20 August 2023
Good Morning Everyone,
My goodness. At 2000 the garden just lit up with visitors -two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds came to feed on the Vermillion plants. They are on their migration, coming down from northern Manitoba, feeding in Winnipeg, and continuing southward. Then the Cooper’s Hawk that was on the Conservatory roof a couple of days ago flew in and landed in the lilacs, being ever so quiet -hoping to get a snack before light’s out. The Blue Jays and Sparrows are quiet ten minutes later, as are Dyson and Gang, who were scurrying around when the hawk arrived. I was watching to see if Calico would return for a snack.
Heavily cropped and poor lighting.
11:36:58 Saturday. Minnesota Arboretum chick takes to the skies. Mum is still waiting – late Saturday afternoon – for her baby’s return. Get a fish Dad!
The osplet returned to his waiting Mum at 18:11! Well done. Congratulations!
The youngest osplet at Charlo Montana C15 also fledged on Saturday and it flew when the Highlights were on.C15 has returned to the nest.
‘A’ alerted me to an incident Saturday morning with Mini. Mini had flown to the perch from the brewery side of the road and was chased by one of her siblings, who forced her off the perch and onto the nest—very aggressive behaviour by 3 who spent the night on the north perch chattering. Mini will later get a fish and eat it without incident- 0658.
Mini went on to enjoy her morning fish. She ate every bite.
1417:
By 1600 that left leg is causing Mini considerable discomfort.
1711: Dad brings Mini a nice live whole goldfish! Thanks for the notification ‘L’. Hang on, Mini! Dad has a really nice crop…good for you, Dad. You have been so incredible this season feeding a family of six!!!!!!!!!
Look at our girl hold that fish down with that right talon. Way to go, Mini!
At 1735, twenty-four minutes later, our gal is ready to hork that fish tail. Down it goes at 1736.
Holding the fish down tight with the right foot has allowed Mini to eat much faster and she did not lose the fish over the nest. So proud of you, Mini.
Mini finished that up and flew off only to return to the nest a few minutes later. We can see her nice crop. She wants another goldfish – fish calling to Dad!
Good night, Mini!
After Three had left the nest, Dad delivered a big fish to Mini. S he was jumping all over the nest in excitement as he arrived. She ate every bit flying off with the tail. Mini is doing so much better with her feeding now that she is holding the fish down with that right talon.
Clean up crew arrives.
Wow. There were so many fish deliveries on the Sandpoint Osprey nest and my goodness, the Mum fed the osplet rather well in comparison to other days. No one was hungry. At 1533, the 7th fish arrived on the nest. Unbelievable.
Coco has a big wingspan and is flexing those wings getting them strong. There was a good ‘ps’ around 11:11 as well.
Looking good at the Dunrovin nest with fledglings continuing to return and screaming for fish from Swoop and Harriet. What a beautiful day they had in the mountains.
‘H’ has some good reports for us! As always, thank you for keeping such a good eye on these nests.
Fortis Exshaw – “After missing the only fish delivery to the nest from Louise on 8/18, a very hungry Banff wisely decided to forgo an early morning flight. She was waiting on the nest when Louise delivered a ‘whale’ fish at 1001. That fish was equal to 2.5 to 3 fish. Oh my goodness, the temperament of teenage ospreys . . after taking possession of the fish, Banff lunged and flapped at her mom to get her off of ‘Banff’s nest’! Lol, Louise understands . . this is not her first rodeo with teenagers. Banff feasted on the huge fish on-and-off for several hours, and never let go of it. There was at least 1/4 of the fish remaining when Louise delivered another fish at 1509. A very excited Banff celebrated with a couple of high hovers while holding the fish! Banff ate some of the new fish, but she was not very hungry. Then at 1728 an intruder decided to harass Banff. Banff was buzzed with close fly-bys four times, then Banff quickly flew off the nest to avoid potential harm. Good girl. She left a partial fish and a nearly-whole fish on the nest. Banff did not return to the nest for the rest of the day, and the intruder did not take the fish. Banff will have breakfast already waiting for her in the morning. Stay safe Banff, wherever you are.”
[News has come in that Banff was taken off the nest and dropped at the side by the intruding Osprey at 0622 this morning. Thanks PB].
Osoyoos – “Olsen brought two fish to the nest, The first fish at 0837 was a huge headless fish that lasted nearly two hours. And the second fish at 1400 was also a good-sized fish. At 54 days of age, ‘Junior’ was doing some high hovers, and at 1833, s/he was completely out of view of the cam for a few seconds. Keep an eye out . . Junior just might fledge today!”
Forsythe – After having not been seen for 20 straight days, mom Opal made a surprise appearance on the nest at 0909. And guess what? . . Oscar brought her a fish! How cool is that? Oscar to his gal: “See ya’ next year, honey. Stay safe.” It was wonderful to see Opal again before she starts on her long journey.
Barnegat Light – “Here’s a photo of the multi-talented fledgling, Dorsett, as “captain of the ship.” And, after she was not seen on camera for two days, Daisy was on the nest in the morning. Later in the afternoon, Daisy delivered a fish to Dorsett on the nest. Nice to see you, Daisy.”
Severna Park – “There has only been one fledgling seen on the nest for the past five days. We cherish every chance that we get to see her and her dad, Oscar.”
Thank you again, ‘H’. It is that time of year when, as you said, it is always a pleasure to get a glimpse of the youngsters and their parents.
It looks like Diamond was hungry when, after turning down the European Starling, she finally accepted it!
It was not typical behaviour for Louis to be away from the nest and not delivering fish to his youngster/s. Ludo was certainly getting anxious. The weather was terrible and the water choppy. What relief when lewis shows up after a two day absence…
The weather has been terrible in Wales, evens Aran is out there fishing!
Louis has been delivering to Ludo today. I wonder if the water is as choppy at Loch Arkaig as it has been. Fish 2.
We are still waiting – and so is Dad – for the first egg at Port Lincoln. The good news is that Ervie is back in Port Lincoln!
As of 2330 Saturday in Canada, this is the situation at the Sydney Sea Eagles as reported by ‘A’: “
Breakfast was very late this morning – around 11.25 – and the fish took 15 minutes for Lady to feed to SE31. There were no bites for SE32, not even a little one, though to make up for it, he got beaked and lifted off the ground by its back and its neck several times. SE31’s viciousness is increasing. Today, when both were hungry, SE31 was a little stinker, really hurting little SE32 when she lifted him up by the loose skin between his shoulder blades. SE31 had literally mouthfuls of feathers to spit out on several occasions. Little SE32 crept forward and around and did everything possible to get near mum but to no avail. SE31 beaked him wherever he tried to go. Just as Lady left the nest, all food gone, SE32 makes it up to the empty table. Poor little mite looks so sad. We need a large lunch fish fairly quickly, as that was not a large fish and we need SE31 to be too full to eat before SE32 is going to get anything at all. He had a bad day yesterday food-wise and we really need him to eat this afternoon.”
Later news: “So there were three small whole fish brought in between 11:25 and 13:06 and SE32 got one small piece. This situation is worsening, and although SE32 is getting up to the table, he is too scared to raise his head once he gets there. He rushes up to the table to try and find leftovers he can self-feed but there have been no leftovers for him to find over the past 24 hours, so this is not helping him right now. SE31 keeps a close eye on him, so if he found food to self-feed, SE31 would probably be up there joining in without moments! And he makes sure SE32 stays in submission during feedings by simply leaning over him (and sometimes grabbing a beakful of feathers and shaking him violently, even picking him up off the ground, his little feet flailing to gain traction).” Thanks, ‘A’. I h ope the situation changes quickly
Let us all hope that little 32 gets some courage and a lot of fish!
At Taiaroa Head – home of the Royal Albatross Colony, Manaaki gets wonderful feedings two days in a row!
One of my heroes that fights for wildlife and whose early love of Kestrels keeps him going in the face of death threats is Chris Packham. There is a really good article in The Guardian today about this man who is one of the founders of Wild Justice.
Thank you to everyone for being with me today. As the wild fires grow in Canada, please keep all of our feathered friends (and the humans and other wildlife) in your thoughts. Take care! See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog today: ‘A, H, L’, Mn Landscape Arboretum, Charlo Montana, PSEG, Sandpoint, Dunrovin, Fortis Exshaw, Osoyoos, Wildlife Conserve of NJ, Severna Park, Forsythe Ospreys, Cilla Kinross, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, E Lewis and Glaslyn Osprey Group, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Sydney Sea Eagle Cam, Lady Hawk and the NZ DOC, and The Guardian.
