke out. There was much discussion on the forum about which chick is which as it’s getting very difficult to tell them apart. Garry LV0 turned up on Nest One again today, bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of nest scraping. Is this a frustration eyrie? Whatever his motives, it’s good to see him. Tonight’s forecast is light rain and light winds, luckily although the chicks are too big to fit under Dorcha, their preen glands are coming through and they’re starting to get some waterproofing.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.15.51 (02.48.23); Nest Two (03.32.32)

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

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

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Alfrd7novqE N1 Garry LV0 arrives early and does some nest prep 06:15:01

https://youtu.be/fs7pwvQ359g N2 Fish number one, small whole trout, chicks queue politely 12.45.07

https://youtu.be/iQA9jIPeDsE N2 Fight! Is the nest getting too crowed? Chicks have a pop 13.01

https://youtu.be/opTBHM-Q3jk N2 Dorcha brings a stick and hangs it round Chick1’s neck 14.28.44

https://youtu.be/ryxHF_M71io N2 Fish number two, big whole trout, Dorcha gets hardly any of it 15.30.25

https://youtu.be/45KVDHPY0x40 N2 Fish number three, headless small trout, soon finished, Dorcha’s still hungry 17.08.47

https://youtu.be/Ijm7ts7aZGk N2 Fish number four, whole trout, Dorcha tucks in immediately 23.05.25

Bonus read – Flights, Camera, Action! Postcode Lottery discuss their sponsorship of the nest cam:

https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/postcode-hub/news/flights-camera-action

Blackbush. Sometimes dual feedings. Sometimes Dad feeding Mum who feeds babies. Send this nest hope. We have seen these little ones before survive. Tiny Dancer. Tiny Little. Blue 464. It depends on the amount of prey and the willingness of the parents to work hard to keep all of them alive – just like CJ7 and Blue 022 are doing.

Beautiful fledglings back on the VIMS nest.

Once in awhile you will catch a fledgling on the Frenchman’s Creek nest. These kids are gorgeous. Look at that clean nest!

Looks like Tuffy had a couple of nice fish today on the Moorings Park nest. These kids of Harry and Sally are gorgeous.

It was 26 C in Osoyoos today. Tomorrow will be 27 – and believe me, it is hotter on the top of an osprey nest than it is at ground level. Then there is to be rain. Oh, please give these babies some fish – some big fish because Soo and Olsen have to eat, too!

My goodness. The plumage on that baby at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is dark. Very pretty little osplet. The image shows Mum feeding the little one from the whole fish that Dad brought in around 1400. There had at least been one earlier fish. It is hot on that nest!

Oh, look at those fat little bottoms at Charlo Montana!

Winnie and Swoop have their second baby at Dunrovin on the 24th.

It is hot in Colorado. Pitkin County Mum is the perfect mumbrella keeping her babies cool. She fluffs her own feathers to keep herself cool as well.

I sure would like to see more fish in the heat at Cowlitz PUD but there are still three osplets that appear to be alright.

Beautiful baby at Clark PUD.

Boulder County Mum keeping their Only Bob cool and fed!

No love lost when it comes to food amounts San Jose fledglings!

Many of us are hoping to find out what happened to Redwood Queen and Zenith’s chick in the Big Sur Redwood Forest. We are joining the Ventana Wildlife Society’s Condor Chat which is on the last Thursday of the month. Very informative.

Got to the Ventana Wildlife Society website to sign up. The Condor chats are also archived and you can view them on YouTube.

Educate yourself about California Condors and the acute challenges they face. The Ventana Wildlife Society led the way in giving their flock vaccines for HPAI. Now they are helping others.

We have another Condor baby. Fingers crossed.

Decorah North continues to thrive despite the nest collapse.

Gorgeous Black Storks in Portugal.

Beautiful Mum at Port Lincoln Barge on the nest and eating a fish she caught and brought back quickly.

‘PB’ has been keeping an eye on Cowlitz PUD and Steelscape. She writes, “I just checked both Cowlitz and Steelcase since they are both in the same area. Fish seems to be coming in slow and far apart, keeping #1 grouchy and getting most of the food. Steelcase is worrisome to me for #3. It’s is constantly bullied by #1 when food arrives. Even bullies away #2. #3 Steelcase could use more fish. #3 managed to bravely grab a few big pieces of the tail section on ladt fish but is hungry. Cowlitz little baby ate a good breakfast but not much after that. Last fish there was 4 hours ago. Still light out so hoping for a late fish but both places need larger fish to feed 3 mouths.”

Smile. Canada Geese enjoying the grass by an airport in Alabama. Thanks, ‘L’. It seems so odd seeing them with palm trees! Oh, I love the Canada Geese – and guess what? They are not the national bird of Canada. The Gray Jay is. Go figure.

And another smile. Ospreys rescued and in care. Thanks, ‘J’.

Menhaden are the primary fish of the Ospreys in the NE USA. If you want to know how bad the commercial fishing industry is impacting these life-giving little fish, you only have to go to the FB page – Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal. here is a post from this morning. This is seriously concerning and the commercial fishing needs to stop before the Osprey are completely wiped out. Of course Dophins and Whales eat Menhaden, too, and they are practically disappeared from the area.

Our friend Hob in Kauai sends us news of the first moli fledge for 2024. how wonderful!

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. If it is super hot where you live, drink lots of fluids. Consider putting water out for the animals even if you can’t see them – we have visitors during the night that eat and drink. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, letters, comments, questions, videos, images, posts, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, L, MM, MP, PB, TU’, The Guardian, Dyfi Osprey Project, Colonial Beach Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, Pam Breci, The Washington Post, Fenwick Island, Patuxent River Park, Osoyoos, Wildlife Conserve of NJ (Barnegat Light), Window to Wildlife, HorstsHorst, Montreal Falcon Cam, LDF, BoPH, Geemeff, Blackbush, VIMS, Frenchman’s Creek, Moorings Park Ospreys, Osoyoos Ospreys, MN Landscape Arboretum, Charlo Montana, Ashley Wilson, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Clark PUD, Boulder County, SK Hideaways, Ventana Wildlife Society, Lady Hawk, Tajo International, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Polk County Animal Control, Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal FB, and Hob Osterlund.

Monday in Bird World

24 June 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘H’ hasher reports for us!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cute little babies at Charlo Montana.

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

Cowlitz PUD is looking good!

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

Daily summary Sunday 23rd June 2024

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

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

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

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

Today’s videos:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Category Archives: Fortis Exshaw Ospreys

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Ringing, lots of ringing…Wednesday in Bird World

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Chicks arrived safely…Tuesday in Bird World

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Sunday in Bird World

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Darling Fledges…Thursday in Bird World

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Wednesday in Bird World

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Monday in Bird World

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