16 May 2024
Good Morning,
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.