Nova Scotia Ospreys – Page 3 – Mary Ann Steggles

Monday in Bird World

2 September 2024

Good Morning,

For many around the world, today is a holiday. I hope that you are enjoying this long weekend, that the weather was good, and that you made some fantastic memories.

It is a beautiful day – Sunday, as I write this. It must be about 24 C. I have not looked, but it is comfortable, and the sun is out. The Crows are pulling worms and insects from the ground around the neighbourhood and pecking at the wooden bark that the City put around the newly planted trees. I have two now in the front to replace the 122-year-olds that had to be cut down due to disease.
We look forward to planting five more trees during the local fall Re-Leaf campaign. That should make the garden area a complete forest, but it will take some time for them to get big enough to be of benefit. I wonder why more aren’t planting large shade trees with summer heating up?

Today will the party for all the girls – Calico’s arrival into the house a year ago, Baby Hope’s coming into the house, and Hugo Yugo’s first birthday this evening. I will take photos. They only needed a new scratch post and we picked up some Halloween toys and treats. They are incredibly spoiled. I tell everyone the four of them have given to me much more than I can ever do for them. Last evening we had a fright. The garden door was closed but I guess not all the way and the wind whipped it open. Three girls flew out – Calico, Hugo Yugo, and Baby Hope. I ran out to the deck and Baby Hope and Hugo Yugo flew back in the house. Calico didn’t. She went under the deck. My fear was she would leave the garden area. I sat and read to her and took out food just like I did when I was wooing her last summer to come into our house. She would stick her head out. She was terrified of the outdoors – not curious or happy to be out, but terrified. Eventually, I put three girls in the conservatory, opened the garden door, called her and she flew into the house. She went to sleep on the reclining scratching post and didn’t wake up for three hours!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how relieved I am.

There are now three eggs (as reported in my last post) at the Port Lincoln Osprey platform in Australia. Oh, I hope the fish faeries are getting ready to get permits for delivering supplementary dinners!!!!

Iris wanted a fish delivery, too. She landed on the nest fish calling and in came Finnegan with a nice lunch. What a guy. Does he get the ‘New Dad of the Year’ Award? Surely, he would!

At 1221 Iris flew away with the headless fish. (Finnegan had a nice crop so he is feeding himself as well – thank goodness). Now where did she eat it?

Iris on the Owl Pole later. Was it here? Cannot tell from the camera footage. Or did she hand that fish off to a fledgling?

The Corncrake population is increasing in Ireland again.

RSPB describes them thus: “Corncrakes are related to waterbirds Moorhens, Coots and Water Rails but, unlike their family members, they live on dry land. Corncrakes are surprisingly small – only a little bigger than a Blackbird. This Schedule 1 species is very secretive, spending most of its time hidden in tall grass or reedbeds, you’ll probably hear its rasping call before you see it.”

Waternish has a good description of everything one might need or want to know about Corncrakes:

Corncrakes – Visit Waternish Download

Irish Corncrakes increase again – BirdGuides Download

It is clear that something must be done to the type of material that the Blue Darvic Rings are made of. Blue NC0 lost hers and now a broken one has been found – thankfully the osprey is alive!

Skylor, the surviving juvenile of Oscar and Ethel at the Marshall Lake osprey nest in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, is still with us. Mum Ethel is migrating or has reached her winter spot and sadly, sister Heidi died from being electrocuted. Oscar and Skylor should be on their way south soon. Good to see you Skylor!

Fast action the part of Nova Scotia Power who have put up a ‘Yellow thing’ to protect the ospreys (and other raptors) from being electrocuted. They should be proactive and put these on other commonly used nests. The people who monitor those nests in Nova Scotia know which poles those are – it would surely help save lives in the future. So sorry that beautiful Heidi was lost – what a healthy osplet she was!

USK Valley gives us a delightful view of osprey behaviour. It is a good read.

KEEPING WATCHFUL EYES — Usk Valley Ospreys Download

Power to the Glaslyn osprey nest is down. It is possible the cable might have been damaged by agricultural equipment. It is unclear when it will be restored.

I did not get a screen capture but Blue 022 did bring a fish to Blue B52 at the Poole Harbour nest on Sunday. So both were still home then. Birds of Poole Harbour also confirmed with a sighting turned in by a local.

No confirmed sighting of Idris at Dyfi on Sunday.

At Llyn Brenig, Fledglings Blue 8B8 and 8B9 were home on Sunday with Blue 372 busy delivering fish to both of them.

In the top image, notice the osprey on the tree in the distance eating a fish. The juvenile is waiting for Dad to finish his meal and bring the leftovers – which Dad does!

Both juveniles are still at home at the Newfoundland Power osprey nest at Snow Lane. Fish deliveries are being made. I cannot confirm if Hope is still present. (If you have news, please send me a note). These youngsters are gorgeous. They are dark just like Mum. And notice the difference in size. There is, I believe, the female as the oldest and the younger male.

Keo at Sandpoint delivering a fish to River on the platform. On the chat, “Dorothy Auld: Keke was last seen on cam on 28th, cam was down on 29th and part of 30th but Keke was seen on 1 of those days. She was not seen yesterday.”

At Charlo, C16 and Charlie are still there. I cannot confirm Lola. If anyone has seen her at the nest, please let me know.

The Collins Marsh Osprey platform in Wisconsin fledged three osplets this season. I can confirm that there is at least one juvenile still at the nest receiving fish from Dad.

At Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour, again, there is at least one juvenile at the nest wanting fish. I did not see a delivery. Without Darvic rings it is impossible to tell them apart without a close analysis of their head markings. It appears to be the same fledgling.

At Osoyoos, Olsen is on a fishing frenzy bringing in some huge fish for a change. Gosh, I wish we had this size of fish when the chicks were small. We might not have lost Little. Weather in various parts of Canada has cooled down a bit for the weekend making fishing much better for the raptors. Heidi has confirmed that Mum Soo is still in town and delivered a fish to fledgling 2. Well done.

Juveniles so full there is a large piece of fish left on the nest.

At Oyster Bay PSEG nest at least one juvenile is there. I cannot confirm that this is one of the fledglings. It could be an osprey passing through on its migration. I did not see a fish delivery and the osprey has a really nice crop.

No one sighted at the Boulder County nest so far on Sunday. It is awfully quiet there!

There is at least one juvenile at the Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails osprey platform in Colorado – on the nest calling for fish. I did not see a delivery there during the time I watched and in rewind.

White YW and one fledgling are still at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria.

There are Dads working hard for their fledglings!

Gabby, get home quick! Beau is waiting for you.

A post by Trudi Kron concerning the Minnesota Bald Eagle cam (DNR nest).

Geemeff sends us the daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 1st September 2024

Another dry sunny day brought more visitors – Nest One was visited by a pair of Ravens. One settled on the centre perch while the other flew over to Stick Tree and was joined by a third bird. It’s back to rain in the Inver Mallie area tonight however, and heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow. Osprey sightings are being reported down the length of the country as most of the UK Ospreys are now on the move southwards – fingers crossed for safe passage for all migratory birds.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.16.55 (05.15.36); Nest Two 21.08.34 (05.33.20)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/6hi6ZJAJNpQ N1 A Raven perches on the nest, a second perches in Stick Tree and a third flies in the distance 19.04.19 (zoom)

Bonus read – how Woodland Trust is saving the rare and internationally important Celtic Rainforest:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/where-we-work/scotland/saving-scotlands-rainforest

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

I was so very happy to be the donor of a new book to the Friends of Loch Arkaig FB group’s grand fundraiser organised by Mary Cheadle. Mary does an incredible job raising funds for the Woodland Trust. This one netted GBP 610.47. Well done, Mary Cheadle!

Xavier might be wanting some eggie time. Diamond is now in hard incubation with three eggs!

‘A’ reports: “Xavier arrived early in the scrape this morning (06:50) to spend a little time with Diamond (he didn’t bring any breakfast though, which was very remiss of him). When he left (07:10), Diamond followed him, presumably with food on her mind, and Xavier took his opportunity to sneak back into the scrape and get some egg time (07:11:12). He was, as is his wont, chatting to his eggs, which is just the cutest thing ever. He is having some difficulty covering all three eggs, as he is even by falcon standards a very tiny little male, but he persisted until he managed to do so. Oh he is SO adorable.

Diamond was back at 07:14:33 and after a short conversation, Xavier got up off the eggs and left the scrape via a classic GCW leap (07:15:10). Diamond settled back down on the eggs, where she has remained, dozing, ever since. Hard incubation is underway here at Orange, and also at Collins Street, where the eggs are rarely unattended and then only for short periods. I haven’t seen food brought to the ledge this morning, though mum has been out herself and perhaps organised something to eat. “

Good Morning Melbourne!

‘H’ sends us Victor Hurley’s fact sheet! All you wanted to know about eggs and more – that is falcon eggs.

FFS 03-24 Egg incubation requirements (2)Download

Good Morning Mum and Dad at Port Lincoln!

For those who live in Australia, you will understand the joke. I often comment on the fat little bottoms and legs of the falcons and the sea eagles. This sends some Aussies into hysterics? Why? It appears that the largest chicken producer in the country is called Steggles! Seriously I am not scouting them out for human consumption, I promise!

SE 33 and 34 have definite fat little bottoms.

‘A’ reports on her thoughts about the Olympic Sea eagles for the day: “At WBSE, Lady flew off the nest at 05:46:30. She was back in the nest tree, duetting with Dad, by 05:56 but no food is in sight. At 06:56 she is back on the nest, which excites SE34 enough for him to stand up as he comes to the table, flapping his cute growing wings. He is growing nicely now he is getting plenty of food and looking very similar in size to his sibling. His wing feathers are coming through too now, so both eaglets are itchy. SE34 sits up eagerly at the table, but unusually, there are no leftovers on the nest so breakfast is not forthcoming.

By 7am, SE33 has joined SE34 at the table. Lady has left again, and the eaglets want breakfast. Mum is back again at 07:32 but still with empty talons. She is gone again by 07:39. The eaglets fall asleep waiting side by side at the table. It is nearly 08:23 before Lady returns but again she brings no breakfast. She leaves again almost immediately. When Dad arrives just after 10am, both eaglets eagerly line up in front of him, hoping he has brought food but yet again, they are disappointed.

10:13:05 and a parent (Lady?) arrives with breakfast. It appears to be an eel. SE34, who happens to be closest, gets the first bites. When he gets a third bite in a row, SE33 loses patience and beaks him. He tucks his head down. With SE34 in submission, SE33 leans over him to take bites of eel. SE34 starts to lift his head around 10:24 but he is not in a position to eat again until after 10:26.As it nears 10:28, SE34 sidles closer. By 10:29:20 his head is up, which prompts SE33 to attempt (unsuccessfully) to beak him again, and he scrambles away from his sibling and goes back into submission.

At 10:33, Lady is still feeding SE33 and SE34 is still in submission. There is not much of the eel left. SE34, his head still tucked, creeps closer and closer to mum, who continues feeding SE33. By 10:36, SE34’s head is up but Lady continues to ignore him. There is much honking at low-flying smaller birds towards the end of this feeding, as has often been the case this season. They are really bothering the parents in ways they have not done in previous years. Regardless, the meal ends without SE34 being fed. Still, he must be getting enough food because he is very close to SE33 in size and he is growing well. I continue to worry about his lack of survival skills and his unwillingness to ensure he gets fed. That really worries me.”

In Fort Myers, here is an update on M15 and F23 who can be seen in the video working on their nest!

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care. Have a great week everybody! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their posts, notes, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H’, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, RSPB, Waternish, BirdGuides, Jeff Kear and UK Osprey Info, Balgavies Loch Ospreys, Connie Dennis and Ospreys of Nova Scotia, USK Valley Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Brenig, Newfoundland Power, Sandpoint Ospreys, Charlo Montana, Collins Marsh Ospreys, Blacbush at Old Tracedie, Fortis-Exshaw, PSEG, Boulder County, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Jeff Kear, Heidi McGrue and Joy of Ospreys, NEFL-AEF, Trudi Kron, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Olympic Park Eagles, wskrsnwngs.

Friday in Bird World

23 August 2024

Good Morning,

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!

Antali is tugging on Iris’s talon trying to get the fish delivery. Ouch! https://youtu.be/fCwI1JTBKTA?

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!

The moderator (That Kat) on the Charlo Montana chat posted a great video of an osprey diving for a fish. https://www.youtube.com/live/4TD1GYd7WJw?si=rhkO_2YiGwlS1qb3

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:

https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/99702/petition/1

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

News item – grim news, unfortunately:

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:

https://youtu.be/cuNHwXdx6jE

Today’s Freebie: Identifying Shorebirds with the BTO.https://youtu.be/V3eiuj37gJE?si=YQQwHawVYPeAZbZM

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.

And last, Diana, the surviving Eaglet on the Kaljukotkas nest in Estonia, returned to her natal nest so we can see how gorgeous she is!https://youtu.be/YJhsF7ZxAww?si=jnO8GKsNSz77ZTO4

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.

Tuesday in Bird World

6 August 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

What a wonderful way to start the day!

This is part of a fabulous message from ‘B’: “Gosh, Mary Ann, Hellgate is breaking the smile-meter today. Not only does Sum-eh “branch” to the perch at 6:53, but then s/he tires of the perch at 7:43 and takes off on a real fledge. And without even seeing her, we can follow the whole flight by seeing Antali track the whole flight, right up to the landing a minute later. At 8:00 Iris lands and begins calling for the celebratory fish, but she must already know it is on the way, because Finn arrives with fish at 8:00:54, and the whole family is on the nest to celebrate Sum-eh’s fledge.”

How many of us just had tears in our eyes when we saw Sum-eh fly? I keep thinking that this is the perfect Osprey family. Everything this year was as if it had been choreographed by someone directing a world-famous symphony or ballet company at the Hellgate nest of Iris and Finnegan. I want it to stay this perfect.

Iris and her family have energized me.

Information on Montana Ospreys and where they migrate and when:

Osprey – Montana Field Guide Download

Poor Iris.

Oh, it was not so hot today but that did not stop the Blue Jays dive bombing the Crow fledglings whenever they came to get cheesy dogs and kibble! The sounds of the fledglings alarming and wanting the parents to come and help was, at times, a bit eerie. And then a community cat came and that really got the Crows going!

The tree you can see is where the Blue Jays nest. They gather there and swoop at the fledgling Crows whenever they come for food. You will see that one of the Crows on the fence has a lighter chest (far right)—it is moulting and an adult.

BirdGuides Photo of the Week is an osprey diving for a fish. Several places in the UK offer hides for taking these amazing images – at a price. Most of all, it helps the ospreys because there is a healthy amount of fish available and, in all cases, as I understand it, the ‘farmers’ who monetised their ponds or fish tanks are making more money from folks like us who want to get that winning image. Note that I have been more than careful not to say ‘shot’ – as the ospreys steal fish at the commercial fish ponds in South America and do get shot. I wish those farmers would advertise hides for taking photographs. They might discover this win-win situation, too.

Photo of the Week: 29 July-4 August 2024 – BirdGuides Download

Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 5th August 2024

Just a raft of Mistle Thrushes and a Woodpecker on Nest One today – no Ospreys, no other action on either nest, just plenty of rain. Filling in the gap a little, LizB posted more footage of the Bunarkaig nest showing Affric and her chick, links in the bonus section. The wet weather continues tonight and tomorrow, with the possibility of thundery showers in the late afternoon.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.35.04 (04.41.35); Nest Two 22.46.59 (04.49.03)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/2VFRd-lLvn4 N1 Many Mistle Thrushes and a Woodpecker visit 13.12.59

Bonus videos – Another couple of bits of video footage from Bunarkaig (thanks LizB):

https://youtu.be/KZnXzJYpR6Q The chick having a flap and a hop about on the nest with mum Affric

https://youtu.be/aFurmuMNz5E The chick taking flight

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Concerns for USU at nest #4 Finland continues as migration approaches. Will someone take the osplet into rehab?

‘PB’ caught USU flapping!!!!!!!

We are going to have a fledge at Charlo soon!

The other nest to keep an eye on is Minesota Landscape Arboretum. Our only surviving chick is on the perch with Mum on Monday.

Dad continues to deliver nice fish meals to the Cowlitz PUD nest.

River has come a long way to getting very proficient at self-feeding. Mum Keke looks on at the Sandpoint nest.

All three on the nest at Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour.

Nice crops on Mum and the fledgling at Boulder County.

‘PB’ caught a great image of the McEuen fledgling – just look at that crop. Mum did well. Such a sad year for this nest but one osplet survived with Mum despite the heat and having a single parent nest.

Blue (HWF BBCentral nest) was doing some wingers and moving around the nest including standing on the rim.

From the Forum:

‘CG’ reports:

AP Hovasse was out taking videos this morning. Believes Blue is ready to FLY!! He will be out again tomorrow morning.

Cams came back up at 1452 hours.

At 1715 hours, she pulled a plastic bag up out of the nest and proceeded to rip it up scattering it across the nest.

At 1750 hours, a parent delivered food, dropping it at the edge of the nest. Blue grabbed it and mantled it.

She did her usual flapping and seems to have taken to sitting on the edge of the nest. She also had three healthy looking PSs this afternoon.

Close up of Blue.

By 2251 hours, she is lying down asleep.

Weather for Tuesday high of 73F, low 50F, sunny. Temperature predicted to rise to the 80s Wednesday-Friday, then back down to the 70s with clouds for Saturday through the next week.”

Dad brought a really nice fish to Mum at the Port Lincoln Barge Tuesday morning! Oh, these two are getting me excited. Think the fish fairies will be around this year?

Small beak peeking out of the egg at the Olympic Sea Eagle nest in Sydney. The chick has made some progress during the night and Lady didn’t get much sleep. Let’s hope it is out today.

At Osprey House Environment Centre, the three osplets are little reptiles. I wonder if they will continue to play sweet. Let’s hope!

Where does Australia’s Painted Snipe go in the winter?

One of Australia’s most elusive birds, a 2,200km journey and a mid-winter mystery solved | Birds | T Download

A reality TV show in Australia where the contestant ate a rare bird. I thought Geemeff was kidding me – not. Who are these idiots?

https://www.birdguides.com/news/reality-tv-contestant-killed-and-ate-protected-bird

And some better news!

https://www.birdguides.com/news/extinct-in-the-wild-guam-kingfisher-hatches-in-captivity

‘H’ reports:

8/6 Colonial Beach osprey nest: By 0935 this morning, Betty will have been missing for three days. Yesterday, David brought 43-day-old Cobey a large headless fish in the morning, and Cobey ate some of it a few times throughout the day. Cobey is doing well with his self-feeding, but he is not strong enough to tear through much of the skin, especially as the fish dries out. There was an interesting period of time when there was an intruder on the nest for about 1.5 hours. Fortunately the intruder was not interested in Cobey, and he did not take the leftover fish. The intruder simply looked around, and moved some sticks. We were hoping that David would bring a fresh fish for supper, but he didn’t. Cobey was noted to have a few good PS on 8/5, but s/he needs more fish than what he is getting. Unfortunately, David does not do any feeding. As a single dad, we are hoping that David will increase the amount of fresh fish that he provides for Cobey. Today will be mostly cloudy, high temp 90, winds gusting to 17 mph. Please come home, Mommy!

8/5 Osoyoos osprey nest: They had a good day. There were 7 fish brought to the nest, including 2 from Soo. And, both Soo and Olsen delivered some whoppers. Chick 2 is still not quite ready to take that maiden flight. S/he did some wingers with slight lift, but no hovers that I have seen. Weather for 8/6: sunny, high temp 90F/32C, winds gusting to 13 mph.

An Osprey family living in the Turtle Mountains of Manitoba just west of where I live taken by Brenda Lyons two days ago!

In Estonia, three new Black Storks have been fitted with transmitters. Yeah! We wish them a long, long life. We hope that one of those, Kerli, which is believed to be Kergu’s sweetie pie, will return with him next year to breed.

Kerli (young female – Kergu’s sweetheart) – Black Stork – Ciconia Nigra Download

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, CG, Geemeff, H, PB, RP, TU’, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, mt.gov, McEuen Park, Hancock Wildlife Forum, HWF-BBCentral, BirdGuides, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Cathy Cohen, Osprey House Environment Centre, The Guardian, BirdGuides, Colonial Beach, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Brenda Lyons, Ciconia Negro.

Sum-eh flies Monday in Bird World

5 August 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Morning update:

It is getting to the time when you need to be getting your ‘miracles’ of the year in! Deadline: Wednesday, the 7th of August, so Tuesday evening CDT is the deadline—about 2000. Even a single sentence! Let me know what made you happy this year. I won’t spoil it, but there is already a clear winner for the top miracle of the year. Can you guess what that was?

It is cooler on the Canadian Prairies. Imagine extreme heat (32 for us) and then waking up and thinking you need a jumper! That was what it was like Sunday morning. The garden animals are loving it!

I did have a bit of a scare this evening. All the Crows were about and two of them were ragged and had white on their breasts. Took a deep breath. It is Junior and his mate and they are molting. Poor things. Junior stays but she heads south in the fall. I hope one or two of the youngsters will be around with us for fall and winter. They have been busy tonight protecting their territory. Urban crows live in family groups taking over a specific area and making sure that other groups of crows don’t enter! That said, when the GHO arrives, everyone comes to help usher it out of the space.

The blog is a little all over the place today. Osprey nests are winding down with fledglings returning for fish and awaiting the time to depart for migration. People are starting to stop and look at the state of the eagle nests and – we are on pip watch for the Olympic Park White-Bellied Sea Eagles in Sydney!

Update: Confirmed pip for SE33!

The three osprey chicks at the Osprey House Environment Centre are doing very well. Three weeks old!

In Port Lincoln, Mum is resting on the barge nest. Yes, yes, it is all beginning to happen ‘down under’.

Xavier is delivering prey to Diamond in the scrape at Orange, Australia. Now all we need is the Melbourne CBD Falcon cam to come on line. Typically that is after the eggs are laid.

If this is your first time to watch ospreys, you might want to find out about their migration – as most (save for Florida and some Gulf areas, the Caribbean, and Austral-Asia) fly to winter homes.

Osprey Migration Explained – Avian Report Download

More about migration from the UK.

https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/62/2023/03/Do-ospreys-migrate-6e4d8a7.jpg

Where do they go? Well, it depends on where they started!

Where Do Ospreys Go in the Winter? | Audubon Download

Many of you will remember the Red-tail Hawk raised by the Eagles on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. You will also recall that the eaglet that shared the nest, Junior, was electrocuted. We all cried. It is too common an occurence. We lost one of two gorgeous osplets raised by Oscar and Ethel at the Russell Lake Osprey nest in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was discovered that it was Heidi. She had fledged the day prior. These events are so very sad.

If you recall the discussion with Dr Christian Sasse and Dave Hancock on how to mitigate against electrocution using simple methods and know that YouTube video, let me know. I am looking forward to sharing it with our friends in Nova Scotia. I have written to the HWF but have not heard back from them.

‘H’ reports:

8/4 Osoyoos osprey nest: There were nine fish delivered to the nest, including one from Soo. Olsen had tapped into a good location to catch those small green-colored fish, so his offerings consisted of those fish. Soo brought a large headless fish at 1251 that actually resulted in two separate long feedings. It was interesting to note, with 5 of the 8 fish delivered by Olsen, chick 1 rather easily took the fish from chick 2, after chick 2 had initial possession of it. Chick 2 still displays some residual effects of the psychological conditioning that took place during all those weeks when chick 1 had been very aggressive toward him, and he learned to submit. Chick 2 needs to get over that, and try to hold on to his food! Chick 1 did not eat all of those fish he acquired, and he left a couple of good sized chunks on the nest for chick 2. Everyone had plenty to eat today. Chick 1 took a few flights off the nest throughout the day. And, chick 2 managed to get several inches of lift off the nest during his evening wingercizing! Weather forecast for 8/5: Sunny, high temp 94 F, light winds. There is a chance of strong thunderstorms in the afternoon.

8/4-8/5 Colonial Beach: Betty has not been seen since 0935 on 8/3. Last night, 42-day-old Cobey spent his second night alone on the nest. Cobey did not have anything to eat on Friday. On Saturday, David dropped off a headless fish, Cobey self-fed for the first time, and was able to eat most of that fish. On Sunday, David provided Cobey with a headless fish at 0724. Once again, Cobey did a great job with his self-feeding. His technique is not perfect, but he does amazingly well. He ate the fish off and on for several hours, and picked it clean. At 1828 David brought a live fish to the nest. The fish was not very lively, but it took Cobey a while to figure out how to unzip the fish. Cobey managed to do it, and ate the head! Then he reached in and pulled out a lot of the center of the fish, avoiding the tough skin. This morning 8/5, Cobey has already tackled the leftover piece of fish, and managed to pull off a few bites, but it is dry and tough. Hopefully David will bring Cobey a fresh fish this morning. And, we are praying for Betty to come home. Weather forecast for 8/5: Sunny, high 90, light winds. The forecast for the rest of the week may include periods of very heavy rain and some wind, as the remnants of ‘Debby’ moves up the coast. Cobey will need some protection from all that bad weather, and David doesn’t seem to like that kind of Dad. Please come home, Mom.

I am so looking forward to seeing these beautiful Nova Scotian ospreys in real life. Take off in a week! Will be announcing a wee break in normal posting – I will be sending out special Nova Scotia episodes while I am away so you can learn about one of our beautiful Atlantic provinces. It is famous for birdwatching – I am so excited.

Flipping over to Wales. Dylan has been busy delivering his famous Brown Trout to the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales that he shares with his mate, Seren. The kids are there wanting fish! And if one is eating the other is fish calling very loudly!

Aran is busy at Glaslyn fishing for his and Elen’s kids, too. Everyone wants and needs to eat before migration.

In the south of England, the kiddos are waiting at Poole Harbour, too – and Blue 022 has four to feed!!!!!!!

At the nest of Iris and Finnegan, Sum-eh is getting restless to fly.

She is getting more height by the hover. Could today be the day she flies?

Our friend ‘A’ comments: “I’m hoping that her bond with Finnegan will bring her home. Certainly, she has something to come home to, which has not been the case before now. I know they’re territorial, and she returns to her nest, but now that nest has someone waiting on the perch, she may have an even stronger urge to be back. If indeed the older chick is female, then it is an incredible testament to the mothering skills of Iris, who has raised these two to be as close as any siblings I’ve seen on a nest. Never a hint of aggression or intimidation. They love to snuggle. Little Bob is usually fed first, but regardless of feeding order, they wait their turn. Sometimes, they compete for bites or even eat from each other’s overflowing beaks but never with violence attached. And if indeed Iris has achieved that outcome with a huge female hatched a week before her younger brother, we are definitely in the presence of a super mum. I love the way she has abandoned the nest to the kids, watching from the perch. She does always look to have a good crop, so at least Finn is keeping the family well fed. Perhaps too well fed. Why would these kids bother to leave home? This generation doesn’t, apparently. I do need to remember their names!!

This morning, big sister did a big and healthy PS, which pleased her so much that she had a hover. She is getting very good at her hovering. Oh Mary Ann she is magnificent. Such a beautiful osplet. She is gorgeous. (Little Bro is not yet interested in leaving his version of terra firma.) Iris immediately rises as if in an invisible lift, and she is out of there. Let hovering practice take place without her!! She can supervise from the perch. There is much fish calling (it’s 06:53). Little Bro is fascinated by his sister’s hovering (or perhaps he is just worried she’s about to land on his head)! But certainly, he is keeping his eyes on her. She is really getting some strength as she flaps. She is holding herself aloft for longer and longer, sometimes landing on an outer kiddie rail (is that technically branching or does she have to reach the perch?) and she is really enjoying the sense of wind beneath her wings. Those talons already look pretty deadly to me! “

At nest #3 in Finland, Tuulos and Taika have a fish and mate in the nest.

They are rebuilding at Decorah North!

Only one left to fledge at Blackbush – the other two that are flying continue to return to the nest for fish. Everyone is so well fed that on Sunday even Mum had some time to have a nice fish meal to herself.

In Newfoundland, Canada, Hope and Beaumont’s oldest is starting to work its wings. The chicks are 42 and 37 days old. We could have fledge in a little over a week for the oldest. Fledge dates average around 55 days. (some say 50-55)

Little Eurasian Hobby doing well eating dragonflies brought to the nest. As a fledgling, it will glide over the water catching dragonflies and other bugs for its meals along with small birds.

Everything you wanted to know about the Eurasian Hobby and more:

Eurasian Hobby | The Peregrine Fund Download

Geemeff’s Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 4th August 2024

A dreich day with no sign of Louis or Dorcha, it’s starting to feel like they’ve headed south to warmer climes as Dorcha was last seen eight days ago on the 27th, and Louis last seen five days ago on the 30th. Of course, those are the dates they were last seen on nest cam so there’s the possibility they are still in the area. Affric 152 and Garry LV0 are definitely still around and both came to Nest One today. Affric looked hollow-cropped and asked Garry for fish but he didn’t have any for her. It’s her mate Prince who should be providing fish for her back on the Bunarkaig nest where their newly fledged chick is probably still returning to, but like last season, there’s a complex relationship with that pair and Garry LV0 which seems to be ongoing. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is heavy rain with a gentle breeze, and light rain for the rest of the week too.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.29.01 (04.37.17); Nest Two 22.21.56 (04.44.16)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/mqRrJB__R5o N2 A Hoodie arrives and perches on Dorcha’s perch 07.10.05

https://youtu.be/O28igrtvFXE N1 Affric 152 follows Garry LV0 to the nest 12.13.01

Bonus webinar – Osprey migration with Dr Tim Mackrill:

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

‘CG’ reports that the streaming cam at Boundary Bay, the nest of Blue, is still down and expected to be so until some time today.

Debby is hitting the nests in Florida and is ramping it up in Fort Myers as I write. Send good thoughts.

Gardening for the animals.

The frogs may be gone, but life goes on: how I regained my faith in gardening for wildlife | Wildlif Download

Worries continue for USU’s wing at nest #1 in Finland against growing concerns that Nuppu (Mum) will depart the area. At the moment fish continues to be brought to the nest for the youngsters.

Geemeff sent us some more stories. Enjoy.

1) Article says nest was inspected and no eggs or chicks found. But it sounds like this was an active nest if it suddenly became a problem. Would be good to hear a new platform is being built nearby:https://www.whec.com/top-news/osprey-nest-removed-from-cell-tower-in-town-of-ontario-was-disrupting-cell-service/

2) A good news rescue story:

https://www.obawebsite.com/local-tree-climber-saves-osprey-in-night-rescue

3) And this one made me smile:

https://www.diesachsen.de/en/environment/swan-family-causes-traffic-chaos-in-limbach-oberfrohna-2944816

And back in California, Hartley and Monty are bonding after a great season!

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you to the following who sent in notes, posts, comments, videos, articles, and the streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, Connie and Don Dennis, CG, Geemeff, H, J, RP’, Hellgate Osprey X, Becky R, Olympic Park Eagle Cam, Osprey House Environment Centre, PLO, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Avian Report, Purpleshrub.com, Audubon, Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB, Osoyoos, Colonial Beach, Llyn Clywedog, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, BoPH, Montana Osprey Project, Saaksilvie, Raptor Research Project, Blackbush, Newfoundland Power, Wildlife Window, The Peregrine Fund, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, CNN Weather, The Guardian, whec.com, obawebsite.com, diesachen.de, Heidi McGrue, John Williams, and SK Hideaways.

Tuesday in Bird World

30 July 2024

Hell Everyone!

Oh, it was a beautiful day in Manitoba. Not too hot and there was a bit of a breeze. Even better to celebrate my daughter’s birthday albeit some days late. She is getting ready to head to Carnival in Grenada and a nice beach holiday for a month. Fantastic.

It was also a beautiful day in the garden. It is filling out all over. It was lovely to hear someone describe it was ‘paradise’. I hope it is for all the animals that live there.

I seem to be suffering from the summer ‘tireds’. Do you ever get that?

The Girls have been having a whale of a time watching the birds and other garden animals, and today, we caught The Boyfriend coming in for a meal. He has really been a concern as I have not seen him during the day. So I checked the front door security camera, and there he is—’pet’—coming in the night and wee hours of the early morning while I am still snuggled up with Hugo Yugo.

Calico is just so beautiful. This time last year, she was running to our house to eat and was quickly back caring for her kitten/s two blocks away under the deck of a house. I thank my lucky stars every day that she chose us. It will be a year since she moved into the house on August 28. Five days later, her only surviving kitten, Hope (aka Kitty Kitty), came to our deck to eat, and we were able to trap her and get her inside. Last night I took the walk that we made trying to find her just to remind myself again – and again – how grateful I am to have these wonderful animals gracing my life. They sure give me more than I can ever give to them!

Oh, and Calico has a tip for everyone who has cats. Those bowls that are elevated and tilt a little bit really work. Even the pickiest of the four, Hope, finishes up all her food.

Missey and Calico are getting along better.

Hugo Yugo is a force to herself and Baby Hope wouldn’t let me take her photo today.

Oh, Hope did stay still long enough! She is staring at Calico who is on top of the cat tree. Calico is swishing her tail – she wants to have a good play fight. Hope doesn’t seem interested.

Calico teasing with the tail.

Out in Bird World. There are intruders everywhere. Some of them are former fledglings returning to their natal nest. Some are ospreys beginning to move south and stopping over.

In many instances, everything goes well. ‘Hey Mum, I just stopped in to say hello!’ might be what Teifi would say to Idris and Telyn. Others are chasing this year’s fledglings off the nest. Some are vicious in their attacks, such as those at Patuxent. Sadly, it is what happens this time of year along with predation – those pesky eagles and goshawks wait til the chicks are nice and plump before they go to the nest, especially in Finland. We must breathe and continue to be thankful for those who have survived this year – for all the miracles that have put a smile on our faces.

Thank you to those that have already sent in wonderful lists of the events with the eagles, the hawks, the falcons, and the ospreys (and others) that put a smile on their face. Please send me your list. I will publish these next week!

What are you grateful for today in BirdWorld? I am grateful to wake up and see the fledgling Yellow USU is alive. (See video later in blog)

I am also wondering if this is our dear Louis who has landed on the Loch Arkaig 2 nest at 1156? If it is, it has been five full days since he has been seen and this would make me cry bucks of happy tears. I have written to Geemeff for confirmation as their are floaters out there at almost every nest.

Before I go on I want to thank those that keep an eye on nests. Heidi can call herself a real osprey expert these days but she is humble enough and will say, like Ferris Akel, that she ‘isn’t’. I am grateful to those community members who are keen watchers of nests and keep an eye on everything that happens that send in reports to me to share with you – A, CG, MM, PB, AM, MP, SP, Geemeff. So many of you. Thank you. It is impossible to have eyes on all the nests!

I missed CG’s report on Blue at the HWF-BBC nest for Monday so I am including it today. Thanks, CG!

“It’s 2210 hours here on the West Coast, Sunday, 7/28.

A parent showed up early this morning, around 0630 hours, with a food delivery. Blue also nibbled on leftovers. The leftovers seem to be tough. Blue spent the day periodically nibbling on leftovers, wingercising, hopping, napping, and looking out over the countryside. At 1900 hours, Blue was calling and a parent appeared with food. This seemed a larger piece than others that I have seen. I have a hard time seeing the food on the nest—maybe because it’s so small and blends into the nest material?

I’m no expert, but even though food is coming in, I’m used to seeing way larger pieces. I watched eagle nests with lone eaglets earlier this year and when a parent brought in a fish, you could tell it was a fish, or if it was a rodent, it had legs and a tail. The little Dorset Hobby in England currently on YouTube is receiving larger meals than Blue (and more often too!).

Happy Birthday Blue❣ Blue is 3 months old today. 🐟🐡”

July 29:

Blue and I woke up to rain. I am just learning about eagles like the rest of us, I am not an expert but someone who is watching and concerned for Blue. She woke up to rain; I woke up and it had already rained. She was a little wet, but maybe it feels good after all that heat. I don’t know if the shade is waterproof. Later in the day, Mere was looking quite bedraggled. She seems to perch often on the south perch.

Parent in with a fish around 0700 hours. I can actually see it and recognize it as a fish!

She horked most of the fish down in one go.

Blue needs way more food; I have learned that eagles need at least 350 grams of food per day up to 550 grams depending on their age. I was also reminded that this food needs to be nourishing, not skin and bones! Like us, blue needs enough food to grow strong bones and muscles, healthy feather growth, and energy. So where is the food? Why aren’t the parents delivering food like we have seen on other nests? I wish that the there was a forum that would discuss this.

Food delivery 7/27, if you can see it! Where’s the rest of whatever it is?

7/28: Largest piece of food that I’ve seen the past few days. Thought to be fish. My question is “Where’s the rest of it?” I’ve seen other eagle parents bring in whole fish to feed one eaglet. I’ve seen chicklets fed more food than this!

Also, if/when she fledges, she will need parental support providing her with food while she practices hunting. I do not even want to go there at this point.

Around 1130 hours, picked at yesterday’s leftover chunk of food/fish but didn’t really eat any. That continued throughout the day.

At 1900 hours, an adult brought food. Have no idea what it was. To me, it looks like scraps left from an adult’s meal. The only thing I have recognized so far was the fish this morning. I’m used to seeing food with legs and tails or a whole fish.

I have to give Blue credit for her continual wingercising. She was been doing a lot of wingercising throughout the day. Don’t know what anyone thinks about the condition of her feathers. When I initially saw Blue, my first thought was “what raggy feathers.” I know I’m not alone. To me, she always looks like she went through a hedge backwards. I have a medium-length-hair cat like that. His sister never has a hair out of place. I don’t know if part of this has to do with camera resolution. I’m used to looking at Jackie and Shadow with state of the art cameras, It’s like looking at their feathers under a microscope. And no, I’m not knocking Hancock’s cameras. I know these cameras are expensive so you buy what you can afford, and it also depends upon your purpose. I think I read that these cameras are good for about 5 years. On top of that there is continual maintenance. All in all, we are lucky we are able to view these nests.

I’m thinking Blue is one of those that Mary Ann talks about—they want to survive, and they fight against all odds for their survival.

We’re here cheering you on Blue. Take it a day at a time, keep up with that wingercising, and fledge when YOU feel you are ready.”

‘H’ reports:

7/29 Osoyoos osprey nest: I only saw three fish brought to the nest. It was not a very hot day, but winds were gusting to 18 mph in the afternoon. At 0534 Olsen dropped off a large partial fish, and Big took it to self-feed. Soo allowed Big to work on it for about 24 minutes before she took the fish to provide a feeding. At that point Middle ate for 6 minutes before Big joined in, and the sibs ate peacefully for the next 7 minutes. Then, Olsen delivered a whole fish at 0622. Soo fed, and once again it was a peaceful and seemingly equitable meal lasting 9 minutes. At 1043 Olsen brought a very large partial fish. Soo started her feeding, but was distracted and flew off with the fish at 1046. There may have been an intruder about. She did not return to the nest with the fish until 1057, but then she resumed feeding. Both osplets had a nice meal, and the total feeding time was around 31 minutes. Of note today was the wingercising. The osplets are 51 and 52 days old, and both of them were doing some impressive wingers with hops. At 1634 Big achieved several inches of lift off the nest! Weather forecast for 7/30: Partly cloudy, high temp 84F/29C, light winds.

7/29 Colonial Beach Osprey nest: Young 35-day-old Cobey is looking really good. Yesterday David delivered all four fish to the nest, but apparently today it was Betty’s turn, and she brought all four of the fish to the nest. That arrangement works fine, as long as David doesn’t go MIA again. The weather is warming up again in the Mid-Atlantic region, with a high of 88 on 7/30, and gradually becoming warmer throughout the week. Winds will gust to 17 mph on 7/30.

7/29 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: We only had one sighting of an osprey today. At 0816 Dad brought a partial fish to the nest. Since no one arrived to take it, Dad flew off with the fish. Stay safe, osprey family. We miss you, and we are thinking of you.

7/29 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): This will sound like a broken record, but this is the most amazing daily story at this nest… There were no fish at all brought to the nest on 7/29, and we didn’t see Johnny. The weather was not too hot, but it was a windy day. Poor ‘Fen’ had nothing to eat. And then, there it was… At 1745 June arrived with her daily huge live striped bass! I smiled and laughed, why had I even been worried? Those big bass are quite strong when they are flopping about, and it seems that Fen has learned to tuck and stay away until Mom gets the fish under control. Fen is 45 days old. (I think these fish are striped bass, but if anyone knows otherwise, please kindly let Mary Ann know)

7/29 Forsythe osprey nest: Larry is 69 days old, and fledged two weeks ago. The past few days there have been fewer fish brought to the nest for Larry. In fact there was only one partial fish today, and it was brought by Opal. Perhaps Larry has had some meals away from the nest. Well, the most interesting thing happened this afternoon… At 1708 Larry brought a large turtle to the nest. This is the first time we have seem him carrying anything in his talons. He toyed with the turtle a bit, but did not spend much time with it, and Larry soon flew away. The turtle had its head and legs all tucked away, so we didn’t know if it was alive. Well, at 2032 Mr. Turtle suddenly ‘came alive’, walked around in circles a bit, then promptly walked right off the nest! The nest is a typical man-made marsh platform, so not being very high, Mr. Turtle was probably okay.

At Sandpoint, we have a family portrait – Keke, Keo, and River. River is enjoying a nice fish meal fromm Mum. Look at the size of River to Keke. Could River be a girl? Gosh, I wish they would ring these osplets at the streaming cam nests!

At Oyster Bay, all three fledglings are home for the night with Mum perched keeping an eye.

Both fledglings hanging out at the nest in Patchogue during a thunderstorm on Monday.

Blue 022 is still busy making sure those four fledglings at Poole Harbour have enough fish! CJ7 will be trying to fatten up for her long migration. Blue 022 will stay on and take care of the kids. Normally, the female leaves first and the male leaves last.

At Saaksilvie Muonion, the family of four is doing well – Aile & Juhu, along with Kajo and Lumi. Nice fish have come to the nest, and interesting twigs offer great camouflage, and the osplets are keeping down. Does this nest also have intruders about?

Surviving osplet at Saaksilvie #4- Yellow USU – is getting fish deliveries from Mum.

Chicks at Blackbush Beach Resort are itching to fly. They are beauties.

I just caught the morning fish at McEuen Park. Baby has a full crop and Mum is getting to enjoy some nice fish. They have survived. She lost three but she has one that is on track to fledge.

Cowlitz PUD fledgling returns to the nest for fish dinners. All is well.

Intruders at the Snow Lane nest in Newfoundland. There are intruders everywhere and our adults and fledglings are getting injured. This is the best year for Hope and Beaumont. Send them your good wishes so that the entire family is safe and well fed.

I have been checking on Hope and the chicks at Snow Lane and everything seems good. These are two beautiful osplets and how could we not be over the moon for this couple? They should ring the bells in Newfoundland. Miracles happen.

Crows are being pesky and not so nice to Australian ospreys.

This is how lucky Iris, Finn, and the two osplets were doing that storm. Have a read.

The only surviving chick at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest looks like it is going to fledge any day. It is getting bigger and bigger but not as big as Mum. A little boy?

Winnie and her baby at Dunrovin Ranch look out to the world below with all the horses.

Geemeff’s summary of Loch Arkaig for the Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 29th July 2024

Another day with no sign of Louis or Dorcha, but once again Garry LV0 and Affric 152 visited Nest One, two visits from Garry LV0 and one from Affric 152, no fish were brought today. A Wood Pigeon was the only other visitor. LizB gave us another update on Affric’s nest at Bunarkaig:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15508869.

The forecasted rain materialised, tonight’s forecast is light clouds and light winds with a chance of rain, but tomorrow’s looks more promising with sunny intervals and a gentle breeze.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.45.51 (04.24.09); Nest Two 22.38.14 (04.30.25)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/ZozTNcuC3a0 N1 Garry LV0 arrives alarm-chipping 15.00.53

https://youtu.be/7vYMN9QOr90 N1 Affric 152 follows Garry LV0 when he returns to the nest 15.35.54

https://youtu.be/VDKpq9TtiJk N1 A Wood Pigeon perches for a little while 18.43.18

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

We hope that Louis and Dorcha are off at another loch filling up on fish, getting strong and gaining some fat for their migration south. Without chicks, they can leave any time. And isn’t it great that the surviving osplet in Spain fledged? Just wonderful.

At the Dorest Hobby nest, ‘SP’ reports that the little Hobby had the following meals and is doing well: “…a decent breakfast at 7:57, then dragonflies at 14:58, 15:53, 16:07, 16:15, 16:36, and 4 more before a wee bird was brought for tea at 19:35. Followed by yet another dragonfly!”

Captive breeding is helping the Condor population and it is bringing the Guam Kingfisher back from near extinction.

Extinct-in-the-wild Guam Kingfisher hatches in captivity – BirdGuides Download

If you missed the dawn duet from the Olympic Park Eagles, here you go! My favourite time is when the eaglets are old enough to join in with their parents. So cute.

The Canadian company, Omega, is still trying to take every last Menhaden out of the Bay so that the whales, dolphins, and ospreys (amongst others) starve.

Osprey doing well at A Place Called Hope (one of the absolute best rehabbers in the US).

Iris, Finn, and the kids are looking good. Soon we will know their names. Did you vote?

Iris’s older chick is now self-feeding. It won’t be long til the Little one is trying it out.

Still warm at Charlo.

The Charlo chick is sure working those wings. No hovering but certainly some good wingers.

‘PB’ reports that there is still tension from intruders at the Steelscape osprey platform in Washington. The intruder took the beak of the fledgling that has an injury and was also thought to be pulling out feathers. The chick did get away.

All is well at the McEuen Park Osprey platform.

Skylarks. You might only know them because they were once a model of an American car company but they are, indeed, a wonderful songbird.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/25/country-diary-watching-a-skylark-watching-me?CMP=share_btn_url

But Skylarks have made The Red List! According to the RSBP, “The Skylark is a small brown bird, larger than a sparrow but smaller than a starling. It is streaky brown with a small crest – which can be raised when the bird is excited or alarmed – and a white-sided tail. The wings also have a white rear edge which is visible in flight. It’s known for its display flight, vertically up in the air. Its recent and dramatic population declines make it a Red List species.”

“Skylark (Explored)” by tsbl2000 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

In her entry for the Skylark in Red Sixty-Seven, Ann Cleeves describes the flight of the male Skylark. ” It rises almost vertically from the ground, then hovers effortlessly, sometimes for an hour or more, before plunging back to earth. It’s a tragedy that this iconic bird is under threat. It’s endangered because its habitat ranges beyond the moors and into the cultivated farmland. The spread of intensive agriculture has limited the species’ opportunities for breeding.” (86)

Two of Nova Scotia’s fledglings, Skylor and Heidi. Posts show that other osplets are fledging in Nova Scotia as I write! They had a good year. Everyone should be celebrating the great success of their nests.

I sure hope these two are around in a little over a fortnight. I would love to see them when I am in Nova Scotia.

Another good news story to make us smile.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/the-flow-country-recognised-as-world-heritage-site-in-a-first-for-unesco

Richmond and Rosie’s kids, Pax and Tully, are flying around the light pole. Gosh I miss them being on camera at the Whirly Crane.

Remember – vote for the name selections for Iris and Finn’s kids!

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We hope to see you soon! Remember to send in those lists of the wonders and the miracles of the 2023-24 eagle/osprey/falcon/hawk, etc breeding season! What put a smile on your face instead of a tear in your eye?

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, observations, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CG, Geemeff, H, PB, SP’, Jeff Kear, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Woodland Trust, HWF-BBC, Sandpoint Ospreys, PSEG, BoPH, Finnish Osprey Foundation, McEuen Park, Blackbush Beach Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Ian L Winter, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, Raptor View Research Institute, MN-LA, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Dorsett Hobby, BirdGuides, Menhaden-Little Fish-Big Deal, Olympic Park Eagles, A Place Called Hope, Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Labs, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Steelscape Ospreys, The Guardian, OpenVerse, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Fenwick Island, Forsythe, Colonial Beach Ospreys, the RSPB, Golden Gate Audubon, Mary Anne Miller.

Monday in Bird World

29 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

We hope that you had a really lovely weekend. I have been busy taking photographs of the six Blue Jays in the garden along with Dyson and family and all the baby sparrows. And today, there will be time to go and get a new cable to connect the camera to the computer so I can show you this week. All of the garden animals are fine. The Girls are actually enjoying a new furniture arrangement in the conservatory and today they are waiting for a family birthday party where they will get some treats!

I want to start with some really good news from the Los Angeles Zoo, which was reported in The Guardian. A record number of condors have hatched in captivity. This is just the best!

‘Nature’s clean–up crew’: record-setting 17 condor chicks hatch at LA Zoo | California | The Guardia Download

Question from ‘RP and VS’ – Crows and Cheesy Dogs. What are they? Where do I get them? As I answer this, a Blue Jay is jumping around near a huge plate of cheesy dogs and chicken weiners and Mr Crow is flying in to get his share as well.

Well, Crows like meat. It is a bad thing if you are Vegan or a Vegetarian which seems to run in my family. So we giggle when we are in the check out line at the shops – hoping no one sees us. We have a very discounted grocery near us. They sell chicken hotdogs in 3 kg packages. These are just plain ones, and the Crows love them. We slice them into thin disks and pile them on a big plate. The Crows devour them. They have a very strong smell – . The Blue Jays love them, too, and so do the Starlings. Now for the cheesy dogs – they are a smoked sausage like weiner with cheese injected in them. Sometimes, they even have Jalapeno pepper flakes. They love these. Again, sliced thin. Some places call these Smokies. They remind me of European hot dogs or sausages. The Crows also love hard-boiled eggs, Chinese chicken balls, etc. BUT they won’t touch chicken strips from certain companies. It is like they are too processed. How could that be different from the chicken hot dogs? We also put out small pieces of fruit for them. I know that your specific question was about the cheesy dogs, but we keep leftovers and I have places that keep their food at the end of the day that can’t be given to humans. That is how I know they love Chinese chicken balls with sauce! They will also eat pizza (the local shop is good to save the food) and we cut it into small pieces. I don’t like giving them bread. It reminds me of the ducks and geese that get Angel Wing. Perhaps it is alright for the songbirds and Crows – I should do some research!

Oh, I do love these garden visitors. We have also discovered that the songbirds like different types of seed and suet. Sometimes you have to experiment. Brands may lok the same but the birds in my garden will not touch a certain brand of suet and they prefer, above everything else, Black Oil Seed. Some won’t eat millet while the Dark-eyed Juncos devour the stuff. Just get a little bit at first and test it on who is coming to your garden.

Be sure to clean your feeders and bird baths regularly. I have been using a vegetable brush on the bird baths because of the hot and the algae issues.

Today was a particularly quiet day. I did not spend much of it watching the nests. The last couple of weeks took the wind out of my sails. Instead, I continued to enter data into the forms for the nests in Nova Scotia, some in Norway, and a handful from my own province. I had hoped to get us up to 500 eggs that were monitored during the 2024 osprey season and it looks like we are going to make it! Tragedies in one region are off-set by successes elsewhere. I wonder how 2024 will compare to 2023? We wait to see.

A quick run through of some nests:

Dorsett Hobby: The only surviving eyas is just rather wet today! There is some concern for the little Hobby. ‘SP’ follows this nest closely and says that it has little attention form Mum in the last 36 hours. She has made Dorsett Hobby aware of the concerns – let us hope Mum brings in more food and stays with the little one although she could be perched on a nearby tree and we are not seeing her.

#1 Finland. Everything is OK.

#2 Nova Scotia. Both of Ethel and Oscar’s chicks, Skylor and Heidi, have now fledged. Heidi flew on Sunday with Skylor taking his wings on Saturday. (Photo by Don Dennis)

Right now the temperature in Nova Scotia is 30 degrees C. They have just finalised their listing of ospreys and they have sixty (60) this year. That is a fantastic survival rate per nest – in fact, most nests I am told, did not lose a single chick! Well done, Canada.

Hellgate Canyon: Just look at how big that oldest chick is? Almost as big as Mama Iris! The question is – where is Finnegan? where are the fish? Did I miss deliveries in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon? It looks like Iris has gone out on her own. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Check out the snake eyes on these two kids of Iris and Finn! These are just the most gorgeous osplets. Finn and Iris have made two beautiful babies.

Finn apparently chased Louis off the Owl Pole and it appears he told him in no uncertain terms to ‘get out of Dodge’. And then Iris and Finn defended the nest against an intruder which was possibly Louis checking out what was going on. Since his chicks fledged, it seems he has some time on his hands. Let’s hope he stays away.

Finn eating a much wanted fish by Iris and the kids.

Iris and her train.

Finn got that whopper, minus its head, to Iris and the kids. She waited rather impatiently.

They are having a feast!

It took some time to get fish on the nest today and the oldest has decided to be a bit of a ….. No worries. There is enough fish for three or four nests. That was a whopper. Iris will make sure both are fed.

And she did!

Llyn Brenig: Emrys fledged on Sunday!

Poland Black Stork Nests: Maria Marika has posted saying that none of the four Black Storks fitted with a transmitter in 2023 and ringed are alive. Sad day for their community. Details on individual storks will be provided on the Memorial Wall in coming days.

‘H’ reports on Patuxent River Park happenings:

Patuxent River Park:

Rewind: On 7/25, two significant events happened less than 20 minutes apart. At 1444 there was an adult intruder on the nest when one of the resident juveniles flew in and attempted to land. The intruder jumped up to intercept the juvie and struck her just as her talons hit the nest. The younger osprey was knocked backwards and fell down below the nest. The nest is only ten feet higher than the level of the marsh. We soon knew that the juvenile osprey had been Big. The intruder flew away after that assault. Nineteen minutes later, Middle was in the nest when Dad flew in with a large goldfish. The intruder landed almost immediately behind Dad and tried to grab the fish. Dad attempted to defend, but to no avail. The intruder had possession of the goldfish with Middle still attached and the intruder fell/flew off the nest. Middle returned to the nest. Soon after that, we started to intermittently hear rustling and flapping coming from below the nest. There was obviously an injured osprey below the nest. Hours passed, and as high tide approached, the flapping sounded like it was in water rather than just the vegetation. Who was down there? Was it Big? Was it the intruder? We have never seen Big again after she was knocked off the nest that afternoon. By late evening, we no longer heard the flapping. At 1100 am the following morning, the park staff searched, but did not find an osprey below the nest.

Fast forward to 7/28: Middle was the only fledgling that we were still seeing at the nest. Oh boy, did Dad ever take care of his girl today! Dad brought six fish to Middle. There were five fish delivered to the nest between 0641 and 0846! We didn’t think she could do it, but Middle ate all of those fish. Have you ever seen an osprey grinning from ear to ear?

Middle was in and out a bit, enjoying her day. An adult intruder landed in the nest at 1220, and Middle soon arrived to shoo the visitor away. At 1338 a visiting juvenile osprey arrived at the nest. After several minutes, Middle flew in, there was a fight, and they both went overboard. The wayward juvie returned to the nest. Middle soon arrived and literally gave the juvie the boot, with a karate kick! After that, the visiting juvie decided not to return.

Dad delivered a huge whole fish to Middle at 1650. Middle ate and ate, but she had to take breaks to rest and digest, so her fish meal was lasting a long time. At 1851 Middle was still in possession of a large piece of fish when she was dive-bombed by an adult osprey. A couple minutes later the intruder landed in the nest, but was repelled by Middle. We could tell that the intruder kept landing on the camera, and at 1856 it dive bombed Middle again. But then, things seemed to calm down, and by 1914 Middle resumed eating her fish. At 1922 and 1923 the intruder returned and landed in the nest, but was forced off both times by Middle. At 1924 the intruder flew in very fast, grabbed Middle on her upper back and dragged her backwards off the nest. We heard her hit the marsh 10 feet below. We did not see middle for the rest of the evening. We did not hear any rustling or flapping coming from below the nest. Please come home Middle, so that we know you are okay.

I have video recordings of all of the attacks on 7/25 and 7/28, and I have reviewed them carefully. Based on head and chest markings, I believe that this is the same adult intruder that attacked Big, and shortly thereafter dragged Middle off the nest on 7/25. It was the very same adult that attacked Middle today. So, now there is no question who the osprey was below the nest on 7/25. It was Big, and she was likely carried away by the tide, and may have drowned. I would love to be wrong about Big’s demise. We loved you Big. Fly high.”

Steelscape: ‘PB’ watched the intruders trying to take over this nest earlier on Sunday. One of the fledglings appears to have sustained an injury.

It has been a rough day.

Decorah North: Eagle eyed Deb Stecyk has noticed something a miss with one of the adults on the Decorah North nest. Deb wonders if it is an old injury? scar? It is the first time I have seen this dark line. Please note that all Decorah cameras will be shut down for annual maintenance on 2 August.

Other images make it look like a nasty cut to both sides of the mandible with dried blood on the left side of the neck. But is this insect bites and could Dad have scratched them? Just wondering. PB’ says they are terrible in the MidWest right now.

Gosh, I feel like I am the writer of doom and gloom today. There is just so much going on, and there are a lot of nest takeovers and intruders this time of year wrecking havoc with stable avian homes.

HWF-BBCentral: Blue is looking better today. More alert. He was seen doing some wingers and had a crop. Let us hope this eaglet gets its mojo and fledges off that nest to the shock of everyone.

Charlo Montana: Still hot. Nest still doing alright. Those funny balls that Charlie brought in have been used as a pillow by the rapidly growing chick.

Sandpoint: River is looking in excellent form!

The Bridge Golf Club: Fledgling returns to the nest for fish and is sleeping there Sunday night. All is good.

Port Lincoln Barge: Mum is on the nest waiting for Dad!

Olympic Park Eagles: Incubation continues. Cathy Cook writes that we will be on pip watch starting on Monday.

I want to add a note -. This nest has not had failures every year. Things happened once the eaglets fledged. The Currawongs chased WBSE 25 out of the area, and sadly, WBSE 26 had to be euthanised. 26, the much loved little eaglet, had injured its leg within its first 48 hours. 25 was good for supporting, caring, and encouraging its younger sibling. 26 did fledge and did return to the nest after several days, where it spent considerable time before. Sadly, it was chased out of the forest, winding up – during a storm – on a high-rise balcony. The wildlife rehab team decided that 26 could not be successfully put back together and was euthanised. In fact, the Currawongs are the biggest problem! Eaglets have been rescued, and two of them, if I remember correctly, were fitted with transmitters after rehab and released in another area. They had been tracked for some time. Last year was amazing. It was the first year we could fully appreciate how Lady and Dad cared for their young as they fed and trained WBSE 31. It was incredible, and the images provided by the community photographers that were posted warmed our hearts. Cathy confirmed that 31 stayed in the area till February. Let us hope that these two hatch, all goes well, and we will see them flying over the Parmatta River and eating fish at the River Roost.

Cathy also informed me that there are ospreys fishing in the area, too. How wonderful.

Geemeff sends her daily report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 28th July 2024

No sign today of Louis, last seen on 25th July, or Dorcha, last seen yesterday, and no activity of any sort on Nest Two. Over on Nest One, Garry did some early morning sky-dancing with a fish, which may have been why Affric 152 arrived on the nest and stayed long enough to take the fish from him when he landed. The fish was an unusual one, a Perch, first time seen on the nest and possibly a cause for concern as they shouldn’t be found in this area. Link below to WTS George’s comment about this. Affric flew off with the perch – perhaps she was taking it back to her chick on the Bunarkaig nest. A bellowing of Bullfinches visited the nest before Affric returned at lunchtime but was disappointed when Garry joined her without bringing her another fish. The weather was settled and sunny today, but drizzle is forecast for tonight, with more rain tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.56.03 (04.13.18); Nest Two 22.45.47 (04.23.40)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/0IsE6V9aoyo N1 Sky dancing heard then Garry lands with fish for Affric 05.42.30

https://youtu.be/njpggXeqWMs N1 A bellowing of Bullfinches visit 07.34.31

https://youtu.be/Iyy_ZwZ_cM8 Garry LV0 joins Affric 152 on the nest 12.24.16

Bonus info on Garry LV0’s unusual fish – European perch (Perca fluviatilis):

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15497584

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_perch

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

‘H’ reports:

7/28 Osoyoos osprey nest: This family had a good day. There were nine fish brought to the nest, including one from Soo. Four of the fish were tiny, but the others provided meals that lasted 13-19 minutes. There was very little aggression from Big toward Middle today. There were a few meals where Big ate more, but there were also feedings where it was obvious that Middle had more to eat than Big. Weather forecast for 7/29: Cloudy with chance of showers, high 77, light winds. Warmer temperatures will gradually return by the end of the week.

The BBC covered the Alyth Ospreys and the construction of their nest. Lovely interview with Roy Dennis about the move of the nest.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, questions, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CC, Geemeff, H, MM, PB, RP, SP, TU, VS’, The Guardian, Dorsett Hobby, Llyn Brenig Osprey Project, Finnish Osprey Project, Connie and Don Dennis, Montana Osprey Project, The Weather Network, Maria Marika, Patuxent River Park, Heidi McGrue, Steelscape, Raptor Research Project, Deb Stecyk, HWF-BBC, Charlo Montana, Sandpoint, Bridge Golf Course, PLO, Olympic Park Eagles, BBC, and Osoyoos.

A Day of Fledges…Sunday in Bird World

27 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Morning Update: ‘PB’ report that two adult ospreys attacked the two fledglings this morning at Steelscape.

It looks like one fledgling is back at the nest now. Let us hope that both are alright.

Saturday was a 30-degree C – humid – day on the Canadian Prairies. The garden animals were active early and arrived again once the sun moved further to the West. The heat is meeting up with a cold front and we are in for another evening of severe thunderstorms. Hugo Yugo gets so scared and wants to cuddle in tight while Calico runs and hides under the sofa. It makes me only imagine what a fifteen or half-hour of fireworks does to them.

The Girls and I started reading a new book tonight. They might not understand what is going on but Calico knows she likes to sleep on the foot stool in front of the Dyson fan. The book is, The Heat Will Kill You First. Life and Death on a Scorched Planet’. I am hoping to understand more about what is happening and how it is impacting our raptors. Some of it we are witnessing before our eyes – in Montana and British Columbia.

Geemeff just sent me an article on the changing weather in the UK.

Temperature extremes and records most affected by UK’s changing climate | Met Office | Official Pres Download

The weather, for now, is giving the Montana nests a break, but it will get hotter again. Fishing was good in Montana once the heat dissipated, with whoppers coming on all three nests – Hellgate, Charlo, and Dunrovin. It is all good.

Elsewhere, the chicks are fledgling. The ospreys will begin to make their move to migration, with many of the females leaving early and the males staying behind, as is tradition, feeding the chicks til they fledge. Everyone should be gone in less than six weeks. That time is going to pass quickly. It will not be long until we have a hatch at the nest of Lady and Dad in the Sydney Olympic Forest. Then there will be eggs and hatches at Orange and the CBD in Melbourne, and, of course, all the fun at the Port Lincoln barge.

As we enter the end of the breeding season for our raptors, storks, and sea birds, I would love to hear from you. We know that it has been a ‘tough’ year but there is that old saying about there always being a silver lining. Send me a note and tell me what were the golden moments, the miracles, that brought a smile to you this year. I hope to do part of a posting on these- so don’t be shy!!!!!!!! You can write in the comments or send me an e-mail: maryannsteggles@icloud.com Thank you.

Llyn Brenig has its first fledge. Bethan (Blue 8B9) fledged on Saturday, the 27th of July. The male, Emrys, will be following his sister soon! Bethan returned to the nest after a two-minute foray. There she is, feeding on a nice fish while Emrys waits for his turn.

Della and Warren’s two chicks fledged on Saturday. Both returned to the nest safely.

Everyone has fledged at Glaslyn and the chicks are enjoying the valley and chasing Aran and Elen around after a fish dinner. Or waiting on the nest fish calling and hoping for a delivery.

Meanwhile the trio at Blackbush are waiting to fly.

At the Russell Lake nest of Oscar and Ethel, the eldest, Skylor, fledged on Saturday. It won’t be long til Heidi takes to the skies, too. (Video capture from footage by Don Dennis)

Skylor is the first known fledgling out of the Nova Scotia nests. Did I tell you they have done really well this season.

There is always something to be happy about. We lost Karl II and Kaia and our hearts broke for these beautiful Black Storks from Estonia. But now, our dear Urmas, has located a female feeding at the fish baskets and he has tagged her and put a transmitter on her and everyone hopes that she will return to the area to be the mate of Kergu. Her name is Kerli and her ring number is : 719R.

Urmas set up fish baskets to save the lives of the storklets. He has been doing this for years when the streams had few frogs or little fish. He loves these beautiful birds. He also helped with the removal and adoption of Jan and Jannika’s storklets. You will remember Bonus who was given to Karl II and Kaia to be raised after being in the medical centre. Urmas is an individual with a heart that grows bigger and bigger.

Boulder Colorado’s Only Bob fledged around 1338 Saturday the 27th.

The fledgling returned to the nest just as it should. Great take off and landing.

At Hellgate Canyon, Iris and Finn’s oldest is really beginning to flap its wings dreaming of flying like Mum and Dad.

Finn brought in a really nice headless fish at 1837.

There was a nice fish on the Charlo Montana nest as well.

‘PB’ caught Mum feeding the Only Bob at McEuen Park! Excellent luck with a camera with no rewind.

Winnie was trying to keep Only Bob at Dunrovin cool. Hard to fit under Mum now!

All three of the chicks at Mrs O’s nest in Tweed Valley have fledged.

Fledglings at Fort Calhoun are doing fantastic.

Even the Dorsett Hobby is getting into the act with its wingers!

Geemeff’s Daily Summary of Loch Arkaig activites and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Saturday 27th July 2024
All the action took place on Nest One today, apart from a sweetly singing Wren and some juvenile Tree Pipits exploring Nest Two. Garry LV0 paid three visits, the first time bringing a stick and doing a bit of nest work, the second time Dorcha arrived soon after he did and then both took off in a hurry when a third Osprey, possibly Affric 152, flew overhead with a brief flash of blue Darvic ring. A little later Dorcha returned for a very brief visit, and Garry returned mid afternoon for his third visit which lasted all of ten seconds. No sign of Louis today. LizB provided another update on the Bunarkaig nest, link below, the chick was on the nest so either hasn’t fledged yet or had returned for food. The weather was a little unsettled, and at one time it was raining on Nest Two but not on Nest One, showing the difference made by the few kilometres separating the two nests. Tonight’s forecast is light clouds and light winds, with the prospect of a dry sunny day tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.20.14 (03.33.35); Nest Two 23.23.32 (04.01.46)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/5cs0x94tC-A N2 A sweet little singer and a variety of little birds visit 07.34.53
https://youtu.be/OuuyJzYB3ZM N1 Garry LV0 brings a stick and does some nest prep 10.09.53
https://youtu.be/K3oYtZEf5MA N1 Dorcha visits Garry LV0 but another Osprey makes them flee 10.42.47
https://youtu.be/6FoEZpmrZks N1 Dorcha pays another visit 11.19.25 (zoom)
https://youtu.be/iXEdt1LR4_s N1 Garry LV0 returns for a very brief visit 15.59.11

Bonus update on the Bunarkaig nest (thanks LizB):https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15491480

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam
Blast from the past, this day in 2023:https://youtu.be/z1_voshU-z8 N2 Flight of the Bumbling Hoodies (Classic Ospreys Rimsky-Korsakov, quicktime)

Trudi Kron is keeping an eye on Blue at Boundary Bay.

‘CG’ also sends us some historic information on the Boundary Bay nest and updates on Blue:

Photos by AP Horvasse

The nest was installed in September 2022. AP Hovasse made a brief video of the installation with David Hancock explaining a bit about the process and about why the area is important for eagles. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGYxfOBd08

Now I ask you, what osprey would not like this nest? I wonder with the sunshade and supports how well they would work to deter flying predators. Nests are never going to be 100 percent predator proof; just try to make it more difficult and more work to take the chicks.

7/27: Blue was awake early calling to no avail. She spent the day wingercising, hopping, laying down, and vocalizing. Mere showed up around 1100 hours with empty talons. Finally, a small meal was brought by a parent at around 1700 hours. Another showed up around 1800 hours. Then another at around 1830 hours! A fourth delivery showed up around 1900 hours. Blue started eating No. 4 then decided to leave it. Thinking ahead to breakfast? I believe it was Mere who brought all the food. Blue finished off the night standing, head tucked in, sleeping.

All we can do is take one day at a time and send positive thoughts Blue’s way.”

News coming from the West End nest!

Fledge at Alyth SSEN on the 27th! Congratulations Harry and Flora.

‘H’ sends her report:

7/27 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: Hooray! Both juveniles fledged this morning at 61 and 60 days of age. They were both looking like they were going to take off at any moment, and we didn’t know which one would be first. Chick 2 seemed to have a leg-up in experience, because s/he had made it up to the nest perch yesterday. Chick #1 fledged first at 0639, about four minutes before chick 2 decided to fly. How exciting! Chick 2 made a quick loop around the area and returned to the nest in less than a minute. Chick 1 followed Mom in, and landed back in the nest after three hours. Both of the fledglings made perfect first-time landings. Congratulations to Della and Warren for the fantastic job they did this season raising these two delightful young ospreys.

7/27 Forsythe osprey nest: The live stream had been down for 48 hours, but we were pleased to see Opal deliver a large whole fish to Larry for supper.

7/27 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was a pretty good day for this family. Olsen delivered 5 fish to the nest. The first meal commenced at 0924 and there was no aggression from Big. Soo seemed to preferentially feed Big. Moms know…get the aggressive one filled up early! Middle has also learned not to push Big’s buttons, so s/he was not very assertive during the feeding. Middle only ate approximately 20 bites of fish during the entire 17-minute meal. The next fish at 1034 provided for a 14-minute meal, and Middle had an 11-minute private feeding. There ya’ go! The 1441 fish was small, and Middle was intimidated a bit by Big. Middle ate 5 bites of fish during the 5-minute meal. The fish at 1524 was another small fish, and Middle ate 20 bites. The last fish of the day was delivered by Olsen at 1758. It was large, and Soo fed for 21 minutes…the longest meal of the day. Middle was at the chow line first, and had a private feed lasting 6 minutes before Big arrived. After that, the siblings ate side-by-side, and seemed to be fed rather equally. The osplets are 49 and 50 days old, and they have both been doing a little ‘wingercising’. Weather forecast for 7/28: Sunny, high temp 91F/33C, winds 13 mph.

Thanks so much, ‘Heidi’.

The best news is coming out of the Dyfi Osprey Project this morning with the sighting of Teifi. Teifi is a 2020 hatch – the first year that Idris and Telyn were bonded mates after the death of Monty. I am just jumping up and down with joy. We look for these returnees and hope they make it. Teifi is now four and is obviously returning to find his own nest. Wonder where he has been?

How does the composition of farmland and its diversity or not impact birds?

Diverse agricultural landscapes are better for birds and farmers, study finds – BirdGuides Download

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CG, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’, Steelscape, The Golden Thread, The Weather Network, Llyn Brenig Osprey Cam, Brenig Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Blackbush, Connie and Don Dennis, Looduskalender, Boulder County, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Pam Breci, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Trudi Kron, HWF-Boundary Bay, Scyllabub, Lady Hawk, BirdGuides, Osoyoos, Forsythe, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Mispillion Harbour.

Deaths, fledges…Tuesday in Bird World

23 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Late News:
Coming from the Charlo nest: “The cam was shut off while ORI removed baling twine from the nest. When the cam resumed, chick #2 seemed to have some sort of seizure and fell off the nest. The men returned and recovered the chick’s body.”

Before we get on with today’s news, Dr Erick Greene listened and he will open a poll on Monday or Tuesday so that you can choose a name for Iris and Finnegan’s osplets. There will be a list of potential selections – we don’t make up our own. So please watch for the survey on Montana Osprey Cams FB page! Iris has chicks to be named for the first time in six years. The last was a Le’le in 2018. This is so wonderful.

There is an interesting statement embedded in the announcement below – Finnegan is bringing fish to the nest that weigh as much or more than he does. Amazing. He really is amazing. Iris did well in picking a mate. Louis did well to stay away – and it seems he knew it. Thank you, Louis.

Maybe one way to look at 2024 is not at the sadness but at the little miracles that happened. This is certainly one of them.

We continue to have storms in the evening with lots of lightning and thunder. Hugo Yugo was quite afraid last night around midnight when the entire conservatory lit up along with a loud clap. The garden is loving the heat and humidity. Tonight it looks like the first feast of green beans! And the celery is thriving. The squirrels have not done much damage to the veggies and herbs. Dyson has even managed to leave the tomatoes alone!!!!!!! But she has been relentlessly digging in the perennials that line the path to the feeder.

There are hundreds of baby sparrows. Six baby blue jays are also pecking away at the cylinders and drinking from the bird baths. I have not seen the baby cowbirds since returning from Toronto. Perhaps they flew out of the garden to learn about the big wide world. I hope they return. It is safe here, and there is always plenty of food and water. Even the hawk has no luck now, as the trees, shrubs, and vines are so loaded with leaves that the little birds can hide easily.

Not great images. I am just using the camera phone through the glass with the Feather Friendly strips on it. Heavily cropped to get the image bigger.

They are going through seed and peanuts. A three-gallon pail of each morning and evening – oh, and, of course, the cheesy dogs. Kilograms of them!!!!!!

Cowlitz Osplet. I checked and saw no osplet on the nest. Assumed fledge! That darn bird jumped up to the top of the grate. I think we should call it ‘branching’ despite the fact it is a term that we associate with eaglets. Sometimes osplets hop to the perch! So no official fledge at Cowlitz – meaning no flying and return to the nest at the time of this writing.

I received a request to find information about what appeared to be an osprey in a box at the bottom of the Cowlitz PUD nest from ‘AM’ in Asia. Cowlitz has posted about the incident at this link. I am including the images of the osprey and the box. We have no idea what condition the osplet was in when the individual found it or the depth of their knowledge of wildlife care. But it appears they were trying to do some good.

Wild animals need to be taken to a qualified rehabilitation clinic. Do not presume that another raptor will adopt them. Try and get help if you can. If you can pick up a raptor, remember ——-they are ill. Otherwise they would be taking your face or arm off. Seriously. I always call it ‘Remembering Rubus’.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/pQ8jiJfRNf6K9QmK

It was still hot in Winnipeg today – hot and humid but not nearly as much as it was for our ospreys in Montana!

Dr Erick Greene’s post says it all – almost:

The ash from the wild fires can get into the lakes and rivers and cause the fish that the ospreys depend on to die.

Wildfires aren’t just a land thing. Smoke and ash can choke the ocean too | Oceana Download

Fish deliveries coming in to Charlo Montana for Lola and the two osplets.

Mum is out fishing at McEuen Park in Idaho.

Fish delivery to nest #4 in Finland.

At the Golden Eagle nest #2 in Estonia, Kristel had a great day on Monday. Nice prey deliveries. Look at her. The eyes are bright and clear and the feathers are shiny with no apparent issues. (As opposed to dull and falling out). She displayed amazing mantling behaviour and also nest protection.

A large Hare was delivered to the nest.

Mum flew in and out with a mouse. It is possible that she wishes her eaglet to imprint the prey so they know it is OK to hunt for this mammal after they are independent. Big Red and Arthur bring different prey items to the nest to teach their eyases what species to hunt.

I found this entry on Looduskalender interesting:

At the BBCentral nest in British Columbia, Blue had been eating the remains of any food that he could find on the nest. A prey delivery came from one of the adults mid-afternoon. Perhaps it is just me, but Blue seems to be developmentally ‘behind’ for the age that is given to him (86 days). I am talking about his ability to hold down prey and self-feed. We know eaglets are always hungry unless their crop is about to burst open. That said Blue demonstrates excitement when a parent arrives with prey and then is not interested. Is this because of his lack of self-feeding ability? or is it something else? I wonder. We only have to look at Kristel, the Golden Eaglet above, to understand this conundrum. Kristel often doesn’t get prey and the parents almost get their talons taken off when they arrive. Kristel tears into the food eating til her crop is full and leaving any extra for another meal. Her feathers almost glow and look silky. No tears at the ends…the overall condition of the two seems to be diametrically opposed. — If you disagree, please shout out to me. I am worried about Blue.

So far Blue has not eaten from the piece of prey.

Geemeff’s report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 22nd July 2024

Today didn’t have the excitement of five ospreys visiting various nests not necessarily their own, but did see Louis and Dorcha on Nest Two, although at different times, and Garry LV0 bringing a fish to Nest One. Alas for him there were no takers so he flew off with it to a nearby tree, to munch it on his own, spotted by LizB through her long-lens. The weather was reasonably settled, a spectacular sunset seen from nest cam two ended the day, and tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy and light winds, with sunshine tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.20.44 (03.53.23); Nest Two 23.23.09 (03.57.04)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/bDbqDZ8sN64 N2 Dorcha spends some time on her nest, no sign of Louis 12.27.51

https://youtu.be/g0q-Tf1BJIc N2 Louis arrives with a stick and does some nest work 15.34.26

https://youtu.be/SgnwBnDdY-g N1 Garry LV0 brings a fish but no one’s there 19.58.57

https://youtu.be/z52q-f7fFmg N2 Spectacular sunset 21.30 to 22.30 (2.3 minute time lapse)

https://youtu.be/O3qE7yHRm_M N2 Spectacular sunset 21.30 to 22.30 (one hour full version)

Today’s blast from the past is one of my all time favourites. On this day in 2020, newly-fledged Doddie JJ6 was having fun testing his wings. He was watched by younger siblings Vera JJ8 and Captain JJ7 who reacted like spectators at a tennis match. It was a perfect moment which definitely needed to be preserved:

https://youtu.be/C9r2h07HYeM Carnival of the Ospreys (Classic Ospreys – Saint-Saëns) 22 July 2020

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

We need the Menhaden saved if there is to be any hope for the Osprey population in the Chesapeake Bay Area! Please see the comment under the post.

The osprey nests in Nova Scotia have done very well this season. I know that Connie Dennis will correct me, but I believe they have tracked 31 nests and out of those only one chick has died! That is fantastic. These ospreys do not depend on the Menhaden. There are plenty of other species available, thankfully, and they are plentiful. Looking forward to seeing this lovely Osprey family soon.

Getting ready for a fledge at Bridge Golf.

Three osplets waiting to fly at Collins Marsh, too.

They are all self-feeding!

Bruce is delivering trout to Toketee and Tree at Seaside.

Beautiful osplet at Boulder.

Coming and going at BUND Goitzsche-Wildnis in Germany.

News from ‘H’: 7/22 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was hot again today, and the air was smoky. There were only three fish brought to the nest, but both osplets ate. All things considered, they were lucky to have as much as they did, and they both were able to eat well yesterday.

Olsen started things off with a fish at 0619. I couldn’t see the fish, but Soo fed the chicks for 6 minutes. Both osplets were fed, and Middle ate at least 49 bites of fish plus the fish tail. There was no aggression until Middle took the tail, and Big beaked Middle at that time. After breakfast both chicks were doing some ‘wingers’, and there was a welcome rain shower in the morning. Olsen dropped off the next fish at 1255. It was a medium-sized partial fish, and Big took it to self feed. Big only ate for 8 minutes, and there was still a good size piece of fish remaining. Middle did not attempt to eat any of that fish, so I suppose s/he wasn’t very hungry. Soo arrived at 1339, and she fed the chicks from that leftover fish for 10 minutes. The osplets were positioned on opposite sides of Soo, and for some reason, Soo preferentially fed Middle. It was interesting to watch, but Big did not seem to mind that s/he was not being offered many bites. Big ate the fish tail. That meal lasted for 10 minutes, and Middle ate 110 bites of fish. The temperature reached 100F/38C in the afternoon, and it was several hours before the next fish arrived. Olsen dropped off a medium-sized partial fish at 1948. Big took that fish and ate the whole thing. The area will be getting a slight break from the extreme heat for the next several days. Weather forecast for 7/23: Partly cloudy with smoky air, high temp 92, winds gusting to 14 mph.

News from ‘A’:

A report from WBSE:

July 23: A quiet night and an early duet. Dad came to the nest early, at 6:30, but Lady was reluctant to leave. He circled her and hinted, but she sat tight, so he left at 6:35. She then sat for another 90 minutes, backing straight off when he returned at 8am. He gave her a good break, then, of over an hour, then both took a couple of short shifts on the nest. Both were heard calling off the nest at times, too. Lady had a good break in the middle of the day, away for 2.5 hours and returning with a full crop and some leaves. She was on the eggs from just after 3pm until dark, when she was heard calling –wanting a break? Dad was nearby but not coming to the nest. Lady backed off the eggs at 5:30, had a stretch, but then sat down to incubate again, settling for the night. That long late shift meant she spent seven hours on the eggs today. No food was brought to the nest, though both brought sticks or leaves.

And a really cute video from Taiaroa Head:

At the Tatarsan Eagle nest in RU, one of the recently ringed eaglets, Tanai, was believed to have died. It was jumping from branch to branch and fell off the tree. ‘TU’ reports that it returned to the nest five days later! This is wonderful news.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, queries, posts, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, AM, AMW, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’ Montana Osprey Cams, Cowlitz PUD, Montana Osprey Project, Jacqueline Harris, Oceana, Charlo Montana, McEuen Park, Finland Osprey Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, HWF-BBC, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Save Our Menhaden FB, Connie Davis, Heidi McGrue, Collins Marsh, Seaside Osprey Cam, Boulder County, Fischadler Cam, Tatarsan Eagle Cam RU, WBSE Eagle Cam, NZ DOC, and Osoyoos.

Category Archives: Nova Scotia Ospreys

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