My goodness. Sunday was the most glorious autumn day. It seemed everyone was outside, eating ice cream, having a last picnic, watching the ducks and geese. There were Wood Ducks, Mallards, and lots of Canada Geese at the pond.
.This was the pond in the afternoon. I can’t describe how beautiful and crisp the fall day was.
In the evening, we were at the nature centre. At least 100 Cormorants perched in three trees between Elliot Lake and Devonian Lake. The gulls flew in first, perhaps 500 or more at the lake’s western end. The Geese arrived late. They will feed twice a day. They leave the lake around 1000 and return a few hours later to rest on the water. Then they go out to feed again, returning around dusk. Because the weather is so nice, they stay and feed at the fields later than usual.
The ‘Cormorant Trees’:
Some sounds of the geese coming in – kinda’ like ‘white noise’…the geese are flying in at a distance. You can see some…they landed at the lake to our left, not the one in front of us for the most part.
It was a great evening. Next week we will be at Oak Hammock Marsh for their goose flight and we hope to return to Ft Whyte before Thanksgiving (October 14).
‘A’ has just sent news that Top Flat Chick, the Royal Cam chick, has fledged: “We have just had the confirmation from ranger Sharyn. And of course, I am crying. I wish our sweet TF chick safe travels but doubt I will live long enough to see him return in five years. :Mum LGL has just been in and has been looking for TF to make sure her baby has really gone and no longer needs her to feed him. She has had a good look around and waited patiently on the nest for a while, just to be sure, but I think she knows he is gone. TFT fledged yesterday apparently.
This is always SO hard. Knowing the dangers that lie ahead, and these chicks have had no parental training in hunting or foraging for food. Of course with our eaglets and osplets, we often never see them again and never know what happens to them, especially here in Australia where we don’t band our eagles or falcons (though we do band some of our ospreys).
But this morning, 23 September, was the official fledge date for TF chick. I’ll go and have a little cry now. My sea eaglets are close to leaving too, and like the albatrosses, the world they will face out there is a very hard one for them. I would love to see Lady and Dad training these two to catch fish, as we did see with one of the fledglings last year I recall, but of course the smaller birds are relentless and this season seems worse than the last in that respect. “
‘A’: “Dear little dad at Collins Street puts such a smile on my face. He loves to chat to his eggs with a tiny high-pitched chirp. He is adorable. He has not been bringing food to the ledge this week – mum is heading off on her own to get food or to access one of the pantries. When M22 arrived to relieve her this morning, he had a huge crop. Meanwhile at Orange (speaking of falcons with large crops – yes, we’re looking at you, Diamond), the companionship between Diamond and Xavier is just a joy to watch. This season, Xavier has been spending quite a bit of time just hanging on the ledge, keeping Diamond company. It is just too sweet.// I love their 4.45am bonding sessions where both of them fall asleep in the middle, then wake up 45 minutes later and continue as if they hadn’t paused at all. TOO funny. They are a wonderful pair to observe year-round, as their relationship is hysterically funny to watch. “
Port Lincoln would like you to help guess when the first egg will hatch. Put the day and time you believe will be the winner in the chat under their streaming cam.
Geemeff and ‘SP’ found another article on the dire consequences of the Menhaden commercial fishing on Ospreys. This really does need to stop. Tomorrow I will gather information and provide you with the address to send a letter before 2 October if you feel so inclined. They should outlaw industrial fishing within 3 miles of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and anywhere in the Bay —- and if someone is brave, outlaw it altogether! Ospreys are starving to death at a rate in excess of the deaths of DDT (or so it is believed now). Remember the problem is Virginia. The other states have laws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please examine the map and you will see how that mouth of the Bay must be protected. Can any Menhaden get to Maryland?
Anyone can write. What is crucial is that the Menhaden have to get through Virginia waters in order to feed the ospreys lower in the Bay. Check out the maps. Here is the information on who to write to – the deadline is looming. 25 September at 1000.
‘J’ sends news that the little eaglet who had yet to fly but had survived its nest collapsing has been killed by a coyote who breached the enclosure at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.
I wonder how many males are still delivering fish to young osprey fledglings? Beaumont certainly is in Newfoundland!
Jackie and Shadow wanted to let everyone know that they are fine after the threats of the Line Fire. https://youtu.be/PacRB76JN4w?
It will be so wonderful to see Shadow with his sticks and beautiful Jackie at the nest in the morning’s diamonds!
Gabby and 24E1 were at the nest on Sunday.
M15 and F23 were busy at the nest in Fort Myers! Nice to see them again.
It was a bird breakfast for the Olympic Park Eaglets.
Thank you for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, announcements, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, J, PB, SP’, NZ DOC, Port Lincoln Ospreys, The Washington Post, Google Maps, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal, Thomas Lilly, FOLFAN, Newfoundland Power, SK Hideaways, FOBBV, NEFL-AEF, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Elain and Holly Parsons, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Olympic Park Eagles.
The weather is still warm and will continue to be. The air was heavy Friday morning. We headed out to the nature centre to see how many geese were on the lake and check on the Mallard family with the two small ducklings. The sky was black, and it looked like rain could start any minute. In the forest, we could hear the Black-capped Chickadees and the American Goldfinch. The Goldfinches migrate, but the Chickadees stay all winter!
We found the Mallard family, but we could only see one duckling. I hope the other one was hiding in the reeds. The tiny duckling has grown but is still not large enough to migrate. Our weather is supposed to stay warm through October, so it should be fine to take off then.
At the hide, a female Downy Woodpecker was at the peanut feeder while another Mallard looked for seed in the grasses. Honking was constant overhead as the winds grew stronger, and the dark clouds gathered.
Even with the impending rain, it was a good morning to be outside for a walk. Always makes our day!
I was just so happy to see Annie! Annie is loafing!!!!!! Oh, it is so good to see you, Annie. https://youtu.be/3Vcnr3Fg9yU?
In Bird World, Hartley and Monty are back at the scrape in San Jose, too!
Please tell everyone to please store their sports nets (of any kind) but especially soccer when they are not in use. Look what happened to this owl!
West Nile Virus killed the only surviving, of two, hawlets of Big Red and Arthur this year. It is also having an impact on all of our feathered friends including ospreys.
What is West Nile Virus and how is it impacting birds? Sadly, the most common in Canada are my beloved Crows and Blue Jays.
“As of September 2003, West Nile Virus has been identified in 11 Page 2 species of native owls, 4 species of falcons, and 15 native species of diurnal raptors, including osprey, vultures, and bald and golden eagles.”
This document from the Cascade Raptor Centre is particularly good:
Heidi reports that Harvie and the two juveniles at Fortis Exshaw Canmore Osprey Platform are still home. You can see the wildfire smoke spreading through the valley behind the nest. Yesterday, Heidi saw five fish delivered in a short period of time to the fledglings at the nest after a period of rain.
Heidi checked on Fenwick Island and Johnny is still bringing Fen fish.
At the Hellgate Canyon nest, Antali had a very late night fish. I can’t rewind but he is holding it at 22:46 and is till eating in the wee hours of the morning. Antali has an enormous crop. It seems Finnegan wants to fill his fledgling up and hopefully get him on his way south.
Antali’s crop was still huge at 0741 when he was fish-calling. No delivery. Antali flew off after Dad (or so it would seem).
Finn sits on the nest with a lunch fish looking around and Antali comes flying in! He is not going to miss that fish dinner.
Finnegan takes good care of his boy. Another headless fish is delivered at 1644. Antalia has not had a sunken crop all day!
Now I love geese and on my ‘Bucket List’ has been a trip to see the Pinkfooted Geese that breed in Iceland and Greenland and then travel with their fledglings to the UK to winter arriving sometime after September 1. In the 1880s, the birds did not come to the UK til the last week of October. Now, to the astonishment of all, a pair of Pink-footed Geese have bred in Lancashire!
The concern was with climate change and the melting tundra that the Pinkfoots might not migrate to the UK. So this is very interesting.
Look at the image below. The heads are the colour of a cafe lait. This dark to medium brown head fades into a boey that is blue grey. The lowest part of the neck is pink! The goose has fluffy white underparts. The legs are, of course, pink matching the lower neck which gives these geese their name.
The female lays a clutch of 3-5 eggs. It takes 26 or 27 days for the wee ones to hatch. At that moment, both the male and the female will lead the clutch to wetlands to feed. In Iceland, they also eat crowberries, which makes their ‘ps’ pink!!!!! Their main enemies in Iceland are foxes and gyrfalcons.
Some absolutely gorgeous closeups on this video by Cornell Bird Labs of the Royal Albatross chick. https://youtu.be/PsUNmjyrOFU?
The area of Shadow and Jackie’s nest is under voluntary evacuation for the Line Fire that is scorching parts of San Bernadino County. Shadow was spotted at the Snag and Roost Tree despite the wind and smoke by Eagle22 on the 12th of September. https://youtu.be/VNOQ7VrBTXc?
They say Jackie and Shadow are safe from the Line Fire (as of 9 September).
Connie Dennis reports that Oscar is still feeding Skylor at the Russell Lake nest in Nova Scotia. So no migration other than Mum, Ethel, so far.
Skylor you crack me up!
Dad is still providing fish at Niagara Bee.
Charlie is still supplying fish to C16 at Charlo. Interesting that it is the males staying behind at the nest and having Dad fish and fish and fish!
No love is lost at the Newfoundland nest of Hope and Beaumont between fledglings when a much-desired fish dinner arrives at the nest. That was the only delivery I saw at the nest – fish could be provided elsewhere, I do not know.
There was an odd break in the transmission from Sandpoint. Keke is still delivering fish. River was on the perch and then mysteriously on the nest with a nice fish. It was the camera. River is not catching fish – as far as I know, none of the males at these nests are getting their own food. Gorgeous wingspan on this fledgling.
At Orange, a Willy Wagtail comes to visit Diamond.
Still no breakfast at the Olympic Sea Eagle nest by 1130. Lady found a few scraps in the nest.
Do you love seabirds and Puffins? Dani Connor Wild has some amazing images in her recent video. https://youtu.be/IJi4vnEk1do?
Calico’s Tip for the Day: When the sisal on the scratch post cylinders is ragged, and you are ready to toss the entire thing in the garbage, don’t. First, could you check your online retailers for replacement sisal disks? They are about half the price of a replacement post where I live. The package we ordered also contained new hardware and an Allen key. Calico knows that I am the least ‘handy person’ in the neighbourhood, so if I can do this, so can you!
The Girls had really scratched up that sisal!
New cylinders to compare. Note the small bag with the hardware and Allen Key. We used our handy dandy cat fur remover and tried to get the old scratch post in near new condition.
What do you think? You can see that we got it all finished. Make sure that the Allen Key has everything secure. Gosh, I even amazed Calico and she gave the new sisal cylinders her Golden Paw Award – because they had a small bag of hardware with the Allen Key so I didn’t have to go rummaging around trying to find one!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care of yourselves. We hope to have you with us soon!
Thank you to the following for their posts, notes, comments, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: SK Hideaways, Farmer’s Way, Diana Lambertson and The Joy of Ospreys, the CDC West Nile Virus, Cascade Raptor Centre, Fortis Exshaw Canmore, Heidi McGrue and The Joy of Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Openverse, BirdGuides, Cornell Bird Lab, Eagle 22, News & Observer, Connie Dennis and Ospreys of Nova Scotia, Pam Breci and The Joy of Ospreys, Charlo Montana, Newfoundland Power, Sandpoint Ospreys, Liznm, Holly Parsons, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac,
To all those wonderful men – human and not – for taking care of living breathing things, protecting them, feeding them, loving them – Happy Father’s Day. And to one special Osprey this morning who is injured with a spike in his leg – Jack at Captiva. You are amazing. Despite all, you are still helping feed your family this morning!
There is a lot going on in Bird World. Rescues, uprightings, sibling rivalry, hatches, GHO attacks, and death. You name it, it seems to be happening. The very beautiful and good is tinged with the sorrow and sadness. We just have to breathe and as someone said today, ‘life is very fragile, embrace someone and hold them tight, you don’t know what is coming next’. What a year it has been and we are only half way through. As one reader said to me, “The Memorial Page has exploded”. It has and I am still catching up! It is always sad to lose one of the birds and, please, take the time to check out the Memorial Page. If I am missing one of our feathered friends, please write and tell me so I can add them. I am still working on the European Storks that died so tragically from the horrific weather. And, another thing, the second hatch at Hellgate has not happened. I was sent incorrect information and the more I looked for a second head, I could not find it.
In all of this, Saturday was a gorgeous, hot windy day and we spent it at the duck pond watching the little ducklings and goslings, of all ages, flitter around the pond enjoying the shade and the cool water despite the build up of algae. People were happy being outside. There was a wedding reception in the garden area, and the ice cream man with his bell could be heard at a distance. Even deer were coming out to eat grass in the shade. Now the skies are pearl grey to dark charcoal and you can just feel a storm building up. Despite saying we would have no rain, we are now in an area of Extreme Weather with high winds, hail, and rain predicted. If this continues, we will need machetes for the garden instead of clippers and mower.
There were lots of ducks and geese on the islands in the pond which is shaded. The wind was keeping everyone cool despite the 27 C temperatures. Some of the geese had been in the water with their goslings. Some went in and out, in and out. Others foraged for little pebbles to aid their digestion. The goslings range in size from those that are about half as large as their parents to tiny wee ones that looked like they hatched only a couple of days ago. All of the adult geese are moulting. They will exchange all of their feathers. They will not be able to fly and leave the area until their full moult is complete. I don’t think anyone minds. Each trip I gather a handful of feathers for ‘The Girls’. They go crazy for them. Besides boxes and bags (without handles), these feathers are their next favourite toy. Their most favourite are the tunnels that they race in and out of late in the evening or early in the morning.
Baby Hope will be one year old on 2 July. As so many of you know, just thinking about her brings tears to my eyes. After Calico ‘decided’ that she was coming in the house on 28 August 2023, we thought we would never be able to find her only surviving kitten. (We could tell there was only one by the single teat being suckled). It appears that Calico might have lost ‘Hope’ and that was why she was ready to leave her life on the streets and come inside where she had lots of food, a safe place to sleep, comfy beds and toys and, of course, lots of love and stories. Five days later we looked out at the feral feeding station and there was a mini Calico. We knew it was her kitten. In three hours, Hope was inside suckling on Mum and life was good. We are trying to figure out precisely just what kind of party to have for her!
Hugo Yugo says that she thinks we need grilled cheese sandwiches along with ice cream for the party! What do you think?
Hugo Yugo is still tiny, a little peanut, but she remains the boss of all the others. Despite eating her food and theirs, she has hardly grown. She is a bundle of energy that never stops. She still sleeps draped around my neck at night. And she still begs for her pieces of cheese around 2100. I have been able to wean her off the kitten milk at the vet’s request. She is dynamite!
As I go to press, I am getting sad news. It appears that a GHO attack has taken all of the osplets from the Crooked Lake nest in Iowa. ‘H’ says, “This is without a doubt the most bold owl attack I have ever seen. Just unbelievable. The owl stayed in the nest and killed all three osplets right in the nest in front of Mom, then flew off with one of them.’
Geemeff is also writing that C2 at Loch Arkaig is now dead or death is imminent. This is so sad and is due directly to siblicide by the ever aggressive C1. First time ever to happen at Loch Arkaig.
We will begin with news from ‘H’.
6/15 Forsythe osprey nest: There were eight fish delivered to the nest by Oscar, and a few of them were fairly big. How many times have we seen situations where the fish production at a nest increases after the starvation deaths of one or two of the osplets? I know I’ve seen it happen a few times, and it just leaves me shaking my head. After the siblicide/starvation deaths of Mini and Little, there is still some aggression from Big toward Middle. But, Middle is managing to find ways to eat. S/he most often squeezes around to the other side of Opal from Big, where there is just a small space between Opal and the outer rim of the nest. Middle ate at least 345 bites of fish in eight meals. I hope Oscar continues to have fishing success.
6/15 Dahlgren osprey nest: The baby named ‘Hope’ was stuck in a deep hole in the nest for about 1.5 days. Dahlgren Osprey Cam arranged for a rescue by Tidewater Wildlife Rescue. TWR performed the rescue this afternoon, and repaired the hole in the nest. Little Hope is doing well, and we are so grateful. Keep the fish coming in, Doug!
6/15 South Cape May Meadows osprey nest: The two little bobs are doing very well. Zeus has really stepped up, and he is providing lots of fish for his family. We are so pleased!
6/16 Chesapeake, Kent Island osprey nest: We wait to see if the first egg of the second clutch for Audrey and Tom will hatch. The egg is 39 days old, but it was pecked by a crow on 5/16. I hope there will be at least one
6/16 Boathouse osprey nest: The little osplet of Dory and Skiff is doing great. Their second egg is 35 days old today.
6/15, Patuxent osprey nest: Dad continues to deliver tons of fish, and many of the fish are huge. He brought fish to the nest six times today, but we could tell that a few of them were the large leftovers he had previously removed from the nest. All of the chicks were stuffed many times over. There was very little aggression today, and Little was even seen eating at the ‘big kids table’!
6/15 Captiva ospreys: There were 7 fish brought to the nest, four by Edie, and three by Jack. There was a lot of eating going on…feedings and self-feedings. Ding and Darling ate their fill. And, at 53 days of age, Ding was hovering! We are still worried about Jack. He still has that foreign body ‘spike’ sticking through his leg. But, he is able to fish and help take care of his family. Bless his heart.
I want to thank Heidi – again and again. I could not keep up with the nests without her. So everyone, give her a loud shout out, please!
Those watching the Dahlgren nest and getting ever more anxious that the wee babe named Hope was stuck in a hole can now relax. It has been rescued and all the time it was there, dear Mum kept feeding it. Thank goodness. This is one of those really feel good moments that we need when tragedy seems to be lurking at many of our nests. Thank you to everyone who alerted the owners and to the rescue team that saved the wee one. Bless their hearts they filled in and repaired this nest with sticks, mud, and grasses/moss. Well done!
Tragedy may have been averted at the Wells Fargo Iowa DNR Osprey Platform. The little one with a full crop got on its back and could not right itself. It took the entire day. Will it be alright? We have to wait and see.
My favourite capture of Iris and Finnegan. I hope she lives many more years to enjoy this wonderful relationship.
Zoe fledges and Lucia returns flying strong several times.
Middle flew back to the osprey platform to be with Mum at Lake Murray after avoiding the GHO by flying. Magnificent. Fingers crossed everyone. This is such good news. Seriously this is incredible news. So happy happy.
Polo 7422 published a video of the hit by the GHO on Hope. (Have you noticed so many named Hope or Hugo??)
Going to check on some of the Finnish nests today! I had a lovely note from ‘SP’ today. I have been covering some of them as best I can but I also learned that some of my confusion with the numbering and names is because there are two separate organisations. That is why I cannot find 10 nests on this one site! ‘SP’ elaborates, “The link I gave in my previous male, Sääksikamerat (kaikki näkymät) | Sääksilive (saaksilive.fi), with 5 nests, and 2 views of the active nests (I follow mainly these):
Here nests 1, 3 and 4 are occupied.
Number 4 has last year’s couple, 3 chicks, eating a lot, and the making heavy exercises (fighting) from the very beginning (genes from the female). A video in the web by a non-native follower: Brutal fight between two eaglets #ospreycam #ospreys #siblingfight #shorts (youtube.com) Hope the fishing weather will be good in July … (Last year the yongest chick got fiercely killed by the sibling.)
Number 1 has an older, experienced couple, with so far 1 chick and 2 eggs left.
Number 3, with a first time mum (bride from last year) and last year’s male, has 1 chick, one to pop up soon (hole in the egg already). First chick died.
(Last year the female disappeared and the 3 chicks died.
Number 5: the last year’s couple arrived, but somehow they ”changed their mind” abt nesting. The two eggs, not taken care about, were taken by a raven. Very ”nicely”, indeed, both times:
This nest, number 5 was interesting last year: After the own 2 chicks had left, a foreign chick, from Sweden, landed on the nest, and stayed very long, for weeks, and got fed by the male.”
Number 1 – adults doing incubation. Waiting for pip/hatch watch.
Number 2 is a failed nest. No activity.
Number 3 has a beautiful osplet. Dad brings a huge fish!
Number 4 has three healthy osplets.
Number LS/5 is a failed nest. No activity.
From separate organisations:
Seilin in the West of Finland. Couple incubating eggs.
Janakkala in the North has three osplets.
Muonion, in the far north, is incubating eggs.
At Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Dad delivered no less than five fish, several large. There is also rain and Mum is keeping those babies warm and dry. Everyone ate.
‘L’ writes: “Dad stood near mom while she fed the babies at Minnesota. I think he is trying to teach her. She literally went over the head of the oldest one to feed the third one. ” It seems that the latter part of the day was not so good at this nest. We live and hope.
Olsen is doing the best that he can at the Osoyoos Osprey Platform. Most of the fish brought in were so small but he landed a whopper later in the afternoon and everyone did eat well.
It has been a miserable day across much of Wales. Telyn and Idris worked to feed their three chicks and to keep them dry even though they are getting their juvenile plumage and can thermoregulate.
Blue 022 is working hard to get lots of good fish to CJ7 so that their four Bobs will all be full and happy.
I know how sad everyone has been after the loss of Sol, so close to fledge, at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. Everyone at FORE is simply heart broken, too.
Luna is alive and well and for this we must be very glad.
All three eggs have now hatched at Niagara Bee. They are all looking good.
I will now be carrying the daily summary by Geemeff that she publishes for the Woodland Trust. It is the happenings on the Loch Arkaig nest of Dorcha and Louis. Lots of good information and links to videos! Thank you, Geemeff, for allowing me to publish this information.
“Daily summary Saturday 15th June 2024
No action on Nest One, and very little on Nest Two. Louis only brought one fish mid-morning, and wasn’t seen again until suppertime when he caused consternation by arriving empty-taloned. Dorcha couldn’t believe it and gave him a right earful while he cleaned bits of fish off his beak. He’d obviously eaten recently and had a nicely rounded crop which added fuel to Dorcha’s ire. Earlier Dorcha had caused a bit of consternation herself when she arrived with an awkwardly shaped stick and proceeded to drag it through the huddle of chicks, although she quickly redeemed herself by being an excellent mumbrella and keeping her three big chicks warm and dry during a torrential downpour. As usual, chick2 got all the fish and beaked the other two to keep them away from the food, therefore it will be good if Louis arrives early tomorrow morning with a fish big enough that C1 & C3 get a share too. Statto Steve Q provided us with a thorough analysis of the fish stats to date – despite the odd blip, Louis’ current total of two hundred and two fish is pretty much comparable with previous years. The weather was very unsettled today with a misty start turning into a rainy day and more of the same forecast for tonight.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.36.53 (02.58.59); Nest Two 23.10.58 (03.27.50)
Looks like we have one hatch at the Green Ledge Light Preservation Society nest on Long Island.
There was a lot of discussion over which eaglet it was that fell from the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Cruz. It appears it was Manini and not Reign as I reported earlier. Congratulations on fledging!!!!! BVS Girl has that first flight on video.
The two Golden eaglets in Estonia nest 2 are plump and healthy. They are flapping their wings and walking.
This is the second hatch spreading its wings. Look at that fat bottom and those big strong legs. I am so happy for this nest. I hope the good fortune continues.
Fish dinner arriving at Cowlitz PUD and we have three hungry osplets.
I cannot tell you how much fish Little Mini got at Field Farm on Saturday. It is often difficult to tell, but the wee one is growing and had a sort of half crop in the morning.
Checking in on the San Jose Falcons.
For images of the Cal falcon fledglings, please go to the Instagram account of moon_rabbit_rising!
Suzanne Arnold Horning posted some lovely images of Big Red and Arthur’s Ns. They have fledged and were found in spots near to Fernow and Tower Road. Both fledglings are doing well.
Tweed Valley Osprey Project gives us an excellent view of Mrs O feeding her three osplets.
Thank you so much for being with me. Watch for that hatch of Iris and Finnegan from Sunday-Tuesday according to Dr Greene. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, observations, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A’, Geemeff, H, L, MM, PB, SP’, Timothy Dygert Live Stream, The Woodland Trust, Forsythe Ospresy, Dalgren Ospreys, SCMM Kent Island, Boathouse Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Heidi McGrue, Sunnie Day, Montana Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Lake Murray Ospreys, Polo 7422, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Nesting Bird Life and More, MN Landscape Arboretum, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, BoPH, FORE, Niagara Bee, Feemeff, Green Ledge Light Preservation Society, BVSGirl, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cowlitz PUD, moon_rabbit_rising, Suzanne Arnold Horning, and Tweed Valley Ospreys.
It was miserable today. We have had rain and rain and are almost water-logged. I recall the day I begged for rain, but now we could have a week break! I went for two different short walks. The first was around an area known as the Sturgeon Park Greenway. The first thing that I saw was a group of twenty little goslings! One family was doing gosling day care while the other adults foraged.
There was a lovely little waterfall.
Red-wing Blackbirds were everywhere. I love their song.
I only saw this male Mallard.
I had not been to The Leaf for a few weeks. The Leaf is a huge conservatory at our zoo. It has a tropical area, a Meditteranean area, a special floral area that changes regularly, and a butterfly garden. It was a wonderful day in the Butterfly area! The last time I went, I did not see one butterfly. Today there were so many and they were active.
The only one that I recognised was this Blue Morph.
Oh, and yes, this is the Red Postman. The others I did not know.
My goodness, Bird World happenings just aren’t slowing down. The intervention at Rutland, the banding of the Cal Falcons, and then the banding of the eyases in The Netherlands, a fledge or two…endless delights. Even Little got a nice feed at Lake Murray!
That Bob is a toughie at Rutland. Tossed off the nest, rescued and then smacked with a stick. It is still alive, thank goodness. How would you put that if you were doing their ‘baby’ book?
Here is the banding video if you missed it at Cal Falcons.
If you are interested in Peregrine Falcons – it doesn’t matter what region of the world they are living – the Q & A after the banding is really informative. “A little squirming pillow in your hand, they are super duper soft” (Sean). I really recommend that you grab a cuppa and listen because you will learn so much! Great questions this year like how to peregrine falcons decide on where to have their nest? Do they predate Crows? What do they eat? Why not HPAI vaccination?
Names are now on the Cal Falcons FB, Twitter, etc – think of four names that fit together and have a theme. Heart the ones you like to make a short list!
‘H’ and I have been sounding an alarm over the osprey population decline in the US for the past two years. One of our researchers ‘VV’ is monitoring ten nests from their home in Maryland. Those nests are not on streaming cams, but they give us good insight into the current issues this year. One nest has recently had its eggs stomped by Canada Geese. Other bonded pairs are not bonded but divorcing putting the breeding season at risk. We hope that two of the ten nests will have fledglings.
Michael Academia has been discussing the Menhaden issue. Others have noted it. I want a moratorium on the fishing especially by the big net trawlers. It does not matter if the population appears stable – it isn’t. Few chicks last year and the same possibility this year. This can prove critical in 2-4 years.
At Kent Island, ‘H’ reports it appears the Tom and Audrey will not have any osplets this year. “Kent Island (Chesapeake) osprey nest of Audrey and Tom: Things have just been ‘off’ this season for Audrey and Tom. Audrey was inattentive to her first egg in April and the egg was predated by a crow. Audrey did not lay a second egg and then she took a hiatus, and was not seen on cam for several days. Audrey and Tom returned and Audrey laid the first egg of their second clutch on 5/8. A second egg was laid on 5/11, but immediately broke. Over the past few days Tom has brought Audrey very few fish. Audrey finally left the nest in the early evening of 5/15, presumably to fish. She and Tom were both at the nest a little later. Tom left, and Audrey left the nest again at 19:52. She did not return to incubate the egg overnight.”
The eggs are hatching at the Montreal Peregrine Falcon scape. The first one has hatched this morning!
While we have strong concerns over the depleting osprey population due to overfishing, loss of habitat, and loss of mates, they are having a bit of a different experience in Finland. this was posted in the chat on the Juurusesi Saaksilvie streaming cam on Wednesday:
“Good news from the other nests in Juurusvesi: all nine are nesting! Two nests in new artificial nests and ONE COMPLETELY NEW!. At all three nests in Karhenvesi, nesting is also fast!”
The feeding of the Outerbanks Chick:
Johnson City eaglet fledges on Wednesday.
Prepping. If you see a raptor lower their head, do a PS, there is a distinct possibility they are going to fly. And this one did! JC23 has not returned to the nest. Send good wishes. JC24 has yet to fledge.
‘H’ kept good track of Lake Murray today:
“At 1424 Kenny delivered a live largemouth bass. Lucy was distracted, and the feeding did not start until 1428. The feeding was very slow going for a while as Lucy dealt with the tough fish head. Little was positioned to Lucy’s left and the older sibs to her right. This tactic worked amazingly well in Little’s favor, and s/he was able to get many bites of fish. Usually one of the siblings would nip this arrangement in the bud, and reach behind Lucy and put an end to it, but not this time. All three were fed in this manner for a long time, but Lucy eventually shifted to her left and Little was displaced, forcing him to reach between Lucy’s legs for bites, and this worked! Lucy fed Little many bites through her legs. There was some beaking of Little toward the end of the feeding, and Little was placed in ‘time-out’ by Big, but soon Big retired from the feeding, and Little was back, and eating beside Middle. The feeding lasted until 1514, and Little ate at least 123 bites of fish.”
“At 1619 Kenny brought a headless fish to the nest. All three osplets still had big crops from the last feeding. Little ate a couple of bites initially, then was beaked. The older siblings both beaked Little intermittently, even though Little was not near Lucy. But, by 1651 they had both dropped out of the feeding and Little ate until 1654. Little had about 46 bites of fish at this meal.”
Morning report from Lake Murray from ‘H’: “
5/16 – Lake Murray osprey nest – Kenny brought a large headless fish to the nest for breakfast. Little was intimidated, but managed to grab a couple bites now and then. When Big dropped out at 0640, Little crept up near Middle, but Middle gave him the ‘stink eye’, like “Don’t even think about it, Kid.” At 0647 Middle beaked Little, but at 0648 Middle left the table, and Big returned to eat some more. At 0656 Big was finally sated, moved away, Little had a nice little private feeding for 8 minutes, and had eaten at least 78 bites of fish.
This is not a photogenic nest, especially in the morning, lol.
See the second screenshot of the chat this morning. There is a tragedy in the making here, I think. But, I hope I’m wrong. See the statement: “All we can do is hope, and pray, and wait.” You know that was not true… they could have done more in the off-season, as you had recommended.”
As ‘H’ indicates, the owners of the Osprey platform at Lake Murray were made aware, several times, of the fish grids that Cowlitz PUD attached to their platform to prevent predation. It is very sad. The GHOs will sit and wait for their opportunity. Why would they move? They didn’t move at the Pritchett Property but the eagles were able to defend. Ospreys can’t.
‘H’ also reports on the Audubon Boathouse. “5/15 – The Audubon Boathouse osprey nest of Dory and Skiff: Dory laid their third egg at approximately 09:00.”
‘H’ reports on Captiva: “
5/15 Captiva Ospreys: Fishing was uncharacteristically slow for Jack the first part of the day, but improved later on. Hence, it wasn’t the best of days for CO8. CO7 is 22 days, CO8 is 20 days old, and CO7 is still dominant. At the first meal of the day (0806), a large catfish, CO8 managed to eat intermittently for a total of 17 minutes, despite CO7 preventing him from eating at times. The second feeding did not take place until more than six hours later, and it was only a small needlefish, so CO8 was not able to eat at that meal. The third feeding, a snapper at 1518, only lasted for 6 minutes, and CO8 only managed to eat for about one minute at that meal. Jack delivered another snapper at 1553, and that feeding lasted about 20 minutes. Being so close to the previous fish delivery, CO8 fared a little better at this feeding, and managed to eat for a total of 8 minutes. Jack brought a headless catfish for the final feeding of the day at 1926. CO8 managed two private feedings of 14 minutes and 6 minutes. CO8 ate fish for a total of roughly 46 minutes today.
So, life is difficult for this youngest nestling, as it often is on osprey nests. But, the situation is not dire for CO8 (when compared to the situation that Tuffy at Moorings Park faced several weeks ago, or that C3 is now potentially facing at Lake Murray).”
Watching for hatch at Clark PUD.
Tuffy and Ruffie have been getting really good height with all their flapping. Some nice hovers by both. Fledgling is really near. Which one will be first?
Chicks at Patchogue doing well.
The single chick at Carthage was well fed on Wednesday. ‘H’ saw at least six feedings. Fantastic.
Still one hatch at Mlade Buky nest of Bety and Bukacek.
The most beautiful stork landed in Karl II’s nest in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. The young ones are returning. Might Bonus or Waba make this their nest?
Four beautiful black storklets in Poland at Bolewice.
Still incubating osprey eggs in the Ramuka Forest.
The two White-Tailed eaglets in the Bory Tucholskie Forest in Poland are doing well also. Just look at those crops! I am so pleased that once again there is plentiful food for two babies.
Three beautiful storks in the Lodzi Forest.
Where storklets hatching elsewhere, too, in Poland – these are in Zastawki!
There is serious concern for the Moraine Park Osprey platform which has been continually attacked by a GHO.
It is untrue that Ospreys tolerate humans well. Nests fail. Note the warning from Tweed Valley.
Thank you for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, on line sessions, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ‘Geemeff, H, PB, VV’ Geemeff, Cal Falcons. Audubon, UniMFalcons, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Outerbanks, Johnson City-ETSU, Lake Murray Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, Clark PUD, Moorings Park Ospreys, PSEG, Chesapeake Conservancy, Captiva Osprey New (WoW), Carthage-DTC, Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Black Stork On Line Bolewice, Ospreys on Line Ramucka Forest, White Tale Eagle On line Tucholskie Forest, Lodzi Black Storks On Line, Bocian Zastawki, Moraine State Park Ospreys, and Tweed Valley Osprey Project.
My plans for Friday and Saturday have altered. There will be blog posts but they will be briefer than normal for those two days.
It is Wednesday evening. The second egg at the NCTC nest of Bella and Scout is hatching. The chick can be heard on the microphone. Thanks ‘T’ or your keen eye! Send the most positive energy to this nest so that Scout does not kill this second miracle chick! Perhaps Bella will feed the little one when he is there so he can understand that it is not a prey item.
For dear Bella, I hope, like each of you, that this little one fledges and thrives.
Scout has been acting ‘odd’ again. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
It was another gorgeous day on the Canadian Prairies. 14 degrees C. There was a cool breeze blowing off the lake at the nature centre that made it feel much chillier. The geese and the ducks arriving did not mind! Everyone walking on the trails was happy and one of the rangers remarked that the muskrat had been seen in the swamp. There were Saw-whet Owls, a Blue Heron heard but not seen, woodpeckers, geese, ducks, Red-wing Blackbirds and the Song and Fox Sparrows have returned from their migration.
I heard the Saw-whet Owl but did not see it and this is not unusual for these nocturnal birds.
Cornell Bird Lab gives us some cool facts about these smallest of owls.
The Northern Saw-whet Owl may have been named for giving a call that sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whetting stone, but there is no consensus as to which of its several calls gave rise to the name.
The main prey items of the Northern Saw-whet Owl are mice, and especially deer mice of the genus Peromyscus. Saw-whets usually eat adult mice in pieces, over the course of two meals.
The female Northern Saw-whet Owl does all of the incubation and brooding, while the male does the hunting. When the youngest nestling is about 18 days old, the female leaves the nest to roost elsewhere. The male continues bringing food, which the older nestlings may help feed to their younger siblings.
The female saw-whet keeps the nest very clean, but a mess starts to accumulate when she leaves. By the time the young owls leave the nest, 10 days to 2 weeks later, the nest cavity has a thick layer of feces, pellets, and rotting prey parts.
Migration in saw-whets has historically been poorly understood, because of their nocturnal, reclusive behavior. In the 1990s researchers began Project Owlnet, a collaboration that now consists of more than 100 owl migration banding sites. Researchers use the too-too-too call to lure owls in to mist nets, and band thousands of saw-whets every fall.
Migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls can cross the Great Lakes or other large bodies of water. In October of 1999, one landed on a fishing vessel 70 miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean near Montauk, New York.
The oldest Northern Saw-whet Owl on record was at least 9 years, 5 months old when it was captured and released by a Minnesota bird bander in 2007. It was originally banded in Ontario in 1999.
In the urban area where I live, habitat loss is one of the primary reasons for wildlife decline. My goal over the past decade has been to create a corridor or the birds – an area populated by bird feeders, bird houses, bee houses, and, ironically, safe places for the feral cats to feed, drink, and sleep. (I have discovered that the feral cats do not bother the birds at the feeders. It is the domestic pets that do!) Cornell Bird Lab is reaching out and asking that each of us do something to provide habitat for the birds.
Make a Difference for Birds Facing Habitat Loss “As I was setting up the nest boxes, I saw my first Tree Swallow of the season and had a pair of bluebirds checking out the boxes right after I put them up—looks like the boxes are bluebird approved!”—Kim Savides, Ithaca, NY Experiences like this are more common than you might think! Creating a nesting space for birds helps replace missing habitat elements and alleviate competition for good nest sites. Cavity-nesting birds like bluebirds, chickadees, swallows, and titmice will appreciate the additional space, while you get to enjoy the magic of witnessing nature close to home. You can get personalized guidance on which nest boxes to install for your region and habitat—along with free construction plans—on the NestWatch website. Don’t have space for a nest box? Create other nesting opportunities by hanging flower boxes or adding potted plants to your outdoor space. Just don’t wait too long; birds are looking for the ideal nesting spot right now!
I promised you some images of ‘The Girls’. Missey and Hugo Yugo have been getting into far too much mischief. They have their own ‘feather’ collection, which consists of a vase full of Canada goose feathers, which they can play with at any time. Ah, but since one feather looks like the other, they have also been into my Pheasant and Peacock feathers vase. The Peacock feathers are quite old. My grandmother’s younger sister raised peacocks on her farm in Oklahoma. I remember their tails fanned out in the front garden as a child.
I there is trouble or anything ‘going on’ you can count on Hugo Yugo being involved. Dear Hope was sitting minding her own business when Hugo Yugo decided it was time to play!
Remember. Hugo Yugo is very, very tiny for her age. She easily fits into that shoe box with room left over. She plays like a kitten and continues to be the size of one even though she is seven months old.
Hope loves to watch the squirrels out of the window and is very curious about the ‘outdoor’ cats. Here she is sitting minding her own business.
Hugo Yugo has spotted Hope and is ready to play!
Hope has so much patience – like the others because of Hugo Yugo’s size.
Hugo Yugo never seems to get tired of play fighting.
She easily pushes Baby Hope over on her back.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, Baby Hope gets some peace. Hugo Yugo’s battery is out of juice.
The sweetest cat…Calico.
‘J’ sends us the latest update on Meadow:
Mid-week Meadow update: We sent the DNA sample to the lab on Monday, so we expect results back sometime in the next couple of weeks. Meadow is eating well from tongs in the kennel — and all that food gets pretty expensive! Meadow is fed four times a day, as eagles grow incredibly fast in order to leave the nest at 12-14 weeks. The average Bald Eagle rehabilitation costs our Center more than $5,000 including medical care, housing, and food. To support Meadow’s care, please contribute at https://act.audubon.org/onlineact…/ar8crC6bIUGX9UsdFBWdnw2
‘H’ brings us the fully daily report from Moorings Park:
“Harry brought a small whole fish at 0711. Tuffy received one bite and was beaked by Ruffie. Tuffy moved away and Ruffie ate. At 0716 Tuffy was beaked again even though he was not in a position to eat. The fish was gone by 0722. One bite for Tuffy.
At 0920 Harry delivered a large live fish. There was no initial aggression toward Tuffy other than ‘the look’, which was enough to keep Tuffy from the table. At 0928 Tuffy got one bite and was beaked and driven away. One more bite for Tuffy at 0934, and he was beaked. Tuffy ate another bite of fish at 0937 and was severely beaked by Ruffie. By 0940, Ruffie quit the feeding, but she blocked Tuffy from Sally. There was still a fair amount of fish remaining. Sally ate some, and at 0945 Ruffie ate some more. At 0946 Tuffie started to make his move to get around to the other side of Sally, but by the time he got there, Ruffie was finished eating and moved away. At that point Tuffy was fed a nice breakfast. Tuffy was seen crop dropping a few times to make more room. The fish was gone by 0959, and Sally found a few scraps off the nest to offer Tuffy as well. Tuffy ate at least 63 bites of fish.”
… At 1131 Harry brought a headless fish. Tuffy moved away as he has been conditioned to do. Ruffie was fed. Ruffie wasn’t very hungry and moved across the nest at 1135. Tuffy could not believe his luck! Tuffy had Sally and the fish all to himself, and he ate at least 98 bites of fish by 1147, at which time he walked away from Sally. Then, Ruffie ate again for a few minutes, and Sally finished the fish tail.
…At 1519 Harry delivered a fairly large headless fish, four hours after the last fish. Tuffy stayed near the front, but turned away from Ruffie, and Ruffie was fed. At 1521 Tuffy received one bite, then was intimidated by Ruffie with ‘the look’. The video live stream froze at 1524, and resumed at 1536. So, while we have no idea what transpired in those 12 minutes, we found the siblings eating side by side. The meal was over by 1539. Tuffy had a huge crop…enough said!
‘H’ caught Harry coming in with two fish! A double-header.
“Master-fisher, Harry, delivered two whole fish at 1655, a medium-sized one and a large one. Harry flew off with the larger fish. Ruffie ate while Tuffy stayed back. Tuffy still had a decent sized crop from the 1519 meal, and he did not seem hungry. Sally and Ruffie ate all of the fish by 1703.
… At 1703 Harry returned with the headless one.”
Everyone loves Tuffy and MM caught this great image! It sure looks like Tuffy is giving Ruffy an earful. ‘MM’ says that Ruffy did not retaliate. Yeah for Tuffy.
This image of Tuffy telling Ruffy the what for touched so many hearts. After I saw MM’s image and H’s little video for me, The Tuffy Fan Club lit up my inbox. If only this little osprey knew what a cheering section it has – my goodness. This is a memorable moment. This is what it is all about—watching the very difficult times and seeing some of these little ones come out fighting and surviving. You never forget them.
‘H’ captured the moment in the video, making my day. I love it when these little beaten ones turn around to their perpetrator. You know that this nest is turning around.
And then, there was a late delivery. ‘H’ writes: “Harry dropped off a small partial fish at 2150. Sally ate, and she had a difficult time connecting with little beaks due to the darkness. It was peaceful, but Ruffie got the most simply because she could reach out further to Tuffy. Tuffy ate 5-6 bites.”
Thursday morning report at Moorings Park from ‘H’: ‘At 0759 Harry arrived with a very large headless fish (possibly catfish). Ruffie beaked Tuffy immediately, setting the tone. Tuffy tucked. At 0808 and 0810 Tuffy tried to approach Sally, but he was intimidated by Ruffie, so he moved further to the sidelines. Tuffy remained tucked at the sidelines for a very long time. Ruffie was not being fed that entire time, but she kept an eye on Tuffy. The fish was very tough, and it was slow-going for Sally. At 0825, Tuffy started to slowly inch closer to Sally, and by 0826 he was at her right side letting her know that he was ready to eat…but, Ruffy was obviously ready to pounce. Sure enough, at 0826 Sally offered Tuffy a bite, and he was immediately beaked by Ruffie. At 0832 Tuffy scooted even further away from the feeding line, but Ruffy followed him. At 0835 Ruffie saw that Tuffy was trying to sneak around to the other side of Sally and she moved across the nest and beaked him. By 0849 Tuffy was still tucked at the far rail, and Ruffie was getting bites of fish whenever she could as Saly continued to struggle with the tough fish. It’s Interesting to note, that since Ruffie has grown so much, she can reach Sally’s beak from almost across the nest, so at 0850, Ruffie was still getting a few bites from Sally all the way across the nest. This increased range of Ruffie seemed to greatly reduce Tuffy’s ability to sneak around to get into a better position. Slowly, Ruffie seemed to be relaxing as she got full, and Tuffy was once again near Sally at 0852. Tuffy ate 6 bites of fish and was beaked. Ruffie soon moved away from Sally, and by 0855 Tuffy was finally being fed. Ruffie laid down across the nest and Tuffy had a private feeding. Tuffy ate at least 102 bites of that tough catfish! This feeding of Tuffy was made possible because of the large size of the fish Harry brought. For survival of the non-dominant osplet.. size matters.”
‘H’ said that right! You can count fish, but you need regular deliveries of large fish to prevent siblicide. The delivery of 8 small fish does not help! Catfish also seem to help. The head is tough going and slows down the feeding. The oldest gets full and goes away leaving fish for the little one. Diane’s catfish at Achieva certainly pulled that nest through tough times.
‘H’ also caught the second egg at Carthage – four days after the first and Mum has been doing hard incubation since the first one was laid. Can I say, oh, dear before they have even hatched? All chicks were lost on this nest last year.
‘H’ reports that “First egg at Forsythe today, 20.10.02.” Opal is the same Mum from last year but this is a new Oscar.
Like so many others in the area, this nest was hit hard by the Nor’easter in June and then the overfishing of the Menhaden.
The weather is horrible at Loch Arkaig’s nest 2 with Louis and Dorcha. Dorcha is there in the middle of the wind and snow and it appears she could be laying her first egg.
‘J’ sends us Karen Mott’s photo of the three eaglets at Centreport on Long Island. What a surprise when their heads all pop up!
Unless you are an expert on California Condors, I really suggest you grab a cuppa’ and watch this 24 minute film. It’s new. It is by Tim Huntington and the cinematography is gorgeous.
It feels like video day! Dani Connor Wild gives us her last instalment of her trip to Antarctica with leopard Seals, more Penguins, and story after story.
JBS20 continues to make his fan club nervous as he continues to explore the tower that would be a tree. Fledging within the week probably.
Despite the miserable wet weather, Bonnie and Clyde keep their eaglets fed and warm.
The weather is wet and miserable for the Little Miami Conservancy eagle family, too. Bette is doing a great job as Umbrella while Baker is keeping food on the nest.
The ND-LEEF babies of Dad and Gigi appear to be doing fine.
USS7 – Claire and Irvin’s little one – is super! We can certainly be thankful for these little ones with their soft downy heads and little wings and feet.
Ellie and Harvey filled up Cheyenne and Wichita on Wednesday.
I know that the prey deliveries get fewer as the eaglets get older, but after hearing about Meadow being emaciated, it would be so nice if the parents could keep up the deliveries like they did when the eaglets are in their growth period. The Dukies would have liked some more today I am certain.
Hearts continue to break for Jackie and Shadow and their dream of a family.
Port Tobacco’s ‘Only Eaglet’ is certainly benefitting from all that food brought to the nest and not having to share but Chandler, the Dad, is missing.
Update: B17 has died. Please send your good wishes to Ma and Missey at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest in Georgia. Their only eaglet B17 appears to be unwell. Did it get sick from the damp weather? This photo is from Tuesday.
This is the today’s state of affairs at the eagle nests from ‘J’:
New eaglets: Bald Canyon 2 Folfan 3 Avon Lake 2
Eaglet died: Berry College
MIA: Chandler, the male, at Port Tobacco. Not seen at the nest since 9 April. Intruders about.
‘J’
The eaglets at Decorah North must bring us some happiness. They are lovely.
We have a Finnish Osprey at home. Cara arrives at the Janakkala Nest on Tuesday the 9th!
Then, almost simultaneously, Stefu arrives at the Seili Nest! They are coming home.
Falcons hatching in Eindhoven and in Japan!
At Port Lincoln, Bradley loves to show off his fish!
‘A’ brings us news of the Mums at Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony: “The mums are obviously foraging closer to home than the males in the Royal Cam families, with both BOK (arrived 12:46) and LGL (13:04) coming in to feed their boys some lunch today (11 April). I thought you might be interested in this footage, not for general consumption because it is a bit long (18 minutes) but it is the beginning that was fascinating to me. The story here is that BOK returned when she was ready to find a mate (so probably aged about four) and this bird, at the time known as Red, was her preferred suitor. This was the footage of the day Red was banded and became WYL, father of TFT chick with his mate, BOK. The thing that interested me the most was that this is a mature bird, ready to court and find a mate. They don’t return to Taiaroa Head until then. So Red must have been at least three and probably four or even five years old. And he allowed the rangers to approach him, extend an arm (for self-protection) and pick him up while holding his bill closed. There is no attempt to flee, struggle or engage in self-defence. He just quietly submits to the rangers’ tender care, while they equip him with the White, Yellow and Lime banding that identifies him as WYL. Imagine doing that to an eagle at the same age! You’d lose a limb. And an eye or three. The stately gentle beauty of these amazing birds never ceases to take my breath away. Looking at those adorable little snowmen with their tiny little fluffy wings that will soon become like the wings of a glider plane, steering their direction as they ride the thermals. These are wings designed not to flap, which would be pretty much impossible given their enormous spread, but to surf the wind currents. Truly amazing birds. So very precious. A haven such as Taiaroa Head shows human beings at our best. Those rangers (and the NZ government that finances their work) dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of the toroa, which are particularly special to the Indigenous people of NZ (the Maoris). How wonderful is it to know that these chicks are hatched in an incubator to protect them from fly strike, and are then weighed weekly, supplementary fed if necessary, and generally given optimal care throughout their prefledge period? Or knowing that the adults, too, will receive supplementary feeding and/or hydration as required, such as if one parent does not return to relieve its mate for an over-long period of time? Or that the sprinkler system will be turned on to keep the chicks and adults on the nests cool on days where heat stress might otherwise impact them? What a joy.
Small colony of Dorset Puffins on the brink of extinction.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care and feel free to send me any bird news that you see!
Thank you to the following for their notes, photographs, screen captures, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, J, H, MM, T’, Deb Stecyk, NTCT Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Carthage – DTC, Forsythe Osprey Cam, The Woodland Trust, Karen Mott-Centreport Eagles, Ventana Wildlife Society, DaniConnorWild, JB Sands Wetlands, Cardinal Land, Duke Farms, SK Hideaways, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Kansas City Eagles, ND-LEEF, Pix Cams, Berry College Eagle Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Yvonne M, Japanese Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Lady Hawk, and BirdGuides.
I hope that your Saturday was a good one. In Winnipeg, it was the day to pick up cupcakes. They are a fundraiser for the Winnipeg Kitten Adoption and were made and donated by Bee’s Cakes. Missey gives them a thumb’s up! The owner loved our thank you so much that she is going to put Missey’s image on her website. How sweet. Missey is as sweet as that vanilla buttercream icing with sprinkles – so sweet that she let me trim her nails without a single flinch today. Now, let us see how Calico does tomorrow!
There were some worries at the John Bunker Wetlands Eagle nest that Mum was not feeding the newly hatched eaglet. (Remember that they can live for 24 hours on the food from the egg when they hatch.) The wind has really been blowing at the nest site and it sounded like hail, but I am told that is the rain hitting certain parts of the metal. Mum did feed that baby. A nice fish came in.
Feedings on Sunday morning. Hard to see because of the girders and the deep nest cup but a feeding is taking place!
Diane and Jack are making that Achieva Credit Union nest in St Petersburg pretty comfy. Eggs expected within the next fortnight. The way Diane is acting, we could have the first egg today or Monday.
At the nest with a Starling Sunday morning in St Petersburg.
No egg as of Saturday might at Moorings Park.
It can be argued that we always need more osprey platforms. Yes, sometimes they do not get used. Sometimes old ones are abandoned for new for various reasons including intruders and lack of fish. In Bellingham, Washington, USA, an Osprey couple wants to make a nest on an operational crane. The Port is hoping they will decide to use the new platform they are erecting.
This happened in Manitoba and under the agreement with the five tribal councils involved in the Kesay Dam Project in our far north, the raptors got to keep their nest on the big forklift! It was deemed illegal to disturb the nest. Sometimes that part of the Migratory Bird Act is good.
Eaglet or not. Gabby and Beau are a beautiful bonded couple and if a miracle could be found, I would hope that egg would hatch! I get the feeling that if it doesn’t, there will not be a second clutch, but, hey, surprise me Gabby.
What a relief to see that R6 is OK. Well, I say OK. R6 did consume enough of that nappy to worry onlookers. The PSs have been plentiful and have looked good, and let us hope that all that marvellous engineering of the crop and acid stomach switches on and relieves this 14-day-old eaglet of any ills that might have come its way because of human garbage.
R6 went to sleep with a really nice crop and with more fish on the nest for the morning breakfast! Relief. Relief.
E23 is really growing at the SW Florida nest. I love watching her grab the food from the parents when they are feeding. As you will have noted, the number of feedings has been greatly reduced, but the amount of intake is probably more now. This is one healthy eaglet losing its mohawk slowly, gaining clown feet and getting its juvenile feathers. Don’t you love the constant squeeing…
Every wonder about the GHOs that share the property with M15, F23, and E23?
And here is that video:
Cal and Lusa are doing just fine. Cal is standing and Clive might want to reinforce those rails! Meanwhile, Lusa likes to sit like a Buddha.
Liberty and Guardian look beautiful. They were at their nest in Redding, California Saturday.
Dr Sharpe has the West End streaming cam up and working. Thunder was at the nest this morning! They are still playing highlights at Two Harbours and Fraser Point.
I sure wish Jackie and Shadow had that nice soft nest of Jak and Audacity. Their camera is working fine.
It has rained at Cornell. Arthur was in earlier making a dash with a stick. Otherwise, life at the nest was quiet on Saturday.
No one was to be seen by the time Ferris Akel’s tour got to the Cornell Campus at Ithaca. Earlier in the tour, there were geese- some Canada Geese, some Tundra Swans, and some Snow Geese. There were also hundreds and hundreds of Redheads, a few male Scaup, and some Mallards at the south end of Cayuga Lake.
The male Scaup have the white along their wing. You can see five in the image below.
Ducks everywhere..my goodness.
Snow Geese. You can identify them immediately by their black wing tips.
There were hundreds and hundreds of them – if not a thousand, flying in or already feeding.
Eagles, Red-headed Woodpeckers…it was a good day except for the heat shimmer.
And some Common Mergansers.
Precious egg at Big Bear. Every ounce of positivity you have – please send it to Jackie and Shadow so that their precious, precious egg/s will survive to hatch. These two deserve this and so do Jak and Audacity. It would be a great year – a year where we all jump up and down and scream – if either or both nests have a chick.
Both eagles came to the ND-LEEF nest at South Bend – crisp temperatures of 36 F.
At Port Lincoln, Mum brought in the first fish of the day at 1337. Bradley took it.
It appears that both Marri and SE31 have left their nesting territories. I have seen no recent news of their presence. Please tell me if you have seen otherwise – thank you!
The Osprey Leadership Foundation is funding and teaching young people in West Africa about Ospreys. This is the first step in conservation. Thank you, OLF!
Let’s get everyone to participate and overwhelm them with art bringing attention and supporting Albatrosses! I know that you can do it – seriously, you can or someone you know might.
The joy – the sheer wonder – of looking close at your own garden or the nearest green space to where you live, the place you are most familiar.
Thank you so much for being with me today and for your lovely ‘get to feeling better’ wishes. I am still under the weather but it is a head cold and a runny nose. Is it an allergy? I will find out on the 8th. Take care of yourself. Stay safe, stay warm or cool, depending on where you are. We hope to see you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ’A, Geemeff, MP’, NEFL-AEF, Bee’s Cakes, JB Wetlands, Achieva Credit Union, Moorings Park, The Bellingham Herald, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Saunders Photography, Window to Wildlife, FORE, IWS/Explore, Cornell RTH Cam, @CornellHawks, Ferris Akel Tours, FOBBV, ND-LEEF, PLO, Gunjur Project, Holly Parsons, and The Guardian.
Sunday was another glorious day on the Canadian Prairies. So many people were at the park. There were even barbecues and picnics happening. One thing I really noticed was that everyone had a smile and said ”hello”.
There were 28 Mallards and 2 Canada Geese enjoying all the pond plants in the pond. Some were munching on seeds that visitors were tossing. I did not see anyone giving bread to the waterfowl, only approved seeds. How grand. And not a single duck was rescued that had Angel Wing. Glorious.
The kittens had a lovely day, too, and Calico was playing with Hope just as she used to. Oh, it was marvellous to see! It felt like a huge weight was lifted when she romped with the other two! Yes, Missey, too.
Calico loves catnip! Oh, she was so happy. She rubbed the catnip all over her face and then rolled in it.
Calico’s face just glows now that she feels better. Her eyes sparkle. Thank goodness for antibiotics.
Hope melts my heart. She is now scheduled for her surgery on the 22nd of November. That is this coming Wednesday. Thank you, Fixing Feral Felines!
This is Hope, but if you blink, you might think it is Calico.
Missey was watching the Blue Jays on Cat TV. Her fur has gotten so thick even though she is a house cat. She is the most gentle soul even though she looks like she could tackle anything that came near her.
Life is good in Cat World.
I have received news from Michael St John in Barbados that he spotted Blue KWO Sunday morning soaring in the thermals with a companion. Could this be the start of a love affair in the Caribbean for our ‘lost’ British Osprey? You will recall that Blue KWO left the UK in August 2022 and is spotted in Barbados by Michael. So happy that this osprey is safe! Barbados will take very good care of her.
At Port Lincoln, Mum found the tail of that big Trevally and fed it to the youngsters very early. It is there on the right and then in the next image it is gone. She is feeding the babes. What a great Mum she is.
Look at those feathers…the heads, the cute little tails. Giliath and #2 looking out to the world they will conquer before the end of the year. They are getting stronger on their feet.
Look at that sweet little bottom. It looks like a miniature Turkey!!!!!! Oh, gosh.
They are cute. They are also hard to see in that nest – they blend in so well.
It is 13:56 nest time and no fish yet. Thank goodness for that little morning snack.
The fish fairy came! Dad caught a fish. The observation board is at the bottom under the images.
There is news from Sydney about the sea eaglets!
It is V3 for Gabby. They spent the night at the nest tree and then worked on the nest, adding some seasonal greenery on Sunday. Lots of chortling is happening.
Chortling is not an alert call. They are making a sound that shows happiness, pleasure, and satisfaction. Like I said – they are a loving pair!
Attempted mating at the NE Florida nest.
Things are not improving at SW Florida where the GHOs have knocked F23 off the branch twice already on Sunday evening. This is not a good situation and believe me, the Bald Eagles do not always win in these battles. GHOs are formidable enemies to have and they are at the top of the food chain. Their silent flight and strong legs and talons – and some might say their persistence – often plays out in their favour.
The NCTC nest of Bella (and Smitty?) is unsettled, also. Is this Smitty? or is it someone else?
Turkey vultures are visiting the NCTC nest, too!
Boone has been adding sticks to the Johnson City Bald Eagle nest on Sunday.
At the WRDC nest of Ron and Rose, Ron spent the night on a nest branch and started some early morning cleaning.
An adult at the Duke Farms nest on Sunday.
Martin and Rosa were at the Dulles-Greenway nest on Sunday.
Definitely not an Osprey but wouldn’t it be grand for herons to nest here?!
Birds are adapting to climate change by breeding earlier in certain locations. Why not the Cuckoo?
This graphic touched my heart. We have had many issues with people photographing wildlife – shaking trees to try and make the owls wake up and fly away – in Winnipeg. It is out of hand and very selfish – for a photograph! When photographing wildlife, please be respectful and remind others to do the same. Not just owls…
Thank you so very much for being with me today. Please take care. Looking forward to having you with us again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, graphics, photographs, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, H, MSJ’, PLO, Kathryn Palmer, NEFL-AEF, Lady Hawk, Deb Stecyk, Johnson City Eagle Cam, WRDC, Duke Farms, Dulles-Greenway Eagle Cam, Heidi Mc, Bro, and Black Swamp Bird Conservatory.
Oh, oh….Sunday was so warm. It went up to +6 C. The sky was blue. There was a little bit of wind, and it was a perfect day for a long walk at the nature centre. There were 2 Bald Eagles, a Northern Shrike, 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, many Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos, about 26 Hooded Mergansers, a single Cormorant, a host of gulls, a pair of ducks and squirrels running everywhere. Everyone was happy and smiling and greeting their fellow birders. Such a wonderful reprieve!
Here are a few images to share with you. The sun was about 3/4 of the way towards setting, and the light was so bright. I worked on some of the images, but still, they continue to look as if they were in silhouette. Apologies.
One of the nicest parts of my walk was sitting on a bench, closing my eyes, and listening to the sound of the geese honking as they flew in. Oh, how I miss that sound when they are all gone. The silence is simply too much.
A lone Cormorant.
Part of the Hooded-Merganser families that have been at the centre since the babies hatched in the early summer.
Nearer to the feeders, the squirrels were busy trying to pull the peanuts and other seeds out from the wire mesh.
S/he got one!
Hairy or Downy? I think it is a female Downy. Remember if you purchase these type of suet feeders to get the ones with the wooden triangle at the bottom. It helps the woodpecker to keep their tail straight and they can feed much more efficiently. They are a little pricer but I promise you they enjoy them that much more.
A Junco hoping to get some seed that one of the birds or squirrels knocks out of the feeders.
It was simply stunning. The light made everything so beautiful. The benches, the empty nests, the lake…even the ice!
The hide is where one of the feeding stations is located. It is perfect for watching the squirrels and little songbirds without scaring them. The wire mesh is to protect the newly planted trees from the deer, while the plastic sleeve around the trunk is to keep the rabbits from destroying the trees.
Before I went for my walk, the girls helped me clean the house. They are too funny. Hope has now managed to take over two of Missey’s favourite spots – the top of the wicker basket looking out to the garden and, of course, the sacred basket with Missey’s baby blanket.
Missey is waiting to see how long it will take Hope to find this other basket in the conservatory! Of course, the good thing is – Hope cannot be in three places at once so there will be a place for Missey (there are many others but Missey is particularly fond of wicker and baskets).
Calico has been getting many brushes during the day and I am rubbing her legs and back. Poor thing. I remember how thin she was when Hope (and any siblings) were newly born. Calico ate and ate…she would rush to finish to get back to her kittens. I worry that her young body paid for that…
They certainly keep me sane.
I missed the photo op, but little Hope was very curious today when ‘the boyfriend’ was eating. His missing fur on the tail and back are coming back in, and he sleeps regularly in the shelter. Geemeff suggested that he might be a good candidate for the male cat in the house…we will see. He was looking in the garden door today!!!!!!!!!!!! You might recall that Calico did that as well when she began to fully trust me.
I want to imagine that all of you are checking on three different nests – you are watching while holding your breath for Marri and Barru to fledge, worried to death about M15 and F23 and the GHOs, and watching those darling babies at PLO and praying for fish deliveries. Certainly that is where my focus has been while also waiting for news of the sea eaglets.
First, thank you to ‘M’, who wrote to remind me that M15 and Harriet had another nest on the Pritchett Property. I had forgotten. This is marvellous news. The GHOs concern me. We have witnessed them taking over eagles’ nests on the streaming cams. The first one that comes to mind is the young eagle couple on Farmer Derek’s property in Kansas.
The GHOs hit F23 three times Saturday evening. M15 came to protect her, and they were on the branch together in the morning. M15 delivered a nice fish in the nest for his new lady, and fingers and talons crossed, things go smoothly.
Lady Hawk put the attacks together in a single short video.
At Port Lincoln, Dad came through with a morning fish for Mum and the kids—those precious babies. Yesterday, one of them fed the other a morsel. It melted my heart. My bet is on these two being males. Gentle little males that will go wild once they fledge fighting for fish! Just like Ervie did with his siblings but, until then, perfect little gentlemen.
One large supplementary fish came on the nest, and my goodness, I am not good at identifying fish, but it sure looks like a shark.
Mom’s eyes look like they will pop out.
The look on Giliath’s face tells it all!!!!!!!!!!
#2 likes the shade of Mamma…this fish will last a long time. Maybe #2 will begin pecking at the tail, too. How wonderful. Thank you, Fish Fairies.
They cleaned up the fish. Giliath might have been in a perfect position, but #2 got lots of fish. Both left the feeding with bulging crops – and happily, Mum could also get a good meal. Let us hope Dad brings another nice fish to the nest for his family later in the day. Otherwise, it will be a long time until the fish arrive tomorrow. Dad came and took the fishtail at 13:53, but Mum seemed to have quite a few scraps in the nest, and the chicks were already thinking it might be good to eat them.
You can see #2’s crop in the image below. Giliath’s head is behind Mum’s right wing.
Food comas.
Ah, and I bet you have noticed…we don’t have reptiles anymore. Look at the beautiful feathers and that deep thermal down that will help our ospreys regulate their temperature. Look at the size of the wings and those cute tails. Growing up!
‘A’ comments on those feedings at PLO: “Every year, there comes a moment when I genuinely wonder whether a crop has ever literally burst. Surely a crop the size of Giliath’s or Little Bob’s must be extremely uncomfortable. I wonder whether they need to leave the food there for a period of time for primary digestion before crop dropping it into their stomachs and whether it is uncomfortable or painful to swallow too much too soon. They don’t seem to do it all that often, though we do see smaller hatches doing it if they’ve waited a long time and suddenly get some fish or occasionally when they are trying to fit more in during a particularly lengthy feeding to which they return several times. (Little Bob has done it once or twice when mum has been particularly insistent during one of her hour-plus feedings. Some of these fairy fish are gigantic, thank goodness.) But this evening (it is 18:20 in Port Lincoln) everyone is full. Mum has eaten heaps. Dad has taken the fish away, eaten, and brought back leftovers. He’s a good dad. He tries. Sometimes, it’s very gusty and the waves are extremely choppy. I imagine it could be very difficult fishing there at those times, which occur most days – some days are just particularly bad. “
Several other news items from Port Lincoln. It was Calypso’s mate (he is the 2019 hatch at Port Lincoln) that was found hanging upside down on a pole. The female flew off but has not been seen. People are watching out for her. Calypso was at the nest looking and calling for her.
Did Ervie go to help search for his brother’s mate? –Sadly, Fran Solly has now posted that Calypso’s mate has been found dead. This is so sad. So many Osprey’s lost, so few because they are so endangered in South Australia. Now for Calypso to find another female. Condolences to all.
Love the Port Lincoln Ospreys? Friends of Osprey Sth Australia have calendars and I understand that it is full of Fran Solly’s amazing photographs – even Ervie!
The money from all of the fundraising projects goes directly to put up the platforms, the trackers, etc. Here is a copy of the August 2023 newsletter telling you what was accomplished up to that date.
I am over the moon that Fran, Bazz, and Janet fought to intervene at the nest this year with supplementary feedings, just like in NZ with the Royal Albatross Chicks. I look forward to their research findings and want to help in any way I can so that they know their compassion for this family is appreciated…that is why I am posting the information about the calendar.
Partney and Marrum lost their only osplet to predation by a raptor (presumed) on Tumby Island. The Crows then took over the nest and the nest is now reclaimed by a pair of ospreys. It is not confirmed if it is Partner and Marrum.
More problems with Crows could have been the cause of the death of the osplet on the Sunshine Coast. So sad.
We have all been biting our fingernails watching Marri and Barru. Barru had a close call slipping out of the scrape, but thankfully, he recovered! It is 2130 on the Canadian Prairies Sunday evening, and neither has fledged, but they sure could while I am sleeping. These two are ready. Their interest is in the outside world. Diamond and Xavier are doing a good job keeping them focused on their flying – doing aerial displays and carrying prey. Everything the adults do is a lesson imprinted on the minds of Marri and Barru to take with them into their futures.
Whew!
Still there…it is past midnight in Canada…
The Osprey Cam on Captiva will go live today!
The cameras at the West End are now live, too, and you can see both the old and new nests of Thunder and Akecheta! Amazing, Dr Sharpe. Thank you.
The cameras are back at Lock Arkaig and there are more visitors to Louis and Dorcha’s nest!
Was it Smitty?
‘H’ reports that “‘F’ eagle is back at Notre Dame Eagles, per post by Phillipe Josse 11/12, both she and Dad were in the nest briefly on 11/12.” Wonderful news for Little Bit ND17’s Dad!
Deb Stecyk gives us an update of some of the Bald Eagle nests in Canada and the impact of the wildfires this past summer.
Good news coming out of the Kakapo Recovery on one of the Kakapo that had to go for treatment to Dunedin.
‘A’ sent this to me and I missed it so did not include it with the Sunday newsletter. Hopefully there will be some sightings of the eaglets.”Finally, the report for 11 November from WBSE: November 11: Prey delivery last evening at 6:30 to Mangrove Island, not sure if juvenile was about. This morning at 7:45, an adult, I think Dad, was on mangroves where seen yesterday. Hard to see if a juvenile is there in the shadows. Lots of river traffic, with scullers going close and loud microphones yelling training orders. Rivercats passing, dozens of watercraft – Dad ignores them it seems. At 8:01, I heard a juvenile squawk and a currawong – close to an adult. Lots of rubbish under the mangroves, and I heard another threat. Hearing a Koel – is it yelling at the juvenile as well? Pied Oystercatcher flying past. Striated Heron. Great Egret with breeding plumage. Mangrove Gerygone behind me. Later, around midday, the ground team reported adults on Mangrove Island and circling over the area, but no juvenile or feeding was seen.”
And then the report for yesterday from WBSE, thanks ‘A’: “November 13: Early in the morning, I saw one of the adults down in the mangroves, then the other as well. One soared so high overhead, I could no longer see it. The adults were hard to spot on the river, not always in their familiar roosts, and seemed to be moving further into the mangroves. Later, at last, we saw one of the juveniles on a branch in the mangroves – so hard to spot in the shadows, with its brown colouring (see the picture). It stayed still there for over 2 hours while we were watching, with not a sound. One of the adults was moving in and out, but we saw no prey delivered. Again the mullet are jumping. We saw the male Osprey over the Nature Reserve wetlands, flushing out about a dozen lapwings. No more news during the afternoon. As there is an “empty nest” now, or mostly, we rely on ground observers to report any action on the river.”
Oh, I wished I lived closer to Vancouver! If you do, then here is a real opportunity.
HPAI or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or Bird Flu is claiming so many of the sea and shore birds.
Thank you so very much for being with me today. Take care of yourself. We hope to have you with us again really soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, photographs, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, M’, SW Florida Eagle Cam, Lady Hawk, PLO, Friends of Ospreys Sth Australia, Anita Corran, Eric Kotz, Wildlife at Osprey House, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Window to Wildlife, Jan Gallivan, Geemeff, Deb Stecyk, Kakapo Recovery, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, and Bird Guides.
It is 1600 on the Canadian Prairies, Tuesday 31 October, as I begin to write. In about an hour before children will begin screaming ‘Trick or Treat’ or ‘Halloween Apples’. I am ready! Let’s hope that I am not too scary.
If you are trying to read the apron, it is from the Hanoi Cooking Centre and if you are ever in Hanoi and want to take cooking classes, I highly recommend it as an option.
The water was not completely frozen at the park near to where I live Tuesday morning but the hundreds of Canada geese and ducks are gone leaving a pair of Mallards and about a dozen Canada Geese. It was quiet except for the occasional honk.
In the garden, there were lots of Sparrows at the feeders along with many Dark-eyed Juncos and Red Crossbills. The Starlings came to visit as did Mr Crow and, of course, the squirrels.
The nest in the Sydney Olympic Park, home to Lady and Dad, and SE 31 and 32 (this year) is eerily quiet.
No one slept on the nest and no eaglets have been seen so far in at least 36 hours.
‘A’ gives us the official report: “October 31: A very hot windy day. Both parents were at the nest early, moving a few sticks, then away. During the early morning bird survey over in the nearby wetlands, I could see both parents over on River Roost. During the afternoon, we think there was a sighting of one juvenile flying into the forest. We went for a walk in the forest searching, but everything was very quiet with the heat. Both parents were in the forest around 3pm and then seen again down on River Roost. Looking under the nest, we did find the dried remains of a puffer fish and the tail of the little ringtail we saw them eat previously. Also lots of silver gull feathers and a couple of eagle feathers. Around 5pm, both adults were heard down on River Roost. We shall keep watching and listening for signs of our fledglings.”
‘A’ reports to me that there are bush fires around Sydney. We are both worried about the sea eaglets and, in particular, SE31.
At the Port Lincoln barge nest of Mum and Dad, Mum was waiting and flew off for either a comfort break of to try and get breakfast.
Mum hoping for a fish and Galiath and #2 ready!
Gave up.
Dad got the fish to the nest at 08:56:30. Everyone was ready! And thrilled. Dad had eaten before the delivery – so a fish.
At some point in the morning, #2 beaked Galiath and Galiath retaliated…#2 became submissive. All appears to be well. Galiath is substantially larger than #2 and we can only assume that Galiath is female and little 2 is male since there is only two days difference between them in terms of hatching.
Then the fish fairy came.
Just look at that crop on Galiath. I hope that #2 got some fish!
11:24
2 tommies and 2 red mullet supplemental fish delivered!
Sup. Fish (M,Whole)
11:24 2
Mum’s back in the nest much more quickly than yesterday. Giliath’s on the left and chick #2’s behind Mum. Both chicks eats some. 2 whole tommies and 1 partial red mullet and 1 red mullet tail remain for now.
12:02 3
Mum’s back on the red mullet. Giliath’s on the left and chick #2’s behind Mum. Giliath eats som
‘A’ comments, “Everyone ate well at Port Lincoln today. As usual, dad brought in a nice breakfast fish, the fish fairy arrived with lunch, which fed the whole family throughout the afternoon, and dad is currently on dinner duty (it’s nearly 5pm there now). The osplets ate a huge meal from 08:56 and their crops were topped up repeatedly during the day, with the fish fairy delivering four nice fish. Once again, I saw no bonking whatsoever on the nest, and feedings were peaceful and fraternal. Big sister sat and watched little bro get half a dozen bites in a row, without objecting or getting aggressive. At one point, after Little Bob had been eating uninterrupted for a couple of minutes, Giliath did shuffle slightly to indicate she was getting slightly impatient, at which point mum promptly gave her a bite. But that was as exciting as things got. Both osplets are well into their reptilian phase and are looking as if they’ve been dipped in a bucket of dirty sump oil. Gone are the cute fluffy creatures of only a few days ago. These slimy-looking black chicks have fat tummies and very round little bottoms. When their crops get too big to stand up to eat, they sit like plump little ducklings to feed. Of course there is a lot of preening occurring and the first wingercising has begun. Although Giliath did faceplant once or twice in the process, she soon worked out how to operate her wings today, doing some very impressive and energetic flapping. Little Bob was in awe. “
Xavier brought in a Starling for Marri and Barru.
Diamond came to the rescue so that both would have some breakfast.
Migration Count from Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania, USA.
There are a few ospreys staying in places that humans think they shouldn’t. Some in Colorado and some in the UK.
San Francisco is one of those places where some ospreys migrate like Rosie while others stay like her mate, Richmond. Here is another pair – are they the only bonded pair that are staying behind in California together?
Can you help monitor the Condor cam in search of #171 California Condor named Traveler who has been missing from the feeding stations at Big Sur has caused concern. They are asking for our eyes. Thank you.
Bella and Smitty are reunited at the NCTC Bald Eagle nest. Please send warm wishes that all the intruders and injuries are now past.
Gabby and V3 continue to work on their nest. No on-camera mating that I am aware. ‘A’ is worried that V3 might not be up to the job. We will wait and see. I am hoping he is camera shy!
Jackie and Shadow were working at their nest despite the fact that they will be the last ones to lay their eggs, most likely.
Work continues on the Captiva nest of Connie and Clive, parents of Connick. No word yet on Connick’s release. Will let you know when I hear some news.
The pair at Duke Farms have a beautiful nest and I do mean gorgeous. Look at the rails and the grasses!
These are two updates from Duke Farms: “June 25 New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection update: The nest collapsed in several sections. This is not an uncommon occurrence with eagle nests. Nests that are used for many years get very large and heavy. Every year a few nests fall or, in some cases, the entire nest tree falls. Depending on what time of the nesting season this occurs, it can result in chicks being injured or killed. The fact the nest collapsed after the juveniles fledged is a good thing. They have been fledged for over a month, haven’t been seen at the nest as frequently and will soon be going off on their own. We’ll have to wait and see what will happen with the nest. The adults could try and rebuild the nest or move to a new nest tree. August 11 NJDEP update: A volunteer has been keeping an eye on the cam. Two adult eagles have been seen at the nest – it looks like the eagles are a male and female based on the size, but it’s not clear if one of the eagles is A/59 or a new male. It’s indeterminable if the pair will return to the nest. In many cases, pair rebuild nests in the same location or close by if a collapse has occurred. Sometimes, if there is a new bird in the bird, they will move nest locations. The identity of the male in the pair is a contributing factor in the situation. The fact that two adults are together at the nest may lead to the possibility of rebuilding in the same spot or close by.”
Martin and Rosa checking out the skies over their nest at Dulles-Greenway.
Mr North, Mrs DNF, and a lovely Red-tail Hawk were at the Decorah Eagle nest on Tuesday. Looks like there is snow in Iowa, too!
Aerial battles over Loch Arkaig??????
Any time our feathered friends make the news, it is good. Someone new will learn something and maybe they will spread the word about how we are trying to help!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care! Looking forward to having you with us again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A’, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, PLO, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Hawk Mountain, BarbandBob Larsen, Jeff Kear, SF Bay Ospreys, Ventana Wildlife Society, Deb Stecyk, NEFL-AEF, FOBBV, Window to Wildlife, Duke Farms, Dulles-Greenway, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Geemeff, TCD, BirdGuides and Sassa Bird.
Sunday continued as a grey day with some drizzle. It did warm up a bit but we are now definitely into layers and toques (knitted hats). No gloves or mitts required – yet.
The fall colours are sensational.
There are still Mallards paddling in the ponds and there were approximately a hundred geese at mid-afternoon on the big lake. More will fly in at dusk.
At home, something wonderful happened on Sunday. All the girls were in the conservatory. Hope climbed up the big cat tree to play with Missey’s bushy tail while Mamma Calico was below on the floor. No problems. Everyone got along! Hope and Missey played for almost an hour. I was in tears. Missey has missed having someone to play with. I know the Feliway doesn’t work for all cats, but it has brought peace of mind to our house.
Hope is growing. Sometimes I have to look twice to see if it is her or Calico.
Hope also decides that she wants to share the same chair with Mamma.
About 1730, the garden came to life. The Blue Jays had been pecking at the seed on the big tray feeder. Then, the Dark-eyed Juncos arrived along with the little woodpecker. Dyson showed up with her three kits, and then Little Red had to come and push its weight around. He is a bully to all the grey squirrels. I think this is the opposite of what happens in the UK, but Little Red is decidedly ‘the boss’ and lets everyone know it. I find it unsettling when there is always plenty of food for everyone, and territory is not an issue.
The Dark-eyed Juncos are one of my favourite migrating visitors to the garden.
A female Hairy Woodpecker enjoying the new suet.
Dear Dyson. The Matriarch of the Clan still going strong. Dyson and her three kits appear to be in very good health. Their coats are lovely and their fur is getting nice and thick for winter. No one is missing a tail either!
Storm Babet hit the UK, leaving many without power, streets flooded, and damage to one or more of the Osprey nests and cameras. There are continuing worries in many areas. We wait for people to be able to get out and check – and they need to be careful – as the water is still high in many places, such as Alyth.
Stay safe everyone!
It looks lovely near the Loch Arkaig nest where there is another surprise visitor.
Lady is taking care of both of her fledglings on the nest. So far, so good. I am almost in shock – in a good way – that these two, SE31 and 32, are flying about and returning to the nest. This is priceless after years of the Currawong chasing them out of the forest the minute they fledge. So hopeful.
Fledge day for 32, if you missed it.
Both safely on the nest.
This was the summary from the WBSE. Thanks, ‘A’: October 23: a quiet night, with 32 sleeping on PB and 31 nearby – neither on the nest. However it was good to see them both find their way “home” in the early morning when swooped by currawongs. Dad brought a fish at 7:10 – as usual 32 quick, but Lady flew in and claimed it. She ate some then fed the eaglets, with 32 eating more. When Lady left 31 came back and self-fed a little. During the day, both were nearby, and swooped by currawongs at times. When I checked in the forest during the day, I could hear them clearly yelling at currawongs, though out of sight. In the late afternoon at 17:42, Lady brought in a gull, which she took off the nest to PB to de-feather. She fed 32, and then both, with them picking at scraps when she flew off. Shortly after Dad brought in part of a fish, which was claimed by 31. Both then preparing for the night, but not on the nest.”
Port Lincoln. Dad brought in a nice fish and both chicks got a reasonable feed at breakfast.
Dad came in with a nice big stick later but Mum was not impressed and despite the winds told him to go fishing!
He returned a few hours later. Fish!
‘A’ reports on the last fish delivery: “The day was very windy and no more fish were brought in for the day until 19:43. Again, the younger chick had the front position and mum gave it lots of bites. It did very well indeed at that feeding. It did become increasingly unsteady on its feet at one stage, even toppling over sideways, I think because it is totally unused to moving with such a gigantic crop. It has never had one before that I’ve seen. But both chicks ate well and will go to sleep with full tummies. That’s what we like to see. Leftovers on the nest for an early breakfast would make things ideal but this dad does like to help himself to them (though he does often eat, then bring back the last of the fish for mum and the kids). In this case, mum finished off most of the leftovers herself. There is a tiny bit of fish still on the nest. The family snuggled down for the night at 20:00.”
Breakfast came early at Orange.
More prey later. Xavier is an incredible provider. Indeed, look at the summary provided by Orange: “Here is the day’s summary from Orange: PREY 06.02.38, 08:04:14, 09.10.54, 14:56:04, 19:03:58 FEEDING 06.03(X), 08:04, 09.15, 14:57, 19:04 XAVIER BROOD 13:07:24. PREY today: small grebe, eastern rosella, red wattlebird, starling, and pigeon for supper.”
Contentment.
Osprey counting in The Gambia with Jean-marie Dupart.
Thunder and Akecheta were at the old West End nest on Sunday. Oh, how nice it was to see them up close. Akecheta brought in prey and was eating it when Thunder arrived. There was not much left for her. (Akecheta still has his wing tag #61. Thunder lost hers).
Chase and Cholyn were home at Two Harbours as well!!!!!!!!
Gabby and V3 were very busy at the nest on Sunday.
At SW Florida, M15 is delivering food gifts to F23.
Nancy and Beau are creating a new nest. Sadly, there might not be a camera but after the unhappy season earlier in 2023, we all wish them well.
Rosa and Martin were working hard at Dulles-Greenway. Wonder how they will take to this new nest after their old one collapsed right at fledging.
There was at least one adult and one sub-adult at the Decorah Eagle nest in Iowa. Those fall colours are gorgeous.
Not much longer til the Redding Eagle Cam is back on line.
I know that we are all glad that Anna is greatly improved. She was back at the nest on Sunday with Louis, preparing for the upcoming breeding season in Louisiana.
The only Black Stork from the Karula National Forest in Estonia that is sending location transmissions is Kalvi who remains in Bulgaria.
On 12 October Waba was at the Taga Sea of Galilee in Israel. On 30 September Karl II was at Gold Lake, Turkey. On October 5, Kaia was at the fish ponds at Neve Eitan Israel. No transmissions for the three of them since those dates. Bonus’s tracker ran out of battery when he was in Ukraine.
Birds flying in areas of conflict hoping to find food makes me nervous.
More sad news as more birds and wildlife go extinct.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. We hope to have you back with us again soon in Bird World.
Thank you to the following for their posts, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A’, Livia Armstrong, Geemeff, Gracie Shepherd, Sandra Davies, Sydney Eagle Cam, PLO, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Jean-marie Dupart, IWS/Explore, NEFL-AEF, Lady Hawk, Sassa Bird, Dulles-Greenway, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, FORE, Tonya Irwin, Looduskalender, The Guardian, Live Owl Camera, and CTV News.
