What a day it was in the garden. A former student -now great friend- is moving and came to spend the afternoon with us. The Crows certainly put on a show, but, at first, we didn’t know what was happening! Then we saw him swoop through and land on the large bird feeder after having spent time on the fence – a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. He had everyone being cautious including ‘The Boyfriend’. Crows and Jays were alerting loudly. Dyson was flat as a pancake!
According to my neighbour, this hawk comes every day around 1800. Isn’t it lovely?
I hope you enjoyed Geemeff’s story of their adventures at Poole Harbour and the Birds of Poole Harbour tour. How exciting! It is on my bucket list for next year.
On Thursday, the New York Times published an article on changes at the Grand Teton National Park (and other parts of the US). All of this will impact our raptors from dying forests to no water, meaning no fish and fewer and fewer small mammals for the birds to eat. I am becoming more and more concerned as weather-related events are driving the starvation of our ospreys and eaglets.
At Hellgate Canyon, Finnegan feeds his second chick, Antali, at the nest. What a whopper it was, even with the amount that Finnegan took for himself on the owl pole. What a glorious year this has been. Finnegan really gave us a different outcome than we had come to expect when Iris returned from migration. I bet she was blown off her talons, too!!!!!!!
Antali knew Dad had a whopper and really wanted him to hurry up!
Late evening fish delivery to Antali who flies off the perch to get his meal.
Two fish at the Charlo nest at the same time -. Nice.
Will Gwenlais break the record for a fledgling staying on the nest before migration?
Some news about Giliath (Bradley’s brother from the 2023 Port Lincoln nest)!
There is also good news about the sea eaglet! It is still with us and appears healthy. Fantastic news.
And there are the markings for the second egg at the Port Lincoln osprey barge. Lovely.
Congratulations to those who work so hard and care so deeply for the ospreys in South Australia!
Last year, donations helped with platforms and the purchase of fish for the fish fairies—just look at Bradley and Giliath and smile. Those fairies saved their lives. Membership is only $20, which has big dividends for the ospreys. It doesn’t go to administration fees!!!!!!
The new couple at 367 Collins Street are adorable.
Some videos of the birding tour at Poole Harbour from Geemeff:
Peregrine chases Black-Tailed Godwits seen from Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise 28 Aug 2024: https://youtu.be/fa-q7SiBiys
Osprey in 40x super slo-mo seen from Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise 28 Aug 2024:
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 29th August 2024
Tonight’s summary is fast becoming the norm – nothing to report except rain, wind, and no avian activity. Forum friends are drifting off and promising to return in spring, and season highlights videos are nearing completion. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season, but one chick did fledge successfully in Spain, and we hope for another update on his progress soon.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.21.06 (05.34.42); Nest Two 21.10.24 (05.35.23)
Today’s videos: none!
Bonus update on the Irish Osprey translocation programme:
Fledglings fighting for fish in Omaha. Still at home.
Both juveniles at the Osoyoos Osprey platform. Nice crop on one. It looked like a couple of small fish delivered on Thursday.
At Minnesota Landscape, an adult visitor has been coming on and off to the nest on Thursday and was also seen there on Wednesday. No sign of the juvenile or Dad. The visitor has no federal band (Dad does).
Ospreys coming and going at Field Farm. Decidedly hard to identify.
It is almost time to say goodbye to the Royal Cam chick who will spend from 5-6 years on the water looking for food before ever setting their webbed feet on land again! Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
Beautiful sea eaglets. Both had a crop after the morning breakfast.
‘A’ remarks: “Little SE34 had to wait until nearly 01:28 for breakfast, although SE33 ate a little a lot earlier. At the second feeding, SE33 ate first, then turned away, full. SE34 got fed from about 13:28 until SE33 rejoined the feeding about 13:38. There was am incident of bonking before SE33 turned away but SE34 didn’t stay down for long. He was shuffling closer and closer to mum during her feeding of SE33 and for the first time, he was brave and determined about getting himself fed. I was overjoyed to see this, because it has, as you know, been seriously worrying me that his drive to live does not seem strong enough. But today, it was. He was hungry and he was brave. When his sister rejoined the feeding and Lady turned back to feed SE33, SE34 leaned in and stole the bite from in front of his sister’s nose. It was very reassuring to watch.
I am hoping that this will represent something of a turning point for this nest. Once the attitude changes, the behaviour normally follows. So perhaps SE34 is going to be a bit more proactive about his own existence, which would be a huge relief.
The two are looking adorable. Their head shape and faces are so different from one another. Little SE34 is the prettier of the two, with more delicate features and cranial bone structure. “
This week’s migration statistics from Hawk Mountain, PA, USA:
Handsome Beau waits for Gabby to return. Her return dates have been 1 September, 8 September, and several times on the 12th. I am hoping for the 1st!
One of our Big Bear eagles with a large crop!
‘J’ notes the following eagles present in the last few days at their nest: At Duke Farms both of the adults were seen on the nest. Boone and Jolene were at Johnson City while Scott and Bella were at the NCTC nest. Beau returned to NEFL and we await the arrival of Gabby. Both adults at Trempealeau with two adults at Kistachie nest E-1.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, summaries, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, J’, The New York Times, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Jeff Kear and the Dyfi Osprey Project, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Fran Solly and Friends of Ospreys Sth Aus, 367 Collins Street Falcons, The Guardian, Geemeff, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, SK Hideaways, Pam Breci, Field Farm, Androcat, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, NZ DOC, Olympic Park Eagles, Hawk Mountain, NEFL-AEF, FOBBV,
Update: Diamond laid her second egg at 23:57 on the 29th. Thanks, ‘H’ for the news!
Oh, it started off much cooler Wednesday, but by 1500 was 25 C. Hugo Yugo was busy looking out the window at all the birds while all the others were having siestas.
This is Hugo Yugo’s favourite pose. She is often caught watching the telly leaning over the arm of the sofa.
She can be an angel.
The look of Calico when she is enjoying a good scratch!
Baby Hope (aka Calico Kitty Kitty) is just about as big as her mother. She is going to be 14 months old on 2 September.
My day is very hectic and it is possible that this could be the shortest posting ever! Things remain quiet with nothing untoward happening at any of the nests other than fledglings frantically fighting for fish and getting their talons caught or eagles returning to nests that require improvements. We have the second egg at Collins Street. These two are both apparently new falcon parents to this ledge. It goes to show you just how difficult life is within the world of tall buildings compared to Diamond and Xavier. The history of that couple at Orange is as follows and comes from the information below the streaming cam: “Diamond took over from the older Swift in 2015 and Xavier replaced Bula in 2016 (who in turn replaced our first male, Beau, in 2015). Xavier arrived just as the eggs were hatching and saved the season by providing for Diamond and her three chicks. Assuming that they were at least two years old when they arrived, Diamond is at least eleven years old and Xavier nine (in 2024).”
Most cite the average age of a peregrine falcon being between 12-15 years with the average maximum life span being 16-20 years. Research has shown that older female falcons lay fewer eggs and they are less fertile. According to Birds of North America‘s peregrine falcon article: “Female age has a significant effect on all measures of reproductive success: clutch size, fertility, hatchability, brood size, nestling survivability, and number of fledglings. In all but nestling survival, the data best fit a quadradic model, reflecting an initial increase in performance followed by decrease with age.”
The Raptor Resource Project has a good article on life expectancy of falcons:
Charles Sturt University and Dr Cilla Kinross have a page of questions and answers and they include this information: “Sadly, the mortality rate for juveniles in their first year is as high as 60% with accidents while learning flying skills a major contributor. Survival improves with each year of life thereafter, with a general six-year life expectancy for peregrines in the wild. There are exceptions of course, with Diamond and Xavier being prime examples, and wild falcons can live up to 19 years. Fertility in a female peregrine will decline with age. In effect, fewer eggs will be laid with some being infertile and others not hatching resulting in fewer fledglings.”
So we wait to see. Diamond might be considered a senior citizen in the falcon world. Will this couple have more eggs? will any of them hatch? We will have to wait and see.
Geemeff has taken a break to see ospreys and she says that the ospreys are catching fish and the white-tail eagles are coming out of the sky to steal then and then they are getting mobbed. Everyone wants free food. Don’t think for a second that life is easy for our feathered friends. it is anything but.
The Crows are clamouring for the cheesy dogs while the squirrels, Little Red and Dyson, work hard for their peanuts. It is a grey overcast day. The temperature was cool this morning, and they might feel, as I do, that fall is in the air. There is a notable change, just in a couple of days, with the colours of the leaves in the trees. A chartreuse, an ochre, and a russet weren’t there at the weekend.
Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn released a video showing Aran delivering a whopper of a fish to the nest. Two fledglings, 6M8 and 6M9, there anxious. One grabs the fish and the other gets towed away by Dad! The comment was on how strong Aran was to lift that chick and carry it. No osprey was injured. I wanted you to see where the nest on the top of the tree is and imagine that the camera is refreshed annually along with the cot rails, if needed.
It looks to me like it was Antali and Iris on the Hellgate Canyon nest and then a rare appearance from Sum-eh (I could be wrong). If so, all four family members are still in the area and have not begun migration.
Feel free to correct me – looks like Sum-eh’s head markings.
At Port Lincoln, Mum is right on time and has laid egg #2 early Thursday morning. She holds her position and doesn’t give anything away letting the egg cool and harden before beginning incubation again.
Our new Mum at Collins Street. Gosh, let’s hope this family has good luck on this ledge. Life is difficult enough. They have a good spot save for the scalding heat that will come down on them. Hopefully Mum will move the chicks to the north end where it has shade.
There has been bonding and mating at Orange. Xavier would like another egg hedging his bets on not all eggs hatching.
SE33 asleep and SE34 watching for an adult to arrive with food at the Sydney Olympic Forest. SE34 did not have a lot of food yesterday so it was a great relief that it began the 29th with a nice big crop! The little one is still very skitterish around 33.
‘A’ gives us her narrative of events for the Olympic Park Eagles: “Although Lady and Dad were up and awake, dueting, at 6am, the littles were still waiting for breakfast at WBSE at 8am, and by 08:11 they were starting to bicker. SE33 stood up and leaned forward to stretch her wings. This impinged on SE34’s personal space so he bonked his older sister who immediately retaliated. Both then get stuck into some preening, as it is obvious they are itchy (just look at those feathers growing along the bottom edge of SE33’s wings, and a second line appearing higher up her wings, near her shoulders. Even SE34 is starting to preen relentlessly. Of course being this itchy always seems to make the eaglets a little antsy.
Yes, the bonk from SE34 was foolish behaviour and got what it deserved, but the key thing here for me was that SE34 had the confidence to attack his older sister in the first place. He was not scared for long, though, going straight back to his preening without ducking and tucking. He just pulled away and then went about his business. That was a plus for me, as I have been wanting to see signs of a bit more of a feisty attitude from SE34. Perhaps this is the start of it.
Both parents arrive around 08:42, one with a fish, pestered by a couple of smaller birds, who appeared to be dive bombing and otherwise harassing Lady and Dad. But Both parents are distracted and alerting, sometimes lunging towards the intruder birds. Eventually, with Dad on the perch branch fending off the smaller birds, Lady began feeding breakfast to the littles at 08:46. There is a black band around Lady’s round leg that I have not noticed before. What is it? Where did it come from and when? SE34 is offered the first four bites of the feeding and takes them without any signs of intimidation. He is slightly closer to mum than is SE33. But the fifth bite is a bridge too far, and at 08:47:24 SE33 stands up. SE34 cringes away from his sibling and ducks his head/. Lady decides this would be a strategic moment to offer fish to SE33. Good call, mum. SE34 refuses the next bite, so mum feeds it to SE33. The same thing happens with the next bite. As Lady continues to feed SE33, SE34 is shuffling closer to mum, peeking at her as he does so. Lady keeps feeding SE33. At 08:49 SE34 lifts his head a little but is still too scared to eat. There is plenty of fish, so hopefully SE34 will get his turn to eat.
Around 08:50 he dares to lift his head a little. He is watching mum closely but not asking for food. Lady is leaning across SE34 to feed SE33. This continued contact of SE33 from behind keeps SE34 on edge and very nervous to eat. At 08:50:50, he raises his head just a little too far, causing SE34 to beak him in the back of the head. He turns away and puts his head down on the nest again. Lady continues feeding SE33. He is not down for long though, and soon, SE34 is again watching Lady. Soon after 08:53, head still tucked, SE34 turns his back on the table. He has not had any breakfast so far. As Lady feeds SE33, SE34 is very carefully and slowly turning back around, until he is again facing the table.
Lady pauses the feeding, with the fish rapidly disappearing, and SE34 continues to creep closer to her. 9am and SE33 eats and eats and eats. SE34 waits. By 08:46 SE34 is eatihng, his confidence growing with each bite he takes for which he is not punished by SE33; Lady returned about 40 minutes later and again fed SE34, so that eventually, both eaglets had good crops and had eaten well. “
Keep the Menhaden on your radar and the Canadian corporation Omega right beside them. If you live in the States, write to your Senator and the Senators from Virginia and get them to end the industrial fishing of Menhaden and create a clear three-mile distance from the mouth of the Bay! By doing so, you will help save the lives of the Ospreys who call Chesapeake Bay their home.
Suzanne Arnold Horning (and Woody) continue to find Big Red and Arthur at the Cornell Campus even though students are arriving back for classes.
LGK shows up to feed the Royal cam chick! It will not be long until their little one takes to the seas, returning in five or six years. It is so amazing. https://youtu.be/c8DPhmweuQI?si=ZYARzkZ6ipw4MyzX
Hope and her two beautiful fledglings on the Snow Lane nest.
Charlie and Lola at the nest and C16 holding on. There is snow in parts of Montana. Hopefully it will not land on any of the osprey nests!
At Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest, Dad is home and so is the juvenile. I have not see the female. Perhaps she is on migration?
At Boulder, it appears that Dad and the fledgling are still coming to the nest. No sign of the female.
A news alert from the Ventana Wildlife Society.
Geemeff sends us the daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Wednesday 28th August 2024 Wet but not too windy, a few dry spells allowing the nests to show off their beautiful scenery. No activity other than Penelope spider on Nest One. WTS George reminds us that Woodland Trust receives wonderful support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, including at Loch Arkaig and it will be much appreciated if social media users like, share and comment on a little film showing ‘some of the ways we are working together to create a better future’: https://x.com/WTScotsocial/status/1828704104136249416https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=493071810106235&ref=sharing Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One ( 05.31.07); Nest Two (05.43.01) Today’s videos:https://youtu.be/9raQZmSsDdE N1 By day and by night: Penelope the magic weaver
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H’, The Raptor Resource Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Montana Osprey Project, Nesting Bird Life and More, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, Collins Street Falcons, 367 Collins Street Falcon Watchers, Olympic Park Eagles, Brian Collins – Menhaden- Little Fish, Big Deal FB, Suzanne Arnold Horning, Cornell Bird Lab, Newfoundland Power, Charlo Montana, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Ospreys, Boulder County, Ventana Wildlife Society, and Geemeff and the Woodland Trust.
Tuesday was cooler—21 C. Visiting the nature centre required a windbreaker and it was just so much more excellent walking. There were lots of Canada geese, wood ducks, and mallards at the pond, as well as a single Solitary Sandpiper – the first time I had seen one at the park!
All About Birds describes them: “The natty Solitary Sandpiper, with its olive-gray wings, black-and-white tail, and bold eyering, is a distinctive exception among the many lookalike sandpipers. Its helpful habit of bobbing the back half of its body or trembling its tail (and often feet) while foraging make it instantly recognizable. In flight, look for blackish underwings against a white belly, a pattern unique among North American shorebirds. As the name suggests, this species is normally seen singly. On migration, it turns up very widely, even in very small or temporary wetlands.”
From the map below you will see that this little bird is on its migration. What a distance it will go!
There is a small flower garden, and every blossom seemed delighted that the heat had passed. It feels like fall and even some of the leaves are changing colour.
It was a great walk!
News of fledglings from the UK in the Iberian Peninsula on their migration are reaching us. Threave’s 4B9 was seen and photographed on a stork nest in Portugal! These youngsters are making good progress. This is the first confirmed sighting of a fledgling from a public nest this year.
Geemeff sends us her daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Tuesday 27th August 2024
A lot of rain, a bit of sun, and no visitors to the nests – the season appears well and truly over. However, LizB reports: “One osprey spotted flying west to east along Loch Arkaig yesterday afternoon. Possibly the Bunarkaig male heading back to the nest but no way of knowing.” Perhaps we may yet have a final Osprey visitor before this comments page closes to end this eventful season.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.22.18 (05.34.50); Nest Two 21.20.17 (05.44.14)
Today’s videos: None
Bonus opinion: State-sponsored environmental vandalism or a good idea? What does WTS think?
At Dunrovin, Junebug was knocked off the nest by a GHO. This caused great fear amongst avid watchers. Junebug did safely return to the nest and Mum Winnie rewarded the bravery of her little one with a nice fish!
Antali had an early breakfast fish on the nest and then Iris is fish calling. Finnegan flies around the nest once and returns with her dinner! Iris flies off. Iris is now taking care of herself – as is Finnegan – so she can prepare for her migration.
Iris and her family have suffered through the most extreme heat for long periods of time, hurricane force winds, and now some are saying the earliest snows are on their ways. We wait to see.
Some concern that the juveniles had not been seen on the Newfoundland Power nest at Snow Lane. Here they are. One had a nice fish! And then Beaumont came in at another time with fish for both! Things are going so well this year.
In Wales, everyone has departed the Dyfi Osprey nest, but Idris, the male, who is keeping his oldest daughter Gwenlais, Blue 6B1, full of fish.
All three fledglings were seen on Tuesday the 27th at the Glaslyn nest. Not sure Elen is still here but Aran is still delivering fish. Will try and find out!
All three fledglings at Fortis-Exshaw along with Dad.
The fight against Omega’s industrial fishing in Virginia waters. Write your Senator to stop this. Our Osprey depend on these little fish to live.
Look at the amount. 112 million pounds. An Osprey family of five needs, on average, 500 fish a season – let’s be generous 750 pounds. Come on!
The antics of Xavier and Diamond are endless. If you are not familiar with Diamond, she does NOT like European Starlings for her dinner! or breakfast. or lunch. or for a snack. Nope. Not a Starling.
‘A’ writes, “The first egg at Orange was laid around lunchtime today (timestamp 12:08:07. TOO exciting. Now we all get to watch Xavier bargaining for egg time (I don’t think starlings are going to cut it, Xavier) and talking to his egg. (He is the CUTEST falcon dad of them all – he has even been known to try and feed the egg!!!) I do LOVE these two. I hope Diamond only lays one more egg. She is not getting any younger and I don’t want her to be overly stressed, though unlike our precious Iris, she doesn’t have to suffer the stresses of migration. She gets to live here in her scrape with Xavier all year round, which is a huge bonus for them and for us! I am SO excited. “
Watching at Poole Harbour to see who is home. Three of the four juveniles along with Blue 022 and CJ7 were seen on the nest on Monday.
Collins Street Falcons are waiting for their second egg at which time hard incubation could start. They might lay one or two more eggs. It has happened at this nest. Until hard incubation begins, the egg will be left unattended now and again.
We have rejoiced at four hatchlings and cried last year when the female was injured and the eggs were not incubated. There are high hopes for this year as this article in The Guardian discusses.
Holly Parsons is a wonder of information. She has included a video with David Attenborough on how eggs are made. I think you might be interested. https://youtu.be/PcI72ldPvx8?
Great photographs of Mum and Dad’s Calypso and her mate, Bradley, on the Tulka platform in South Australia. They have survived quite a wind storm.
Fledglings are still at Llyn Brenig!
‘AR’ sends us some news items…when will the shooting stop? Don’t people realise that eagles (all living souls) have emotions, feel pain, have families, partners and deserve respect?
‘AR’ also brings us up to date on the stunning project to try and eradicate the mice that are eating albatross alive – young and adult. This is the plan:
“It is a joint endeavor between the South African Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and the environmental NGO BirdLife South Africa—is to deploy helicopters to drop 600 tons of pesticide-laced pellets across the island.”
I am still seeing SE34 being submissive and sometimes not eating because of SE33. The pin feathers are coming in, and surely SE33 will settle shortly. Dad and Lady are great parents.
The first egg for Mum and Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge was 26 August. Today is the 29th in Port Lincoln. You know what that means – egg #2 is expected!!!!!!!
Dad has been making enquiries as to when this might happen!
And both juveniles are still at Osoyoos being fed!
‘The Girls’ and I have started a new book. It is a bit of a how to, but since they enjoy watching the birds and we want to make their lives in the garden as good as we can, there are some interesting ideas. These include making suet, plantings, upcycling items as bird houses and feeders, etc. Calico did listen to the beginning. She tends to like longer narratives so we will see, but for anyone interested in creating a wonderful spot for birds in their gardens, it is a good read. I plan to work on the various birdbaths and ponds next year! When I start you can follow my progress – or lack thereof.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, observations, videos, articles, books, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, AR, Geemeff, J, PB’, All About Birds, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Newfoundland Power, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Heidi McGrue and Fortis Exshaw, Brian Collins and Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal, Holly Parsons, Birds of Poole Harbour, The Guardian, 367 Collins Street Falcons, Bazz Hockaday and Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Brenig Osprey Project, Newsweek, Olympic Sea Eagles, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Dan Rouse, komu.com, thehill.com.
There was no report of a storm coming to our area, but the garden animals behaved differently all day. The temperature was cooler, 22 C. Tomorrow it will be 28 C. There are storms to the south of us near Minneapolis. Still, the animals are exerting a rivalry for peanuts that I have not seen in quite some time. The Red Squirrels are harassing the Greys, the Greys are bothering the Blue Jays, and all are disturbing the Crows!
Dyson has been here and I finally was able to get a photo of her. She is so healthy! And so quick. Less than a blink and she is off the feeder with peanuts.
It is not a great shot – the iPhone and the Feather Friedly dots on the double glazing of the conservatory do not make for a good combination when trying to photography moving animals.
Dyson can sometimes get three peanuts in at once and away she goes. Just look at that beautiful tail.
Three of the juvenile crows keeping watch as two eat cheesy dogs. Oh, they are a noisy bunch. Our former neighbours stopped by for a visit today and it was so nice to hear that they missed the birds. There are some geese in the river near where they live, but no birds!
Meanwhile one Crow insists on walking all across the conservatory’s roof and then flying off to get a drink in the bird bath. It drives Calico crazy!
The images are a little too dark of Calico with the Crow on the ceiling but you can get the idea. My goodness Calico wanted that Crow.
They have the most gorgeous iridescent plumage. This one has a tattered tail. I am sure they have been in many skirmishes since they fledged the nest this summer.
Little Red ‘looks sweet’. The operative word is ‘looks’. I have discovered that animals with ginger fur cause the most chaos. Hugo Yugo is included! Have you noticed that, too?
Junior still looks ratty but that crest is coming in and soon he will look like his handsome self. Someone said this takes a week. I would say a good fortnight.
Even with the cooler temperatures, all the birds enjoy the birdbath, which is filled five times a day. The Blue Jay on the right was ill and had a twisted tail. The tail is still not straight, but s/he is flying and doing well.
One of the new babies waiting for its parents to tell it that it can fly back to the nest.
Sad. An Osprey, not a type of bird of prey that kills grouse, was shot to death at Angus Glens on the opening of the ‘Inglorious 12th’ of August. Oh, please find a way to end this medieval practice of shooting grouse!
‘PB’ caught Dad and the juvenile home at Cowlitz PUD! Yeah. Electra might have left on migration. We wait to see.
SK Hideaways has a video clip of our Collins Street falcons and their first egg of the season. Many are upset that the female laid the egg on the south end without the shade protection. Some of you will recall the small little falcons practically roasting one year on the ledge.
Deliveries at Hellgate Canyon! Iris is still home…
Finnegan brought Antali a whopper!!!!!! He was still eating two hours later.
C16 enjoys an early morning breakfast fish at Charlo.
Heidi McGrue caught Fen at Fenwick Island diving for his first fish. He might have even caught it.
The necroscopy from Elyse the falcon at the University of Montreal has been turned in.
‘A’ writes about Monday afternoon and the little sea eaglets. “Monday afternoon at 3.45pm and those sea eaglets have the most massive crops. They are sleeping in the warm spring sunshine, snuggled up in a giant fluffball. Dad was in with breakfast (a live medium-sized fish) at around 06:34, which Lady immediately commandeered. SE33 still had a crop! SE34 was closer to the table and facing the right way, so got the first of the food. He did not hesitate to take the bites he was offered and SE33, facing the other way, did not object. 06:37 and SE34 is spooked by SE33 moving behind him, making him nervous to eat. He does take a bite from mum but then turns his head away, obviously worried about SE33. Mum leans right over to offer him the next bite but he pulls away from her, his head still turned. Lady, watching SE34 and aware he is too scared to eat, does not feed SE33 but instead eats herself while she waits for SE34 to gain confidence.
Early Tuesday morning and both sea eaglets have crops.”
The sea eaglets appeared to be living a bit more harmoniously. They should grow out of this stage soon as their pin feathers are beginning to come through.
Speaking of large crops, Diamond and Xavier are both looking exceptionally well fed this afternoon. We just had the privilege (4.09pm) of watching one of their famous bonding sessions. Xavier likes to visit Diamond very early in the morning, while it’s still dark (she usually sleeps on the ledge of her scrape), and it’s not uncommon for one or both of them to fall asleep during a prolonged early morning bonding session. Just TOO funny. These two are adorable. Xavier is the cutest little peregrine. I just love him. He is the best mate and father, and we all know the story of how he came into Diamond’s life. What a guy. Eggs are less than a week away, judging by the bonding behaviours (though that rejected starling propped up in the front corner is really starting to get pretty rancid, I suspect – it’s been there for two and a half days, maybe more) and the frequency of matings (this pair generally get it right too – they know what they’re doing). I think Cilla said yesterday or the day before that there would be eggs within the week and she’s usually pretty accurate in her predictions here. So we wait. I would be surprised if there were more than two eggs. Diamond is not a young bird, though she does look healthy (Xavier looks after her well). “
They have been mating and mating at Orange. Xavier wants eggies. He loves being a day. Well, is he trying out to be Murphy?! Well, all of Xavier’s wishful thinking has paid off – Diamond laid the first egg of the season after he incubated the stone.
Do you ever look for stamps that are specific to our bird family?
Those two juveniles of Hope and Beaumont are gorgeous. They are stunners of the ‘dark’ side. Just look how wide those eye bands are, just like Mum. Beautiful thick necklaces. These two are lovely.
‘J’ did a tour of the eagle information and confirms the following sightings for us:
“18 august Harvey & Ellie visit nest Farmer Derek; 20 august Ron & Rose on nest Dade County; Aug Mr & Mrs Trempealeau on nest Trempealeau; August 1 adult on nest, fledglings still in the area Avon Lake ; Baker pops in Little Miami; 24 august Beau is back NEFL; 24 august M15 & F23 at the nest SWFL; 26 august Clive is back according to MAS Captiva; 26 august DNF has been seen by RRP, not visited new nest yet Decorah North / Raptor Resource Project; HD & HM seen around N1 Decorah / Raptor Resource Project”.
An update from Raptor Resource Project that runs the Decorah North, Spirit Bluff, and Mississippi Flyway cams:
These would make perfect bird baths!
Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Monday 26th August 2024
No activity at all again today on either nest, but from Police Scotland comes the disturbing account of an Osprey having been shot on the Inglorious Twelfth ie the traditional start date on 12th August of the grouse-shooting industry. The unfortunate Osprey had to be euthanised. All the big news outlets have taken up the story, and the link to the police appeal is in the bonus section. Weatherwise today had more dry patches than forecast, but heavy rain is expected tonight.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.21.13 (05.28.48); Nest Two 21.13.27 (05.37.43)
Today’s videos: none!
Bonus read – police appeal for info after the tragic death of an Osprey, shot on the Inglorious Twelfth:
Thank you so very much for being with us today. Please take care. Have a wonderful week. We hope to see you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, comments, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Raptor Persecution UK, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Heidi McGrue, UdeMFalcons FB, Olympic Park Eagles, Falcon Project at Charles Sturt University, Holly Parsons, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, BirdGuides, Newfoundland Power, Raptor Resource Project, The Waterfowl Sanctuary, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, The Real Saunders Photography, and The Guardian.
It is the start of the last week in August and today our temperature dropped to 28 C. It didn’t feel like the end of August of years gone by.
Some mark the end of summer at this time with children heading back to school. Others look to the calendar and notice that the fall equinox is on the 22nd of September, a Sunday beginning at 0743. I have yet to see any trees ‘turning’ where I live, but it often comes slowly, barely perceptible, going from deep emerald green through the greens to yellows and reds. What does this year have in store?
There are still hundreds and hundreds of birds in the garden – wrens, finches, sparrows, Blue Jays, Crows, woodpeckers, and the occasional ‘odd one out’. Dyson is here with her big kits, and all of them are starting to get their cold-weather fur. Dyson looks healthy and gorgeous. I hope to get a photo of her for you in the coming days. Little Red is busy, along with a few other little Reds. The Crows are still here, all from the one family across the lane. Everyone survived! Tonight, they were feasting on pizza. :))))))
Hugo Yugo and Baby Hope wish you a very good last week in August! We are going to have their parties on 2 September, Hugo Yugo’s birthday. We will also celebrate the arrival of Baby Hope a year ago and, of course, Calico. There will be dental treats – oh, don’t tell them they are healthy and keeping those teeth clean and gums nice with every crunch! A few new toys and another cardboard recliner scratcher. They have obliterated the one from Missey’s birthday already!!!!!!!!
If I am looking for Hugo Yugo, she will be in the cat tree – the large one in the conservatory. If she wants to find you, there will be the loudest yawl out of the smallest cat. Hugo Yugo has only one volume – extremely high! Calico never meows. Never. She doesn’t complain if I sleep in. All that is left to the little orange tabby that was supposed to be a male!!!!!!! LOL. I do adore her. Hugo Yugo is undoubtedly a character and lives up to her name. She is going to the vet the first week in September. I am concerned about her teeth, and then, of course, there is always the watery eye. I need help keeping up with the eye patch cleanings. She has gotten to the point that she runs if she sees me coming with the pad jar!
Baby Hope (aka Calico Kitty Kitty) is simply the perfect cat for someone who likes quiet. She never scratches the furniture. She never begs for food. She never gets into trouble knocking things over. She loves sleeping in the basket, looking out, and watching the squirrels, the Blue Jays, and the Crows wrestle for food near the Weeping Caragana. Her eyes don’t drool, and her teeth and gums are perfect. She is very strong and healthy (or that is how things appear).
I am so glad that we fed Calico as much as we did as long as we did once she began coming to the garden in the winter of 2022-23. Surely it helped Baby Hope have strong bones. Hugo Yugo’s mother did not have that advantage and I think he has severely compromised Hugo Yugo’s overall health. She was starving and taken in at the last minute before the seven kittens were born.
If you ever want to do the cat world a favour, adopt a rescue, and don’t buy a purebred. Donate food to a shelter, help raise funds through a yard sale or spread the word if there is one. Right now, in Winnipeg, one kitten adoption group has more than 240 kittens in its care, and we are just coming into the next kitten cycle. Advertisements are everywhere for beautiful senior cats whose owners have died and need a home. There are so many. The Girls have given me more joy and love than I will ever do for them. They are surely a cause for celebration when it comes to lowering stress.
The problem today is that you cannot have pets if you live in a 55+ or assisted living, normally. Many apartments do not allow pets. I looked at a condo overlooking Lake Winnipeg not long ago when caring for my husband, and the garden just seemed too much. The problem – they would only allow me two of the four girls. I couldn’t separate them! And, of course, the other problem was leaving the garden animals. — But, it occurred to me that there is a real problem with people being able to have pets live with them. Don’t these places know that pets can lengthen one’s life and add joy, aiding in pain relief and easing tension?
I want to start our day with something entirely different. It does involve feathers, though. I love getting letters and messages, and this story about MOMA moved me. It comes from a reader who rescues budgies. Many are elderly. MOMA was one of those lucky to find their way to this caring home. She didn’t live long, but she lived well and with love. I thought she deserved her own spot, but more news came pouring in, so here we go, first up – MOMA, the gorgeous blue and white budgie. Just look at her below.
These are the words of a lovely woman, ‘J’, who lives in Europe and rescues budgies. She currently cares for fifteen – the maximum she feels she can feed and provide veterinary care. There are hundreds, if not thousands, out there needing homes, found in deplorable conditions. She is contacted often to see if she can take any more. People need to realise the amount of care that is required, the cost of food, and veterinary costs. Even getting beaks trimmed costs at least 30 Euros. ‘J’ has always told me to tell everyone to please help stop the sale of pets at pet stores and their breeding. There are already too many wanting to find homes – sounds like our cat situation, too. So please keep that in mind.
Thanks ‘J’ for sharing Moma’s story with us. These are ‘J’s words:
Since the beginning after I read your bio I wanted to tell you about Momo. Because it involves pottery. In the year 2000 I did a course in pottery. Just a beginner, so I wasn’t very good, but I enjoyed it very much and made cups so small they’re only good for japanese tea ceremonies or such. One day though, my piece got higher and higher… My teacher came and put her hands over mine to stabilize them, and with her help I made a wonderful piece that I made into an oil therapy lamp. Years later, when the birds moved in, I couldn’t use it anymore, so I just put it on top of a cupboard.
Today, exactly four years ago, Mia and Momo moved in. On the same day, but from two different people. Mia came first and her bringer stayed quite a while, because they’re car broke down. Instead of waiting in the car she of course waited in my kitchen where Mia stood in a small cage. Then Momo was brought, and the moment her bringers left, Momo’s bringer said “WHAT is that?!”. Not very nice, but very understandable, because you had to look twice to say that the little bundle of eh what? was indeed a budgie. Or as I said to my vet: If she had been human I would have said Momo was a bag lady who had been living on the streets for many years. She was very small, and bent. Momo was found outside in such a bad state that her first avian vet was surprised she survived. Gotten to know her I’m not: Momo was a Tough Cookie!! Her age of course was unknown, but everyone agreed she had to be over 10 years of age.
Since she needed some peace and quiet now and then from the rest of the flock (the reason she moved into her own home in the first place) and also needed to be underneath the bird lamp, I put her in the big cage, lamp an all, which normally was left open so Momo could get visitors, but that I could close to give her some rest.
dig
I couldn’t leave her on the hard cold floor, because her feet/legs were badly (don’t know the correct word) “hurt” because she was laying on them all the time. You can see what she thought of my efforts. She kept shredding the kitchen paper and throwing it out.
I finally found a solution she accepted in a piece of synthetic cloth that came with one of my early mistakes (I bought a “hut” because it looked so cute). Well, she mostly accepted it…
dig
Even a bird as small as Momo does NOT fit in this lamp, often her tail stuck out through one of the star holes I made – hilarious. Her poor tail had looked poorly from the start, being in the lamp didn’t help. So I went out and bought five different houses with more room. Momo went into one, looked around, walked out and went back into the lamp and that was it.
Going to the vet was easy: why catch her, when I can just grab the lamp? Can you imagine the face of my vet, opening the box expecting a travel cage and instead looking at an oil therapy lamp??
Unfortunately, Momo didn’t get to stay long with us, she died only 7 months later. But what a 7 months they were. I am in awe of this little bird. She was so courageous, so tough and did things HER way. I was lucky to get to know her, she was one special Lady.
What a lovely story. The little bird had “Cataracts, arthritis, sores on legs, scrambled feet, bent back, and this tiny little bird lived the best life she could live.” A bit of a lesson to us all!
At Port Lincoln, the first egg of the season was laid early Monday morning. Congratulations! Mark your calendars for pip watch: 21-22nd of September.
At the NE Florida Bald Eagle nest, Beau continues to wait for Gabby’s arrival with fish on the nest! Typically, she does not return til September.
The Captiva Eagle cam is not streaming yet, but Clive is home! We have seen Jack earlier at the Osprey nest. Poor guy still has that spike in his leg, but he seems to be flying and feeding well.
My goodness C16 is a gorgeous osprey at Charlo! And look at that stunning background.
It looks like Iris and Antali at the Hellgate Canyon nest so far on Sunday (up to 1354).
Finn delivers a massive fish to Antali that will surely make him sleep well!
There have been juveniles at Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour osprey platform. Gosh, I wish chicks were banded in the US – at least the ones on streaming cams – so we could see who is still coming to the nest.
There is at least one juvenile coming to the Field Farm osprey platform for food while the nest cleaners wait to see what is left for them.
Juveniles continue to come to the Oyster Bay nest on Long Island.
No one appears to be home at PSEG’s other osprey platform in Patchogue – that is for the little sparrows who have their nest in the bottom of the osprey’s.
Keke is still with us at Sandpoint. She watches as River eats its morning fish.
Only Bob is still home at Boulder and still being fed.
I am seeing no action at the Cowlitz Osprey platform in Washington State. That doesn’t mean the ospreys are not around. I have just not caught them on the nest.
It appears that three ospreys – Louise, Harvie, and a juvenile were at the Fortis-Exshaw nest in Canmore, Alberta on Sunday.
Olsen is delivering fish to the Osoyoos nest. By 1331, he had delivered a goldfish, a twiddler, and another small fish to waiting juveniles. Soo is there too, she took a fish and Olsen worked on the egg cup.
Viki reports that all of the ospreys around Island Creek, except for Mr Bennett, have departed for their migrations. The Bald Eagles are currently returning to the area and that does seem to be the case elsewhere. I will be curious to see if the eagles lay their eggs earlier this year?
At Poole Harbour, one of the chatters (‘HW’) cited the fish deliveries at that nest in southern England: “Fish today – 12:25 (022 -> 5H6), 14:45 (022 -> 5R0), 14:55 (CJ7 -> Unclaimed), 16:00 (022 -> 5R2), 20:07 (CJ7 -> 5H6)”. It would then appear that the female CJ7 is still at the nest helping with deliveries and has not begun her migration.
Three of the four had fish at the nest with the youngest one 5H6 winning two deliveries including a royal battle with the 2007 delivery by CJ7.
Poor Dad. He needs to get out of their quick. Talons are snapping. This is one huge dust up!!!!!!!!!!!
The baby wins the fish.
Key dates for this breeding season and it is 5R1 that we have not seen at the nest on Sunday. CJ7 migrated on 2 September last year after fledglings migrated on the 27th and 29th of August. CJ7 hatched at Rutland in 2015. She is 9 years old. Blue 022 was translocated to Poole Harbour in 2019. He is 5 years old.
Two beautiful juveniles at Hope and Beaumont’s nest in Newfoundland. What a great year they had too!
There is more news coming from Captiva with Window to Wildlife:
Please remind everyone! The stores are now full of Halloween decorations – tell friends, family, and neighbours.
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust.
Daily summary Sunday 25th August 2024 Another day with no activity, unless you count the spiders – both nests now have a resident spider who looks spectacular on night cam, appearing huge and spinning a gigantic web. It was as wet and windy as forecast with just the odd moment here and there of sunshine stealing through, no change expected tomorrow. This time last year we saw Ludo LY7 for the last time on nest cam, and off-nest reports from LizB informed us she’d sighted an Osprey with fish in Louis’ perch tree for several hours in the late afternoon which was probably Louis sticking around, but of course, there’s no need for him to do so this year, and he hasn’t been seen since 30th July. I
t would be lovely if Garry LV0, last seen a few days ago on the 22nd, popped in if he’s still around. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.26.30 (05.26.20); Nest Two 21.24.45 (05.35.29) Today’s videos: none! Bonus reintroduction projects – a David Attenborough video explaining the highly successful Rutland translocation, and a news item about the new Irish Osprey project:https://youtu.be/BR2M1Jgvess https://belfastmedia.com/dulra-let-s-make-the-osprey-a-symbol-of-the-lough https://youtu.be/pRLsj6nkSzM N2 Farewell to Ludo – final visit to the nest in 2023
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
I missed ‘A’s post for Sunday at the Olympic Sea Eagle nest. Here it is, “This morning there was a big fish on the nest when Lady decided to have a nibble herself and then, soon after 06:01, start feeding SE33, who seems hungry and is eager to eat. SE34 slumbers on, his back to the table. He wakes up and stretches a little just before 06:02 but immediately pushed the snooze button. Just before 06:11, he wakes up properly and lifts his head to survey the scene. He is still facing the wrong way. He’s in no hurry, lying there just looking around. SUCH a cutie. He is adorable. Soon after 06:16, he finally gets up and turns to face Lady. He is much closer to her than is SE33, and when she offers SE34 his first mouthful of the day, at 06:16:41, he readily takes it. Lady tucks into the fish herself, and while he’s waiting, SE34 edges closer. SE33 is also sitting up at the table, and when Lady finally offers a bite to the eaglets, it is to SE33. Lady returns to eating. The next bite, at 06:18:10, goes to SE33. At 06:18:21, Lady gives a bite to SE34. When he takes it, SE33 immediately beaks him. He lays his head down on the nest, while Lady immediately distracts SE33 with a bite of food. She then feeds SE33 for some time. It is 06:23 before SE34 again lifts his head. But he refuses a bite at 06:23:09 and another 12 seconds later, with SE33 leaning in his direction. Lady feeds SE33. SE34’s head is down on the nest. Lady picks up a dropped piece from next to SE34, who lies still, his head down. SE33 has a huge crop at this stage. There is still plenty of fish, and somehow, SE33 is finding space to eat more of it. 06:25 and Lady is unsure of what to do. She steps back, some fish in her beak, and surveys the eaglets. She eats the bite herself. She walks over to the two, wondering whether to brood them, but with Dad waiting behind the nest on the perch branch, his eyes on the two-thirds of a large fish still on the nest, Lady turns back and grabs the fish, pulling it closer to the eaglets and further from Dad. 06:27 and SE33 surely must be full. It feels so good, it stands tall and flaps its little wings. 06:27:20, Lady reaches out to offer fish to SE34, who refuses it, pulling away and putting his head back down onto the nest. Lady eats it herself, and the next bite. SE34 stretches his little wings, standing up a little and leaning forwards. He looks at Lady, but when she offers him food, he is too scared to take it. Just before 06:28, she again tries to get SE34 to eat but he is again too scared to reach for the bite. He puts his head back down on the nest while Lady offers the bite to SE33.
SE34’s head is up and he is watching Lady as she offers him another bite at 06:28:41 but he pulls away. Lady returns to eating herself, occasionally offering a bite to SE33. Dad has retreated up the branch and has turned his back on the nest, giving up on the idea of removing the fish – at least for now. 06:19:15 and SE34’s head is up. It is 06:28 and mum is still feeding SE33, with SE34 too scared to eat. His head is up and he is watching everything but he stays down. He recoils when Lady offers him a bite. 06:29 and Lady, eating quite a bit herself, is still feeding SE33. 06:29:25 and SE33 finally stands up and waddles away from the table, turning around (carefully, with an enormous crop). At last, at 06:29:39, SE34 accepts a bite of food from Lady without hesitation. He is still nervous when she picks up a dropped piece from near him, which she feeds to SE33, and SE34 pulls away slightly. 06:30 and Lady is cleaning all the dropped pieces from the table and feeding them to SE33. Lady returns to the fish, where she eats several bites herself before offering one to SE34. He is reluctant, and she is very patient and persistent with him, to no avail. At 06:31 she gives up and eats it herself. 06:31:31, it is as if SE34 has suddenly made a decision. He lifts his head and looks at mum. He shuffles forward. SE33 has left the table, but is behind SE34.
However, SE34 is still too nervous to accept the bite he is offered. 06:31:39. At 06:31:47, he finally accepts a small piece. And another 15 seconds later. And a third, larger piece just after 06:32. And another. And another. Lady is eating a lot herself, but every 10 seconds or so, she gives a bite to SE34, who is now taking them all. There is a gap between two of the bites, and when Lady offers the next one, SE34 pulls away sharply, as if startled and fearful. Lady rips the skin off the fish and eats it, leaving the juicy fleshy part of the fish, now easy to get at. SE34 is watching her closely. When she offers him a big bite at 06:33:30, he accepts it readily. Lady has to offer him the next bite three times, however, before he has the courage to grab it. SE33 has sat up now, which has perhaps made him nervous. Still, he is less scared in taking a big bite at 06:34. But in doing so, he becomes aware of the proximity of SE33 and is very nervous about accepting another bite. Probably, SE33’s huge crop brushed him as it turned away, and SE34 takes the next bite. And the next, and the next. SE34 is now eating with more confidence and SE33, full and content, is resting its giant crop, lying behind SE34 and surveying its forest world, having a yawn. Oh, butter wouldn’t melt in that sweet beak. Surely it would never bonk a younger sibling! It’s angelic.
06:35 and finally, SE34 is getting fed some breakfast. SE33 surveys the canopy above, gazing around its nest. It turns to check out the ongoing feeding of SE34 but soon returns to its fascination with its surroundings. 06:36 and SE34 is eating really well. Lady is feeding fast, and giving him big bites, but SE34 is managing them well. He is hungry and eager to eat. Lady occasionally takes a couple of bites herself. 06:37 and SE34 is suddenly in need of a break. He pauses, perhaps dealing with previous bites. He has eaten a large amount of fish in a relatively short period of time, and seems full at 06:37:24, but Lady coaxes him and he takes another bite. And another at 06:37:30. He has his second wind and continues to eat. He is still nervous, though, and when he drops a bite and Lady retrieves it from beneath him, he cringes and refuses the resulting bite. Lady pauses for a short snack, then offers SE34 a bite at 06:38:36. He is ready to take it. Lady continues feeding SE34, now offering him smaller bites. He eats manfully on, 06:40 and Lady is still feeding SE34, who is eating confidently.
This feeding was both reassuring and worrying. SE34 is obviously not confident when eating. Lady is persisting, and there is plenty of fish on the nest, so I remain confident that the outcome will be positive. But the process may be a nervous watch, with SE34 periodically missing out on meals and being fairly randomly bonked by SE33. I think the random nature of the attacks are part of the problem. Sometimes, SE33 is laidback and has no objection to her little brother’s participation in a meal. At other times, she is positively Zoe-like, intolerant of SE34 getting a single bite even when her own crop is absolutely massive. And there is little or no effort from SE34 to ensure he gets himself fed. It is entirely dependent on Lady’s patience and persistence. If she does not ensure that SE34 eats, there is every likelihood that he won’t. This does not bode well for his future survival prospects. If he lacks the drive to ensure its own survival in a relatively friendly nest environment with a helpful and experienced parent, I hate to think of its chances when it comes to seeing off those pesky birds that we know will shadow his every move once he fledges. I hate to say that, but in order to survive, these sea eaglets need some spunk. They need spirit and the drive to survive. I am not seeing that in SE34, which I find disturbing and concerning.
But it’s not meant to be a depressing post – SE34 had a full tummy to start the day, as did SE33, and with plentiful sushi on offer on the nest at most times of the day, let’s hope things continue to work out for SE34. If his size relative to SE33 is anything to go by, he has caught up a little bit in the past week, so the parents must be successfully getting enough food into the little man. I do hope he gains in confidence, which is such an essential quality for a successful future as an eaglet fledging into this forest. He won’t stand a chance against that army of pestering small birds if he can’t stand up for himself against imaginary threats like mum moving too close. Nor has he shown any ingenuity when it comes to getting fed. He has not moved away from SE33 or tried to skirt around it to ensure a better feeding position. He worries me in that respect. But please prove me wrong, SE34. Lady and Dad are certainly doing their best. Even mum is bringing in fish, of which there appears to be no current shortage in their favourite fishing areas.”
Today’s report from A on the sea eaglets and weather: “At 06:42, the eaglets are sitting up at the table side by side, looking adorable, but Lady is only feeding SE33. She sees that SE34 is not confident enough to take a bite. But SE33 soon decided it could no longer fit fish into its giant crop, and turned away from the table 06:42:20. S/he then lay down behind SE34. When he took a bite from mum and was not beaked for it, SE34 was emboldened to take another bite and another. Mum then proceeded to feed SE34 the remainder of the fish. He ignored SE33, who in turn was more interested in playing with nest material than bonking her little brother.
06:42:42 and SE34 is STILL pulling away from Lady offering a bite of fish. SE33 is not interested and SE34 can see that as he looks over his shoulder, but he still cringes away from the next bite offered, just before 06:43 and the next. Mum is patient, offering the bite a third time at 06:43:10 but again it is refused. But six seconds later, SE34 takes the bite and nothing happens. But as Lady offers the next bite, SE33 sits up again and SE34 turns his head away. Lady offers SE33 the bite but s/he isn’t interested and moves away. This gives SE34 the courage to take the bite offered at 06:43:45 and another five seconds later. SE34 turns away from the next bite but Lady is patient, offering it to him again, waiting, offering it again. Finally, it is taken.
Lady keeps offering bites and SE34 cringes away, feeling SE33 moving behind him. Eventually though, he accepts a bite, but cringes away again from the next, even though Lady patiently offers it to him several times. His head is turned away from Lady. After much coaxing, he accepts a bite at 06:45:45 and another ten seconds later. And another two in the ten seconds after that.
From this point, Lady feeds SE34 the rest of the fish. SE34 gets to eat a large amount of very fresh fish and by 06:57, he has a crop that rivals SE33’s. Just LOOK at it at 06:57:15-20!!!! Just look at those bright little eyes and that shiny little black beak. Is that not just absolutely adorable? And that’s a nice way to start the day – both eaglets with giant crops before 7am, and a nice feed for Lady as well. Fabulous.
We are expecting gale force winds over the next 36 hours and I think Orange may be affected. Sydney is on the fringes of the impacted area but should be okay. Melbourne shouldn’t be hit. “
‘A’ reports on the Royal Cam chick: “He is magnificent. It literally brings tears to my eyes, emphasising as it does how very little time we have left with these gorgeous chicks. As I was saying the other day, we are spoiled in the sense that it is a very very long season, with a long incubation period and a long pre-fledging period. But that does have the effect of giving us a very long time to fall deeply in love with these beautiful creatures. Seven or eight months is a very long time to watch them prepare for the flight of their lives. Or, rather, the flight that is their lives. They’ve never even practised fishing and off they go, heading for the coast of Chile, completely alone in the world and without any skills at all. There are no training wheels for albatross chicks.
We will miss you little man. You are gorgeous. Both parents have been in to feed TF in the past few days, so at least we know that they’re okay. It is always a worry for me, waiting for a parent to return and counting the days. “
Scientists are asking us to help them find species of rare birds. Can you help?
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, stories, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today. ‘A, Geemeff, J, VV’, Moma, Melbourne Falcon Cam, Port Lincoln Ospreys, NEFL_AEF, Jenny Peckham, Charlo Montana, Montana Osprey Project, Blackbush at Old Tracedie Harbour, Field Farm, PSEG, Sandpoint, Boulder County, Cowlitz PUD, Fortis-Exshaw (Canmore and Osoyoos), BoPH, Newfoundland Power, Window to Wildlife, and Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Olympic Park Eagles, SK Hideaways, Lady Hawk, and The New York Times.
You will now notice links to videos within the blog. Just click on them, and they will take you to YouTube. Geemeff helped me figure out how to save that precious space to include more images without using up all my media allowance! Thanks, Geemeff.
Friday was another scorcher in Winnipeg. It will be 31 C today but the heat index is reaching to 39 or 40 C. Even the English Gardens were so sultry that it was difficult to enjoy the beautiful foliage.
I continue to smile and tell The Girls how fortunate they are. What we are seeing is a growing number of cats, beautiful ones, coming to the feral feeder. People continue to dump their pets because they cannot afford to feed or care for them. It is so sad when these darling animals bring so much joy to one’s life. There was a steady stream yesterday – ‘The Boyfriend’, a Ginger Male, and a gorgeous long-haired ‘sort of’ Calico (photo below). ‘The Girls’ alert us to their presence. ‘The Boyfriend’ mostly comes during the night – between midnight and 0400. I catch him on the front video camera. But there is also ‘something’ coming and eating all the food and pushing the dishes about and upsetting the birdbaths. I do wonder if it is the fox or a raccoon or, perhaps, a big dog. They must come in through the back because they are not seen on the front camera.
Missey watching from inside where it is cool. They are telling everyone to please put out water because the heat index today was 38 C. The outdoor animals are having a very difficult time.
Remember those storms that hit Missoula with hurricane-force winds? We worried and teared up because of dear Iris and her family. Amy Moore tells us more about the devastation to other osprey families in her article in The Pulp. Thankfully, Iris, Finnegan, Sum-eh, and Antali were not injured.
‘J’ reminds us that Bobby Horvath keeps himself busy saving Ospreys and geese that get hit by golf balls on courses! He picks them up and puts them back together so they can live in the wild. Our fledgling ospreys can get into much mischief thanks to us and our fishing gear. Please tell people to take care of themselves and try to clean up after themselves, or stop fishing.
I have talked to you about the issues related to Osprey starvation and the industrial fishing of Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay. ‘H’ found this article that demonstrates clearly that the fish that our ospreys need to survive in the region can make a come back. New York put in regulations. Have a listen!
Hawk Mountain is located in Pennsylvania and is considered to be the world’s first sanctuary for raptors. It began during a time when people were paid to kill raptors – in 1929, $5 was a lot of money and if you turned in a goshawk that was what you received. A dead goshawk that is. Hawk Mountain was where the shooters lined up on top of the ridges when the birds migrated to kill them. Just think of that – thousands of bodies lying on the ground in the forest. A man by the name of Richard Pough began to take photographs of the autracities and eventually those images caught the attention of Rosalie Edge. Edge went to Hawk Mountain, and she came back in 1934, leasing 1400 acres. She created a safe place for the raptors. The killing ceased. In 1935, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was opened to the public. Edge eventually purchased the property, creating a non-profit organisation to look after the sanctuary. You can visit there today – you can even go and help do a count!
They have just published its first migration count for this season.
Little Ringed Plovers nest successfully for the first time in Cornwall.
CROW reminds everyone – baby Squirrel season is starting in some parts of North America. What should you do? Read below.
Migration season for Ospreys in the UK is underway (as it is in other parts of the world). I will keep track, once in awhile, of who is home and who is not.
Gorgeous Friday in Missoula and there are some ospreys on that hellgate Canyon nest.
FORE (Friends of Redding Eagles) has given us an update about the necroscopy of Luna and discussions on what to do about the nest tree of Liberty and Guardian. Thanks, ‘J’ for sending this in!
Update on Liberty & Guardian’s Nest & Nest Tree 8/22/24:
We just wanted to give you an update on our progress this Summer! We haven’t been posting much because It’s actually been a very busy Summer! We’ve been working non-stop on finding a way to help Liberty & Guardian any way we can next season. We’ve heard several of you suggest we simply “Cut down the Nest Tree” or “Remove the Nest”. After what happened to our Luna & Sol last season we completely understand how you feel! None of us want to experience something like that ever again! But, there are several Federal Laws protecting Bald & Golden Eagles so we have to abide by those laws at all times.
We’re still waiting on the Final Report on Luna’s Necropsy, but I have been in touch with Krysta Rogers frequently these last few months & she has been very helpful. She has answered several questions we asked her after the preliminary report was released & she reviewed a few videos I sent to her of Luna on the Grassy Island. Krysta said she will share the FINAL REPORT with us as soon as it is ready. We would all like to know what the cause of death was for our Luna & Sol & we really hope the final necropsy report will give us those answers. We have to let you know that there are times when the necropsy results are inconclusive, but we remain hopeful!
We’ve also been in touch with the California State Avian Conservation Coordinator Shannon Skalos regarding what we can & can’t do about Liberty & Guardian’s Nest & Nest Tree. Shannon was very helpful & understanding & she put us in touch with our local Fish & Wildlife Supervisor John Perrine who we’ve been working with to come up with a plan. Since we are not Biologists ourselves, we work under the guidance of our local Fish & Wildlife Biologists. We’ve been discussing what we can do within the constraints of the Federal Laws protecting Bald Eagles & their Nests & Nest Trees.
Back in June, Shannon informed us that we cannot do anything to the Nest or Nest Tree without a Federal “Take Permit”. She said those permits can take quite a while to obtain & she didn’t think we had enough time to go that route(6-12 months). She said US Fish & Wildlife generally tries to “let nature take its course”, but they will always consider things on a case by case basis.
Shannon let us know we would NOT need a permit to do something in any of the nearby trees as long as we don’t touch the Nest Tree. So, we immediately reached out to our dear friend & Eagle Biologist David Hancock from British Columbia who has a lot of experience & success in this area. David has been consulting with us & now we are in the process of making a plan which we will complete in September. We will share more details on our plan as we get closer!
Our Project Manager Joe will be coming to Redding in September to replace parts & overhaul the entire Eaglecam System. So, we still have a lot of work ahead of us! But, we are determined to do whatever we can to help our beloved Redding Eagles Liberty & Guardian! And, we are also determined to do whatever we can to make it a great viewing experience for all of our wonderful followers & incredibly generous Donors who make this all possible!
We could not do this without YOU!
Stay tuned!
~Terri & the FORE Team
Here is some helpful information with us from the US Fish & Wildlife Eagle Management Plan:
“Eagle Nest Protections
Along with protecting eagles, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act also protects eagle nests. Eagle nests are protected at all times, not just when the nests are in use by eagles. This means eagle nests can never be removed, destroyed, moved, tampered with, or obstructed, no matter what time of year it is, without a permit.
An eagle nest is defined as “any assemblage of materials built, maintained, or used by bald eagles or golden eagles for the purpose of reproduction. An eagle nest remains an eagle nest until it becomes so diminished, or the nest substrate upon which it is built fails, that the nest is no longer usable and is not likely to become usable to eagles, as determined by a Federal, Tribal, or State eagle biologist” (50 CFR 22.6).
The following are all considered eagle nests and are protected (unless the nests are determined by a Federal, Tribal, or State eagle biologist to no longer be usable):
Any nest constructed by an eagle, even if the nest is never finished or used.
A nest built by another bird that is subsequently used by an eagle for reproduction.
A nest constructed by an eagle that is subsequently used by another species, such as owls or osprey.
Note that if nest take removes all available nesting substrate from an eagle pair’s territory, this can lead to abandonment and loss of the eagle territory, which constitutes a form of disturbance take.laws”
Is Mum looking a little eggy at Port Lincoln?
Seabirds sang a tribute to the Penguin Icon, Sphen, as they mourn his death.
Our smile for the day comes from ‘SP’. Most of you know the Crawley Falcons that hatch their chicks on the balcony of a high rise in Australia. Apparently neighbours decided peregrine falcons were too noisy and asked that the plant pots where the falcons laid their eggs be removed. Well…Here is the story in pictures from their FB page. Oh, they now have at least two eggs.
Turtles are starting to arrive at the Kistachie National Forest E-1 nest…oh, geez. If this eagle keeps this up, there won’t be a turtle within 5 miles of the park! This male loves his turtles.
Karl II’s son, Waba, is in the Ukraine where he continues to feed as he works his way back to Africa. Fingers crossed that Waba will return to Estonia and take over his natal nest next year! Yes! Waba can continue the great example of his father, Karl II, who sadly was electrocuted on an unprotected pole in Turkey last year.
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Friday 23rd August 2024
More rain overnight last night with strong winds, and a misty morning today. No Ospreys appeared on either nest, just a pair of Great Tits on Nest One, but we were treated to footage from Spain of our one surviving chick, 1JW, looking magnificent and defending his fish with a short sharp warning nip to another Osprey who attempted to get some of it. This all bodes well for his upcoming migration journey, and explains his informal nickname of ‘Jaws’. Also sent through by Fundación Migres were photos of Pean JH3, the Loch Arkaig Osprey who fledged from a private nest in 2017 the same year that Aila & Louis fledged their first chick, Lachlan JH4. Pean’s untimely death on a faulty power line in 2018 inspired Itziar Colodro Sainz from the Fundación to campaign successfully for modernisation of the local grid at the translocation area of Marjal Pego-Oliva Nature Reserve, which has subsequently saved many birds. More here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15815194 and here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-46952452. The wet weather will continue all week, with the possibility of thundery showers tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.32.40 (05.19.49); Nest Two 21.24.56 (05.26.39)
‘H’ posted on Fenwick Island….little Fen. Dad is smart. Just drop those fish in when flying by. Don’t risk those precious talons with a hungry juvenile.
SE33 was aggressive towards its little sibling today. Despite there being plenty of fish on the nest, it would not allow the baby to eat but a few bites before starting to bonk it. SE33 goes into a food coma and Dad comes along and saves the day giving little 34 a really nice feeding. That baby was full. Love you, Dad!
‘A’ writes more of these current issues with sibling rivalry: “This morning, Lady went out early and brought back a large fresh whole fish. She started feeding SE33 at around 06:49 and continued to do so until just before 06:58, when SE34, who had had his head down on the nest, finally accepted a bite. But even though it had been eating large chunks of fish for nearly ten minutes, SE33 was not happy about SE34’s inclusion in the feeding and immediately beaks him in the back of the head. SE33 grabbed a beakful of head feathers and shook SE34 for some time. A moment or so later, when SE34 dared to move, he was attacked again. Once again, the shaking lasted some time. SE33 has an enormous crop by this stage and has been eating large pieces of fish uninterrupted since 06:50.
The fact that SE34 had stayed down for so long, cringing violently away when Lady leaned near him to pick up a dropped piece of fish (she had dropped it, not SE34), was worrying enough in itself, but when after eating so much fish and SE34 showing deference for so long, SE33 instantly retaliated for the one mouthful SE34 had been given, it really depressed me. I thought we had got beyond this on this nest, but obviously, we haven’t. In fact, over the past week or so, it seems SE33 is getting more aggressive rather than less.
Lady is still looking out for him, and there is still plenty of fish (Dad added a second fish to the breakfast spread this morning – there always seems to be food ready for when Lady wants to feed the eaglets) but it is a worry that he is obviously intimidated by SE33 to the extent that he is sometimes scared to eat. The question is whether he is still getting enough once SE33 has eaten all it can.
By 7am, SE33 is getting more and more reluctant to accept bites. (It had already been rejecting them when SE34 dared to accept his first mouthful but that didn’t stop SE33 from attacking.) But SE34 is still not brave enough to lift his head. At 07:02, SE33 is STILL eating. SE34 dares to move – he is monitoring proceedings. By 07:02:40, SE33 is refusing food and Lady eats the bite herself. At 07:03, SE34 lifts his head cautiously.
There are two fish on the nest – one whole and one that Lady is finishing off. SE33 gets a second wind but this is a good thing, as it stops an attack on SE34 for lifting his head. Lady pauses the feeding. She surveys the eaglets and takes stock of the situation. She waits. SE33 is full, so I think she is waiting for it to turn away or lose interest in attacking SE34. She is certainly planning what to do next.
Just after 07:04, SE33 does in fact turn away. SE34 sits up a little further. His head is up. At 07:04:25, Lady offers a bite to SE34, who takes it without retaliation from SE33. Lady then steps closer to SE33 and persists in offering it a bite for nearly half a minute until eventually it is accepted shortly before 07:05.
Although SE34 has his head up, Lady does not offer him food. She continues feeding SE33, although it is reluctant and slow to accept bites. 07:06:20 and Lady moves some nest material, which strikes SE34 and causes him to turn away, fearing he is being attacked. Lady ends the feeding at this point, returning to brooding the eaglets, even though SE34 has not had any breakfast while SE33 is stuffed to the brim. There is a whole fish still on the nest, plus some leftovers from the other fish, and yet she has abandoned the effort to feed SE34. He is obviously intimidated and scared to eat, but with SE33 so full, it is unusual that Lady did not persist in her efforts to feed SE34. She made very little effort to feed him, and did not offer him bites with the same patience and persistence she used to push more and more food onto SE33. So it was all in all a worrying and disappointing breakfast feed.
I am assuming Lady is going to let SE33 fall into a food coma and then go back to the fish to feed SE34. I certainly hope so. Otherwise, we are going to have problems at this nest. I am encouraged by the fact that the size gap between the two appears to have narrowed over the past four or five days, so talons crossed. “
There is more news from Australia. ‘A’ sends us the news of a rare white Rhino calf born – no feathers, but we will celebrate with them!https://youtu.be/QaPgf26-WYE?
Thank you so much for being with us today. Have a wonderful weekend everybody! See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, videos, articles, images, summaries, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB, SP, TU’, The Pulp, Return of the Menhaden, Hawk Mountain, BirdGuides, SK Hideaways, CROW, RSPB Loch Garten, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Sandpoint, Pitkin County, Saaksilvie, Whistler Osprey Cam, FORE, PLO, The Guardian Crawley Falcons Instagram, Tonya Irwin, Looduskalender, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Heidi McGrue, and Olympic Park Eagles.
Thursday was an ‘odd’ day. We woke up to overnight torrential downpours with pools of water everywhere. The dishes for ‘The Boyfriend’ were scattered everywhere, and one of the birdbaths was turned upside down. Now, as this wind? Or was it the fox? I couldn’t tell. By early morning, it was muggy outside – but it didn’t stop us from heading off to check on birds. There were hundreds of Red-wing Blackbirds in the corn fields. According to Wiley On-Line, “Red-winged Blackbirds are often initially attracted to corn fields to feed on insect pests during the 2–3 week period between silking and kernel development.” I learned something new today.
The minute I stopped, the birds all dove down into the corn. Would they come up and do their fancy flying while I was there? Of course not! LOL
Then a Red-tail Hawk was spotted on a branch above a wheat field. Looks like it is moulting.
The animals at Pineridge Hollow do have a nice life. They are not continually caged up so they can be exploited for our benefit. There is a large field at the back where they can feed and wander except for the chickens that are likely taken into a coop at night.
This must be Rufus!
This is Sugar.
The goats were simply not interested in being friendly today.
The field behind the pen enclosures where the animals can roam.
We were not home for a minute before the Crows came calling. Some were on the wire demanding cheesy dogs while a couple were eating of one of the nut and bug suet cylinders. Gosh, I love these characters!
The lesson for today comes from the garden’s Blue Jays. Here is Junior. Junior is the father of one group of this year’s fledglings. I know him by the pattern of the white on his tail. His other distinction right now is that he looks ‘ill’. Junior is healthy. He is moulting. The process of replacing feathers often happens a few feathers at a time. This allows the birds to fly to feed and protect themselves. They also need those feathers to protect them from the summer heat and torrential rains. That said, some of the Blue Jays will lose all their head feathers and become completely bald. That is what Junior is doing. Because our summer season is so short, most Blue Jays in my neighbourhood opt to lose them all so that the time to have a full crest again is shortened. Some say it takes about a week. You may read that Blue Jays of all ages moult and become bald. I have not found this to be the case. This year’s fledglings have their full crests and that is how I can tell them from the adults quickly.
You can see that Junior’s crest is just beginning to come in.
This is one of this year’s fledglings. I want you to look very closely. This is the little one that I was concerned about. It’s tail is still not straight but its crest is in better condition. It is eating and flying well. I shed tears seeing this one today as I had not seen it. We have several new feral cats and a fox coming to the garden and I was so concerned that one or the other had killed the poor baby. Not so!
This is Mamma. She is moulting, too. She is a little behind Junior. You can even see her ‘ear’ – the dark circle behind the eye.
A perfectly healthy 2024 Blue Jay fledgling who has just enjoyed some peanuts and is pondering what to do next with that tiny seed in its mouth. Behind him, you will see one of the ‘new’ baby Sparrows. They keep upsetting the frame that holds my cherry tomatoes upright.
I love our geese.
News about another female checking out another osprey platform in Poole Harbour. Notice the comment about CJ7 coming in 2017. CJ7 waited and waited for her prince – Blue 022 to arrive. They have raised chicks in 2022, 2023, and again – four this year – 2024.
If you live in Nova Scotia, why not head down to Hope for Wildlife. They are the leading rehabilitator in that province.
Will Port Lincoln’s Mum and Dad be grandparents this year? Calypso has a mate at the Tulka platform!
Iris is tired. She has been busy making sure that her babies, Sum-eh and Antali, are well feed. But has she been practising self-care? I sure hope so. We want to see you back next year, Queen Iris.
Hope calling to Beaumont when she sees him coming in with a fish at the Newfoundland Snow Lane nest.
It is all good.
On the other side of North America, it was quiet at the Cowlitz PUD osprey platform of Electra.
Well, it wasn’t quiet at the Fortis-Exshaw Platform near Canmore, Alberta. Harvie brought a fish to two hungry fledglings on the nest just after 1600. I bet his talons hurt as much as Iris and Finnegan!
What a gorgeous place for an Osprey platform at Charlo! Lola on the perch and C16 on the nest.
Dad is delivering a lot of fish to the Olympic Park Sea Eagle nest. Big Sibling seems to always have a huge crop! They both still resemble little snow people. So cute.
The extent of plastic in the ocean is killing the beautiful petrels and albatross. I know it is hard to avoid plastic, but make a pact with yourself that you will try! And reuse plastic in your home whenever you must buy items enclosed in it!
Only Bob joins all the other fledglings worldwide, screaming for fish to be brought to the nest.
The four are hanging around Field Farm, too, and getting some nice big fish.
Crows and fledglings are at Oyster Bay on Long Island.
It looks like our great Patchogue Long Island Mum is still in town. She was on the nest at least once on Thursday.
Just look at the fish on the nest at Osoyoos! My goodness. What I would have given to have had fledglings so full they couldn’t eat anymore when Little was still with us!!!!!! Maybe a movement will start where people deliver fish to nests when the birds are hungry. Just to carry them through. It takes on average 500 fish for a family with three fledglings according to all the studies done by John Williams for Forestry England up at Clywedog.
I kept getting the ball of death when I tried to rewind at Marders in East Hampton Long Island. The fledgling is on the nest being fed. It is in the blue rectangle.
Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 22nd August 2024 Today brought a lovely surprise – Garry LV0, thought to have left on migration after last being seen on 18th August, turned up at Nest One today. He spent more than fifteen minutes on the nest, preening and looking around, before flying off eastwards. The weather was wet and windy and it’ll be about a week before there’s a chance of sunshine. Woodland Trust have announced their candidates for British Tree of the Year, one of which, the Skipinnish Oak, is a neighbour of Loch Arkaig Pine Forest. More info and link to vote for your favourite here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15806183 Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.40.30 (05.15.27); Nest Two 21.37.17 (05.21.30) Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/H_ddzxroEpkN1 Garry LV0 turns up after a 4-day absence! 13.19.20 Bonus action – after voting for your favourite British tree of the year, please sign the petition to save them and other living legends:
This fool, #IdiotsWithGuns as I call them, is contrite, but the fine and punishment is not nearly enough – he’s broken up a breeding pair, killed one of the adults, and a chick starved to death in the nest while an egg didn’t hatch as no adult around to incubate. Just disgusting. And to make it work, he effectively got just a $350 fine. And the neighbour who chopped down the nest tree forcing the family to move onto the idiot’s land is also culpable.https://cdapress.com/news/2024/aug/22/hayden-man-fined-for-killing-osprey/
Geemeff sends us the Latest video of Loch Arkaig Osprey chick ‘Jaws’ 1JW, plus photos of the late Paen JH3, both in Parque Natural del Marjal de Pego-Oliva Spain from Fundación Migres and tweets from Woodland Trust Scotland:
I am reminded by a message from ‘PB’ about the growing numbers of wildlife in rehabilitation centres. SOAR is only one of thousands of centres.
Our wildlife rehabilitation centres are often so full that they turn away animals. It is so very very sad that these excellent doctors and their clinics do not get an ounce of government support. Everything is done by donation and an army of volunteers. So this brings me to my last point for the day. Help. Do what you can to help the wildlife. You might only be able to put out a life saving bowl of water – do it, please. You have no idea how many lives you could be saving. But you can also do more. Every one of us has more stuff than we can possibly use. The next time you clean out the closet or the garage or the basement, look at what is there. The rehabilitation clinics need stuff. From bleach to tools to food for the animals – garden produce, etc. Good clean towels and sheets, laundry detergent, toys – don’t forget the toys for enrichment. Paper towels…the list is endless including kiddie pools! Look around you. Set you a neighbourhood campaign. Gather up everything you can and if you can’t deliver it, I promise you the wildlife centre will find a devoted volunteer who can. You will have cleared out some space and you will be smiling because this is one way to really help.
Thank you so much for being with us today. We so hope that you are having a good end to the week! Remember to get outside and listen for the birds and look up – you might just see a hawk sitting on a branch in the most unexpected of places.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, PB’, Sweetbriar Nature Centre, BoPH, Connie Dennis, Friends of Sth Aus, Cornell Bird Lab, Newfoundland Power, Cowlitz PUD, Fortis-Exshaw, That Kat, Charlo Montana, Olympic Sea Eagle Cam, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, Boulder County, Field Farm, PSEG, Osoyoos, Marder’s, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, BTO, Liznm, and SOAR.
We hope that you are well. The end of summer (or winter, depending on where you live) is soon coming to an end! Already some children are heading back to school. Here it is the day after Labour Day. That really does mark the end of the summer for many.
It continues to be hot, and the garden birds are spending more and more time in the baths. It looks like another host of House Sparrows has appeared in the garden. I even ‘thought’ I saw a couple of new baby red squirrels the other day, but I am not sure. I feel very sorry for them and all of the eagles and ospreys we have been monitoring who are caught in this extended heat wave. Please put out water for all the animals and change it regularly, and if you can afford it, feed them. If billions of people joined together, the lives of our feathered friends would be much improved.
Wednesday is our local Farmer’s Market. It has grown over the years to have some exceptional vendors as our neighbourhood community grows and grows in population, attracting many young professionals who like the vibe. From the original stalls selling produce, organic meats, and local honey, we now have artisan ice creams, flowers, organic breads, the most amazing dumplings, empanadas, and Japanese baking. The temperature was not so hot making it that much more congenial to mingle with friends and neighbours this afternoon.
Oh, I hope they continue to come to the market. Their handmade dumplings are delicious. And look at the price!
A mother and daughter grow fields of flowers right outside the City for the bouquets. They are lovely. Just the right size.
I wanted to show you all of the goodies, but Hugo Yugo got on top of the table before I could blink. She is always the first to be curious, quickly followed by Missey! For some reason, Hugo Yugo was not interested in dumplings. Could it have been that they were tofu and cabbage? I could easily be completely Vegan if it were not for dairy. I am trying, but ice cream and cream for my coffee get me every time.
Yes, there she is! Missey first tried the tofu cabbage dumpling and loved it. Then she moved on to the Ube Melon roll! Both got her thumbs up!
Calico and Hope are curious and sweet, but they prefer watching the animals in the garden instead of human-related ‘things’.
Before we went to the market, we stopped in at the duck pond. What a surprise. The Canada Geese were feeding on the Cricket grounds and, for the most part, the ducks had the pond all to themselves. OK. There were about twenty geese at the pond compared to hundreds feeding on the pitch. Most ducks were the sweetest little Wood Ducks – tiny compared to the Mallards. Some of the images are pretty dark despite lightening them…apologies.
I am ready for some rain. For an afternoon, curling up in a chair and reading a book, the stack on the bedside table grows, and by the time I get myself tucked in, I am too exhausted to read. I am not complaining! How many of us wish there were at least 36 hours in a day?
And to my great joy, ‘The Boyfriend’ showed up during the daylight hours. I catch him on the video cameras coming in the middle of the night, but had not seen him during the day. He looks to be in good form.
You might have noticed that we are not hearing from Heidi regularly. She is having a much-deserved break after a season of great sadness. The osplets on all the nests she has been monitoring have fledged (or died). Please give her a big round of applause so she can hear it! Thanks, Heidi, for your outstanding contributions and for taking care of all that data for me on those nests. You will never know how much I appreciate it. Thank you is hardly adequate.
I received a letter today from a family on the Potomac River that put up an osprey platform. They attracted a family that fledged two chicks. They wrote to me to enquire about siblicide occurring after fledge. What happened was that the older sibling prevented the younger one from getting any fish, and the younger one died on their lawn. Years ago, when we thought of siblicide and indeed, until a couple of years ago, the older sibling (usually) killed the younger one on the nest before the age of 21 days. With the heat domes and the lack of fish during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, we are seeing more and more competition between the fledglings of a nest and various intruders for local resources such as food.
Siblicide happened at Port Lincoln several years ago, pre-fledged at 65 days. The chick was pushed off the nest into the water and died. So there is a range. As the planet heats up and more fish dive deep or are lost to commercial fishing trawlers (unless that dire practice can be stopped), we will likely see many more deaths on the nests than we have seen this year. I regret painting a gloomy picture, but I would rather be entirely wrong than write as if we live in Disneyland where everything ends beautifully. Oh, how I wish it were so.
The Ospreys are leaving. The Storks are migrating. Shorebirds are flying south from the Arctic to their homes in South America. The move is on. Bald eagles return to check out their nests’ condition and lay claim to them again. The Eastern Ospreys are preparing to lay eggs like the falcons in Australia. We already have baby sea eaglets. For the next few months, the action will be coming to us from Australia, and then the eagles in the US will begin to lay their eggs.
We will start with a good news story about wind turbines sent to us from Geemeff. I was starting to think there was nothing good about the darn things. One of the things I hate about wind turbines is the refusal of so many factories to paint one blade black. What a simple solution someone found Let’s see what is happening here to protect the sea eagles in The Netherlands.
It is fantastic to see the fledglings return to the nest months after their first flight. Today, Alma visited the San Jose City Hall scrape to the delight of all. SK Hideaways caught it.
This is nothing short of animal cruelty. Do people think birds have no feelings? Help spread the word about the use of birds and include balloons when you ask friends to protect wildlife. Thank you.
The dark eye lines on Hope and Beaumont’s osplets are wide and magnificent. Dark beauties they are! There is a rumour that the second chick fledged on Wednesday the 21st. I did not see it and there is nothing on the FB group. Will confirm later.
Dad arrives to much enthusiasm at the Royal Albatross colony to feed the Royal Cam chick.https://youtu.be/3as5kXIFb18?
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Wednesday 21st August 2024
Nest One had a few little songbird visitors today despite the wet and windy weather, but otherwise no activity. Garry LV0 was last seen briefly on Sunday 18th and seems to have left the area, so with increasing reports of final sightings from UK Osprey projects, tonight’s bonus is the excellent webinar on Osprey migration by Dr Tim Mackrill.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.35.33 (05.14.32); Nest Two 21.27.36 (05.19.35)
Iris brings fish to the nest. Sometimes there is a fledgling there to nab it! The chicks are looking good and no doubt being fed at the nest and elsewhere as Iris, we hope, is packing in the calories, too, for her long flight.
Beautiful fish arriving on the nest for C16 at the Charlo Montana nest.
Junebug on the perch at Dunrovin waiting for fish.
River has been on and off the nest all day at Sandpoint getting fish! She had a big morning brekkie to help start the day.
One lucky chick at Blackbush has a fish dinner.
I did not see anyone at home at Cowlitz. Maybe I missed our fledgling.
At Saaksilvie #1, ringed and unringed are getting some fish dinners.
Clean up crew at the Seilli nest in Finland.
I saw no activity at nest #4 on Wednesday in Finland.
Both fledglings on the nest in Latvia having some nice fish with Mum.
‘A’ reminds us: “We are on egg watch at Orange. As I mentioned, Diamond laid her first egg on 26 August last season, so we are nearing that time. There is lots of bonding and mating taking place.
22 Aug BONDING 05:50:59, 10.30.59, 14:47:34, 17:30:42 PREY 07.02.32 X takes; 07.04.12 X stashes; 09:15:07 D takes; 13.23.42 D takes
TOWER MATING 07.05.16 LR 17s, 07.06.27 LR 18s, 07.10.49 LR 15s, 07.56.23 LHC 15s, 09:46:48 MW 12s, 13.53.31 MW 10s, 13.54.48 MW 6s
Diamond and Xavier are both looking healthy, unlike the starling Xavier stashed in the front corner of the scrape this morning – Diamond has treated it with the disdain it deserves but it will be recycled in the morning. Nothing is wasted here. There is discussion on the site about the worth of maggots in starlings. Of course we know from bald eagle nests that there’s good protein in maggots. Perfectly edible. “
A big shout out to Mary Cheadle who organises all of the fundraisers for the Lock Arkaig FB group. Thousands of pounds go to The Woodland Trust each year from viewers and fans. Thanks, Mary, for all you do!
There is one more fundraiser. For a donation of 3 GBP or more, you have a chance to win some expensive books on Ospreys, totes, etc. Check out the Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys FB if interested. The deadline is 30 August. It is the last fundraiser of the year.
Blue 1RO was 100 days old on Wednesday. Does anyone else think s/he looks exactly like their daddy Blue 33?
It was rainy and looked like a gale was blowing at the Glaslyn nest. The fledglings still think that Aran can pull off a miracle fishing for them! Two came in early in the day but no late fish to keep those crops full during the night.
It was windy with some rain at Dyfi but the wind did not appear to be blowing as strong as it was at Glaslyn. (Maybe just me…)
It was blowing hard at Llyn Brenig – the two fledglings were holding on tight to their nest!
Juveniles at Poole Harbour screaming their heads off for fish at Poole Harbour.
Fledgling still at Mlade Buky. Nice.
New Zealand is rushing to vaccinate its native birds ahead of what they believe will be a huge outbreak of H5N1.
Thank you so much for being with us today. It is always a pleasure!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, letters, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff’, dutchnews.nl, SK Hideaways, Birds in Helping Hands, Newfoundland Power, Cowlitz PUD, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Sandpoint Ospreys, Blackbush at Old Tracerie, Saaksilvie, LDF, Friends of Loch Arkaig Ospreys, LRWT, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, BoPH, Mlade Buky Stork Cam, The Guardian, and Friends of Midway Atoll.
It is actually Tuesday afternoon, late afternoon, that I am beginning to write the post for tomorrow. The sounds of the Blue Jays squawking at something are overlaid with the sound of a jet aeroplane flying overhead. It was a hot day today. 29 C. Sweltering at the nature centre. A few songbirds were out getting seed at the feeders, and some ducks were sitting under one eating dropped seed, but not much more. Only a few humans were venturing out at 1400 these days! We are all idiots likely to get heat stroke! Thank goodness for the small shade gardens scattered about with benches. These have been growing to accommodate the increasing summer heat and the need for people to stop and take a breath.
The ducks are having a wonderful time searching for seed under one of the feeders near the hide. They knew I was there and cared little. Humans are no threat to the wildlife in the centre. Thank goodness there is a safe place for them.
There is a group of volunteers that care for the garden areas. They have recently finished a couple of small ponds with koi and turtles. The sound of the water is so relaxing.
A second pond.
Looks like a grebe to me!
An American Goldfinch and a Black-capped Chickadee.
There is very little news in Bird World. The revelation that Laddie died a natural death while very sad, is a tremendous relief to everyone. The thought of an individual or individuals purposefully killing this beloved osprey at Loch of the Lowes was simply unthinkable.
A few sites continue to post some of the highlights from the season. Just look at the snow at Clywedog!
There are rumours that F23, the mate of M15 at Southwest Florida, has been seen at the nest on Tuesday.
He is one of my favourite dads in the UK, and his mate Blue 35 ranks right up there, too. She is the one who creatively fed Tiny Little several years ago – the tiniest third hatch I had seen in years compared to the big siblings already in reptile plumage. Tiny Little became the dominant bird in the nest and was called Blue 464. White YW stayed late and fed her. I have seen no sightings, but I hope she has survived.
Our friend Geemeff that supplies the summaries for Loch Arkaig loves polar bears. I hope to travel up to the Arctic with them to see these beautiful creatures but, in Manitoba, you are having to travel greater distances. The bears that come into the town because they are starving to death get little respect. It is the three strikes law. After three visits, they are shot. Of course, the ice and the seals they rely on are few these days. It isn’t about birds but I am including this article because Geemeff loves those beautiful bears so much.
“The fatal encounter and sightings in unusual locations foreshadow what experts say is a looming clash between polar bears and northern communities as climate change upends the habitat and food sources of the apex predator.” “Across the region, sea ice will play a critical role in polar bears’ future prospects, including where they are spotted and how well-fed they are. Some populations faced near-record-low ice cover this summer, while other bears like the western Hudson Bay population had “excellent” ice coverage. But even extensive ice cover isn’t enough: across swaths of the bay, the ice was thick but lacked ridges and snow cover, meaning it was a poor breeding site for ringed seals, a top polar bear prey. Shifts in seal populations will put immense pressure on bears to find enough food.”
They are starving. I wonder what humans do when they are starving and their children are starving?
Royal Albatross Chick is spreading those big wings and it is only the 20th of August!
‘A’ remarks: “The Cornell footage of our TF testing his wings is impressive. What a wingspan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqzeozQW_SM&list=TLPQMjEwODIwMjQgpA2JbubKqA&index=5 Isn’t that magnificent? I am unsure whether that is TF or TFT. If it is TF, he has far more fluff left on him than I thought from last week’s shots, when there appeared to be very little left on his wings and back. And he should have lost more since those pictures, so this chick appears to have quite a lot to still get rid of. “
‘MB” sent us a great article about the growing White Stork colony at Knepp Farm. It is on my bucket list!
There is still activity at the Hellgate Canyon nest of Iris and Finnegan.
Geemeff sends her daily report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Tuesday 20th August 2024
Nothing to say, not one visitor big or small on the nests today. Affric and Prince are perhaps still around looking after their fledgling on the Bunarkaig nest as the male and chick were seen there as recently as Sunday 18th, but Bird Guides reports more and more sightings of Ospreys on the move and we wish all of them a safe migration journey and hope to see the adults back next year. The wet and windy weather certainly makes migrating now the best option, for Scottish Ospreys anyway.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.41.41 (05.08.00); Nest Two 21.36.44 (05.13.09)
Today’s videos: None!!
Bonus Highlands walk report including Loch Arkaig:
The latest from Richmond and Rosie’s nest on top of the light stand in San Francisco:
‘H’ caught up with Fenwick Island:
Remember. Those Omega ships in the Bay are causing the ospreys to starve especially in the extreme heat periods. If you live in the US and feel strongly about this issue, please write your Senator!
There is growing concern that the area that Omega has been fishing has caused this – impacting jobs and tourism.
One of the things that keen observers of Canadian geese know is how loyal the mates are to one another. In one of the books at the farm animal sanctuary, there was a story of a couple. The female had a broken wing and could not fly. The male would walk, fly a short distance, and wait for his mate to catch up. The story of the swans in the post below reminded me of this kindness. How many of you remember the story of Arnold and Amelia? Two Canada Geese living at a pond on the grounds of a wildlife rehab centre in the NE US? Arnold had his foot attacked by a snapping turtle and required care. Amelia waited on the porch of the clinic, looking in. Eventually, they were allowed to eat together and then be together as Arnold improved. It was beautiful – sheer devotion.
Beaumont and Hope’s second hatch has been doing a lot of hovering. It will be flying with the rest of the family soon.
Four at home at Dyfi – still not seeing Senni.
Remembering SW Florida’s beautiful season.
Nine fish were delivered to the Muonion nest in Finland on the 20th of August! NINE. Everyone was seen.
Altyn and Nova’s fledglings at the Imperial Eagle nest in RU.
For those of you that remember the agonising death of Golden Eagle Spilve’s chick, Klints, I am happy to say that Spilvie and her new mate are at the nest in Latvia doing some restorations.
Thunder and Akecheta at the West End nest in the Channel Islands on Tuesday. Cholyn, Thunder’s Mum and mate to Chase, was seen at the Two Harbours nest a few days ago.
The USK Valley in Wales has a new streaming cam for ospreys! Congratulations.
We have something a wee different from a reader. I want to add that every living creature is impacted when humans use poisons.
‘MP’ writes: “I thought I’d send a little something different. Like the rodenticide to Raptors, insecticides have done the same to the hog-nosed skunk. Skunks don’t ask for anything other than to just be left alone. Insecticides have done in many insects which is what the hog-nosed skunk feeds on and the insecticide that killed the insects too kills the skunk who eats the insect. This species of skunk is hard to find now in Texas where it was plentiful once.
Hog-nosed skunks (Conepatus mesoleucus) are about the same size as striped skunks but have some differences in appearance. They have a long, hairless nose pad and come equipped with long claws and powerful front legs that are good for digging. They typically have a single broad, white stripe that starts at the head and extends down the back to the end of the tail. Their diet consists mostly of insects. Hog-nosed skunks are found in the western parts of the state. A subspecies from the Big Thicket of East Texas is thought to be extinct. Alternate name: rooter skunk. Texas Parks and Wildlife.”
‘A’ writes about the little sea eaglets: “Early breakfast at WBSE was lovely. Both chicks ate side by side, with mum offering them both bites and no bonking was observed. SE34 is noticeably smaller than SE33 but not fearful to eat today at all. He leaned forwards and even shuffled forwards a couple of steps at one stage to get closer to mum’s beak. SE33 did do better from the feeding but this was due to Lady favouring the older eaglet.
Certainly, both had enough food at that meal, which ended when Dad turned up and shortly before 06:32 began that godawful cackling that the ranger’s report calls ‘duets’. There is nothing musical about them – they are a dreadful din, slightly reminiscent of a gaggle of backyard geese greeting a rain shower. Duet? I don’t think so. Anyway, participation in said duet distracted Lady from the job of feeding the eaglets. By 06:33 when it ended, the chicks had both dozed back off.
Around 06:35 the littles again wake up and the feeding resumes. But Lady now has to stretch too far to reach SE34 so she feeds SE33. SE34 is looking interested, head up, and even tries to get a little closer to mum, who ignores him. Finally, at 06:37:41 Lady reaches the extra distance to SE34 and gives him a bite. And a second. She then resumes the easier option of feeding SE33. When SE33 refuses a bite at )6:38:10, Lady offers it to SE34, who takes it gratefully. Lady is now down to leftover scraps and is working hard to get edible pieces for the littles.
She feeds the second half of a bite to SE34, but otherwise feeds SE33. SE34 gets a bite at 06:38:40. Again, Lady resumes feeding SE33. By 06:39:30, SE33 has decided it is still hungry and stands up to better reach the food. SE34 shuffles forward as well, but SE33 is now even closer to Lady and is now eagerly eating, so SE34 is not offered any food until 06:40:24, when Lady makes a real effort to reach SE34 with a bite. SE33 again shuffles forward. SE34 does the same but SE33 is much closer to mum, who resumes feeding SE33.
By 06:41:20, SE34 is obviously trying to eat and each time SE33 gets a bite, SE34 watches and tries to get closer to mum. Lady eventually stretches to give him a bite just before 06:42. She then gives him a second bite, before cleaning his face and feeding what she removed to SE33. SE33 again sits up eagerly, moving forward, so gets offered the food. At 06:42:46, SE34 sits up tall, hoping mum will notice him, and she does. He gets a bite. SE33 considers, then rejects the idea of turning away from the table.
Around 06:43 Lady is patiently feeding a bite to SE34 when SE33 leans in and steals the last piece from literally in front of SE34’s beak. Lady is only feeding SE33. The two are sitting up side by side looking cute as fluffy little buttons. At 06:45:28 Lady reaches to give SE34 a bite but then resumes feeding SE33. At 06:46 Lady makes a real effort to feed a bite to SE34. There has been no intimidation or bonking and no sign that SE34 is nervous or reluctant to eat. Both eaglets behave perfectly throughout the meal.
Lady then takes the remaining carcass (bones mainly) off the nest, and the littles were then left alone for a long time. SE34 is determined to use SE33 as a pillow, then they switch positions, and eventually the two settle down into a cuddle puddle. There is obviously still some close parental supervision, as evidenced by a periodic cackle. The littles are sleeping.
At 08:42 a parent visits the nest and checks the babies, scattering some dry leaves over them like a blanket. SE33 wakes up and what I believe to be Lady does some allopreening of her older hatch. SE33 sits up and turns around, revealing its large crop. Around 08:46 Lady heads up the perch branch. She flies off just before 09:23. The little pile of white fluff is already asleep again.
These two seem to be doing okay, but SE33 is certainly dominating most of the feedings, largely because of Lady. I am not sure whether this is happening at all the feedings, and certainly SE34 did not appear intimidated when offered food at this feeding. Whenever Lady bothered to reach far enough, SE34 readily accepted the mouthful. There was no hesitation. He did look at his sibling a few times, but never in the eye. Nest etiquette was observed and as a result, there was no aggression and both were very civilised. This is what we want to see. “
‘H’ posts about the Fortis Exshaw nest – doing good!
Please lobby to get the lights turned out in your town or City. It is migration season. Billions die from collisions each year because the lights in our city’s tallest buildings are full on.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Hugo Yugo wants you to have the most marvellous day ever!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, MB, MP, PB’, George Green and The Clywedog Osprey Group, @Foulshaw Ospreys, The Guardian, Knepp Farm, Montana Osprey Project, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, SF Bay Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal, Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary, Newfoundland Power, The Real Saunders Photography, Saaksilvie, Liznm, IWS/Explore, USK Valley Ospreys, Wesley A. Brasheat, Global Bird Rescue, and Olympic Park Eagles.
The plane left late, sat on the tarmac in Winnipeg on arrival, and it seemed it took forever to get home. Of course, I was anxious – that old saying that it is a good thing to be away and even better to be home. ‘The Girls’ are so excited. All four of them are running around playing but staying right close to us. The birds were well looked after, and my neighbour is building a large planter out of stones so wild grasses can be planted. He even weeded the area around the weeping Caragana. I am so grateful. The rest is so overgrown and needs some good attention. Ten years ago it was easy – the heat just seems to take the ‘steam’ out of everyone. Everything is growing like I recall the vegetation did in Grenada. I need some sheep and goats out there!!!!!!
It was a magnificent holiday – one of the best ever, and we have had many holidays- graduate studies ensured that. I think it was because we chose not to do too much and not run around the province of Nova Scotia trying to check out tourist sites and osprey platforms. We did that one day and went ‘no’ after. The small villages and the surprise birding areas fuelled our joy. Sitting on the sidewalk sipping coffee and eating the most delicious lemon cake in Canning was just the right speed. Tonight, we are sipping some of the nicest coffee from beans roasted in Berwick and eating chocolate processed in Antigonish while the girls cuddle. It is hard to describe how wonderful it is to have Hugo Yugo wake me up during the night, nuzzling her head under my chin. Then, I looked down and saw Calico at the foot of the bed. Everything is alright in the world. The squirrels are out eating this morning – it seems I left them enough food for two weeks, not six days! When I think of Jen and her sanctuary, it is farm animals. In our garden, it is a sanctuary for those who find themselves living in an urban area that used to be wild. It makes me feel good. It also made me feel guilty as I dreamed of moving back to the hills of Nova Scotia. I think the key is to travel there often! Settling in a beautiful small village without a doctor, a grocery store, or a bank might be challenging. Today, we will revisit Nova Scotia by making a lovely brown bread with oatmeal and molasses. It is traditional – most eat it with scrumptious baked beans, just like in the States of New England. So, despite the heat, the oven will be on.
Well, the bread tasted much better than it looked. First effort! The chowder was top-notch if I say so myself. It’s Missing Nova Scotia.
The cat sitter had one thing to say, and you won’t be surprised: “Hugo-Yugo is such a little helion. LOL. She chased all the others throughout the house one morning.” The tiniest ginger cat has been the boss since she arrived. There is no question. She is not vicious, just persistent.
Calico, who loves to eat, will quickly move out of the way when she sees her coming towards her dish! They do get along. No fighting…just everyone needs to remember the hierarchy – the youngest is the boss. Antali would like that.
I ordered two books that I could skim at the sanctuary apartment. One of those is The Pig Who Sang to the Moon. Anecdotes from this volume will, no doubt, fuel some of the stories in my post in the future.
It is hard to fully articulate just how tired I am. Hopefully this posting will make some sense and not seem too scattered.
It is time for annual summaries and Dr Green has supplied us with two for Iris and Finnegan. I will continue to add these as I find them as it is so nice to revisit our nests before everyone departs.
Antali finds a fish hidden in the nest! And then Antali gets another. Well done. Don’t worry. Sum-eh has had fish.
Dr Green prepared this timeline for Iris and her nest happenings this season. Finnegan did fantastic. 8-9 fish a day, and the one day he and Iris brought in 10. Incredible. This was the biggest miracle in the eyes of all watchers who sent me their ‘miracle’ lists.
‘PB’ caught Antali waiting at the nest at Hellgate Canyon wanting a fish.
The ospreys around the Clarke Fork River are helping the scientists. Here is a podcast by Dr Green.
“Osprey chicks are helping scientists track pollution in the Clark Fork River
Iris the Osprey is a world-famous bird who’s nested along Missoula’s Clark Fork River for most of her long life. She’s also a longtime participant in research tracking mining pollution in the river. After more than a decade, the latest data on the health of the river is expected soon.”
Iris has certainly caught and eaten her share of fish in the local river. Today, she had another whopper on the Owl Pole! And after she has a good feed, Sum-eh and Antali will be wanting some.
Dad is busy filling up the little sea eaglets!
‘A’ comments on the sea eaglets breakfast:
“The littles had someone else’s chick for breakfast (probably a baby water bird with white feathers, which Lady took the prey away to pluck. Dad arrived early and was sent off on a breakfast mission at 06:48, returning just five minutes later with the bird. Once the breakfast was defeathered, Mum decided the littles were still sleepy and settled down to brood them a little longer. She got up and began feeding them breakfast soon after 07:15. SE33 is still sleeping, so she starts by feeding SE34, who is in front of SE33. After a few bites, SE34 wakes up, so Lady gives it some bites. The pair are both eating nicely, side by side, with each being given bites. SE34 is not afraid to accept the food it is offered and SE33 does not interfere.
By 07:20 Lady is feeding SE33 exclusively. When she offers SE34 a bite at 07:22:25, it is refused. She returns to feeding SE33. Again, about a minute later, SE34 refuses a bite to eat, even though it is sitting up and indicating it would like some breakfast. At 07:23:40 Lady again tries to get SE34 to take food and it refuses. This is a worrying development. Lady again returns to feeding SE33.
At 07:24:10 Lady again offers a bite to SE34 who is slow to accept it, but Lady persists and eventually SE34 takes the bite, without any response from SE33. From this point, Lady offers the eaglets alternate bites, with both littles accepting the food they are offered. They are like the best of mates, side by side at the table. Plenty of food and mum keeping a close eye on the kids and ensuring both get enough to eat. Lovely;
Well that was a nice start to the day at WBSE. Dad is really doing a great job of keeping food on the nest for the family. That fish he brought in, was it yesterday?, was the largest I think I have ever seen brought in to this nest. And of course Lady is her usual self when it comes to doling out the food evenly and ensuring that the kids play nicely. “
“It was time that I spent a day with the littles at WBSE and ensured that everything was progressing well and that both parents were doing their respective jobs, while both littles were eating well and behaving themselves nicely. So today, I watched the feedings in some detail. I have already talked about the breakfast feeding.
There was bonking at the lunchtime feeding. Dad brought in a nice fish, and Lady began feeding SE33, with SE34 asleep in front of it. After a while, SE34 woke up and lifted its head. Lady offered it a bite, which it accepted without any objections from SE33. Lady then returned to feeding SE33. At 12:38 Lady eats a big mouthful of fish herself – it was easier than preparing it for one of the littles. This seemed to frustrate SE33, causing it to wait too long between bites, and it beaked SE34 in the back of the head. SE34 ducks and tucks. It is slow to accept bites now, and Lady is slow to offer them. Lady continues to feed SE33, however, leaning over SE34 to do so. SE34 just sits, head up and waiting but not competing for food. It is a little intimidated when SE33 tries to remove a bone from its beak, thinking perhaps it is being bonked, By 12::41, SE34 is leaning towards the fish, only inches from his beak. Mum continues feeding SE34. By 12:41, SE33 is full, refusing a bite that Lady offers three times. When SE33 turns its head away, Lady offers the bite to SE34, who accepts it without hesitation. She gives the next bite to SE33, who takes it. She then resumes feeding SE33. When SE33 refuses the third bite, she offers it to SE34, who is slow to take it so she again offers it to SE33. This time, it is accepted. SE34 lifts its head and makes it clear it is wanting food but Lady offers the fish to SE33. Whenever Lady tries to clean fish off SE33’s face, it cringes away from her as if scared. Neither eaglet is keen on having its face cleaned by mum!
!2:42 and SE34 has its head down as Lady feeds SE33. Just before 12:43, SE34 lifts its head again but Lady continues reaching past it to feed SE33. When she leans close to SE34 to pick up a dropped piece of fish, it immediately pulls as far away from her as it can. This is such strange behaviour, as mum has never hurt either of the littles, intentionally or otherwise, so I have no idea why her movement close to the eaglets causes them to behave as if intimidated. 12:43:20 and SE34’s head is up again and it is waiting hopefully for fish. Lady continues to feed SE33, who is sitting up behind SE34. At 12:45:38 Lady finally offers a bite to SE34, who takes it immediately. She offers another bite to SE34, who takes that one too. There is no reaction from SE33. From this point, Lady offers bites to both eaglets, sometimes giving SE33 two bites in a row but usually alternating between them. SE34 is initially a little cautious but is soon confidently eating with its sibling. Nice.
By 12:52, SE33 is full and Lady appears distracted. SE34 could certainly eat more but Lady decides the feeding is over. ABut Sgain, I think SE33 did better at this feeding than SE34, and this appears to be the case at virtually all the feedings, unless Lady takes the opportunity to give SE34 a private feeding while SE33 is sleeping. This situation provides SE34 with its best opportunities to eat without concern or trepidation. There is still half a fish left on the nest (though this fish is a different species from the giant one Dad brought in yesterday and is a medium-sized, plate-shaped specimen.
At 13:46:46 dad removes the half-fish from the nest and takes it up onto a branch to eat. At `3:53:30 he returns what remains and Lady gets up from brooding the eaglets to feed the remains to the littles. SE33 is too full for more food! It gets stepped on as mum leaves the nest, waking it up. SE34 snoozes on. But SE33 finds room for some more fish and SE34 wakes up and is also happy to eat more. Lady feeds both. By 14:04, SE34 is being offered every bite, with SE33 finding itself too full to accept bites. SE33 is behind SE34 and leaning on its sibling, leaving SE34 a little cautious, though it is not stopping the little from eating. It is finally getting its fair share of this fish! SE33 momentarily finds some more room in its crop and rejoins the feeding but by 14:06 it is again full. The bites Lady is giving SE34 in this feeding are large, but the eaglet is managing them with ease.
Lady keeps coaxing SE33 into eating yet another bite, and SE34 is still eating with gusto. Lady is getting careless about the size of the bites she is offering, many of which are so large, she is eating them herself after the eaglets reject them. 14:09 and both chicks are accepting bites. By 14:10 Lady is feeding only SE34, who is really stretching to take the bites from mum. The winds are so gusty, Lady loses her balance on the nest and has to use her wings to steady herself. 14:11 and Lady has switched to feeding SE33. Then SE34 gets a few bites in a row. Lady is doing her best to feed both eaglets, moving the fish closer to SE34 and continuing to offer bites to both chicks. 14:12 and she is again concentrating on SE34. These chicks have impressive appetites and are gradually demolishing this fish, which is larger in pieces than it first appeared when a whole fish. 14:13 and both chicks are sitting side by side at the table, eating nicely together as they are fed alternate bites. What a cute picture they make when they’re not beaking each other in the head. Just too sweet for words.
Both chicks ate a good breakfast of bird and a good lunch of fish. They both did small but healthy PSs while I was watching those two feedings. There was no significant aggression and nothing that intimidated SE34 from eating in any meaningful way. There were moments when it was cautious because its sibling was behind and leaning on it, but nothing that prevented it from eating a decent amount of food at breakfast and at lunch. It had a full crop after each feeding.
I am hopeful for this nest, despite the immediate bonk-fest that these two started almost as soon as SE34 hatched. They are two very feisty eaglets and it would not surprise me if we had a female first hatch. I am unsure about the second, but it could be a little brother, based on its size and behaviour. It does appear to be the dominant hatchling, and SE34 is obeying nest order etiquette by being careful not to trigger SE33 with, say, direct eye contact. SE33 occasionally enforces its dominance but this is rare and SE34, beyond observing the courtesies, is not being intimidated by its sibling or prevented from eating. I am keeping an eye on the obvious size gap that has opened up between them since SE34 hatched, at which stage they seemed remarkably similar in size. I cannot be certain whether the size gap that now exists is the result of gender or of SE33 getting a larger proportion of the food. I suspect the former. “
Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Saturday 17th August 2024 The promised dry spells did appear on and off today – a bit like Affric 152 and Garry LV0, who spent hours on the nest, coming and going at different times over a three hour period. Garry showed off his nest-building skills, bringing moss and sticks, but no fish, to Affric’s displeasure. She rebuffed his advances and if he has any hope of getting her to abandon Prince and pair with him, he’s going to have to do better. Fish is key! No activity of any sort on Nest Two, and rain forecast for tonight, tomorrow and the whole of next week. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.48.22 (05.05.22); Nest Two 21.39.17 (05.09.41) Today’s videos:https://youtu.be/K86m0Q234Sc N1 Something scares Garry and Affric off the nest 12.12.38https://youtu.be/_qwTc6b2sdY N1 Affric wants to see Garry’s fishing skills, not nest-building ones 12.24.16
Bonus video of beautiful Loch Arkaig scenery – Eas Chia-Aig waterfall near Spean Bridge:https://youtu.be/N7G3OfNTKGI
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Not much happened today, Garry LV0 provided the only action on either nest when he popped in to Nest One with half a flatfish in his talons. Ironically Affric 152 wasn’t around to take it, so he departed with it less than a minute later. LizB posted a possible reason for her absence: “Bunarkaig update – second hand information, but apparently the male was fishing in the bay this morning for around an hour, making a few trips back to the nest with fish for the chick. Perhaps there was plenty for Affric too which might explain her lack of appearances at nest 1 today”. Weather was wet as forecasted, and will remain wet for the rest of the week, with winds varying from gentle to moderate.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.47.38 (05.09.00); Nest Two 21.39.08 (05.12.56)
The Colonial Beach Osprey Project sent me the following information: Joanie Millward, President of the Virginia Osprey Association, kindly included numbers for last year and this for comparison. This information will go into the International Osprey Data Project to help us continue to grow a more thorough understanding of what is happening in each region.
You will note the high proportion of nests that only fledged one chick. This is an indicator of the nests’ lack of prey in that region, which is so sad.
We should all be enjoying the adults and kiddos flittering around the nests occasionally. Migration is well underway as we saw with the Shorebirds in Nova Scotia.
Will Blue NCO return and breed successfully again at Loch of the Lowes? Will her mate be the Dark Knight? We have to wait til next spring and see.
Tweed Valley reports:
Another miracle nest this year is Snow Lane, the home of Beaumont and Hope and their fledgling and soon to be fledgling in Newfoundland. It has been eons since osplets fledged from this nest and I am certain tears are being shed by all who love this couple. It is truly wonderful.
Trudi Kron posted an update from the Hancock Wildlife Foundation regarding Blue:
What a gorgeous group at Glaslyn! Aran and Elen’s 2024 graduating class.
Lola and fledgling at Charlo on Sunday.
Still home in Minnesota!
‘H’ reports: “8/18 Osoyoos osprey nest: The new fledglings seem to be doing great, flying to and from the nest. And, their parents are providing them with plenty of fish to fuel their flights. The cam was down until 0844, so we may have missed an early fish. At 0946, Soo delivered a huge salmon to the nest. Soo kept the fish, and Chick 2 was the recipient of the first meal from that fish, then Soo removed the huge leftover. At 1023 Olsen brought a medium sized whole fish, Chick 2 nibbled at it, but was already too full. Chick 1 flew to the nest at 1108 and ate that fish. Soo brought back her fish at 1109, but neither chick was interested, so she left with it again. She returned with the fish at 1134, fed Chick 1, and again Soo removed the large leftover salmon. At 1246 Soo brought the same fish back, and fed some more to Chick 1. It was interesting that Soo would never allow the chicks to take that fish from her. Then at 1254, Soo removed the large leftover again. At 1316 Chick 2 grabbed a medium sized partial fish from Olsen and ate it. At 1317, Soo returned with the same fish she initially brought to the nest at 0946. The massive fish had been gradually getting smaller. She fed Chick 1, and finally the fish was all gone except for the tail. That salmon should certainly qualify for frequent flier miles! Olsen brought the last fish of the day at 1927, a whole fish that Chick 2 grabbed and started to eat. But, Chick 1 flew to the nest after a few minutes and stole the fish from Chick 2!
8/18 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: All three fledglings are still returning to the nest for fish, and they also like to hang out a bit on the perches. Harvie brought six fish to the nest for the juvies today, and there were some pretty good battles for the fish. The intruder was only on the nest for less than a minute in the morning, and she left when she saw Harvie approaching. We did not see Louise today.”
We watch these beautiful birds from the time they hatch to fledge. We cry sometimes and then they are free. It is time we protect their environment as there are far too many electrocutions.
Netflix is requesting the removal and/or relocation of osprey nests. Seriously? Thanks, Geemeff.
Cowlitz fledgling caught on the nest Sunday morning.
Chicks home at Oyster Bay.
Raining at Patchogue – no one home.
Keke and River on the nest. Keo continues to deliver fish.
Port Lincoln has a new baby on a barge and it is not an osprey – it is a White-bellied Sea Eagle!!!!!!!!
Iris wasn’t the only female raptor catching a whopper on Sunday. Just look what Jackie hauled into the nest at Big Bear!
Xavier and Diamond are thinking ‘eggies’.
In Latvia, the first hatch, a female, Red 59T, flew for the first time on the 15th of August followed by her little brother, Red 59V, on Sunday, the 18th. Congratulations!
Thank you so much for being with us today. It is always nice to have you here – and I always enjoy your letters, your news messages, and your comments. Keep them coming! Take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Montana Osprey Cams, Cornell Bird Lab, @HellgateOsprey, Montana News, Birdling Life and More, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Rosie Shields for Border Ospreys, PLO, Raptor Persecution UK, Joanie Millward, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Newfoundland Power, Trudi Kron, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Charlo Montana, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, PSEG, Sandpoint Ospreys, Celia Aliengirl, The Two Rivers Times, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, LDF, Osoyoos, and Fortis Exshaw.
