Category Archives: Iowa

Hatch at Cornell, Osprey eggs…Saturday in Bird World

27 April 2024

Good Morning,

The rain I wished for arrived Friday morning, along with a chill to the bone feeling. It was much needed, and the smell of the wet earth was intoxicating, especially after all the dust. The grass around the City is turning green, and the leaves on the lilac bushes in the garden are starting to emerge. I cannot wait to see the garden completely ‘green’ again. This morning, the first White-throated Sparrows arrived in the garden. They returned, again, in even larger numbers – 35 or 40 – in the pouring rain around 1930. They are easy to see with their three white stripes on the crown, but I realised that soon the leaves would be out, and I will be scrambling to tell who is where.

The White-throated Sparrow might look like a House Sparrow except for that amazing head and throat. The first time I saw one, I thought it was a plastic head stuck on a house sparrow. Silly me. There are three white stripes alternating with black to make up its crown. On each side, at the top of the black beak, is a yellow dot – someone got into their paint pot! The proper term is lores. Below the beak is a white triangle like a bib, hence the name – ‘White-throated’. [The White Crowned Sparrow lacks the white bib!]

All about Birds says, “White-throated Sparrows eat mainly the seeds of grasses and weeds, including ragweed and buckwheat, as well as fruits of sumac, grape, cranberry, mountain ash, rose, blueberry, blackberry, and dogwood. In summer they eat large numbers of insects that they catch on the forest floor or, occasionally on quick flights out from low vegetation. These include dragonflies, wasps, stinkbugs, beetles, flies, and caterpillars, as well as spiders, millipedes, centipedes, and snails. Parents feed their nestlings almost exclusively animal matter. During winter, White-throated Sparrows readily visit bird feeders for millet and black oil sunflower seeds. In spring they eat the tender buds, blossoms, and young seeds of oak, apple, maple, beech, and elm.” They were certainly busy kicking and foraging in the grass beneath the feeders in my garden. I noticed that they not only consumed the Black-oil seed but the Millet and the Corn.

The white eyebrows are normally sider than the single stripe running down the middle of the crown. You can see the yellow lores clearly in the image below.

“Female White-throated Sparrows put their nests on or just above the ground, typically in level areas in clearings with dense ground vegetation. The nest is usually built under shrubs, grasses, or ferns, sometimes even beneath dead vegetation from the previous year. Birds sometimes put their nests off the ground, particularly if they lost a previous nest to a predator. These nests may be in roots of an upturned tree, brush piles, in shrubs or ferns, or as high as 10 feet up in a coniferous tree.”

‘The Girls’ are just like our little raptors. After every meal they go into a food coma! Hugo Yugo is no exception.

I am afraid to say but it appears that Hugo Yugo is starting to grow – long. Her face still looks like a kitten. I am hoping that my eyes are just fooling me. She still fits in the shoe box.

Meanwhile, Missey still likes it when the plants are watered and will curl up in them like she did as a kitten with Lewis.

It isn’t an end table…it is a two-tier hard sofa for cats. I wish the individual had not felt the need to refinish the tops – the wicker is marvellous and it would certainly be more fitting for it to be in its original condition, however grotty.

The Fig Tree needs a nice new pot.

Richmond and Rosie are going to be grandparents! I get goosebumps when I hear of survivals like this. I am sure many of you watched ZD with me four years ago!

There is a second egg hatching at the nest of Big Red and Arthur Friday afternoon. There will be another beak to fill Saturday. Arthur is already bringing in the squirrels. I hope it is a huge population of them and chippies this spring – he will have six mouths to feed in total.

N1 is a darling. Our friend ‘A’ thinks so, too: “N1 is SUCH a strong little hawklet. It is eating like a small fluffy piglet. Mum is feeding it often and it is eating like a pro, even picking up dropped mouthfuls for itself! This is one precocious little chick. But of course that is hawklets isn’t it? Their nest time is so short compared to eaglets and osplets. They grow so fast and fledge so soon, we have to appreciate every day we have them in the nest. A bit like falcons, really, which returns me to the happy little band at Cal Falcons. A darling, hard-working little dad and a devoted, very experienced mum. This may be the first time all four of Annie’s eggs have hatched (although we have no idea what would have happened last season had that third egg not almost certainly been laid away from the nest on the day Grinnell died) but I have a lot of confidence in this pair to successfully raise all four to fledge, as long as they are not bothered by intruders.”

Too cute!

Big Red positively glows when her eggs begin to hatch and there are chicks to care for. She even looks younger and younger.

UPDATE: From ‘A’: “

The second hawklet is nearly dry when Big Red gives us our first good daylight look at the expanded family from about 06:28:20 when she gets up for a stretch. There is a stick that falls across the nest as she moves and the new hatchling has to struggle out from under it (mum moves it). The second little one appears strong and healthy. I’m sure there will be a meal soon, but at this stage, this is the first really good look we have had at the second hawlet. 

Two eggs hatched and two eggs to come. I wonder whether the gaps between hatches will be similar or whether there will be different time differences. There looks as though there MAY be a pip in the third egg (left hand side at the front as we are looking at the pic), right down at the bottom on the left hand end but of course I may be wrong and it may not even be at the correct end of the egg. So I wouldn’t be relying on my ability to spot pips on hawk eggs or (especially) on osprey eggs. Just too many blotches for me to see anything definitive. “

Cutie pie falcons in Osaka being fed – look how big they are! The pin gathers are coming in and they have lost that sweet baby down but gosh, they are still adorable.

H’ reports that Angel and Tom visited their nest Saturday morning. Yippeeee.

The first egg at McEuan Park in Idaho was laid on the 26th. Thanks, ‘H’.

*Caution. Not recommended. Potential neglect from female/starvation despite male delivering fish*. The first egg of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest was laid on the 25th. This is a very problematic nest. Little to none nesting materials. Experienced Dad. Female appears to have many issues. She has failed to cover egg and it has rained heavily on the egg. ‘MP’ reports that the Dad tried to cover it with the few cornstalks available. The female later returns to incubate. Quite honestly, the kind thing would be for this egg to be unviable.

In comparison, Annie is a superb Mum. ‘A’ writes, “Annie was so careful this morning to make sure that little number 4 chick was fed after its older siblings had eaten their fill. She had to go around to the back of the pile to reach the little one, which is way too small to reach over the others and not yet strong enough to push its way to the front. So Annie is making sure that she gets the food to the little one herself. She is very deliberate about it. It has to wait its turn, but Annie keeps feeding and feeding until all the little mouths are closed, and then she e-chups some encouragement to try just a couple more bites and the little beaks open one more time. And when they have all eaten their fill, only then does Annie finish the feeding and remove the leftovers. .(Or on this occasion, she simply ate the leftovers herself, having fed the entire prey item to the chicks.) 

She is a very very good mother, and Archie is doing a sterling job. He would love to do more, and is always there if he feels the chicks might get chilly waiting for mum’s return, but knows his place and is quick to depart when mum arrives back. I think brooding the four is going to be quite a challenge for him within a day or two. “

Annie wants to be in charge of the feedings!

Squirming falcons.

Audacity laid a fourth egg that was crushed. It makes me so very sad to think how much she wants a family – or for that matter all the others like Jackie and Shadow, Chase and Cholyn, and of course, dear Gabby and Beau. When I get down in the dumps about it all, I just go over to Cal Falcons or Big Red’s…you cannot help but smile and have all the gloom washed away.

Falcons are hatching everywhere including in the Netherlands near the city of Duurstede.

Raptor Resource Project staff keeping a close eye on the eaglet at Decorah North.

Later images at Decorah North.

The first osprey in all of Italy hatched on Friday.

Fish arrived at 1326 at Moorings Park and what you can’t see is Tuffy on the other side being fed first.

Look at Tuffy working those wings. Our darling little one has grown up – and is surviving.

Idris incubates the eggs while Telyn enjoys a nice fish supper at the Dyfi Osprey platform in Wales.

Contentment at Glaslyn with Elen and Aran.

I wish that Affric and either Prince or Gary would find the same kind of contentment at Loch Arkaig nest 1. How could osplets be raised with all the kerfuffle going on?

Louis found out about the other male courting Iris and might well have sent him packing. Iris is alone in the rain. Louis has an injury on his chest.

Swampy is beautiful and appears to be doing well! Prey being provided at the nest.

Two osplets at Frenchman’s Creek are self-feeding, getting fed by Mum once in awhile, and you know what? They just might fledge – they might make it!

The eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy are walking on the nest and growing like crazy. Look at that formidable female! I would not want to get her upset.

West End trio doing quite well.

Eaglets at Duke nearing branching and fledge.

The two eaglets on Farmer Derek’s property, Wichita and Cheyenne, are both doing fantastic.

Notice the difference in plumage. Port Tobacco eaglet is getting its feathers but is only beginning compared to the Duke Farms eaglets, Jersey and Leaper.

Fort St Vrain eaglets, FSV49 and 50, are so tiny. They are losing their natal down and finishing up getting their thermal. One has even been pecking at prey.

While it might look boring, the ospreys and eagles have to stay vigilant during the incubation period least their eggs get pecked by Crows (Tom and Audrey’s most recent egg at Kent Island) or they get attacked by intruders. The pair at Boulder are always on the look out for trouble.

Denton Homes eaglet trio now have their thermal down.

Andor and Cruz’s pair are doing well – and are simply lovely.

Jackie and Shadow give me the warm fuzzies – it is like ‘everything is going to be OK’ when I see them together.

The new male at Anna and Louis’s nest, E1, at Lake Kincaid seems to have a fetish for turtles. Tonya Irvin worries that they could become endangered at the lake!

Hoping that the first hatch at Captiva is kind to the second and letting it eat enough.

There are three eggs at Cowlitz PUD.

Nothing is happening, yet, at Oregon Law’s osprey nest.

Liberty and Guardian’s eaglets at Redding are well looked after.

An unexpected snow in Finland has hit areas where the ospreys are nesting.

Others were not affected. The female at Janakallan, Yellow XKT, was on the nest today. Has her partner, Red CCL, lost his Darvic ring?

I have been following the plight of Milda and her two eggs since Hugo went missing. On Friday, Milda left the nest at 1759 and had not returned by 0700 Saturday morning. She cannot do this alone and new males have proven to her to be unreliable. Better unhatched eggs than starving chicks – precisely how I feel about other nests, too.

Researchers in Australia have found that noise from urban pollution (traffic) stunts the growth of baby birds.

Noise-from-traffic-stunts-growth-of-baby-birds-study-finds-Birds-The-GuardianDownload

An Osprey rescue in Belgium that could have a very happy ending.

If you missed it, here is April’s Ventana Wildlife Condor Chat.

Our birds and wildlife need habitat, clean water, and food. Humans need to examine the land we use and begin to see a different vision than houses – larger and larger ones – taking over land. In my City, they should be building up, not out.

Did you read Watershed Down? The local community has lost their battle for the iconic and inspiring landscape for that story to housing.

Locals-lose-battle-to-stop-360-homes-being-built-on-picturesque-Watership-Down-farmland-Daily-MaDownload

Thank you so much for being with me today. I am always so happy to hear form you! Take care. We hope to have you with us again soon.

Thank you, as always, to those who sent me notes, provided posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MP’, SF Bay Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, Osaka Peregrine Falcons, McEuan Park, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Cal Falcons, Wijk bij Duurstede, Raptor Research Project, Parco Natural Regional di Porto Conte, Moorings Park Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Geemeff, Montana Osprey Project, Eagle Country, Frenchman’s Creek, Little Miami Conservancy, IWS/Explore, Duke Farms, Kansas City Bald Eagles, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Fort St Vrain Eagles, Boulder County, Denton Homes, SK Hideaways, Tonya Irvin, Window to Wildlife, Cowlitz PUD, Osprey Law, FORE, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Guardian, Gregarious Joris Toonen, Ventana Wildlife, and the Daily Mail.

*Disclaimer: I have made effort to thank everyone who has contributed to today’s post. If there has been an error or an omission, my apologies. Please let me know so that I can correct my omission.*

Friday in Bird World

26 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

‘The Girls’ are just fine. We are enjoying Amy Tan’s new book and read an entry or two every evening. Oh, how I wish I had the time to learn to draw like Tan! This morning we are enjoying having no heat on in the house and listening to the Chickadees sing to us. The sky is heavy overcast and I am hoping for a lot of rain.

Hugo Yugo is quite the character and if anything happens one has to look no farther than a little ginger cat. She has ‘decided’ that the butcher block area is ‘hers’ especially when we are away. The key is not to leave anything there that could be knocked, eaten, or tossed off to the floor. This included a yummy packet of cookies today. It appeared she had knocked them off and then played hockey with the bits and bobs. Either ‘on’ or ‘off’ and nothing in between, looking for mischief at every turn. We picked up a small bag of tiny pinecones today in the hope that they would be of interest!

She is ready to run! This look just spells trouble.

Missey has decided that she likes the vintage wicker cat carrier.

‘The Boyfriend’ comes about 4 to 5 times a day. I am constantly checking his water bowl sine it has been so warm. Must find another place for his feeding location soon.

It was 24 degrees C in Winnipeg on Thursday, 25 April. Unbelievable for this time of year. The soil is so dry that when I was going down country roads it blew everywhere. We need moisture! After such a successful Wednesday at Delta Marsh and Delta Beach, it was time to go and check on the pelicans.

The American White Pelican lives on our main lakes and near the dam at Lockport, Manitoba. They arrive in April and set off for their southern winter grounds in September. They fish by diving into the surface of the water to get small fish. The ones with the barnacle-like disk on their bill are breeding pelicans. The others are not. They make scrape nests lined with pebbles or lay their 1-3 eggs on mounds of debris. Normally only one chick survives because of the high percentage of siblicide associated with this species.

There were hundreds and hundreds of them on the river.

The one below is a breeder. Notice the keel plate on the upper mandible – the barnacle-like protuberance – indicating a breeding bird.

The only other birds that I saw, other than a few ducks, were a small group of Ring-billed Gulls.

Have a giggle. Thanks, ‘MB’ for the link – Silly Idris wants incubation time!

Big Red and Arthur had their first hatch on Thursday morning. Oh, goodness, gracious.

‘A’ gives us her perspective: “Wasn’t it lovely to see a hawklet hatch yesterday? We could see the half shell shortly before 13:00 and we get our first really good look at the still-damp hatchling at around 14:33, at which point mum decides it is ready to be fed. It is able to sit up strongly and hold up its head (though the baby fox that’s on the menu today retains a little more fur than is ideal for the baby’s first feeding). I must say the sight of that crushed and mangled shell does worry me slightly. We have had several of these this season, most with happy endings but at least one (at SWFL) with a very sad outcome. Let’s hope the other eggs are not in this condition. Arthur is a very proud dad. Are there pips on egg 2 and/or egg 3? That was definitely egg one that hatched, based on the amount of speckling, which means the pip I thought I saw (which was on egg 2, I’m fairly certain) was likely not a pip, as the mark in question still appears to be on that second egg and has not enlarged at all. Thus, it is probably something stuck to the egg. Still, we are expecting pips in eggs 2 and 3 at any time, based on the timing of the delayed incubation principle followed at Cal Falcons. I believe Big Red did something similar here.”

Oren and Ruth have their first hatch, too!

It is sometimes hard to hit a moving beak especially if you are a new Mum and have two little osplet heads bobbling about. Aren’t they cute? The two at Captiva CO7 and CO8. Both have had fish.

That other egg in the Captiva nest. Well, if you read the chat, you might think that a 45-day-old osprey egg – the first to be laid – might hatch tomorrow. Think about that. The average for osprey eggs to hatch is 36.5-38 days, according to the data that ‘H’ and I have collected (as well as many others). At 40 days, we would give up hope -. There is no way that a 45 day old egg will hatch! So sit back and enjoy the two of them.

It looks like dear Tuffy is going to survive Ruffie. Tuffie is now 31 days old and has beautiful, beautiful juvenile feathers.

‘A’ gets pretty excited watching the Cal Falcons. This is from a day ago. “At Cal Falcons we get our first proper view of hatch four, fully out of the egg and still very damp, when mum heads off to the pantry at about 13:43. Of course the little one is not nearly ready to eat and its eyes are still closed. It looks tiny without its fluff. The other three are all fed – again, Annie is careful to make sure all those little beaks are filled several times each. I always worry that one of the three doesn’t get as much as the other two at a feeding, but it never the same eyas as at the feeding before, so she makes sure that with frequent feedings for these youngsters, no-one actually goes hungry. They are ADORABLE. When we first see them as a fluffy cuddle puddle, I wonder how quickly even Annie will become way too small to brood them. They are a largish pile already, and Archie’s valiant efforts at brooding will be entertaining! Oh he is a darling little mate. Don’t you just love the way he leaves beautifully prepared food within 10 or 15 seconds of the nest – Annie seems to be able to collect perfect prey from the pantry in an incredibly short time when she heads off for food – she’s always back within 20 seconds or so with nutritious-looking meat without inedible parts attached. He does a great job. Of course Annie cleans up any bits that are not suitable for feeding to the babies. 

By 14:53, Annie is up and heading for the pantry again. This time, the new hatch is dry and fluffy but not yet ready for a feeding. Still, it has been out of its egg for about 90 minutes or so and already, it seems strong. Archie is quick;ly onto the scrape in case anyone is chilly or a bit lonely, e-chupping to Annie as he checks the kids. But again, Annie is back within 20 seconds, the prey this time a little more feathered than usual, and Annie takes a couple of minutes to prepare the food herself. She then proceeds to feed the chicks yet again, and Archie stays a while to watch the meal. Chick number 3 has front position for this feeding and is doing particularly well. A couple of minutes in, the little fourth hatch pokes its head through the fluff and appears at the front of the line, beside chick 3. It opens its tiny beak, whether for a yawn or for food, I cannot be certain. Oh they are just TOO sweet. Mum has her work cut out for her! 

Archie is still there at 14:55, when chick 4 stands up (it has to pull its head out from between the others, which puts it into the back row at the table) and opens its beak!!! This chick is less than two hours old (it’s probably been officially out of its egg for about 90 minutes at this point), and it is already standing, holding its head up and opening its beak for food. Wow! At 14:56 Archie continues to watch closely, appearing absolutely fascinated. He is on the edge of the scrape, within inches of the little cohort of chicks standing in the middle of the scrape, little beaks open wide. Small squeaks for now – just imagine how noisy these cuties are going to become en masse!! 

Mum is ignoring the fourth hatch, which is at the back of the group and is much shorter than the others so hard for mum to reach. At one point, the baby is even jumping in an attempt to gain her attention! It reminds me of Rubus, and appears to have similar leaping abilities. At such a young age, its strength and balance is truly astonishing. It tries several tactics to try and get mum’s attention but to no avail. Shortly after 14:59 it stands up at the back of the group and appears in danger of falling over backwards. This concerns Archie, who moves around behind hatch 4 to make sure it is okay. He is such a sweetheart. He seems to want something to feed to those open beaks, and e-chups to Annie. I think he’s counting the bunch and realising he now has four children!!!! (No, that’s anthropomorphising, but he definitely appears to be worried by the fact that the youngest hatch, at the back, has not been fed despite all its efforts. Mum continues to try and coax the older three to eat, without success, but continues to ignore hatch 4. Watch at around 15:00 to see Archie’s reaction to this. He seems to very badly want to grab that bite of food from mum and distribute it himself. But of course he doesn’t.

Interesting. I’ve never seen a parental interaction quite like that. He actually seemed to make a half effort at grabbing the food from Annie’s beak to feed the chicks himself. Archie stays beside the chicks, watching with great intensity. Everything Annie does, every movement from the chicks, he absorbs. He is totally engrossed. Several times, he appears to consider taking the food from Annie’s beak, apparently wanting to feed the youngest hatch, at the back, which still has not been fed any food, despite its continual begging for something, its little beak wide open like its older siblings. Of course it does not yet need to eat, only two hours out /of its egg, but it wants to and is trying to, so I am surprised that Annie is ignoring it completely. She is usually really good at reaching the one at the back or the chick facing the wrong way. Perhaps she simply thinks this one is so young, she doesn’t need to include it in feedings yet. I do hope so. Otherwise, this one looks determined and strong, so I suspect it will rapidly learn how to get itself into the front row. It will jump like Rubus if it has to, I suspect, based on what it has been doing this afternoon. I will check for feedings later in the afternoon to see if chick 4 did get fed today.”

A story too good not to tell. A 17 year old male Peregrine Falcon has a mate and a clutch. His name is Dipper.

Frenchman’s Creek has received many letters from concerned viewers of their osprey cam. ‘MP’ wrote and got a response stating, “They were in contact with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Florida and several ornithologists who told them of the situation; and per expert opinion, human intervention is neither necessary nor permitted at this time.”

 The female was on the nest feeding one of the osplets today while the other was self-feeding.

‘MP’ reports that the first egg of the season has been laid at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest on Thursday the 25th.

There are two osplets at Lake Murray and there is a hint of the third egg perhaps pipping. We will see tomorrow.

The third osplet at Lake Murray arrived overnight. Thanks, ‘H’.

One of the Decorah North eaglets has a fishing hook issue. This would qualify for intervention because it is a human-caused problem. Can they get a permit? Is it possible to get a cherry picker up to help? We wait. Poor baby. Please send positive wishes.

Swampy is on the nest and is being fed well. He was eating a fish and there are now two more as I write on the nest for later! Thanks Abby and Blaze.

The two eaglets at Cardinal Land Conservancy have been named Arnie and Neil.

Murphy has a new eaglet to raise!

News from ND-LEEF:

‘H’ caught an Osprey landing on the Cape Henlopen State Park platform – a change from the Black Vultures. Ospreys have not used this nest since the tragedies of 2022 when the Dad was found dead, the Mum chased off nest by intruding and overtaking ospreys, and the chicks starved on the platform as a result.

Glaslyn: Elen and Aran have their second egg of the season at 12:44 on Thursday the 25th.

It actually appears that there is a new male at the nest of Iris at Hellgate Canyon in Missoula who has been bringing fish and there might have been a successful mating. Many believed it was Louis, but after much comparison it appears it is a new male to be named by Dr Greene. Well, this could be an interesting year. Iris certainly likes his fish and heaven only knows she deserves someone to care for her! This is certainly a twist that I did not anticipate.

The Fraser Point eaglet has been named – and we will be waiting to hear the name of the other one.

Both Bald Canyon Eaglets were named.

Dorcha cannot get a break this year! Poor gal just wants to incubate in peace and quiet.

Dorcha takes off with the ‘brunch or lunch’ fish. Louis was late – keeping intruders away?

Jackie and Shadow and the dawn.

New female replacing Charlotte at Charlo Montana is a 14 year old.

Six goslings taking the leap of faith seen from the US Steel Eagle cam. Fantastic. You might have watched the second leap of faith at Decorah. One gosling made it down to the adults. Volunteers looked and found a second at the bottom of the nest tree that night but parents were elsewhere. I do not think that they found the third. I will try to get more up to date news.

https://fb.watch/rGWOx8ZXEE

Thanks so much for being with me today! Take care everyone. We hope to see you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, tweets, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MB, MP’, Dyfi Osprey Project, Cornell RTH, Suzanne Arnold Horning, @CornellHawks, Red-tail Hawk Tales, Window to Wildlife, Heidi McGrue, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Linda McElroy, Frenchman’s Creek, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Lake Murray, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Laura Rose, Eagle Country, Cardinal Land Conservancy, World Bird Sanctuary, Carol Mandis-beadle, IWS/Explore, Geemeff, Pam Breci, and PIX Cams.

*Every effort has been made to credit individuals for their notes, videos, photographs, etc. If I have inadvertently missed someone, please let me know so I can rectify that oversight.*

Earth Day…Sunday in Bird World

21 April 2024

Good Morning,

Earth day is the 22nd of April but we have celebrations today across my City so that everyone can participate as Monday is not a holiday.

Today is Earth Day. It is a day for us to remember that conservation, sustainability, biodiversity, and working together to help create a healthier planet for our wildlife and us are paramount. There are many events and initiatives. “The 2024 theme for Earth Day, “Planet vs. Plastics”, calls to advocate for widespread awareness of the health risk of plastics, rapidly phase out all single-use plastics, urgently push for a strong global agreement on plastic pollution, and demand an end to fast fashion.” (Canada Gov). “For over 50 years, Earth Day has been celebrated across the planet as a way to educate the masses about the environment, enact conservation efforts, and promote action towards the environmental movement. It’s a day of action to adjust human behavior and create policy changes for the good of Mother Earth. The annual event is marked with a wide range of events that are coordinated globally by earthday.org—reaching 1 billion people in more than 193 countries!” (Pioneer Woman)

‘The Girls’ and I are working hard to completely end our use of plastics and continue to ‘forest’ our urban garden. This year we will be planting 5 native shrubs along with four new native trees. It only makes a dent. The City’s Million Dollar Tree Project has only planted 44,000 trees, and the City has been cutting down diseased trees to the point that neighbourhoods have lost their gorgeous ambience with the birds and squirrels losing homes. We can all help by doing our part – and often it is close to home. What will you be doing to celebrate Earth Day? I suggest a short walk or a sit outside!

Correction: At the Lake Murray Osprey Platform in 2023, the third hatch was the victim of siblicide. The older two were taken from the nest by the GHO.

Morning Updates to eggs and hatches: The first egg has been laid at Tweed Valley by Mrs O and FKO at 11:35. Likewise, Asha at RSPB Loch Garten has laid her first egg at 10:47. Flo and Harry at Alyth have egg three at 06:53 and the first hatch has happened overnight at Lake Murray in the US.

Dorcha has not been able to catch a break so far this season.

We have been watching several nests getting ready for hatch watch. We should be having pip/hatch watch for Big Red and Arthur at Cornell in a week. On Saturday Arthur spent a lot of time incubating the eggs before Big Red took over later in the day. I wonder if her leg is bothering her and if it helps to have Arthur there during the day since she has to be there all night and if the position over the eggs doesn’t put strain on that leg.

But what is happening at Captiva? The first egg is 42 days old today. Too late to hatch. That would make the second egg 39 days and well, if it was the one that was crushed and went into a bean shape, then that leaves us with eggs 3 and 4. Will they be viable? Egg 3 is 36 days and should pip right away and hatch soon I it is going to. It is late and some believe that no osprey eggs ever hatch this late on the Barrier Islands.

Moorings Park. Harry Delivered a Fish at 0907 much to the delight of Sally who chirped when she saw him approaching the nest.

Harry comes in with a second small fish at 1044 and Tuffy will get some bites this time. Fish were small. Hoping for larger ones.

Tuffy with his/her feathers coming in.

Harry brought in a nice big chunk of fish at 1412 and Tuffy did get some of that fish. Ruffie is being a bit of an agro.

Fish at 1648.

Tuffy had some first bites – for about seven minutes -.

Tuffy had a good day and notice in the last image how ‘healthy’ and how beautiful he is.

It is Sunday morning and Tuffy is enjoying breakfast.

E23 still likes to be a ‘nestling’ and F23 and M15 like having her/him at home. This nest is a very good reminder of how post-fledge should work – fledgling returns to nest, adults bring food, fledgling learns to fly better and strengthen their wings, fledgling observes and learns to hunt all the while being fed by adults.

Thankfully M15 and F23’s nest is reasonably secure but those GHOs did visit. The GHOs and Canada Geese are taking over the eagle and osprey nests at other sites. This situation is not good at Cape May Meadows as ‘H’ is watching for Hera to lay her first egg. GHOs are formidable enemies and are top Apex raptors. They have taken many osplets off nests and injured and killed other raptors. They might be ‘wise’ – all of our feathered friends are – but they are also dangerous, not soft and cuddly!

GHOs took over the Wolf Bay Osprey platform this year in Alabama. I thought there were two owlets but only one is on the nest and waiting for adults to deliver food. Do you follow this nest? Do you know what happened to the other owlet?

Late spring snows have been hitting the nests in and around Montana and Colorado.

This is Boulder County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

The snow is gone at Dunrovin and Swoop is on the nest with his potential new mate.

Three eggs at Clark PUD.

It is nice in Scotland and Blue NCO was right on time with her second egg.

There are now three eggs at the Foulshaw Moss nest of White YW and Blue 35 in the Lake District.

The cam at UFlorida-Gainesville is frozen. There has been rain or so it appears. Do we still have three osplets? Can’t tell. They are under Mum.

At Tweed Valley, it seems to be a bit of a nest swap.

I have been very worried about the fate of Black-Stork Karl II’s family since he was electrocuted in Turkey last fall on his migration south. I have contacted Maria Marika on Saturday and there is no news. She is also concerned about Kaia. The younger storks she tells me return to the north the end of April. I hope we have some news of Bonus and Waba. Last word on Bonus was his battery did not charge on 28 August 2023.

The Royal Albatross Centre asks us to imagine what it would be like if there were no albatrosses. Today, they are protected (have a read how this happened), but what will happen with warming seas and overfishing and if the long haul trawlers do not change the way they load their lines.

I was able to confirm from ‘VV’ that Star and Louis did return before Iris. For a moment I fantasied about whether or not, if Star had not returned, would Louis turn out to be a good mate and provide for Iris and any osplets. — Well, squash that idea.

Loch Garten. Impossible to tell if there are any eggs. Look at that nest!

Great Bay has three eggs. The last one was laid on the 19th of April.

I don’t know why, but I still worry about that tiny third hatch at Little Miami Conservancy.

Bonnie and Clyde’s two eagles at Cardinal Land Conservancy are doing quite well.

Oh, just look at them all lined up being so civilised. They have their Mohawks and are getting their pin feathers – these are the Majestic eaglets from Denton Homes near Decorah, Iowa.

Almost at the precise stage of development, the Decorah North eaglets are quickly losing the downy soft white plumage of their heads and their pin feathers are clearly noticeable.

It was raining in Texas. JBS20 was lured to the nest for a meal.

ND-LEEF eaglets are getting their thermal down and are doing well – it is so good to see so many healthy and well cared or.

Swampy is still on the nest but continues to branch higher and higher. S/he will take to the skies shortly. Let us all hope that Swampy returns to the nest over and over again like JBS20, E23, Cal, and the others who have survived this year to fly.

I realise that camera angles make objects appear larger or smaller depending on the position and angle. That said, just look at how large the eldest chick of Thunder and Akecheta is compared to Akecheta!

Andor and Cruz with their two eaglets. What a beautiful image.

Well, I will say it. I wish more food were coming to the Duke Farms nest for the two eaglets.

Sassa Bird reports that White-tail Eagle Milda, whose partner Hugo has disappeared, finally had a full crop after leaving the nest on Saturday to eat. The eggs were not harmed in her absence.

Have you seen this very informative 25 minute film about the White-tail Eagles in Latvia? Please watch! These are such beautiful and rare birds. It follows the life of the couple from nest building, to an egg tragedy, to a fledge.

Close monitoring of the nests and the eagles in Latvia gives researchers much information on these large raptors.

Latvijas-valsts-mezi-Monitoring-Shows-White-tailed-Eagle-Nesting-Success-This-YearDownload

The Bearded Tit is a gorgeous little bird. Do you know it?

Country-diary-Holding-our-breath-as-we-watch-the-bearded-tits-Environment-The-GuardianDownload

Thank you so very much for being with me today. We look forward to having you with us again soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, MM, SB, SP, VV’, Earthday.org, Geemeff, Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Heidi MC, Wolf Bay, Boulder County, Dunrovin Ranch, Clark PUD, Colin Douglas, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainsville Osprey Cam, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Royal Albatross Centre, Montana Osprey Project, RSPB Loch Garten, Great Bay Ospreys, Little Miami Conservancy, Cardinal Land Trust, Denton Homes, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, JB Sands Wetlands, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, IWS/Explore, Duke Farms, Sassa Bird, the LDF, and The Guardian.

Leaps of Faith…Tuesday in Bird World

16 April 2022

Good Morning,

It rained. The skies opened up late Tuesday night. I stood outside and listened to the drops falling; the wet earth’s smell was amazing. It is supposed to rain periodically on and off until Thursday, when things will change to a mix of rain and snow. We are finally getting the moisture that the prairies need, and it is wonderful. The grass will turn green immediately! The geese will have something to eat besides the dead blades they have been living on for weeks. The Robins will be busy pulling the worms out of the soil tomorrow. I wonder if the Starlings will join them? Or the Brown Thrashers? It will be interesting to see how ‘The Girls’ react when I open the windows a bit so they can get a sniff.

Today’s news is mixed. ‘H’ and I are celebrating the triumphs of Tuffy at Moorings Park and new Osprey eggs while another Osprey nest is struggling to survive, and our dear Meadow has died. I do not want to get desensitised to the struggles and the deaths, and I do not want you to either. Last year, significant declines in osprey fledges were observed, especially in the NE USA. This year, we see low numbers of eaglets fledging on the streaming cams. This impact will not be noticed for a couple of years, but it could be substantial in terms of the declining population numbers of these raptors. At the same time, we must celebrate those that survive. Remember those that we have lost or the ones struggling. Find the joy because it is there. On the day that Meadow died, Swampy branched. S/he looks very healthy. Others laid eggs, and Tuffy continued to eat without much interference.

What can I say? Devastating news coming out of Audubon. Meadow was euthanised. The stated reason was fractures to the wing as in the announcement below and poor condition. On the 8th of April, Audubon put out a post stating that they had not found any breaks or fractures. Everyone is quite sad about this and felt encouraged that Meadow would recover. I wonder if he damaged his wings while flapping about in care?

‘H’ did the first-morning feeding and turned the rest of the day over to me to monitor. I hope to do half as good a job as she does! Tuffy had an extraordinary day on Monday. This nest has turned around because of the regular deliveries of large fish and the willingness of Sally to feed her chicks continually throughout the day.

Tuffy had a very good Monday morning. The smallest chick at Moorings Park dominated the first feeding. At 10:20 a large whole fish was delivered by Harry. Tuffy still had a crop from the earlier feeding. Sally begins eating the head of the fish while Ruffy moves into position. Tuffy stays away. Tuffy is intimidated by both Ruffy’s presence and position but is not beaked. Ruffy dominates the entire first part of the feeding. Tuffy tries to get into a position to be fed but cannot. Sally is obviously hungry and fighting with the head of the fish. At 1045 Tuffy does an excellent PS. The little one begins to move. Tuffy gets bite 2 at 1046. Sally tries to give bites to Tuffy but Ruffy moves to get in the way. Tuffy cannot position itself. At 1048 there is still fish and Tuffy begins its private feeding while Ruffy is in food coma under Sally’s tail in the shade. Our little Tuffy managed to get 227 bites of fish at this second feeding. Well, done, Tuffy, for waiting your time. It was a large fish – plenty for all three!

The third fish of the day was a headless large fish delivered at 1252. Harry stayed on the nest for a few minutes. Today Ruffie is 25 days old and Tuffy is 22 days old. They are exiting the Reptilian phase and that could easily account for the more peaceful nest. At 1253 Ruffie had an excellent PS. Tuffy stays back from the feeding at the beginning. He has a large crop. Ruffie goes to eat. Indeed, Tuffy does not appear interested! At 1259 Tuffy begins to move. Ruffie notices and moves her head but does not beak. Tuffy moves closer to Mum at the back of the tail. Tuffy is positioning himself. At 1301, Tuffie has a second excellent PS for the morning. Ruffie moves away and Tuffie is in position to have its first bite at 1303. There is a nice portion of tail remaining. By 1305 Tuffy had 32 bites of fish. Mum is feeding fast. By 1310 Tuffy has had 78 big bites of fish and has turned away. Ruffie moves up to eat again. Eats its fill and Sally gets to enjoy that nice fish tail. Both of the osplets have eaten very well by 1320 on Monday with no physical aggression from Ruffie to Tuffy. Oh, Tuffie gets more. At 1328, he got 14 more bites so a total of 92 good bites of fish for the third feeding of the day. Well done, Tuffy! Those excellent ‘ps’ demonstrate this chick is not dehydrated and is doing well. This nest is changing for the better.

The fourth fish was a slightly headless sheepshead – gosh, which are tough fish for these mums to feed. That fish arrived at 1520. Both Ruffie and Tuffy have big crops. Ruffie is not interested. Tuffy gets right up to the table to eat. Sally cannot feed the fish quickly, and Tuffy is often impatient and picks up pieces of dropped fish from the moss to eat while he waits. Tuffy was fed until 1539, when he had eaten approximately 1/3 of the fish and was quite full, moving away so that Ruffie could have some fish. No aggression was shown during the feeding. Sally was still getting the meat off that fish at 1640! Tuffy never returned to the table.

The fifth fish arrives in 1811 and is a large half-fish. Tuffy is right up there. Ruffy moves to the table, but Tuffy keeps eating. Then, at 1814, Ruffy takes exception hovering over Tuffy to force him into submission. Rufy gets fed, but Tuffy is back up at the table eating from 1829 to 1839. At 1842, Tuffy did an enormous PS right over the edge of the nest! The fish is done around 1843. I did not count bites. It was obvious that all was well despite the single incidence of domination. The two have eaten very well today.

The sixth fish arrived at 1939. It was a partial large Sheepshead. Both osplets were up at the beak. Ruffy ate until Tuffy began at 1946. Tuffy was fed until 1953 when Sally quit feeding. There is lots of fish on the nest. Both osplets had full crops at bedtime.

Sally decided to have a late night snack without the kids!

Tuffy’s ‘ps’. This excellent poop shot going well over the edge of the nest is a testament to Tuffy’s good eating and health over the past day. ‘H’ and I are going to stop counting bites as long as things remain stable on the nest. Tuffy is going to survive this. Both osplets are getting their feathers and I will probably say it several times – they are growing out of the Reptilian Phase and we would expect the aggression to be ceasing as long as Harry continues to provide this level of fish and their regularity.

*Caution*. I continue to worry about the Mum at Frenchman’s Creek. There are still fish piled on the nest. She fed one chick and stopped. The big one is trying to self-feed. This Mum is not lazy, she is ill. I believe it is possible that she has Trichomonosis. It causes severe damage to the tissues of the mouth, throat, crop and esophagus and affected birds may drool saliva, regurgitate food, have difficulty in swallowing food and water, demonstrate laboured breathing and/or have a swollen neck or throat. Several ospreys have died because of this including the Mum at Janakkala Osprey nest in Finland. The Dad piled fish on the nest and the two osplets tried to self-feed. One survived if my memory serves me correctly. The fourth eyas at the CBD in Melbourne died from this disease.

The older osplet is attacking the smaller one. Sheer frustration. Nest full of fish and chicks starving. Mum ill. Very sad.

Older osplets desperately trying to feed themselves in a nest full of fish. Little one has been beaked – leaning over top of nest. Has not eaten for a couple of days and will likely die shortly unless a miracle happens.

Mum is feeding the two older chicks this morning. The third chick is close to dying and by the time you read this will probably have passed.

The ospreys are into hard incubation at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home with three eggs in the nest.

Only 5 goslings survived the leap of faith at the Decorah Goose Nest on Monday morning between 0802-0804. Believe it or not, another goose rushed to the nest and began laying eggs at 1030! It is quite a year. The Goose eggs are expected to hatch on Nest 2 in about a week.

Here is the live cam from Nest 1.

More Osprey eggs laid in the UK On Monday.

CJ7 and Blue 022 laid their first egg at Poole Harbour at 1540 on Monday. Congratulations!

Harry and Flora laid their first egg at Alyth at 1101.

Idris and Telyn have their second egg of the season at Dyfi at 0801 precisely 72 hours after their first egg was laid.

Audacity and Jak had another egg laid today at Sauces Canyon. The time was 14:55. You can see the flattened thin-shelled egg below in the image. So sad for them.

A little branching but both feet were off the nest bowl for Swampy at Eagle country at 1524 on Monday.

Both eaglets at Duke Farms are little boys. I don’t think this is a big surprise. Their aggression was only limited to a bit of time when prey was scarce.

Wichita and Cheyenne are doing fine at the Kansas City Bald Eagle nest.

It was difficult to tell how much prey the third hatch at Little Miami Conservancy received today. This nest could warrant a *caution* in watching for now.

Johnson City eaglets are big and doing great.

It looks hot on that Osprey platform at the University of Florida at Gainesville. Stella and Talon still have three osplets! What a nice sight to see as I have missed checking on them for a couple of days. The difference between the first and third hatch had me worried, but so far, so good.

Big Red and Arthur’s eggs were laid from the 17-26 of March. The average period for Red-tail Hawks to hatch is normally between 28-35 days, according to most of the guides. Last year, Big Red’s first egg hatched on the 37th day. I have tried to avoid the nervous energy of an expectant auntie….but we are entering the time when we can all get excited.

First Bald Eagle Hatch at White Rock in British Columbia, Canada announced today by Hancock Wildlife that oversees the nest.

The fourth and I believe final egg at the Peregrine Falcon nest in Japan has hatched. Just look at the size difference. It will be a joy to watch that little one catch up.

A glimpse of a day with Hartley and Monty in San Jose.

Smile. Bradley returns with another Puffer! Oh, he reminds me of Ervie.

And another reason to smile. Murphy who incubated a rock and got an eaglet to raise last year will get another chance this year. How wonderful. It is a win-win!

Concerns for White-tailed eagle Milda this year as her mate Hugo has not been seen for four days. She has protected the nest of eggs from intruders but needs desperately to eat. This so reminds me of the year Ramis was killed. Milda, go eat!

For all the lovers of our gal Iris at Hellgate Canyon, a young male visited her nest yesterday and tried mating with our gal. Keep your eye on that nest!

UK Migration in Review for last week:

Review-of-the-Week-8-14-April-2024-BirdGuidesDownload

That’s it for today. I spent my day watching Tuffy which was a sheer delight after the news of Meadow. Please take care. Thank you for being with us.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘H, PB’, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys, Raptor Resource Project/Explore Decorah Goose Cam, Poole Harbour Osprey Project, SSEN Alyth Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, IWS/Explore, Eagle Country, Duke Farms, Farmer Derek Kansas City Bald Eagle nest, Johnson City-ETSU, UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey Cam, Cornell Red-tail Hawk Cam, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, the Japanese Peregrine Falcon Cam in Osaka, SK Hideaways, Port Lincoln Ospreys, World Bird Sanctuary, Raine and LDF, and BirdGuides.

Joy and Sadness…Monday in Bird World

15 April 2024

Good Morning,

Today is full of some good news and some worrying news. As I reminded everyone yesterday, the nests and lives of our feathered friends are not easy. A nest full of happy, well-fed chicks can change in an instant, and that is precisely what might be happening at the Frenchman’s Creek Osprey platform. Across the pond, at Loch Arkaig, dear Louis and Dorcha welcome their first egg with great joy. We never know what will happen. We need to rejoice in the good times, and when we can, we need to reach out and help those birds near us – even if it is just a life-saving bowl of water. It could make all the difference in their life.

Sunday was another gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. Everyone is outside in their summer attire despite the nippy wind that is gusting between 30-45 kph. The girls have spent time sniffing out the open windows in the conservatory wishing they were not ‘imprisoned’ in a house! I continue to tell them it is for their own good and the good of those birds that they are so interested in! Calico now has a hassock pulled up to the window. Her and Hugo Yugo are imagining what it would be like running around and chasing the Dark-eyed Juncos they are so interested in. Oh, I adore them!

The garden was busy! It is migration. We had birds visit that I have never seen at our feeders and at the bird bath drinking water. So, I urge all of you to put out water and if you can, some food. Shallow bowls work wonders. You do not need a birdbath! Put in some rocks to get out if they slip in the bowls.

The Red-winged Blackbird was so thirsty and hungry. It foraged all under the feeders and we put additional food on the ground hoping that there was something in the songbird mix that it would find appealing.

Oh, I love it when the Starlings come. Look at that beautiful plumage. I love the purple on their chest that blends with the iridescent blacks, blues, and greens, and the little kisses of gold. This bird has its breeding plumage. Hopefully, some little Starlings will be coming to the garden to feed in the early summer.

The Starlings particularly like the suet. Normally I would have meal worms for them – this week will mean a visit to the shop.

The six Blue Jays were busy trying to get peanuts in-between Dyson & Co visiting the feeder.

The Dark-Eyed Juncos are everywhere. They love Millet so if you have them in your garden spread the millet on the ground. They will find it.

The other new bird in the garden was a White-winged Crossbill. According to the Cornell Bird Lab, these songbirds, “…inhabit coniferous forests, feeding primarily on spruce and tamarack seeds. Like Red Crossbills, they occur throughout forests of balsam fir and red, black, white, and Engelmann spruce. However, they are scarce or absent in most pine, hemlock, and Douglas-fir forests occupied by Red Crossbills. During periods of low food supply, many White-winged Crossbills wander far out of range. At such times, they frequent habitats that vary from weedy fields to ornamental plantings to pine forests. Their preference is for spruce species, and during irruption winters, they are attracted to small stands of spruce, as often found in older cemeteries, arboretums, or university campuses.” I have never had one in the garden before and, I am wondering if this is because of a very low food supply and an extreme loss of habitat by the continual construction of homes on prime agricultural or bird habitat land.

“Two-barred-crossbill (white-winged crossbill)-2013-12-30_05” by Jan Thomas Landgren is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I went to check on the state of the ducks. There were a few at an industrial park pond.

The water in the agricultural fields has dried up and not a feathered friend to be seen. It is possible that we and they are going to be in for a big shock in a few days as the forecast is for either heavy snow or lots of rain. They are not sure which. It doesn’t matter. We need the moisture and I hope it materialises.

I also stopped in at a small antique and collectible shop, and look what I found—an old-fashioned pet carrier just the right size for Hugo Yugo. It reminds me of the ones that are sometimes seen on the television series from the Yorkshire Dales, All Creatures Great and Small. This one needs a good latch. That could prove to be a challenge.

Louis won our hearts during the pandemic with the triplets he raised with Aila. Here he is getting a look at his first egg of the 2024 season with dear Dorcha. He does always seem to be surprised!

Later, Louis brings Dorcha a lovely fish and takes over incubation duties.

Louis and Dorcha made the BBC news with that egg!

Tuffy did not get a lot of fish at the first feeding according to ‘H’ who patiently waited to see if the tide on the nest would change.


Harry brought the first fish of the day at 0958, a medium sized whole fish.  Tuffy received two bites but was then forced away by Ruffie, and then Ruffie ate.  Tuffy seems to be getting clever… he crawled over the rail sticks, and went around in front of Sally and ended up on her left side away from Ruffie, and ate a couple more bites.  Well, Ruffie was on to Tuffy’s little scheme, and didn’t like what she saw at all!  Ruffie dove under Sally’s head to get at Tuffy with such force that she knocked Sally backward.  Tuffy moved away and Sally resumed feeding Ruffie.  At 1005 Ruffie was still being fed, but just could not leave well enough alone, so she went behind Sally to the side and beaked Tuffy who was already in submission.  Then Ruffie wedged herself between Tuffy and Sally, and ate some more.  At 1016 Ruffie was still eating, but decided to back up, and went across the nest to beak Tuffy again.  Ruffie ate some more.  Persistent Lil’ Tuffy then went around the nest to end up on Sally’s right side (away from Ruffie), and received a few more bites of fish.  Ruffie saw Tuffy eating, and did not immediately react.  But, after a minute she decided to intimidate Tuffy into moving.  At that point, Ruffie was not eating, but just policing.  Sally gave Tuffy the last two bites of the fish.  Total fish bites for Tuffy = 18.


The second feeding of the day was tough for Tuffy as ‘H’ reports”


…At 1043 Harry delivered another whole fish, a live ladyfish, that was not very big or meaty.  It would take a very nice and pleasant sibling for Tuffy to get much to eat from this fish.  Tuffy moved aside, and Ruffie ate.  By 1100, Ruffie had stopped eating, and Tuffy received his first bite.  However, Tuffy was positioned precariously close to the edge of the nest.  By 1102, Tuffy had eaten 16 bites of fish, when Ruffie decided to dominate, went over to Tuffy and nearly forced him off the nest.  Ruffie then ate some more.  At 1104 Ruffie was no longer eating, only Sally was eating, but Ruffie was laying down right at Tuffy’s tail, forcing him to stay where he was.  Sally finished the fish by 1109.  Finally by 1114, Tuffy was attempting to extricate himself from that dangerous spot, so he inched sideways toward Sally on firmer nesting, and then he had a great PS.  Total bites for Tuffy from this fish = 16.

‘H’ checks on the 1307 feeding:

…At 1307 Harry delivered a very meaty prepped sheepshead fish.  Tuffy was closest to Sally but backed off as Ruffie approached, and she began eating.  Sally soon moved the fish to Tuffy’s advantage and he got 3 bites, but was intimidated by Ruffie and moved away.  Tuffy moved back within beak-reach of Sally, and grabbed bites when he could.  For the most part, Ruffie was less aggressive at this meal, tolerating the close proximity of Tuffy.  But, at 1316 and 1318, she did intimidate Tuffy enough so that Tuffy moved away for a short while.  Tuffy would inch closer and again grab bites from Sally.  By 1322, Ruffie was finished eating for a while, although she stayed close by.  Tuffy began a long stretch of solo eating, and had eaten a total of 246 bites by 1339.  At that time, Tuffy took a PS break and Ruffie woke up and wanted more fish.  By 1345 Ruffie retired from the meal again, and Tuffy had another long private feeding. Tuffy had eaten 286 bites by 1350 at which time Ruffie wanted a few more bites, and she and Sally finished the fish.

Despite everything, ‘H’ tells us that Tuff did manage to eat over 500 bites of fish on Sunday. by 1715:

…At 1604 Harry brought a large headless tilapia, guaranteed to allow for a decent meal for Tuffy.  Ruffie started eating, and Tuffy was waiting in the rear, crop-dropping in anticipation.  Well, Tuffy couldn’t wait, and at 1610 he approached, and got beside Ruffie who proceeded to drive him back to the rail and beak him.  At 1612, Ruffie took a break from eating, but laid down where Tuffy could not easily get by her.  At 1618 Tuffy did scoot around Ruffie, and Mom started giving him some bits of fish.  By 1619 Ruffie was back, intimidated Tuffy, and Ruffie ate some more.  Sally reached to her right and gave Tuffy a couple of bites, much to the displeasure of Ruffie who intimidated Tuffy and  caused him to scurry away.  At 1623 Ruffie was finished eating and moved away…but Tuffy hesitated to come back.  By 1624 Tuffy was back at the table, but it didn’t last long, as Ruffie returned at 1626.  Ruffie ate until 1629.  Again, Tuffy hesitated, and Sally ate.  Tuffy returned and ate at 1630, but golly, Ruffie was back eating at 1631.  Tuffy moved over to Sally’s right side, and she was feeding Tuffy several bites of fish over her right shoulder, while still feeding Ruffie.  Ruffie could have put a stop to this ‘conspiracy’ between Mom and the little brother…but she didn’t.  By 1633 Tuffy had eaten a total of 49 bites during this meal.  At 1636 Ruffie moved away, and Tuffy had a nice private feeding.  Tuffy had eaten 174 bites of fish by 1648, when he started to reject Sally’s offerings.  At 1649 Tuffy shuffled over to the rail and laid down beside Ruffie.  There was still a decent amount of fish left, and Sally had a nice meal.  At 1709, Lil’ Tuffy lifted his head, Mom came closer, and began giving her little youngster some more fish.  Tuffy had eaten at least 202 bites of fish by 1712, and then he laid down again.  At 1714 Sally was pulling the last bits of meat off the fish tail, and fed a couple bites to Ruffie, when Ruffie suddenly decided she had better lay-down-the-law again… went over to Tuffy at the rail, and bit him on the neck a few times.  So far today, Tuffy has eaten at least 522 bites of fish.

The last feeding and report from ‘H’ for Moorings Park on Sunday:

…At 1825 Harry shared a small piece of fish tail with his family.  Sally fed Ruffie, and Tuffy did not approach the table at all.  The piece of fish was finished in just over 3 minutes.

Tuffy ate very well first thing Monday morning so all is well at Moorings – indeed, it is unusual for the little one to do so well at breakfast so, yes!


At 0637 Harry arrived with a headless tilapia, and it took a while for the kids to wake up.  Tuffy got the first bite at 0639, but was beaked by Ruffie.  See you later, Tuffy.  Ruffie ate.  At 0648 and 0650 Ruffie inflicted a little reinforcing intimidation upon Tuffie.  At 0706 Ruffie moved away from the table, and Tuffy moved toward his mom.  Then, it was Tuffy’s turn to eat some breakfast.  Tuffy had eaten 125 bites of fish by 0719, when Ruffie returned.  Tuffy immediately turned and tucked.  Tuffy inched closer to Sally and got another couple of bites at 0731, and was promptly ‘scolded’ by Ruffie.  Ruffie turned away from Sally again at 0733, and she did not return to the table again during this meal, nor did she harass Tuffy.  Tuffy feasted, and he was noted to be crop dropping a few times.  Tuffy had eaten at least 256 bites of fish by 0753, when Sally downed the fish tail.

The third hatch at Fort St Vrain has died on Sunday. It had gotten out of the egg cup and rolled on to its back and appeared not to be able to right itself. The COD is not entirely clear but Elfruler notes and it sounds reasonable, “Lying on its back at this age constricts the air passages, it probably died of asphyxia. Chicks don’t begin using their lungs and air sacs until after the internal pip, and it takes a while for the system to be fully functional. Same thing happened at the John Bunker Sands nest in January, the chick ended up outside the cup on its back and couldn’t turn itself over.” 

There are concerns that JBS20 has not returned to the nest (JB Sands Wetlands) since fledging Sunday morning. This is the area around the nest in the tower. ‘AE’ provided these images of the nest and the surrounding area, along with a screen capture of Dad waiting for JBS20 to return to the nest.

Trudi Kron has it on video!

All of the goslings at the Decorah Goose Cam have hatched successfully. The most likely date for their leap of faith is today – Monday the 15th of April – to the stream below the nest.

There was much concern yesterday about the Mum at Frenchman’s Creek. Fish were stacking up and she had not fed the chicks. I have received news from ‘PB’ that Mum is back feeding the chicks on the Frenchman’s Creek Osprey nest Monday morning. Wonderful news. And there she is with them below this morning! Let’s hope all is well.

Meanwhile, all appears to be well with the Venice Golf and Country Club osplets.

It looks like we have the first egg of the season from Harry and Flora at Alyth!

Despite their sadness, Jackie and Shadow demonstrate that love overcomes everything as they move on from their disappointment.

We are waiting for eggs at the Loch of the Lowes in Scotland with Laddie LM12 and Blue NCO. Blue NCO looked a little ‘eggy’ on Sunday. Fingers crossed.

Blue 022 worked particularly hard on the nest at Poole Harbour that he shares with his mate CJ7 on Sunday. It looks pretty comfy.

The genome of the Night Parrot has been sequenced for the first time. “Scientists have sequenced the genome of Night Parrot, one of the world’s rarest and most enigmatic birds, for the first time.The breakthrough by researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – Australia’s national science agency – is expected to provide valuable insights into the parrot’s genetics and biology, potentially informing conservation strategies for this recently rediscovered bird, with a live parrot only photographed as recently as 2013.”

First-Night-Parrot-genome-sequenced-BirdGuidesDownload

Why is genome sequencing important for wildlife conservation?

Population-genomics-for-wildlife-conservation-and-management-PMCDownload

Thank you so much for being with me today. This was a hop, skip, and jump around less than a handful of nests today. To my knowledge, the others are doing alright. And, I forgot. The Redding eaglets are the first clutch, one egg broke. I keep saying second clutch and for the life of me I do not know why! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, videos, photographs, screen captures, postings, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘AE, Geemeff, H, MM, PB, SP, TK’, Gemeff, BBC, Moorings Park Ospreys, Fort St. Vrain, JB Sands Wetlands, Trudi Kron, Alyth SS, SK Hideaways, Frenchmen’s Creek, VGCCO, Bird Guides, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Poole Harbour Ospreys, and Wiley Molecular Ecology.

*Disclaimer. Every effort has been made to acknowledge those that have provided material for my post. If I have inadvertently missed thanking someone, please let me know so that the omission can be rectified. Thank you.*

Grateful for those that are thriving…Saturday in Bird World

13 April 2024

Hello Everyone,

Thursday and Friday were difficult days. Jackie and Shadow said goodbye to their eggs after one cracked, with Jackie covering them later. The miracle babies hatched at the NTCT nest of Bella and were killed and eaten by the male, Scout. Audacity surprised everyone with another egg, but it broke Friday morning. Little B17 died and Meadow is ill. It felt a little bit like a roller coaster of emotions. Others call it ‘hope fatigue’. These events take their toll and sometimes we need to go outside and listen to the birds or sit and stroke a beloved pet. Then we need to stop and be very thankful for those that survive – they are very precious.

Bella feeds her second little eaglet before flying off to find food. She returns, looks around the nest, cannot find the baby while Scout is on the perch, then Bella flies off saying goodbye. It would have been difficult, if not impossible or Bella with the attitude that Scout was exhibiting. Many wondered if this was not a blessing in disguise.

The empty nest says it all.

The Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey is expressing concern over Meadow’s condition on Friday. Send your positive energy to this eaglet.

So what is giving us hope?

Iris returned to her nest at 20:51:22 Friday night. She looked like she had a full crop. So the Matriarch is fine! She stayed til after 0633 Saturday morning. Perhaps she didn’t want Louis to see her!

Annie and Archie. We are 11 days away from hatch watch. ‘A’ is getting excited. “Annie is looking particularly lovely this evening – she really is an exquisite specimen of a bird. Just beautiful. I cannot wait to see four little fluffy eyases lined up with their beaks open in that scrape. Poor little Archie is going to be run off his talons. And if he thinks it’s difficult to incubate four eggs, wait until he tries brooding four chicks. That should take some serious enfluffling.”

Tuffy is getting smarter and is sometimes braver. This nest gives me hope because of “H’s great observations.

‘H’ reports on how Friday morning began well for Tuffy: “At 0728 Harry arrived with a large live tilapia.  Sally started to eat, and for once Sally was positioned near the rail facing outward.  Her positioning would afford Tuffy an opportunity to position himself on the other side of her from Ruffie.  Tuffy was on Sally’s right, and Ruffie hung back a bit.  Tuffy received 5-6 bites of fish before Ruffie reached over and beaked him.  So much for Sally’s new positioning.  Tuffy scooted away and tucked.  At 0728 Tuffy was trying to move around to the other side of Sally, but Ruffie saw him and cut him off at the pass.  At 0750 Tuffy was getting a little too close to Sally for Ruffie’s liking, so she beaked him.  By 0753 Ruffie moved away from the feeding, but still kept an eye on Tuffy and was giving him a warning look.  Soon, Ruffie started to eat some more.  At 0803, brave lil’ Tuffy decided to go for it, and shuffled right up to Sally in front of Ruffie, and started to get some bites.  Ruffie turned away for a PS, and she then stayed away.  Good.  By 0813, Tuffy had eaten approximately 100 bites of fish.  The view was partially blocked and I was not able to see if bites were dropped.  I just had to count when Sally leaned toward Tuffy, and he leaned toward her.  At that point Ruffie returned to the table to eat some more, and she beaked Tuffy.  Ruffie was finished, this time for good, at 0816…Tuffy untucked and resumed eating his breakfast.  Tuffy took a break for about a minute at 0822, then resumed eating.  At 0831 Tuffy simply couldn’t eat any more and shuffled away from Sally sporting a very large crop.  Sally finished the fish.  Tuffy ate an estimated 180 bites of fish.  Great way to start the day!”

Look at Tuffy’s crop!

“… At 1128 Harry brought a nearly whole tilapia.  Ruffie was fed, and Tuffy remained on the sidelines.  Harry stayed in the nest for a while, so Tuffy gradually moved to get into Dad’s shade.  Even after Harry left, Tuffy stayed away from the feeding line.  At 1207 Tuffy moved to be closer to Sally, and was beaked by Ruffie.  By 1214, Ruffie had moved aside slightly, Tuffy moved in, and it appeared that Sally was feeding Tuffy (view was blocked).  Sally did move a little bit and we were able to see that Tuffy was eating.  By 1218 Tuffy had eaten 40 bites of fish before being intimidated by Ruffie, and he shuffled away.  Ruffie continued to eat, and around 1222, Sally reached over to Tuffy to give him some bites, before Ruffie again banished Tuffy to the sidelines at 1224.  At 1227 Tuffy was again reaching to Sally to receive fish bits.  Ruffie simply did not want little brother to eat, so at 1228 she made a big physical display of dominance and Lil’ Tuffy scurried away.  At 1234 Ruffie seemed to be finished eating, and our view was partially blocked, but it was obvious that Sally was feeding Tuffy.  The meal was over by 1248 save for a few scraps.  Tuffy ate at least 78 bites of fish.”


.”..Harry delivered the third fish of the day at 1705, a headless tilapia.  It was a smaller piece of fish, which did not bode well for Tuffy’s chances for a nice meal.  Ruffie approached Sally, Tuffy moved further away from Sally.  I noted that Tuffy’s crop was flat at that time.  Ruffie was giving warning glances to Tuffy as Ruffie was fed.  However, Sally managed to periodically sneak a bite to her little one who was standing off to the side.  Many of those quick bites to Tuffy went under Ruffie’s radar, but some did not.  When Ruffie would notice Tuffy getting a bite she leaned toward Tuffy to intimidate him.  So, Tuffy would move a little further away, but would then slowly inch closer to Mom as he dared.  By 1731 Tuffy had eaten 14 bites of fish by Sally quickly sneaking bits to him.  Then he received 5 bites in quick succession while Ruffie was trying to eat a big piece of skin.  Ruffie was not able to eat the skin, so she dropped it, but seemed irritated that Tuffy had eaten those bites…so she charged Tuffy who went to the rails.  Ruffie then wedged herself in between Sally and Tuffy.  Finally, at 1743, Ruffie was full and moved across the nest and laid down.  Tuffy made a beeline to Sally, but unfortunately there wasn’t much fish left.  Tuffy ate, and some bites were a pretty good size.  Sally did her best to pull every last bit of meat from that fish tail, then she offered the tail several times to Tuffy, who simply could not do anything with it.  Total bites for Tuffy at this meal = 46, and he had a small crop.  Total for Tuffy so far today = 304 bites of fish.”

Sally was calling for fish at 1957.

The three osplets of Talon and Stella at the Florida-Gainesville campus continue to do well. This is excellent news. They are all lined up like the three lads at Port Lincoln in 2022. You can see the size difference now between the first hatch in the centre and the baby on the right. At one time, they were almost all the same having hatched within a 36 hour window.

‘H’ reports that the Canada Geese and the Ospreys have switched nests at McEuen Park in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. Grateful for Geese and not owls!

In the UK, Idris and Telyn have their first egg of the Osprey season on Friday at the Dyfi Nest in Wales.

Waiting for Seren and Dylan at Llyn Clywedog to have their first egg of the season. Seren was not impressed with the food gift o a frog that Dylan brought to her and when he wasn’t looking, she dropped it overboard.

Intruders have been bothering Aran and Elen at Glaslyn. It was sent packing over to the Pont Cresor Nest of Aeron Z2 and Blue 014.

Louis fishes in the worst weather and delivers beautiful fish to Dorcha.

I am grateful that Laddie LM12 made it home safe this year to Blue NCO. No eggs at Loch of the Lowes yet.

Blue 33 guards Maya. He has been bringing in gold fish – beautiful bright orange-gold Koi. Someone’s pond is getting raided. He must like the colour!

Bradley makes me smile and it is fantastic that Port Lincoln continues to post videos of him bringing his fish to the barge. It is heartwarming when these fledglings thrive. A still form that video. Check out what is happening at Port Lincoln by going to their FB group.

And there are these various stages of some of the bobbleheads that are doing well:

US Steel 7: It is pitching down rain but Irvin has the nest full of fish and Claire is trying to keep the wee one dry while keeping it fed.

Little Miami:

Johnson City-ETSU:

Superbeaks, Dixie and Mason:

Kansas City, Cheyenne and Wichita:

Duke Farms, Jasper and Leaper who will be ringed on Monday:

ND-LEEF – Dad’s new mate Gigi appears to be doing well:

Eagle Country – Swampy in the nest and Meadow in care. Hoping dear Swampy is not sick, too:

Denton Homes – three Majestic babies:

Decorah North:

Redding with Liberty and Guardia:

Port Tobacco:

Bluff City and Viper:

Fort St Vrain. Two little bobbles doing well.

West End. Aklecheta and Thunder showed us how to deal with three healthy energetic eaglets this year:

Fraser Point, two adorable eaglets for Andor and Cruz:

PA Country Farm – a family who can consistently raise three:

Dade County, R6 has fledged and returns to the nest:

SW Florida, E23- so grateful that M15 had a new family this year after the sorrow of losing Harriet and the joy of raising E21 and 22 to fledge by himself:

Poor E23 has had to defend its nest!

JB Sands Wetlands, JBS20. We lost JBS21. Please keep Mum in your thoughts because of her injury:

Trudi Kron captures JBS20 getting ready to fly.

It isn’t all of them, but count these as blessings. In a year when many nests did not have a single hatch, we can be grateful. There is no news on Meadow Saturday morning form the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey.

Jackie and Shadow start over. What an amazing pair of eagles these are! ‘A’ writes: “Meanwhile, the sadness at Big Bear is felt by thousands of BB viewers. Jackie and Shadow are much loved by so many. This video really broke my heart. They take it in their stride and carry on, together. While they have each other, there is always next year. Spirit was such a miracle. It was a joy watching that couple caring for their precious eaglet. They were so devoted. That little one sure was spoiled for love. And fish, obviously.” 

The Royal Albatross are always bittersweet. Little fluff ball TopFlat Chick, the Royal Cam chick, waits for food deliveries. LGK Lew in on Friday to feed the little one who can be heard squeeing. At the end, you see TF flap its little wings copying the adults.

The top bird sightings in the UK. Please note the huge decline in House Sparrows since 1979 and the growth of some others. House Sparrows live amongst humans that is why they are seen so often and we are destroying their habitat which is why the huge decline. Feed them. Be joyful when you hear their song. Just imagine if they were not there.

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Thank you for being with me. Step outside. Celebrate spring, listen to the birds that live around you. Smile. There are things in the world that we have no control over. We change what we can, when we can doing the best we can. We mourn the little ones that are lost, but remain joyful and hopeful for those thriving on the nests.

*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to credit individuals who send me information, those who take screen captures, create videos or posts, those who write articles, and those who operate streaming cams. If I miss acknowledging someone’s contribution, please let me know so I can rectify that omission. Thank you.*

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, streaming cams, videos, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, J, H, PB, SK, TK’, NCTC Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Cal Alcons, Moorings Park ospreys, Florida-Gainesville, McEuen Park, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, The Woodland Trust (Loch Arkaig), Geemef, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), LRWT, Port Lincoln Ospreys, US Steel Eagle Cam, Little Miami Conservancy, Johnson City-ETSU, Superbeaks, FARMER DEREK, Duke Farms, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, Denton Homes, Raptor Research Project, FORE, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Bluff City-ETSU, Fort St Vrain, IWS/Explore, PA Country Farms, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, SK Hideaways, JB Sands Wetlands, Trudi Kron, Lady Hawk and The Guardian.

Scout kills second eaglet, second clutch for Jak and Audacity…Friday in Bird World

Good Morning,

Thank you to everyone who sent me news. It is much appreciated and to ‘H’ who delivers a great narrative of the day at the Moorings Park Osprey nest.

We are going to start with two items that should put a big smile on your fast. First is a video o Tuffy being ‘ruffy’. The second is a screen capture of either Cheyenne or Wichita. The prey must be plentiful in Kansas!

I asked Heidi Mc to make a YouTube video of Tuffy showing its attitude to Ruffy. She did, and here it is! Gosh, that little one has some spunk, which has kept it alive. Thanks, ‘H’.

1 minute 38 seconds. Watch that little one and notice its fat little bottom.

What do you think this eaglet had for lunch? Look at the size of that crop – and then look at the overall health of this chick. Unbelievable. FARMER DEREK must have lost of prey on his property.

Isn’t this a beautiful bird?

Stop for a moment and just look at the colours as they blend together from the matte black beak to the deepest navy-black, blending into a dark iridescent purple-blue, a royal blue and then a turquoise before breaking off into a Khaki and brown. The tail is a wedge, and that is a big, strong beak for a large bird.

Do you recognise this bird? Do you have these where you live?

The Common Grackle, but there isn’t anything ‘common’ about it as far as I can see. This is an adult male. The first three are in the garden for 2024. They arrive in April and stay until October. Often they will make a nest in the garden and have successfully fledged ‘gracklets’. That was an event – all the aunties and uncles came from afar, landing on the overhead wires to see the little one leave the nest. It was a community event, and well, it should be because most are lost to Mr Crow and his family right after hatching.

UPDATE: Scout has killed the second eaglet. Friday 12 April.

On the morning of 11 April, the second egg of Bella and Scout hatched. Scout was confused. He poked but did not appear to harm the chick. Bella returned and dug the egg cup quite deep and then left later and returned. Bella protected the eaglet and also had a tug-o-war with Scout over a fish. She needed to eat and she wanted the fish left on the nest to feed the baby. It appeared that Bella was trying to tell this to Scout – he flew off with the fish! This nest feels ‘unsettled’ to me in that Scout doesn’t understand that he needs to provide security and food. Let’s see how he does with the little one, too.

Bella brooding newly hatched chick.

You can see the little head of the eaglet below.

Bella on the chick after eating telling Scout, who is mantling the fish, to leave it alone!

It is going to be a rough few days at the NCTC nest until such time as Scout figures out his role as father and mate.

Ruffy continues to attack Tuffy even if she is full. ‘H’ reports: .”..At 1220 Harry delivered a large headless tilapia.  Ruffie rushed to the table, but Tuffy stayed back.  At 1227 Tuffy got up and looked at Ruffie, who shot him a glance that said “don’t even try it kid.”  Ruffie walked away from the table at 1231, and there was still a lot of fish left.  It took Tuffy a couple of minutes to move from the rail, since he knew that Ruffie’s reach has been extended lately.  At 1233 Tuffy moved toward the center of the nest, and Sally picked up the fish and met him half way.  Tuffy ate 24 bites by 1236.  Then Ruffie approached and intimidated Tuffy into moving away, Ruffie ate a couple bites, then left.  Tuffy turned toward Sally, got one more bite, and Ruffie beaked and bit him severely on the back of his neck.  After that beating, Tuffy stayed tucked for 5 minutes, even though Ruffie was at the rail, not eating.  At 1241 Tuffy met Sally in the center of the nest and he ate 5 more bites before Ruffy again approached him and intimidated him into moving away.  This scenario played out a few more times, where Tuffy would get a bite or two, Ruffy would intimidate him and he’d move away.  Tuffy had eaten a total of 52 bites by 1251.  Ruffie started eating again at 1252, and the fish was gone at 1256.  Tuffy had managed to eat enough to have a moderate crop.”


…At 1430 Harry dropped off a very large headless tilapia.  Tuffy made no effort to get to the table.  He stayed away from Ruffie, and he was waiting his turn.  At 1441 Tuffy started to make his move…shuffling slowly around the perimeter of the nest, and by 1443 he was close to Sally’s right side.  Ruffy didn’t seem to mind.  At 1444 Ruffy was sated and moved away from the table.  Ruffie laid down on the other side of the nest, and was not worried about Tuffy eating.  So, Tuffy started to eat…and eat…and eat.  By 1453 Tuffy had eaten 90 bites of fish, took a PS break, and rested a minute before going back for more.  Tuffy had eaten 150 bites by 1506, and then laid down to take another break.  It really was a huge fish and Sally was still eating, and Ruffie was still sleeping.  So, at 1512 Tuffy went back for more!  By 1516 Tuffy had eaten 179 bites…and then took another break.  Sally kept pulling on all that fish skin.  Was Tuffy done?  Nope…at 1521 he went back for more.  At 1523 Tuffy was finally done when Sally ate the fish tail.  Tuffy had eaten at least 191 bites of fish!  


‘H’ gives us a late report: “…Despite the wind and rain, Harry brought the 4th fish of the day at 1818, another headless tilapia.  Ruffie intimidated Tuffy…Ruffie was fed…and Tuffy stayed back.  At 1823 Tuffy approached, and when he got up near Ruffies left shoulder, Ruffie promptly beaked him.  When Tuffie finally came out of his submission-tuck at 1831, he was immediately intimidated by Ruffie, and Tuffy waddled away.  At 1840 Tuffy again tried to approach the feeding line and was beaked as soon as Ruffie saw him.  A persistent Tuffy was near Ruffie’s right side at 1846, and Ruffy gave him ‘the look’.  At 1847 Ruffie finally walked away, but the fish was gone.  Sally was eating scraps off the nest.  Nothing for Tuffy at this meal.  Tuffy has eaten pretty well today, though.  He has eaten approximately 345 bites of fish at three earlier meals.”

Audacity has laid another egg!

At Big Bear one of the three unviable eggs has cracked.

Then Jackie and Shadow say goodbye to their dream.

The third egg arrived at the OuterBanks nest around 0848 on 11 April.

These three osplets at Frenchman’s Creek are rapidly getting their juvenile plumage. They are gorgeous.

I have a huge soft spot for the Decorah North Bald Eagle family. This fierce Mamma has the sweetest babies.

Two bobbleheads at Fort St Vrain. Cuties. Be thankful for all those that survive this year.

There are three eaglets at the Sutton Centre in Bartlesville Oklahoma.

Mason and Dixie are all grown up.

No egg yet at the Loch Arkaig nest of Dorcha and Louis but an interesting visitor. Have a look and see how big an osprey is compared to a Great Tit.

Bette and Bukachek have two eggs at their nest in Mlady Buky.

Waiting for eggs at the Black Stork nest in Latvia in Kurzeme.

Beautiful Big Red and cutie pie Arthur. It won’t be long til there are four little hawk lets in the nest at Cornell.

The four eggs were laid on March 17, March 20, March 23, and March 26. I am looking for pip watch on the 22-24 April.

Cute little falcon in Japan has hatched. Looking at that white fluff with that little pink beak and legs should get you all excited for the arrival of Annie and Archie’s chicks!!!!!!!

Send your warm thoughts to Iris at Hellgate Canyon. The Matriarch of Ospreys returned to Missoula from her migration and moved some sticks about on the 5th of April. Iris is normally seen working on her nest or eating one of her whoppers on the owl pole. She has not been seen. We can speculate on many things, but it would be pointless. Let us hope that she is thriving at a new nest with a new beau!

‘J’ reports that the banding at Duke Farms has changed: “Due to the forecast of rain and wind tomorrow, the DF banding is postponed for the safety of the chicks and climber.  The banding is rescheduled for Monday the 15th at 10am.”

I was asked for the links to donate to the folks at the Tampa Bay Raptor Centre (they rescued Meadow and are fixing the Achieva nest) and Audubon for Meadow. Thanks ‘J’ for these:

The full link for a donation to Audubon Florida is:
https://act.audubon.org/onlineactions/ar8crC6bIUGX9UsdFBWdnw2

To donate to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay:
https://www.raptorcenteroftampabay.org/donate
Yesterday they took in another bald eagle, number 19 this year.

Did you know that the flame retardants used on furniture, clothing, etc. – that were banned a decade ago – continue to plague the small Apex predators such as falcons and hawks?

“As globally distributed apex predators, the peregrine falcon is the ideal canary in the coal mine for monitoring flame retardant pollution in the environment. Flame retardants phased out a decade ago are still accumulating in these birds and into their eggs, which indicates that the threats of these chemicals to wildlife and people can far outlast their production.”

Researchers measured concentrations of a suite of old and newer halogenated flame retardants in peregrine falcon eggs collected from multiple locations in the U.S. (New Jersey, California, Chesapeake Bay, and Pennsylvania) and Canada (Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and New Brunswick) between 1984 and 2016. It is the largest investigation to date of flame retardants in peregrine falcons in terms of both time and space.”

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‘AE’ reminds us that some enhancements to the Migratory Bird Act are going to the US Senate.

U.S.-House-Passes-Legislation-Supporting-Migratory-Birds-Across-the-Hemisphere-AudubonDownload

That is my ‘brief’ (LOL, it turned out longer than anticipated) report for today. Tomorrow’s will be short as well with things back to normal on Sunday! Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to ‘AE, Geemeff, H, J, OB, SP’, Heidi MC, Kansas City Bald Eagles, NCTC Bald Eagle Nest, Sharon Pollock, Moorings Park Osprey, Gracie Shepherd, FOBBV, Outerbanks/Carova Osprey Nest, Baiba, SK Hideaways, Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys, Raptor Resource Project, Ft St Vrain Bald Eagles, Superbeaks, Geemeff, Mlady Buky Storks, LDF, Cornell RTH, Japanese Peregrine Falcon Cam, Physical Org, and Audubon.

Tuffy reads Ruffy the riot act!…Second miracle chick at NCTC…Berry eaglet dies…Thursday in Bird World

11 April 2024

Good Morning,

My plans for Friday and Saturday have altered. There will be blog posts but they will be briefer than normal for those two days.

It is Wednesday evening. The second egg at the NCTC nest of Bella and Scout is hatching. The chick can be heard on the microphone. Thanks ‘T’ or your keen eye! Send the most positive energy to this nest so that Scout does not kill this second miracle chick! Perhaps Bella will feed the little one when he is there so he can understand that it is not a prey item.

For dear Bella, I hope, like each of you, that this little one fledges and thrives.

Scout has been acting ‘odd’ again. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

It was another gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. 14 degrees C. There was a cool breeze blowing off the lake at the nature centre that made it feel much chillier. The geese and the ducks arriving did not mind! Everyone walking on the trails was happy and one of the rangers remarked that the muskrat had been seen in the swamp. There were Saw-whet Owls, a Blue Heron heard but not seen, woodpeckers, geese, ducks, Red-wing Blackbirds and the Song and Fox Sparrows have returned from their migration.

I heard the Saw-whet Owl but did not see it and this is not unusual for these nocturnal birds.

Cornell Bird Lab gives us some cool facts about these smallest of owls.

  • Cool Facts
    • The Northern Saw-whet Owl may have been named for giving a call that sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whetting stone, but there is no consensus as to which of its several calls gave rise to the name.
    • The main prey items of the Northern Saw-whet Owl are mice, and especially deer mice of the genus Peromyscus. Saw-whets usually eat adult mice in pieces, over the course of two meals. 
    • The female Northern Saw-whet Owl does all of the incubation and brooding, while the male does the hunting. When the youngest nestling is about 18 days old, the female leaves the nest to roost elsewhere. The male continues bringing food, which the older nestlings may help feed to their younger siblings.
    • The female saw-whet keeps the nest very clean, but a mess starts to accumulate when she leaves. By the time the young owls leave the nest, 10 days to 2 weeks later, the nest cavity has a thick layer of feces, pellets, and rotting prey parts.
    • Migration in saw-whets has historically been poorly understood, because of their nocturnal, reclusive behavior. In the 1990s researchers began Project Owlnet, a collaboration that now consists of more than 100 owl migration banding sites. Researchers use the too-too-too call to lure owls in to mist nets, and band thousands of saw-whets every fall. 
    • Migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls can cross the Great Lakes or other large bodies of water. In October of 1999, one landed on a fishing vessel 70 miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean near Montauk, New York.
    • The oldest Northern Saw-whet Owl on record was at least 9 years, 5 months old when it was captured and released by a Minnesota bird bander in 2007. It was originally banded in Ontario in 1999.

In the urban area where I live, habitat loss is one of the primary reasons for wildlife decline. My goal over the past decade has been to create a corridor or the birds – an area populated by bird feeders, bird houses, bee houses, and, ironically, safe places for the feral cats to feed, drink, and sleep. (I have discovered that the feral cats do not bother the birds at the feeders. It is the domestic pets that do!) Cornell Bird Lab is reaching out and asking that each of us do something to provide habitat for the birds.

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Make a Difference for Birds Facing Habitat Loss “As I was setting up the nest boxes, I saw my first Tree Swallow of the season and had a pair of bluebirds checking out the boxes right after I put them up—looks like the boxes are bluebird approved!”—Kim Savides, Ithaca, NY Experiences like this are more common than you might think! Creating a nesting space for birds helps replace missing habitat elements and alleviate competition for good nest sites. Cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, chickadees, swallows, and titmice will appreciate the additional space, while you get to enjoy the magic of witnessing nature close to home. You can get personalized guidance on which nest boxes to install for your region and habitat—along with free construction plans—on the NestWatch website. Don’t have space for a nest box? Create other nesting opportunities by hanging flower boxes or adding potted plants to your outdoor space. Just don’t wait too long; birds are looking for the ideal nesting spot right now!

I promised you some images of ‘The Girls’. Missey and Hugo Yugo have been getting into far too much mischief. They have their own ‘feather’ collection, which consists of a vase full of Canada goose feathers, which they can play with at any time. Ah, but since one feather looks like the other, they have also been into my Pheasant and Peacock feathers vase. The Peacock feathers are quite old. My grandmother’s younger sister raised peacocks on her farm in Oklahoma. I remember their tails fanned out in the front garden as a child.

I there is trouble or anything ‘going on’ you can count on Hugo Yugo being involved. Dear Hope was sitting minding her own business when Hugo Yugo decided it was time to play!

Remember. Hugo Yugo is very, very tiny for her age. She easily fits into that shoe box with room left over. She plays like a kitten and continues to be the size of one even though she is seven months old.

Hope loves to watch the squirrels out of the window and is very curious about the ‘outdoor’ cats. Here she is sitting minding her own business.

Hugo Yugo has spotted Hope and is ready to play!

Hope has so much patience – like the others because of Hugo Yugo’s size.

Hugo Yugo never seems to get tired of play fighting.

She easily pushes Baby Hope over on her back.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, Baby Hope gets some peace. Hugo Yugo’s battery is out of juice.

The sweetest cat…Calico.

‘J’ sends us the latest update on Meadow:

Mid-week Meadow update: We sent the DNA sample to the lab on Monday, so we expect results back sometime in the next couple of weeks. Meadow is eating well from tongs in the kennel — and all that food gets pretty expensive! Meadow is fed four times a day, as eagles grow incredibly fast in order to leave the nest at 12-14 weeks. The average Bald Eagle rehabilitation costs our Center more than $5,000 including medical care, housing, and food. To support Meadow’s care, please contribute at https://act.audubon.org/onlineact…/ar8crC6bIUGX9UsdFBWdnw2

‘H’ brings us the fully daily report from Moorings Park:

“Harry brought a small whole fish at 0711.  Tuffy received one bite and was beaked by Ruffie.  Tuffy moved away and Ruffie ate.  At 0716 Tuffy was beaked again even though he was not in a position to eat.  The fish was gone by 0722.  One bite for Tuffy.

At 0920 Harry delivered a large live fish.  There was no initial aggression toward Tuffy other than ‘the look’, which was enough to keep Tuffy from the table.  At 0928 Tuffy got one bite and was beaked and driven away.  One more bite for Tuffy at 0934, and he was beaked.  Tuffy ate another bite of fish at 0937 and was severely beaked by Ruffie.  By 0940, Ruffie quit the feeding, but she  blocked Tuffy from Sally.  There was still a fair amount of fish remaining.  Sally ate some, and at 0945 Ruffie ate some more.  At 0946 Tuffie started to make his move to get around to the other side of Sally, but by the time he got there, Ruffie was finished eating and moved away.  At that point Tuffy was fed a nice breakfast.  Tuffy was seen crop dropping a few times to make more room.  The fish was gone by 0959, and Sally found a few scraps off the nest to offer Tuffy as well. Tuffy ate at least 63 bites of fish.”

… At 1131 Harry brought a headless fish.  Tuffy moved away as he has been conditioned to do.  Ruffie was fed.  Ruffie wasn’t very hungry and moved across the nest at 1135.  Tuffy could not believe his luck!  Tuffy had Sally and the fish all to himself, and he ate at least 98 bites of fish by 1147, at which time he walked away from Sally.  Then, Ruffie ate again for a few minutes, and Sally finished the fish tail.

…At 1519 Harry delivered a fairly large headless fish, four hours after the last fish.  Tuffy stayed near the front, but turned away from Ruffie, and Ruffie was fed.  At 1521 Tuffy received one bite, then was intimidated by Ruffie with ‘the look’.  The video live stream froze at 1524, and resumed at 1536.  So, while we have no idea what transpired in those 12 minutes, we found the siblings eating side by side.  The meal was over by 1539.  Tuffy had a huge crop…enough said!

‘H’ caught Harry coming in with two fish! A double-header.

“Master-fisher, Harry, delivered two whole fish at 1655, a medium-sized one and a large one.  Harry flew off with the larger fish.  Ruffie ate while Tuffy stayed back.  Tuffy still had a decent sized crop from the 1519 meal, and he did not seem hungry.  Sally and Ruffie ate all of the fish by 1703.

… At 1703 Harry returned with the headless one.”

Everyone loves Tuffy and MM caught this great image! It sure looks like Tuffy is giving Ruffy an earful. ‘MM’ says that Ruffy did not retaliate. Yeah for Tuffy.

This image of Tuffy telling Ruffy the what for touched so many hearts. After I saw MM’s image and H’s little video for me, The Tuffy Fan Club lit up my inbox. If only this little osprey knew what a cheering section it has – my goodness. This is a memorable moment. This is what it is all about—watching the very difficult times and seeing some of these little ones come out fighting and surviving. You never forget them.

‘H’ captured the moment in the video, making my day. I love it when these little beaten ones turn around to their perpetrator. You know that this nest is turning around.

And then, there was a late delivery. ‘H’ writes: “Harry dropped off a small partial fish at 2150.  Sally ate, and she had a difficult time connecting with little beaks due to the darkness.  It was peaceful, but Ruffie got the most simply because she could reach out further to Tuffy.  Tuffy ate 5-6 bites.”

Thursday morning report at Moorings Park from ‘H’: ‘At 0759 Harry arrived with a very large headless fish (possibly catfish).  Ruffie beaked Tuffy immediately, setting the tone.  Tuffy tucked.  At 0808 and 0810 Tuffy tried to approach Sally, but he was intimidated by Ruffie, so he moved further to the sidelines.  Tuffy remained tucked at the sidelines for a very long time.  Ruffie was not being fed that entire time, but she kept an eye on Tuffy. The fish was very tough, and it was slow-going for Sally.   At 0825, Tuffy started to slowly inch closer to Sally, and by 0826 he was at her right side letting her know that he was ready to eat…but, Ruffy was obviously ready to pounce.  Sure enough, at 0826 Sally offered Tuffy a bite, and he was immediately beaked by Ruffie.  At 0832 Tuffy scooted even further away from the feeding line, but Ruffy followed him.  At 0835 Ruffie saw that Tuffy was trying to sneak around to the other side of Sally and she moved across the nest and beaked him.  By 0849 Tuffy was still tucked at the far rail, and Ruffie was getting bites of fish whenever she could as Saly continued to struggle with the tough fish.  It’s Interesting to note, that since Ruffie has grown so much, she can reach Sally’s beak from almost across the nest, so at 0850, Ruffie was still getting a few bites from Sally all the way across the nest.  This increased range of Ruffie seemed to greatly reduce Tuffy’s ability to sneak around to get into a better position.  Slowly, Ruffie seemed to be relaxing as she got full, and Tuffy was once again near Sally at 0852.  Tuffy ate 6 bites of fish and was beaked.  Ruffie soon moved away from Sally, and by 0855 Tuffy was finally being fed.  Ruffie laid down across the nest and Tuffy had a private feeding.  Tuffy ate at least 102 bites of that tough catfish!  This feeding of Tuffy was made possible because of the large size of the fish Harry brought.  For survival of the non-dominant osplet.. size matters.”

‘H’ said that right! You can count fish, but you need regular deliveries of large fish to prevent siblicide. The delivery of 8 small fish does not help! Catfish also seem to help. The head is tough going and slows down the feeding. The oldest gets full and goes away leaving fish for the little one. Diane’s catfish at Achieva certainly pulled that nest through tough times.

‘H’ also caught the second egg at Carthage – four days after the first and Mum has been doing hard incubation since the first one was laid. Can I say, oh, dear before they have even hatched? All chicks were lost on this nest last year.

‘H’ reports that “First egg at Forsythe today, 20.10.02.” Opal is the same Mum from last year but this is a new Oscar.

Like so many others in the area, this nest was hit hard by the Nor’easter in June and then the overfishing of the Menhaden.

The weather is horrible at Loch Arkaig’s nest 2 with Louis and Dorcha. Dorcha is there in the middle of the wind and snow and it appears she could be laying her first egg.

‘J’ sends us Karen Mott’s photo of the three eaglets at Centreport on Long Island. What a surprise when their heads all pop up!

Unless you are an expert on California Condors, I really suggest you grab a cuppa’ and watch this 24 minute film. It’s new. It is by Tim Huntington and the cinematography is gorgeous.

Watch-New-Condor-Film-by-Our-Partner-in-Condor-RecoveryDownload

It feels like video day! Dani Connor Wild gives us her last instalment of her trip to Antarctica with leopard Seals, more Penguins, and story after story.

JBS20 continues to make his fan club nervous as he continues to explore the tower that would be a tree. Fledging within the week probably.

Despite the miserable wet weather, Bonnie and Clyde keep their eaglets fed and warm.

The weather is wet and miserable for the Little Miami Conservancy eagle family, too. Bette is doing a great job as Umbrella while Baker is keeping food on the nest.

The ND-LEEF babies of Dad and Gigi appear to be doing fine.

USS7 – Claire and Irvin’s little one – is super! We can certainly be thankful for these little ones with their soft downy heads and little wings and feet.

Ellie and Harvey filled up Cheyenne and Wichita on Wednesday.

I know that the prey deliveries get fewer as the eaglets get older, but after hearing about Meadow being emaciated, it would be so nice if the parents could keep up the deliveries like they did when the eaglets are in their growth period. The Dukies would have liked some more today I am certain.

Hearts continue to break for Jackie and Shadow and their dream of a family.

Port Tobacco’s ‘Only Eaglet’ is certainly benefitting from all that food brought to the nest and not having to share but Chandler, the Dad, is missing.

Update: B17 has died. Please send your good wishes to Ma and Missey at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest in Georgia. Their only eaglet B17 appears to be unwell. Did it get sick from the damp weather? This photo is from Tuesday.

This is the today’s state of affairs at the eagle nests from ‘J’:

New eaglets:
Bald Canyon 2
Folfan 3
Avon Lake 2

Eaglet died:
Berry College

MIA:
Chandler, the male, at Port Tobacco. Not seen at the nest since 9 April. Intruders about.

‘J’

The eaglets at Decorah North must bring us some happiness. They are lovely.

Raptor-Resource-Project-Bald-Eagle-and-Bird-of-Prey-CamsDownload

We have a Finnish Osprey at home. Cara arrives at the Janakkala Nest on Tuesday the 9th!

Then, almost simultaneously, Stefu arrives at the Seili Nest! They are coming home.

Falcons hatching in Eindhoven and in Japan!

At Port Lincoln, Bradley loves to show off his fish!

‘A’ brings us news of the Mums at Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony: “The mums are obviously foraging closer to home than the males in the Royal Cam families, with both BOK (arrived 12:46) and LGL (13:04) coming in to feed their boys some lunch today (11 April). I thought you might be interested in this footage, not for general consumption because it is a bit long (18 minutes) but it is the beginning that was fascinating to me. The story here is that BOK returned when she was ready to find a mate (so probably aged about four) and this bird, at the time known as Red, was her preferred suitor. This was the footage of the day Red was banded and became WYL, father of TFT chick with his mate, BOK. The thing that interested me the most was that this is a mature bird, ready to court and find a mate. They don’t return to Taiaroa Head until then. So Red must have been at least three and probably four or even five years old. And he allowed the rangers to approach him, extend an arm (for self-protection) and pick him up while holding his bill closed. There is no attempt to flee, struggle or engage in self-defence. He just quietly submits to the rangers’ tender care, while they equip him with the White, Yellow and Lime banding that identifies him as WYL. Imagine doing that to an eagle at the same age! You’d lose a limb. And an eye or three. The stately gentle beauty of these amazing birds never ceases to take my breath away. Looking at those adorable little snowmen with their tiny little fluffy wings that will soon become like the wings of a glider plane, steering their direction as they ride the thermals. These are wings designed not to flap, which would be pretty much impossible given their enormous spread, but to surf the wind currents. Truly amazing birds. So very precious. A haven such as Taiaroa Head shows human beings at our best. Those rangers (and the NZ government that finances their work) dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of the toroa, which are particularly special to the Indigenous people of NZ (the Maoris). How wonderful is it to know that these chicks are hatched in an incubator to protect them from fly strike, and are then weighed weekly, supplementary fed if necessary, and generally given optimal care throughout their prefledge period? Or knowing that the adults, too, will receive supplementary feeding and/or hydration as required, such as if one parent does not return to relieve its mate for an over-long period of time? Or that the sprinkler system will be turned on to keep the chicks and adults on the nests cool on days where heat stress might otherwise impact them?  What a joy. 

Small colony of Dorset Puffins on the brink of extinction.

Last-English-south-coast-Puffins-on-the-brink-BirdGuidesDownload

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care and feel free to send me any bird news that you see!

Thank you to the following for their notes, photographs, screen captures, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, J, H, MM, T’, Deb Stecyk, NTCT Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Carthage – DTC, Forsythe Osprey Cam, The Woodland Trust, Karen Mott-Centreport Eagles, Ventana Wildlife Society, DaniConnorWild, JB Sands Wetlands, Cardinal Land, Duke Farms, SK Hideaways, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Kansas City Eagles, ND-LEEF, Pix Cams, Berry College Eagle Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Yvonne M, Japanese Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Lady Hawk, and BirdGuides.

The Miracle that turned into a tragedy for Bella…Tuesday in Bird World

9 April 2024

Good Morning,

I have said it before and I hoped not to say it again – it has been an incredibly tough year for our Bald Eagle families. Send your warmest and most caring thoughts to all the nests who have lost eaglets or adults – and continue to send supporting energy to those who have eaglets in the nest. They need it! Life is not easy this year.

Monday 8 April might have been the day of the Solar Eclipse, but it was also a day of joy that ended in tragedy in two of the Bald Eagle nests in the US – NCTC and Hanover. It is not the first time this year a young male eagle has mistook its newly hatched chick for prey and it won’t be the last, but for Bella, this is such a bittersweet moment. I cannot even imagine what she will be thinking when she finds her baby gone.

Regardless of its tragic ending, I want to document what happened at the NCTC nest. We have seen eagle eggs left in the cold and eaglets hatch. The best example I can recall is the Latvian White-tailed Eagle Milda when her mate Ramis died several years ago, right after she laid her eggs. Milda incubated for eight days without eating. She left her eggs in cold weather for approximately six hours to forage so she did not starve. No one believed the eggs would hatch, but they did. Sadly, the ending with the new male was the same result as at the two nests today.

This is what I wrote before I knew the ending: Miracles do happen. Not always when or where we want them, but this is a delight for Bella and Scout who have had difficulties this breeding season. A chick is hatching on Monday in eggs, which is believed non-viable!

From Deb Stecyk: Monday, April 8, 2024 – Welcome to Bald Eagles (BE) 101. Could a miracle hatch be underway at NCTC, we think so!! These eggs were left uncovered and not turned for long periods of time in cool temperatures, so we believed these eggs were nonviable!!! However, yesterday we noticed a small pip hole (Day 37) in one of the eggs and Bella’s behavior was highly suggestive that something was going on. Bella was fussing, more attentive and listening to the eggs. She also was sitting up higher while incubating the eggs. A brooding position is sometimes seen when a hatch is in progress. We also thought we heard chirping coming from one of the eggs. Just before dark, Bella took a break while Scout incubated. Bella returned with a catfish, which she did not want Scout to eat!!! The catfish remains on the nest! All these signs are highly suggestive of a hatch in progress. Despite these positive signs we remain guardedly optimistic and glued to our seats waiting to see if Bella and Scout are blessed with a miracle hatch!!! Talons crossed for this new pair!!! If a hatch occurs at this nest it will be precedent setting and unheard of in the eagle community.”

Well, that miracle happened. Remember.

The miracle baby’s first feeding – I hope they call this little one ‘Miracle’. Seems fitting under the circumstances.

It was Stella’s first eaglet to hatch in a few years after losing her mate Smitty. It was the miracle and now at 1930, Scout removed the eaglet from the egg cup and ate it.

The hatch at the Irvin plant of US Steel – parents Claire and Irvin – made the news. Let us hope that this little one remains safe.

Everything is good at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. Experienced parents!

The accidental burial the day prior at Redding.

The little trio at Denton Homes are adorable. Treasure those three heads – this will be a huge effort for the parents to get them all to fledge.

Cheyenne and Wichita are doing fine on a nest piled with fish on Farmer Derek’s property in Kansas.

The two eaglets at Decorah North are getting their thermal down, and some pin feathers. Little treasures they are.

And this is the news you have been waiting for. Every day we hold our breath afraid to check on that Moorings Park nest. The news is good today, too…so read and look! (It always starts out rough but gets better as the day goes on…). It is after 1000 and it is hot on the Moorings Park osprey nest. Tuffie is doing what it can to get some shade. No fish in to the nest by Harry yet. Tuffie hanging in there.

‘H’ reports: “1031 – Harry delivered a beautiful whole largemouth bass.  Tuffy was beaked into submission. Ruffie made sure s/he reinforced Tuffy’s ban from the feeding a couple of times. Sally and Ruffie ate the whole fish by 1049.1219 – Harry delivered a whole tilapia. Tuffie was immediately beaked into submission.  The feeding was mostly blocked from view.  At 1226  and 1229 Tuffie tried to get closer and was driven back each time.  At 1230 Tuffy moved to the other side of Sally, but Ruffy followed and beaked him.  At that point, with Tuffy out of view, we didn’t know if he was getting bites, but thought it unlikely since he was still next to Ruffie.  At 1248 Ruffie moved away from Sally for a couple of minutes, and we knew that Tuffy was eating, then Ruffie returned to the table.  Again at 1256 Ruffie moved away, and we knew that Tuffy was being fed.  Ruffie later returned to the table, and by 1320 the feeding was over.  Sally was still blocking our view of Tuffy.  It wasn’t until 1338 that Sally moved and we were able to see that Tuffy had quite a large crop!  Yay!”

“At 1507 Harry dropped off a headless fish.  Tuffy had been sleeping and did not approach the feeding line for a minute, but when he moved toward Sally he was out of our view.  At 1512 we got a brief glimpse of Tuffy, and he was laying down, not eating.  Then at 1524, we could just barely see over Sally’s shoulder to note that Tuffy was eating.  At 1527 Tuffy was beaked by Ruffie and he moved away.  At 1532, we once again could see Tuffy getting bites of fish, and by 1533 the meal was over.  Tuffy was seen with a nice crop after the meal.

At 1705 Harry arrived with half a fish. From 1706 to 1710 Tuffy was beaked or intimidated several times to keep him from eating.  At 1712  Tuffy managed to get 6 bites, then he was beaked.  At 1718 he got one bite and was beaked.  Tuffy moved further away from the feeding.  Finally at 1731, Ruffie moved away from Sally.  Tuffy moved into position to eat but was out of our view.  Sally began obviously feeding Tuffy.  We could not see the fish pieces actually connect, but just counting the number of times Sally turned in Tuffy’s direction, Tuffy may have eaten 72 bites of fish.  Total  bites of fish for Tuffy at that meal = 79.”

‘H’ continues her reporting with a new fish arrival at Moorings Park: “At 1830 Harry delivered another headless tilapia.  Tuffy was beaked and stayed away.  Tuffy received 3 bites at 1837, then he was intimidated and moved away.  Ruffy did not seem very hungry, but focused mainly on preventing Tuffy from getting near Sally.  At 1841 Tuffy got a few more bites, then a few more bites at 1843.  By 1846 Tuffy was eating solo, while Ruffie just laid there and watched.  At 1849 Ruffie had a little more to eat, and they ate side by side.  At 1851 Ruffie quit the meal for good.  And, at 1852 Tuffy quit eating, walked away, and laid down on top of his large crop.  Sally continued to eat for a while, but left a large tail portion on the nest.  Tuffy had started the meal with a crop, and was noted to be crop-dropping a few times during the meal.  Tuffy ate at least 55 bites of fish at this meal.”

Settled in for the night, you can really see the size difference between Ruffy and Tuffie.

There is beaking at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Cruz. Nothing to be worried about right now – . Remember that it takes time for the eyes to adjust (for falcons this can take up to 5 days) – and a beak, any beak might mean food.

Mamma Cruz sits on them when it gets too be too much. Too funny. She has been chatting with Thunder.

And this is how you do it – constant food and diligent parenting. Thunder and Akecheta at the West End nest raise three.

At the University of Florida-Gainesville Osprey Platform of Talon and Stella, ‘R’ reports that at day 8 (as predicted), “the bonking has started”. Talon continues to provide lots of fish and the trio are doing well, otherwise.

In the second image, Talon is helping Stella feed the trio that hatched within 36 hours of one another. There is no little and no Big – isn’t it amazing. Eggs laid six days apart and hatch 1 and hatch 3 are the same size. We will see as they age but I am hoping Talon and Stella have them selves three nice little boys.

In contrast to the previous year, ‘R’ notes that the fish are larger this year and that it has been relatively wet as opposed to dry.

‘MP’ confirms that JBS20 has branched at the JB Sands Wetlands on Monday the 8th of April. When there isn’t a tree you must consider that both feet are off the nest and JBS20 flew to the rail. Well done!

‘AE’ sent this gorgeous image of JBS20. She will be fondly missed when she fledges.

The adults have had many problems to overcome at the JB Sands nest this year – the death of JBS21 and Mum’s injury and, the many intruders that still trouble the nest. ‘MP’ describes the scene below: “Dad or Pa at JBS has an intruder chase him as he brings prey (white bird) home with chick quite the spectator. The nest is bussing with activity the last coupe of days. The intruder is the one on the bottom and Pa is above with the white bird.”

I don’t want JBS20 to get knocked off that nest before she is ready to fly.

Mum is still doing all the work at the Trempealeau Eagle nest. Two eaglets. They are often left alone because Mum has to go hunting for food. She is trying. She can brood them without food or hunt and keep them alive as best she can. We have seen this before – M15. Decorah. It is not an easy thing to do, but there is little choice for single-parent couples or those that have a partner who is injured or MIA.

This is the latest news about Meadow from the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey.

I began to wonder that if Meadow was in this rough of a shape, what is the condition of Swampy. Every eagle nest is infested with bugs, but were the eaglets getting enough food those last days before Meadow was blown off the nest?

Did you know that the folks that rescued Meadow had already rescued 18 eagles this year and it is only April?

There is distress at the Hanover Bald Eagle Nest. The little eaglet hatched and all were excited. Then, like Tom at Angel’s nest last year, the new male attacked and killed the eaglet. Condolences go out to all.

Geemeff noticed Maya’s laboured breathing a few days ago. Now Rutland have called in Osprey expert Tim Mackrill to see what is wrong.

Flora and Harry at Alyth.

Beloved Gary returns to nest 1 at Loch Arkaig.

Dorcha and Louis have an intruder doing a fly-by.

Images of Mr President and Lotus and at least one eaglet.

There was a double rainbow at Loch of the Lowes, too. May Laddie and Blue NCO’s breeding season be doubly blessed.

Send your positive wishes to Bella and the Mum at Hanover who lost their eaglets today. They will be devastated that those healthy, bright-eyed eaglets are gone.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, screen captures, and those operating streaming cams who assisted me in writing my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, H, J, MP, R, SP’, NCTC, Deb Stecyk, PIX Cams, FORE, Trudi Kron, Judy Eddy, Denton Homes, FARMER DEREK, Moorings Park, Florida-Gainesville, MP, AE, JBSands Wetlands, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Rutland Osprey Project, Stephanie Scofield, Geemeff, American Eagle Foundation, Loch of the Lowes Visitors Centre, and Livia Armstrong.

Monday in Bird World

8 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I had a marvellous day and, as a result, this post might be rather short. The weather has been splendid on the Canadian Prairies and at 15 degrees C, we begin to believe that summer is here – not spring – LOL. Everyone is out on their bikes, their electric scooters, walking their dogs, and generally being of a good humour.

I headed out to try and spot the arrival of some of the first Sandhill Cranes. No luck. Instead, I was treated to a magical ten or fifteen minutes with thirteen Snow Geese. They were riding the thermals way, way above my head, dancing with the wind. It was magical. (The images below were taken with a 600 mm lens and cropped! I have no idea how high they were.)

They are heading north up to the top of Manitoba and the Arctic Circle.

Speaking of heading north, I will be going on a short holiday north of Winnipeg, hoping to see the Sandhill Cranes, more Snow Geese and Tundra Swans, and eagles and Canada Geese. There will not be Wi-Fi available where I am going (except for my phone), so I will not be posting any news on Friday and Saturday. Everything will return to normal on Sunday. Please continue to send your images, videos, and news. I will catch up with all of them late Saturday and put them in the posting on Sunday with much appreciation. Thank you!

Today, I want to start with something so beautiful. How many times have you seen a double rainbow? Storm Kathleen was quite frightening and now that calm has arrived, Louis and Dorcha’s nest has been double blessed.

The nest that is on everyone’s mind is Moorings Park. It is nothing short of agonising watching Tuffie wanting fish and being beaked into submission continually by Ruffy. Like people, the osplets and eaglets lose their confidence despite their hunger. Some are very clever and muster enough energy to devise ways to survive. Others not only devise those ways but also have a Mum that sees and understands and finds ways to help. Some simply wait to be fed if a feeding happens. Right now that seems to be where little Tuffie is. — But if you want to remember clever and determined, then I remind you of the fourth hatch at Patchogue in 2023 named by many ‘Tiny Dancer’. Or the third hatch Tiny Tumbles at Achieva in 2021. There are, of course, a number of others. We can only hope that Tuffie gets its strength up, that it gets enough fish to last through the Reptilian phase, and that Harry continues to deliver at least 5 fish on the nest, perhaps more.

‘H’ has been wonderful to watch over this nest for me for the past few days and I am so grateful. She writes:

“At 0651 Sally picked up the leftover fish and began to feed. There was no initial aggression, as Tuffy was still quite sleepy and showed no interest in eating, so Ruffie was fed.  At 0658 Tuffy was finally awake enough to show interest in the meal, at which time Ruffie beaked Tuffy into submission.  Sally stopped the feeding at 0705 with fish remaining.  No bites for Tuffy.  The remainder of that fish was removed from the nest.

1029 Harry delivered a live bluegill. Tuffy was already at the side of the nest and didn’t bother to head toward Mom.  Sally fed Ruffie.  At 1043 Tuffy finally approached the feeding line, and was promptly beaked into submission by Ruffie.  At 1050, with the fish nearly gone, Ruffie moved away, and Sally finished the fish.  The bluegill was not nearly as big as the tilapia that Harry frequently brings in, so there was not an opportunity for Tuffy to eat after Ruffie was full.  No bites for Tuffy.”

“At 1734 Harry delivered another large headless tilapia.  Tuffy got 5 quick bites before he was attacked by Ruffie.  At 1734 Tuffy got 4 more bites and then was brutally attacked.  Ruffy ate some, but wasn’t very hungry.  Sally ate.  At 1744 Tuffy got 1 bite.  At 1748 Tuffy ate 3 bites.  Then, starting at 1749 Ruffie left him alone, Tuffy had a long feeding, and he was seen crop-dropping several times.  Tuffy ate an additional 90 bites of fish, for a total of 103 bites at this meal!  After his last two bites at 1806, Tuffy was so full and tired, he simply scooted away from Mom and laid his head down.

So far today, Tuffy has eaten at least 133 bites of fish.”

“Harry delivered a smallish headless fish at 1852.  Ruffie was not aggressive toward Tuffy, although a couple of times Tuffy moved away slightly because he thought he was about to be attacked.  Tuffy ate at least 40 bites of fish.

Total for the day so far = 173 bites for Tuffy.” I don’t know about you, but seeing that little one – and it is so little compared to Ruffy – an indication of the difference in good and gender – with a bulging crop just makes me weep.

‘H’ sent me a short video of Tuffy’s PS. I thought it was good. It appears that our little one is ‘allowed’ to eat at the end of the day if there is enough fish.

Relief for another day.

This video is from a couple of days ago but what a lovely family, all eating. Thunder could send out booklets to all the Mums on how to take care of bonking.

At Big Bear, Jackie and Shadow might be thinking that the eggs are not viable and they will soon move on.

Louis and Dorcha are alright. It looks wet at Loch Arkaig but the gale force winds from Storm Kathleen seem to have subsided.

Mum and Dad working on the nest at Boulder County Fairgrounds.

The names of the two eaglets at the Kansas City Bald Eagle nest on Farmer Derek’s property are Wichita and Cheyenne. And just look at them. It feels like they only hatched a couple of days ago!

JBS20 is about ready to fly. Thanks ‘AE’ and ‘MP’ for these wonderful screen captures. There were a lot of worries at this nest including the death of JBS21 and Mum’s injury. We are nearing fledge. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

The two little ND-LEEF eaglets of Dad and Gigi are so cute and so tiny and before we blink they will look like JBS21!

All is well at Duke Farms. Mark your calendars. Leaper and Jersey will be banded, weather permitting, on 12 April at 10am.

The trio at Little Miami Conservancy are adorable.

Peach (aka BC17) is already out of the nest bowl and over to the rim! Goodness. I am glad that I did not see this live.

Only surviving eaglet renamed Viper at Bluff City appears to be thriving.

Dixie and Mason at Superbeaks are big kids now. We can see them with east on the side cam!

DNF did not let those two little precious eaglets of hers be out in the damp cool weather in Iowa for long. Both are doing well.

US Steel welcomes USS7 who hatched from that rather crushed shell Sunday morning.

It looks like Swoop might have arrived at Dunrovin! Now for Harriet.

‘A’ sends us news of Angel and Tom: “

They have been back since 3 April, and though neither turned up on 4 April, both have visited each morning since. Many people seem to think the eclipse on 8 April may have something to do with her tardiness in her egg-laying schedule but personally, I’m somewhat sceptical. On the other hand, anything that disrupts the ‘pull’ of the moon in a major way could in theory impact egg laying, and presumably ovulation in humans. No-one will convince me that in a creature that’s about 75% water, as we are, the length of the cycle of the moon just coincidentally happens to exactly coincide with the female ovulatory and menstrual cycle, especially when the moon’s cycling demonstrably influences the movements of bodies of water on our planet, in the form of tides etc. In other words, there is a logical reason why it COULD be so, meaning perhaps it IS possible. If so, according to the theory, after today (8 April), she may lay her egg/s.

They are both continuing with their nest-preparation behaviour albeit in a very limited way – at this stage the only thing they are bringing to the nest is tree bark for the nest bowl, no sticks at all. Other interesting behaviours of note include beakie kisses between Angel and Tom, Angel plucking at her brood patch and, for me most exciting of all, Angel getting in some chick practice by allopreening Tom’s head. Shades of Deyani!!! 

She is definitely getting ready to lay an egg.  But then, I have said that before … This nest has appeared ready for at least three weeks now. The question has been whether Angel and Tom are ready. But small things are different. No sticks, just bark to line the nest bowl. Cautious behaviour too – standing in the nest looking carefully around for example, as if checking for intruders. Tom is also being annoyed by a few of the smaller birds (last year they buzzed poor, stoic Angel almost constantly but seemed to leave Tom completely alone – that is no longer the case). 

Can you tell I am OVER THE MOON that my gorgeous Angel and oh so handsome Tom are back at their nest? Now for an egg or two. Just so excited. “

And, look, Bradley with a puffer! So nice to see you 173 day old Bradley.

Is there a miracle happening at the NCTC nest of Scout and Bella?

“The Girls” and I have finished two books. The first one they want to tell you about is Tim Mackrill’s The Osprey. I did not think that Tim could do any better than his book for the RSPB, RSPB Spotlight Osprey, but he did. This is a wonderful volume and will be a great addition to the library of anyone who loves Ospreys and wants to know as much about them as possible. Over 300 pages. There are charts, reference materials, and excellent colour photographs (not tonnes but enough to illustrate his points). Tim is a gifted writer and is one of the leading authorities on Osprey migration. The book covers everything from nesting behaviour and raising chicks to migration issues and considerations. Discussion is not just limited to UK ospreys either. I much appreciated the discussion of their wintering habitats and discussions of the threats to their survival. Even the girls gave it a 10 out of 10. The price is $60 CDN for the hardcover. If that is more than your pocket will bear right now, but if you are looking for an excellent book on Ospreys, go for the RSPB Spotlight Osprey, which is $24 CDN. I prefer it to Alan Poole’s larger more expensive edition on ospreys, actually.

The second book is Chris Packham’s Birdwatching Guide from Beginner to Birder. Chris must have been a teacher in a previous life. The book is laid out, like Tim’s, in a logical way, covering every aspect of birdwatching from the purchase of binoculars, setting up a hide, what to wear birding to bird behaviour. There is a good discussion on wing shape and caring for your garden birds. I loved the one with images of the feet to show you the relationship between the feet and bird species. The illustrations are very good. I would definitely buy this for someone who is beginning to watch birds. And if you are feeling a little bit flush and wanted to add something more, how about a map of good birding spots in the individual’s location, a pass to a nature centre, or add a pair of binoculars along with this book. It will get them going. The price is right. 12.99 GBP. Hardcover.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care of yourself. We hope to see you here again soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post for today: ‘AE, H, J, MP’, Geemeff, Moorings Park, Lady Hawk, SK Hideaways, Geemeff, Boulder County, FARMER DEREK, JB Sands Wetlands, ND-LEEF, Duke Farms, Little Miami Conservancy, Sharon Lee, Bluff City-ETSU, Superbeaks, Raptor Resource Project, PIX Cams, Kitty Carlyle, Window to Wildlife, Port Lincoln Osprey, Deb Stacy and Bald Eagles 101, and Amazon.