protected species – Page 17 – Mary Ann Steggles

A better day…Thursday in Bird World

20 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Wednesday was a tough day. Little Smallie was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’. Bless his heart. I wonder what his chances would have been if he had been taken into rehab after being found in the moat? ‘J’ said this reminded her ‘of Rubus all over again’ and I consistently say if you can pick up a raptor and hold it, they are sick!!!!!!! Unless you are ringing them. So, that should be something known by everyone —- if you can pick up a falcon or an eaglet or an osplet and they don’t tear your arm off, they are unwell and should go to rehab. Period. No questions asked. Just do it.

‘B’ sent me a great quote and agreed I could share it with all of you. This came after hearing about the passing of Luna after Sol: “About the only halfway positive thing I can say is that it is a reminder to us all how fragile life is out there in the wild. And to all wildlife, not just our bird friends. It’s not a reminder that I enjoy hearing, but it is one we need to appreciate. We humans live very sheltered lives. All the more reason why it is so unfair that we humans add so many risks to the health and survival of wildlife.”

Thankfully we have some good news.

There is some really good news coming from our friend ‘R’ who has kept an eye on the University of Florida-Gainesville osprey nest of Stella and her former partner, Talon. We can certainly use some news to raise our spirits! ‘R’ went for a good look around the nest of Stella and her beautiful daughter and discovered that “Stella is bringing in some huge fish and immediately flies off. Big sits there and carries on for a while and then finally decides Stella isn’t going to feed her and she devours the fish.” ‘R’ wonders if Stella is fishing in a different lake than Talon or is questioning if the local water source has been stocked. He will check and find out for us. Then he went to check the nest and discovered “There is another nest nearby and Big and “someone” in the other nest take turns vocalizing back and forth. I doubt it is Stella.” Then ‘R’ gives us some really good news! “I found another nest not far from the two I knew about. It was fairly good size and sitting in it was a nice large osprey! That makes 3 nests in the vicinity and probably a few others. The new nest can’t be very old as it is in the new light poles!” ‘R’ will take some photos for us on their next visit. An acquaintance also went for a drive near Bowling Green, Florida and in a two mile stretch all the poles had osprey nests! Wow. Can you imagine? The thinking is that the ospreys relocated after Hurricane Ian.

What a beautiful sight! Iris and Finnegan and their two osplets at Hellgate Canyon in Montana.

OK. I am obsessed with Iris and Finnegan. This nest gives me hope.

‘A’ writes: “Finn is doing such a good job. I’m not sure about breakfast this morning – Finn brought a nice fish in at 09:50, which is late for him but I don’t think there had been an earlier feeding because both chicks were hungry as Iris waited for Finn to arrive. She was very vocal about calling for breakfast too.

He is such a darling. Both the chicks are super active and really good at holding up their heads. Little Bob is half the size of his sibling but is holding his own. Iris spends the first couple of minutes feeding Big Bob, although Little is hungry and pushes his way forward to a position beside and slightly in front. Mum is taking any aggression out of Big Bob, I think, and she slips Little a small bite but then returns to feeding Big Bob. Finn has left the nest, and the fish was a decent size and whole, so there is plenty for mum and the kids.

Once Big Bob has a respectable crop, Iris turns to Little Bob and concentrates on getting food into his beak. He is eager and grabbing for the food, falling flat on his face a few times and failing to hold his head still in the excitement. But mum is patient with him and gets the food to his mouth. She is such a good mum. It seemed to me that she had three days of exhaustion following each hatch, after which she perked up and seems to show great effort and care in feeding both her chicks. Finn is making sure she gets fed, even if he has to do it himself, and he is looking after her wonderfully well. He spends a lot of time on the nest or on the perch, just staying close. I have not once heard him vocalise. Not once. He listens. He acts. He shuts up. What a man! “

This morning Alison notes, “At Hellgate, the kids were hungry, and Iris nagged Finn much of the afternoon for fish. Finally, he brought in a nice fish late in the day (about 20:45) and the chicks played nice, sitting up side by side at the table. As always, mum satiated Big Bob’s hunger and then turned to Little Bob. I saw no bonking at any point today, which was a huge relief, and Big Bob made no attempt to stop Little Bob from eating or from participating in the feeding line. These two are active and are doing well. They both seemed to be born very well developed, as if they had spent an extra day or two in the egg. They were large in size and seemed precocious in both physical development and behaviour. This is a huge bonus, as they began life with a bit of an advantage. Finn is doing a wonderful job. He is a devoted dad. He does need to learn to fish more often and/or leave leftovers on the nest while these two are still so young, but he is obedient to Iris’s demands, and eventually goes out to fish even in a downpour if she nags him enough. He’s going to become a great dad as the seasons progress – I can see him getting into feeding the chicks (he has already had a couple of goes at this, with varying success) and he just adores Iris. “

It is a hot day in Ithaca, New York. One of the Ns is resting in the shade of the natal nest.

Suzanne Arnold Horning caught up with Big Red and Arthur’s family.

Thankful for the two gorgeous osplets at Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home.

Wet osplets at the Goitzshe-Wildnis nest in Germany are waiting for a fish delivery.

The three at Charlo Montana look like they are doing well.

Mum and Dad feeding one another at Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour – then they feed the kids. This behaviour of the male feeding the female who, in turn, feeds the chicks, appears to be more common than once believed.

‘H’ will have a better report for us (at the end) but the trio at Osoyoos are getting their crops full with a nice sized fish. Relief.

Nox visits Mum! Oh, no. Eclipse comes!

San Jose Girls seem to be doing very, very well.

In Montreal, Polo and Hugo (yes, another Hugo) playing around.

Suffering from falcon withdrawal? Try the Weston Power Plant scrape in Wisconsin. One chick, one unviable egg it seems.

Wings of Whimsy tribute to Sol and Luna.

Three beautiful babies for Aran and Elen are growing strong and watching the cattle and the rest of the Welsh countryside near Glaslyn.

Three fat chicks at Dyfi waiting to be named. Idris and Telyn have done a superb job, as usual.

Geemeff gives us the Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust summary:

Daily summary Wednesday 19th June 2024

What a difference a day makes! Not only did fabulous fisherbird Louis swoop in with four fish in 26 minutes then follow it up with another three, breaking various records along the way, but there was absolutely no aggro from either of the two chicks today. The reptilian phase appears to be over, and while there will still be the odd fight, especially when they start accepting the fish deliveries themselves, the instinctive aggression of the rapid growth stage seems to have ended. The bundle of feathers that was tragic little chick3 is still visible but is melding with the nest floor and if not removed by Dorcha soon, is likely to just disappear and become part of the nest. Louis’ magnificent seven took his tally to two hundred and twenty three, a remarkable achievement although the wait to see if he breaks his nine-fish record goes on. Nest One had another visit from Garry LV0 who was seen flying to perch on Pole Tree before popping in for a brief visit. The weather was as settled as the chicks’ dispositions, but tonight’s forecast is a damp night with light rain and light winds, with the prospect of a drier day tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.59.35 (03.07.48);

Nest Two 23.23.40 (03.45.50)

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

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

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/tysEIpOpLAY N2 Fish number one, small whole trout – no fighting! 03.49.37

https://youtu.be/Q0EGdJY0uLw N2 Fish number two, another small whole trout – 7 minutes 12 seconds N2N between F1 & F2! 03.56.59

https://youtu.be/rzoZoHCbQic N2 Fish number three, another small whole trout – still no aggro 04.07.04

https://youtu.be/RruBa6SD1qs N2 Fish number four, large whole trout, flapping – 8 minutes 19 seconds N2N between F3& F4! 04.15.39

https://youtu.be/k3QtoOOPyGk N2 Fish number five, large whole flapper trout looking surprised 04.51.25

https://youtu.be/FRf9mHWRQ7Y N2 Fish number six, headless trout – lovely calm feeding 06.10.10

https://youtu.be/RbzwLU7h1H8 N1 Garry LV0 flies in from Pole Tree for a quick visit 11.30.20

https://youtu.be/FTgfA522SzI N2 Fish number seven, but everyone’s too full 14.11.59

Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

The legendary queen of the mountain gave us an unforgettable moment on this day in 2020: Aila has a brain fade and decides to move an awkwardly shaped stick from one side of the nest to the other, apparently oblivious to the presence of her chicks. They duck this way and that trying to keep out of her destructive path, and when Aila finally leaves the nest, one of them delivers a parting shot with perfect emphasis.

https://youtu.be/g-T2vcO-j0sIn the Hall of the Mountain Queen 2020 (Classic Ospreys – Grieg, quicktime)

The female at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum was much more attentive to her only surviving chick on Wednesday. The little one had several feedings, each with a resultant crop.

No hatch yet for Beau and Hope at Newfoundland Power’s Snow Lane nest. This is another problematic female who prefers to eat the fish and not feed her chicks. I do wonder if she is modelling her behaviour after the nest where she hatched?

A family portrait (of sorts) at Field Farm. You can still tell Little Mini as it has only a few feathers unlike the three older siblings. Nest is doing well. Bravo!

Blue 022 delivers a fish and CJ7 immediately begins feeding their quartet.

‘PB’ reports that Little Bob at Cowlitz had a good day! Fantastic. This nest had been concerning me.

There are two beautiful Golden Eaglets on Estonian nest 2 at Kaljukothkas. This nest is getting enough food that the obligate siblicide did not occur. This is a good thing. One of those beautiful miracles of a year filled with much sorrow.

Bety and Bukacek had one storklet this year. It is alive and healthy. Another life to be thankful for.

Let’s end on another smile. World Bird Sanctuary, home to Murphy the Bald Eagle who incubated a rock and got to raise an eaglet, has a great story for us. Thanks, ‘J’.

World Bird Sanctuary

Last year, one Bald Eagle couple’s nesting season ended in tragedy when a tornado destroyed their nest, killing one of their chicks and sending the other to our hospital. That chick was 23-126, and we all fell in love as we watched him grow and be fostered by Murphy. This year, we are delighted to report that 126’s parents have rebuilt! Their new nest is only about 100 yards away from their old one and they have 3 healthy eaglets! We’d like to thank 126’s finders for passing on the good news and Frank Melliere Photography for taking and allowing us to share this photo of the 3 eaglets.

Oh and one last smile – I feel like we need lots of them. Ruffie and Tuffy are still knock out gorgeous fledglings, coming to the nest for fish. This is Wednesday. Both look to have nice crops.

‘H’ reports:

6/19, Osoyoos osprey nest: Oh my, they had a great day. Ollie brought eleven fish to the nest, wow! The meal times remain peaceful between the siblings, and everyone ate their fill, including Soo. There were some ‘minnows’, some medium sized fish, and one ‘whale’. At 2105, Ollie brought in a very large whole fish. I overheard one of the kids ask: “Mommy is that a whale?” Soo: “Yes Dear, Daddy caught a whale for you.” Soo only fed the whale to her kids for a few minutes, then walked away from the fish, so Ollie removed it. He returned the partial fish to the nest at 2137, but Soo did not feed at that time.

6/19 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): June and Johnny’s 5-day-old chick seems to be doing well, and June is providing shade from the sun. There were seven meals provided to the lil’ one, which was an improvement. Very warm temperatures are predicted in the upcoming days, so keep those fish coming in, Johnny!

6/19, Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: Louise and Harvie are great parents, and are taking good care of their three chicks. Bonking has started…the eldest has been bonking both of its siblings. Ages: 7, 5, 3 days.

6/19 Dahlgren osprey nest: ‘Hope’, the 17-day-old only chick of Helen and Doug, is doing quite well.

6/19 Patuxent osprey nest: There were only three meals for the osplets, but the first two fish were very large and provided for long meals. Each chick ate multiple times. It appears that Little’s feathers are finally starting to grow better, but s/he remains far behind the older sibs. Big has been doing some impressive wingers!

6/19 Captiva osprey nest: Edie and Jack delivered five fish to the nest. Jack’s injury seems to be healing, and he is functioning normally, but the ‘spike’ is still embedded under his skin. Darling performed a nice mini-hover for the first time, and Ding continued to perform hovers out of our view. One of these times, Ding’s hover may just turn into a flight!

Geemeff sent us the ringing video of Blue 33 and Maya’s chick at Rutland:

I am getting word from ‘J’ that a Peregrine Falcon female with chicks in the scrape appears to have died from something poisonous in EDE. Will confirm with more news tomorrow.

There is more news from FORE today and I have abbreviated this. Please go to their FB page for the entire post.

“As we mentioned, we were able to retrieve Luna’s body since she passed away on the ground & not up in the Nest. But, we still don’t know yet if they can perform a necropsy or not? In this Redding heat decomposition sets in quickly. And, if they can do a necropsy, we may not get the results of those tests for several months. So, this is going to take some time. Try to breathe & heal while we wait for those answers…Rest assured our Liberty & Guardian are doing fine, so please don’t worry yourself sick about them right now. We will continue following them & sharing their journey until they leave the area, as we always do. We don’t know when that will be this year since their work is now done… We will not know the cause of death without the necropsy results, but we are looking closely at several indicators pointing to severe dehydration brought on by a variety of mitigating factors. Some of the factors that we are looking into include; extreme sustained heat including several consecutive days of 100+ degree temperatures in a row in June, no canopy or shade above the Nest due to a completely dead nest tree, and numerous fluctuations in nearby river levels beginning in late Feb/early March which may have affected the eagle’s typically bountiful rainbow trout supply in April & May 2024. We did not see nearly the number of trout, which has a lot of hydration for the eaglets, coming into the nest during those crucial months as we typically have at this nest. “

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

Thank you to the following for the comments, observations, notes, posts, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, PB, R’, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cam, Cornell RTH Cam, Suzanne Arnold Horning, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, Fischadlerwebcam, Charlo Montana, Blackish at Old Tracadie Harbour, Osoyoos Ospreys, SK Hideaways, de’Montreal Falcons, Weston Power Plant Peregrine Falcon Cam, Wings of Whimsy, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch, Newfoundland Power, Field Farm, BoPH, Pam Breci, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Dahlgren Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Fortis Exshaw, Window to Wildlife, World Bird Sanctuary, LRWT, and FORE.

Tragedy at Crooked Lake…Sunday in Bird World

16 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

To all those wonderful men – human and not – for taking care of living breathing things, protecting them, feeding them, loving them – Happy Father’s Day. And to one special Osprey this morning who is injured with a spike in his leg – Jack at Captiva. You are amazing. Despite all, you are still helping feed your family this morning!

There is a lot going on in Bird World. Rescues, uprightings, sibling rivalry, hatches, GHO attacks, and death. You name it, it seems to be happening. The very beautiful and good is tinged with the sorrow and sadness. We just have to breathe and as someone said today, ‘life is very fragile, embrace someone and hold them tight, you don’t know what is coming next’. What a year it has been and we are only half way through. As one reader said to me, “The Memorial Page has exploded”. It has and I am still catching up! It is always sad to lose one of the birds and, please, take the time to check out the Memorial Page. If I am missing one of our feathered friends, please write and tell me so I can add them. I am still working on the European Storks that died so tragically from the horrific weather. And, another thing, the second hatch at Hellgate has not happened. I was sent incorrect information and the more I looked for a second head, I could not find it.

In all of this, Saturday was a gorgeous, hot windy day and we spent it at the duck pond watching the little ducklings and goslings, of all ages, flitter around the pond enjoying the shade and the cool water despite the build up of algae. People were happy being outside. There was a wedding reception in the garden area, and the ice cream man with his bell could be heard at a distance. Even deer were coming out to eat grass in the shade. Now the skies are pearl grey to dark charcoal and you can just feel a storm building up. Despite saying we would have no rain, we are now in an area of Extreme Weather with high winds, hail, and rain predicted. If this continues, we will need machetes for the garden instead of clippers and mower.

There were lots of ducks and geese on the islands in the pond which is shaded. The wind was keeping everyone cool despite the 27 C temperatures. Some of the geese had been in the water with their goslings. Some went in and out, in and out. Others foraged for little pebbles to aid their digestion. The goslings range in size from those that are about half as large as their parents to tiny wee ones that looked like they hatched only a couple of days ago. All of the adult geese are moulting. They will exchange all of their feathers. They will not be able to fly and leave the area until their full moult is complete. I don’t think anyone minds. Each trip I gather a handful of feathers for ‘The Girls’. They go crazy for them. Besides boxes and bags (without handles), these feathers are their next favourite toy. Their most favourite are the tunnels that they race in and out of late in the evening or early in the morning.

Baby Hope will be one year old on 2 July. As so many of you know, just thinking about her brings tears to my eyes. After Calico ‘decided’ that she was coming in the house on 28 August 2023, we thought we would never be able to find her only surviving kitten. (We could tell there was only one by the single teat being suckled). It appears that Calico might have lost ‘Hope’ and that was why she was ready to leave her life on the streets and come inside where she had lots of food, a safe place to sleep, comfy beds and toys and, of course, lots of love and stories. Five days later we looked out at the feral feeding station and there was a mini Calico. We knew it was her kitten. In three hours, Hope was inside suckling on Mum and life was good. We are trying to figure out precisely just what kind of party to have for her!

Hugo Yugo says that she thinks we need grilled cheese sandwiches along with ice cream for the party! What do you think?

Hugo Yugo is still tiny, a little peanut, but she remains the boss of all the others. Despite eating her food and theirs, she has hardly grown. She is a bundle of energy that never stops. She still sleeps draped around my neck at night. And she still begs for her pieces of cheese around 2100. I have been able to wean her off the kitten milk at the vet’s request. She is dynamite!

As I go to press, I am getting sad news. It appears that a GHO attack has taken all of the osplets from the Crooked Lake nest in Iowa. ‘H’ says, “This is without a doubt the most bold owl attack I have ever seen. Just unbelievable. The owl stayed in the nest and killed all three osplets right in the nest in front of Mom, then flew off with one of them.’

Geemeff is also writing that C2 at Loch Arkaig is now dead or death is imminent. This is so sad and is due directly to siblicide by the ever aggressive C1. First time ever to happen at Loch Arkaig.

We will begin with news from ‘H’.

6/15 Forsythe osprey nest: There were eight fish delivered to the nest by Oscar, and a few of them were fairly big. How many times have we seen situations where the fish production at a nest increases after the starvation deaths of one or two of the osplets? I know I’ve seen it happen a few times, and it just leaves me shaking my head. After the siblicide/starvation deaths of Mini and Little, there is still some aggression from Big toward Middle. But, Middle is managing to find ways to eat. S/he most often squeezes around to the other side of Opal from Big, where there is just a small space between Opal and the outer rim of the nest. Middle ate at least 345 bites of fish in eight meals. I hope Oscar continues to have fishing success.

6/15 Dahlgren osprey nest: The baby named ‘Hope’ was stuck in a deep hole in the nest for about 1.5 days. Dahlgren Osprey Cam arranged for a rescue by Tidewater Wildlife Rescue. TWR performed the rescue this afternoon, and repaired the hole in the nest. Little Hope is doing well, and we are so grateful. Keep the fish coming in, Doug!

6/15 South Cape May Meadows osprey nest: The two little bobs are doing very well. Zeus has really stepped up, and he is providing lots of fish for his family. We are so pleased!

6/16 Chesapeake, Kent Island osprey nest: We wait to see if the first egg of the second clutch for Audrey and Tom will hatch. The egg is 39 days old, but it was pecked by a crow on 5/16. I hope there will be at least one

6/16 Boathouse osprey nest: The little osplet of Dory and Skiff is doing great. Their second egg is 35 days old today.

6/15, Patuxent osprey nest: Dad continues to deliver tons of fish, and many of the fish are huge. He brought fish to the nest six times today, but we could tell that a few of them were the large leftovers he had previously removed from the nest. All of the chicks were stuffed many times over. There was very little aggression today, and Little was even seen eating at the ‘big kids table’!

6/15 Captiva ospreys: There were 7 fish brought to the nest, four by Edie, and three by Jack. There was a lot of eating going on…feedings and self-feedings. Ding and Darling ate their fill. And, at 53 days of age, Ding was hovering! We are still worried about Jack. He still has that foreign body ‘spike’ sticking through his leg. But, he is able to fish and help take care of his family. Bless his heart.

I want to thank Heidi – again and again. I could not keep up with the nests without her. So everyone, give her a loud shout out, please!

Those watching the Dahlgren nest and getting ever more anxious that the wee babe named Hope was stuck in a hole can now relax. It has been rescued and all the time it was there, dear Mum kept feeding it. Thank goodness. This is one of those really feel good moments that we need when tragedy seems to be lurking at many of our nests. Thank you to everyone who alerted the owners and to the rescue team that saved the wee one. Bless their hearts they filled in and repaired this nest with sticks, mud, and grasses/moss. Well done!

Tragedy may have been averted at the Wells Fargo Iowa DNR Osprey Platform. The little one with a full crop got on its back and could not right itself. It took the entire day. Will it be alright? We have to wait and see.

My favourite capture of Iris and Finnegan. I hope she lives many more years to enjoy this wonderful relationship.

Zoe fledges and Lucia returns flying strong several times.

Middle flew back to the osprey platform to be with Mum at Lake Murray after avoiding the GHO by flying. Magnificent. Fingers crossed everyone. This is such good news. Seriously this is incredible news. So happy happy.

Polo 7422 published a video of the hit by the GHO on Hope. (Have you noticed so many named Hope or Hugo??)

Going to check on some of the Finnish nests today! I had a lovely note from ‘SP’ today. I have been covering some of them as best I can but I also learned that some of my confusion with the numbering and names is because there are two separate organisations. That is why I cannot find 10 nests on this one site! ‘SP’ elaborates, “The link I gave in my previous male, Sääksikamerat (kaikki näkymät) | Sääksilive (saaksilive.fi), with 5 nests, and 2 views of the active nests (I follow mainly these):

Here nests 1, 3 and 4 are occupied.

Number 4 has last year’s couple, 3 chicks, eating a lot, and the making heavy exercises (fighting) from the very beginning (genes from the female). A video in the web by a non-native follower:
Brutal fight between two eaglets #ospreycam #ospreys #siblingfight #shorts (youtube.com)
Hope the fishing weather will be good in July … (Last year the yongest chick got fiercely killed by the sibling.)
Number 1 has an older, experienced couple, with so far 1 chick and 2 eggs left.
Number 3, with a first time mum (bride from last year) and last year’s male, has 1 chick, one to pop up soon (hole in the egg already). First chick died.

(Last year the female disappeared and the 3 chicks died.

Number 5: the last year’s couple arrived, but somehow they ”changed their mind” abt nesting. The two eggs, not taken care about, were taken by a raven. Very ”nicely”, indeed, both times:

The other robbery: 6.5.2024 – #5 – Korppi ryöstää Saran munan mukaansa – YouTube

This nest, number 5 was interesting last year: After the own 2 chicks had left, a foreign chick, from Sweden, landed on the nest, and stayed very long, for weeks, and got fed by the male.”

Number 1 – adults doing incubation. Waiting for pip/hatch watch.

Number 2 is a failed nest. No activity.

Number 3 has a beautiful osplet. Dad brings a huge fish!

Number 4 has three healthy osplets.

Number LS/5 is a failed nest. No activity.

From separate organisations:

Seilin in the West of Finland. Couple incubating eggs.

Janakkala in the North has three osplets.

Muonion, in the far north, is incubating eggs.

At Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Dad delivered no less than five fish, several large. There is also rain and Mum is keeping those babies warm and dry. Everyone ate.

‘L’ writes: “Dad stood near mom while she fed the babies at Minnesota. I think he is trying to teach her. She literally went over the head of the oldest one to feed the third one. ” It seems that the latter part of the day was not so good at this nest. We live and hope.

Olsen is doing the best that he can at the Osoyoos Osprey Platform. Most of the fish brought in were so small but he landed a whopper later in the afternoon and everyone did eat well.

It has been a miserable day across much of Wales. Telyn and Idris worked to feed their three chicks and to keep them dry even though they are getting their juvenile plumage and can thermoregulate.

Blue 022 is working hard to get lots of good fish to CJ7 so that their four Bobs will all be full and happy.

I know how sad everyone has been after the loss of Sol, so close to fledge, at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. Everyone at FORE is simply heart broken, too.

Luna is alive and well and for this we must be very glad.

All three eggs have now hatched at Niagara Bee. They are all looking good.

I will now be carrying the daily summary by Geemeff that she publishes for the Woodland Trust. It is the happenings on the Loch Arkaig nest of Dorcha and Louis. Lots of good information and links to videos! Thank you, Geemeff, for allowing me to publish this information.

“Daily summary Saturday 15th June 2024

No action on Nest One, and very little on Nest Two. Louis only brought one fish mid-morning, and wasn’t seen again until suppertime when he caused consternation by arriving empty-taloned. Dorcha couldn’t believe it and gave him a right earful while he cleaned bits of fish off his beak. He’d obviously eaten recently and had a nicely rounded crop which added fuel to Dorcha’s ire. Earlier Dorcha had caused a bit of consternation herself when she arrived with an awkwardly shaped stick and proceeded to drag it through the huddle of chicks, although she quickly redeemed herself by being an excellent mumbrella and keeping her three big chicks warm and dry during a torrential downpour. As usual, chick2 got all the fish and beaked the other two to keep them away from the food, therefore it will be good if Louis arrives early tomorrow morning with a fish big enough that C1 & C3 get a share too. Statto Steve Q provided us with a thorough analysis of the fish stats to date – despite the odd blip, Louis’ current total of two hundred and two fish is pretty much comparable with previous years. The weather was very unsettled today with a misty start turning into a rainy day and more of the same forecast for tonight.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.36.53 (02.58.59); Nest Two 23.10.58 (03.27.50)

Watch the livestream 24/7:

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

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/2hIydufKS3I Fish number one and only, headless trout, C2 gets it all 10.17.28

https://youtu.be/FlvoO8n_ZAk Dorcha: from menace with a stick to brilliant mumbrella 17.32

https://youtu.be/OiKvZO7vkTU Louis finally arrives but he’s fishless! Dorcha can’t believe it 20.13.30

Bonus info – Steve Quinn’s fish stats for week 11:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15060802

Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

https://youtu.be/ntv71sF-N_s N1 Simultaneous feeding – mum and dad each feed a bob! 2019

https://youtu.be/1RzPgaEWMr0 N1 Limbo dancing 2020

https://youtu.be/PvklkJGfZIc N1 Home alone chicks amuse themselves 2020

https://youtu.be/J8geReKxLxc N1 Mumbrella Aila does her best to shelter the chicks 2020

https://youtu.be/FJYbKk1hA-4 N1 A Jay visits the empty nest 2021

https://youtu.be/tsAAz0z9Ac8 N2 Hooded Crow intrudes and perches on the nest 2022

https://youtu.be/k6W6PKYMMYQ N2 Chicks battle it out as soon as mum leaves 2022

https://youtu.be/LTMLWBLOZnY N1 LV0 just won’t get the message 2023

https://youtu.be/hFbYpDjHeyI N1 Affric reaffirms her bond with Prince 2023

https://youtu.be/yvMLAjhrNaA N2 Hangry chick attacks Dorcha 2023 (quick-time)”

Looks like we have one hatch at the Green Ledge Light Preservation Society nest on Long Island.

There was a lot of discussion over which eaglet it was that fell from the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Cruz. It appears it was Manini and not Reign as I reported earlier. Congratulations on fledging!!!!! BVS Girl has that first flight on video.

The two Golden eaglets in Estonia nest 2 are plump and healthy. They are flapping their wings and walking.

This is the second hatch spreading its wings. Look at that fat bottom and those big strong legs. I am so happy for this nest. I hope the good fortune continues.

Fish dinner arriving at Cowlitz PUD and we have three hungry osplets.

I cannot tell you how much fish Little Mini got at Field Farm on Saturday. It is often difficult to tell, but the wee one is growing and had a sort of half crop in the morning.

Checking in on the San Jose Falcons.

For images of the Cal falcon fledglings, please go to the Instagram account of moon_rabbit_rising!

Suzanne Arnold Horning posted some lovely images of Big Red and Arthur’s Ns. They have fledged and were found in spots near to Fernow and Tower Road. Both fledglings are doing well.

Tweed Valley Osprey Project gives us an excellent view of Mrs O feeding her three osplets.

Thank you so much for being with me. Watch for that hatch of Iris and Finnegan from Sunday-Tuesday according to Dr Greene. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, observations, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A’, Geemeff, H, L, MM, PB, SP’, Timothy Dygert Live Stream, The Woodland Trust, Forsythe Ospresy, Dalgren Ospreys, SCMM Kent Island, Boathouse Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Heidi McGrue, Sunnie Day, Montana Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Lake Murray Ospreys, Polo 7422, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Nesting Bird Life and More, MN Landscape Arboretum, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, BoPH, FORE, Niagara Bee, Feemeff, Green Ledge Light Preservation Society, BVSGirl, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cowlitz PUD, moon_rabbit_rising, Suzanne Arnold Horning, and Tweed Valley Ospreys.

Pip in Iris and Finnegan’s second egg…Friday in Bird World

14 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

The rain clouds came Wednesday evening and watered the garden and they are rolled in again from the West Thursday morning. Hugo Yugo is afraid of the thunder and lighting and the minute it starts she scatters to get under the duvet on my bed. Poor thing. Friday is a different matter. There are no clouds in sight. The sky is a pure beautiful blue with the bright emerald green from the trees decorating it. Everything is so lush. I have never seen trees and shrubs grow so much in such a short time. It just shows how much we need the water and how dry our winter had been.

I spent about three hours walking at the zoo on Thursday and about an hour sitting and having tea and watching the polar bears. It was the most glorious day. I am hoping to be a good example to all of you to get out and about, but I have to admit that I was pretty sore and tired after that!

The bears had been fed and were swimming in the icy cold water area before they left to go into their den. They are so gorgeous and are extremely well cared for. (I am still not sure what I think about zoos).

Besides spending time in the research centre learning how climate change is hampering the ability of these iconic bears to get food, I also found out how the staff at the zoo determine if one of them is ill. They put different coloured sprarkle bits in their food. So Bear A might have green, Bear B red, etc. Then they check their poop. Reminded me of the movie, The Last Emperor of China.

Polar bears are most active in the winter and hibernate during the summer. Churchill, Manitoba, is the Polar Bear Capital of the World. I do not know when they gave that small town on Hudson’s Bay the moniker, but today, if you want to see Polar Bears, you must go out in boats at two specific times of the year – spring and fall. The times are getting later and later as the sea ice gets smaller and smaller and further away from land. The bears have great difficulty getting food. They must fatten up in the winter to live on the fat all during hibernation. Sadly, they are hungry because of fewer and fewer seals. Some bears are catching seals in open water, and in the fall, they are desperately hungry. They come into Churchill and feed on garbage, which causes the citizens to get upset and the bears to be shot. Life is becoming desperately hard for them.

Sad news coming in this morning. One of the four fledglings at San Jose, Luna, has been found dead on the ground following a building collision. Thank you ‘SP’ for alerting me.

As I ready for bed, there is serious concern over the Captiva Osprey nest. Connor from Window to Wildlife posted the following letter. This is one of the nests that ‘H’ monitors and she notes that Darling has had nothing to eat (but perhaps a few scraps) in 75 hours. This is because of the weather. We are hoping for a miracle but are realistically expecting Darling to pass away.

‘H’ reports on Captiva which is a nest she monitors: “6/13 Captiva ospreys: The stationary tropical wave weather pattern that extends all across south Florida is expected to continue for the next few days, albeit with conditions predicted to be a little less severe in some places. The two osplets, Ding and Darling, had eaten a meal the evening of 6/10. Then fishing became impossible due to the stormy weather, not just because of the wind and rain, but due to the effect it had on the water surface and water turbidity. The evening of 6/12 Edie brought a partial catfish to the nest which was eaten by Ding. The morning of 6/13, Jack delivered a partial needlefish that was eaten by Ding. In the afternoon, Edie brought a partial catfish, and that was eaten by Ding. And, in the evening, Jack delivered a partial sheepshead that Ding ate. The shortage of food has rekindled Ding’s ultimate dominance over Darling, and Ding wins the battles for the fish. If enough fish is brought to the nest, Darling will win some of those battles, and Ding may also allow Edie to keep a fish to feed Darling.

In my opinion, if Darling passes, it will have nothing to do with Jack’s injury. This is about the weather. It is a prolonged weather event that a young unfed osplet cannot endure. And, I’m sure this scenario is being played out at many osprey nests all across south Florida that have been impacted by this nearly-stationary tropical wave.

This is exactly the same effect that the Nor’easter had in New Jersey last June. Certain adverse weather systems simply hang around too long, causing poor fishing that lasts for too many consecutive days…not just one day, or two days, but three days or more. The end result is the starvation/dehydration deaths of many young ospreys. In some cases, the prolonged stormy weather may cause the deaths of the adult ospreys as well. For example, at the Ocean City, NJ nest, where the parents disappeared after the June 2023 storm, intruders took over the nest, and the osplets died in the nest.

When the weather begins to improve after such a prolonged adverse weather event, and the adult ospreys are able to catch a fish, they must eat at least part of the fish to ensure their own survival, before bringing the remainder of the fish to the nest to feed their young. Then, the dominant osplet in the nest will eat first.

At Captiva, Edie was providing for her two osplets just fine for three days in Jack’s absence, while we were unaware that he had been injured. Then the storm hit, and made fishing impossible for an extended period of time. Now that fishing has started to improve, and both Edie and Jack have been able to bring a few fish to the nest, the eldest osplet, Ding, has first dibs on the food. If Darling dies, it will not be because of Jack’s injury. It will be due to the storm, and because s/he happens to be the youngest osplet in the nest.

By 07:00 on 6/14, Darling will not have eaten for 84 hours. Pray for enough fish this morning to feed both Ding and Darling.”

6/13, Forsythe osprey nest: After 10 fish were brought to the nest by Oscar on 6/12, this nest took a nose dive…with no apparent explanation. At 0822, Oscar delivered a medium-sized headless fish. Little was not permitted to eat at that meal, and Middle only ate a few bites. After many hours, Opal decided to go fishing herself, and she returned with a large whole fish at 1530. That feeding lasted for 40 minutes, and yet Little only ate 4 bites of fish. He was prevented from eating by both Big and Middle. We saw Oscar on the perch, but perhaps he wasn’t feeling well. Little ate pretty well on 6/12, so he is not in immediate danger of starvation.

6/13 Patuxent: There were six fish brought to the nest by Dad. Little did not manage to eat at the first meal, but had a nice 12 minute private feeding at the second meal. Little was not able to make it to Mom’s beak during the next two meals. Little usually automatically assumes his tuck-and-surrender posture when a fish is delivered to the nest, and he has learned to wait his turn until Big and Middle are full. But, at meal five, he fell asleep while waiting, lol. The meal began at 1600, and by 1616 both Big and Middle had dropped back…queue Little…calling Little…where’s Little?…Oh my goodness, he had fallen asleep! Mom ate some of the fish, and all of a sudden Little woke up at 1621 and said, “Oh, here I come Mommy, save some for me.” But, there were only two bites of fish that Mom had left to feed her youngest. Ahh, but Dad wasn’t finished…he delivered a large headless fish at 1822, and Little had a mostly private feed for 23 minutes and ate 145 bites of fish.

6/14 South Cape May Meadows osprey nest: We knew that the crow most likely destroyed egg #3 on 6/8, and it pecked at another egg. One egg hatched on 6/11 which could have been either the first or second egg. Well…another egg hatched overnight on 6/14! So, the first baby was from egg #1 at 39 days, and the second baby was from egg #2 at 39 days. “Now, you two must get along..Ya hear!” Congratulations to Hera and Zeus!

6/14 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: The second baby hatched overnight. Congratulations to Louise and Harvie! (I do not have any good photos yet)

6/14 Boathouse osprey nest: Congratulations to Dory and Skiff on their first baby of the season. The lil’ one hatched just after 8 a.m.

Gosh, that is a cute little baby, Heidi! Look at those dark eyes.

Thanks so much, ‘H’. We love your reports!

One of my readers said this morning that ‘the Montana nest might bring us the happiness we need this year’. With all the worry about Jack at Captiva with ‘the something’ sticking out of his leg (looks like part of a fishing spear to me), and all the nests that have four chicks, and now Loch Arkaig with the ferocious C2, well. It is going to be nice to sit and watch Iris live out a wonderful summer. She always had the best nest in the country. She would work on it right after she arrived from migration and then stop and make sure it was in tip top shape when she left. Just look at it. Perfect. This is just the best ‘icing on the cake’ for this female. A devoted male after so many years. When did Stanley die? 2014? If you look at the timeline below, you will see that the fledge in 2018 was just a fluke. It has been ten years since Iris had a clutch of chicks that fledged! So this really is a miracle year.

Hellgate-Osprey-Cam-Timeline-Cornell-Lab-Bird-Cams-Cornell-Lab-Bird-Cams Download

So far, Finn is delivering on his promise to continue to be a good mate and dad. A huge fish came on the nest for Iris and baby Thursday morning.

The enthusiasm for a big fish for the babe and Iris caused some concern Thursday afternoon. ‘MB’ writes, “Some clumsy/scary looking moments at Iris’ nest 14:50 ish. A large fish arrives complete with head. The two adults both seem keen to wrangle it, more interested in the fish than the chick. The wee chick is trodden on a few times. It goes down and stays still for a while, and I am holding my breath. By 15:00 ish the chick is back up and begging and the fish has been taken over to the perch to be sorted out. Hopefully it will arrive back for a more civilised feeding.”

Goodness me. We do not need a nest accident! Iris and Finnegan with that whole fish and wee babe wanting fish!

Finnegan looks down at the wee babe while Iris feeds. Oh, I wish I could see what he is thinking.

‘A’ adores Finn: “Finn does appear young, but if he has never done this before, he sure is a natural dad. He adores Iris and worships this tiny creature in the nest. He watches it with absolute fascination, and spends quite a bit of time on the perch, guarding his family with obvious pride. Adorable.

You should see the size of the afternoon fish he brought it – it is MASSIVE (timestamp 14:51:15). Iris is happy! She starts to eat, but Finn decides he’s hungry too, so there is a bit of a tug of war over the fish, with the chick rapidly moving out of the way for fear of being squashed by this giant fish. Iris returns to brooding the chick and Finn starts eating the head of the fish. The chick is confused!

Finn takes the fish to the nest perch and continues eating. And eating. And eating. By 15:32 Iris is getting impatient, and Finn brings the fish back to the nest. He stands beside Iris, looking very proud, until 15:40, when he grabs the fish and brings it around to Iris’s head. She is periodically vocalising at Finn but not getting up for the fish!

Finn continues eating the fish head, occasionally offering a bite to Iris, who ignores it. Just before 15:43, he feeds a bite to Iris, which she accepts. She finally stands up, and slowly moves around to the fish. It is 15:44 and the chick is hungry. Finn stays on the nest, and the chick is not sure which parent to turn to for food. Iris is eating. Finn is watching his chick from the other side of the nest cup. Finally, around 15:45 Iris starts feeding Bob. The chick is good at this part! It is a voracious little feeder and can hold its head up, and steady, very easily indeed. It is strong and it is healthy. Such a blessing. Iris is giving her baby the smallest pieces – just right for a newborn osplet. She is such an experienced mum – calm and diligent. In fact, this chick seems to have inherited some pretty good genes all around.

Oh I love this little family. Finn is proving to be a perfect dad, He could not be prouder of his osplet and he adores Iris. I know how many people are just over the moon for Iris. Every girl deserves a Finn in her life! I adore the way he feeds her on the nest. SO sweet. I have never seen a feeding like yesterday’s – yes, a few bites, but not a full eight-minute feeding that involved at least 50 bites of fish. That really was something very special indeed. I love this guy. Not just delivering fish but breakfast in bed for the new mum. He’ll be bringing flowers next! “

A pip in the second egg of Iris and Finnegan has been confirmed Thursday evening. Tears. Get the tissue boxes out!!!!!! The champagne is already gone.

The three babies at Charlo Montana are soooooo tiny.

C2 finally let up and everyone, including Dorcha, got some fish out of the sixth delivery of the day. Did I say that C2 is a big female and behaves like Zoe, the osprey, at Port Lincoln of 2022?

All of the osplets at Field Farm are accounted for!

A flurry of a tandem feeding at Poole Harbour with CJ7 and Blue 022 trying to keep the four osplets alive and healthy. They are doing an incredible job.

Blue 022 is great at feeding. Both adults were rushing to get the four fed as heavy rain was coming into the area.

One surviving Osplet, one deceased by a nest accident, and it looks like a DNH egg at Sandpoint.

Those three are tough little osplets at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. They are still alive!

It is extremely difficult to see how many or how little fish are coming to the Osoyoos nest with its three osplets. Soo and Olsen have had a tough time of it in recent years. The area has been hit with heat bombs and the local lake and river that supply the fish appears not to have enough fish – or it is so warm that they are diving deep – that Olsen cannot catch them.

I noted three feedings on Thursday. At 1034, 1536, and 1656. This is not enough to sustain this family.

If you have the time, the Osoyoos cam is up and running. Any help in establishing how many fish come on this nest would be ever so helpful. Thank you.

It’s hot at the Cowlitz PUD nest. Three osplets. We need lots of fish to come on this nest!

Perhaps it is my imagination but it seems like the fish deliveries at some of the nests with small babies – that need to be fed a little but many times over – are slow.

Waiting for pip/hatch watch at Captain Mac’s Fish House Osprey platform.

Maya keeping her Only Bob dry from the rain at Rutland. What a great Mum she is. So sad she was sick at the beginning of the season. The ringing of the chick is scheduled for June 21.

At the Golden Eagle nest #2, Mum has brought prey in a couple of times on Thursday. Both chicks ate.

Edith P caught the feeding on video.

Golden Eaglet in Bucovina România doing well.

Some images from the nest of Big Red and Arthur and the new fledglings, the Ns.

The two hawklets at Syracuse have both branched and the nest is bare. I am thinking they both might have fledged.

‘H’ is watching for a pip Thursday evening for Dory and Skiff. Will see what she reports in the morning.

Hatch at nest #3 in Finland. (One egg had nest accident and one other egg left to hatch)

One osplet so far at nest #1 in Finland.

Some of you will have read the book Beauty and the Beak. I am sorry to inform you that Beauty has passed away.

Thank you so much for being with us today. There is joy tinged with great sadness. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB, SP, T’, Connor and Window to Wildlife, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Ospreys, SCMM, All About Birds, Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab, Charlo Montana Ospreys, Geemeff, BoPH, Sandpoint Ospreys, MN Landscape Arboretum, Osoyoos, Cowlitz PUD, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Captain Mac’s Fish House, LRWT, Eagle Club of Estonia, Edith P, Wild Bucovina Association, Cornell RTH, Heidi McGrue, Nesting Bird Life and More, Finnish Osprey Foundation, and Birds of Prey Northwest.

Saturday in Bird World

1 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is bright and sunny and nearing 1800 on the Canadian Prairies. We had a lovely brunch with the entire family on the deck with warm sunshine blessing all of us. The grandson is on his way back home to Ottawa. Son is heading north to go fishing, and we will be going to check on the eagles at Hecla Island in the coming weeks – not sure when. It was lovely to see everyone. We will have a bit of a break and then the third round – looking forward. Most everyone lives at a distance so these times together are very precious.

The cats have come out of hiding. Well, Hugo Yugo and Missey like company. Calico and Baby Hope don’t. They are all sleeping. Worn out by the excitement! The rain has made the garden really lush. The European Starlings seem to have taken over the area. Mr Crow comes for his cheesy dogs and then they fly in – at least 8 or 10 of them. They have nest in the garden and I think they just don’t want to risk the Crows predating their chicks. Mr Grackle came for a nice bath today and there have been quite a number of House Finches flittering about. No more Baltimore Orioles. The homing bird feeder is up but I have not seen any visitors.

My Girls wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Visiting. One day we did get in quite a nice walk but most of the time it is good food and lots of conversation, catching up. My legs needed to move and it was off this evening early to count the goslings and ducklings at the park. 68 goslings!

Richmond and Rosie had their first hatch on Friday the 31st of May! Yeah. We have all been waiting for our SF Whitley Crane couple on their new light post nest to start their family.

In Montana, Iris and Finnegan are doing well. Gosh, aren’t you getting excited? We might get to see Iris raise a chick. Seriously, I would. be happy if there was only one healthy one. That would not wear her out. The females, as you know, are known to lose 30% of their body weight during incubation and raising chicks. Mind you, Finnegan is one good provider for Rosie. We haven’t had to worry about her. Finnegan believes his first egg was laid on 5 May. That means that we are at 27 days. Hatch watch 10 June.

Continued good thoughts, please, for Lake Murray. I checked and there are no strobes on at the time I am writing at Lake Murray. Oh, goodness. Why?

Mum was on the perch and at 23:01 she flies off and then returns to the nest where she stays with Middle. Did she hear the owl? or was it the woman walking under the nest pulling something – lights? The strobes went on by 2308. Thank goodness.

Beautiful fledglings at Venice Golf Course. With 26 areas to get fish, this couple once again pulled off a nice healthy trio of chicks to fledge.

MNSA trio looking good.

Looking Bleak. Concerns grow for Little at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home. He has had less than 20 bites of food, some scraps Mum found, on Friday. Not looking good. Be cautious if you are watching this nest. Sadly this baby will probably not make it through the weekend, if that long. Starvation is terrible thing. If only the ospreys had one or two chicks. If only.

Prove me wrong. OR maybe. Put some fish on that nest or near it for this family. Do a Port Lincoln and help out!!!!!!!

We are on fledge watch for Cal Falcons! Can you believe it?

CJ7 and Blue 022 have a nest full – the fourth chick hatched on Friday and they are going to be very, very busy. How many still remember when CJ7 didn’t have a mate and she met Blue 022? They ‘romanced’ all over Poole Harbour! This is wonderful. Send good thoughts to the little one.

We all wish Jack and Diane the very best. They need to go and find fish and get their health back to a good state. The nest has its predator baffles thanks to Tampa Bay Raptor Centre – we wait for another year.

At Boulder, the chick, the Only Bob, is cheeping away for fish and at another time Dad wants Mum to feed him, too.

They are all reptiles with big crops at Radford University. Little Bob looks good today!

The camera at Cowlitz PUD is beyond frustrating. We know there are chicks. Once in awhile you can see a little head. Hope those fish grates prove that are the most reliable predator deterrent (for GHOs and eagles) for our ospreys.

If you use the overhead cam at Cowlitz, you will see that there are three osplets. One is so tiny. I am already worried.

The Only Bob at Clark PUD is one lucky osplet.

Field Farm seems to be holding its own with its trio of hungry beaks.

Fledglings still visiting the Frenchman’s Creek nest for fish.

Great Bay – has three Bobs – and so far, so good. Big Bob is in the reptile state while Little Bob still has fluffy down.

The two chicks at Patchogue are getting their feathers. Gosh, don’t you wonder what Little Mini is up to? I sure hope she survived – certainly deserved to!

The camera at Collins Marsh is almost as bad as what my mind tells me water torture would be. There is at least one little bobblehead (new) on that nest. Why do their heads have to look like an egg on these poor resolution cameras?

Flopping fish at Loch Arkaig. Who cares when you have three Bobs in the nest and they are all hungry for a fish dinner?!

When I say – which I often do – that I wish each osprey nest would have one really healthy chick. This is what I mean. Only Bob at Rutland Water is transitioning out of the Reptile Phase – just look at that beautiful copper plumage on the back of the head – into getting its juvenile plumage. Only Bob is getting the best of the fish, not the skin, as many of the later hatches in dubious nests have to eat. It is understood that some fish are more beneficial and that others and only getting inferior parts of prey (this would also include other raptors) does not provide the high quality nutrition that all need. Maya and Blue 33’s only chick this year has the best of everything. Oh, goodness. We wish this for all the nests, but sadly, many struggle like the Little Bob at Maryland Western Shore.

Can you see Only Bob’s bursting at the seams crop?

At Goitzsche-Wildnis, Dad was feeding Mum. Osplets really growing. They have a Little Bob, too. Fingers crossed for all the ‘Littles’.

Betsy and Frederick’s two osplets appear to be doing alright.

Oh, goodness. There is a lot of flapping and hopping going on at the Cornell RTH nest of Big Red and Arthur. The Ns will fledge this month…too soon.

The strobes were not on when I checked Lake Murray. Hopefully someone will hit the switch or we could lose Middle Bob tonight. I am not saying strobes are 100% effective against predation. I believe the fish grate protectors are. I wish we could all go and make a lot of noise under this nest until such time as Middle Bob migrates!

May’s Ventana Condor Chat.

Monty and Hartley will be giving flying demonstrations to their Fab Four showing them what to expect when they spread their wings and dare to jump off the ledge.

We are on fledge watch at Cal Falcons…did I say that earlier? Look at the difference in plumage between the San Jose chicks and Cal Falcons – there is a week in age difference. Cal Falcons older.

‘J’ writes: “What a surprise when I checked the Cal chicks. They went from fluffy to falcon within two days! Gosh, were they cute in their woollen jackets. I’m keeping Archie in my thoughts, I really want him to be Annie’s forever partner. Did you see this video? It made me laugh so hard. That look: “what?!” You could write many memes for this video, so many expressions on those lovely faces.”

Adult in the scrape with the only falcon chick at Evergy Energy in Kansas.

Lots of prey on the nest of the Russian Imperial Eagles – and still two little fluffy white chicks. They raised two in 2023. Maybe again this year. Abundant prey is the key.

There are two of the most precious little bobbleheads in the Golden Eagle nest in Estonia. Wish for lots and lots of prey. Would love to see these nests be the exception to the norm of the oldest killing the second hatch! Wouldn’t that just warm our hearts from the losses at the osprey nests?

‘H’ reports: “The Captiva osprey family is doing very well. Jack and Edie have been able to deliver plenty of fish. Ding is 39 days old, and Darling is 37 days old.”

“Patuxent ospreys: The osplets were 24, 23, and 20 days of age on 5/31. At 0535 Dad delivered a ‘whale’ of a fish, that would last three meals. The older and aggressive siblings actually ‘allowed’ Little to eat. Little ate 98 bites of fish and had turned away from Mom by the time Dad removed a huge leftover. Dad returned with the fish at 0922. Little had a private feeding from 1019 to 1053, and ate 181 bites of fish! Mom fed the large fish tail portion at 1118 and Little had an additional 30 bites of fish. There were two additional fish brought to the nest at 1646 and 1721. Little did not eat at those meals, but he did not seem hungry, and didn’t really try very hard to get to the table. Little ate at least 309 bites of fish today.”

‘H’ loves Tuffy and Ruffie – and she wanted to add a photo of the two of them today. Thanks, ‘H’.

Just look at that face on our little Tuffy.

‘A’ checks on Smallie for us: “Check out Smallie a few minutes ago (from 11:05:43), when a sister allows him to grab a huge chunk of food from outside the scrape and pull it inside, where he then fights first her, then another sister who joins them, for his share of the food. With one sister holding it down, Smallie is able to self-feed with significant success, and then grabs at the food during a three-way tug of prey.

My concern is that all three of the sisters are now spending a lot of time outside the scrape, where the food is being delivered. If Smallie joins the scrum out there, he is in danger of falling – the others are probably able to glide to the ground if they fall, with at least two of them looking ready to fledge, with virtually no fluff left. I am worried, though, that if he doesn’t get outside to eat, there won’t be food inside for him. So unless he can grab food from inside the scrape (which he did manage to do this morning), he will have problems.

At least there is no chance that his sisters will mistake him for a meal – he is way too aggressive for that, and I’m sure at least one of his sisters is fairly wary of him. But he is determined to eat, and I suspect he will find a way to survive no matter what that takes. He is a very brave little falcon. Just adorable.”

Middle is still alive at Lake Murray. Relief. The lights held him off or some larger prey. Thank goodness.

Thank you so very much for being with me today. Please have a wonderful weekend. Spend some time away from the screens worrying – go outside and smell the fresh air and listen to some birds. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, streaming cams, images, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, Montana Osprey Project, , VGCCO, MNSA, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, Cal Falcons, BoPH, Achieva Credit Union, Boulder County, Radford University, Cowlitz PUD, Clark PUD, Field Farm, Frenchman’s Creek, Great Bay Ospreys, PSEG, Collins Marsh, Geemeff, LRWT, Goitzsche-Wildnis, OBX 24/7, Cornell RTH, Ventana Wildlife Condor Chat, SK Hideaways, Evergy Energy, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, the Eagle Club of Estonia, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park, Amersfoort Falcons.

Pips, Hatches, and Fledges…Sunday in Bird World

19 May 2024

Good Morning,

It is a long weekend for many countries around the world including Canada where we are celebrating Queen Victoria’s birthday. The girls and I are, however, celebrating sun. The rain has stopped for now and everyone will be rushing to get their bedding plants into containers or beds. That includes me. The garden will be a sea of red this summer in an attempt to attract more pollinators and hummers!

I am late…the summer means I stay up really late at night and have lazy mornings. It has been wonderful to sit with the girls and enjoy my coffee and take in the warmth of the sun. The squirrels are busy and the baby Red-wing Blackbirds are flitting around. Mr Crow has not arrived although his breakfast is waiting for him.

Moorings Park Ruffie fledged on Saturday the 18th of May! Flew like a pro! I love the look on Tuffy’s face as she follows Ruffin’s flight. Simply in awe. You are next Tuffy!!!!!! We thought you might not make it at one time, but look at you both. Beautiful healthy osplets!

The fledglings at Frenchman’s Creek continue to return to the nest to feed.

Larry’s kids are really growing!

At Larry’s Mum’s scrape, Archie decided to try and feed his chicks again. He is such a cutie! And a real keeper. Annie picked well.

Waiting for Little to fledge at Venice Golf and Country Club. The winds are up Saturday afternoon. Will he fly? Oh, yes, he did!

Little flew at 61 days! Way to go Little. Beautiful take off.

We are on pip watch at many nests including Boulder County.

And the Port of Ridgefield. Indeed, there are approximately 36 osprey nests that could have hatches this week. A similar number for the following week. Thanks for reminding me ‘BHA’.

Dad brought in a whopper of a cot rail at PSEG Oyster Bay on Long Island.

‘AE’ sent great captures of JBS20 visiting the nest with one of the adults on Saturday! Lovely to see this fledgling eagle thriving.

‘MP’ wonders if anyone has seen a sparrow this close to an osprey? This Male must know that Ospreys only eat fish!

Question: How many are watching this nest? And how is little three doing?

No sound at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn or we would be able to hear the chicks that are ready to hatch – or have hatched. Waiting!

Louis continues to be the great provider we know he is for Dorcha.

At Rutland, Blue 33 is working on the cot rails and looking out with Only Bob to see what Mum Maya is doing.

While Blue tends to his baby, Mum at Port Lincoln would like Bradley to move on. Oh, gosh. Bradley reminds me of Ervie so much! Nice to see you Bradley even if you are irritating Mum.

In Europe, storks have died because of the torrential rains in certain regions. The pouring pitching cold rain and wind continues in Manitoba as it is at the Outerbanks nest of Betsy and Frederick. They have little osplets. Send positive wishes to all nests impacted by rain or fish shortage.

Betsy is doing a heroic job of keeping the wee ones dry and warm so far.

At Lake Murray, Little had a good day. Kenny is amazing. So much fish – whole, headless – almost back to back. Incredible and that is why this third hatch is doing so very, very well. Lots of fish delivered close together. I counted the bites along with ‘H’ and despite some intimidation, Little fared well. The third hatch is clever often moving about the nest to get in a better position. One thing I have noticed is that Lucy does the fish and when she does this, Little often losses out. But, Little did well. Smile.

Crops from various times of the day for Little.

Our friend and monitor of all things Australian does not like to watch Osprey nests but she has fallen for Little Bob at Lake Murray and she wanted to add her ‘ten cents’ to what happened on Saturday. ‘A’ we always welcome your narrative – thanks so much!

Late yesterday afternoon (18 May) was interesting at Lake Murray. Dad brought in a nice big whole fresh fish at around 06:02pm. Little Bob was sleeping right in front of mum while the two older siblings (whose plumage btw has changed in a single weekend into something speckled and gorgeous – their camouflage is amazing) were napping together. Little Bob, who has a discernible but not a large crop, thought he was in for a private feeding, but mum just took the fish from dad and stood there with it. She turned around a couple of steps in mid-nest, then heads to the far side of the nest. Little Bob follows her, but mum is distracted.

Eventually, the older pair awake. As they do, we can see that they both have extremely large crops. Little Bob is still standing next to mum, begging for food, but she is just standing on the fish with one foot. Eventually an older sibling gets up, turns around and surveys the scene. He sees Little Bob waiting expectantly beside mum, who has fish. S/he makes no attempt to attack Little Bob, who decides it’s a good idea to head around behind mum to the other side.

The larger sibling heads over and begins trying to open the fish at the head end, working on the mouth and doing a really good job. This continues for a few minutes before eventually, at 06:05:50, Little Bob, who is behind mum, stands up and looks the other older sibling squarely in the eye. This is surely a mistake, which he will quickly correct, no?

No! Little Bob not only continues to look his sibling in the eye but then lunges right across the nest to bonk his much bigger sibling! This takes the older chick very much by surprise. The reaction is predictable. But Little Bob, although beating a hasty retreat, is only protecting his head (he has such a long neck, this is not too difficult now he has grown to a size where he can lean far enough away) – he is not cowering in terror. He does eventually tuck but he does not duck his head under – he keeps it up and just away from his sibling, who has failed to make any real contact with him anyway, as its crop is so large, it cannot reach across it to hurt Little Bob.

Meanwhile, the self-feeding osplet continues to self-feed on the head, pulling from the mouth and getting some good bites from the cheek area. aT 06:06:15 mum finally starts feeding one of the older osplets. The second desists from worrying about Little Bob and comes to be fed too. This leaves Little Bob behind mum and the two feeding siblings. As the food is close to the edge of the nest, there is really absolutely no real way he can now get fed until mum and/or one of the siblings moves.

It is 06:20 before Little Bob gets up, turns around and heads back to the centre of the nest to survey the feeding situation. Both his siblings have huge crops. Mum has been eating a bit of this fish herself too. Still no room on the feeding line, as Big Bob has a piece of fish it is self-feeding on. Little Bob actually considers rushing this fish but gets a death stare from its older sibling and thinks better of it, turning around and retreating a few steps.

Little Bob cannot find a way to mum’s beak. Big Bob is occupied. Middle Bob is between Big Bob and mum, so Little Bob heads around behind mum to try and reach the far side of her. There’s not much room here. They are near the edge of the nest. It takes him a while to figure out how to come forward, over the baby rails, to reach mum’s beak. Eventually, he clambers over the rails precariously. He is close, if she turns her head his way. But will she? She is eating most of the fish herself and has been for a couple of minutes now. It is 06:22:30pm.

Mum knows Little Bob is in position. At 06:22:38 she reaches down and to her right, back under her wing, to give Little Bob his first bite of this feeding. She keeps feeding him. Big Bob lumbers off, hardly able to carry its crop. Middle Bob remains on the other side of mum to Little Bob, watching closely as she feeds its younger sibling. Mum feeds Middle a couple of bites, then returns to Little Bob. Middle gives up and leaves the table. The fish has very nearly gone. It is 06:24. Little downs the tail. Mum feeds him the last remaining pieces – some of those bits of flesh near the tail are very juicy – and picks up every flake she can find for him. By 06:25 the meal is over.

But Little Bob is still begging for fish and mum searches some more. She finds the leftover Big Bob had been playing with and works hard to get pieces off it that Little Bob can eat. He gets some small bites. He continues to beg for more. Shortly after 06:28 she flies off the nest.

Little did not get to eat much of what was after all a huge fish. He did start the feeding with a visible crop, and went to bed with a full tummy. Unless a food disaster (such as occurs when a parent goes missing) occurs at this nest, I become more confident by the day that my prediction here is correct. This youngest hatch is SO brave. It may even be female based on the behaviour. Today’s effort was amazing. Little Bob stared down an older sibling and then rushed across the nest in an obviously intimidatory manner (which even the older sibling didn’t take seriously initially) and started a major fight. This is not a cowed osplet. It is smart enough not to get beaten up but it is certainly not being terrorised and it has a crop every time I look at the stream.

This one is going to do fine. Mark my words. I’m sorry to bang on so much about it, but this is one really cute little osplet. I fell for this one immediately and have been very confident about it all along, despite the difficulties and the aggression, mainly because of its own attitude. Never has this little one given me the impression that it has given up, only that it is scheming for another moment, another chance, another bite to eat. It has the longest neck, which sure doesn’t hurt in these situations, and it has a determined streak that really suggests that it could actually be a female. It would not surprise me in the slightest.

The older two osplets have actually become relatively laidback at this point, and there is nothing to say that the older sibling would have bonked Little Bob for the staring incident late yesterday afternoon had he not rushed across the nest to attack it. So I think the aggressive phase on this nest has passed, and as long as the fish supply continues and Little Bob does not make a habit out of deliberately provoking its older siblings,everything will be absolutely fine and this nest will fledge three this season. Talons crossed.”

‘H’ caught the Sunday morning events for us – sadly, we probably do not have to worry about Little Bob’s survival from the siblings now, but rather from the GHO that is waiting for them to fatten up. “

The camera was zoomed way out, and we could see that Lucy spent about 4 hours on the perch overnight. Sadly, I suppose we are on ‘owl watch’.

0614 Kenney delivered a fish. It was rather difficult to tell from our vantage point, but Little appeared to eat for about 3 minutes until he was intimidated and moved aside. At 0627 Little was back at the feeding line until one of the siblings returned at 0630. At 0635 both older siblings had moved away, and Little ate for 3 minutes more. So, Little was fed for about 9 minutes at this meal.

Kenny brought in a headless fish at 0700 and feeding commenced at 0701. Little ate for about a minute until he was intimidated, but appeared to still be able to reach toward Lucy’s beak once in a while. At 0711 Lucy started to reach out, and fairly consistently fed Little until 0718. Little ate for roughly 10 minutes at this meal and had a nice crop after the back-to-back feedings.”

The GHO is constantly attacking the female at Moraine Park – these owls are smart. Please take a screen capture of Cowlitz PUD’s solution and send it to the owners of any nests that you are aware are having predation issues by owls, eagles, goshawks, etc. Thank you.

The trio of osplets at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home appear to be hanging in there and doing well. We are NOT at the Reptilian phase when the bonking normally begins (8-11 days) – and so I hope that there is lots of fish and these are well behaved.

Beautiful Big Red, N1, and N2. Another great raptor dad, Arthur.

All four storklets at Bolewice are doing well.

Despite Olivia incubating, the eggs at Severna Park, they have been left too long and they have been rained on. I want to thank everyone for their comments regarding this nest. From the observations by the writer below, this sounds to me like Oscar has another nest with a different family and has abandoned Olivia and her eggs. For those of you that have watched Louis and Iris, you would be familiar with this type of behaviour by the male. It is extremely sad but please let us hope that Olivia moves on to find a new attentive mate next season.

I thought I would share one of the letters with you – I have withheld the author’s name. I feel very protective of those that send me information, comments, and news and do not ever wish for there to be any kind of backlash against them. It is the same as a report protecting their source.

Dear Ms. Steggles:

I’m pleased to inform you that Oscar did not meet his demise in the middle of the highway, struck by a semi truck, while chasing that flying fish. He flew to the nest a couple of hours ago, mated, and then he left, lol. No fish! Olivia went fishing for herself again.

Oscar should be hanging his head! What about all this business of raptors mating for life? Goodness, gracious.

Only Bob at Carthage continues to thrive being the sole ‘diamond’ in his/her parents eyes.

‘H’ is monitoring the Captiva nest and reports: “5/18 Captiva Ospreys – 0833, First feeding, a whole hardhead catfish. CO7 ate, then moved away from Edie at 0847, but CO8 was reluctant to move after having been beaked earlier. CO8 finally moved to Edie at 0849, ate 11 bites of fish, and was then beaked repeatedly. CO7 ate some more, and had retired from the feeding at 0913, so CO8 moved up and ate the last three bites of the fish. CO8 had eaten 14 bites of fish.

The second feeding at 1136, consisted of a small whole pinfish. CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.

At 1300 Jack delivered a nice size partial speckled trout. CO8 was intimidated and stayed back. When CO7 moved away from Edie, CO7 was again reluctant to approach, and Edie stopped the feeding. Edie resumed feeding CO7 at 1310, and when CO8 approached at 1316 he suffered a prolonged beaking by CO7. Edie stopped the feeding. CO8 did not eat at this meal.

Feeding #4 at 1358, Edie picked up the large leftover piece of trout and fed CO8 for 19 minutes! CO7 stayed in the shade of Mom’s tail, and did not interfere.

Feeding #5 at 1639 consisted of a whole pilchard delivered by Jack. It was a harmonious ten- minute feeding, both osplets ate, and both had large crops.

The last feeding of the day was from 1805 to 1821, and was a partial speckled trout brought by Jack. CO7 ate first, and CO8 waited his turn. There was no aggression by CO7. At 1812, CO7 backed away and CO8 moved up to eat. Three minutes later, CO7 returned, then the chicks ate peacefully side by side. “

Dr Ericke Green has finished his teaching responsibilities for now and is focused – and clearly excited – about the events at Iris’s nest. Here he explains about the egg tossing that New Guy did and why.

On Saturday, Bradley brought a squid to the barge nest at Port Lincoln instead of a puffer. How interesting! Way to go, Bradley.

Will this year be the season when Hope reigns? Is it possible for us to ‘hope’ that Hope, the female at Newfoundland Power’s Snow Lane Osprey platform dubbed the ‘Hopeless Nest’ will feed her chicks so they live and fledge?

The rain has stopped at Patchogue and the little ones are good.

The paper, sign, or whatever human garbage was covering the egg cup at Patchogue is now gone. Thankfully.

Oh, tears. ‘T’ just sent me the best news for Black Storks: “Waba is in Estonia! Yesterday he flew 253 km, and now he is at the Saaremaa island. Data shows 7804 km This is the distance that Waba covered after transmitter activation this year.”

Oh, I would hope we get some news about Bonus.

We have the first hatch at Great Bay today at 1345. The top images shows the parents looking at the hatch in progress.

Welcome little one.

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Please take care. Enjoy your weekend – go outside and listen to the birds! We hope to see you again soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, images, streaming cams, and videos that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, AE, BHA, Geemeff, H, MP, PB, TU’, Heidi McGrue and Moorings Park, Frenchman’s Creek, ParksConservancy, SK Hideaways, VGCCO, Boulder County, Port of Ridgefield, PSEG, Dyfi Osprey Project, Geemeff, LRWT, PLO, OBX Osprey Cam, Lake Murray, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, Cornell RTH, Bolewice Stork am, Severna Park, DTC- Carthage, Window to Wildlife, Montana Osprey Cam, Newfoundland Power, and Great Bay Ospreys.

Friday in Bird World

17 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poor Annie gets it right in the face!

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

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

Orion-Magazine-When-Birds-Nest-in-the-Doorway-Go-Out-the-Window Download

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

Tracking-Data-Show-Us-One-of-North-Americas-Most-Epic-Migrations-Audubon Download

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

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

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

p00184-p00184 Download

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

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

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

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

What has caught the attention of Louis and Dorcha?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuffy smiling at the camera…Monday in Bird World

22 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It seems that ospreys were busy laying eggs on Sunday. It was like bunnies were delivering them – whether it was the first or the third – to nests around the world. I hardly had time to pull my head out of the data forms to check on other nests! So, today’s posting reads a little bit like a list. And in about 36 days there will be sixty or more osplets hatching around the world. Imagine it…they will join their siblings. Let us hope that all of the nests prosper this year.

I love a good rescue story with a happy ending and the one today comes from a friend ‘S’ who lives in Hawaii. A nestling White Tern had fallen off its branch; they do not build nests. The proper authorities were called, the chick was taken up to a much higher branch and the parent immediately came to it. Saved!

Check out the webbed feet that help them cling to branches where they nest and roost.

Animalia says, “White terns are often seen on their own or in small groups. They are a diurnal species but are more active at dawn and dusk. To eat, it dips its beak to catch prey at the water’s surface or just beneath it. A dive is often preceded by extensive hovering, and the bird may use the wind to sustain its flight. It may catch flying fish from the air, and it is commonly seen foraging near groups of predatory fish and dolphins which drive their prey towards the surface. An individual may carry a few small fish in its bill, taking these to its young with the prey held crosswise. If disturbed by a predator, a White tern will hover, flutter and make buzzing sounds. This bird has a graceful flight. It flies easily low above the waves, without landing. It will touch the surface once it has spotted prey. Its flight is buoyant, involving erratic changes in speed and direction.” They are often called ‘fairy terns’.

‘The Girls’, and I hope you had a beautiful day. It was sunny and warm—16 C—on the Canadian Prairies, but a brisk, cool wind was accompanying it. Ice cream did not taste the same, even with a heavy jumper!

Archie was encouraging the pipping chicks to hatch! What an incredible Dad he is – ‘SP’ has often wondered if he has raised chicks before and lost his mate. We will never know, but I hope that he is with Annie for eons. Cannot wait to see these fuzzy little ones with their pink beaks and legs jumping for food.

Falling in love with Archie. His enthusiasm is contagious.

The four Osaka Peregrine Falcon chicks being fed on the 20th. This is what Archie and Annie will be looking forward to very, very soon!

We have not been able to follow Nancy and Beau at the MN-DNR nest as they moved nest when theirs collapsed last year. Trudi Kron reports that the couple have two eaglets in 2024! Fantastic news.

As you know the posts by Audubon caused a stir in Bird World and everyone wanted to know what had happened to Meadow and when. The Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay posted this on their FB page on Sunday:

It certainly is a worry for those chicks that we love and who might suffer from lack of food and/or abuse by their siblings. Even Hugo Yugo craves anything with Calcium; we often think it is because her mother was starved when carrying those 7 kittens. What will Hugo Yugo’s life be like? Is this why Mini at Patchogue had the injured leg, ‘AE’ ponders. We won’t know, and sadly, we cannot tell, but there is concern for these chicks who suffer and do not get food regularly like the others. As you might recall, Meadow was beaked often and kept from prey at one time. This includes our dear Tuffy, who had a bit of a rotten ride for a while.

Today, Tuffy has been eating well. ‘H’ sent me the first screen capture below showing Tuffy smiling at the camera. How adorable. I hope that Tuffy’s health has not been compromised from lack of food and beaking for those days we worried about this little one.

He is right up at the beak at 1700 and no doubt will be smiling again.

Tuffy having a nice meal before bedtime on Sunday. Great crop, too.

On Sunday, Louis brought Iris a fish gift. — Don’t fall off your chair! Iris has been thwarting his advances. Keep it up – get some more fish, Iris!

‘H’ reports that the second egg was laid at the Seaside Nest in Oregon.

The third egg for Boulder County was laid on the 21st!

There are three eggs at Ferris State University’s Osprey nest. The three egg clutch was completed on the 21st. Their camera is now on Twitch and there is no rewind that I can see, but they do have an up-to-date FB page.

There are three eggs for Herbert and Hermine at the Eschenbach Osprey nest. Sunday began with a snow-covered nest that gradually melted during the day.

The second egg at the Cowlitz PUD osprey nest in Washington arrived on Sunday the 21st.

The three osplets at the University of Florida-Gainesville are entering the Reptilian Phase!

Waiting for the arrival of the first egg for Aran and Elen at Glaslyn.

First egg in the nest at GribSkov on the 21st.

There are now three osprey eggs in the nest in the Ramucka Forest in Poland.

‘BHA’ reports that the third egg (and hopefully the last) was laid at the Port of Ridgefield on Sunday.

It’s three eggs for Mispillion Harbour on the 22nd!

Second egg for the new couple at Dahlgren.

And then there were three at Alyth for Flo and Harry!

Bety and Buky have been incubating their two eggs in Mlady Buky.

Dunrovin Ranch’s latest newsletter reflects on the absence of Harriet and the great matriarch she was of their osprey nest.

Honoring-Queen-Harriet Download

The American Eagle Foundation posted some images and information on Mr President and Lotus and their eaglets at their new nest. I know that many of you loved this eagle pair and are so disappointed not to be able to see them raise their chicks.

The GH owlet named Wyatt branched at the nest on Farmer Derek’s land on Sunday.

Down in the Sydney Olympic Forest, Dad and Lady are starting the nest renovations for the 2024 season! Wow. Cal Falcons hasn’t even hatched their eggs yet….did time start moving at warp speed?

The Cream-Coloured Courser is only one bird that is beginning to breed further north than its norm. Climate change is driving more and more birds to cooler areas to make their nests.

“Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) Tal Chhapar, Churu, Rajasthan, India February 15th, 2013” by Dibyendu Ash is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Cream-coloured-Courser-found-breeding-further-north-than-ever-before-BirdGuides Download

All About Birds shows this normal distribution map.

Key:

Animalia describes them as wading birds that forage for insects. Their numbers are decreasing but so far they are listed as of Least Concern.

“These coursers are found in Canary Islands, Cape Verde, North Africa and Southwest Asia. Their two eggs are laid in a ground scrape. The breeding season extends from February to September, but they may breed also in autumn and winter when local conditions (especially rainfall) are favourable. They are partially migratory, with northern and northwestern birds wintering in India, Arabia and across the southern edge of the Sahara. Some birds also breed in the southern desert regions in northwestern India and Pakistan. They are rare north of the breeding range, but this species has occurred as far away as Finland, Ireland and Great Britain.”

Thank goodness some communities understand. Portsmouth stops seaside condos from being built due to worries over wintering bird habitat! Give them five gold stars.

Portsmouth-seafront-flats-delayed-over-habitat-concerns-BirdGuides Download

There appears to be an egg at the Balgavies Loch nest on the 21st also. So many eggs on the 21st – it is raining them.

Movement has been noticed in one of the eggs at Captiva. ‘H’ reports that egg 3 is 37 days old today.

And, sadly, dear Audacity laid another egg on Sunday and it had a puncture.

Thank you so very much for being with us today. Things are going to get quite exciting the third week in May when these osplets start hatching! Take care all. Happy Earth Day.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, screen captures, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘AE, BHA, H, PB, SS’, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Osaka Peregrine Falcon Cam, Trudi Kron, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Moorings Park, Montana Osprey Project, Seaside Ospreys, Boulder County, Ferris State University Osprey Cam, Fischadle Eschenbach LiveStream, Cowlitz PUD, University of Florida-Gainesville Osprey Cam, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, GribSkov, Ospreys in Napiwodzko-Ramuka Forest, Port of Ridgefield, Mispillion Harbour Osprey Cam, Alyth Ospreys, Mlady Buky Stork Cam, Dunrovin Ranch Newsletter, American Eagle Foundation Live Nest Cams, Farmer Derek, Eagle Cam, BirdGuides, OpenVerse, Animalia, and All About Birds.

Dorcha is injured…Saturday in Bird World

20 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

We woke up to a little more snow Friday morning after the rain and snow mixed on Thursday. It is quite cool at 0 degrees C today compared to other days, and it is quite windy. That snow continued on and off during the day and has now accumulated late Friday night. I feel for the birds who do not know if it is winter or spring. They do better in the snow than in the rain as some of the food does not get sloppy and wet. There were hundreds and hundreds today and south of where I live, people had hundreds of Robins on their lawns pulling up worms!

I should introduce new readers to some of the garden animals so they know who I am constantly mentioning.

Dyson is the matriarch of the Grey Squirrel family. She is named after the inventor of the famous vacuum cleaner because of her skill in ‘sucking up peanuts’ faster than anyone! She is at least five years old; my diary tells me seven. Last year, she had three kits. They still come to the garden. She is much adored and has her own fan club! She is extremely healthy this spring. I love how her little fingers cup the small Black-oil seed and peanuts.

Little Red lived in our garden shed until it had to be torn down for the conservatory two years ago. I tried to build him a new house. Then we purchased a special squirrel house from Finland – Little Red didn’t like it and then Dyson ate the wood around the hole so she could get in and eat the peanuts I had placed in there to lure Little Red. Little Red was always alone. Then Miss Little Red arrived and well, now we have at least four Reds living in and about the garden.

A baby?

There are also Mr and Mrs Blue Jay, who are the parents of Junior, who had his little jays starting two years ago. He does not migrate, and last summer, we had two Blue Jay families living within 10 metres of the garden. The fledglings arrived and ate at the feeders. There are currently six Blue Jays around. I cannot wait for this summer. The garden could be filled with Blue Jays!!!!! Their colours are so magnificent, and the white pattern on the tip of their tails is different for each one – that is how I identify them. Junior’s feathers are a bit of a mess right now. It looks like he has been in a fight, as it seems a bit early for moulting. Indeed some of the feathers appear broken.

Then there is Mr and Mrs Downy, Mr and Mrs Hairy, and Mr Pileated that come throughout the day. I caught Mrs Downy on the suet this afternoon.

The European Starlings are having a feast in the large table feeder. Today they seem to be attracted to the suet while the squirrels – both Dyson and the three kits from last summer – and the two little Reds – forage for peanuts. I have not seen the Blue Jays so far and it is 1322 Friday afternoon.

Four cats bring me more joy than anyone could ever imagine. Missey arrived with Lewis on 2 November 2022; they were adopted from the Humane Society, which takes in stray cats and kittens. Sadly, we lost Lewis in September 2023. Calico lived in the garden and was dumped as a kitten (or so it seems). I lured her into being friends in the winter of 2023 and then once she had her kittens – only one survived (Baby Hope) – they moved into the house. It was quite the ordeal tracking her and then hoping the kitten would find us (it had left their nest and was eight weeks old). The most recent addition is Hugo Yugo, who is a rescue. Her mother was starved when she was carrying her seven kittens. As a consequence, Hugo Yugo continues to be the size of an 8-10 week old kitten despite the fact that she is now eight and a half months old. She was supposed to be a male but turned out to be a Ginger Female (only 20% of Gingers are female). She is a character. I would not part with any of them. They create a life around me that is like a symphony.

Missey has been talking to the Dark-eyed Juncos through the window and Hugo Yugo along with Calico and Baby Hope went into a food coma and have yet to surface.

Mamma Calico and Baby Hope. They posed. I could not believe it. My heart just stops every time I see them together – and they are like this most of the day unless eating or playing. Inseparable. Calico raised Hope. She would come and eat and run back to take care of her quickly. Hope was the healthiest feral kitten I had ever seen. Calico did a superb job. Cannot imagine them living on the streets.

And for those wondering who I am, well, I am a Retired Professor who has undertaken a long-term study of siblicide on Osprey nests. Last year, I increased the number of eggs observed to 341 with ‘H’. This year, we are aiming for 500. The results will be published when we have good annual comparisons – starting with 2 years and then moving next to 5 years. In 2023, many chicks were lost due to a Nor-eastern in the Chesapeake Bay Area and overfishing of the Menhaden. Perhaps that will not happen this year. I am not desensitised to the tragic events on the nests that have deaths – I take each one pretty hard. It is the joy of seeing the chick we might believed would perish thrive – to wonder at their perseverance, determination, and cleverness. Ultimately, I would like to see if these beaten chicks that do survive the nest to fledge have a higher return rate in the second year. Sadly, due to the fact that so few nests band their osplets, it is impossible to determine.

I want everyone to enjoy nature. To marvel at how beautiful the world is right outside our own windows and to realise how important it is to get out and breathe the air and listen to the birdsong. Life is stressful and it is one proven way to calm ourselves down!

Friday was a day for egg laying…I continue to tell everyone to mark their calendars. That third week in May is going to be a very busy one.

On Friday afternoon, 19 April, Dorcha was injured in an encounter with a large raptor—a golden eagle or a Sea Eagle—at Loch Arkaig. According to Geemeff, Ravens were escorting the large raptor out of the area when Dorcha got involved. Dorcha returned to the nest at 1501 with scratches, blood, and an injured leg.

The injuries to the right leg – it looks like a large puncture to me – can clearly be seen when Dorcha gets up from incubating her egg when Louis brings her a fish.

Poor Dorcha. She was due to lay her third egg and she did at 02:26 Saturday morning, the 20th of April. Hard incubation should begin.

I am expecting the third egg if there is to be one at Loch of the Lowes today, the 20th.

All eyes are on the eggs of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus anxiously awaiting the sign of the first pip.

Positively nothing at the nest of Angel and Tom. Is Tom missing? ‘A’ seems to think he is.

At Eagle Country, Swampy is going higher on the natal nest tree. S/he will fledge shortly. What a seemingly strong and healthy eaglet.

Tuffy had a Good Friday. Harry delivered a huge Tilapia at 0941 at the Moorings Park nest on Friday. Tuffy was in and out of the feeding, but by 1055 was finished and had a nice crop!

Tuffy has had big crops all Friday. This little one is eating well.

Later than the image above, after another fish. Harry must have an excellent spot to land these whoppers…

A fish arrived at 1423. Tuffy had a nice crop at the end of that meal, too!

Tuffy had a crop when the 1602 fish arrived. He looked but didn’t bother to go over and eat. He was full already.

A little bit of a fish came at 1831..Tuffy even got some!

It ‘feels’ like Tuffy and Ruffie have done nothing but eat all day. Each time I go and check Tuffy is up at the beak. If this little one continues to eat this much fish per day, we will have to change the middle letters of its name from ‘F’ to ‘B’. Sssshhhh. Don’t say it out loud. We don’t want to give the second hatch a complex. All kidding aside, Tuffy did really well on Friday. In fact, both were so full that Sally got to finish off a nice fish as the sun was setting on the nest.

First egg for Cowlitz PUD is 18 April! Love these folks. They put up metal fish grates to protect the osplets from being taken by the Bald Eagles!

Egg #1 or Bruce and Naha at Seaside on the 18th of April, too!

We have an egg at Oyster Bay on Long Island.

‘H’ reports: “Opal did it again…she laid the 4th egg at 17.46.” I caution new observers that this is a tough nest to watch if all eggs hatch and fish deliveries are few. Siblicide warning.

All three chicks at the Venice Golf and Country club platform look fine.

The camera has gone black again at Frenchman’s Creek. Now it is only listed as Private so I presume residents only that wish to sign up. We will sadly never know the fate of the two older osplets. I hope that they continue to self feed and that someone from Frenchman’s Creek will let us know if they fledge.

All three eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy have nice crops on Friday.

Snow on Finland’s Osprey nests.

Egg three at Llyn Clywedog nest of Seren and Dylan arrives on the 19th as well.

‘L’ reports: “New female at Charlo is OJ (Wakati) from 2018 Dunrovin nest. She’s got her leg banded.” This might get interesting. Happy for you Charlie if Charlotte does not show up!

Lucy and Kenny’s three eggs at Lake Murray Ospreys. For new viewers, a GHO took all three chicks off this nest in 2023. Former mate, Ricky died and difficult for Mum to feed, hunt, and offer security.

Iris was at her nest in Missoula, Montana on Friday.

It is hard to believe that these two are Liberty and Guardian’s little eaglets.

Lots of soft bedding for the two tiny eaglets at Fort St Vrain – and a good thing, too, as the snow began to fall Friday evening.

Port Tobacco’s only eaglet appears to be doing just dandy!

Do you have a dream to see the geese that winter in the UK? Before the climate changes so much that they stay in Greenland and Siberia? Here is a file to help you identify them. It is on my bucket list!

Guide-to-Britains-geese-species-how-to-identify-and-where-to-see-Countryfile.com_Download

We know how Ospreys connect people! Here is an article on three special women whose lives are intertwined by these fish eating birds.

The-Osprey-Connection-Audubon Download

To my knowledge, all nests are doing well. The snow has again started, and I am behind in my data entry. I will check on some of the eagle nests tomorrow, along with what is happening at our hawk and osprey nests. Take care everyone. Thank you for being with us today.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, L, PB’, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Eagle Country, Moorings Park, Cowlitz PUD, Seaside, PSEG, Forsythe Osprey Cam, VGCCO, Little Miami Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Charlo Montana, Lake Murray Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, FORE, XCel Energy, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, BBC Countryfile, and Audubon.

*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to acknowledge those that provide information and material for my posting. If I have failed to credit someone, please do let me know so that I can correct this. Thank you,’

More hatches, more arrivals…Monday in Bird World

25 March 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

We hope that you have had a nice weekend. The sound of the geese coming into Devonian Lake today—where there was water for them—was like a choir singing. Sitting on the bench at the nature centre and listening to them was soothing on a day when calm was needed. More and more geese and ducks fly over each day, bringing us the hope that not only spring but some rain might come one day. It is still dry and dusty if the wind is whipping it up, and I still have issues sometimes.

Here the Canada Geese are arriving around noon on Sunday. There were hundreds and hundreds in the lake and more than that trying to find some grass over with the Bison at our nature centre.

The Girls continue to enjoy the warm weather. Well, I call it warm. It was -5. But next week the forecast is for +14 on Tuesday. No rain predicted. This is not good.

Hugo Yugo will be completely healed in 10-14 days but she is just so much better every day since she had her surgery. Calico is losing some weight very slowly. I am now adding warm water to her wet food to ‘fill her up’ a bit and she is eating her low calorie hard food. The others are just simply wild with spring fever.

Watching and waiting for Hugo Yugo to strike!

Missey who looks like she came out of the forest.

Calico who dared to give us a chance.

Gorgeous Hope.

Hugo Yugo. So sweet when she is asleep.

The second osplet hatched at Moorings Park Sunday morning. The second hatch is still quite unsteady and has fallen inside its shell. Hopefully, it will be up and steady soon.

Oh, that is so much better!

As of 15:45 Sunday afternoon, there has been no food delivery at the Duke Farms Bald Eagle nest since Friday at noon. Mum found an old bone and got a few bites off of it on Saturday. The first hatch, Leaper, is beating the crap out of the second. We are now at 50 hours without a substantial meal. Mum is ‘starving’, too. Is it possible that something has happened to the male? Mum will have to move in and against her instincts stop brooding and feeding and start hunting. I fear we are losing Jersey. Already they will be intimidated from eating and unless a huge fish or prey item comes and Leaper goes into a food coma, the feeding could be quite one-sided like it was at Bluff City-ETSU.

I last saw or heard the Dad several days ago. I read that the adults at Duke often exchange prey on the branches rather than Dad coming to the nest, but it would appear that this is more than that. He may be missing, injured or killed. As mentioned in the earlier paragraph, Mum is still in brooding mode with her hormones, but she will need to move swiftly into hunting mode. The eaglets are just a month old and have their thermal down, and while it is not ideal, they can be left. It is the same situation as M15 faced when Harriet died, only it was the Dad who had to take over full-time care, including security, hunting, feeding and brooding. Jersey did eat some scraps, and it can dig around the nest, but will it be enough? for leftovers, I continue to be reminded of the resilience of the third hatch at Achieva in 2021, Tiny Little I called her. She did just that and survived and became the dominant in the nest, defending it against adults when she was just 4 months old. These little survivors can achieve much – but they need to survive!

Prey arrived late at Duke Farms. Mum brought it in. Leaper ate. Jersey was too afraid. Mum ate. Nothing more to say unless a huge food item arrives.

Jersey did not get any of the food that arrived at 1800.

Jersey may try and chew on that little bony piece that is left. Look at the crop on Leaper. The Mum noticed Jersey trying to feed itself from the scraps. In the case of the third hatch at Achieva, Diane was able to bring in catfish late, when the older two were full and asleep, and feed the third – once she realised how determined it was to live. And it did live because of Diane’s actions.

This year has already seen several instances of siblicide in Bald Eagle nests in the US. As we move into Osprey season – and still have quite a number of eagle nests where eggs will hatch – it is a good idea to remind ourselves ‘why’ siblicide occurs.

Siblide-in-Bald-Eagles Download

Here is a longer Master’s thesis on siblicide.

MasterLS_EE_2016_JICamachoGarcia Download

Hope and Chandler have more than enough fish for their little one and them. That is a whopper.

The surviving eaglet at Bluff City has had plenty of fish and has been renamed ‘Viper’.

There is a pair of ospreys on the Patuxent 1 nest in Maryland Sunday morning when the cam came back on.

Frenchman’s Creek triplets are doing well.

In contrast to the weather in Maryland, the Decorah North Bald Eagles are experiencing heavy snow and high winds. They are forecast for 1-3″ of snow and then rain. There is a new hatch under Mrs DNF.

Welcome DN17.

The snow has stopped at the nest of Cornell Red-tail Hawks, Big Red and Arthur.

We continue to wait for eggs at the nest of Angel, the Leucistic Red tail Hawk, and Tom.

Baiba made a montage of the Eagle Country nest featuring Blaze, Abby, Swampy, and Meadow on the 23rd of March.

Swampy and Meadow had a lesson in plucking. They are magnificent. Those nests that successfully raise two eaglets to fledge in 2024 should get double gold medals.

R6 is older, and he could fledge at any time. He spends much time on the rim of the nest, looking out over Ron and Rose’s territory. gr8lakes suggests that R6 should just take his time. He is in the safest place he will ever be, and when he leaves that nest, life becomes a huge challenge.

Few could raise three gentle souls. Give Thunder and Akecheta a round of applause.

Trudi Kron catches the hatch at the Land Conservancy and the second hatch for Farmer Derek’s eagles.

Berry College was on the top of the list for this week’s hatches and they are right on time! BEL-a-donna caught it.

Both ospreys-Oscar and Olivia – have been spending much of the day at the Severna Park platform in Maryland.

It was windy at the Carova Beach (Outerbanks) Osprey nest of Betsy and Frederick.

The Oyster Bay resident ospreys have returned.

The couple have returned to the Boulder Fair Grounds. What a week this is going to be – eaglets hatching and ospreys arriving.

White YW, that incredible male at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve Osprey nest, has returned home safely from his migration on the 24th of March.

The remarkable Black 80 has returned from his migration from Africa to Threave Castle. What is the secret to his long life besides luck? He is the chick of Mrs G and her mate, 11(98), at Glaslyn. Great DNA.

First California Condor egg of the 2024 season. Something to celebrate and a brand new couple.

E23 is doing well and F23 and M15 are great teachers.

There was also a beautiful subadult visitor to the M15’s nest. Could it be one of M15 and Harriet’s fledglings returned?

More than that, though, is the touching relationship between F23 and her first eaglet. Sleeping together…this eaglet is going to be so missed if they ever encourage it to leave! (or when its instinct kicks in to seek the wider world)

It is officially hatch watch at the nest of Liberty and Guardian in Redding, California.

The weather has been miserable at many of the Bald Eagle nests and Kansas City is no exception. Ellie and Harvey and their family have been rocking and rolling Sunday night and there was, of course, rain. Harvey has the pantry full and is often with Ellie on the nest.

Hartley and Monty recovered from their intruder and are thinking more eggs!

Closing tonight with the cutest little Peregrine Falcon – soon to be a dad for the first time – Archie at the Cal Falcons nest. His mate Annie gave them four eggs!

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. I very much look forward to having you with us again soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, questions, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘H, J, MP’, Moorings Park Ospreys, Duke Farms, Port Tobacco, Bluff City, Patuxent I, Frenchman’s Creek, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Baiba, Eagle Country, WRDC, gr8lakes, IWS/Explore, Trudi Kron, Berry College Eagle Cam, Severna Park, Outbanks 24/7 Osprey Cam, PSEG and Oyster Bay Osprey Cam, Boulder County Fairgrounds Osprey Cam, Cumbria Wildlife Trust (Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam), Jeff Kear, Brian Taylor, Ventana Wildlife Society, Lady Hawk, Real Saunders Photography, FORE, SK Hideaways, and Cal Falcons.

Friday in Bird World

15 March 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Spring is coming and with it the arrival of Canada Geese, songbirds, and Ospreys amongst other raptors.

Today, more than a thousand Canada Geese turned the sky black at Fort Whyte Alive in Winnipeg. Most landed on the Bison fields while a few went to the open water on Devonian Lake and others decided to peck at the ice inside the nature centre.

As the Ospreys arrive at their nests around the world, laying eggs, and hatching osplets, I begin to be a ‘little more scattered’ than I might normally be. Last year, the total number of eggs that ‘H’ and I observed was 338. This year we hope to bring that total to 500. It is an enormous task. I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to me, offering to send me information on the nests that they are watching. So, as a reminder, if you watch a particular osprey nest, please feel free to send me the date the eggs were laid and the dates of the hatch, and please do tell me if you are observing the chicks bashing the daylights out of one another. This could be ‘dominance play’, or it could be serious and result in siblicide. Even if you miss all of the major events but tune in to a nest and notice aggressive behaviour or something worrisome, do let me know. I appreciate any and all messages!

Let us go back to Dr Alan Poole’s talk. In my last blog, I talked about his first main topic—issues related to fish and the problems that the Ospreys face with the Chinese fishing trawlers taking huge nets of surface fish such as Manhadan and Mullet along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the US and West Africa. The other three topics were Problem Nests, Restoring Osprey Populations, and Streaming cams.

Problem Nests: Dr Poole pointed out that not having enough nests for ospreys is a ‘positive’ problem when you have too many ospreys. He notes that Greece has not a single osprey. Poland is shooting all of theirs, the Balkans have none, etc. There are 8-10,000 Osprey pairs in the Chesapeake Bay Area of the US alone. Imagine. There are 5000 nesting pairs in Florida. So, what do they use? Ospreys have adapted to use human-made structures because there are not enough good trees. In fact, this is becoming a serious problem for Bald Eagles. One human-made structure that Ospreys use are the hydro or power poles. The power companies don’t like this. They try to kick them off. It is, in fact, easy for the power companies to add an auxiliary appendage or put up an additional pole for the birds. But it takes time, employees, and money – something the companies either don’t have or don’t want to use. So when you see a power company that actually helps the ospreys, thank them! Poole is trying to find ways to get the power companies on board. In Florida, a lot of ospreys are using cell towers. So far, there has not been a problem. Of those 8-10,000 pairs in the Chesapeake Bay region, 20-30% use channel markers. The Coast Guard needs an award, according to Poole, because they allow the birds to have their nests there as long as they do not interfere with the markers. Some people put up very short poles with predator guards in salt marshes. It was pointed out that salt marshes might be a good place to try and locate some of the birds. In Finland, there are very few suitable trees for the ospreys, so the Finns cut off the top of the conifer trees and put up human-made platforms for them. It is brilliant. This could be done for the eagles and ospreys in various parts of North America, too. In the UK, we know that artificial platforms are being built, which is also happening in France.

Restoring Osprey Populations: Poole calls Ospreys “the stay-at-home birds”. Most of the time they stay within a region around the nest where they fledged. We know that this is especially true for the males. But this behaviour causes issues with overpopulation, especially where there is a lack of fish, bad storms, etc. So what do you do? You try to relocate some of the population to places without food and birds. The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation is well known in England for translocating ospreys to places like Italy, Spain, and the UK. Poole mentioned that Massachusetts ospreys are now being flown to Illinois to try and get them to populate along the Mississippi Flyway. If you move ospreys where you want them, you must provide them with nesting platforms. This is imperative. Switzerland is currently trying to reintroduce the raptors. They have released 50 young in the last five years. Starting a breeding population in a new area takes at least a decade.

There was a slight move off topic before looking at streaming cams but it was an important one – one of the most important in my mind. That is getting people knowledgeable about the history, the persecution of ospreys, their behaviour, what makes me different from other birds, etc. Poole noted that various places have set up visitor centres where people can watch the ospreys on a monitor or at hides. One is Loch Garten in Scotland, which had 2 million visitors look at their birds. These visitors paid to see the raptors. In Finland, the visitor centre, which is quite small compared to Loch Garten, had enough visitors that it paid for all of the Osprey research. One way to create awareness is through education. Tim Mackrill was not mentioned, but he has set up the Osprey Leadership Foundation and, like Sacha Dench and The Flight of the Osprey, they have forged links between individuals in the UK and West Africa. It is fundamental to have the youngsters in both countries (their parents and teachers) appreciate the birds they share. Poole also noted that some places have fairs and events and there are osprey mascots to encourage interest.

The last topic was streaming cams, and I felt that while quite knowledgeable, Poole knew less about the current number of streaming cams and the amount of research that is going on using them. Perhaps I am wrong. He suggested that one way to understand the ‘fish problem’ was to monitor the fish species brought to a nest, the number, how those fish were divided up in terms of feeding the little ospreys, etc. ——– I sighed because I knew that so many of you have counted the fish, the bites, have cried, pulled your hair out, etc at many of the nests including Achieva and Patchogue – just two examples from 2023. Citizen scientists are doing it every day. Your work – meaning each of you -needs to find a way to channel itself to the researchers who need more time, the funds, or the staff to monitor enough nests. I know this from personal experience. Various other species have individuals watching, and we now have observation boards set up at several Osprey cam sites thanks to Bart Molenaar. I can think of three he has established – Rutland Manton Bay, Seaside, and Port Lincoln. Every aspect of the life of the nest was recorded through observations and the chat. It’s a really valuable archive.

At Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 is eating well and working on her nest. She awaits the arrival of Laddie, her mate (LM12).

At Achieva Credit Union’s osprey platform in St Petersburg, Florida, Jack brought in a nice fish and Diane gently fed the wee babe often. Jack was also kept busy being security guard for the nest.

Dad was so excited. ‘MP’ observed Dad listening and walking around Diane. Part of the shell was out from under Mum, but the little one was still partially in the shell, with Mum being very secretive. You could tell Dad was quite happy to have a wee babe in that nest.

Mary Kerr put in some interesting notes about Maya and Blue 33 on FB today. As you know, Maya arrived a couple of days ago with Blue 33 returning Wednesday on Rutland’s Manton Bay platform. On Thursday, Blue 25 came to the nest and Maya sent her packing.

Blue 25 does cause some mischief. However, Geemeff reminds me that she is the mother of Blue 4K, the subject of Simon Curtis’s book, If you build it, he will come, the story of waiting 200 years to have ospreys at Belvoir.

First Osprey sighting at Forsythe! Thanks, ‘H’,

Was there an Osprey at Patchogue? There was!!!!!!!! They have a lot of work to do but thankfully much of the harmful debris is ‘under’ the nest.

It is extremely difficult to watch the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta today because he wind was really whipping it about. The majority of the time I could only see two heads getting fed. That said right after 1106 you can see the blur of the third and it appears to have eaten.

That 1106 feeding.

Others.

There is plenty of food and Thunder and Akecheta are experienced adults.

Dixie and Mason are scooting all over the Superbeaks nest. It won’t be long til they are walking on those big clown feet.

The kids at Johnson City are both eating well. Boone has lots of fish in the nest and Jolene is a great Mum to these two.

Leaper and Jersey both had crops at Duke Farms today. At one point, Leaper was so full she looked like she would burst!

Swampy and Blaze are huge compared to these bobbleheads.

At Captiva, Cal flew off the nest on Wednesday. He flew around the area constantly observed by Clive and Connie. Today, he flew back to his natal nest. Well done, Cal!

Nothing like a lot of flying to make you want to go home to your bed and sleep duckling style.

Ron brought R6 a fish in the early afternoon. So cute. R6 had been working his wings Thursday morning. Not ready for fledge yet and still working on the self-feeding. No hurry, R6.

A lot of people thought E23 had fledged but he was up above the camera on Thursday. He could fly anytime!

Caught Gabby at the NE Florida nest today. She’s a beauty. We adore her and I am so glad that her and Beau are so bonded. Next year!

Chase and Cholyn’s only egg at Two Harbours was laid on February 22nd, making itay. In a fortnight, we should be expecting a pip/hatch on March 28th. 22 days old todMark your calendars.

Liberty and Guardian had three eggs. One was broken in the nest and it is unknown which of the three was lost. Those eggs were laid on Feb 15, 18, and 21. That would make them: Egg #1, 29 days, #2 26 days, and #3 would be 23 days old. We have at least a week to find out if egg #1 is alright.

It is now officially confirmed that Frederick and Betsy are back at the Carova Beach, North Carolina Outerbanks Osprey platform. — Don’t get me started. Look at those plastic carrier bags on the nest and around the foot of one of the adults!

I thought Annie might be ready to lay her first egg today. She was napping in the scrape when Archie, Daddy Door-Dash, came in with dinner.

There are currently three Peregrine Falcon eggs at the scrape in Eden, Netherlands. The third was laid on the 13th of March.

Waiting for Duke and Daisy to return to Barnegat Light in New Jersey. The couple lost 2 out of 3 chicks to starvation/siblicide during the Nor’easter of June 2023 and it was feared, for some time, that Duke might have died also. His return some weeks later was such a great relief for everyone.

Lucy was on the Lake Murray platform on Thursday.

Did Spirit visit her natal nest at Big Bear on Thursday? Cali Condor thinks it could have been her.

I am so looking forward to the Cornell RTH season. Big Red and Arthur were both checking and tweaking the nest and spending time on the light stand. Eggs could come any time.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Remember to go outside and smell spring! It will lift your spirits more than you ever will know. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, presentations, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘H, J, MP’, Alan Poole, Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Achieva Credit Union, Mary Kerr, LRWT, Forsythe Osprey Cam, PSEG, IWS/Explore.org, Superbeaks, Johnson City-ETSU, Duke Farms, Eagle Country, Window to Wildlife, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, NEFL-AEF, FORE, Carova Beach Osprey Cam, SK Hideaways, EDE Peregrine Falcon Cam, Lake Murray Ospreys, and Cali Condor.

Category Archives: protected species

A better day…Thursday in Bird World

World Bird Sanctuary

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Tragedy at Crooked Lake…Sunday in Bird World

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Pip in Iris and Finnegan’s second egg…Friday in Bird World

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Saturday in Bird World

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Pips, Hatches, and Fledges…Sunday in Bird World

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Friday in Bird World

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Tuffy smiling at the camera…Monday in Bird World

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Dorcha is injured…Saturday in Bird World

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More hatches, more arrivals…Monday in Bird World

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Friday in Bird World

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