Category Archives: protecting wildlife

Friday in Bird World

2 August 2024

Hello Everyone!

Don’t forget to send me a note or a long list with your favourite moments of the 2023-24 season (every bird counts, no matter the species). I will publish these on Wednesday, August 8th. We need to have some smiles and I just know that there are some surprises lurking out there that have not been mentioned! You can put the list in the comments or send me an email: maryannsteggles@icloud.com Make sure I get this before midnight CDT on Tuesday August 7. Thank you so much!

Another hot day. 32 C. The bird baths needed filling continually. The Crows and Jays kept quiet during the high heat of the afternoon and are just coming into the garden. Dyson should be joining them soon!

We are nearing the time when every osplet should be fledgling. They will then have time to gain their muscle strength and get lots of practice. Some very precious osplets might even catch their fish before they leave on migration, but most will depend on their parents and, in particular, Dad as Mum will be departing well before anyone else. The females lose from 10-15% (some even have been found to lose up to 30%) of their body weight, and it takes them extra time to build up for their long journeys.

The University of Toronto reminds us of the simple facts, “There are two distinct populations of osprey with respect to lifestyle, the Residents and the Migrants. Residents are the ones, which breed in the subtropical latitudes in winter; they either stay in the same area all year round or move only locally during the non-breeding season. The other ones are the Migrants, which nest in the temperate latitudes and fly off each autumn to spend the winter in the tropical regions. North American ospreys start migrating south to their wintering grounds in Central America and in the northern parts of South America, around mid-August. By early September, most nesting colonies in the northern latitudes are empty. The numbers of migrating ospreys observed at selected watch points along their southward route are at their greatest during mid-September and early October. They reach their wintering grounds by late November. During winter, the only thing an osprey does is to eat, rest, recover from the stress of the previous breeding season and prepare for the next breeding season. It has been observed that during winter, they become more tolerant of each other as they congregate in loose flocks and are even known to hunt together in small groups, a few birds hovering over water, looking for fish might also stimulate others to join in the frenzy. Adult ospreys start leaving their wintering grounds in early March, by late March, more than half of the wintering ospreys have left the wintering areas, for their natal nesting grounds. Yearling ospreys stay on their wintering grounds for another eighteen months, returning to their natal nesting grounds at the age of about two years. Two-year-old ospreys however, leave the wintering grounds much later than the adults, and may reach their natal nesting grounds as late as June, by then; they are already too late to breed. However, pre-adult ospreys may become a nuisance to the breeders, because they try to take over nest sites and may interfere with the breeding pairs, as they explore and search for nesting sites of their own. They are also sometimes known to replace a partner in a breeding pair if it dies or is incapable of performing its duties. Ospreys arrive back at their natal nesting grounds by early May.”

If you are looking for interesting books on Osprey migration, here are my top two.

Soaring with Fidel by David Gessner is not your typical academic book and that is why it is my favourite choice for anyone wanting to understand the migration of ospreys and, in particular, those on the NE coast of the US. Gessner follows Fidel down the coast, to Cuba, and into South America. I promise you that you will want to travel to the mountains near Manzanillo, Cuba to see the hundreds if not thousands of ospreys that fly over heading south. It is the top of my bucket list. And I will get there!

The second choice is more for older chidren but Heidi expressly told me that it is not just for children, adults can enjoy it, too, and I agree. Belle’s Journey. An Osprey Takes Flight will touch your heart. It is the true story of a GPS tracked osprey. Rob Bierregaard takes us from Belle’s fledge, to her first successful fish catch, through a tumultous trip down the coast of the US to South America.

Which leads us into these amazing birds that are hopping, jumping, and hovering and will soon spread those wings with confidence and fly for the first time.

Oldest chick fledges from Saaksilvie nest #1 while the remaining chick gets some high hovers!

I haven’t reminded anyone about the benefits to birds of shade grown coffee for awhile. It is time to do that as we examine, on occasion, agricultural practices that can benefit not only humans but wildlife. The Snithsonian certifies ‘bird friendly’ coffee. They even sell it. In Canada, it is Birds and Beans. Yes, it is more expensive than brands where the tree canopy has been clear cut but, compared to other high quality small roasters in Canada, it is only about $3 more per 454 grams (one pound). It is discounted if you get a subscription. And no, I don’t get a commission! But I do support every effort to rewild and to make our planet more inhabitable for all living creatures so I cut back on the amount of coffee that I drink so I can purchase the bird friendly brand.

Shade-grown coffee demonstrates the benefits of combining agriculture and conservation – Oxford BrooDownload

Ventana Wildlife is not all about Condors. They are a Species Recovery Programme. This is a recent video about the success of the restoration of the Bald Eagles in Central California. It is beautiful and short, 1:27 minutes.

Some news about Blue and a lot of flapping at Boundary Bay.

Food deliveries for Blue:

‘CG’ sends her report on Blue’s Day:
Mere.  Ha, ha.  I’ll bet she was the twitterer I kept hearing yesterday.  Blue knew she was there and was squeeing at her.  I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before.

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Blue greeting the day from her favorite spot.  Wonder what she thinks of the fog.

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I thought she had a pretty good day.  She was very active all day long and did quite a bit of squeeing.  I wondered if a parent was around but didn’t hear any adult twittering until later in the day.  She spent the morning wingercising, hopping, and dancing across the nest.  It was so cute that they put together a video.  

Great Flapping From Blue on YouTube with a message from Hancock Wildlife regarding concern about Blue.

There was a food delivery of fish around 1000 hours.  Blue pounced on it, and there was a struggle to release it from Mere’s talons.  I’d called it a medium sized piece, and it was all gone by 1018 hours.  

,During the afternoon, she spent time moving around the nest, looking out, preening, wing stretching, and more dancing, skipping, and flapping across the nest.  She lay down a few times today but not for long except when she lay down in her favorite spot in the late afternoon.  I think she was dozing.

There was another food delivery at around 1830 hours, and she accomplished a good clean snatch.  It was a large piece.  It looked like moist fresh meat, a little more work than fish, but she did a good job of holding it down and pulling pieces off and all the time was squeeing while eating.  After dinner, she stood for a while, and after squeeing, she was answered by a lot of twittering.  Someone asked about Pere.  He is still around.  In fact, it looked like he delivered the last meal.  When chicks become “exuberant” trying to grab food when delivered, dads tend to retreat.  All chicks are bigger than dad, especially the females.  Poor Akecheta delivering food to his 3 eaglets at the West End Territory ended up on his back in the melee.

At 2200 hours, Blue was up and started doing a lot of preening.  I had seen a lot of moths on previous nights, but tonight, as well as the moths, there were lots of tiny flying insects.  Had to be annoying.

I checked in at 2244 hours, and she was asleep lying down with her head to one side.  She looked so adorable.  Funny, the flying insects and moths were gone.

WEATHER:  Thursday, 8/1, at 1715 hours, it is 82F, mostly sunny, wind 8 mph, humidity 63%, feels like 90F, low tonight 61F.

Friday, 8/2 through Monday, 8/5:  Highs ranging from 79F to 82F with lows ranging from 50F to 62F.”

If you missed it, Finnegan and Iris’s chicks were named. This article includes the overwhelming numbers of people who voted and how many chose the winning names.

Hellgate Osprey Chicks’ Names Revealed After Community Vote | Cornell Lab Bird Cams Cornell Lab BirdDownload

Iris, Sum-eh and Antali see Finnegan coming in with a fish!

This nest just makes me smile. Thank you and good night Iris, Finnegan (wherever you are), Sum-eh, and Antali.

‘RP’ found this on X. So cute.

When fish deliveries come, everyone wants in on the action and some of that nice dinner! Fledglings who have been civil to one another on the nest take on a new energized stance as they prepare to live independently in the world.

Dyfi Osprey Nest.

It is precisely the same at every nest.

Glaslyn.

The baby, 5H6, claims the fish at Poole Harbour!

Later, other siblings want some fish, too.

At McEuen Park, the fledgling is enjoying a fish dinner all by itself.

It feels like things are finally settling down in the nests. The last of the osplets will be fledging and then they will need to eat and fatten up a bit – so will Mum and Dad – before they begin their migrations (if they migrate, some don’t). What a year it has been.

Annie and Archie are finally getting some quiet time after successfully fledging four! Dear Nox, the fourth hatch that landed in the water at the marina is improving. Great news. If I had a list for cutie pies this year I bet Nox and Smallie would tie. Interesting that they are both Peregrine Falcons!!!!!

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

Daily summary Thursday 1st August 2024
Not much action today but after a quick pop in on Nest One from a pair of Warblers, we did have the pleasure of seeing an Osprey – Garry LV0 arrived and spent a few quiet minutes looking around and preening before flying off again. Chaddie 14 gave us the exciting news that the chick at Bunarkaig has fledged, this chick is thought to be the offspring of Affric 152 & Prince. Link to his update:  https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15536809.  WTS George says we would really appreciate people signing our Living Legends petition to protect our ancient trees:  https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15532685. The weather was settled today, but tonight’s light cloud and light winds will change into heavy rain tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.32.55 (04.30.46); Nest Two 22.32.34 (04.38.42)
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/9LKihnfJAjo N1 A pair of Warblers visit 10.31.12https://youtu.be/QTRqeePpg8I N1 Garry LV0 arrives, stays a while, and preens 13.07.21

Bonus watch – Soar with a Golden Eagle as it flies over Scotland wearing a go-pro eagle cam:https://youtu.be/JDmgtkaKx6c

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

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

Royal Cam Chick is loosing all his baby down and transforming into a beautiful albatross that will be fledging in another 5-6 weeks. Isn’t he lovely?

Everyone is still home at Blackbush.

Morning rained stopped. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum chick is certainly ready to begin some great hovering and flapping. My goodness, I hope some fairies bring some soft material to this nest next year to help the ospreys get a head start.

Fledgling at McEuen Park waiting for Mum to bring some fish! This is actually a bit of a miracle, too. It is hard enough for a single parent to take care of chicks in a perfect world. Then imagine a single parent with four chicks, intense heat, and babies not able to thermoregulate. I think we are lucky that we had one survive on this nest in Idaho this year.

My goodness. The two chicks at the Latvian osprey nest in Kurzeme seem to have grown even more overnight! Look at the wing spread and look at that healthy ‘ps’. Another miracle nest and congratulations to Singa and Svings. The chicks were ringed on the 30th of July. The oldest is Red 59T, a female weighing a whopping 1750 grams. The second is Red 59V, a male weighing 1400 grams. The third egg DNH.

It’s very windy there.

Dorsett Hobby scares everyone by climbing to the rim of the nest. Is chick hungry?

Chatters have expressed some concern over what appears to be a wing problem with the chick on nest #1 in Finland.

Many of you will know that the largest wildfire in California history is burning and could be a threat to many nests. Here is an update on Liberty and Guardian.

Russian Imperial Eagle fledglings waiting at the nest for prey deliveries.

‘A’ sends the latest posts from Australia if you have not seen them:

At the Olympic Park, we are very close to hatch:

August 1: The 35th day since the first egg was laid. Early duets, and then Dad came in and took the fish tail off himself. He returned and sat for a short while. Lady returned after only 31 minutes. Another shortish shift each, then Lady came in at 9:20 with leaves and incubated again. During the morning, both were in for short shifts, with calling and duets. Later, both took their turn at incubating during some light rain. Late afternoon, Dad relieved Lady briefly, until she returned for the evening at 5:20. Lady spent some 7 hours on the eggs today, and they were uncovered only briefly during changeovers. No prey was brought to the nest.

August 2: A cold wet night for Lady. After a few calls, Dad came in at 6:30, and Lady was off for a break but heard close by. She returned after only 33 minutes – a quick break for her. There was some rain in the morning, and several changes. Lots of calling off the nest. Some rain on and off. Dad had a long (two-hour) shift from just before 9am, and again in the afternoon. Is Lady out getting prey for herself? Both brought some greenery in today, though again, no prey was brought to the nest. Lady was home from 15:35, and other than a few short stretches and rolls, she sat on the eggs until evening- though there was quite some muttering from the nest. A few late ups and downs, then settled. Both parents spent a similar time on the eggs today, with the eggs only uncovered for brief periods.

‘H’ sends her reports:

8/1  Osoyoos osprey nest:  Breakfast consisted of the large leftover fish from yesterday.  Soo fed her youngsters for about 18 minutes.  The first new fish of the day did not arrive until 1221, when Olsen dropped off a very large partial fish.  That fish provided for a 46-minute feeding for the osplets.  I did not see any more fish brought to the nest the rest of the day, but I noted that the chicks both still had large crops late in the afternoon.  It was a very warm day, with the temperature reaching 101F/38C.  Soo was acting as Mombrella to help shield her big kids from the sun most of the afternoon.  Weather forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high temp 102F/39C, light winds.  

8/1 Colonial Beach osprey nest:  It was a better day for this nest.  Four fish were brought to the nest, three of from Betty.  And, David delivered a fish after he had not been seen on cam for three days.  So, little Cobey ate pretty well today.  Betty was even seen acting as Mombrella for a while to shade Cobey from the hot sun…that’s progress!  Forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high 95, winds 16 mph.

8/2 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest:  There is a patch on the ground at the very top of our nest-cam-view where the marsh grass is thinned-out a bit, and I have seen both fledglings fly to that spot on occasion.  There’s something they like about being on the ground, and they think they are hidden by tall grass.  It was getting dark, and at 2030 in the evening on 8/1, I saw both of the fledglings fly from the nest to that spot.  I could make out one of their heads, while the other one was just out of view.  I have not seen a fox this season, but I have in the past.  They roam the marsh at dusk.  I didn’t like the fledglings being on the ground at that time of day.  How would they learn to stay up high out of harm’s way from ground predators, especially as darkness approaches?  Shouldn’t it be instinctual?  Or, is it something that they would somehow learn from their parents?  Certainly learning from experience doesn’t sound like a very good idea.  Well, I worried all night, and I was very grateful to see those silly juvies fly to the nest early this morning.  I wonder where they actually spent the night.

If you happen to be near St Louis, Missouri, there are celebrating Murphy at the World Bird Sanctuary (Thanks, J)

And they continue…Omega will be there til they get the very last Menhaden. Perhaps it is time for a world wide boycott of Omega!

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

Thank you to the following for their wonderful reports, posts, pictures, videos, articles, books, and streaming cams that helped me write my post today: ‘A, CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RP’, Amazon (book covers), David Gessner, Rob Bierregaard, Nesting Bird Life & More, Oxford Brookes University, Ventana Wildlife Society, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, All About Birds, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, BoPH, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Blackbush Beach Ospreys, MN-LA, McEuen Park, LDF, Finnish Osprey Foundation, FORE, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Olympic Park Eagles, Sharon Dunne, Montana Osprey Project, DancinLionHeart, and Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal.

Wednesday in Bird World

31 July 2024

Good Morning,

Tomorrow is the first of August! The summer is absolutely flying by. Today’s report from my end – not those great folks that send me news on specific nests they are monitoring – is a bit brief. I spent a lovely afternoon in the park yesterday despite the 31 C heat. There was a lovely breeze and it was simply wonderful to hear the sounds of children’s voices splashing in a pool. A grandfather and his two grandchildren asked to share my picnic table. The children were so cute. One asked if I would like one of their ‘Bear Paws’ – a soft chocolate cookie. Yummy.

The correct cable arrived and now we can have some images of the garden friends from the better camera.

Is this just the most gorgeous Crow? I am finally beginning to be able to tell the new babies – not baby size – by their shape and personalities.

Its sibling was down on the top of the Weeping Caragana.

One of the siblings is very ‘tall and thin’ compared to the others.

They seem to have very different personalities, too. Gosh, they are wonderful. As are the Blue Jays!

There are six baby Blue Jays. Three were on the big tray feeder.

One wasn’t sure it would like beets and rice as much as the Crows!

The other two were on the deck amidst the seeds and sparrows.

There are hundreds of lively sparrows everywhere.

The squirrels habe been busy both Dyson kits and the Reds.

‘J’ wrote to ask me if the Tortilla Bird counts for happy moments. Yes, every bird counts! Every one of them. Put them on your happiness list. They don’t need to be on streaming cams.

Yesterday, a question from another reader : “So where is the food? Why aren’t the parents delivering food like we have seen on other nests? I wish that the there was a forum that would discuss this.” should have appeared at the top of CG’s report on Blue at HWF-BBCentral as a lead into their story. It remains unclear to me how this worked its way into that report! ‘CG’ certainly knows there is a forum. Apologies all around for any confusion or angst.

Here is CG’s report for Blue for 30 July (Thanks, CG):

Blue started the day by being a wet bird.  Rain had been forecast for today.

She started out by working on some old food and came back to it about 4 hours later.  She spent her day doing eaglet things like wingercising a number of times, stretching, preening, standing around, and poking around.

Blue looking pretty sleek here.  It was around 1200 hours and she was surveying the scene and preening on and off.

Screenshot 2024-07-30 at 12.53.24 PM.jpg

Looks like getting some height here with her wingercising.

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Food delivery by parent around 1630 hours.  Blue, by the way, is good at mantling.  

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Half an hour later, another food delivery.  One of the larger deliveries.  She left only a small piece. 

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At about 2000 hours, she was lying on the nest.  I left her looking out over the countryside at 2117 hours.

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Weather forecast for Delta for the rest of the week.  I have come to appreciate cams that show the weather in a corner.

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Geemeff brings us some really good news from Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust (Thanks, Geemeff):

Daily summary Tuesday 30th July 2024

The highlight of today was the welcome return of Louis, last seen on the 25th. He spent over two hours on Nest Two, perching on Dorcha’s perch then flying down to do some nest cupping, before departing. Nest Two had another visitor – Affric 152 made a surprise visit, just a brief touchdown really before flying off again. No sign of Dorcha, last seen on the 27th, or Garry LV0, last seen yesterday. No visitors to Nest One although a Wood Pigeon did a fast flypast caught on nest cam. Itziar Colodro from Fundación Migres gave us an update on 1JW and safety measures in the translocation area, see bonus section. The weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is a pleasant partly cloudy with a gentle breeze and a low of 9°c, and tomorrow promises to be dry and sunny with a high of 19°c.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.54.55 (04.12.32); Nest Two 22.52.04 (04.27.02)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/04rKdVyEFzc  N1 Which grey bird does a fast flypast? 07.40.03 (slo-mo repeat with zoom)

https://youtu.be/CzIH1toDNCU  N2 Affric pays a quick visit 10.56.22 (slo-mo repeat with zoom)

https://youtu.be/PWlcQcKRdf8 N2 Louis arrives! Great to see him after a few days absence 11.06.50

https://youtu.be/QprHdPaZKDw N2 Louis returns for a second, much longer visit 11.31.18 (zoom)

Bonus info on safety measures for Ospreys in the Spanish translocation area, and update on 1JW (thanks Itzy):

Update on 1JW:

I have received lovely updates from Itziar Colodro about our surviving chick 1JW. She works for the Fundación Migres but has a much earlier connection to Loch Arkaig – a chick from a nest on private land, ringed JH3 in 2017 and named Pean (‘cousin’ if you like to our first Arkaig chick from new pair Aila & Louis, ringed JH4 and named Lachlan), didn’t migrate very far and took up residence in her area in Spain. There were a lot of photographers in that area and he became quite famous until sadly he was electrocuted on a faulty power line in 2018. Itzy was instrumental in getting the utility companies to act to ensure the safety of the birds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-46952452

After Itzy posted on Adam’s site Walking With Daddy / Osprey, I mentioned her work with the utility companies after the loss of JH3, and got this response:

Your words have really moved me🥹, because I have not forgotten JH3 either, that wonderful animal did not deserve that ending. Thanks to him, hundreds of electrical towers were corrected and are now safe for all birds of prey. In fact, we have built a nest for Ospreys since the entire power line was gone. Now it’s a very good and safe place for Ospreys.

Updating: 1JW is adapting great to the environment. It is an honor to be able to take care of him (and his brother 1JR). Loch Arkaig has meant a lot to me for many years you know. I hope I will soon visit that area, where I feel united with all my heart since many year ago. Thanks to you and your support and effort for the conservation of this wonderful species🦅🫂

https://walkingwithdaddy.com/osprey/?ht-comment-id=15511015  (click on ‘see parent comment’ and you can read the whole thread)

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

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

‘H’ brings us up to date on a few of the nests she is monitoring (Thanks, H):

7/31 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  The camera view became partially obscured about two weeks ago from PS (forceful elimination) from the chicks, and our view has been almost totally obscured for the last week.  The camera is positioned low, and it has a history of being hit with PS.  Last year we got lucky, and Banff’s and JJ’s aim was off, and they couldn’t manage to hit the camera!  The chicks are 49, 47, and 45 days old.  Occasionally a chatter will remark that they think they see some wingers being performed, or we can listen for screaming and watch for moving shadows indicating that a fish may have arrived at the nest.  Prior to the camera becoming soiled, we knew that family life was going very well.  There were plenty of fish being brought to the nest, mainly from Harvie, but some from Louise as well.  There had not been a lot of sibling rivalry and aggression, and the chicks all looked very healthy.  A chatter that lives nearby has visited the nest a couple of times, and reports seeing the heads of two chicks each time she has visited.  Should we be worried that only two have been seen?  Or is it just the limited view when our BOG has been there?  The BOG spotter has not been able to get a good elevated view of the nest due to restricted areas nearby.  There have been reports that river and lake levels are low in Alberta, due to a significantly reduced snowpack last winter, and because of the heat and drought this summer.  Is it possible that Harvie and Louise have not been able to catch enough fish to support three growing chicks?  We simply do not know.  The chicks are approaching an age where they will be ready to fledge soon.  Pray for rain to help relieve the drought and clean the camera !!!

7/30 Captiva osprey nest:  Even though live streaming from the camera has ended for the season, the Mods and others continue to have viewing access.  Yesterday Ann P. reported seeing Jack at the nest.  He still has the ‘spike’ going through the skin of his left leg, but he is alive and looks well.  Jack was a phenomenal mate and dad this season.  We are thrilled to see him.  Photo courtesy Ann P.  NOTE – FOR SOME REASON THE IMAGE WILL NOT ‘STAY’ ON THIS PROGRAMME. IT KEEPS DISAPPEARING.

7/30  Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  Mom stopped at the nest for just a few seconds.  We had not seen her since 7/18, the day before the cam went down for 5 days. 

7/30 Osoyoos osprey nest:  We had a short viewing day, as the cam went offline at 1215.  Olsen brought the first fish at 0536, and he just so happened to drop it right at Middle’s feet.  Middle strongly mantled over his/her prize and probably could not believe his good fortune.  Big did not make a strong bid to take the fish from Middle.  Middle ate for 20 minutes before s/he relinquished the fish to Big.  Dad dropped off another fish at 0557.  Big abandoned the fish she was eating to join in on the feeding from Soo.  Both siblings were fed during that 10-minute meal, and then Big resumed eating her earlier fish. 

‘PB’ brings us up to date on what is going on at The Port of Ridgefield (Thanks, PB).

‘PB’ also caught two of the fledglings on the Steelscape nest that has been so harassed. Hoping to see the fledgling with the injuries.

‘PB’s other report is that the McEuen female was feeding her hick with a male at the nest. The male has been missing for over a month and during that time three of the four chicks died from starvation. Is this the mate of the female or another male? It is unclear.

Good news coming out of Steelscape.

I remain so excited for the two osplets growing up in Latvia. They are not quite ready to fledge, but the two osplets on the Latvian nest in the Kurzema Forest are doing splendidly. It is believed there are approximately 200 osprey couples breeding in the forests of this beautiful country.

Gorgeous fledgling at the Mlade Buky nest of Bety and Bukacek.

Snow Lane, Newfoundland. Hope and Beaumont. Incredible season with this family. I never thought it would happen – checking on Hope and finding her often feed her chicks. Amazing, in fact.

It is raining at Hellgate Canyon. Iris and her two osplets look beautiful even soaking wet. Iris and her family are not out of the woods from the heat. It is going to return but they have ‘made it’ through several weeks of scorching weather and a huge storm and they have survived. It is at the top of my happiness list for sure. The image below is, to me, simply a miracle. I never thought I would live to see Iris raise a family again. But it happened. Miracles do happen.

Finnegan is working hard for his family!

That is a gorgeous osplet at Charlo, too. What is their weather going to be like? Ah, the same as Iris! A bit cooler and then gradually getting hotter.

It has been raining on the only chick at Dunrovin Ranch, too.

At Collins Marsh in Wisconsin, there are three well-fed, healthy, fully feathered osplets wanting to fly and they are going to do it any day now!

Family portrait at Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum. That chick is like the ones at Collins Marsh – ready and wanting to fly.

A fledgling with a fish meal and a Hooded Crow hoping for some leftovers at the German nest, BUND Goitzsche-Wildnis.

Marder’s Osprey Platform on Long Island has a chick that wants to fledge, too. It likes to still be fed, too.

At Manton Bay, Blue 33 has been bringing fish to the nest and sometimes Maya is there or flies in to grab them. Sometimes the fledgling is there. Nice to know that all three are still in the area.

It was a sad year for the Loch of the Lowes nest in Scotland. To be sure, though, we were blessed and so was Blue NCO, that the eggs did not hatch before Laddlie LM12 was killed. She has been at the nest with the dark osprey male. We will have to wait and see what transpires next March – but it looks like Blue NCO has, for now, held on to her beautiful nest.

Waiting for fish at Llyn Brenig!

Idris has been working over time at the Dyfi Osprey Platform feeding his chicks. He brought four fish to the nest in less than an hour.

You might be used to the Bald Eagles cutting back on prey but the osprey parents will keep this food coming so that the chicks can bulk up for migration. They are not yet fishing. Indeed, many will only catch their first fish while they are travelling south to their winter grounds. The parents, mostly the male, will work hard to get them in top shape for this journey. Then the male will remain for a few days to get strong, too (sometimes not – they leave right about the time of the kids) while Mum left earlier.

Well, if this doesn’t make your heart race!!!!!!!! We should never count the ospreys ‘out’. We might not ‘see’ them but this doesn’t mean they have met their demise. This is a great story.

‘J’ sent me the following image of the Centreport Eagles. It comes from the Bald Eagles 101 FB page she notes (Thanks, J).

It looks like theya re trying to take every last fish that an osprey could eat in Chesapeake Bay. This makes me so angry. If you take Omega supplements, or eat farmed/battery chickens or farmed salmon – that is where these fish so vital to our ospreys – are going!

It is your last day to vote on the names for Iris and Finnegan’s kids. Go to the Montana Osprey Cams FB and click on the image. Please vote.

And ‘J’ sends us the latest update on NOX:

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

Thank you to the following for their observations, posts, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, CG and HWF-BBCentral cam and Forum, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, H and Fortis Exshaw, Patuxent River Park, and Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Pam Breci and Port of Ridgefield, Steelscape, and McEuen Park, LDF, Mlade Buky Stork Cam, Newfoundland Power, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Collins Marsh, MA-LN, Goitzsche-Wildnis, Marder’s, LRWTm The Scottish Wildlife Trust and LOTL, Llyn Brenig, Dyfi Osprey Project, Faye Hill, and J and Centrepoint Eagles,Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal, and The California Raptor Centre.

Tuesday in Bird World

30 July 2024

Hell Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Missey and Calico are getting along better.

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

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

Calico teasing with the tail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 29:

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

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

July29-Roll2.jpg

She horked most of the fish down in one go.

July29-Roll4.jpg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July29-Wingers1.jpg

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

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

‘H’ reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily summary Monday 29th July 2024

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

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

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

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

Today’s videos:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Extinct-in-the-wild Guam Kingfisher hatches in captivity – BirdGuidesDownload

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

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

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

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

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

Still warm at Charlo.

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

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

All is well at the McEuen Park Osprey platform.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another good news story to make us smile.

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

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

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

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

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

Monday in Bird World

29 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A quick run through of some nests:

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

#1 Finland. Everything is OK.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iris and her train.

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

They are having a feast!

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

And she did!

Llyn Brenig: Emrys fledged on Sunday!

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

‘H’ reports on Patuxent River Park happenings:

Patuxent River Park:  

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

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

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

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

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

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

It has been a rough day.

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

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

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

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

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

Sandpoint: River is looking in excellent form!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily summary Sunday 28th July 2024

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

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

Today’s videos:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘H’ reports:

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

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

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

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

A Day of Fledges…Sunday in Bird World

27 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile the trio at Blackbush are waiting to fly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finn brought in a really nice headless fish at 1837.

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

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

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

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

Fledglings at Fort Calhoun are doing fantastic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20230930_001.jpg

Image

Photos by AP Horvasse

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

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

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

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

News coming from the West End nest!

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

‘H’ sends her report:

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

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

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

Thanks so much, ‘Heidi’.

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

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

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

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

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

Iris shows the kids she can fish, too!…Friday in Bird World

26 July 2024

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all your notes and photographs and news! I really do appreciate it and I love hearing from you. I might not be able to answer back straight away, but I will!

It is that time of year when overlooked nests are being entered into our data forms and when fledges and deaths continue to have to be inserted. Today, after thinking we had anything and everything that could predate an Osprey, we discovered that Canada Geese ate the eggs of one nest in Maryland. Thankfully, ‘H’ is much better at working magic with this programme that Claudio designed and we now have a category of Predation – Other. We can fill in the odd happenings. I have 43 more nests – and at least 86 more eggs/chicks – to put in the forms. So far, 37% of all osprey eggs have either failed to hatch or the chicks have died. Siblicide still accounts for the seond highest causes after DNH, then predation by owls at 11% and weather events at 11%. I did note a section ‘indirectly by humans’ and it seems to be that these weather events might fall under that as well. If we can get the authorities to recognize human caused climate change, then we might convince them to help with our ospreys. I note that a list was growing under a posting of one FB group – a wish list that included: woven and wired rails like the good folks at Glaslyn do for Aran and Elen, netting below the nest to catch chicks that fall over the edge, predator baffles, stocked ponds, strobe lights and grates to try to ward off predators such as owls and eagles, intervention with fish when required, etc. These were thoughtful listings of ways that we can help without breaking the bank. Is it too much to ask?

Speaking of stocked ponds, Anne-Marie was able to establish that the lake where Olsen is fishing has lots of fish. With the heat those fish have gone deep and he is not able to catch them as Ospreys only go less than a metre deep in their dives.

Some images of the not so wetlands yesterday. Despite the rain, the reeds seem to have taken over lots of the area.

Can you find the eagle’s nest? It is difficult with all the foliage.

It is 1939 Thursday evening and the sun is beginning to get low in the West. The day was not as hot as it has been, but it was warm enough and quite humid still. The birds have been busy coming and going. I have noticed that there has been not so many Blue Jays and my neighbour came to tell me that the local hawk got 2 of them. I took a breath. Everyone has to eat.

I really did think that there was something wrong with Hugo Yugo when I saw her.

Why would a cat nudge herself between two pillows and a hot cover on a hot day in a glass room? I have no idea. It is possible that she was hiding from Baby Hope because a few minutes later she was tearing all over the house!

Thankfully, nothing has happened to the Crows. Can you tell I adore these characters? They rest on my backlane neighbour’s shed. He said that even their bellies are covered with soft down.

Everything is getting quiet. Most of the birds are going to their roosting spots for the night. Hugo Yugo is fixated on a fly that has gotten into the house and now Baby Hope is joining her. No doubt they will have quite the time tonight chasing it and knocking things over in the meantime.

‘PB’ clicked on the McEuen Osprey nest feed just in time to catch Mum delivering a monster fish for her and the baby! 25 C so a bit cooler for them on Thursday. The high heat will return on Wednesday.

The triplets at the Osprey Centre in Australia are doing well.

Iris and her chicks survived the storm that raged through Missoula Wednesday night, but many nests were not so lucky. ‘PB’ informs me that Louis and Starr’s chicks are alright. Their nest is at the Baseball Park or near to it. (They have moved house).

In fact, Louis and Starr’s three chicks have fledged and there are five ospreys flying around the ball park. This is fantastic. Maybe both of these nests by the Clarke-Fork River in Missoula will fledge all of their chicks. That would really be something this year!

Iris is going to have a lot to put in her 2024 diary. Finding Finn, having babies, sweltering heat and then hurricane-force winds. Regardless, Finn just keeps bringing in the fish.

Beautiful Iris.

Finn and Iris have obviously been talking about the need for some small fish to come on the nest so the kids can start to self-feed! Or did they? Finn: ‘Iris, where are you? I don’t feed chicks!!!!!!!!!!’

‘Is it OK for this one to have the whole fish?’ Check out the look on Finnegan’s face.

Tug-o-war with Mum who arrives just in time.

Of course, Iris took charge. She will make sure that both chicks get fish in the heat and storms.

I guess Iris got tired of waiting for Finn to bring in a big fish so she went out and got her own for her and the kids!!!!!!!

Rest assured now that Iris is fishing no one is going to go hungry on this nest. Her first two chicks in six years. She isn’t going to let them die of starvation or Finn slowing down.

Iris has been feeding the chicks and herself for several hours. Finn is on the perch. I wonder what he is thinking?

Three hours into the feeding. Isn’t Iris getting tired? No. She is making sure that there will be no bullying from older to younger and that her and the chicks are well fed. I wonder if there is anything left if she will share with Finn?

Don’t you love the way that Iris pulls back the skin revealing the soft fish flesh? It is much easier to feed the chicks this way!

Finnegan came in with a late fish. ‘PB says it wasn’t as big as Iris’s but big enough to keep these babies well fed for the night!

‘H’ is going to be reporting on Osoyoos, but right now there is a huge fish on that nest and I hope that everyone eats and gets full.

The breeding programme for Hen Harriers in Scotland is doing well. The question is – can we keep the gamekeepers from shooting them? If you do not know about these amazing raptors, I am including some great books below this blog by Raptor Persecution UK.

Hen Harrier breeding success continues on Tarras Valley Nature Reserve – Raptor Persecution UKDownload

I posted these audio stories of the plight of the hen harrier last year. I want to do that again for those of you that might not have found my blog then or who didn’t have time to listen. This will give you a really good idea of why the attempts to increase the population of these gorgeous raptors is ongoing and the challenges that everyone faces.

So please listen! You also get an explanation of the Inglorious 12th of August which is coming up in three weeks. I hope you understand why stomping on a nest of innocent Hen Harrier chicks makes me ill and causes my anxiety to rise. The wealthy pay 1000s of GBP per day to shoot grouse but they also stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, and spend money in the villages. The fines and punishments mean nothing because killing birds is big business with the Driven Grouse Moors seen to be a ‘part of traditional Britain’ – which they are. We live in the 21st century and our attitudes towards killing have changed since medieval times.

There are three episodes. Educate yourself and listen to all of them. Imagine the vast expanse of Scotland because this is where this happens.

Part One. Susie’s Chicks

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/audio/2023/aug/15/killing-the-skydancer-episode-one-susies-chicks?CMP=share_btn_link

Part Two. The Perfect Crime.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2023/aug/16/killing-the-skydancer-episode-2-the-perfect-podcast?CMP=share_btn_link

Part Three. An Open Secret

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2023/aug/17/killing-the-skydancer-episode-three-an-open-secret-podcast?CMP=share_btn_link

This is my favourite book. It gives us a ‘true’ insight of the live of a Hen Harrier – from hatch – to being shot and what their life was like. Before you read any of the others, I highly recommend this one. It is extremely well written and pulls at your heart. Not fancy coloured photographs, just the first hand account of this magnificent female harrier and her short life.

The other excellent book is A Hen Harrier’s Year. The gorgeous watercolours of the birds are a real winner!

We are all concerned about Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay nest. Check out the feathers. This eaglet really needs to be rescued and taken into care. I honestly do not understand why nothing is being done for Blue.

At the US Steel nest, we have video footage of Lucky living his life in the skies! Wish this was Blue.

The Janakkala pair are learning to self-feed as fledge dates approach in Finland.

Kristel is 81 days old today. It is the same age as Diana at the other Golden Eagle nest in Estonia fledged.

Kristel had breakfast on Thursday – a Eurasian Collared Dove.

The reintroduction of Ospreys into Ireland begins with the arrival of the chicks today. Here is the latest information:

Nox is making the news.

Hard knocks for Nox, UC Berkeley’s youngest peregrine falcon – Berkeley NewsDownload

Only one osplet remains at the Ferguson Museum osprey platform. The other two have died from lack of fish.

This was the whole family at the Middle Farm nest on Fisher’s Island, NY, on the 28th of June. Tragedies can begin to happen without our knowing and within less than a month a family of five is now a family of three.

Cowlitz PUD fledgling returns to nest for a fish meal!

The wind has hit Sandpoint Osprey nest and Keke and River are holding on tight.

Lola at Charlo Montana needs to pick up her talons and go out fishing like Iris. The chick is 43 days old today.

Royal Cam chick news:

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

Daily summary Thursday 25th July 2024

Today we received the wonderful news that the surviving Arkaig Osprey chick 1JW has fledged! All eleven members of the Scottish cohort took to the skies over Valencia today, more info in WTS George’s comment, link below. A bright spot in an unusual season. His dad Louis was also around today, visiting his nest bringing a stick and doing a little nest work, good to see him after an absence of a few days. Nest One also had Osprey visitors – Affric 152 arrived moments after Garry LV0 did. Neither stayed long, and both flew off in the same direction. With an identical broken feather spotted by LizB on both the blue-ringed Bunarkaig female and on Affric when she landed on Nest One, it’s almost certain they are one and the same. With an unfledged chick still on the Bunarkaig nest, what’s Affric doing on Nest One with Garry? The forecasted rain was much in evidence today, and more expected tonight with thundery showers overnight easing off to light rain tomorrow.

WTS George’s comment https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15479208

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.59.55 (04.13.42); Nest Two 22.46.53 (04.15.09)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Dy4yQvefzA8  N1 Affric 152 follows Garry LV0 to Nest One 11.57.40

https://youtu.be/ePTJwID4lmQ N2 Louis visits his nest bringing a stick 13.43.15

https://youtu.be/kroSVUdVBKU FLEDGE – the great news that 1JW has found his wings and flown 15.00 

Bonus photos – 1JW on a feeding platform near to the aviary:

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

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

Special blast from the past: On July 25, 2020, the world came together to tell the story of a single day on Earth, hundreds of thousands of members of the public responded sending their typical day to Ridley Scott. This was my entry:

https://youtu.be/dvhu_pfem50 Life in a Day: distant cousins 2020

A simple solution that can be done right at the factory. Paint one blade black and save the lives of our birds.

Mum and Dad are having ‘some fun’ on the barge at Port Lincoln!

Just look at this!

News on Luna’s necroscopy at Redding:

There has been no word about N1 who appeared to have an accident Wednesday morning during a streaming cam event at Cornell. She was seen sitting peacefully but no one has seen her since.

There are concerns about Little who fledged on the 18th at Patuxent River Park and has not been seen on camera. People want to know why they support boat tourism and do not care for their chicks. Does anyone know what is happening here?

In Poland, the life of the Black Storklet was saved. When rescued the storklet weighed only 1500 grams when, at this age, it should have been at least 2500.

Maria Marika gives us the background information on why this little storklet fell into such poor conditions.

‘H’ reports:


7/25 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The osplets are 47 and 48 days old.  The temperature was lower today, and Olsen brought four fish to the nest.  The first three fish were small to medium in size, and Big was able to acquire all three of them to self feed.  Big had meals lasting 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and 9 minutes.  The last fish arrived at 1817, and it was very large.  Although it was big, it was obviously not a 3-hour fish, but it took Soo 3-hours to feed from it.  Big was in rare form and she was a complete tyrant on the war path for almost the entire three hours.  Big was intent on preventing Middle from eating, regardless of whether Big was hungry or not.  It would take too long to provide details, so I will try to summarize.  Over the course of the three hours, Big ate the equivalent of at least 4-5 meals.  Big was almost constantly beaking or otherwise harassing Middle, even when Middle was not anywhere near Soo.  There were numerous times in the process of beaking Middle, that Big nearly pushed Middle off the nest.  There were even several times that Soo was nearly forced off the nest by Big diving over her to try to get to Middle.  In fact, at 1929 Soo did have to leave the nest briefly when she had to jump to the extension bar.  The aggressiveness of Big caused many distractions and delays as Soo was attempting to feed.  To make matters worse, the fish was very tough, and the few times when Middle was in a good position to eat, it would take Soo too long to offer fish bites.  Instead of receiving multiple bites in rapid succession, Middle would only get a few bites before Big attacked again.  There was not a single period of time when Big actually retired from the meal to rest, so that Middle and Soo would have some ‘alone time’.  I counted fish bites for Middle, and there were a few times when I could only surmise bites based on the movements of Middle and Soo.  Middle ate at least 140 bites of fish during that 3-hour ordeal, and Middle did have a moderate crop after the meal.  Due to cam downtime issues, we don’t know how well Middle ate yesterday.  Weather forecast for 7/26:  Sunny, high 84F/29C, light winds.

7/25 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  Big had spent the night on the nest so that she could guard her leftover fish, and she had a nice breakfast early in the morning.  She was joined in the nest a little later by Middle.  They both came and went from the nest throughout the day.  We did not see Little at the nest.  At 1443 an adult intruder landed in the nest, and a minute or so later, a juvenile osprey approached to land.  The intruder jumped up and intercepted the juvie, talons to the face, and flew away.  The young osprey fell below the nest out of our view.  Based on certain characteristics, we thought that the juvie was either Big or Middle.  At 1502 Middle was in the nest when Dad delivered a large partial goldfish.  Dad had been followed in by the adult intruder who immediately engaged in a battle for the fish with Middle.  Dad jumped on the intruder twice to try to help out, but his efforts were futile.  The intruder ended up with the fish in its talons and sort of fell/flew off the nest dragging Middle with him.  Middle landed back in the nest a few minutes later.

After a while we started to hear loud rustling noises and ‘wing flapping’ below the nest.  The flapping sounds were heard intermittently in spurts, as if the bird would need to rest at times.  As the tide came in, the flapping efforts started to sound more ‘watery’ like flapping in water.  We believed there was an injured osprey struggling below the nest out of our view.  The nest is 10 feet above the marsh.  If the incident at 1443 involved Big, and if Big had landed awkwardly in the marsh, she could have been injured.  Or another possible scenario, was that the adult intruder may have landed in the marsh and been injured when it went off the nest somewhat awkwardly holding a large goldfish, with a juvenile osprey attached.  A ten-foot height does not allow much time to recover and fly before landing in the marsh.

We were convinced that there was an osprey needing help…and soon!  We had a gut feeling that it was Big below the nest.  Some chatters called the park office, some called a local raptor rehabber who said she’d try to find someone with a boat.  And posts were also made on the chat to the attention of the park.  We needed help.  After many long hours, no help came.  As high tide hit, and as darkness fell, we no longer heard the flapping below the nest.  

Annie is moulting and loafing!

Yesterday, Koa was seen on the West End cam at the old nest of Thunder and Akecheta!

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, questions, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU’, McEuen Park, Osprey House Environmental Centre, Hellgate Osprey, Wild Skies Raptor Centre, Montana Osprey Project, Osoyoos, Raptor Persecution UK, The Guardian, HWF-BBC, US Steel, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Gregorious Joris Toonen, Berkeley News, Ferguson Museum, Cowlitz PUD, Sandpoint Ospreys, Charlo Montana, Bird Cams, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Factsdailyy, PLO, Heidi McGrue, Celia Aliengirl, Bocianimy, Maria Marika, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, and SK Hideaways.

Hurricane force winds go through Montana…Iris is alright…Thursday in Bird World

25 July 2024

Hello Everyone!

Update: You will now know that the cameras in Montana are down due to hurricane force winds. We are grateful that our friend EJ is there, right near Iris. ‘EJ’ reports that a massive storm went through Missoula, Montana Wednesday night. She went to check on Iris and the chicks Thursday morning and they are fine! This is such a great relief.

Kova has fledged at the Surrey Reserve. Only eaglet left is Blue at Boundary Bay for the Hancock Wildlife nests in British Columbia, Canada. Thanks, ‘J’.

Wednesday was a little hotter. 27 C. Today’s excursion was to Delta Beach to check on the Bald Eagles. The humidity and heat were overwhelming from the moment I got to the wetlands. The staff had cut narrow paths through the tall reeds – they didn’t allow any breeze to filter through. There were NO Red-wing Blackbirds doing murmurations. None. The Bald Eagle nest was vacant. I felt bad that I had not gone to check earlier. And then there was a juvenile sitting on a branch overlooking the southern tip of the lake. I bet it was waiting for a parent to return with a big fish! There were gulls and Killdeer along the shore. Stilt Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, and Semipalmated Plovers danced among the sand and the water. It was a delight. Frogs jumped around the pond while ducks flew off. I could hear Sora. Robins were pulling worms off the grass. Hot, humid – and positively invigorating.

I will post images, other than this frog taken with my phone, when I can find the cable to hook the big camera up to the computer. Oh, the joys of returning from a brief holiday and not being organised.

One of the routines when going to Delta Marsh is to stop for lunch at a small town Chinese restaurant. The owners are the happiest most delightful people. Their food is really good, too. She told me that ‘Canada is the best!’. They were in Las Vegas last week and it was 54 degrees C. She couldn’t wait to get home. This is the heat that is impacting our birds and all wildlife. In Phoenix, they are cooling the animals down with ice and snow surprises.

It’s snow miracle: zookeepers in Phoenix surprise animals with icy wonderland | Phoenix | The GuardiDownload

From kindness to – what? This is the most disgusting article I have read in several months. I have a problem with influencers in the first place having watched young girls at university try to emulate the Kardashians. Now TikTok is getting people to shoot millions of birds over Lebanon!!!!!!!

‘Massacred for TikTok likes’: is social media feeding the slaughter of 2.6m birds in Lebanon? | BirdDownload

If you missed the on line chat about Annie and Archie’s fledgling, Nox, here it is! Thank you, Sean and Lynne!

My inbox is full of good news stories. Thank you to everyone who sought the positive and sent it to share!

An Osprey Story:

GAULEY BRIDGE, W.Va. — Sometimes, it takes a village to save an osprey chick.

When Beckley nature photographer Kim Ayers stopped in Gauley Bridge on June 7 to photograph the occupants of a long-established osprey nest built atop a train trestle over the Gauley River, she quickly realized something was amiss.

“I could see an adult osprey in the nest that wasn’t moving, except for a wing, which was blowing in the wind, and I could hear the babies — they were so vocal. I knew right then something wasn’t right.”

Ayers had been visiting the nest for years to check on the progress of the ospreys who made it their home and photograph their activities. She visited the nest once every few weeks since March, when newly-hatched chicks had first been spotted at the site.

During Ayers’ June 7 visit, it was apparent that the adult female was dead, and her two offspring needed food and protection.

“I wanted to just stop and cry,” she said. Instead, Ayers called Three Rivers Avian Center at Brooks in Summers County and asked for help.

“If not for Wendy and Ron Perrone (who operate the avian center), what would we do when something like this happens?” Ayers said. “I’m so thankful they’re here.”

“When we got the call, we knew we couldn’t make it there by dark, so we started working the phones to find a volunteer who was closer,” Wendy Perrone said.

The Perrones soon made contact with Matt Carpenter of Fayetteville, a teacher and experienced climber, who offered to ascend the trestle’s rusty steel beams to reach the nest, secure the young birds in bags, and retrieve the remains of the mother osprey, which had apparently been dead for several days.

Carpenter was accompanied to the scene by his partner, wildlife biologist Lindsay Hermanns, and friend Amber Jaxson, who transported the two young osprey in the back of a Mazda to Beckley to meet the Perrones, who brought the birds back to the avian center.

“They heard the call and volunteered,” Wendy Perrone said of Carpenter, Hermanns and Jaxson.

In the weeks that followed, the two young birds feasted on hand-fed culled trout donated by the Division of Natural Resources’ Tate Lohr Fish Hatchery in Oakvale, Mercer County. After maturing enough to eat on their own, they were moved into the Leon Wilson Flyway in the avian center’s flight barn to learn aeronautical skills.

Unfortunately, one of the chicks turned out to be not as strong or resilient as its sibling, and died in early July. The remaining juvenile thrived in its new surroundings, and on Thursday, was ready to return to Gauley Bridge to be released in the wild.

As a carrier containing the bird was carried to the release site, a short distance from trestle and nest, an adult osprey, likely its father, could be seen winging over the scene, vocalizing as it soared.

“That’s icing on the cake,” Wendy Perrone said. “It means an adult is still around to show the young bird how to hunt.”

When the carrier containing the young osprey was opened, the bird at first seemed reluctant to venture outside. But after Wendy Perrone held the bird on her arm, it began tentatively flapping its wings, then slowly became airborne, flying immediately to the top of the nearby trestle, a few feet from its stick-built nest.

“This is such a relief,” Wendy Perrone sighed, as she watched the bird taking in the view of the confluence of the New and Gauley rivers, also the birthplace of the Kanawha, from its lofty vista. “It’s a good day.”

Ospreys, also known as fish hawks or sea hawks, live along rivers, lakes and coastlines, and can be found in every continent but Antarctica. The birds of prey are smaller than eagles but larger than red-tailed hawks.

When on the hunt, ospreys “are a picture of concentration, diving with feet outstretched and yellow eyes sighting straight along their talons” to catch fish, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “All About Birds” website.

While nesting ospreys can now be found along the length of the Kanawha River, as well as West Virginia’s share of the Ohio River shoreline and large reservoirs like Stonewall Jackson Lake, such was not always the case.

No nesting pairs were known to exist in the state as recently as 1981, according to a survey by the Raptor Research Foundation, following decades of unchecked stream pollution and widespread use of the insecticide DDT.

Industrial and agricultural stream pollution caused steep declines in fish populations, creating a hardship for osprey whose primary source of food is fish. DDT entering the ospreys’ food chain and being absorbed in their tissue caused their egg shells to thin and break before incubation was complete.

A nationwide ban on DDT use and passage of the Clean Water Act both took place in 1972, which gradually helped restore habitat and improve reproduction odds for ospreys in the years that followed.

By the end of the 1980s, an osprey restoration effort got underway in West Virginia, starting at Tygart Lake, involving six-week-old chicks transported from sites in the Chesapeake Bay area and other locales where osprey were relatively abundant. The young ospreys were taken to sites near Tygart Lake’s shoreline where they were fed and sheltered in screened boxes and allowed to acclimate to their new surroundings, before being released when they had matured enough to be able to fly.

A similar project took place from 1989 to 1995, involving the release of 62 juvenile ospreys from a remote site on Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River in Wood County, involving volunteers from DuPont’s Washington Works plant, in cooperation with the Division of Natural Resources.

By 1994, three nesting pairs of osprey — all products of the reintroduction effort — had been documented in the state. The population has steadily grown since then.

An investigation is underway by the state Division of Natural Resources Police to determine the cause of death of the newly-released osprey’s mother.

‘J’ sent us the update on Challenger, the celebrity Bald Eagle at the Amerian Eagle Foundation who had cataract surgery:

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

Daily summary Wednesday 24th July 2024

Today was a quiet day with time for reflection after the sad news received yesterday. The consensus among forum members is that Woodland Trust Scotland, Roy Dennis Foundation, Fundación Migres and the specialist veterinary team all did their utmost to give 1JR a fighting chance, but his health was just too compromised to survive. In domestic news, neither Louis nor Dorcha came into nest cam view today, only Garry LV0 turned up for a few minutes on Nest One which was visited later by a few little birds, some of whom are possibly living underneath the nest. The forecasted rain has turned up and a wet night is ahead, with a strong possibility of thundery showers tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.12.20 (03.53.19); Nest Two 22.49.19 (04.14.03)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/5z5M0SPFXu4 N1 Garry arrives with a stick 08.40.50

https://youtu.be/mZHjWrUX0kQ  N1 Various little birds flit around 18.38.14

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

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

Bonus podcast marking the 70th anniversary of the return of breeding Ospreys to the UK at Loch Garten:

Scotland Outdoors – Operation Osprey – 70 Years of Breeding Osprey in Scotland – BBC Sounds

At McEuen Park, ‘PB’ caught the only surviving chick of the four self-feeding. Oh, send good wishes to Single Mum and Babe. We need them to make it through this dire time.

The Middle Chick, 6M7, at Glaslyn fledged on Wednesday the 24th at 0840! She picked a wet morning to to take that first flight. Then she was followed by 6M9 at 1027 – congratulations. Aran and Elen have all their babies flying.

These older osplets are really wanting to fly! Just wait – they will take off at the same time! Just wait.

CJ7 and Blue 022 are making doubly sure that their four fledglings continue to eat well! What an amazing year for Poole Harbour. Congratulations.

Wonder where Seren, Dylan, and the chicks are roosting? It is really windy and wee bit damp at Llyn Clywedog.

Gosh, golly. It sounds like gale force winds at Llyn Brenig in the night. The day wasn’t too bad. Waiting for fledge.

Looks a little lonely at the nest of Idris and Telyn at Dyfi. The cam operator caught someone down by the river!

Only Bob was telling Dad, Blue 33, to get the fishing gear out and get that catch on the Manton Bay nest!

The day was gorgeous at Loch Arkaig nest 2 but then the winds and rain began later in the night.

We will have to wait and see what transpires at Loch of the Lowes now that our dear Laddie LM12 is no longer with us. Will Blue NC0 keep the nest with the new dark male?

Three fish delivered to Alyth on Wednesday. Way to go Harry!

Cowlitz PUD – The only surviving chick did fledge on Tuesday and has been returning to the nest regularly. This is fabulous news. If every one of the nests that have had troubles can fledge one chick – that really is a victory in such a challenging year.

I don’t know about anyone else, but if asked to name one outstanding, devoted, more than dedicated, self-sacrificing Osprey female for 2024 in the US, it would have to be our Queen, Iris. Believed to be the oldest osprey in the world, she took a new mate and is raising two chicks in the most extreme heat circumstances after having her summers off since the last chick of hers fledged in 2018, Le’le.

It is the same at the other Montana nests. Fish are not as plentiful as they were ten days ago and the males are working hard to get one or two into the females and chick/s before the heat sets in.

Swoop, Winnie, and chick at Dunrovin. Oh, yes, the chick’s name is Junebug. Cute!

Gosh, the fish look small at Charlo Montana compared to what is coming on the nest at Hellgate.

Keke and River waiting for Keo to get some fish on the nest at Sandpoint on Wednesday.

Only Bob at Bridge Golf Course returned to the nest ten hours after fledging. Thanks ‘H’ for catching that landing – looks like the kid needs some more practice!

‘H’ reports:

7/24 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  The live stream was down for five days, and resumed this morning.  Fortunately before the cam had gone down, we had been able to witness Little fledge and return to the nest on 7/18.  And, it was also awesome to watch him battle for a fish on the nest that day with his siblings, and come away victorious!  We missed being able to observe all the post-fledge action while the cam was down.  Big was in the nest when the live stream resumed.  At around noon, Dad brought a fish to Big.  Earlier, a visiting fledgling had been repelled by Big, but the juvenile returned while Big was eating her fish.  The young visitor looked hungry, and seemed to be waiting for Big to leave some leftovers.  Haha, boy were we wrong.  At 1421 the juvie suddenly flew from the nest, and returned two minutes later with a very large headless fish.  This young osprey was a lot more capable than we had thought, and had apparently taken a fish from another osprey eating close by.  At 1534 an intruder adult osprey began to buzz and dive-bomb the visitor while he was eating his fish, twice striking him and knocking him over.  As the intruder approached the visiting juvie for the fourth time, the juvie quickly left the nest and we did not see him again.  The intruder landed in the nest, grabbed the fish, and after several minutes, it left with the fish.  At 1557 Dad dropped off another partial fish and Big grabbed that one.  Middle arrived at the nest at 1609, and took the large fish tail leftover from Big’s first fish.  Over the next several hours, there was some good old fashioned sibling interactions, with Middle stealing the fish from Big and Big eventually stealing it back.  Middle left the nest before nightfall, but Big stayed to protect her fish.  Much to our dismay, we did not see Little today.

7/24 Colonial Beach osprey nest:  There were no fish brought to the nest today to feed 30-day-old Cobey, but Cobey did eat pretty well yesterday.  David was not seen on cam at all.  Betty left the nest for some extended periods of time, and she returned with a crop and was feaking her beak.  We are hoping for an early breakfish for Cobey in the morning.

7/24 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The live stream was offline all day until 1824.  We immediately saw Middle mantling and eating, with Big hovering over Middle a bit.  So, Middle had apparently won a battle for a fish.  Very good.  At 1832 Olsen dropped off a partial fish for Big, that she ate for 38 minutes, leaving the fish tail behind.  Middle finished eating his fish by 1857, and at 1914 he ate Big’s leftover fish tail.  There was a strong breeze in the evening, and Big was doing some wingercizing and managed to lift off the nest several inches.

Thanks, ‘H’!

Kristel had one large prey delivery today at the Estonian nest #2.

There has been another miracle besides Iris and Poole Harbour – and that has been the ‘Hopeless’ nest in Newfoundland. The Sow Lane nest of Beaumont and Hope is one of Hope – not hopelessness this year. Hope is feeding her chicks, Beaumont is providing nice fish, and if we hold our breath and send the most positive energy that nothing untoward happens, this nest could have two fledges this year. That would be the best gift!!!!!! A miracle. These two osplets who are getting their soft juvenile feathers have no idea how speial they are.

Fledge for Richmond and Rosie. ‘Pax’ fledged from the new Golden Gate Audubon nest in San Francisco on Wednesday!

In Nova Scotia, the chicks are preparing to fledge. Skylor and Heidi from the Russell Lake nest are looking to the skies. Skylor looks to go first.

‘NP’ caught this great post of the osplet at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum spreading its wings! Isn’t this amazing? This baby wants to fly.

Thank you for being with me today. Please take care of yourself. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, photographs, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, The Guardian, Cal Falcons, J + unknown source, American Eagle Foundation, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, McEuen Park, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Pam Breci, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, BoPH, Llyn Clywedog, Llyn Brenig, Dyfi Osprey Project, LRWT, The Woodland Trust, Scottish Wildlife Trust (Loch of the Lowes), Loch of the Lowes Visitors Centre, Alyth SSEN, Cowlitz PUD, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Charlo Montana, Sandpoint, Bridge Golf Course, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Golden Gate Audubon, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Connie Dennis and Ospreys of Nova Scotia, and Colonial Beach.

Wednesday in Bird World

24 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Morning Updates: Cowlitz chick did fledge and fly, not just to the fish grate! Congratulations. This kid beat the eagle………yeah. Dad flew in with a fish, Mum followed, and then the Baby was back on the nest for a fish reward. It could not have been more perfect.

Bridge Golf Course Chick fledges this morning!

Last update is Cornell: The Sedlacek’s were filming N1 this morning when she appeared to have some kind of accident. Cornell has said nothing on X.

Tuesday was a beautiful day—20 degrees C and overcast. This is my view as I start writing my post for tomorrow. I needed the solitude and quiet, listening to only the birds and watching squirrels scurry about that this little oasis provides. I am very fortunate to have such a gorgeous, tranquil place to visit and to be able to stop and breathe when needed.

I can hear a Crow cawing, and the scent from the flowers envelopes the entire area. This gorgeous Monarch landed so close.

When I got home half the bowl of little juicy grape tomatoes were missing. Guess what?! Hugo Yugo has a new game – Tomatoe Floor Hockey. Baby Hope decided to join in for the fun.

Outside six baby crows wanted hot dogs, Blue Jays were everywhere, and Dyson’s kits were running around with about 150 little sparrows. The most wonderful chaos. Thank goodness for the garden animals and ‘The Girls’. They cushion some of the saddness.

There will be more osprey deaths announced. We will be saddened, and then we will get angry. It is partly because it has been an endless year of disappointments. I remember a time, not so long ago, when it was the little osplet deaths from siblicide that were so heartbreaking. This year, it is something else. Weather, just straightforward starvation, predation, nest accidents – older chicks nearing fledge that are dying before our eyes – wow. Not little ones with their soft down or just getting into the Reptile phase. No – feathered chicks. Close to fledge. The parents got them there through some challenging times. Then to lose them. Well, it breaks your heart.

Allow me to ramble a bit. Can we do something about these deaths in older ospreys? To answer that question, I need to share a post that my son posted from Borneo, where he has been fishing.

Studies have shown that in North American as much as 40% of the food purchased is wasted. If we shared, no one would be hungry. This also goes for the animals.

Saving your food that would otherwise be thrown away will feed the Crows, the Blue Jays, the Starlings. It will also feed the feral cats. Get one of those nifty pails with a good lid and collect daily and find a spot to put it out. You will see that the food is gone quickly. Buy a meal for a person at a restaurant that supports these programmes. Donate to a food bank. ——Put out life saving water! Every little bit helps. Every living being counts.

Then we can work on what needs to be done with the birds on streaming cams. The Migratory Bird Laws must be amended so that quick help can be given – not endless bureaucratic paper work. There must be provisions for providing food – and individuals to do this – during the inevitable heat dome periods that will increase in number and severity or when a parent dies. The Mum at McEuen has done well, but she lost three babies out of four because of heat and the loss of her mate. Put up baffles on every known nest. They are inexpensive. Don’t wait for something to happen. Fort St Vrain now has baffles after a raccoon took one of the eaglet babies, Achieva was getting a baffle after the chick fell through the hole this year, Moraine Park needs one, and they say they will install it next year. But, again – don’t wait. Encourage every cam owner to put up baffles. If there is any chance of an owl striking, then put up solar red strobes and a big bright light. Lake Murray tried everything – we have to continue to try. I am hoping that Cowlitz will look again and decide to put in another fish grate. That should stop the eagle but not harm the ospreys. We need emergency numbers to phone when there is an accident. This has been known for years, and efforts were made years ago to try to get the cam owners to post an emergency number under the stream. Those of you watching these nests have been the first to notice something wrong with a nest!

Today, the utter disappointment for non-action is pointed directly at Charlo Montana. When chicks are ringed (right about the age of those on this nest), the chicks pancake. They are taken down in little bags, weighed and measured, and checked over while their Darvic rings are put on. Often people help with the railings on the nest at the same time or during the off season. Fish are left to soften the intrusion and many times the occupants are misted if it is as hot as it is in Montana. None of this happened. The baling twine was removed. That is also a good thing but under the circumstances they really needed to do more. My inbox went up to 163 letters from viewers who expected Charlo to help their ospreys and didn’t. No one understands why this family was not provided with fish in the scorching heat and poor fishing conditions.

Let us all send Charlie, Lola, and the remaining chick fish, cooling weather, and a fledge.

So that is my rant…in days to come I will be posting other deaths. We need, each of us, to sit quietly and breath like I did at the park today. I have to remind myself to stop and think of the miracles this year – Finn and Iris, the fledge of four for CJ7 and Blue 022. They defied the odds and did it. What a pair. I still remember Blue 022 courting CJ7 near the end of the season and all of us wondering, a few years ago, if they would return and raise a family. They did…several. And this year was amazing.

Well, the death I was waiting to post is one of the Loch Arkaig translocation chicks. The vets did everything they could in Spain. The chick appears to have had congenital issues that caused its heart failure.

This is a good place for Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig because she always has the inside scoop with The Woodland Trust!

Daily summary Tuesday 23rd July 2024

The main story of today is the news just received of the sad loss of our chick 1JR. Try as they might, the veterinary team in Valencia were unable to save him when he started having seizures. More details in WTS George’s post, link below. Tonight’s bonus video is 1JR in happier times a few days ago, looking strong tucking into a big fish dinner. We”re happy to hear his brother 1JW and the other ten Scottish Osplets on the translocation project are all well and thriving. In other news, Dorcha went adventuring and turned up on Nest One, before returning later to her own nest. Neither of the two males were seen although sky-dancing was heard while Dorcha was at Nest One. Was it Louis, or Garry LV0, and were they dancing for Dorcha or another female? Today’s weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy with light winds, but rain is forecast for tomorrow.

WTS George: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15457681

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.10.19 (03.37.54); Nest Two 23.04.59 (03.53.04)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/yw2IAFZ5Iro N1 Dorcha pays another visit to Nest One 09.42.30

https://youtu.be/Z8amhCfcwhQ  N2 Dorcha returns to her own nest 11.16.01 

Bonus video – Arkaig Osplet 1JR tucking into his fish dinner 18th July:

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

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

A good news osprey story!

And another great save. Thanks, ‘J’.

Texas family saves orphaned baby bird by wrapping it in tortilla: ‘That’s all I had’ | Texas | The GDownload

Some more kindness. We need it.

You might see an osprey that needs help. Make sure you have the nearest wildlife rehabilitation clinic’s contact information in your phone!

One of our readers, ‘EJ’, got to visit Hellgate Canyon, and she was overjoyed to see Iris! ‘EJ’ sent us these photographs that give us an entirely different perspective. ‘EJ’ stayed far away to avoid disturbing our miracle nest.

Despite the heat, Finn continues to bring in good sized fish that will safe his family from the effects of the heat dome that continues over the area.

Blue is calling out for prey when he sees an adult about. It looks like he did not eat the delivery from Monday. You can see it covered up on the nest. I wonder why the adult doesn’t feed this eaglet?

The recent osprey hatches in Australia are reported to be doing very well.

The latest on the Dorsett Hobby chick from SK Hideaways.

Family portrait (of a sort) at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. One beautifully feathered osplet.

Cowlitz PUD are fantastic. When sent the images of the osprey in a box, they responded! And we know they care because they put their heads together and came up with the fish grates. They did not protect the chicks this year but they worked last year (there are eagles all over the area). We have one survivor and it is doing well. Dad came in with a big fish for Mum and osplet.

Looks like we have only one left to fledge at Field Farm.

Kristel, the Golden Eaglet at the Estonian Nest #2 is nearing fledge. She is growing stronger. Prey deliveries are like their life in the wild – sometimes abundant and sometimes not. Kristel worked on eating nestovers today. I did not see a delivery. It is hard to drop a small vole on a nest with an excited eaglet!

Sandpoint osplet, River, is preparing for fledge as well!

In Boulder Mum looks on as chick does some nest renovations! Fledge is near.

‘PB’ reports that McEuen osplet is up and waiting for Mum to arrive with a fish – had a reasonable ps, too.

It will not be long until we have little White-tailed eaglets at the WBSE nest in the Sydney Olympic Park.

I am often very proud to be a Canadian. (Not proud about the Omega company and its trawlers – let’s be clear – or any other Canadian ecological disaster company and we have some doozies or our garbage that floats around and gets on bird nests). I am proud that many of our Osprey nests have done well this year. I have mentioned those in Nova Scotia and then there is also Niagara Bee with its three healthy (or seemingly so) osplets.

Tomorrow I am going to go and check on a Bald Eagle nest. It looks like the heavy rains and storms that we had over an extended period of time caused our local osprey nest to fail. It is not clear what is happening in the north of our province.

Betsy and Frederick’s kids at the Outerbanks (Carova, OBX nest) fledged awhile ago. They are returning to the nest – great news.

The three at Blackbush are just getting bigger and bigger. We are going to have a lot of fledges coming on the same day from the looks of things.

The ospreys around Mobil Bay seem to be doing well. ‘L’ checks on them and today sent us an image with a female and two chicks on a nest she watches often. Thanks, ‘L’ for sharing!

Another good news story to help soften the week.

‘H’ reports:

7/23 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The first fish of the day did not arrive until later in the morning.  At 1004 Olsen dropped off a small whole fish.  Big beaked Middle, grabbed the fish, and ate the entire fish in 8 minutes.  At 1419 Soo arrived with a large headless fish.  Big took the fish to self feed.  Soo allowed Big 36 minutes to work on the fish, then at 1455 she took it.  There was still a large piece of fish left.  Big beaked Middle, so Soo fed Big.  By 1507, Middle had worked its way over to the other side of Soo, but the feeding was going slowly.  The fish was tough, and Soo was also distracted by something.  Big was being disruptive as well, by trying to reach across in front of Soo to get at Middle.  Middle finally got a bite of fish at 1509, and then 6 bites by 1512, but was then beaked by Big.  By 1521 there was still a good sized piece of fish remaining, and Soo was still feeding Big.  As the feeding continued, Big would intermittently intimidate Middle and cause him/her to move away.  Middle was only able to grab a bite of fish now and then.  At 1547 Big had a bulging crop and started to walk away, but changed its mind, beaked Middle, and resumed eating.  At 1549, Big moved away, and I could not see how much fish was remaining.  Middle moved in and got a few bites of fish before being beaked by Big, then Big ate some more.  The meal was finally over at 1555.  When Soo had taken the fish from Big at 1455 it was not large enough to have provided an hour-long meal.  The fish being tough, plus the various distractions, caused the meal to drag out.  Middle only ate a total of 23 bites of fish.

At 1620 Olsen delivered a large partial fish, and Soo took it.  The feeding began at 1622, and Middle was beaked by Big.  By 1625 the siblings were positioned on opposite sides of Soo, and Middle was able to grab a bite of fish now and then.  Big backed away at 1643.  Middle had only eaten 25 bites up to that point.  The rest of the feeding belonged almost exclusively to Middle.  It was a 30-minute feeding that ended at 1652.  Middle ate at least 107 bites of fish.  Thank goodness.  When I checked the live stream a couple of hours later to see if another fish had been brought to the nest, the cam was offline.  Weather forecast for 7/24:  Sunny, high 93F/34C, winds 16 mph.

7/23 Colonial Beach:  29-day-old ‘Cobey’ seems to be doing well.  There were only two fish brought to the nest yesterday, but there were four fish today.  It looks like Betty has had to return to being the primary provider, and she caught three of the fish today.  Predicted high temp for 7/24 is 81 F, with light winds.

7/23 Barnegat Light osprey nest:  As you know, Duke and Daisy did not have eggs this season.  But, their love story continues to delight and inspire viewers.  Daisy and Duke continue to hang out with each other every day.  And, we actually saw Duke catch a fish in the Bay!  Kudos to the cam-ops for always managing to find them.

7/23 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House):  Things are going well for this osprey family.  39-day-old ‘Fen’ seems to be more calm, and I haven’t seen him/her attacking June or Johnny for a few days.  I’m sure that has something to do with the ‘whales’ that June has been bringing to the nest that have provided many meals.  June caught another one of those whales this morning, and Johnny contributed a large fish of his own in the afternoon.  High temp for them on 7/24 is predicted to be 79, with 12 mph winds.

Thanks, ‘H’ for all your wonderful reports – every day! And for catching that fledge at Bridge Golf.

The tortilla rescue is doing well.

Smile. More ospreys being saved.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, photographs, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, L, PB’, Cowlitz PUD, Cristofre Martin, Charlo Montana, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Orange Beach Wildlife Centre, The Guardian, British Wildlife Rescue, Montana Osprey Project, HWF-BBC, Osprey House Environmental Centre, SK Hideaways, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Field Farm, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Sandpoint, Boulder County, McEuen Park, Niagara Bee, Outerbanks 24/7, Blackbush, Pacific Wildlife Care, Osoyoos, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Colonial Beach, Fenwick Island, Wildwest Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Bobby Horvath.

Deaths, fledges…Tuesday in Bird World

23 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mum is out fishing at McEuen Park in Idaho.

Fish delivery to nest #4 in Finland.

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

A large Hare was delivered to the nest.

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

I found this entry on Looduskalender interesting:

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

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

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

Daily summary Monday 22nd July 2024

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

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

Today’s videos:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting ready for a fledge at Bridge Golf.

Three osplets waiting to fly at Collins Marsh, too.

They are all self-feeding!

Bruce is delivering trout to Toketee and Tree at Seaside.

Beautiful osplet at Boulder.

Coming and going at BUND Goitzsche-Wildnis in Germany.

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

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

News from ‘A’:

A report from  WBSE: 

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

And a really cute video from Taiaroa Head:

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

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

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

Fledges at Dyfi…Monday in Bird World

15 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Latest updates: Eagle took the oldest osplet at Cowlitz Sunday evening while Mum was feeding. Third osplet at Dyfi in Wales has fledged! Eight Omega ships out catching Menhaden in the Bay this morning – fish our ospreys, whales, dolphins and other fish could eat. Talk about sad. This has to stop.

It was another hot day in Winnipeg. It’s not as hot as it has been. Just 26 C. The boulevard needed mowing, and that is now done. More mulch around the path. I finished but need more. Birds fed and watered many times. They still feel the heat but are more active later in the afternoon and evening when the shade covers the entire garden area. Thank you to everyone who wrote a note and said they enjoyed the baby Blue Jay having its bath. Every season, there is one that loves that bird bath. They are a delight. I made another video. It is 5 minutes long. The birds disappeared while I was sitting on the deck. Still, Dyson comes to the tray feeder along with two Blue Jays and a host of sparrows, old and young. Dyson makes two appearances. You can see the tree branch behind the feeder move. The second time, she goes to another feeder to the left inside the lilacs). I love the Blue Jay pounding away at the seed cylinder at the end. Enjoy. (I will figure out how to edit this!

https://videopress.com/v/p7WSRsNv?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

It is 2033, and the thunderstorm has arrived. The wind is causing the trees to blow around like a tornado. The rain is so heavy I cannot see my neighbour’s roof. It is pounding on top of the conservatory, and all ‘The Girls’ are here for security. I can see a clear sky to the west, so this will be short-lived but furious. I hope we do not lose a tree at the back. Hydro and cable, along with wifi, have just gone out. There is a vast black churning cloud moving south of me. Someone is going to have worse conditions. It’s also reminiscent of my younger years living in Oklahoma, which has all its storms and tornadoes. Did I say we have no power or wifi?

On Wednesday, I will review Connie Dennis’s book about Pickles. So please catch the blog on that day. I will also add a listing of adult Osprey books at the end. This year, the chats on some of the streaming cams were ripe with so much disinformation that many of you wrote and said you would never participate in them again. Take the ‘off-season’ once the ospreys that survive migrate and before the eagles have their eggs hatching to educate yourself. We can have a question section and a fact a day about Ospreys to prepare us. Mind you, we will have the ospreys at Port Lincoln, the falcons at Orange and the CBD, and the WBSE to keep our eyes on. So get your questions ready! I know you have a list of really intriguing ones.

Late news: You know I love Karl II and his kids. Waba, the son of the late Karl II and Kaia from the Black Stork Nest in Karula Forest, Estonia has left RU and is now in northern Estonia! Great news. Thanks ‘TU’. I want Waba to establish a nest in Estonia – maybe even his old natal nest – but only if the fish baskets will be replenished so the storklets don’t starve. We know the food supply is low at times. Speaking of low. Waba’s battery is at 1%. I am hoping he will get some sun and it will charge. This is the area where he is foraging.

The heat wave that hit the Pacific NW and caused such grief at our osprey nests is now moving East. ‘PB’ tells me that the Central area of the US where they live will hit 100 F tomorrow. It will continue to be hot at the osprey nests, and Heidi has just advised that Little at Osoyoos had a one-drop ‘ps’. Dehydrated and weak. Poor thing. Wishing for cool weather, a big fish, or a quick death- since no one is prepared to intervene in the lives of these beautiful feathered osplets (not just at Osoyoos). As you know, my position is that humans have ruined their habitat, destroyed the small quantities of fish the birds require (485-525 per nest of 3 chicks and 2 adults per season), and warmed our planet so quickly that the birds that have been here for 61.5 million years cannot adapt fast enough. We owe it to them to care. Where are the folks as brave as the fish fairies at Port Lincoln? Where are they!

Record-breaking-heatwave-shifts-east-as-millions-of-Americans-under-heat-alert-Extreme-heat-The-Download

In Macedonia, people save the storks by taking out their watering hoses and giving them this great gift of life.

This is the translation: “Humanitarian actions in Macedonia.
The situation with the storks in Gevgelisk is alarming at 50+ degrees. They fall to the ground and dehydrate. The human savior is Miki Stanojkovic from Bogorodica Gevgelisk. An appeal to everyone to leave buckets of water everywhere where there is no river, spring or tap.”

At the nest of the Golden Eagle in Estonia (nest 2), Kristel had prey deliveries from Dad late on Saturday! The eagle also finished the remains of the Raccoon Dog and also fed on leg of sibling. The eaglet is doing some great hovering and working their wings. Appears to be strong.

Note: To this eaglet and to the one at Boundary Bay, their dead sibling is no longer alive and a sibling but potential food. These eaglets are hungry. Eagles are carrion eaters (dead animals). Eagles eat practically anything.

On Sunday, Gwenlais and Senni, took to the skies at the Dyfi Osprey Project. Both returned safely to the nest. Now we are wondering if the third chick will fly on the same day!

Iris at Hellgate Canyon tells us it is still hot there just by her posture! Her and Finn are hanging in there. Iris is amazing. She might not have had a chick since 2018 but she hasn’t forgotten all the tricks on feeding them and keeping them cool and alive. She is my heroine.

Those babies of Iris are so cute. Wonder when we are going to get some names for them.

I feel for the Mum at McEuan Park. Her mate disappeared at the end of June and she had four babies to care for and a heat dome. She has one chick left. She cannot shade it all day because she has to try and catch fish to keep them alive. Where are the fish fairies?

There are two osplets at Allins Cove East. They look good. They are approximately 21 days old.

One gorgeous chick on the Allins Cove West nest the middle of June. It has fledged.

Mum at Bridge Golf Course trying to keep her only surviving Bob cool.

All appears alright at Pitkin County in Colorado.

It will be getting even hotter in Charlo Montana. Charlie is delivering huge fish to Lola and the two survivors (the little one sadly fell off the nest doing a ps). Let’s hope they all make it.

Four big ole babies at Field Farm. That nest is really crowded. Really crowded. Jumping and flapping are going to be a challenge and the crib rails are – well, gone on one side. Stay in the nest kiddos!

Only Bob at Dunrovin appears to be doing well. Enjoying a nice fish dinner compliments of Dad Swoop and mum Winnie. (One egg DNH and the other osplet fell off the nest and died).

‘PB’ noticed that some osprey mums do not shade their chicks like Iris. She is absolutely right. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

At the Snow Lane nest of Beaumont and Hope, the oldest has been doing a wee bit of bonking on the second. We hope it is short-lived. There have been intruders. Hope has done some fishing in past days. Both chicks appear to be doing well. I use that word a lot: ‘appear’. It is challenging to tell from streaming cam images how emaciated the birds can be. I got back to the eaglets Meadow, Sol, and Luna, who appeared to be doing fine but weren’t.

The pair of White Storklets on the Loburg nest were saved and taken to the local stork rescue and rehabilitation centre after their parents, Frieda and Emil, were missing. The storklets were nearing fledge and were ‘very’ hungry and would have perished if help had not arrived. Thank you, Storchenhof Loburg in Mockhem, Germany.

The only storklet of Bety and Bukacek at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic has fledged.

Storks. Migration. Routes. A study shows that older storks get to their migration destinations faster than youngsters. Migratory behavior of storks changes over the course of their lives.

“Over a period of seven years, the scientists collected and analyzed the flight data of storks on their journeys to North Africa. This allowed them to analyze how migratory behavior changes over the course of an animal’s life. According to the scientists, they found that young storks take their time to explore new places during migration. With increasing age, however, their flights become faster and more efficient. Young storks therefore take routes that take longer, but also cost less energy. Older storks, on the other hand, optimize their migration routes in order to reach their destination more directly. According to the scientists, they consume more energy. However, the total time of their flight is shorter. Storks’ routes are also based on a wealth of experience. The results suggest that the birds use their spatial memory to find shortcuts. The researchers from Lake Constance therefore assume that individual experience is also a key factor in animal migration.”

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/friedrichshafen/studie-vom-bodensee-stoerche-im-alter-schneller-am-ziel-100.html

The osplets in the Tweed Valley nests in the UK were ringed.

Another Osprey Rescue and some gifts for the rehab centre. Do you have some extra gravel sitting around? Call your local wildlife centre and see if they could use it!

Want another good story? I have posted this one previously, but it is a good reminder to us – again – that our feathered friends care about their families, will help them, and have feelings.

Eagle Parents Spend Year Nursing Chick Who Fell Out of a Tree, Forsaking the New Nesting Season

Inside the aviary where the chicks of Louis and Dorcha are waiting to take their first flight into the Spanish skies.

At the time of this writing, two of CJ7 and Blue 022’s chicks have fledged – Blue 5R0 and Blue 5R1. Both returned to the nest safely and hungry.

Nest #4 in Finland is doing well.

Issues surrounding food and rivalry are surfacing at the Latvian Osprey nest. This will pass as there are giant fish coming to this nest – we hope that continues and we have two fledges. Look at the size of those babies. Bells will toll across Latvia – surely – when these two take to the skies.

‘A’ reports on what is happening at the WBSE nest:

At WBSE, all is going well. Here is yesterday’s ranger report: 

July 13: Another lovely day and the 16th day since the first egg was laid. An early duet and then Lady had a short break when Dad came in at 6:42. Later, a couple of short breaks with Lady calling from Ironbark Roost. Dad brought in a spray of casuarina at 8:02. Around 9am, he came in for a change-over, Lady very reluctant to get up, even as he circled her. She was even a little slow rising when he brought a mullet at 11:11 – but then she got up and fed as Dad sat. There were the usual changes during the day. Late afternoon, with Lady incubating, Dad was not seen at the river – fishing maybe? He returned at 17:17 – empty-taloned. He moved nearby, and both then settled for the night.

What is going on with the New Jersey Osprey? Don’t tell the Omega ships that there is a lot of Menhaden! They might find a way to fish those shores.

Ospreys-Too-soon-for-a-victory-dance-New-Jersey-Conservation-FoundationDownload

A rescue and return to the nest!

Eagle Owls in old castle ruins. Do you know this streaming cam?

Geemeff’s daily report on Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Sunday 14th July 2024

A very interesting day today! We were given photos taken by LizB of the Bunarkaig chick during ringing yesterday, footage of the translocated chicks in Valencia, including ours, wingercising getting ready for lift off, and Louis brought Dorcha a fish on Nest Two. The first fish he’s brought since 5th July, and only the fifth fish delivery since the official fish count* stopped at 10am on the day the chicks were removed to join the translocation programme on 1st July. Are things getting back to normal? Difficult to say, but he and Dorcha have been spending time together and carrying out courtship rituals including coy-mantling and attempted mating, and today they had what looked like a proper tail-up mating attempt. No action on Nest One except for the busy little spider with its web visible in today’s sunshine. The forecast for tonight is misty with light winds, and dry with sunny intervals tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.14.09 (03.45.20); Nest Two 00.17.11 (03.54.45) 

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/F2O6Qu9bv2E N2 Dorcha arrives early, Louis arrives a little later but without fish 04.30.14

https://youtu.be/-w9xcZQB1ZA N2 Was that a successful mating attempt by Louis? 05.26.51 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/map5PyIWzDs  Wingercising ready for lift-off: Arkaig chicks in Spain 13 July and WTS tweet 14th July

https://youtu.be/f3L7h59FXrQ  Bunarkaig chick photos from LizB 13 July and WTS tweet 14th July

https://youtu.be/D2j9GKFPeTs  N2 Finally! Louis brings a headless trout 15.31.07

https://youtu.be/dH2QtdR1ffY  N2 Louis & Dorcha spend time together as the sun sets 21.21.29

https://youtu.be/w_VHNBuj340  N2 Louis returns unexpectedly with a stick 22.09.00)

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

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

People have been wondering about Giliath. Here he is!

‘H’ reports: 7/14 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The osplets are 34, 36, and 37 days old.  Olsen knows where to find fish early in the morning, and they are usually small ones.  At 0602 he dropped off a tiny fish.  Middle got a few bites, but Big was the primary recipient of fish during the 3-minute meal.  At 0651 Olsen brought a slightly larger fish.  Middle beaked Little.  Big and Middle were eating, and each time Little reached for a bite, s/he was beaked by Middle, and at one point was nearly pushed off the nest.  Little did not eat at this 9-minute feeding.  

Middle was once again beaked Little at 1035.  Little was so close to the edge, I thought Little was going to get pushed off the nest.  As Little struggled to grab a hold of sticks and climb back up to regain solid footing, he got a stick caught under his left wing, and could not get free of it.  Little had that stick stuck under his wing for quite some time, and Middle took further advantage of Little in that compromised state by beaking him even more.  Soo eventually seemed to help remove the stick from under Little’s wing.  That whole episode was so heartbreaking to watch.  

Another tiny fish was brought to the nest at 1106.  It was a 3-minute meal, and Little did not eat.  At 1332 Olsen delivered a large whole fish.  I thought for sure that Little would be able to eat at some point during this feeding.  Little was beaked several times by Middle, and was nearly pushed off the nest again.  At one point, Big beaked both Middle and Little.  They are all hungry.  This was a 27-minute feeding…and Little did not eat a single bite of fish.  Olsen double-backed with another large fish at 1422.  Great!  Back-to-back large fish…just what was needed so Little could eat.  Middle beaked Little again.  Big and Middle were set up on opposite sides of Soo, and Little ended up next to Big.  We only had a partial view of Little near the top of the screen.  But, it was apparent that Little was occasionally reaching in front of Big and getting bites from Soo.  Little received at least 14 bites of fish that I was sure of, but possibly ate a few more.  Big soon tired of that arrangement with Little, and started beaking Little intermittently.  This meal lasted 28-minutes, and Little only ate about 14 bites of fish.  The last fish of the day arrived at 1917, and it was a medium sized whole fish.  Little was the first one at the table, and got some bites right away.  Little had eaten 20 bites by 1919, but was then pushed from behind by Big.  Little was able to eat another 4 bites by 1920, but then Soo moved the fish, and fed Big and Middle.  It was a 6-minute feeding, Little ate 24 bites of fish, and he did seem to have a small crop.  Little ate a total of approximately 38 fish bites today.  Weather for Monday: Sunny, light winds, high temp 99F/37C.

7/14 Patuxent osprey nest:  Little slept standing up last night for the first time…Oh, Little is a Big Man!  Little was not able to eat on Saturday because his aggressive older sisters grabbed all the fish.  This morning from 0520 to 0523 Mom fed Little from a leftover goldfish.  That fish was then taken from Mom by one of the sibs.  At 0651 Dad delivered a large headless fish and distracted the sibs, so Mom resumed eating the leftover goldfish.  Little took the goldfish from Mom at 0655, and self-fed until 0731, at which time he abandoned the goldfish, and went over to Mom who now had possession of the new fish.  Mom fed Little until 0802.  Little had a large crop!   There were other fish brought in throughout the day, but Little was not able to eat anything from those fish.  There were some good wingers with leaps by Little today.

7/14 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  We are so happy for Louise after the sad season last year.  Harvie is such a wonderful mate and provider for their three offspring, ages 28, 30, and 32 days.  The kids are getting so big!

Thank you, ‘H’. Sadly unless there is a miracle, we are not expecting the third hatch at Osoyoos to make it because of the extreme heat. Send them good wishes. Soo and Olsen are trying — and no one is helping.

‘V’ sent in some images of the Cowlitz baby that was taken. She says, “Look at its wingspan. I wish there was someway to save the other baby”. I know that we all feel the same and wish those grates had held. They are so near fledge.

Thank you for being with me today. Please take care. Send out nests all your good energy. The heat continues, the predators remain, too. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: Geemeff, H, J, PB, TU, V,’ Loodusklender, Cowlitz PUD, The Guardian Humanitarian Macedonia, Eagle Club of Estonia, Dyfi Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Project, McEuan Park, Allin’s Cove East and West, Bridge Golf, Pitkin County, Charlo Montana, Field Farm, Dunrovin Ranch, MN-LA, Newfoundland Power, Lindsay Wildlife, Eagle Owl Cam, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, PLO, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Fortis Exshaw, Storchenneste, Mlade Buky, swr.de, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Raptor Centre of Tampa Bay, Good News Network, Woodland Trust Scotland, BoPH, Finnish Osprey Foundation, LDF, BSE, and New Jersey Conservation.