Category Archives: Loch of the Lowes

Sunday in Bird World

26 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Thank you for your wonderful notes. I am so glad that you learned something about why ‘H’ and I are so protective of those osplet chicks in nests if there is a GHO about! We also, of course, get more than upset when osplets attack one another and that is when we step in and start counting bites of food they get. We can almost predict which osplet will exhibit this behaviour and when. It certainly eats at us. Sometimes we need to step back, just like the rest of you, and go outside. It is essential to our well-being smelling the fresh air (hopefully), walking through the trees, sitting quietly and watching a squirrel play, or marvelling at the gorgeous colour in a flower.

The temperature has dropped in Manitoba, and in some parts of the province, there is quite a bit of snow. Thankfully, we are just having light rain with the promise of some sunshine tomorrow. Oh, we need to dry out a little! I would happily ship water to any of you who need it. The Crows, Blue Jays, and Starlings have simply been waterlogged all day, carrying food back and forth to their nests for all those starving babies. It is certainly keeping me busy! I am so ever proud of the wilding of the garden. It was nothing but grass two decades ago with a single peony bush and some wild roses that were both planted in 1902. They still thrive – the roses even better since the area was cleared of all other creeping vines that seemed to be choking them out. It is now a haven. The woodboxes have been given over to the squirrels (the inside) and the birds who make their nests with the twigs from the vines on top or make their nests cradled inside those overlapping thick vines. There is barely any grass remaining and in a week another five trees will be planted. The Korean Maple put in last fall as part of the City’s Re-Leaf programme is doing very well with the torrential rains. That plain grass has now been transformed into a haven for the animals.

Do you know the first nature reserve in the world? It was Waterton Park in West Yorkshire created by Charles Waterton. He was a naturalist and a conservationist and inherited Walton Hall where he immediately went about forbidding shooting, fishing between autumn and early May and even barring dogs during the nesting season of the birds. He planted trees, created habitat for the animals and turned the lake into a marsh pond for herons and all manner of waterfowl. To keep away foxes and poachers, he “abstained from alcohol in order to save up to build a stone wall, more than 8ft tall and three miles long.” It worked. In five years he had transformed the land. Waterton is known for “creating a prototype for the modern nature reserve, where wildlife and humans can exist in harmony for their mutual benefit” (Country Life, 3 April, 2024, 34).

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“File:Walton Hall Lake and Sundial – geograph.org.uk – 40964.jpg” by Humphrey Bolton is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

“Walton Hall and lake, Walton” by Humphrey Bolton is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

At Loch Arkaig, Louis and Dorcha went from incubation to a family of five in 24 hours!!!!!!! We might not be able to tell them apart! Way to go, Dorcha, on that delayed incubation. Louis must be delighted. I wonder if the trout in the Loch will thank all those eggs for hatching! Gosh, they are cute.

Louis is an excellent provider.

First hatch at Loveland, Colorado. Another little cutie pie.

Dylan and Seren Blue 5F admiring their three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog in Wales.

Dylan is an incredible provider. There won’t be a lack of fish on this nast.

We are waiting for Aran and Elen’s eggs to hatch.

Idris and Telyn are busy with their three at Dyfi! Hat Tricks for UK nests Dfyi, Loch Arkaig, and Clywedog.

CJ7 and Blue 022 still have two chicks. Two other eggs will either hatch or not….

At Rutland, Maya and Blue 33’s Only Bob is growing and growing and is now in the Reptile phase. What a joy to see so much fish for one deserving little one.

The first glance at the first hatch for White YW and Blue 25 at the Foulshaw Moss nest in Cumbria.

We are on hatch watch for Richmond and Rosie in SF.

Iris has not raised a chick since Le’le in 2018. That was six years ago. She is getting ready to make history as the oldest osprey raising babies with her new mate, Finnegan. Finnegan is attentive. He is an excellent provider. (And bless his heart, Louis, doesn’t seem to care. Thank goodness.)

It will be a short wait at Crooked Lake for Whitney and Noble to have their first hatch. I had egg 1 on 22 April, so we are on day 34.

All three chicks are doing well at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home.

The only surviving chick of Stella and Talon – being raised exclusive by Mum Stella – is in really good health or so it appears. She often fish calls while Mum is away trying to fill the pantry.

Full crops at Lake Murray. Lucy is on the perch, the strobes are on and well, we live in hope like everyone rooting for these two surviving chicks.

You can hardly see them but there are two osplets at the PSEG Patchogue nest on Long Island and they are doing well.

What is with all the trees in the nests??? PSEG Oyster Bay has one, too. You cannot see the babies for it!

Fledglings Ruffie and Tuffy are being fed at the nest.

Hatch watch at Seaside.

He’s clever, determined, and is receiving so much love from people around the world. He has been tagged ‘Smallie’ and he can jump inside and out of the box, he can grab food and was even self-feeding. We want Smallie to survive to fledge.

At San Jose, Monty and Hartley are teaching their Fab Four how to survive.

‘A’ writes, “I spent some time today watching our four at Cal Falcons. How do I forget every year just how gorgeous that juvenile plumage is, especially on the breast and stomach. The most exquisite shades of coffee and milk chocolate. Interestingly, one of the two little males appears to me to be one of the older two, based on how little fluff he has left and the length of his tail. The youngest male is still the little dynamo he was when he hatched, first to head off exploring and very confident. I do find the bands incredibly difficult to see most of the time and distinguishing green from blue is not easy – I am still trying to match a band to each chick and have not managed to do so. I presume Cal Falcons has put out some sort of video labelling them all. I have picked up the green band easily and, I think, the blue but have zero clue re the yellow (and presumably the fourth one is red although they have only mentioned three colours). But certainly, these four, and Annie’s valiant efforts to feed them whilst not losing her face in the process, was entertaining in the extreme and relieved a lot of my stress. These four just make me laugh out loud, which was exactly what I needed today. “

Raining on Big Red and the Ns.

Raining on Ruth and Oren’s babies at Syracuse, too.

To warm your heart, a great rescue.

There are so many ways that we can help wildlife – and it isn’t just squirrels that get caught in those plastic loops, birds get caught in them, too. Cut them up, cut the plastic bread tabs in half, cut elastics (rubber bands) in half, shred mesh bags (better yet refuse to purchase produce in them) – make the landfills and our environment a much safer place. Did you know that one of the major places for eagles to find food in urban areas is a landfill?

So many nests that failed for one reason or another. Laddie died at LOTL.

The Great Horned Owls used Wolf Bay.

Duke and Daisy leased their nest to the House Sparrows this year at Barnegat Light.

Oscar abandoned Olivia and their three eggs at Severna Park.

We were all so hopeful for Angel and Tom.

Will there be a hatch at Achieva with the second clutch?

We are on hatch watch at Boulder.

Three beautiful osplets in Germany!

There are ‘four’ at Forsythe. Opal will try but, I would say be very cautious if you are watching this nest.

‘H’ sends her reports:

“5/25 Patuxent-1 osprey nest:  After the great feedings late in the day on Friday, the three osplets all still had small crops this morning.  There were fewer fish brought to the nest today, and they were smaller in size.  The first fish of the day was brought by Dad at 0605, and it was small.  Surprisingly, there was no beaking, and Little was ‘allowed’ to eat 14 bites of fish.  The next fish was larger, and allowed for a 20 minute feeding, but Big was aggressive and in the mood to attack her siblings.  Middle was able to eat a fair amount, but Little only ate 16 bites of fish.  There were three more fish delivered by Dad at 1126, 1434, and 1739, and they were small to medium in size.  Little was not able to eat any bites of fish during those last three meals.  Little only ate 30 bites of fish today.  We were hoping that Dad would be able to catch one of his whoppers.  We know there are many osprey nests in the Patuxent River Park, and I’m sure there are bald eagles, and we observed a large female osprey steal a fish off this nest on Friday.  It is conceivable that Dad may have his catch stolen from him at times.  The ambient temperatures are in the mid- to upper 80’s, and Little really needs to have a couple good meals today.”

“5/25 Captiva osprey nest:  The fish count was down today, six fish for the day, and overall the size of the fish was smaller.  It wasn’t the best of days for the youngest sibling, CO8, but s/he did okay.  CO8 was able to eat for about 15 minutes at the first meal of the day, but only for approximately 1 minute, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 7 minutes, and 3 minutes at the subsequent meals.  It is quite warm in Captiva, and for multiple reasons, the osprey season started much later than usual this year, pushing it toward summer.  As we know… with some exceptions… success of osprey nests depends on good fishing.  It’s really all about the fish.”

‘J’ sends us some news about another Red tail Hawk on an eagle nest published in the FORE chat:

To put a smile on everyone’s face, Jackie and Shadow showed up at the nest to work on the sticks on Saturday! So nice to see you both.

Hatching at Boulder County!!!!!

The third chick has hatched at Alyth SS. Yeah for Flora and Harry!

The second chick has hatched for White YW and Blue 35 at Foulshaw Moss on Sunday (and maybe the third, I am having a hard time seeing) and the nest is now full at Esthwaite!

Thank you so much for being with me today. We are always so happy to have you with us! We hope to see you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Country Life, OpenVerse, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, City of Loveland, Llyn Clywedog Ospreys, Bwywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, BoPH, LRWT, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, SF Bay Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Timothy Dygert Live Stream, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, University of Florida-Gainesville, Lake Murray Ospreys, PSEG, Moorings Park Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Cornell RTH, SU-RTH Cam, Amersfoort Falcons, Linda McElroy, Audubon Center for Birds of Prey, Feral Cat Project, The Scottish Wildlife Trust, Wolf Bay Osprey Cam, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ, Severna Park, Window to Wildlife, Achieva Credit Union, Ute GroBe, BUND Goitsche-Wildnis, Patuxent River Park, FORE, Boulder County, FOBBV, KEEN Esthwaite Ospreys, and Jeff Kear.

Tuesday in Bird World

21 May 2024

Hello everyone!

The Baltimore Orioles were enjoying their grape jelly and oranges in the garden on Saturday and Sunday. The males are black with the bright orange and the female is the lighter yellow-orange. Taken with my phone and heavily cropped so soft edges.

‘The Girls’ and I are watching a male American Redstart in the garden. This species is passing through going North but this little fellow seems to have a bit of an injury. Like the others, it would be nearly impossible to catch him and the outcome would be bleak at the wildlife centre where they are full to running over with ‘babies’ at the moment. I will let him heal and see how things work out.

Isn’t he a beauty!

I could get on a soapbox today, but I am afraid I would give each of you a headache and you would never return. Last week a woman stole two goslings from in front of a shop in my City. She just took them from Mamma Goose. First it is a wildlife crime and second, why on earth would anyone do such a thing? How would that woman feel if someone stole two of her children?

There was a positive event when some goslings were saved recently and orphans added to another family. It is nesting season and we need to care for all the wildlife.

First up – please vote!

The four in San Jose are keeping Monty busy hunting!

For several years, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we have wondered what will happen and how will this military conflict impact the birds. Many of us tracked and marvelled at the late Karl II and his mate, Kaia, as they flew through Ukraine and then, at times, diverted to other countries. Scientists have now discovered that the birds use different flight paths to avoid the conflict.

Eagles-shifting-flight-paths-to-avoid-Ukraine-conflict-scientists-find-Birds-The-GuardianDownload

I missed the pip/hatch at Llyn Clywedog for Dylan and Seren in Monday’s post. We are also on pip watch at Loch Arkaig.

This little one of Dylan and Seren’s is doing so well with its egg tooth that by Tuesday when I publish this post, it will have hatched.

Loch Arkaig’s nest 2 – Louis and Dorcha – is on pip watch.

Keeping an eye on Dyfi’s eggs. There is the little one!!!!!!!!

I saw the 0919 fish come in to Lake Murray and Little was positioned perfectly to be fed. The older ones do not seem that interested in eating first thing in the morning which allows the baby to get a nice start on the day. Little had at least two other good feeds during the day – I did not follow with a microscope. They are getting all their plumage and the aggression should be stopping as long as Kenny continues with fish deliveries.

There are still three osplets on the nest at Lake Murray.

Beautiful Ruffie and Tuffy. Ruffie has fledged and takes some short flights – returns to the nest quickly if she spots a fish delivery! Dear little Tuffy has yet to fly and that is OK. We love seeing both of them on the nest – so healthy and such amazing parents. That Harry is a really good provider just like Kenny at Lake Murray.

Parents continue to bring fish to the Venice Golf and Country Club nest and today Little Bob had a private feeding.

Thankfully Olivia has abandoned the eggs at Severna Park.

It appears that Blue NCO is accepting the dark plumaged male as her new mate after Laddie’s passing at LOTL.

At Rutland’s Manton Bay, Only Bob – that got flung out of the egg cup by a fish and returned to the centre by generous caring staff – is now in the Reptile stage!

At Loch Arkaig, Dorcha is caught off guard by the Tawny Owl.

Did Larry’s eyases fledge? or are they in another area?

‘H’ reports on Captiva: “First meal started at 0657 with a whole sheepshead delivered by jack.  CO8 was able to eat first, and ate for 4 minutes before s/he was beaked by CO7.  CO7 ate until 0719.  Then CO8 ate again from 0720 to 0736, for a total of 20 minutes at this meal.

The second feeding at 0900 was a partial sheepshead.  CO7 ate.  CO8 ate one bite at 0910, and also ate a large piece at the very end of the meal at 0915.

Feeding #3 was a small whole needlefish.  The meal lasted for 5 minutes, and CO8 ate for about a minute.

The fourth feeding was whole fish that lasted 38 minutes, and CO8 was only able to eat 4-6 bites of fish at this meal.

The next fish was a small whole pinfish.  CO8 was fed the whole fish including the tail (minus Edie’s bites), in about six minutes.

Jack’s sixth fish of the day was another pinfish, and at 1512 CO8 started to eat on Edie’s right side, and eventually CO7 worked its way over to Edie’s left, but was mostly hidden from our view.  It did appear that CO8 was offered the most bites of fish during the 6-minute feeding.

Fish #7 at 1745 was a partial fish, and both osplets still had moderate crops to start out.  It was a 16 minute meal, and CO8 was fed the first 14 bites of fish from Edie, before CO7 exerted its dominance.  At 1759 CO7 moved away and CO8 ate 11 more bites of fish to end the meal.

Overall, it was a good day, with Jack delivering ample fish for his family, and CO8 had his/her crop filled a few times.”

Beautiful Iris. Her new mate will get his name today. I sure hope nothing happens to him before these babies fledge.

At PSEG’s Oyster Bay nest, Dad is determined to put up privacy rails so we cannot see the babies! I wonder if someone is pruning their trees?

‘H’ reports on Patuxent River Park and their trio of osplets.

‘R’ reports that there was water in the camera box that was causing the problems at University of Florida-Gainesville. Once it was back on there was Stella doing a good job providing for Big Bob. Beautiful plumage. Grateful that one survived after Talon went missing.

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As you will have noticed, I do not report on the eagles as much as I did before the Ospreys began laying eggs and hatching. Murphy has another foster eaglet and it looks like he is showing it how much fun you have in a puddle pool.

Jasper and Leaper, at Duke Farms, have branched higher and higher into the tree, but have yet to fledge. Their first flight will be soon.

The third eaglet at the George Sutton Avian Research Centre in Oklahoma has died of siblicide on 19 May 2024.

All three at Little Miami Conservancy survived.

Are Jackie and Shadow building a new nest?

At the ND-LEEF nest in South Bend, Indiana (St Joseph’s Park), Gigi, the new female, is the sole provider for the eaglets as Dad has been missing since 8 May. Oh, this is sad.

Big Bob hatched at Llyn Clywedog at 2208 Sunday evening the 20th of May.

Port Lincoln is trying another experiment. They have placed underwater lights so Mum can see the fish and catch them! It is working. You really have to appreciate all the things that are being made by this group in South Australia to not only protect the Ospreys but to help them if there are difficult times in getting food. Three beautiful fledges in 2023 can be attributed to their tenacious efforts in getting fish on that nest for the osplets.

There are two beautiful white fluffy Golden eaglets at the Bucovina nest in Romania. I wish there was a possibility that the second would survive the historical ‘Cainism’ that drives this species.

Later, Mum removed the second eaglet from the nest, killed it, ate part of it and fed the rest to eaglet 1. Sadly, the little one was still alive and had a slow and agonising death.

At Amersfoort, Small has a good crop and appears to have grown some.

Smallie has gotten out of the scrape. Will he be able to return to be fed

‘J’ brings us good news about the Kakapo Recovery efforts: “The kākāpō population has increased almost fivefold since the programme started in 1995 and has doubled in the last 10 years. There are 247 kākāpō alive today. This is great news, especially since kākāpō only breed once every 2-4 years when the rimu trees are fruiting.

The last breeding season was in 2022. To help predict the next breeding season, we compare seasonal temperatures year-on-year and collect rimu samples from the predator-free breeding islands to count fruit tips. 

We know some kākāpō will breed if more than 10 percent of rimu tips bear fruit. It also seems that a greater number of kākāpō breed as the percentage of fruit increases.

Data so far tells us that there will be no large breeding event in 2025 and the difference in seasonal temperatures indicate a likely breeding season in 2026. After further fruit tip counting early next year, we will be able to confirm this predicted season and may even have an estimate of how many nests to expect in 2026!”

Now isn’t this interesting? Raptors are gaining immunity!

As-bird-flu-spreads-to-dairy-cows-Minnesotas-raptors-show-signs-of-building-remarkable-immunityDownload

Thank you for being with us with this morning. Please take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB, R’, Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Sharon Pollock, Cal Falcons, John Williams, Geemeff, Dyfi Osprey Project, Lake Murray Ospreys, moorings Park, VGCCO, Severna Park, Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), LRWT, ParksConservancy, Window to Wildlife, Montana Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey Cam, World Bird Sanctuary, Deb Stecyk, Jonathan Coleman, Little Miami conservancy, Cindy Alicno, ND-LEEF, Llyn Clywedog, PLO, Bucovina Wild, Amersfoort Falcons, Kakapo Recover, and The Star Tribune.

Saturday in Bird World

18 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

We are having another severe weather alert with intense rain, potential hail, and high winds. The ground is absolutely water logged. When I went for my walk today at the nature centre, the trails were partially flooded. Mind you the trees will grow, the grass is green, and potential for fires is low.

Baby Hope – she melts my heart. Her first birthday is coming up on 2 July and this time last year I was so busy trying to coax her Mamma, Calico, to being friendly. It all worked out. Baby Hope is the sweetest thing.

Hugo Yugo is a character. She loves nothing more than to snuggle under my chin and sleep there all night and sometimes during the day if a nap is in store. She is curious to the extreme and her and Missey will be the ones getting into mischief – not Hope or Calico. They are angels.

Hugo Yugo is still very tiny. She is nine months old! She must be finished growing – so nice. I will have a large kitten for years to come!

A wonderful and informative message and a reminder to vote on the New Guy’s name from Dr Erick Greene.

I think Dr Greene is really excited about ‘The New Guy’. Now – tell the truth – we all are, right? Whoever dreamed Iris would have a loving, dutiful, caring mate again? It is exciting! I never wanted Iris to have chicks again because they would starve to death or be predated. This summer just feels so hopeful.

The lovely couple.

It is all about falcons. Cilla Kinross gives us the first look at the feeding at the Montreal scrape.

Waiting for names at Cal Falcons.

One of Annie and Archie’s chicks is very intelligent and lively.

Copy cat. Another decided to venture out, too! Tomorrow all four will be wandering around – just wait and see!

‘A’ loves the Cal Falcons and Annie: “

These nests are such a joy to watch. At Cal Falcons this afternoon (17 May), the mid-afternoon feeding began with the older pair, but finally, our wee lad joined in, and immediately Annie began feeding him. Number three was last to the table, and Annie began feeding him too (I believe the boys to be the two younger chicks, though I could be wrong about number three). She tries to feed three and four exclusively, but four is very close to number one and number two, who sometimes grab bites Annie intends for the youngest. But to the best of her ability, she feeds the younger two, knowing the older pair have already had a fair amount. 

She does this at every meal. As a result, the chicks are not in a rush to get to the table and all compete for bites at the same time. Rather, their confidence in mum to feed them is so great that they feel they’ll be okay as long as they get there while food remains. She is giving them the chance at a little self-feeding now, leaving a few scraps on the scrape occasionally for them to pick at, which they do. But effectively, these skills are secondary for falcons, who are not going to be scavengers as juveniles like the eaglets do. They will have to master a particularly difficult and dangerous hunting technique if they are to survive as juveniles, and there’s not really overly much they can learn about that in the nest, is there. “

Monty and Hartley raise some impressive chicks – often quite aggressive. Do you remember Soledad?

At Amersfoort, Smallie was right up at Mum’s beak or a nice feeding. Smallie is getting its feathers and will catch up! Can you see that full crop on that wee little one? Please take heart. Unless something terribly untoward happens, this little baby is going to fledge!

‘H’ reports on Lake Murray: “At 1048 Lucy arrived at the nest with a very small whole fish.  Little did not get any.

Kenny brought a large whole fish at 1053.  Little tried to position himself to Lucy’s left side away from the sibs, but was beaked.  He was intimidated or beaked several times to keep him away from Lucy.  At 1130, the fish was gone, the others had moved away, and Little was fed one bite before Lucy ate the tail.

At 1337 Kenny delivered a large whole fish, Little rushed to Lucy and the other chicks stayed back for a while.  Little ate 12 bites, before Lucy moved to a new position, which left Little at the back of the pack.  The older chicks ate, and they prevented Little from getting up to the line.  Little finally worked his way to the other side of Lucy, and he ate the last 3 bites of fish before Lucy ate the tail. Total for Little = 15 bites.

At 1447 Kenny brought in another large whole fish, which looked like the same species as the last fish.  Little was positioned on Lucy’s right and the other two chicks to her left, but those two did not seem very hungry.  Little was fed almost exclusively during this meal, with a few more bites going to Middle the latter third of of the feeding.  And, Big did not try to eat until near the very end, when he/she was behind Lucy, and was fed between Lucy’s legs.  Little ate for 28 minutes straight.

Kenny delivered a medium sized whole fish at 1538.  All three osplets still had big crops, and none were very hungry.  Little had eaten 12 bites of fish by 1542 then he moved away.  At 1547 Little returned to the table and had eaten a total of 28 bits of fish, when he was beaked by Big.  Then, Middle and Big ate, and Little seemed content to lay down and take a nap.  Meal over at 1601.

1719, Kenny brought a half a fish to the nest.  None of the osplets rushed to be fed, but they eventually gathered around Lucy.  The bossy twins were to Lucy’s left, and Little was to Lucy’s right, and out of our view.  Everyone got bites, including Little, as we observed Lucy reaching over to that side with fish bits many times.”

I love the look on Little’s face when he has Mum and the fish all to himself at Lake Murray.

‘H’ reports for Saturday at Lake Murray: “First feeding 0704 to 0714, small whole fish, one bite for Little. Second feeding 0737 to 0740, very small whole fish, one bite for Little. Third feeding 0844 to 0906, medium sized whole fish – Little was positioned to the right rear of Lucy and was fed both from her right side and through her legs.  Total of 53 bites for Little.

Returning two year old Ospreys. 5H1 from the very first clutch of CJ7 and Blue 022, the translocated programme at Poole Harbour, was seen in Pool Harbour and now at the Usk Valley in South Wales.

‘H’ spent a lot of time monitoring the nests that are in trouble today and Captiva was one of them. CO8 needed fish! Here is her report: “5/17 – Captiva Osprey Nest: 0726,  Jack delivered a very small whole sheepshead, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1137, Jack brought a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1520, Jack delivered a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1554, Jack brought a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  

And, then it happened…  1607 Edie went fishing and brought back a whole gafftopsail catfish…enough to feed everyone.  CO8 made a beeline to Mom and had a private feeding for 39 minutes!  Eat-a-lot, eat-a-lot, crop-drop-crop-drop, eat-a-lot, eat-a-lot, crop-drop-crop-drop, eat-a-lot.  At 1647 CO7 decided it was time for CO8 to stop eating, and beaked him (a lot).  CO7 was more interested in harassing CO8 at that point than eating.  Edie was hungry, and she ate.  At 1709 CO7 ate some more, then walked away from Edie at 1718.  CO8 then had another 8 minute private feeding, and probably had the biggest crop of his young life.  At 1750 Edie found some catfish scraps, and fed them to CO8.”

Thank goodness for a big catfish. CO8 got a nice feeding – which it desperately needed. Just look at that crop on CO7!

There are three and you can finally see them reasonably well at the Patuxent River Part I nest.

Louis is continuing to work on those cot rails at Loch Arkaig. Wonder where he found this? We are two days away from hatch watch at Loch Arkaig.

I wonder if the RAF jets disturb the ospreys? Geemeff says that there were five yesterday instead of the usual two.

We are a day away from hatch watch at the Dyfi Osprey nest of Idris and Telyn.

Four days from hatch at Poole Harbour!

More than a week until we can expect a hatch from Aran and Elen’s eggs at Glaslyn.

Dad brought a really nice fish to Mum and the chicks at Patchogue and proceeded to block the feeding! Gosh, golly. These two are just amazing parents and Dad is still fishing crazy even though he doesn’t have four chicks to feed this year.

Sadly, there are problems at Severna Park. I did not see a male bring fish all day on Friday. The female left the eggs unattended – she has to eat! Where are you Oscar? Are you pulling a Louis? For this nest to be successful – like all of them – the female relies on the male to bring her fish and later to her and the chicks she cares for. Without that, her health would diminish, and she would have to leave the nest. It would be impossible for Olivia to carry on. I hope that she abandons the eggs and has a lovely summer.

I saw a post that said that a car might have hit Oscar. Seriously. How many ospreys have you seen on the pavement? Carrion eaters like eagles, crows, hawks, etc., get killed because they get on the roads, as do geese and ducks crossing the highways, lanes, and boulevards, but Ospreys! Really.

Should we be concerned about the US Osprey population this year? Last year, in the NE United States, only a handful of nests had chicks fledged. The cause was the June storm and the overfishing of the Menhaden. Individuals monitoring nests in Maryland and New Jersey that are not on YouTube inform me that they hope 40% have a single chick fledge. At least 60% of the monitored nests are without eggs or bonded pairs. This is a considerable change. We have seen Barnegat Light fail, and now it looks like Severna will follow suit. Do you know of others?

The ‘Only Bob’ at Carthage is being fed well by its attentive parents.

Little Bob at Venice Golf and Country Club is the only one who has yet to fledge. He is getting good air on Friday and the hovers are improving. Look for a flight soon!

Colonial Beach has its first egg as of Friday 17 May.

At Carova Beach, Betsy and Frederick have two chicks. One is twice as large as the other. The third egg has not hatched. Betsy does stretch to get that little one some fish. Makes me slightly nervous.

The couple at Hammonasset have their third egg on the 17th.

It was a beautiful day at the Bridge Golf Club Osprey platform.

Keke and Leo continue to exchange incubation duties at Sandpoint.

Everything is looking good at Cowlitz PUD including those fine and simple metal fish grates to protect the nest from predation from the local Bald Eagles. I am always grateful for the concern that Cowlitz PUD expressed for their birds and the efforts they made to protect them. Why aren’t we seeing this at other platforms? It was proven to work last year. Simple. Drill a hole in the platform. Insert a metal pole attached to the fish grid. It is that simple.

Port of Ridgefield still looking good.

We are on hatch watch for Green Bay, NH ospreys!

The nest at Oceanside MNSA Osprey nest is so full of human garbage and there are three little ones. One of them is quite tiny. Is anyone watching this nest? And if so, could you please send me news. (Thanks)

The first egg hatched at BUND-Goitzshe on the 16th while the second hatched on the 17th. We wait to see about the third egg.

When tragedy strikes an Osprey nest, does the news spread and there are no takers and it stays abandoned? Certainly I have seen that in a certain area of my province. Then there is the Cape Henlopen State Park platform where tragedy struck two years ago when the Dad was killed, the Mum fought intruding ospreys trying to protect her three feathered babies, to no avail. The chicks starved on the live stream. The couple left and didn’t return. It was all for nothing.

Beaumont and Hope are at the Snow Lane, Newfoundland Osprey platform. No eggs yet. The female that had been at the nest earlier has dispersed.

I wonder how big the Red-tail Hawk nest is at Syracuse? It looks small – what an advantage big Red’s kids have to work their legs on that grid of the light stand. It is like having a private runway!

There is likely to be a shortage of squirrels on the Cornell Campus. Arthur seems intent on covering the nest with them for N1 and N2. The feathers are coming in nicely and the ears are now covered. The eyases are looking out to the larger world. In June they will fly. Hard to believe.

Please, please prevent window strike. For a couple of dollars you can get Crayon Window Markers and reveal the artist you need knew you were. If you are handy you can take a thin strip of wood the width of your window. Drill holes every 5 cm or 2 inches. Run a nylon cord – I have only seen grey and black used – and tie it tight making sure it is the length of your window. Do this for every hole and attach to the outside of your window. This is what they use at our nature centre along with the Feather Friendly window dots. Or you can apply the Feather Friendly window dots. They say they last ten years. Mine are a year old and still fine. Everything goes on the OUTSIDE of the window not the inside. You need a lot of butterfly or hawk decals as the spacing needs to be every 5 cm or 2 inches to prevent strikes.

Do it so this doesn’t happen!

One of the things that we might possibly forget are the food chains that support our bird populations. Without insects, many birds are seeing swift population declines, particularly smaller birds. Without those smaller birds, some of our raptors do not have prey. Their numbers drop. I think you get the picture. Modern agricultural practices are certainly to blame but looking closer to home it is those perfect green gardens, the sprays used on your roses to keep the ‘bugs’ off that kill the small birds. We need to begin to think of our gardens as meadows instead of golf courses. Imagine walking out and picking your own wildflower bouquet for your table. It could happen. For now, encourage people to be pesticide free, please.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, observations, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Montana Osprey Cams, Montana Osprey Project, Cilla Kinross, Cal Falcons, Amersfoort Falcons, Lake Murray Ospreys, Birds of Poole Harbour, Window to Wildlife, Patuxent River Park, Geemeff, Dyfi Osprey Project, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, PSEG, Severna Park, DTC- Carthage Ospreys, VGCCO, Colonial Beach Ospreys, OBX Osprey Cam, Bridge Golf Club Ospreys, Sandpoint Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Port of Ridgefield, Cape Henlopen State Park, Syracuse RTH, Cornell RTH, Acadia Wildlife, and The Guardian.

Friday in Bird World

17 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

The Girls and I hope that you have had a wonderful week. We are so grateful that you are here with us and for your Leo and care for the wildlife – and all the animals – that grace our lives. Today is a bit of a hodgepodge. I mention Cal Falcons early on and then later bring them in again…my mind was a bit wandering! Most of all I would like to continue to convey my gratitude towards those that care for ospreys on platforms or trees and who are mindful of the dangers to their lives and take preventative action.

We are in the midst of the biggest downpour of the year. The thunder clapping and lighting sent Hugo Yugo running out of the conservatory in sheer fright! That has stopped and she is back with everyone except for Baby Hope who much prefers to nap on my bed during the day. Calico and Missey have called a truce with one on the hassock and the other on the back of the sofa pillows. They seem non-phased by the rain hitting the glass roof.

There was a beautiful rainbow when the sun finally began coming out!

‘H’ and I continue and will continue to monitor Little at Lake Murray, although it breaks my heart to know that predator-fish grids – could have been installed to protect these young from the resident GHO and were not put in place. It is hard cheering a little one on when it gets fed and smiling at its big crop when you know the outcome could be that it will be lunch for an owlet. Cowlitz PUD had great success with their simple placement of fish grates on opposite sides of their osprey platform. They are happy to share that information and everyone that has an osprey nest should install these. It might also work with goshawk predation.

H reports: “Kenny delivered a small whole fish at 1220.  Little had the perfect positioning again… on Lucy’s left side, with the older sibs to Lucy’s right.  Little was fed 20 bites of fish before Lucy moved, and exposed Little, and he was beaked.  It was only an 11 minute feeding.  Little managed to get two more bites of fish, for 22 bites at this meal.”

I note that Little was shut out of the afternoon fish until Kenny came in with a third back-to-back one and Little got in a good position and ate almost all of the fish.

Then great dad Kenny brought in so many fish back to back that Little got the majority of the 17:29 and all of the 1811! Way to go Little. The two big ones did not even bother standing up for the last fish they were so full from the earlier deliveries.

This family is working so hard they really do deserve protection from those owls. I am shattered that this was not done in the offseason. If money was an issue, try a CrowdFunder. The cost of two fish grates and welding could not be that much compared to the price of setting up an osprey platform or to the lives of the birds.

Others are keeping an eye on Lake Murray and I am grateful for MM’s morning observations: “dad brought a small fish in at 5:56 am which mom and number 3 ate most of except for a few bites to number 1. I think #3 got beaked one time other than that it was a quiet breakfast. At 7:46 am dad brought in what appeared to be just the head of a fish. #3 lucked up for the first few minutes and was on the far side of mom out of the eyes of the other two and recieved about 24 bites before mom changed her position and blew 3s cover at which time it was beaked away from the table. Feeding ended pretty soon after since it was only the head. So overall #3 has ate a decent morning as far as food goes.”

And even ‘A’ who doesn’t watch osprey nests has fallen in love with Lake Murray’s Little Bob. She adds, “

I am amazed by the third hatch at Lake Murray. It is simply incredible. Lining up right next to its fearsome siblings, reaching across in front of them to take bites. This is one brave little osplet. I think his older, larger siblings are actually slightly in awe at his daring. Why else do they allow him to get away with it? But the key point is, he is brave. He is prepared to take risks to get fed, and I honestly do believe Lucy has made that choice we often see mums make in these situations. This one has earned the right to a chance, and Lucy is giving him that chance. I could be wrong – I have only been watching the nest closely for three or four days, but that is certainly my impression. 

I must also say that pretty much every time I’ve turned to the stream, the three osplets all have very noticeable crops (including the smallest). I have on several occasions watched the youngest crop drop several times in order to continue eating more and more. He is definitely getting plenty of food! 

Whether or not this nest has turned a corner, it is way too early to say that because the level of aggression is still very scary on occasions. It may be that the two older osplets are now more interested in each other than in their youngest sibling – it certainly seems that way. Yes, they do intimidate the youngest, but as long as he takes the appropriate action and displays suitably respectful behaviours, they seem to be threatening him, looming over him, but then leaving him alone. Watch him feeding around 04:13 yesterday afternoon (16 May). Let’s hope, having put the oily teenage phase behind them, they will now learn to get along nicely, as we have often seen before on osprey nests. Talons crossed.   

I didn’t intend to become involved in an osprey nest, especially one with three osplets and a siblicide threat hanging over it. Unfortunately, due to your blog, I happened to stumble across the live stream and instantly fell in love with Little Bob. He is just so cute and so very brave and clever, I couldn’t help it. You just have to root for the chicks like this one. And like others before him, I think, he is going to learn so much from all this bullying that he will fledge as a smart, resourceful juvenile with a great chance of survival as a wild osprey. “

Dixie fledged on Thursday morning at Superbeaks just like Mason did!

In case you missed it, here are some banding day highlights form Cal Falcons. Two boys and 2 girls and they need names.

Poor Annie gets it right in the face!

I am always touched by the kindness of humans to our wildlife friends that we share our planet. It is so timely that this edition found its way to my inbox. Yesterday I sat and chatted with my allergy doctor (I don’t have allergies but I do have Nonallergic vasomotor rhinitis which causes my sinuses to cause my nose to run like a water hydrant on a hot day in the summer. He lives in the country. People have taken to letting their children use bee bee guns to shoot squirrels. He builds homes for the squirrels! Or to sit on their porch with shot guns looking for a coyote to kill. It made us both sick and I sighed that living in the country was no different than in the middle of a large urban city. Some will care for our wildlife friends and others are so ignorant and cruel – best ignore them and do what we can.

This story of how one family dealt with nests at the doorway will melt your heart. It is from Orion Magazine.

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Tracking data indicates that those amazing Sandhill Cranes that migrate through Nebraska and come up to Canada travel as far as NE Asia in their winter migration!

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A Tree Pipit visits Dorcha and Louis’s nest at Loch Arkaig. If you don’t know how large ospreys are, this will give you a good idea.

The weather at the PSEG Patchogue nest has been torrential rains. Mum and Dad have been doing heroics to keep the chicks dry and warm. Weather like this is always troubling as the chicks can get ‘colds’ and not thrive. Let’s hope for sunshine and some fish!

I often talk about the lack of siblicide in the Peregrine Falcon and Hawk populations. It does occur. It is extremely rare. Even the smallest hatch normally survives. I did find a short letter with some good information in it on one exception.

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The second egg has been laid at Dunrovin on May 16 in the morning. Congratulations Winnie and Swoop.

Precious baby. Rutland. Grateful for the quick intervention on Wednesday. Rutland Water is to to be praised. This baby tried hard to get out of those cot rails and back to its mother. Blue 33 brings in some really big fish and despite eating their head they are sometimes still alive and flapping. So glad this little one, their only one, survived.

Sometimes people listen when we make loud noises for things that will protect the raptors. Well done!

And Geemeff reminds me that even The Woodland Trust that has a non-intervention policy has placed Pine Marten baffles around the two trees at Loch Arkaig that are occupied by the ospreys. Before it is too late, those osprey nests under threat by predation should have metal grids placed opposite one another, as at Cowlitz PUD Osprey platform, for the bird’s protection.

What has caught the attention of Louis and Dorcha?

There are now two Golden Eaglets in the Bucovina nest in Romania. Without exception, the eldest will kill and eat the second hatchling. Please be advised of this historical practice of this species if you are watching this streaming cam.

The precise term is “mandatory/obligatory cainism”. The oldest has no choice. Looduskalender published one of the most concise definitions: “The killing is done by pushing away from food and / or by direct attacks. Usually the dead body is not eaten, but it is often fed by the parent birds. While with many species of birds the nest killing of siblings during malnutrition is common, the act of killing is independent of the food situation in species with obligatory cainism. Mandatory cainism is similar to the inherent nest clearing behaviour of the Cuckoo and can be also triggered experimentally, for example by presenting a white cloth ball to the young bird. The attacks of the older towards the younger siblings usually begin with the day of hatching of the latter. Most of the younger birds survive only a few days. The parents do not hamper these attacks, it has been repeatedly observed that the older young bird continued his attacks even when a parent bird would feed him. The roles of “Cain” and “Abel” are determined solely by the sequence of hatch, in experimental transposition of “Abel” to a younger sibling, this “Abel” immediately took over the role of “Cain” and attacked the younger nestling. In further experiments on Verreaux’s eagle eagles, the aggressiveness of the siblings lasted at least until the completion of the major plumage growth. The nest of the species with obligatory cainism usually consists of two eggs. That’s why if both eggs hatch, only the older nestling survives.” (June 18, 2013).

The aerial acrobats of the falcons at Cal’s The Campanile are going to continue to get impressive as Archie and Annie demonstrate and then teach the Fab Four how to survive in the wild.

A video encapsulation of the Cal Falcon eyases growth over the past weeks.

The news is worrisome for the fish at Captiva and the warm waters could be the reason that Ospreys have not had chicks late in the season in the Barrier Islands.

‘H’ reports: “It was another slow fishing day for Jack.  The water of the small bay between the islands is warm, and the fish may have gone deeper.

The first feeding was not until 1119, and consisted of a small whole silver perch.  CO7 intimidated CO8.  CO7 ate, and later beaked CO8 at 1125 when s/he attempted to approach.  It was only a 13 minute feeding, and CO8 had nothing to eat.

Meal number two was at 1217, a partial sheepshead.  CO7 was in a position to be fed, and CO8 was intimidated a few times and stayed back.  The feeding was over by1235.  Nothing for CO8.

Jack brought in a whole hardhead catfish at 1549, and the third feeding started around 1551.  With fewer fish, CO7 has been extra aggressive today.  CO7 beaked CO8 on multiple occasions.  At 1610 and 1614 CO7 seemed to be done eating for a while so CO8 made his move toward Edie, but CO7 beaked him and then ate some more each time.  At 1617 CO8 attempted to move even further away from Edie, but was followed by CO7 and beaked.  Finally, at 1620 CO7 moved away from Edie, and allowed CO8 to eat!  CO8 ate for a full 10 minutes, and ate approximately 142 bites of catfish.  At that point CO7 had returned to eat some more, until the fish was about finished.  CO8 then ate at least 6 more bites while Edie was trying to pull some flesh off of a tough piece of skin.  Oh, yes…CO8 had a nice crop!

Feeding four was at 1936.  Edie had brought in a partial catfish at 1935 (strange that Edie did not have a crop).  CO7 would not let CO8 eat.  CO8 snuck one bite.  At 1955 Eddie rushed off to chase Clive (the neighboring eagle), and she returned a few minutes later.  Upon her return, she fed CO8 a few bits of the scraps remaining.  CO8 had a total of 5 or 6 bites of fish.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better fishing day.  It will take a lot of fish to calm CO7 down.”

Ildiko Pork got some good screen shots of Mum and the oldest and only surviving chick of three at the University of Florida-Gainesville osprey platform. It looks like the osplet is healthy and will survive. Stella is doing well providing for it and her after Talon’s disappearance.

Maria Marika reports that the four Bolewice storklets are doing well. Great news.

‘H’ reports that there is a second hatch at Outerbanks. “517, The earliest that I could see the second chick fully out of the shell was at 00:18.”

At the Netherlands Peregrine Falcon nest, watched closely by PB, she reports that the Smallie has gained some feathers and she is really hoping for its survival. With the good rate of success by the falcon nests, we will all be cheering this little one on.

And just look at Monty and Hartley’s four to put a smile on your day!

At the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NCO is getting acquainted with the ‘dark male’ that has appeared on the nest tree for a few days.

Tom and Audrey are not having any luck at Kent Island this year as ‘H’ reports.

Thank you for being with me this morning. Take care everyone. We wish you a ‘Rainbow’ of a day.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, observations, articles, and streaming cams that helped me write my post this morning: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MM, PB’, Lake Murray Ospreys, Heidi McGrue, SK Hideaways, Orion Magazine, Audubon, Geemeff, PSEG, Raptor Research Foundation, LRWT, Bald Eagles 101-Judy’s Post, Looduskalender, Wild Bucovina, Window to Wildlife, Ildiko Pork, Maria Marika, Outbanks 24/7, the Netherlands Falcon scrape, Chesapeake Conservancy, and The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL).

Hatches, eggs, and full crops…Monday in Bird World

13 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Lots of things happening on Sunday. If you missed it – I sure did – Mum and Dad had their first hatch of the season at the PSEG Osprey platform in Patchogue on Long Island early Sunday morning. Thanks, ‘MP’.

Oh, that baby is so tiny!

And now it is Monday morning and we have hatch two at Patchogue – I didn’t miss this one! Dad was right there with a big fish for Mum and both of the babies.

Farther north, Dory and Skiff laid their second egg at the Audubon Boathouse.

Iris laid her third egg (the first one got kicked out of the nest) on Sunday. Iris and New Guy are incubating two eggs now.

Iris is happy. She is getting 2 or 3 nice fish a day! Glad to see this guy is keeping up with his end of the bargain and you-know-who seems to be staying home.

After the loss of Laddie and her eggs, Blue NCO returns to her nest at Loch of the Lowes on Sunday. Geemeff adds, “Approx 18.30 Calls are heard off camera, then NC0 appears. She’s been absent for a few days, staying away more frequently since dear Laddie’s untimely death and the destruction of their eggs by the Pale Male on 7th May. She flies onto the nest and perches, moves onto the nest, calling. Then a male appears, not the Pale Male but the new Dark Male who’s also been hanging around. He doesn’t have any fish so she quickly gets rid of him, and departs herself around 7pm.”

On Sunday, the first fish came early and good thing. It was hot and I have not seen another for a number of hours. ‘H’ and I both watched that 0607 feeding. ‘H’s notes: “I counted bites, but as it turned out, I did not need to.  Little ate first, and one of the older ones joined in several minutes later.  There was no beaking.  The third sibling joined in later, and again no beaking.  Little was sort of crowded out, but not pushed out.  Later, Little pushed his way back to the feeding line and the three osplets ate peacefully side by side.  Unbelievable!  There was still a little bit of fish remaining at 0641, but Lucy had no takers, as everyone was full.  (if you’re counting…Little ate 114 bites of fish).” That is a good start to what looks like a hot, hot Sunday.

I just feel very unsettled about Lake Murray and the third hatch. I want to be proven wrong.

Ah, it is the end of the day at Lake Murray. Kenny brought in a big fish. Just look at three’s crop. A good start to the day, a not so good at all middle, and a good ending for our little one.

‘H’ agrees! “Lake Murray ended on a high note, 183 bites for Little at the last meal.”  And this is her full report for the day: “

5/12 Lake Murray osprey nest:  Little (C3) has a very difficult life.  His/her two older siblings (C1, C2) are so much bigger, stronger, and dominant.  They are 21, 19, and 16 days old on 5/12.  Big and Middle both pick on Little, but I think Big is responsible for most of the attacks on Little. 

The first meal of the day, at 0607, was a complete surprise… in that it was peaceful!  Go figure.  Little ate first and had a long private feeding before the other two sleepyheads even got ‘out of bed’.  After a long while, Big and Middle joined in the feeding and there was harmony!  I was in shock… I couldn’t believe Little’s good fortune.  Thank goodness for small miracles.  Little ate 114 bites of fish at this meal.  After that, the day went downhill quickly for Little.  Kenny would bring 5 more fish to the nest that day.  At the first four of those meals, Big and Middle were merciless… attacking Little multiple times to keep him from eating.  Some of the attacks were quite brutal.  At meals two through five, Little ate 0, 2, 6, and 1 bite of fish.  Then, at 1800, the last fish of the day… Kenny delivered a large whole fish.  I knew that the size of the fish, especially late in the day after Big and Middle had been stuffed all day… would significantly improve Little’s chances for a good meal.  Little did not get to eat right away.  He was beaked and kept from participating in the meal.  At one point both of the larger siblings went after Little simultaneously.  At 1816 Lucy did something very cool… she moved the fish all the way across the nest to where Little was, and Little was fed 14 bites before he was attacked.  It was not until 1832 that Little ate his next bite of fish, in fact he managed to eat 12 more bites before he was savagely attacked by Big.  Slowly but surely, the two older chicks were getting full.  Little would sneak up to Lucy and get a few bites of fish here and there whenever he could.  By 1850 Little was receiving a mostly private feeding.  Lucy was feeding as quickly as she could, and Little was often seen crop-dropping.  Little ate until 1906, and had eaten approximately 183 bites of fish at this meal. 

I really like this ‘kid’.  Little has a determined nature about him, and it seemed that he was always scheming to find a way to get back to Lucy to be fed.  Little reminds me of Tuffy at Moorings Park.  One big difference is, Tuffy only had one older dominant sibling to contend with, while Little has two.”

Sure nice to see that top on Three. Thank goodness for those late day big catches.

I keep saying that Harry and Sally have the most beautiful osplets. It is the richness of those deep espresso-black feathers set against that gorgeous landscape. Tuffy survived Ruffie. Sometimes you have to look several times to tell which one is which now.

‘H’ reports on Captiva: “5/12, Captiva osprey nest: The siblings are 19 and 17 days old on 5/12.  There is no question that CO7 is dominant, and behaves aggressively toward its younger sibling, generally making life quite difficult at times for CO8.  Many times CO7 gets quite a bit more to eat at a meal than CO8.  But, by the end of the day CO8 will usually have his/her crop filled a few times.  CO7 seems to calm down a bit by the afternoon, and that improves CO8’s chances for a good meal.  Yesterday evening however, CO8 took advantage of CO7’s improved demeanor and CO8 started a fight!  Those fights never turn out well for CO8…s/he will learn, lol!

First-time parents, Edie and Jack, have proven to be wonderful parents.  Jack is a good provider, supplying the nest with ample fish.  And, Jack often participates in the feeding of his offspring.  On 5/11 there was a long dual feeding, where Edie fed CO7, and Jack fed CO8.  On 5/12 Jack fed CO8 a long private feeding from 17:03 to 17:21, until CO7 (displaying his Dr. Jekyll persona) sidled-on-up beside CO8, and the two temporary besties ate side by side, fed by Papa Jack.  Both osplets ended up with good crops.

This nest is doing well, although there are times when I’m sure CO8 would beg to differ!”

We now have a full clutch for the Seili Osprey nest in Finland. Way to go Hildur.

There is at least one egg at the Juurusvesi nest also with Ania and Bartek.

The third egg hatched at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home Ospreys on Sunday.

The first hatch happened at the Outerbanks nest some time over night.

Hatch at Carthage!

There is still no sign of a pip in the second egg at Rutland’s Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya.

Dorcha shows off her gorgeous plumage and wings while she waits for the eggs to hatch at Loch Arkaig.

At Frenchman’s Creek, an adult was on the nest feeding one of the fledglings. Later a fledgling was on the nest alone. It is impossible to know if it is the same fledgling or if both juveniles were at the nest on Sunday.

The Venice Golf and Country Club Osprey cam was offline on Sunday every time I checked. The same was true for the University of Florida-Gainesville Osprey cam. Very disappointing. They got a new camera this year and it is terrible.

Big Red is always a pick of one of my favourite raptor mothers. She is just in her glory when there are chicks in the nest.

The nest of Ruth and Oren looks so tiny to me compared to the sq footage of Big Red’s penthouse. You can see the ‘ear’ of the hawks. Look below the eye in the top image at the little black circle. It will be covered with feathers.

Did you know about this Red-tail Hawk nest at Wake Forest? Look at the different ages of the three in terms of their feather development.

The only word is ‘adorable’.

Oh, goodness. They are self-feeding!

‘A’ loves these little ones: “The 11:31am feeding at Cal Falcons this morning (12 May) was yet another of Annie’s perfectly shared efforts. As always, the chicks got to the table in their own time and order, with the youngest taking a while to wake up (at which point it immediately grabbed centre front position and began eating voraciously, as always) and one of the older chicks didn’t join in until last of the four. But despite this, Annie managed, as always, to share the food with such perfection that the four ended up with crops of almost identical size after the feeding. All were bulging in that rather ugly manner, where there are not enough feathers to cover the large bulge, and Annie’s job was done for another few hours. They are eating less often, as I mentioned, but are polishing off entire birds at a meal now instead of having leftovers. There is rarely anything remaining. This time, though, when the meal ends just before 11:43, there are a couple of bones left on the scrape, a little bit of juicy-looking flesh attached, presumably for the chicks to begin nibbling on themselves. Chick number three has a go, and the youngest, behind it, is fascinated by the sight, peering over to watch closely what its sibling is doing.It’s easy to see who is the smartest eyas in this scrape. (To be honest, it’s been obvious from the beginning – this little one has been a dynamo since day one.)  These four are doing superbly well. They spend most of their day growing with all their might, but they are starting to get more curious about the world beyond the scrape. Those feathers are coming in nicely, and they are starting to stand up and attempt to walk a few steps on their feet before reverting to their tarsi. I just cannot believe they will be banded in only three days.”

Larry’s chicks benefit from Larry having learned how to be a great Mum from Annie.

If you need to understand the words ‘hope’ and ‘resilience’, look no further than Jak and Audacity at the Sauces Canyon Bald Eagle nest.

The adults at Decorah North are showing the eaglets where to go to branch. It will not be long!

Reign and Manini are looking really good at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Cruz.

The baby at Little Miami Conservancy ended the day with a really nice crop.

The trio at the West End nest of Thunder and Akeheta are eating well. Check out this ‘ps’.

I ‘think’ this darling is little Treasure.

Look who is on the JB Sands Wetlands eagle nest on Mother’s Day! So nice to see you JBS20. Aren’t you lucky? Someone brought you lunch!

Precious storklet of Bety and Bukacek.

There are four storklets on the streaming cam at Knepp Farm in the UK. In 2020 the first white storklets from the rewinding programme hatched at Knepp Farm. They were the first wild chicks hatched in Britain in 600 years! The last nesting pair were seen in Edinburgh in 1416. No one knows for certain why they completely disappeared but they were on medieval menus, they were killed for food, and what about their feathers? Maybe egg collectors, too.

The adults, Anna and Bartek, stay in the nest at night together with their storklets.

Things are getting busy at Sydney. ‘A’ reports:

“May 12: The eagles appeared to have been at Goat Island last night, and were heard duetting early, at 7:15am. They were seen leaving at 10:30am and were seen shortly after at Burns Bay and then heard duetting. Mid-afternoon, at 2pm, Dad showed up at the nest, followed shortly after by Lady. They flew off and then returned just after 5pm. Both were then at home for the night.”

Oh, how I do love Swifts.

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Last year our hearts broke for Little Mini at Patchogue. She had survived being the tiniest little fourth hatch and then she injured her leg. Many knew the story of Ma Berry and we have seen other raptors that have survived with disabilities. ‘Geemeff’ sent me the following article. We really need to think inclusion not euthanasia. This is the story of a shorebird, a wading bird, with only one leg that is doing just fine, thank you.

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Good Night Gabby and Beau wherever you are.

Thank you so very much for being with me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, MP’, Birdy Isac NY, Audubon/Explore, Montana Osprey Project, Geemeff, Lake Murray Ospreys, Moorings Park Ospreys, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home Ospreys, LRWT, Frenchman’s Creek, Cornell RTH, Syracuse U-RTH Cam, Amy Bonis, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Parks Conservancy, IWS/Explore, Raptor Research Project/Explore, Little Miami Conservancy, JB Sands Wetlands, The Guardian, Chronicle Live, Knepp Farm, Window to Wildlife, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, Outerbanks Ospreys, Finnish Osprey Foundation, and NEF-AEF.

*Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to thank those who supplied information, images, etc, for my post this morning. If there is an error or omission, please let me know!*

Friday in Bird World

10 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Thursday was 23 C, clear blue skies, no wind. Today will go up to 27 degrees C. Thankfully we have had some rain. Where my son lives in the Caribbean, the rains did not come and the water supply for the entire island is drying up. The reservoir at Etang is beyond low and cannot be used and other areas are bone dry. My heart breaks for people struggling with a lack of basic resources like water.

Thank you again for all your good wishes. I am feeling better. Not 100%, but good enough to run more errands in the heat. When I left, Mr Crow had a full dish of cheesy dogs. When I got home – and he knew I was home – he returned cawing his head off for more! Their tree was cut down, and they have made their nest this year on top of a three-story apartment building about 100 metres from the food dish! He can hear me when I arrive home – and see me. Of course, Hugo Yugo thinks she should have some cheesy dog, too, which started all of the others prowling around the kitchen except for Baby Hope, who is a real angel.

At the Border Osprey platform, Augusta (Blue 500) laid her third egg at 1100. Congratulations!

Mark the date on your calendar. Cal Falcons will be banding Annie and Archie’s chicks on the 15th of May. Yes, you spotted that right – five days from now. That is hard to believe.

The Fab Four think they are starving!

The GH owlet at Wolf Bay has branched and will soon be flying.

The nest at Loch of the Lowes is now empty and abandoned for this year.

Still no hatch at Manton Bay. If the egg that was removed was the first one to be laid, then the next one is currently 33 days old today. Three more days and we should be ready for pip.

Just look at those legs on Ruffie! If I were taking bets I would say Ruffy – despite their aggression – is a male. Daddy Long Legs like Idris – or maybe it is just the camera angle.

Ruffie is really working its wings.

Gorgeous Tuffy. Look at that sweet face.

Did we have fledges and returns at Frenchman’s Creek? Looks like it. Bravo. And look at the nest. Not so many fish there.

Iris and the New Guy are not messing around. They protect that nest and their eggs. I wonder if Louis even knows what is happening? Surely he does. Maybe he has just given up and will take care of Starr and leave that area alone. He might not win a fight with this younger male.

The House Sparrows are busy nesting under the osprey nest at Dunrovin. No eggs yet for Swoop and Winnie.

I think I worry too much about the little one at Captiva. It is hot and the big one always monopolises the feedings. Hopefully ‘H’ will have a better report.

Will CO8 get some fish?

‘H’ has the answer: “CO7 continues to dominate CO8 at meal times.  But as we have seen at other nests, as long as there are regular fish deliveries, the non-dominant sibling usually fares better later in the day, after the dominant osplet has already had his/her crop stuffed a few times.

At 1636 the meal consisted of a whole sheepshead, and CO8 ate first, but only for a minute until he was intimidated by CO7.  CO8 thought about trying to eat at 1639 and 1655 but was beaked by CO7.  At 1657 CO7 moved away and CO8 was able to eat.  Then he made a very unwise move… after CO8 had been eating for 4 minutes, he suddenly and inexplicably turned around and beaked CO7!  Oh no, silly osplet, lol.  Well, of course CO7 retaliated, and CO8 moved away.  CO7 ate some more until 1704, at which time CO8 ate for the next 14 minutes.  CO8 had eaten for a total of about 19 minutes at this meal.

The next meal, at 1831, consisted of a prepared sheepshead.  The sibs were both little angels.  For the most part they ate side by side until 1853, and by that time they were both refusing Edie’s offerings.  Then Edie was able to feast on the large tail portion herself.”

Big Red was so smart when she picked Arthur. What a hunter. Thursday morning nets three chipmunks and a squirrel plus what has been eaten already. Their family will never go hungry!

Please ask me how much I wish they would band these two chicks so we could see if they return to the area or stay?

What a difference seeing the little hawklets in a tree nest at Syracuse instead of the light stand at Cornell.

Will there be any osplets at Llyn Brenig this year?

There is a full clutch at Fortis Exshaw.

The Decorah North eaglets are a little wet from the rain. Those little cutie pies are growing and grown and ready to fly soon.

It is all good at Little Miami. That baby made it! Unless something happens this nest will fledge three. Fantastic.

Port Tobacco is fantastic. That single chick had all the love and all the food.

At Duke Farms, Leaper is 10 weeks and 1 day old which means that we could be within fledge range in a week.

At Superbeaks, Mason and Dixie have both branched. That was a week ago. Stay tuned for fledging.

Concern for Little at Lake Murray continues as he gets shut out of many/most/all feedings. ‘H’ reports, “5/9, Kenney delivered a late partial fish at 1950.  Big and Middle still both had huge crops and were not very interested in eating.  Little ate for three minutes before he was beaked by Big.  Big ate for 3 minutes, then walked away.  Little was then fed by Lucy for 7 minutes, when she suddenly halted the feeding, but there was still a large piece of fish remaining.  At any rate, Little had a large crop to start the night.” Huge shout out to ‘H’ for monitoring this difficult nest.

I highly recommended Isabella Tree’s new book on the success of the rewinding at Knepp Farm. Birdlife International has just published its study on the positive impacts of conservation and biodiversity. We can make a difference is the mantra in both! Never give up. Do what you can.

Science-proves-conservation-works-BirdLife-InternationalDownload

Another senseless murder in Scotland. This time of a satellite tagged Golden Eagle.

Police-confirm-satellite-tagged-Golden-Eagle-was-persecuted-BirdGuidesDownload

There is a new condor baby in California. Congratulations Ventana Wildlife.

White Storks Beta and Bukacek incubating their two eggs. Soon!

The two White-tail eaglets at the Tucholskie National Forest in Poland are thriving.

Two beautiful osprey eggs at the Seilli nest in Finland for Onni and Stefu.

News from Kakapo Recovery on their pesky flightless parrots.

I saw my first Moorhen in Grenada in 2022. It is great to see that others love them, too! Their appearance is so distinctive. The adult body is all black – the beak is a deep rich orange -red with at the tip dipped in a pot of bright almost neon-yellow. Their legs are green! The day these birds got their first plumage someone was having fun with the colours. They are very distinctive and when you have seen one, you will always recognise them. There will never be any confusion with any other waterfowl.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/country-diary-these-plucky-moorhens-have-become-local-celebrities?CMP=share_btn_url

All About Birds says this, “The Common Gallinule swims like a duck and walks atop floating vegetation like a rail with its long and slender toes. This boldly marked rail has a brilliant red shield over the bill and a white racing stripe down its side. It squawks and whinnies from thick cover in marshes and ponds from Canada to Chile, peeking in and out of vegetation. This species was formerly called the Common Moorhen and is closely related to moorhen species in the Old World…Common Gallinules eat vegetation, seeds, snails, and insects. They pick sedge, grass, pondweed, duckweed, and flower seeds from the water surface or just below the surface. Gallinules flip over leaves with their feet to grab snails and insects hidden .” They will lay anywhere from 3-15 eggs (what a range!) in nests made near the water’s edge. The incubation period is, on average, three weeks and they have two broods per breeding season.

“madres e hijos, polla de agua alimentando a su polluelo – mom moorhen feeding their chick” by ferran pestaña is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

We can be thankful that the hunting season in Malta is now over, but it should never exist, and, of course, as this says will the police do anything now? Wildlife certainly deserves the protection accorded to it by law. And that surely isn’t happening.

I feel like I am reading the news from Scotland.

Man-accused-of-shooting-protected-western-marsh-harrierDownload

Oh, those ads for the perfect lawn make me so mad. Dead bees. Dead pollinators. Even dead birds. Tell them ‘No, thanks’.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care all. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Wolf Bay, Scottish Wildlife Trust, LRWT, Moorings Park, Frenchman’s Creek, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Window to Wildlife, Cornell RTH, SU-RTH Cam, Stephanie Scofield, Heidi McGrue, Raptor Resource Project, Little Miami Conservancy, Port Tobacco, Duke Farms, Superbeaks, Lake Murray, Birdlife International, BirdGuides, Ventana Wildlife Society, Mlade Buky Stork Cam, Bielk OnLine Bory Tucholskie, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Kakapo Recovery, The Guardian, BirdLife Malta, Malta Today, All About Birds, and Openverse.

*Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to credit the individuals who provided the information in today’s posting. If there is something incorrect or there is an omission, please let me know.*

2nd Year Intruders…Wednesday in Bird World

8 May 2024

Good Morning,

One of my sweet helpers.

Remember that I mentioned those two year old returnees are coming! In the regions where banding is not done, you can never get as excited as those platforms that know their chicks have survived. Another one of Dylan and Seren’s fledglings has returned this year. Blue 555 from 2024 landed on Telyn who is incubating eggs at Dyfi a few miles away from his natal nest at Clywedog Reservoir.

Here is the sequence. Telyn hears/sees another osprey approaching. Blue 555 lands. Blue 555 is sent off by our excited mom-to-be. Idris arrives to save the day – all within about half a minute or less.

Telyn looks up.

Here comes 555.

Here comes Idris. No one is going to mess with his Telyn!

Did you see this? Murphy is a foster again!

At Captiva, Jack is keeping the fish coming and it was a good day for the little one. ‘H’ reports: ” CO8 did okay today, and basically I would have the same summary as yesterday. S/he takes a beating from CO7 at times, but it’s too soon to worry.  CO8 may not get as much to eat as CO7, but he did have a good crop a few times today.  Jack even fed CO8 for 8 minutes at meal #4. ” And then…”Jack delivered a large partial fish at 1907, that provided a long feeding for both of the siblings.  They ate side by side without any aggression, and both of them ended up stuffed.”

At Loch Arkaig, Louis has been busy and it was a late fish delivery for Dorcha.

Gosh, Louis is such an attentive mate. Some hardly bring the males any fish. I wonder what those new males will be like when chicks arrive?

Tuffy has grown into an exceptional osplet. Oh, how worried we were.

It appears that one or both of the osplets at Frenchman’s Creek have ‘branched’ to the camera pole OR the camera cannot get sight of one area of the nest. The shadows change and you can see the wings flapping.

The streaming cam at Redding is back up and running. Everyone is OK.

Mason is way up high in the natal tree at Superbeaks. Dixie looks out to the world beyond from the rails. These two will be flying soon. They are very active!

‘H’ reports on Lake Murray: “C3- ‘Little’ at Lake Murray is doing OK.  There is some aggression toward C3 by both older siblings, but there was only one meal on 5/7 where Little was shut out from the feeding.  Kenny is supplying lots of fish.”

‘A’ sent in a long report on several nests that she is tracking:

“I can hear Iris on an open tab – she is very chatty with her new man. He seems very proud of their eggs (they must be his and not Louis’ or he would doubtless have got rid of them by now). And – omigod, he’s brought in a tree now!!!! Sorry. I just turned over to Iris’ tab and what do I see? The most massive branch that resembles a small tree without leaves has been brought to the nest. I told you that yesterday he was bringing in some large, awkwardly shaped branches, but this one takes the cake. I wonder if he intends to plant a small forest around the outside of that nest. Or perhaps he too is worried about the dangers of an osplet being blown off that platform by that extra strong wind. But seriously, have a look at that tree! Talk about a laugh for the morning.”

Now, let us think about a time for us to begin to watch for these eggs to hatch of Iris and New Guy: 11 June? Pip watch? 

Cal appears to have dispersed. Today he is 140 days (exactly 20 weeks) old and it will be the seventh day since he was seen at or near the nest, though of course Connie and Clive are maintaining their territory. So the general consensus is that he has left to find his own mate and territory. Godspeed little one. You will always own a tiny piece of my heart. And remember, you fly for two, as you will also carry Lusa with you in your travels. How sad it is when we say goodbye to them, knowing their chances at reaching their first birthday are relatively low. All we can hope is that Cal learned well on the nest, with that bossy older sister, and has had the very best parental preparation for adulthood. He has great genes and we can only hope he gets the chance to pass them on. 

In Tennessee, Angel was last seen briefly (for just two minutes) early on the morning of 3 May, while Tom was there very briefly the following morning. There have been heavy thunderstorms in the area over the past couple of days, and they usually fail to appear on very wet days, but I think we have to admit now that the window is closing fast and that there will be no eggs for Angel and Tom this season. Now, we wish them a safe year until we see them next. Angel is such a rare beautiful creature, and I know her survival is far from assured. To add to the natural hazards they all face, she of course is unable to camouflage herself and even has to worry about unscrupulous individuals who have offered large sums of money to anyone prepared to divulge her whereabouts so she can be captured or killed as a trophy. I find it appalling that Connor has been offered tens of thousands of dollars for that information, though sadly it does not surprise any of us. 

At Taiaroa Head, our gorgeous boy was 7.9 kgs yesterday (7 May) at 105 days of age (the average for males of that age at this colony is 7.8 kg) – the same weight as the week before (when he had been fed by both mum and dad just before the weighing). Over the past week, he has had frequent feedings, with both parents visiting more than once, some feeds quite small and others larger. There had not been a feeding for a couple of days before this latest weighing, though, which accounts for his weight remaining the same as the week before. Mum came in yesterday afternoon and fed him around 4.15pm, and both our on-camera chicks have been fed this morning (8 May), with mum LGL feeding TF chick at 7.17am and dad BOK coming in to feed TFT chick shortly before 10am.  He is doing well, as are both his parents. Every time they leave on a foraging trip, we worry about when and whether they will return. Of course OGK never did. He has now, finally, been officially declared deceased at this point, as he would have returned to breed this season had he been capable of doing so. Sad news, but this year’s beautiful Royal Cam chick cannot but bring a smile to your face. His gorgeous plumage is pristine, revealing that he has lived his first 105 days of life without an incident of fear that has caused him to ‘spill’. So those snowy-white feathers are, in a sense, the sign of an stress-free childhood (or a very brave little chick or both). Whenever you need a smile, just turn to the albatross chicks on Taiaroa Head, where the rangers are constant and devoted guardians and we get to love our chicks for seven months or more. New Zealand truly is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. “

Those Cal Falcon chicks of Annie and Archie can put a smile on your day, too.

Annie and Grinnell’s grandchildren are ahead in development (they are obviously older). Look at their tail feathers and they are walking around the scrape. Larry (Annie and Grinnell’s daughter) and his mate are doing fantastic. What a treat to have a camera at their Alcatraz scrape!

Speaking of falcons, a wonderful soul posted an image of the screen at the CBD in Melbourne on FB and the falcons are there on the ledge! Maybe there will be chicks this year. I knew you would be excited.

Oh, I am getting excited that they might turn that Melbourne Live Stream on early. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they left it on all year?

The chat for the Cornell RTH is on the livestream and is open in the mornings. Check the time. Arthur had just brought in a nice little chippy for N1 and N2 when I tuned in.

Gosh those kids are cute. It won’t be long til they are pecking away at those chippies.

Watching for Rutland. The two eggs deemed unviable by Maya could have been the first ones that were laid so, it could be a few more days. Good news at LOTL. The new male has removed all the eggs from the egg bowl and maybe Blue NCO will start thinking he could be a ‘catch’. I am hoping so!

Thank you so much for being with me today. I am feeling better in the mornings and pretty horrible in the evenings still. The sun is out and it will be a good day for a walk, regardless. I am wondering if we have more little goslings hatching? Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you as always to those great people that send me news of the nests they are monitoring – I am calling them the Fabulous Four: ‘A, Geemeff, H, and SP’ along with all the others, the cams, the postings, the videos that helped me to write my post this morning including the Fab 4 and Dyfi Osprey Project, PBS, Window to Wildlife, Geemeff, Moorings Park, Frenchman’s Creek, FORE, Superbeaks, Lake Murray, Montana Osprey Project, NZ DOC, Cal Falcons, Parks Conservancy, Maya Rowe, and Cornell RTH.

Iris will do it ‘her way’…Monday in Bird World

6 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Thank you to everyone for your continued good wishes. I am very, very slowly feeling a wee bit better. A good friend dropped off two different types of Covid tests, just in case. Both were negative. So, not Covid. Whatever this is – well, I continue to say I do not wish it on anyone! Keep sending those positive vibes!!!!!!!!!

There is a rhythm to the events in the garden. The Juncos return first, then the White-throated Sparrow, and by then it is time for Mr and Mrs Crow to begin to bug me to fill up their food bowls. I have seen them during the winter but, for some reason, they return at the beginning of breeding season to remind me of their presence. I put out whatever I can gather from the fridge and from neighbours along with their usual cheesy dogs and hard boiled eggs along with cat kibble. This year events are earlier by about 14-16 days, but they are, nonetheless, happening in the same way. After spending the winter ignoring me, the first Crow has returned yesterday. In June, the little crows will come to get peanuts and to learn to dip them in the water. It is something that I look forward to with great delight.

The Crow first checked for peanuts and then went to chip away at one of the solid seed cylinders with large nuts and mealworms. It had previously been on the roof of the conservatory demanding treats! They watched as I filled the bowl with cheesy dogs, some cooked food from a neighbour including carrots….their favourite. (During the winter I have a secret feeding station for them).

The Baltimore Orioles will be here shortly. No matter what happens, the wildlife carry on, perhaps a little earlier, but what fun it will be to look forward to those little Crows splashing about, the baby Sparrows all puffed up sitting quietly waiting for the adults to tell them they can move, and the arrival of the Hummingbirds.

Calico talked to the Crow while it was coming and going during the day. Others slept.

We are now entering the period when the two year old returnees are causing havoc at the established nests – some of them their natal nests. We get a brief look at how this is impacting Kielder Forest, but it is happening everywhere.

Mainly-intruder-news-Kielder-OspreysDownload

There is no new news on the killing of LM12 Laddie near Loch of the Lowes. Scottish Wildlife Trust posted the following information on this amazing osprey.

Our hearts continue to break over this ‘murder’. Blue NCO continues to fish call and incubate the eggs although she is having to leave to try and feed herself.

There is always concern when there are three osplets and Lake Murray is no exception. ‘H’ is keeping a close watch.

The little one is trying. Just look at the size difference. Oh, I hope this sweet baby makes it. Fingers crossed.

The 1610 feeding – ‘H’ reports that all ate and there was no bonking. Yippee.

Wish that little one had some of the fish that landed at the Venice Golf Club. Mum might have even brought in two big fish. Wow.

Despite the mess, the two at Frenchman’s Creek are fine.

Both are eating at Captiva but there is still some unrest and bonking by the oldest.

Amongst the Ospreys there have been several nests that have had eggs out of sync. Today, ‘H’ notes that ” The Fenwick Island nest of Johnny and June: June laid eggs on 4/25 and 4/28, and both eggs were predated by a pair of crows on 4/28.  June’s third egg would have been due on 5/1.” ‘H’ notes that that egg did not arrive. We both wonder if this third egg that was laid on the 5th of May belongs to a first clutch or a new one. At Achieva, the egg dates were ‘off’ as well (normally every 72 hours). They were “1/28, 1/31, and 2/8”. (The last one could have been very, very late on the 7th but was not seen until the morning of the 8th).

We are wondering if these could be four egg clutches with the third egg laid somewhere else accidentally. It happens.

Tuffy still likes to be fed. Just look. Sally and Harry have the prettiest babies.

N1 and N2 could not be cuter. Look at the size of the crop on that little one.

Everyone loves Iris and each of us is worried, on the one hand, that raising a clutch of chicks might shorten her life or excited at the potential of the world’s oldest osprey getting to raise her first chick since 2018. I am just like all of you. I have been thrilled when Iris and Louis’s eggs have been taken by the Ravens and Iris has had a gentle summer fishing. Now that she has an attentive mate – and gosh, golly, Louis isn’t doing much about it – bringing her fish, I am getting rather excited and torn. I guess we wait and see what happens. Whatever it is, isn’t it nice seeing our Queen being treated well? Getting fish delivered to her for a change!

Here he is at 1640 bringing her another fish. I love this ‘Snake eyed guy’.

Iris flies off and takes it to the owl pole to eat.

There is something magical going on. Maybe it would always be Iris’s last year and maybe this is an extraordinary year for her. I watch with wonder.

Second egg expected. It was raining and I did not see anything. Iris not on the nest.

The New Guy is incubating the egg while Iris is off eating breakfast. Iris tells us ‘I will do it my way’.

The GH owlet at Wolf Bay is doing fine. Look at those legs!

Lady Hawk’s last coverage of E23, the darling of the SW Florida nest of M15 and his new mate, F23. Why oh why doesn’t someone band these hatches?

They are getting a little itchy at Cal Falcon scrape with all those pin feathers coming in.

If you need contentment:

‘PB’ reports that the second egg at Charlo Montana was laid on Sunday. It looks like her name is Lola.

‘H’ sent news that we have another egg at Cape May Meadows for Hera and Zeus. “5/6, The South Cape May Meadows osprey nest of Hera and Zeus:  Hera laid egg #2 at 06:29.”

Louis continues to take good care of Dorcha at Loch Arkaig. The killing of Laddie at Loch of the Lowes had made everyone nervous. So good to see the others at their nests as we wait for the first hatch at Rutland.

Adorable baby eaglet that fell out of the nest has a foster!

The eaglets at the Bald Canyon nest have names and both are happy that they are in the nest together! Another great rescue.

Muhlady and Pepe continue to provide prey on the nest for Dixie (fledged) and Mason (still at home). There are continual prey wars when there is a delivery. Both look to be doing very well.

Full crops for the two eaglets of Dad and Gigi at the ND-LEEF nest.

Those two will soon be as big as Jersey and Leaper at Duke Farms who are anxiously awaiting their first flight.

For the two eaglets of Liberty and Guardian at the Redding nest, the votes are now being submitted for the final round in naming. Make sure you vote! The deadline is 7 May – that is Tuesday!

Go to: https://forms.gle/BeWHaTi2s66CYdKo7

‘A’ sends us the latest from the Sydney Olympic Forest: “

May 5: Both eagles were at home last night and woke early, well before 6am, with duets and mating. They both left by 6:19am, and over the next hour or so, more duets could be heard. Mid-morning at 10:15am, neither could be seen at the river but were spotted at Goat Island. Mid-afternoon, both eagles were still there, and at 16:45pm, one was noted flying off to the west. Both turned up at the nest around 17:16pm – one may have brought a stick – then mating nearby. A duet, and mating again at 5:42pm, with Lady bowing her head to indicate she was ready and willing to mate. Both then settled by the nest for the night. There was rain on and off today.

May 6: There was lots of rain overnight, with both eagles close by. They were awake early, with mating, then both flew off and one returned with a stick. Then both were off again before 6:30am. At 9am, both were seen at the very muddy river , landing on River Roost. Shortly after, there was a duet at 9:15am, and then both were seen flying together, heading north and further. The rain had stopped by then, but it was very windy. There have been issues with the cameras today, with livestream not available for most of the day. One eagle was seen flying over the forest at around 3pm. Just after 4pm, it seemed that two eagles were at Goat Island. Neither was reported at the river at 4:30pm. Then we were able to see the adjacent camera live and saw Lady come home late. She seemed to have just eaten, wiping her bill. She then settled.

This is interesting, especially with Lady initiating mating. But is it really early for Lady and Dad or is it their normal pattern of behaviour? They presumably regularly engage year-round in various forms of bonding behaviours, including mating, to maintain the strength of their pair bond. Yes? So maybe it’s not at all early for them to engage in the early phases of nest-building. “This is interesting, especially with Lady initiating mating. But is it early for Lady and Dad or is it their normal pattern of behaviour? They presumably regularly engage year-round in various forms of bonding behaviours, including mating, to maintain the strength of their pair bond. Yes? So maybe it’s not at all early for them to be engaging in the early phases of nest-building. “

LGK comes in for a feeding for TF chick! Always good to put a smile on your face. TF is so fluffy – like a soft cloud floating around the hill.

There is a lot going on at the nests. I hope to be able to provide some news each day until such time as I am back 100%. We are waiting for hatch watch at Rutland! Take care. We hope to see you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, PB’, Kielder Ospreys, Jeff Kear and SWT, Lake Murray Ospreys, VGCCO, Frenchman’s Creek, Window to Wildlife, Fenwick Island, Moorings Park, Cornell RTH, Montana Osprey Project, Wolf Bay, Lady Hawk, Cal Falcons, Charlo Montana, SK Hideaways, SCMM, Jann Nichols, Gracie Shepherd, Superheats, Geemeff, ND-LEEF, Duke Farms, FORE, Sea Eagle Cam.

Who murdered Laddie?…Sunday in Bird World

5 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I am using the word murder because this is an isolated area, restricted during breeding season, and someone would have deliberately taken out a firearm of some sort to kill this precious bird. This is not an accident.

There is heartbreaking news coming out of Scotland. I am putting it in order as I receive it but it sounds as if someone has killed our dear Laddie and that his disappearance was not due to old age/natural causes. This is extremely disturbing if that is the case.

I want you to imagine a beautiful loch restricted for fishing and human activities from the time the Ospreys arrive to the end of the breeding season. I want you to imagine quiet. We hear of other raptors being killed near grouse moors, but when was the last time you heard of a fish eating raptor being killed in the UK? True, there have been some very ‘sick’ stories coming out of regions of the US where ospreys were targeted. The last incident I heard was the deliberate cutting down of the Llyn Brenig platform in Wales. One egg was on the nest. It disturbed the entire breeding season. At Loch of the Lowes, we have Laddie. He was the resident male beginning in 2012. He is unringed so we do not know his history. He probably did not get a mate and a nest until he was four. Let’s use four as a reasonable beginning point. That means that Laddie is approximately sixteen or seventeen years old when he was killed. In that time, he flew to his wintering grounds. Let’s hypothesise that he went to West Africa. That is a distance of 2951 miles from Perthshire to Senegal. If Laddie hatched in 2007, he made his first trip to Africa then and flew 2951 miles. He remained there until he was a two-year old returning to the area around his natal nest which would be Scotland. So another 2951 miles in the spring of 2009 (making it a total of 5902 miles per year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and another 2951 on his return in the spring of 2024. That is a total flight distance just or a probably migration of 94,432 miles in total without incident. It is staggering and that is why I have listed the years individually.

Laddie left his nest and Blue NCO after delivering a fish at lunchtime on the 28th of April. He did not return.

He travelled more than most people and probably much more than the individual who lifted a gun and shot him out of the sky. It is unbelievable. He lived through the truly trying juvenile years when we lose almost 2 out o every 3 ospreys, he made at least 17 round trip migrations to be blown out of the sky doing what he did this time every year – delivering fish to his mate on the nest incubating their eggs, Blue NCO (the latest of his mates).

Laddie did not kill grouse. He did not swoop down and take chickens out of a coop. He fished quietly on a Scottish loch. It terrifies me for all the others who have eggs in the nest because someone out there thinks their lives do not matter. This is no different than someone sitting on a chimney pot and shooting Hugo Yugo or one of the other girls through the conservatory’s windows. They do it because they have the power to kill. It is time for the people to stand up for those who cannot defend themselves. Let Laddie be a symbol of the love and respect that we have for our raptors. Show these people that they are wrong. We do care. Force the Scottish Government to persecute this individual and make it meaningful, not a laughing stock.

“Police Scotland Tayside have posted on Facebook:

“We are appealing for information after the remains of an osprey were found near Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, on Friday, 3 May, 2024.

The protected species is believed to have been nesting at Loch of the Lowes, close to where it was found.

Enquiries are at an early stage to establish the full circumstances.

Inspector James Longden said: “It is illegal to kill any protected species and we are working closely alongside partner agencies to confirm what has happened here and whether there is any criminality involved.

“Information from the local community could prove vital and it is important we speak to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area, or who may know something which could assist our investigation.

“Any information can be passed to Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 3266 of Friday, 3 May, 2024. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Scots-cops-appeal-for-information-after-bird-of-prey-found-dead-close-to-nest-Daily-RecordDownload

This news will send ripples of concern throughout the UK Osprey platforms. The platform at Llyn Brenig was cut down a couple of years ago and we know that Hen Harriers, eagles, and even Red Kites have been killed around the grouse moors intentionally. Why would anyone want to kill an osprey?

The remaining issue is Blue NCO and the eggs. This is a human caused tragedy. The police would not be investigating if Laddie had died from natural causes or a battle for territory. Since this is the case, do we not have an obligation to provide fish for Blue NCO and the eggs, if they hatch, until such time as Mum is able to care for them entirely by herself? The terrain and the location might make this difficult if not impossible but they do ring the chicks. Of course, the best situation would be that the eggs would be abandoned and Blue NCO would move on with no chicks to worry about starving.

And now news arrives of a Peregrine Falcon being shot. This is becoming more than troubling.

Peregrine-found-shot-on-RSPB-nature-reserve-in-Peak-District-National-Park-–-Raptor-Persecution-UKDownload

This morning it was discovered that Maya and Blue 33 are only incubating two eggs. Here is the news from Rutland. We know they can count now we know that they can also spot viable and non-viable eggs. Brilliant birds.

Tuffy and Ruffie compare wingers. Hilarious. As funny as this video is there is something rather disturbing too and that is the state of the nest at Moorings Park. The rails appear to be sliding off and well, I don’t even want to think about either of these beautiful osplets prematurely sliding off or being blown off the sides. Is it too much to appeal to Moorings Park to do major reconstruction during the off-season like they do at some nests in the UK? Where the rails are secured? Nesting material enhanced?

The Captiva osplets are in the reptile stage! Thanks, ‘H’ for that FB video clip.

The oldest osplet at Florida-Gainesville and Mum are faring alright.

Samson’s new mate, Blue 500, has been named Augusta after she laid their first egg on 3 May 2024 at the Border Osprey nest. Samson’s former mate, Juno, did not return from migration.

AT-LASTDownload

Annie is trying to keep her babies cool.

Through rain and snow….Annie and Archie deliver.

Monty and Hartley are doing the same.

Dorcha and Louis are being silly.

‘H’ reports that at Severna Park, Olivia and Oscar have their third egg.

‘H’ also checks in on Lake Murray and the triplets appear to be doing fine.

The two osplets at Frenchman’s Creek seem to be working their way through the fish that Dad brought.

A hatch at Surrey. I am posting this because of the unusual nature in the way that the shell cracked during hatch. The little one made it out safely!

Gorgeous Big Red and N1 and N2.

The female has been fish calling at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The male appeared later on Saturday but I have not seen any fish deliveries. Intruders? Anyone watching this nest closely?

Three beauties at the Venice Golf and Country Club Osprey Platform.

Lessons in plucking for those two big Decorah North eaglets.

Fraser Point eaglets doing fantastic.

The trio at the West End are real ‘treasures’.

Rescued chick back home at Bald Canyon and both have full crops.

The oldest and the youngest at Little Miami:

Checking on the Finnish nests:

Janakkala: Incubation

Paltamo: No eggs yet

Muonio: Unsure.

Ylläslompolo: No eggs

Beautiful female on her German nest.

For those looking forward to the Glacier Gardens Eagle Cam, there could be issues this year.

For those wondering about Richmond and Rosie, it is unclear whether there are two or three eggs. They sure didn’t make it easy for us this year!

The third egg at the Green Ledge Light Preservation Society on Long Island was laid on 2 May.

During the time that I conducted research in Mumbai for my PhD and later when I was writing all of that up, I met many Zoroastrians. They are often called Parsees (Parsi) and they immigrated to India from Iran after being persecuted by Muslims. They have unique traditions and, one in particular, the non-burial of their dead. They leave the bodies of their deceased for vultures to clean. The bodies do not contaminate the air, the soil, or the water. Today, this community is facing a particular challenge and it concerns a lack of vultures.

‘Our-culture-is-dying-vulture-shortage-threatens-Zoroastrian-burial-rites-Pakistan-The-GuardiaDownload

Let Jackie and Shadow be our inspiration.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care – there is a flu bug or something going around and it isn’t nice! See you 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, J, PB’, Scottish Wildlife Foundation (LOTL), Police Scotland Tayside, LOTL Visitor’s Centre, Val Gail, Daily Record, Geemeff, Raptor Persecution UK, Rutland Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, Moorings Park Ospreys, Window to Wildlife, Border Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Cal Falcons, Severna Park, Lake Murray Ospreys, Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, Cornell RTH Cam, Miami Landscape Arboretum, VGCCO, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, IWS/Explore, Gracie Shepherd, Little Miami Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Green Ledge Light Preservation Society, and The Guardian.

*Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to credit the correct individuals for their contributions. If an error has been made, please let me know! I wish to fix it.*

Tuesday in Bird World

30 April 2024

Good Morning!

I have an early appointment tomorrow, so I apologise for this post going out late on Monday evening.

I so hope that your week started well. It was cold in Winnipeg. 5 C. We live on a weather roller coaster. One day, we put up the winter coats, and then we had to go and drag them back out again along with the toques. The leaves continue to break open on the lilacs; a few Dark-eyed Juncos are still here, along with the White-throated Sparrows and European Starlings. The normal garden birds are here all year, but this spring is different. There are so many Black-capped Chickadees that we have a chorus! It is incredibly beautiful. I will try to make a recording one day for all of you.

Gosh, it is a mixed bag. Eaglets are still growing, with many getting ready to branch and fledge. Falcons, along with the hawklets, are jumping and munching around the world. Osprey eggs are still being laid, and Europe will hatch some in the UK next week. I continue to be busy entering data – egg and hatches in our data forms, changes of partners. It seems a little more hectic than last year and yet, there are not nearly as many eggs in comparison. We are waiting for all of those in the NE to come on board! ‘H’ and I will not be able to catch our breath or have a cup of tea. Severna Park has one and the others are going to quickly follow suit.

If you are monitoring a nest that is not on a streaming cam, I would love to hear from you. In Manitoba, I watch three nests—one is at the University of Manitoba, and the couple has now returned for another year on top of a light stand. The other two are at different sites on Lake Winnipeg. No would would ever know about them and perhaps not about the nest you watch, so please, write to me. There is a comments section and you can always e-mail (maryannsteggles@icloud.com). My interest is in Osprey behaviour and, in particular, siblicide. If you see something, also let me know. I appreciate all the news I receive and try to answer within 24 hours. Sometimes it takes me longer to respond to the comments section, but I do read them daily. Thank you so much.

I will also try to get some good images of ‘The Girls’ this week. They are all fine, including Hugo Yugo, who is chasing Calico through the house. I’m not sure the attention is appreciated! I always wonder about Hugo Yugo. Today, I had a small Brioche roll, and she attacked it – so she loves cheese and bread. Did they give her grilled cheese sandwiches at her foster home? Or is it just her crazy character? She is so different from any cat I have ever owned. Some of you have told me about your lovely ginger cats, and it seems they are a force on their own.

At the nests –

At Superbeaks, ‘H’ caught Mason branching! Congratulations. What an exciting milestone.

My ‘inbox’ lit up like fireworks were going off – I kept hearing pings while I was at my appointment, and then there it was. The culprit was Connie, the resident female bald eagle at the Captiva nest, taking the opportunity to steal part of a fish off the Captiva Osprey nest of Jack and Edie. The problem: two little osplets were in that nest. Lady Luck was sure on hand as those two little ones were not pulled out of the nest along with the moss. My heart sank.

Many of you will have noticed that ospreys do not often leave fish on the nest. I often see comments in the chat asking why they don’t. Well, this is the reason for that. The male will remove the fish, and then he will return it if there is fish left after he eats. Some males have stashes. Leaving the fish on the nest invites predators or the nest cleaning Crows, Ravens, and Gulls to stop by for lunch. Food draws attention to a place we don’t want others to be. Today, Jack and Edie were lucky. Connie won’t forget. She lives right by them – she will swing by that nest to see if there is a fish. Why catch one when Jack and Edie will leave you a nice big piece? Oh…this could have been so tragic.

Heidi has it on video:

What would Connie do if she saw the fish at Frenchman’s Creek? The two kiddos are eating, sometimes being fed, and growing. It is hard to believe, but these two will probably fledge, and we should be ever so glad. The Dad has been feeding, and they are self-feeding, and the nest is still full. The Crows and Gulls and any other carrion eaters in the area will have a feast when these two leave the nest.

In the UK, Blue 372 laid her third egg at the Llyn Brenig nest on Monday the 29th of April.

The Fans of Redding Eagles (FORE) is looking for names for Liberty and Guardian’s two eaglets. Here is the information. The deadline is Wednesday.

At Leighton Moss, Yellow-legged Gulls have taken over the Osprey Platform.

At Moorings Park, dear not-so-little-anymore Tuffy is doing just fine. What a lovely little osplet he is. You just have to watch his behaviour and facial expressions and you will have a smile from ear to ear. He is growing, doing well, and unless some bloody tragedy happens, he should fledge. Meanwhile, Sally and Harry are busy with intruders just like most of the other nests. That is so sad because the exchanges sometimes become violent and one or the other, or both, could get injured or die.

Blue 33 taking an opportunity to cuddle with Maya. He loves doing that! In about six days, he is going to be busy fishing for a new set of osplets. First to lay their eggs, first to hatch. Can’t wait. Mark your calendars for pip watch 5-6 May at Rutland Water.

It was a soggy day for Blue NCO at Loch of the Lowes. Someone at the loch saw Laddie sitting near the nest yesterday, I believe it was. There have been worries that something had happened because of a lack of fish deliveries—and even I get nervous watching this nest. Siblicide is entirely possible. It has happened for the past two years.

I am starting to wonder if the other two eggs on the nest of Big Red and Arthur will hatch. If they don’t, it is fine. Big Red had a leg injury that appears to have healed. Feeding four and caring for them might delight her and make her glow like the sun on a bright day, but caring for two is much easier. It might be nice to have a more relaxed year. N1 and N2 are rather feisty!

The camera operators really want to see those eggs clearly and it is hard. N1 loves to go after N2’s neck and twist it about. But, remember, this is really play fighting like Hugo Yugo does with her sisters. It is not the harm that we see on nests with either siblicide or Cainism.

Dear Archie must have had a chat with Annie and convinced her that he is perfectly capable of helping to feed the chicks. Tandem feeding. Monday 29 April. This should put a smile on your face.

It is frightening how fast these chicks of Annie and Archie are growing.

At Syracuse, there are two chicks and the other egg is pipping. Update: That chick has hatched!

‘J’ sent me a super reminder that the PA-DNR falcons have hatched! Here is the link to their cam with an image of the scrape with Mamma and eyases below.

https://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/falcon/falcon-cam-popup_v2.html

The news coming out of the UFlorida-Gainesville osprey platform of Stella and Talon is not good. The first chick died from siblicide. Talon is rarely seen – a Dad that was known for bringing a good amount of fish to the nest. Only one fish on Monday and the weather is to be quite hot according to ‘R’ who is monitoring the nest. So we have to think of dehydration. We could lose another chick, so sad.

‘R’ gives us an update: “1700 – Stella brings in big fish.  #2 learning how to hide behind her and getting some good bits, even a small crop.  #1 is brutal, but speed seems to be working. Talon is gone!” Sadly, another one to add to the Memorial Pages. Another Mum has to be everything to her chicks – security, hunter, and feeder. Thankfully they are well feathered and will be able to thermoregulate when she is out fishing.

The lives of males are often filled with danger that is not visible on camera.

All three are well at the Venice Golf and Country Club Osprey nest. Growing and growing. Sometimes it is hard to tell the third hatch now from the second.

The female at the Wells Fargo Osprey Cam in Des Moines, Iowa has laid a fourth egg on the 29th of April. Last year the couple fledged two chicks.

Two eggs visible at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest on Monday. These would be the first egg that got soaked and then buried as the third egg is not due to hatch yet.

Two cute little White-tail Eaglets in the Tucholskie Forest in Poland.

There is at least one egg at Pitkin County! The egg bowl is so deep.

A brief glimpse of some eggs at Clark PUD.

Male brings a really nice fish and relieves the female at the Kalakotkas 2 nest in Estonia.

‘H’ reports: “The Osoyoos osprey nest of Soo and Olsen: Soo laid their first egg of the season on 4/29, at 12:55:56. This was approximately three weeks earlier than last season.”

ZE brought a fish to the Goitzche-Wildnis nest in Germany and the female was really telling him not to eat it all! Cute.

The eaglet at Fraser Point has a name – ‘Reign’.

An Osprey nest in a tree in the US. How many of you can say you have seen this? (There are many, many in the UK and Europe using beautiful big trees).

The GH owlet at Wolf Bay in Alabama looks better. Heavy rain came late on Monday. The drops were so big that on the streaming cam they looked like snow. I have not seen a feeding, but those generally happen at dusk and dawn. If you have, please let me know.

Thank you so very much for being with us today. It is always a pleasure to hear from you and we look forward to having you with us again soon. Remember to look up!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, MM, PB, R’, Superbeaks, Heidi McGrue, Frenchman’s Creek, Llyn BGrenig, Julie LaLima, RSPB Leighton Moss, Moorings Park Ospreys, LRWT, Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Cornell RTH, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, SU RTH-Cam, PA-DNR, University of Florida-Gainesville, VGCCO, Iowa DNR, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Bieliki Online Bory Tucholskie, Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, Clark PUD, Eagle Club of Estonia, Osoyoos Ospreys, Goitzche-Wildnis, Gracie Shepherd and IWS/Explore.com, Connecticut Osprey Group, and Wolf Bay Ospreys.

*Disclaimer. Every effort is made to identify the individuals, groups, and institutions that supplied information for my post today. Please let me know if I missed anyone!*