There was no report of a storm coming to our area, but the garden animals behaved differently all day. The temperature was cooler, 22 C. Tomorrow it will be 28 C. There are storms to the south of us near Minneapolis. Still, the animals are exerting a rivalry for peanuts that I have not seen in quite some time. The Red Squirrels are harassing the Greys, the Greys are bothering the Blue Jays, and all are disturbing the Crows!
Dyson has been here and I finally was able to get a photo of her. She is so healthy! And so quick. Less than a blink and she is off the feeder with peanuts.
It is not a great shot – the iPhone and the Feather Friedly dots on the double glazing of the conservatory do not make for a good combination when trying to photography moving animals.
Dyson can sometimes get three peanuts in at once and away she goes. Just look at that beautiful tail.
Three of the juvenile crows keeping watch as two eat cheesy dogs. Oh, they are a noisy bunch. Our former neighbours stopped by for a visit today and it was so nice to hear that they missed the birds. There are some geese in the river near where they live, but no birds!
Meanwhile one Crow insists on walking all across the conservatory’s roof and then flying off to get a drink in the bird bath. It drives Calico crazy!
The images are a little too dark of Calico with the Crow on the ceiling but you can get the idea. My goodness Calico wanted that Crow.
They have the most gorgeous iridescent plumage. This one has a tattered tail. I am sure they have been in many skirmishes since they fledged the nest this summer.
Little Red ‘looks sweet’. The operative word is ‘looks’. I have discovered that animals with ginger fur cause the most chaos. Hugo Yugo is included! Have you noticed that, too?
Junior still looks ratty but that crest is coming in and soon he will look like his handsome self. Someone said this takes a week. I would say a good fortnight.
Even with the cooler temperatures, all the birds enjoy the birdbath, which is filled five times a day. The Blue Jay on the right was ill and had a twisted tail. The tail is still not straight, but s/he is flying and doing well.
One of the new babies waiting for its parents to tell it that it can fly back to the nest.
Sad. An Osprey, not a type of bird of prey that kills grouse, was shot to death at Angus Glens on the opening of the ‘Inglorious 12th’ of August. Oh, please find a way to end this medieval practice of shooting grouse!
‘PB’ caught Dad and the juvenile home at Cowlitz PUD! Yeah. Electra might have left on migration. We wait to see.
SK Hideaways has a video clip of our Collins Street falcons and their first egg of the season. Many are upset that the female laid the egg on the south end without the shade protection. Some of you will recall the small little falcons practically roasting one year on the ledge.
Deliveries at Hellgate Canyon! Iris is still home…
Finnegan brought Antali a whopper!!!!!! He was still eating two hours later.
C16 enjoys an early morning breakfast fish at Charlo.
Heidi McGrue caught Fen at Fenwick Island diving for his first fish. He might have even caught it.
The necroscopy from Elyse the falcon at the University of Montreal has been turned in.
‘A’ writes about Monday afternoon and the little sea eaglets. “Monday afternoon at 3.45pm and those sea eaglets have the most massive crops. They are sleeping in the warm spring sunshine, snuggled up in a giant fluffball. Dad was in with breakfast (a live medium-sized fish) at around 06:34, which Lady immediately commandeered. SE33 still had a crop! SE34 was closer to the table and facing the right way, so got the first of the food. He did not hesitate to take the bites he was offered and SE33, facing the other way, did not object. 06:37 and SE34 is spooked by SE33 moving behind him, making him nervous to eat. He does take a bite from mum but then turns his head away, obviously worried about SE33. Mum leans right over to offer him the next bite but he pulls away from her, his head still turned. Lady, watching SE34 and aware he is too scared to eat, does not feed SE33 but instead eats herself while she waits for SE34 to gain confidence.
Early Tuesday morning and both sea eaglets have crops.”
The sea eaglets appeared to be living a bit more harmoniously. They should grow out of this stage soon as their pin feathers are beginning to come through.
Speaking of large crops, Diamond and Xavier are both looking exceptionally well fed this afternoon. We just had the privilege (4.09pm) of watching one of their famous bonding sessions. Xavier likes to visit Diamond very early in the morning, while it’s still dark (she usually sleeps on the ledge of her scrape), and it’s not uncommon for one or both of them to fall asleep during a prolonged early morning bonding session. Just TOO funny. These two are adorable. Xavier is the cutest little peregrine. I just love him. He is the best mate and father, and we all know the story of how he came into Diamond’s life. What a guy. Eggs are less than a week away, judging by the bonding behaviours (though that rejected starling propped up in the front corner is really starting to get pretty rancid, I suspect – it’s been there for two and a half days, maybe more) and the frequency of matings (this pair generally get it right too – they know what they’re doing). I think Cilla said yesterday or the day before that there would be eggs within the week and she’s usually pretty accurate in her predictions here. So we wait. I would be surprised if there were more than two eggs. Diamond is not a young bird, though she does look healthy (Xavier looks after her well). “
They have been mating and mating at Orange. Xavier wants eggies. He loves being a day. Well, is he trying out to be Murphy?! Well, all of Xavier’s wishful thinking has paid off – Diamond laid the first egg of the season after he incubated the stone.
Do you ever look for stamps that are specific to our bird family?
Those two juveniles of Hope and Beaumont are gorgeous. They are stunners of the ‘dark’ side. Just look how wide those eye bands are, just like Mum. Beautiful thick necklaces. These two are lovely.
‘J’ did a tour of the eagle information and confirms the following sightings for us:
“18 august Harvey & Ellie visit nest Farmer Derek; 20 august Ron & Rose on nest Dade County; Aug Mr & Mrs Trempealeau on nest Trempealeau; August 1 adult on nest, fledglings still in the area Avon Lake ; Baker pops in Little Miami; 24 august Beau is back NEFL; 24 august M15 & F23 at the nest SWFL; 26 august Clive is back according to MAS Captiva; 26 august DNF has been seen by RRP, not visited new nest yet Decorah North / Raptor Resource Project; HD & HM seen around N1 Decorah / Raptor Resource Project”.
An update from Raptor Resource Project that runs the Decorah North, Spirit Bluff, and Mississippi Flyway cams:
These would make perfect bird baths!
Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Monday 26th August 2024
No activity at all again today on either nest, but from Police Scotland comes the disturbing account of an Osprey having been shot on the Inglorious Twelfth ie the traditional start date on 12th August of the grouse-shooting industry. The unfortunate Osprey had to be euthanised. All the big news outlets have taken up the story, and the link to the police appeal is in the bonus section. Weatherwise today had more dry patches than forecast, but heavy rain is expected tonight.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.21.13 (05.28.48); Nest Two 21.13.27 (05.37.43)
Today’s videos: none!
Bonus read – police appeal for info after the tragic death of an Osprey, shot on the Inglorious Twelfth:
Thank you so very much for being with us today. Please take care. Have a wonderful week. We hope to see you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, comments, videos, images, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Raptor Persecution UK, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Heidi McGrue, UdeMFalcons FB, Olympic Park Eagles, Falcon Project at Charles Sturt University, Holly Parsons, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, BirdGuides, Newfoundland Power, Raptor Resource Project, The Waterfowl Sanctuary, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, The Real Saunders Photography, and The Guardian.
Update from Glaslyn: “Our eldest chick Blue 6M8 took her first flight at 08:50 this morning at 54 days old. She made a short flight around the field supervised by Elen before returning to the nest.” Congratulations Aran and Elen.
The beautiful osplet at Moraine that might have fledged today was not predated by the owl so many worried about, but became she became the victim of a tragic accident with Mum defending the nest against a raccoon. They will put up a raccoon baffle for next year…but maybe, every nest should be looking at raccoon and pine marten baffles and those that have owl predation a very bright solar (or hydro) powered bright light with red strobes. They will not bother the ospreys but could help with owl predation. Oh, goodness. It is hard enough for the wee babes to make it to be two or three weeks old but to die right before or at fledge, this is so sad.
I am sitting at the airport gate. It is always good to have a break, but it is even nicer thinking of home! I cannot wait to see Hugo Yugo, Calico, Baby Hope, Missey, Mr Crow, Dyson, and all the other animals, including ‘The Boyfriend’, who was caught on the security camera arriving at 0400 this morning. I hope he had food left! That camera identified him as a ‘pet’. It made me smile. It has been hot in Winnipeg – of course, unlike what it is for Iris and all the ospreys who continue to deal with tragically hot temperatures.
I am home, exhausted. More than exhausted. My head is reeling with news of tragedies….’The Girls’ were all wanting attention. What a joy it was to see them.
Her name can be seen by the public so I will include it here. I most often use initials. Ann-Marie Watson has watched over the Osoyoos nest and others in that area of British Columbia for years. When Little died and went over the edge several years ago, she travelled an hour and ventured into town during celebrations to give the little one a rite of passage. She sends this report about what is happening in the area. To me, it rings of the events of a couple of years ago when Cooper’s hawklets were jumping off their nests to save themselves from being roasted alive. I think her words bring home the tragedy that is hitting the area ——and I hope that it will emphasize how preious those nests are that have chicks that are alive. I wish that there were enough spaces for these babies so that the nests could make it through this dire time. Ann-Marie writes:
I put this up on our FB page and copy to you. I think Soo may have abandoned the nest and Dad is not feeding the chicks. I didn’t see Soo in the vicinity of the nest yesterday and the chicks are at risk right now. The sweltering heat is affecting so many nests in the south Okanagan.
As upsetting as it is the heat has been a major factor on a lot of nests. I went and checked on quite a few other nests I know of yesterday and it seems a few the parents have abandoned the nests for their own survival. I called SORCO and OWL rescue for any advice I could get to save our nest in Osoyoos, basically the info I received there are many nests that have been abandoned due sweltering temperatures. Basically too many nests for them to intervene..SORCO is dealing with the owls and Burnaby rescue is at capacity. This may not be good news for our nest as Mum hasn’t been seen and Dad is not feeding the chicks. Thinking of you all and as Ann-Mo said take care of your own mental health. I am taking a break after yesterday’s heartbreaking visits to the nests I went too. So much wildlife is suffering.
20 July 2024
More from Ann-Marie:
Apparently Soo and Olsen returned to the nest today maybe before noon. Both had a partial fish, I’m thinking Soo went off to hunt and cool down, I honestly don’t think she would not be the mombrella for the two chicks yesterday. I have not watched the camera today as needed a break. Things are not looking good for the chicks but if enough fish comes in middle might have a chance. The older chick seems to be getting fed more. The heat is intense and will be for days to come. I did a little ceremony for the littlest chick yesterday near the nest, I was quite heartbroken it passed away.
I wonder if the local fire department would place some fish on that nest for Soo, Olsen, and their chicks until the heat passes. I do understand from Heidi that Soo has been on the nest. Thank goodness.
There is good news coming out of Raptor Persecution UK. Finally, a fine that is meaningful. I would have liked to have seen another ‘zero’ added to it, but this is a beginning! That got hit hard in the wallet and that is all these grouse moor estates understand.
“£40k fine despite not knowing who actually carried out the poisonings, plus £1.5k fine for the director. ” (Geemeff)
In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults, Robin Wall Kimmerer talks of a revitalisation of our planet, of Mother Earth. She insists that we must make a choice of the path we will take – to heal our planet and bring balance back to the world of living beings, human and non- or turn our head backwards in the blinding dust and continue to live a life of materialism. She says that how we have lived has not brought us contentment, and now it is bringing extinction to plants and animals. We need to bring harmony and balance back to our lives. We must choose ‘the Green path’ of wisdom, respect, and reciprocity’ (280). It is a good book that broaches capitalism and materialism, and market forces creating affluence for some and great poverty for others. Grain sits in elevators rotting because people cannot purchase it. Kimmerer understands that there is enough food for everyone if we view the world differently.
I would suggest that there is enough fish for every seabird, every eagle, every osprey. That the taking of millions of Menhaden is ruining the balance of the Chesapeake Bay with the profits going into the accounts of Omega while our beautiful birds, whales, and dolphins starve. Omega is leaving nothing! I hope that we can shift this and see plentiful loads of fish for our feathered friends and a return to a bay full of wildlife!
Waiting for fledge at Glaslyn. It was a bit of a wet day. Everyone including Bobby Bach are doing fantastic – that little one had a nice bit of fish.
Fish after fish coming in to the nest of Idris and Telyn at Dyfi. No one is going to go hungry.
Only Little Mini (4th hatch) at Poole Harbour left to fledge now. CJ7 and Blue 022 are both being Daddy and Mummy Door Dash for these four healthy osplets.
The heat in the US and Canada continues.
Iris is the most amazing mumbrella. Finn is having a difficult time getting as much fish on the nest as he did. The best times are early morning and evening.
Iris moves with the sun to keep those precious babies of hers shaded. Look at those beauties in the top image with their Mum behind them. Did we ever think we would see such a sight? I sure didn’t.
Charlo Montana is hanging in there, too.
‘H’ reports on the Osoyoos nest we are so concerned about:
7/20 Osoyoos osprey nest: Today was a better day for Middle. Middle had not had a significant meal since 7/17. Olsen arrived early, at 0539 with a medium sized whole fish, and when Soo didn’t arrive to feed, Olsen left with the fish. He returned 16 minutes later with a headless version of the same fish. Middle grabbed the fish and mantled, and Olsen left. Middle was being harassed by Big, so it seemed that Middle spent more time protecting his food than eating it. Big took the fish at 0609. Big did a much better job of self feeding than s/he demonstrated yesterday. At 0636 Big walked away from a very large tail portion. Middle took the fish, but was not very successful at self feeding. It seemed as though Middle may have lacked the energy to enthusiastically pull and tear off fish bits. After 5 minutes, Middle quit eating and Big took over. This scenario of the siblings alternating, each trying to self feed from the fish, continued to play out on and off over the next few hours. By 1100, there was still a piece of that fish remaining, but it was getting dried up and stiff.
Soo, had not been seen since the afternoon of 7/18. At 1123 Soo arrived at the nest with a whole fish. And, at 1124 Olsen brought a large partial fish to the nest, but when he saw that Soo already had a fish, he left with his. Soo did not start to feed until 1128, and she fed Big. Big had beaked Middle, so Middle was in submission. Big was finished eating at 1155 and walked away from Soo. There was still some of Soo’s fish left over. But, at 1155 Olsen returned with a smaller version of his earlier fish. Soo opted to take that fish, Big beaked Middle, then Soo fed Big until 1201. In the meantime, Middle was trying to eat some bites of the leftover morning fish, which was now the consistency of fish jerky. Soo ate some fish while waiting for Middle to arrive at the table. At 1202 Middle started to be fed by Soo, and had eaten 9 bites of fish before s/he was beaked by Big. Middle retaliated this time, and there was a big fight. Soo continued to eat. For some reason, Middle returned to the old piece of fish jerky, while Mom ate. At 1209 Soo picked up her leftover piece of fish that she had brought in at 1123. Finally, Soo fed Middle a private meal that lasted for 13 minutes. That was more than Middle had eaten in nearly three days. Soo provided shade from the hot sun for her chicks throughout the afternoon, and the temperature reached 102F/39C by 1600. Soo delivered a medium sized whole fish at 2058. The siblings ate simultaneously, one on each side of Mom, and the 10-minute meal was peaceful. It seemed that Middle was fed more than Big, and Middle ate at least 64 bites of fish. Soo finished off the old fish-tail-jerky and fed a few more bites to Middle. Weather forecast for 7/21: Sunny, high temperature could reach 106F/41C, winds gusting to 13 mph.
There has been growing concern for the fate of Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay eagle nest. The parents have been on the perch but not feeding the eaglet while a fairy has tossed up some fish bites. I have just received word that one of the adults has delivered a good sized fish to Blue. That would be incredible news. Time 1458.
Blue had a good sized crop early in the morning.
Deb Stecyk caught that fish delivery to Blue on video:
Mum at McEuen Park holding in there, too, with her only chick.
Everything seems alright at Minneapolis Landscape Arboretum.
Fledge at Field Farm.
Mum feeding her beautiful osplet at Cowlitz PUD.
So far so good at SandPoint.
There are issues with the Marder’s streaming cam. It looks like there is a single osplet being fed at the nest.
One with a full crop, one self-feeding, and the other with a sunken crop at PSEG’s Oyster Bay Osprey nest.
One of the fledglings on the nest at Patchogue calling for a fish.
At the Newfoundland Power nest of Hope and Beaumont, the chicks are getting their feathers. Hope is shading her kids and feeding them – and, I will knock on wood and not say that word that beings with an ‘f’ and ends with an ‘e’. I don’t want to jinx anything.
And then you can’t see anything.
‘PB’ reports that something knocked “CO18 Moraine baby off the nest. It looked like it tried to snatch her but didn’t, and she went off the nest.” ‘PB’ rewound and discovered what happened: “I rewound back and saw the racoon on left side of nest and moving branches and can see it’s eyes…mom was alerting and baby was looking at it…then the racoon moved over to the baby’s side of nest…baby alerted and then mom flew to chase off racoon but knocked baby off balance and baby fell. You can hear branches being hit. Now I’m worried if CO18 is safe with the racoon around. Wish someone could check but probably won’t be until morning.”
Sadly, this beautiful osplet did not survive the predators on the ground during the night. Oh, my goodness.
Beautiful babies at the Kurzeme Forest nest in Latvia.
Heidi reports on Carthage:
West End Eaglets enjoying themselves!
Geemeff’s Daily Report for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust.
Daily summary Saturday 20th July 2024
A very slow day indeed, with no sighting of either Louis or Dorcha – the first time no Osprey was seen on Nest Two since Louis returned on 28th March. The weather was very wet today, and not very inviting, so have they left on migration, are they still around, will we see them tomorrow? Nest One saw some activity today, with visits from little songbirds and a visit from Garry LV0 who arrived with a stick and proceeded to do some nest prep before flying off. Tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy with light winds, but rain is forecast for the rest of the week.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.05.33 (04.14.02); Nest Two 23.24.21 (04.24.56)
Owl lands on Saaksilive nest #3. This is probably the same owl that a week earlier killed beloved osplet Taiko.
Monty and Hartley sure make beautiful and mischevious babies!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Ann-Marie Watson, Geemeff, H, L, MP, PB’, Raptor Persecution UK, Robin Wall Kimmerer, William Dunn, The Center for Conservation Biology, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, BoPH, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, HWF-BBC, Deb Stecyk, Trudi Kron, McEuen Park, MN-LA, Field Farm, Sandpoint Ospreys, Marder’s, PSEG, Newfoundland Power, Moraine Park, LDF, Heidi McGrue, Newstflix Memories, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Finnish Osprey Foundation, SK Hideaways, Osoyoos Ospreys.
We have a predation at the Audubon Boathouse. For those of you that knew Steve and his mate and are familiar with Bailey, ambassador Osprey at the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, you will be familiar with the predation at this nest. I realise that there is no guaranteed way to keep owls from attacking osprey nests and killing the chicks – it didn’t even eat them, just killed them, but you would think that they would be trying out something even a huge bright light (won’t hurt the ospreys) but might keep the owl away like they did at Lake Murray) to stop the slaughter.
It was nice and cool Monday morning and a good day to go and check the geese at the nature centre. The paths were somewhat wet after the big thunderstorm that went through Sunday evening, but the geese didn’t disappoint. Two little clips of a few of them.
Need a smile? There was a hatch at the Loon Cam! It’s slow going at first. About 12 minutes in there are some cute shots of the hatchling.
I haven’t forgotten about all those grouse moors in Scotland with their hunts and all the raptors that are killed in the process. Ruth Tingay says in her most recent posting, ” call them ‘The Untouchables’. Those within the grouse-shooting industry who have been getting away with illegally killing golden eagles, and other raptor species such as hen harriers, buzzards and red kites, for decades.
They don’t fear prosecution because there are few people around those remote, privately owned glens to witness the ruthless and systematic poisoning, trapping and shooting of these iconic birds. If the police do come looking, more often than not they’re met with an Omertá-esque wall of silence from those who, with an archaic Victorian mindset, still perceive birds of prey to be a threat to their lucrative red grouse shooting interests.
For a successful prosecution, Police Scotland and the Crown Office must be able to demonstrate “beyond reasonable doubt” that a named individual committed the crime.” ——– You might see the problem if you think about the vast landscape that is Scotland and when these men own thousands and thousands of acres of land, who will see them? Have a read:
You might recall that I mentioned that Waba’s battery was at only 1%. ‘J’ went on the snoop to find out about these GPS trackers on the storks. This is what she found:
Some information taken from the Ornitela website:
What factors affect number of GPS positions that can be collected? GPS positions logged by OrniTrack transmitters represent the parameter that is most relevant for the majority of users. GPS logging primarily depends on sky view and available battery power. Sky view is needed for GPS antenna to detect satellites. Connection with satellites can be obscured in places with limited sky view, such as under the forest canopy, in mountainous terrain or urban areas among buildings. GPS position logging in such environments often takes longer, which results in higher battery drain than in open areas. Logging GPS positions is a relatively expensive process in terms of energy use. When developing OrniTrack transmitters we paid particular attention to achieving the highest possible energetic efficiency of this task. Extensive testing of OrniTrack transmitters in an open terrain revealed that fully charged battery of smaller OrniTrack-30 is sufficient for logging at least 1500 GPS positions and larger OrniTrack-50 can log at least 5000 GPS positions without additional recharge. But please note that data transfer via GPRS, which is more energetically demanding process, was set to infrequent intervals of one data upload per day during the testing. Further, please be aware that GPS position logging stops when available battery power drops below 3675 mV. The remaining power down to 3600 mV is conserved for data transmission and the transmitter stops completely if battery voltage drops below 3600 mV. Once solar panel recharges the transmitter battery, GPS logging and data transmissions resume. Therefore, it is paramount that a user monitors the available battery power and adjusts transmitter settings accordingly.
Battery charge by solar panel OrniTrack transmitters are equipped with efficient solar panels which recharge internal batteries. We experienced that under favourable light conditions solar recharge can be fully sufficient to continuously log GPS positions at 1 minute intervals during daytime hours. But for solar panels to do their job, they need to be exposed to direct sunlight. Overcast days offer little to no direct sunlight. Low sun angle above the horizon, like it is at high latitudes in winter, also delivers inefficient charge. Species living under the forest canopy may also receive limited charge due to scattered light. Finally, perhaps the most frequent factor restricting battery charge is due to bird feathers covering the solar panel. This highly depends on species tracked and transmitter placement. From manufacturing perspective it is not difficult to increase transmitter height so it sticks through the feathers. However, empirical studies and experimental testing in wind tunnels revealed that externals transmitters may increase bird flight costs due to air resistance and turbulence. We therefore chose the transmitter design that minimizes possible impacts on birds. While we supply transmitters capable of efficient recharging under good light conditions, it is user’s responsibility to consider all relevant factors influencing recharge and monitor battery status when choosing transmitter settings.
Alma and Lucia still come home.
‘PB’ reports that Mum is feeding the oldest and only surviving osplet out of four at McEuen Park. Oh, I hope this one makes it. It is just going to get hotter. Send all your best wishes to our poor ospreys.
Meanwhile at Hellgate Canyon, Iris knows Finn is around and coming with a fish. Turn the volume up for the full effect. I would like to put a fish that size at the Osoyoos nest. Soo would pass out. She probably thinks the only fish there are are those little twiddlers. Their lake in that town needs to be stocked. Did you hear me Osoyoos?
A tired and proud Mamma Iris.
The moderator at the Charlo Montana osprey nest says they have not had a fall off the nest for the last nine years. Poor baby. For those who don’t know, little backed up to do a ps and fell off the nest Friday evening. It is still hot. Charlie is delivering good fish. But these nests in the Pacific Northwest need a break.
And they are not going to get it. Temperatures are expected to rise.
Minnesota still looks good.
Some of the Field Farm babies are spreading those wings and wanting to fly.
There is still one osplet at the Cowlitz PUD osprey nest in Washington State. Let us just hope that the eagle decides not to return tomorrow. Electra and her mate worked hard in very hot conditions – surely to goodness, they deserve to have one baby fledge.
Three big osplets at Oyster Bay. What a difference it makes to have your nest in protected waters away from the Menhaden trawlers and also not to be having heat in the high 90s.
Two out of four have fledged at Poole Harbour.
It is much cooler at Seaside and Bruce and Naha’s two osplets are flapping and jumping and thinking about flying.
Moraine: ‘PB’ sent a great image of the chick with a huge crop after Dad delivered dinner. Now that is what I would like to see at Osoyoos and McEuan.
I am so grateful for the turn around at Snow Lane, Newfoundland.
‘H’ reports:
7/15 Forsythe osprey nest: ‘Larry’, the only surviving osplet out of four, fledged this morning, at 55 days of age. We were joyful, and grateful that there was at least one fledge this season. We are happy for Opal and Oscar…that their efforts this season have not been completely in vain. Larry made a beautiful landing back in the nest four hours later, and Oscar brought him a large fish to celebrate!
7/16 Colonial Beach: The ‘kids’ are 20 and 21-days-old. Today was the first time I have seen any significant dominance and aggression from Big during meals. This nest averages three fish per day, but I wish David would deliver more. The osplets need more frequent meals. Due to the aggression from Big, Little did not eat at the first meal. Little eventually ate very well at the second meal, and had a very long private feeding. When the younger chicks first start to be denied food by a sibling, they don’t know what to do, so they just keep trying and can be further brutalized. They need to learn to employ certain tactics to get fish bites from Mom. Well, it seemed that Little was ahead of the curve. After the third meal commenced, and Little was attacked by Big, Little scooted over to the other side of Betty and was receiving some fish bites at her left side. But, Little soon decided that he wanted to eat beside his ‘bestie’ and went back beside Big. I was saying, “No no, what are you doing, Little…go back to the other side!” Little was beaked again, and after a brief period of being tucked, Little returned to Mom’s left side and was able to eat a nice meal. Thus endeth the lesson, kiddo.
7/15 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): This is another nest where I wish there were more fish being delivered. Johnny used to drop off 5-6 fish per day, but now only 2-3 per day. 31-day-old ‘Fen’ is hungry. And for the past few days, Fen has started aggressively attacking both June and Johnny. This nest has not been subjected to extreme heat or high winds. However, it is located in a summertime tourist area, with thousands of vacationers this time of year. I wonder if there are too many boaters out on the local waterways, and that may be hindering Johnny’s efforts to catch fish.
7/15 Osoyoos osprey nest: The extreme heat has lasted for several days and will continue for several more days. As a result, there simply have not been enough fish brought to the nest to support three growing oplets suffering in the heat. Little had not eaten very much for over three days. Little passed away this afternoon, at approximately 1430. I saw four fish delivered to the nest, and the last one was at 1731. Big and Middle were both fed at this meal. There have been meals over the past few days where Middle was denied the opportunity to eat by Big, including at the second meal this morning. Middle’s survival is not a given at this point. I’m not sure when the live stream went offline. There could have been another fish delivered in the evening, but I was not able to rewind to check.
7/16 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: Last season, the only chick ‘Skipper’, was predated by a Great Horned Owl just days away from fledging. Most of us have been on pins and needles watching this nest this year. The GHO had already been at the nest twice earlier this spring, and we feared that it would be back. This year Dory and Skiff had two beautiful osplets, named Harbor and Gray. The GHO did come back, and it attacked both chicks early this morning at approximately 0340, and killed them both. After all the predations that have occurred at the Hog Island nest, Steve no longer uses that nest. He and his new mate come around in early Spring to tend to the old Hog Island nest, but they do not use it to raise a family. Dory and Skiff will need to find another nest. The owl will never forget.
Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Monday 15th July 2024
Today brought more news of the chicks – some footage of them preening, looking healthy and nicely rounded, and some tweets and facebook posts with photos and more details of the translocation programme. No action on Nest One but a little flurry on Nest Two, with Louis bringing two fish today. He gave the first one quite readily to Dorcha, but teased her by mantling over the second one and flying away with it. He did return with it later on and let her take it, and both adults ended the day with full crops. Weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is misty with light winds, and the prospect of sunshine, well, sunny intervals, and a gentle breeze tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.46.29 (03.24.36); Nest Two 00.01.35 (03.36.46)
The three chicks at Finnish Osprey Nest #1 were ringed on the 15th. There is one male, Vaino, and two females, Valma and Vieno. Well done!
Mum caring for the chicks at Janakkalan.
Muonion is alright! Two little chicks. Three weeks old.
Latvian Ospreys. The oldest is eating really well. The second appears, at times, to be a bit shy. Both seem alright.
Kristel eating a Northern Raven – has a huge crop!
Kakapo in care after discovery of a beak injury. Thank yo so much for your annual checks. I hope this was caught in time.
Things are getting better at the Dorsett Hobby nest.
The Northhumberland Trust has an art contest and it is about Osrpeys.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, messages, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB’, LPC Loon Cam, Raptor Persecution UK, Looduskalender, SK Hideaways, McEuen Park, Weather Network, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana Ospreys, MN-LA, Field Farms, Cowlitz PUD, PSEG, BoPH, Seaside Ospreys, Moraine Park, Cathy Cohen, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Finnish Osprey Foundation, LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Kakapo Recovery, osp, Northumberland Trust, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, and Forsythe Ospreys.
Post Update: The second hatch at McEuan Park has died. The second hatch at Dorsett Hobby has died.
The heat produced some thunderstorms Friday night and some heavy rain. We are in another thunderstorm alert for the next few hours with loonie-size hail and 100 kph winds. The birds have been eating frantically all day. Their behaviour should have told me. Thankfully, it missed us.
It was a lovely evening at the park. Despite the signs around the pond, someone or many people were feeding the ducks. What they were feeding them was good bird seed—that is alright. And the duck population is good!
At home the little Blue Jay is having a wonderful time in the bird bath!
Little Blue Jay spent many hours playing in the bird bath. This is a very short clip.
One of the baby Cowbirds played in the water, too. It really helped to keep the birds cool on a hot day.
The shade tunnel at one side of the back garden for the birds and animals.
Being in the garden and spending time at the duck pond was a good way to step back for a few hours. It has been a tough week.
Seeing Jackie and Shadow together melts away anxiety. Ever hopeful, always loyal, these two never give up. When I get really low, they are the one raptor couple I turn to to make it all better.
Falcons help, especially soaring fledglings. Check out Alma and Lucia.
Bailey. She donates blood to help other raptors.
If you live in the United States, please read Audubon’s appeal for your help in getting the The Sustaining America’s Fisheries for the Future Act of 2024 passed. Everything helps.
One of the representatives in Virginia has a son who works for Omega. Flood him with letters. The House of Representatives name is Rob Wittman. I am sure you can see the problems that the State of Virginia is having and why. Let’s try and help Virginia be as successful as New York!
The following short presentation (below) has an 8 minute film on the history of Menhaden and why it is so important. It is a keystone fish. For those in the film, they mention whales and other fish species such as tuna and bass, but we need these fish for our osprey. Menhaden is what osprey eat in this area and the Chesapeake Bay is depleted. The ospreys are starving.
This is the Director’s message:
The Montana Ospreys eat other fish. Some of those fish are trout. When the rivers get too warm the trout die. The Osprey also cannot eat. The osplets get tangled in baling twine. They have their own issues including the heat.
The message seems to have been sent from Dunrovin and Charlo Montana. Finn worked on the rails at his nest with Iris and their two chicks Saturday morning. Now we know that Iris always has one of the best nests in ‘the West’ if anywhere. It has gotten a little ruffled with all the activity this season, but the couple continues to work on it to keep their babies safe. Look at their babies with all those gorgeous juvenile feathers. Dear Iris has taken the brunt of the heat, and Finn has fished his heart out.
Everyone is concerned about how the heat is impacting Iris who so loves being a Mum and who is so lucky to have Finn. She is going to have high temperatres for another week.
At the Patchogue nest, Dad brought in fish for both Patches and Rainer! We get to see them both eating on the nest. How wonderful.
The Middle chick Blue 8B4 has fledged at Llyn Clywedog on Saturday! There he is on the right looking at us. Gosh, what a gorgeous place to take a first flight.
Fledglings in Germany at the Goitzsche-Wildnis nest continue to return to be fed by Mum or self-feed.
No fledges yet at Poole Harbour.
The heat continues to hit the Pacific Northwest. This heat is persisting and the longer it continues our Osprey prospects become more and more dire unless there is plenty of fish coming to the nest. Otherwise, in these extreme conditions the ospreys have to use the energy from the fish they do get to try and stay cool.
McEuan Park on Saturday:
Charlo Montana:
Blackbush: All three are doing well.
Great Bay: All three osplets have fledged and have returned to the nest for some of those fish dinners while they get their wings stronger.
Field Farm is doing good. Osplets getting a little antsy. Wonder how small that nest is going to feel when they all start flapping and hovering?
Sandpoint: Looks good.
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Things look great. Look at the wing span of that Only Bob.
Look at the big feet on the Arboretum chick’s feet.
Cowlitz PUD: Second could get some more fish. Both osplets are alive and the eagle has not been back. Holding our breath.
Clark PUD: Only Bob is doing very well despite the heat.
Port of Ridgefield. Cam is often down but ‘PB’ caught this. Chick and Mum look good.
An osprey rescue! Thanks ‘SD’ for posting this.
The Imperial Eaglets were ringed!
At the Estonian Golden Eagle nest 2, Kristel has not had any food since Mm delivered a wood pigeon on 11 July. Dad has not been seen since 7 July.
The oldest eaglet at the Boundary Bay nest in British Columbia is still alive!
Two beautiful osplets getting those gorgeous juvenile feathers in Latvia.
‘H’ reports:
7/13 Osoyoos osprey nest: The early morning was interesting. Soo was off the nest and Olsen had been fishing. At 0501 he dropped off a tiny fish, Little took it but was beaked, then Middle took the fish. At 0503 Olsen was back with another ‘tiny’, and Big grabbed it. (I don’t think any of the kids have experience in self feeding). Middle abandoned its fish, and took Big’s fish. Soo landed in the nest with a slightly larger fish at 0507. She quickly took charge of the rather comical scene. Soo picked up fish #1 and her own fish #3. Big had fish #2 at that point but dropped it. Soo started to feed Big and Middle. Meanwhile, Little picked up fish #2, took it over to the far northeast rails, and appeared to lose it overboard. Then Olsen returned at 0515 with another tiny fish. Soo finished feeding from fish #1 and #3, and Little had managed to eat a few bites, before s/he was beaked by Middle. Then Soo fed Big and Middle from fish #4.
Olsen brought a small fish at 1252. Big beaked both Middle and Little, and Big was the only chick to eat during the 5-minute meal. There were no other fish brought to the nest that I saw. I triple checked in rewind, so I hope I didn’t miss a meal. The high temperature was 100F/38C at 1700. Olsen came to the nest several times in the late afternoon and evening, and just stayed and hung out with the family for a while each time. I don’t know if they were concerned about nearby activities. There were a lot of cars parked below the nest.
When a particular osplet is in danger of not having enough to eat to survive, I try to quantify how much they are eating, by either counting bites or estimating feeding durations. It is particularly difficult at the Osoyoos nest to quantify how much Little is eating. Quite often, the view of Little eating is blocked. Also, the live stream has been offline a couple of early mornings when Olsen usually makes many of his fish deliveries. That being said… My impression over the past three days is that Little is definitely not getting enough to eat. I’m not even sure that Middle is getting enough to eat, but Middle does usually fare better than Little. Weather forecast for Sunday: High temperature 99F/37C, sunny with winds gusting to 17 mph.
7/13 Patuxent osprey nest: At 63 days of age Little still has not fledged, but has been getting more lift during his wingercising. Little cannot compete with the two fledglings for food. They are bigger, stronger and more aggressive. There were 6 fish brought to the nest. Big managed to acquire one of them. But, Middle got all the rest, and even flew off the nest with a small fish! There were no feedings from Mom. Little did not eat today, but fortunately he ate well the day before. Need more fish, Dad!
7/13 Fenwick Island (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Today was a better day. The previous two days, Johnny’s fish deliveries had dropped to just two per day instead of his normal 5-6 per day. Today, Johnny brought 4 fish to the nest for June and 29-day-old ‘Fen’.
7/13 Colonial Beach osprey nest: There were only two fish brought to the nest. They had some morning rain showers and another shower in the afternoon. David delivered the first fish at 1120. Over 8.5 hours later Betty brought a large whole fish. Both kids ate their fill, slept off their food comas, and then they ate some more! The osplets are 18 and 19 days old.
7/13 Audubon Boathouse: Everything is splendid for this family. 29-day-old Harbor, and 25-day-old Gray seem to be getting along well.
Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Saturday 13th July 2024
Another day with little action, nothing on Nest One, and just a few early morning visits on Nest Two from Louis and Dorcha, neither seen on the nest after approximately 09.30. However, Louis spent some time sky-dancing before landing on the nest and making a couple of mating attempts with Dorcha along with coy-mantling. Of course, this is not to try for a second brood, it’s much too late in the season for that, but the mating attempts and the coy-mantling all reaffirm their pair-bond and is a healthy sign of the strength of their relationship, their fourth year together. In other news, Chaddie14 provides this update on the Bunarkaig nest: Lewis, our local raptor man, was up in the Bunarkaig nest today and found one dead chick and one healthy, possibly male, chick which he ringed. All just as was expected, so all good so far for the one chick. So success for the probable resident pair Affric 152 and Prince this year following the failure of that nest last year – we wish the surviving chick and his parents all the best. The weather was settled, and tonight’s forecast for the Inver Mallie area which covers the nests is light clouds and light winds, and sunshine tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.34.51 (03.31.49); Nest Two 23.22.11 (03.41.31)
There is sad news coming in this morning. The second hatch at Dorsett Hobby has died. Those who monitor falcon nests question the shape of the human made nest this year as it appears it was difficult for the Mum to feed or she was an inexperienced female. So sad. I wonder if there could have been an intervention early to save the chick that was obviously struggling.
‘J’ has put together the Memorial to Smallie for us. Please read through. Smallie was taken to a taxidermist and stuffed.
Summary of Seven Weeks Smallie =============================================
Hatched from the fifth egg, five days younger than his sisters, fifty days old.
Week 1
Smallie hatched on April 28, 2024, five days after the first three hatchlings. Since there are five eggs this year, it is most likely that the fourth egg did not hatch, and Smallie thus hatched from the fifth laid egg.
As an offspring, he is then much smaller than the three other hatchlings that are already five days older. This has a big disadvantage at feeding time, because Moe naturally fills the biggest mouths first. Only when there is something left will little Smallie get some bites. Miraculously, he manages to survive the first week anyway – the most crucial period. He gets just enough food not to die, but too little to grow normally.
Week 2
The first foreigners report to the chat at the webcams. Smallie immediately attracts attention because of his small size in relation to the three other hatchlings. Consequently, many think he is not going to make it, counting the number of bites he has received each day. But he turns out to be a smart and energetic little rascal who actively tries his best to get food – although it is not nearly enough to grow properly. In his attempts to get enough food he often stands close to Moe to (while she tears the prey to pieces) secretly try to pick some of the prey in her claws. But then one day when Moe shifts the prey (a pigeon) a little, Smallie ends up underneath. It remains unclear for some time whether Moe is not also tearing Smallie apart with the pigeon. Only after half an hour does he fortunately manage to get out of it in time and the viewers can breathe normally again.
Week 3
When the three oldest youngsters are ringed and turn out to be three sisters, Smallie is also measured. According to the chart, he would be 10 days old but in reality he is already 17 days – so he is 40% behind in growth development. He is too small to get a ring, and even his sex cannot be determined (due to his small size, it is only later assumed to be a male). He looks skinny and thin, but is otherwise healthy, so he is put back in the closet with the sisters to be given a chance.
Fortunately, the following days show that Moe now pays special attention to Smallie – she sometimes comes to feed him separately and at night she sits with him to keep him warm.
Week 4
The clever Smallie discovers a way to be the first to get food when Moe feeds from the grid : he crawls into the space between the grid and the nest box in the wide stone balustrade. He then sits in front and gets fed first. But unfortunately he does not manage to clamber back into the nest box after that. Suddenly he has mysteriously disappeared and everyone is extremely worried where he is and that he will not survive the night alone. It is only the next morning when he is checked that he is found safe and sound under the nest box and immediately put back in the box. The joy of his return lasted only a short time, because a few hours later he disappears in the same way. Fortunately, he returns by himself and now manages to clamber back into the hive.
He also provides some hilarious moments when he tries, for example, to pull food out of the mouth of a sister or Moe. When they raise their heads he holds on and is lifted up by his light weight.
Week 5
Moe no longer feeds individually, but on the roost gives the prey to the first one who wants it. The latter then takes it into the nest box and secretly (against the wall, with wings wide) feeds on it. The other two sisters often don’t notice this at first, but clever Smallie does. Because he is small, he will crawl under a wing and just join in.
Sometimes he is the first and only one to see that a prey is brought to the roost and then sees a chance to grab it. Hilarious is that he then tries to drag it into the nest box on his own – sometimes a pigeon almost as big as himself.
It is striking that the falcons always treat each other lovingly. The “fights” are purely about the food, not with each other. They prefer to sleep next to, on top of and against each other. When the other sisters are elsewhere, one sister often keeps Smallie company and she sleeps with him. Their greetings are very gentle and loving, with paws and beaks touching each other briefly.
Week 6
In the course of this week all three sisters fly out successfully, and Smallie ventures more and more on the grate, the walkway and to the shock of the viewers even already on the narrow edge : at 50m height and at an angle.
At the end of the week Smallie stumbles out of the railing at the grating and lands 50m down the street. Fortunately, an expert happened to be nearby, checking him : he had no broken legs or wings and was therefore brought back up immediately. It is a miracle that he survived that fall, because the small wings will have had little stopping power. It takes a day for him to get over the fright and show himself again.
Week 7
The sisters have been at the high offices near the station learning to hunt often this week, and few are seen on the tower. Only his favorite sister visits occasionally. So Smallie is alone a lot but apparently in no hurry to follow them. He often sits out of view of the cameras on the walkway. He has less and less down and is getting a beautiful plumage – though he seems on the small side even for a male.
At the end of the week he appears to be off the tower, because a little falcon is seen in the evening near St. George’s Church – sitting on a bicycle parked there. Someone took a picture of it and it does indeed turn out to be Smallie. But after the photo was taken, he disappeared again. A search the next day in the city center turns up nothing. Only in the evening is he discovered again, halfway up the tower. He manages to get to the nest box while fluttering up and is even visible again on the webcams. As a finale and last image of him on the webcams, he flies away from the roost. Against all odds, he has succeeded in achieving his first life goal : he too can leave the nest – he can fly.
Ode to Smallie
(page under construction)
This page is intended as an ode to the youngest and smallest peregrine falcon that managed to glue a huge number of viewers to the webcams daily for seven weeks in 2024 with his adventures. He stood out because of his small size, his constant fighting and his clever methods to get enough food, but also because of his mysterious disappearances, his loving scenes with his sisters, his fall from 50m high, and finally his last image on the webcams : flying away from the grid as an almost adult falcon.
He became “world famous”, because 2024 was the year that for the first time the webcams also managed to attract many viewers from abroad, with on the chats comments not only from Europe, but also from Canada, USA, Australia, India and even many from Japan, China, Korea and Russia with comments in their own language and script. The Japanese call him “Chibi-chan,” the Chinese “Xiaobao,” but most others have chosen “Smallie” (little one).
Part of the reason foreigners suddenly visited the webcams was a report on the international website “Bird Parenting.” If then only the usual four hatchlings would have been seen, most viewers would not return after a few visits. But the presence of the very small hatchling drew attention : how long would it stay alive ?
Smallie became for them the little brave hero of the daily story. Viewers sometimes forgot that it was not an expensive Disney movie, written by clever film writers, but simply conceived and performed on the spot by a family of peregrine falcons, with themselves as unpaid actors. Pure nature.
Yet the story contained many elements that appealed to people emotionally : possible death (which played a major role from the beginning), admiration (that despite his poor prospects, he continued to fight fiercely for his existence), frustration and pity (when Smallie had had another day of little food), great joy (when Moe stuffed him with a pigeon and he fell asleep while eating), excitement and uncertainty (when he was lost for hours), humor and amusement (when he once again outwitted a sister), sadness (when he was not to be seen for a long time), action (when he tries to conquer food in a clever but fierce way), fear (when he flutters on the narrow sloping edge), friendship (when his favorite sister comes to keep him company), tenderness (when he cuddles with his sisters), pride (when he finally comes to show that he can fly).
Local and national newspapers wrote extensively about the famous little falcon who had so many compassionate followers worldwide.
Unfortunately, just when he was ready to really fly out (he had already been flitting around town for a day), a fall into the canal near the OLV Tower proved fatal to him. Monday morning, June 17, he was fished out of the water there by bystanders, after which he was brought back to the second circulation with the help of the animal ambulance. Probably already shortly after this placement, he died there, as he was found dead Wednesday morning during a check on the spot where he had been put back on Monday.
Because he lay dead on the tower for a few days, the parents saw him and realized he was dead : he no longer responded to their presence, as hatchlings always do. If he had died somewhere else (at the bird sanctuary, for example, or on the way there) they would not have seen it, and would have spent days in town looking for him.
Smallie’s death was announced on the Amersfoort peregrine falcons’ own website at HetGroeneHuis, and on the chats at the webcams. Viewers could not believe it at first, but then loving and emotional messages poured in from all sides on the chats to comfort each other. He appears to have formed a tremendous emotional bond with many viewers during those seven weeks.
They also lamented the sight of the now empty nest box and the loss of seeing Smallie – although that would have been the case anyway if he had not fallen into the moat after his farewell, but had joined his sisters at the station : once flown away, the hatchlings rarely appear on the webcams.
The local and even some national media were shocked and paid attention to his death. He turned out to be a “world-famous little falcon” for good reason.
To give him a dignified end (and not just to be dumped or buried somewhere), it was decided to have Smallie stuffed and then added to the collection of stuffed animals of Bezoekerscentrum “HetGroeneHuis” in Park Schothorst in Amersfoort, so he will be permanently visible to the public. “
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, announcements, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB, SP‘, FOBBV Cam, SK Hideaways, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Debbie Campbell, Menhaden Defenders, Montana Osprey Project, PSEG, Llyn Clywedog, Goitzsche-Wildnis, BoPH, McEuan Park, Charlo Montana, Blackbush, Great Bay, Field Farm, MN LA, Cowlitz PUD, Clark PUD, Pam Breci, CBS News NY, Lady Hawk, Eagle Club of Estonia, HWF-BBC, LDF, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, Audubon Boathouse, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, The Guardian, Amersfoort Falcons.
The heat is still around. It was 29 degrees, which is cool compared to many places. I saw an idea that popped up on one of the FB pages. It was to freeze water in containers, then remove the solid ice and put it in your bird bath to keep the water cool. I am going to do this tonight!
Today was busy despite the heat. First was a walk at the zoo. The Polar Bears were ‘hot’. They were off in a corner where there was a bit of a breeze and shade, then a swim.
At home, we are making certain that there is always water and food. The birds and animals are coming out mostly in the early morning and later in the afternoon and evening until about 2100.
Mr Crow and all the family have been busy eating apple pieces along with his cheesy dogs and peanuts.
Washing peanuts in the water.
The baby squirrels, three of them, are in and out of the garden with their parents. They love those nut cylinders.
On Wednesdays, we have our local farmer’s market. It is now well-attended. Lots of local honey, veggies, ice cream, some great food, flowers, music, and neighbours. We have several ice cream companies. Fete is one of them. Delicious on a 29 C day.
The Girls have been busy chasing a fly that managed, sadly, to get itself in the house. They stalked, ran, jumped, and nearly broke their necks trying to catch it.
Hope thought she could stare it down.
Missey did, too!
Hugo Yugo (poor thing needs her eye cleaned) flew everywhere. She just about knocked everything off of anything it could be on. But the fly got away!
Calico thought they were all idiots running all over the place for a fly!
This morning the baby Cowbird landed on the sill of the conservatory and they all went nuts – including Calico. Good thing this lot will never be outside by the feeders.
Thank you to everyone that sent me a joke or a photograph to make me smile in the midst of all the tragedy lately. I really do appreciate it. I don’t know what I would have done this year withot these beautiful girls and all your friendship. So far there has not been a death on Wednesday that I am aware. Sadly there could be some today. We will see.
A smile before we move on. The magic of watching birds fledge!
Heat is on everyone’s mind and how it is impacting people of the world – as well as our dear wildlife
I wonder why more of the females do not do this? Swamp Cooling.
Finn delivers.
Cornell Lab posted a video showing Iris keeping her chicks cool.
‘H’ sends us reports: 7/10 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was predicted to be a very hot and sunny day. Olsen was at work bright and early, and delivered his first fish at 0448. Little was beaked, but still managed to eat 32 bites of fish during this 13-minute meal. Olsen brought a medium sized fish at 0522. There was not a lot of aggression, but Little never found a good spot to be able to access Mom’s beak, so s/he did not eat at this 15-minute meal. The next fish at 0940 was very small, and it only took Soo about 4 minutes to feed. Little and Middle ate on opposite sides of Mom, until Big beaked Little. Little ate 13 bites of fish. More than 8 hours passed before the next fish arrived at the nest, and up to this point, Little had only eaten about 45 bites of fish. My weather source indicated the Osoyoos temperature at 1500 was 104F/40C. At 1800 Olsen delivered a very large whole fish. I watched for nine minutes, and our view of the feeding was partially blocked, but there did not appear to be any beaking. Little was behind the pack however, as the real estate near Soo’s beak was very limited. Due to the size of the fish, I wasn’t too worried, knowing that Little would eventually get its chance to eat after Big was sated. My time zone is three hours later, and I was tired, so I went to bed knowing that I could resume viewing the feeding early in the morning. Well, I was wrong. When I went to watch that meal, I found that the live stream had gone offline again. Ahh…but fortunately, ‘A-M’ had posted in the Facebook group: “Sleep well tonight little ones, all have full crops after nearly an hour long feeding. Mum got lots too, kudos to Dad for being a great provider in the sweltering heat.” Appreciate the update, ‘A-M’. Weather for 7/11: Sunny with slightly cooler temperatures, high 98F/37C, winds 15-22.
7/10 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: We were thrilled to see the newest fledgling, when Chick #1 returned to the nest at 0759 after fledging yesterday morning. Dad brought a few massive fish to the nest and everyone ate very well. It was a good day!
7/10 Forsythe osprey nest: At 50 days of age, Larry performed his highest hovers to date. Larry is looking good to fledge in a day or so.
7/10 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: The 24, 26, and 28-day-old osplets are doing quite well, and they are getting big!
Thanks, ‘H’.
I will be running through the Osprey nests again to check how our families are doing in the heat:
Clark PUD: At least several fish have come to the nest but the position of the camera doesn’t always catch their size. Hoping that enough food and hydration are coming in the hot days.
Charlo Montana: Another really hot day for Lola and the trio. Charlie has been bringing in fish. Thank you, Charlie!
McEuan Park: Hot and hotter. There are two chicks surviving. This nest really needs a lot of fish and a lot of positive wishes.
Mum left the nest and came in with a fish. Big ate. Middle is very submissive and needs to eat. Almost falling off the nest to get away from Big despite being ravenous.
Is the male at this nest missing? Are you watching this nest and can you let us know. Thank you.
Two moved up. Is there any fish left? Fish taken off nest by parent.
No fish for Two. Crop totally shrunken, head drooping. So sad. This was an original nest of four chicks. I just wonder if the deaths have been mitigated by no male, the heat and then, of course, no fish???
No sign of the male again. Mum off nest probably trying to fish. Poor babies.
Seaside: Bruce is delivering some big headless fish to Naha and the two osplets.
Pitkin County: The nest looks good. Weather is much different than in the Pacific NW.
More fish. Such beautiful babies on this nest at Pitkin County.
Boulder: Hot. Mum trying to keep Only Bob cool. Notice the difference in heat in Boulder than in Pitkin County.
Sandpoint: Keke doing a great job keeping River cool while Keo continues to bring in the fish. Mum and baby have a nice crop.
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Dad is bringing in the fish and everything seems to be alright.
Bridge Golf Course: Cooler there and very windy. Mum and Only Surviving Osplet appear to be fine.
Snow Lane, Newfoundland. I have tears in my eyes for this nest. Beaumont has been hauling in the fish, and Hope has fed her chicks this year. The oldest is getting into the Reptilian phase, and if you look carefully, so is the youngest. I want the weather and fishing to stay good for Dad. If Hope continues, we could have two chicks fledge from this nest. I am afraid to get hopeful.
Steelscape: Oldest is self feeding. Hope Mum steps in so all get some fish. The heat is much less later in the day!
Cowlitz: ‘PB’ reports that Little is continually attacked on the nest by the older sibling. So far it has had about 66 bites of fish on Wednesday. This nest is in a very hot area and this baby needs more fish to survive during this long heat dome.
Cowlitz PUD posted a video of one of the feedings on Wednesday. They really care about their ospreys. They put up the metal fish grates to protect them and they know that there is competition to steal their fish from the local eagles.
‘PB’ reports that Little had no fish this morning.
Geemeff reports for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Wednesday 10th July 2024
Today was quite a contrast to yesterday with all its action going between the two nests. Instead we had Louis making just the one early appearance on Nest Two, and no sighting of Dorcha, Garry LV0, Affric or the dark female, just a banditry of Coal Tits making a couple of brief visits to Nest One. We did however get the news that our two chicks travelled safely over to Spain today, precious cargo entrusted to Heathrow Animal Control and then on to their new home. It’s very reassuring to hear that in just nine days, they’ve gained half their body weight again, going from 1.1kg on the 1st to 1.5 kg today, 10th. We wish them good luck and look forward to hearing more news in due course. Weather was reasonably settled, and the forecast is a dry night tonight with light cloud and light winds, and more of the same tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.35.23 (03.49.41); Nest Two 23.39.33 (03.55.36)
It is a nest full of four apparently healthy osplets at Poole Harbour. Blue 022 and CJ7 will be one of only a couple of nests on streaming cams to successfully fledge four this year. What a feat!
The information on the Foulshaw Moss ringing of the chicks for 2024.
In readying for the 2024-25 Osprey season in South Australia, Port Lincoln has set up a camera at Tumby Island for Marrum and Partner. Fingers crossed!
It is so wonderful when all of us, no matter what we do, consider the wildlife. Well done Hungarian farmers? Living in a farming province of Canada, this would be very helpful.
Mum delivered a Raccoon Dog pup to the surviving Golden Eaglet at the Estonian nest #2.
‘TU’ reports that the two Eastern Imperial Eaglets in RU were ringed today.
Two healthy osplets on the osprey nest in Latvia.
It looks like there are still only two little Dorsett Hobbys. I could be wrong.
Congratulations to the Roy Dennis Foundation and the Poole Harbour Ospreys. It is the 7th anniversary of the translocation project and just look – a nest of four osplets doing very well. Everyone has to be delighted.
Here are Louis and Dorcha’s two osplets in their new nest in Scotland. I am glad they were taken for the project. As you will undoubtedly know by reading all of Geemeff’s reports and seeing their videos, Louis continues to ‘not be himself’. No one is certain what is wrong but please send him good wishes along with all of our raptors under the heat dome and these two precious little ones.
More information: “The two young ospreys are settling in well to their new surroundings in Spain. They have been given Spanish rings which are yellow in colour. The dominant bird is 1JW. The submissive one is 1JR. The aviary contains nests made from woven sticks and foliage which the birds sit in together just as they did at Loch Arkaig. They can see the surrounding area and when the time comes to fledge the sides of the aviary will be opened up to let them come and go as they please. Food will continue to be provided in the aviary nest until they migrate which will likely be in August or early September. We hope to have some images to share today at some point. These will be posted on Woodland Trust Scotland’s twitter and facebook accounts. We will alert you here once they are up.”
Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, announcements, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’, The Guardian, Montana Osprey Cams, Cornell Bird Lab, Clark PUD, Charlo Montana, Weather Network, McEuan Park, Seaside Ospreys, Pitkin County, Boulder County, Sandpoint, MN Landscape Arboretum, Bridge Golf Course, Newfoundland Power, Steelscape, Cowlitz PUD, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, BoPH, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Friends of Osprey Sth Aus, David Attenborough Fans, Eagle Club of Estonia, Imperial Eagles RU Cam, LDF, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Ospreys, Fortis Exshaw, Dorsett Hobby Cam, and The Woodland Trust.
Morning Update from Geemeff regarding Louis and Dorcha’s chicks:
“The two Arkaig osprey chicks have arrived in Spain as part of a translocation organised by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. They were on board a flight which departed London Heathrow this morning, after testing negative for various infections and passing a vet inspection. The two males weighed 1.1kg each when handed over to the translocation team last Monday. They have been eating well since and are now both 1.5kg.”
Those poor things were so hungry. Thankfully they will survive and hopefully thrive. Thanks, Geemeff.
We also have a morning fledge at Outerbanks (Carova Beach). Chick 1 took its first flight and was seen on top of a roof later. Thanks, Heidi.
First, I know that we are missing ‘A’s’ wonderful narratives. She is ‘under the weather’. Please send her good wishes for a speedy recovery!
My goodness. It is almost the middle of July! The summer – typically for Canada, is half over. Today was hot. 29 C. I have a good friend who lives in British Columbia in the area of the Osoyoos nest. They will hit 36 C – temperature, but not the actual heat index, as our friend, Reets, pointed out – for an entire week. Several years ago, the little Cooper’s Hawks in that area jumped off the nests to their death to avoid being cooked on the top of the nest. Empathetic People and rehabbers then began to climb the nests to rescue them and take them into care. Many of us cried. So many were lost, but so many were saved. I wish beyond any hope that I might imagine a time when everyone would do that for the nests that are in trouble, even if it is feeding fish to get them through a storm or rough patch. I often think of Daisy and Duke at Barnegat Light and wonder if they might ahve considered having chicks this year if that level of kindness had been show to them last year during the June Nor’easter.
My blog might be short today. I took the afternoon off and spent it sitting on a bench in the shade of a small park near my home. After all the deaths and all the big ships out catching all the fish our ospreys need to live on, I just needed some quiet. It was a blessing. There was a little red squirrel scurrying about and an interesting woman who stopped to chat with me for a few minutes.
At home, Mr Crow continues to bring the babies, all six of them, for food. He will walk around the top of the fence railing to check and see if the dishes are full. Then he will caw to all the others. Then there is a ‘murder’ of Crows at the buffet. We have new neighbours. Our old ones loved the birds along with their little girl. I am hopeful that the new couple will be just as delighted with all the animals scurrying around the birds flying in and out.
They stand with their beaks open wanting Mum and Dad to feed them. I can hear the conversation now, ‘See that lady inside that room, she feeds you now!’ I don’t mind. I love our little paradise in the middle of a city.
The infant Cowbird bring raised by the sparrows has been at the bird bath much of today.
There is the difference in size between the baby Cowbird and the adult sparrows.
Dyson’s mate was out eating peanuts today and not too happy to have me working on the little path in the garden. They certainly let it be known that it is their territory!
It is a work in progress. Much more wedding has to be done behind the perennial flowers and I have had to order more top soil to be delivered. I had hoped to have it all finished by the end of the weekend but that top soil delivery has held me back.
News from Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey for Connick, Clive and Connie’s eaglet of 2023 who fell from the nest due to a feather issue. Connick has also donated blood to a Red-tail Hawk at the Center. Way to go Connick!
We are still watching those nests in the Pacific Northwest. I am just going to keep listing them until we get a break in the weather.
Cowlitz: ‘PB’ reports that Cowlitz has had fish and that little got some good bites. She follows up, “Cowlitz dad brought fish around 5pm nest time! Little impressed me by getting up front by mom, getting attacked by #1 but this time he didn’t stay down.He kept getting back up to grab more bites!”
‘PB’ continues to report: “Cowlitz dad fish 7:08pm…little was just attacked hard so not sure if he will get any. Little still down and #1 attacked it again when down after the feeding. Poor little is ok up and near mom. If only he would have moved on right of mom he would have safe and had food. 2 older ones have full crops.”
Steelscape: ‘PB’ also reports that Dad is getting fish on the nest.
Sandpoint: Cam is back on line. According to the chat, plenty of fish have come on the nest and I saw three. Keo is doing well. Keke and River was so full that he got a good piece of fish. We have to remember that the adults have to eat in order to be healthy to provide for their chicks. I am hoping that Iris and Finnegan will begin to eat more.
Clark PUD: It is hot on top of that nest. Dad brought in at least 2 fish, perhaps more. The camera angle makes it impossible to tell. Mum and Only Bob look alright.
Port Ridgefield: 99 F. Cam is still down. People in the area have seen Dad fishing. We will be looking for a fledge and just might miss it.
McEuan Park: Still two chicks alive out of a four chick clutch. Will try and catch a fish delivery. No rewind so this is problematic. Chicks are hot. One on the far rim of the nest. Worrisome. Have not seen a fish delivery yet but it doesn’t mean there hasn’t been one. Mum off the nest. Maybe she went fishing?
Their weather forecast. It was 99 F today.
Charlo Montana: One fish early and another mid-afternoon. It is hot, hot and Like Iris, Lola, is trying to keep her three chicks shaded while she gets super hot protecting them.
Hellgate Canyon: It wasn’t a whopper but the first fish came in early at 0817. I am sure that Iris was thrilled.
Montana temperatures. Remember this is not a heat index and it is not the more hotter temperature on the nests.
By 0930, Iris is being a Mumbrella to keep the chicks cool. It is 88 F.
The little one still has a very slight issue with its left eye.
Finnegan is back with another fish at 1109.
Iris is an amazing Mumbrella.
Third fish at 1550. Impossible to tell the size.
Late evening and ‘PB’ writes: “Finn just brought huge fish and everyone is hungry! He is amazing! Hellgate babies crops are flat so needed this. Finn tried to steal fish and Iris said NO. Finn is stealing pieces dropped by his kids. Finn brought this huge fish in whole, he could have easily took it to the owl pole to ear first, but he took it to his family. He is hungry trying to self feed off fish.”
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum: Fish at 0611, 0947, 1252, 1555 nice headless large fish, rains arrived in late afternoon. 74 F with 5 mph winds.
Marder’s: Only Bob is looking good.
Snow Lane, Newfoundland: Beaumont has been delivering some exceptionally nice fish and Hope has been feeding the two chicks and as one long time observor noted, she is even being a Mumbrella this year. Hope has never, that I am aware of, shaded her chicks. I find this behaviour interesting along with the feedings. Is this the original Hope?
Blackbush: ‘PB’ reports that Little had a really great breakfast. Good news.
Pitkin County: Dad has been busy hauling in some large fish for the family!
Sunnie Day reports that the chicks on the Iowa-DNR are getting those all important primaries and just doing so well. Four gorgeous osplets strengthening their bodies for flight.
CJ7 and Blue 022 continue to shine. These two raised four beautiful really healthy osplets! Now for the goshawk to just keep its bloody distance. Blue 022 deliveried many nice fish today at the following times: 0743, 1156, 1239, 1519, 1824, 1947.
Geemeff’s report from Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Tuesday 9th July 2024
There was much confusing action today, at times difficult to unpick. The day started at midnight as so much light was provided by noctilucent clouds that the nest cams didn’t switch over and remained on day mode. Dorcha arrived early on Nest Two, Louis was seen much later but only flew over her to land in the Scots Pine instead of joining her on the nest. Then Affric 152 paid two quick visits to Nest One after not being seen there since May. Later LizB checked the Bunarkaig nest, thought to be the home of Affric & Prince, and confirmed one adult had a blue Darvic and the other was unringed – which matches with Affric & Prince. Sadly only one small head was seen bobbing around, so it looks as if the second chick hasn’t survived, with luck raptor expert Lewis Pate will be able to give more information when he does his ringing rounds. Back at Nest Two, Louis joined Dorcha on the nest to deal with a persistent intruder Osprey, the dark female who had intruded on the 7th. There was much alarm chipping, mantling and flying about, until the intruder left the area, only to turn up on Nest One, fish-calling, and who responded? Garry LV0! First he brought her a fish, which was eagerly accepted, and then he tried a clumsy mating attempt, which was less eagerly received, before both of them flew off the nest together. An intriguing situation – will Garry be successful this time? Fingers crossed for him. Weather was reasonably settled with some rain, and a colourful sunset ended the day, more rain expected overnight and tomorrow. No further updates yet on our chicks who are warm, dry, well fed and well looked after by the translocation project team.
Night cam switches on (no night / day cam switchover last night): Nest One 23.27.16; Nest Two 23.27.59
Today’s videos:
https://youtu.be/H3_8HTR1TVA Noctilucent clouds around Nest Two (Classic Ospreys: Pachelbel ) 01.30 – 02.45 (quicktime)
Ah, look at the little Dorset Hobbys! The oldest horked the leg!!!!
And the breakfast feeding on the 9th for both of the little eyases.
So many deaths and traumatised animals, domestic pets included, over fireworks that I was dismayed to see a huge display over the Green Ledge Lighthouse on Long Island where there is a nest of three osplets.
Fledglings on the nest at VIMS.
The three at Collins Marsh appear, through this hazy camera, to be doing well. Some bright coloured fish coming on the nest!
Great Bay chicks are flying.
Richmond and Rosie’s babies can be seen flapping.
‘H’ reports:
7/9 Osoyoos osprey nest: Late yesterday Olsen arrived at the nest holding something in his talons, but we couldn’t see what he had. The family did not act like he had food. But this morning, there it was right in the middle of the nest… a nice sized partial fish. At 0442 Soo arrived at the nest and immediately picked up the fish and fed her youngsters. Little found a spot on the other side of Soo from the siblings, and soon Big beaked Middle. Little and Big were fed, and Middle stayed back. Middle could have beaked Little to claim that spot at Soo’s beak, but for some reason s/he didn’t. Little ate at least 67 bites of fish. Middle only ate a few bites. Also yesterday, Soo had made a couple of brief attempts to feed from a large partial fish that Olsen had delivered at 2015. This morning at 0457 she picked up that fish (still lying on the rails) and once again started to feed. But, after a minute or so, she stopped. At 0706, Soo grasped that fish in her talons and flew off the nest with it to get rid of it. Even though Olsen had eaten half of that fish, Soo had simply found it objectionable.
Olsen’s first delivery today was at 0951.. a large partial fish. Little moved away from the fish, Big beaked Middle, and eventually Big beaked Little. Big was fed, and periodically Big turned to beak or intimidate her siblings just to make sure they understood her opinion on the matter. Little and Middle bravely reached in and grabbed fish bites now and then, and were punished by Big for doing it. By 1022 Middle was eating consistently, and at 1028 Big retired from the meal. Up to that point, Little had eaten about 20 bites, and s/he now moved up to Mom for a good feeding. Little ate until 1036, at which time s/he was beaked by Big, but the meal was over anyway. That was a 45-minute feeding, and Little ate approximately 87 bites of fish.
At 1205 Olsen dropped off a medium sized whole fish. There was no beaking! The siblings all ate side by side, but our view was partially blocked, and it wasn’t possible to see how much Little ate. The feeding lasted for 15 minutes.
My weather source indicated the Osoyoos temperature at 1450 was 104F/40C. Despite the heat, Olsen delivered a small whole fish at 1441. Again, our view of the feeding was mostly blocked, but it appeared as though the chicks were all lined up near Soo, and there was no apparent aggression. The meal lasted for 7-minutes.
My goodness, Dear Olsen was working so hard in the extreme heat… he brought another fish at 1453. It was a medium sized headless fish, so at least Olsen was eating to take care of himself. This was a 14-minute meal, and there was some aggression. Big intermittently beaked Little, but Little still managed to eat 36 bites of fish at this meal, and had a nice crop after the back-to-back meals. I did not see any further fish deliveries today. The predicted high temperature for 7/10 is 104F/40C, and it will be sunny with light winds.
7/9 Patuxent River Park: Middle had fledged on 7/8, and today at 1115 Big fledged at 63 days of age. Congratulations, Big! She had been ready to fly for a few days, and had been seriously thinking about it all morning. We had thought that she was going to take off a few times. So, why did Big fly at 1115? Well, let me think about that… It was because someone had approached the nest in a boat. We could hear them, and Mom, Little and Big could also see them. The human that was at the nest caused Big to take off at that moment! You see… for a couple of days there had been a small smudge on the camera, and the Park staff thought they would just paddle on over and clean it for the viewers. How nice of them. They apparently had no clue as to the status of the pre-fledgling birds in the nest. At 59 days of age, Little is behind his big sisters in his flight readiness, and he needs a few more days of feather growth and practice before he will be ready to fly. It is very fortunate that Little did not jump from the nest when the human reached up and wiped off the camera lens! Big has not returned to the nest as yet, but perhaps she’ll fly in for ‘breakfish’.
7/9 Colonial Beach osprey nest: This area has been extremely warm, with temps in the mid 90’s. It may be even hotter up on the nest. The 14 and 15-day-old chicks are often seen ‘panting’ and in some slight distress. Betty tries to shield them from the hot sun. David is doing his best to provide some nice hydrating fish, and I saw six fish brought to the nest. Chick #1 didn’t want to eat at the 1045 meal, and that was very worrisome. But s/he seemed to recover, and ate well at the next three meals.
7/10 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: Things are going very well for Dory, Skiff, 26-day-old Harbor, and 22-day-old Gray.
7/10 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): This nest is doing well. For the most part, they have benefited from the Atlantic Ocean breezes, and have been spared some of the extreme heat lately. Johnny and June are doing a nice job caring for their 26-day-old osplet. For my own use, I have named the little kiddo ‘Fen’. ‘Fen’ is a gender neutral name of English origin, and it means ‘marshland’.
Be grateful for every chick that lives. It was a record loss in 2024 for Kielder. – 12 chicks died. ‘PB’ is reporting this morning that fish are coming into Cowlitz, but Little has not had anything to eat. Everyone is hot and hungry. Please send good wishes to these nests.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care of yourself. Go out for a walk, sit in the sunshine for a couple of minutes (don’t get too hot), listen to the birds, and breathe. It has been a rough week. Celebrate the survivors! And be back with us soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, observations, images, posts, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Carova Beach, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Cowlitz PUD, Steelscape, Sandpoint Ospreys, Clark PUD, Port of Ridgefield, McEuan Park, The Weather Network, Charlo Montana, Montana Osprey Project, MN LA, Marder’s Ospreys, Newfoundland Power, Pam Breci, Pitkin County, Snnie Day, BoPH, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Dorsett Hobbys, Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, VIMS, Collins Marsh, Great Bay, SF Golden Gate Audubon, The Chronicle, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, Fenwick Island, Audubon Boat House, and Colonial Beach.
Oh, Sunday was a joyful and a tearful day. My superb neighbours have moved. To their little daughter, I was the ‘Tomato Fairie’. She loved the little grape tomatoes and paper baskets of them appearing regularly on her front porch. I shall miss them terribly. Friends visited, and later, we took the grandson, who works too hard and who we don’t see so often, for dinner and then picked up his sister to go for ice cream. We found a new little ice cream shop – they are popping up everywhere. It was delicious. Then we went for a walk to check out the river, which has flooded the walks and bike paths down to The Forks. We spotted a family of ducks who seemed fine.
It was a good day to be outside and to be with friends and family. The killing of the second Golden Eaglet by the first, followed by the little Dunrovin chick falling off the nest to its death, and the discovery that all three Redding osplets were dead in the nest —–well, it was a difficult day. These deaths should always remind us to hold those alive close and to celebrate those who survived this year. So many didn’t. As one of my friends told me today, please don’t wait for the politicians and policymakers to do anything to improve the lives of our wildlife and environment. If we each do something good positive, however small, our planet will be a better place.
My posting may meander a little today. Several people are monitoring nests, especially for fish drops in this heat so there might be some later inclusions.
Was it true or is it just a rumour? I am still trying to figure this out. It was reported that the second hatch, Raider, at the Patchogue nest on Long Island fledged at 0511 with a successful return to the nest. Patches was flapping and Raider joined in hopping and flapping and away it went!
Not true.
Raider fludged later. See post below by Heidi.
Check out the look on Raidier’s face as he slides down the perch. Patches is paying no mind. That fish is good!
Also from Patchogue, ‘MP’ says “Chickie takes dad’s toe almost off thinking it’s a fish. Fish under green line.”
We have been worried about Blue at the Hancock Boundary Bay Nest. Deb Stecyk gives us an uplifting video showing Blue’s crop and a good ps. Relief.
At the Snow Lane nest in Newfoundland, Beaumont often brings fish to the nest and then flies to the camera pole to have a wee bit of a dinner for his efforts and returns the fish to the nest for Hope to feed their two chicks. She is doing much better than in previous years. Feeling hopeful.
Plenty of food continues to arrive on the Golden Eagle nest #2 after the eldest killed the youngest on the 7th of July. At one time, I hoped there was a shortage of prey. I even rationalised this to myself but, then, when the prey came on the nest, item after item, after the eldest had killed the youngest, it just confirmed that it was a strategy to get the one to kill the other. That second hatch survived the first attempt at killing it. Why not feed them both so close to fledge and see which one survives in the wild? Well, we will never know.
Great Bay nest is doing well. Osplets are really perfecting their self-feeding. I cannot confirm how much fish came on this nest on Sunday.
The males in areas where the extreme is going to be a factor appear to be going out fishing early and later in the day with success. Today’s high at Charlo, Montana will be 97 with 4 mph winds. It is forecast to be 99 on Wednesday. Let’s hope that the fishing continues to be good despite the heat.
This is Charlo Montana very early Sunday morning.
Finnegan also brought in an early fish at 0556.
In past summers, Iris would be in the shade catching her own fish. She is now trying to keep her two chicks cool while they wait for Finnegan to bring in another fish.
If Finnegan thought he was going to have some fish, Iris might have had another thought for him. She stuffed those two osplets to their little tiny talons and then back to the top of their heads. She knows it is hot. She knows they need hydration. Finnegan is making sure his family does not go without.
Just look at that crop!!!!!
The little one raises its neck and stands up and looks at the older sibling. It was hilarious.
Date Night on the Perch with Iris and Finnegan! (Thanks PB for alerting me to where they were!)
I did not see an early fish on the nest at Dunrovin but I might have missed it. The pair are enjoying a late breakfast or early lunch around 1130 on Sunday. This nest might miss much of the heat that other areas are getting. And then…the most horrific sadness hits the nest. The young one fell off the nest over the railing. Such a loss. A beautiful healthy osplet on a nest with food. Soar high, little one.
Note to self: I love how some nests are annual inspected and repaired by the owners of the property and the streaming cam. Glaslyn (if I remember correctly) checks the woven railing and rewires it if required when they do their annual renovations. Many nests could use nesting material, too. Thinking of MN LA. What if we helped the Ospreys this way? Could save a life or two.
Melbourne police rescue an osprey! Thanks, Geemeff. We need a good news story.
Steelscape is one of the nests in the high heat area.
‘PB’ watches Cowlitz PUD and despite the heat it was a good day.
There is no end to sad news and I thought June was the worst month. The Osprey family whose chicks survived the fireworks in Redding have died.
Fireworks are not the only stressors. Humans around nests trying to take photographs, dogs, motorised vehicles, etc. have been known to cause great stress. I am sure there is a list as long as my arm.
Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Sunday 7th July 2024 There was an intruder but no fish today – Louis teased Dorcha again by appearing several times without fish and staying nearby within sight so she kept calling to no avail. The nest was overflown by an intruder who returned and landed on the nest next to Louis and was seen to be a dark female with striking markings, possibly the same one who intruded in 2021, see bonus video. Dorcha arrived and chased her off, all the way past Nest One where Dorcha dropped in briefly for her first ever visit to that nest. Weather was settled today, tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy and light winds, but rain is due again tomorrow. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.51.05 (03.18.25); Nest Two 23.54.50 (03.27.43)Today’s videos: https://youtu.be/FrXbbUeLP1k N2 Louis arrives without fish – Dorcha yells at him 13.01.45 https://youtu.be/2OI2t67rNhU N2 Intruder overflies Dorcha on the nest 13.35.35 https://youtu.be/rzFuxemIvPE N2 Unringed intruder female lands next to Louis 13.55.40 https://youtu.be/LwP5OtDRWKY N1 Dorcha’s first ever visit to Nest One! 15.06.42 https://youtu.be/AX4rxHJaSWoN2 Louis arrives and coy mantles but no fish for Dorcha 15:21:08
Bonus video – compare and contrast today’s dark intruder with the very dark one seen once only on 27 May 2021, is it the same bird?:
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Tuffy landed on the nest with a nice-sized fish he had caught. What a joy to see him. The camera will be turned off today. It could be already by the time you read this. At one point, we did not think Tuffy would survive Ruffie. Well, he did. Please notice the distinctive head marking. You will always know that it is Tuffy. There is a dark patch at the back of the head, too. Their heads and underwing markings never change in an osprey. So even without rings on their legs, if you know these, you can tell which osprey is which.
Tuffy is one of the good survival stories of the 2024 breeding season and we will always remember him (or her). What a great nest. Camera will be turned back on when Sally and Harry return to the nest.
See Heidi’s report below.
For the Decorah North eagle family, there is no place like home even if it is a dead tree without a nest. They are all fine. What a joy it is to see them, too.
Fish are coming in at Boulder. It is 46 F and 1 mph winds. The high this week will be 80 at the nest.
It is a lot hotter at the Seaside nest of Bruce and Naha. Bruce flew in with a really big Red-tail for Naha and the kids at 1649. This will keep them nicely. Temperature is expected to be 90 degrees F with 14 mph winds on Monday.
‘PB’ reports that a nice late fish came into Steelscape. They are in the hot zone, too.
Cowlitz has fish, too. The Dads on that Columbia River are really working hard to get fish to their nests in this heat.
‘H’ reports:
7/7 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was a sunny day, and the temperature reached 100 F/38 C yesterday afternoon. Olsen brought eight fish to the nest, but most of them were quite small. When the ‘kids’ were little, that would have been ample, but now it may be only half (or less) of what they need. Five of the fish were delivered before 0900, while the sixth fish was delivered at 1657. Meal duration times were: 5, 7, 4, 3, 18, 5, 8, 5 minutes. Our views of the feedings were partially blocked at times, making it difficult to determine how much Little was eating. There was no aggression at the first three meals, and Little seemed to eat some fish at each of those meals. Big beaked Little at the third meal, which consisted of a tiny fish, and Little ate one bite of fish. The fifth fish, at 0849, was the largest. Little was beaked, but managed to start receiving some bites on the other side of Soo at 0855 for a couple of minutes. I could not tell how much Little was able to eat. When we say the osplets are ‘at the table’ or ‘at the chow line’, we are referring to them being in a position to receive bites of fish offered by the parent. When the ‘kids’ were little, the ‘table’ was small. They could all fit side-by-side compactly in a small area, easily within reach of Soo’s beak. But, at the current size of the chicks, the ‘table’ is wide. There was no aggression at the sixth feeding, at 1657. Little was skittish, and waited a couple of minutes before approaching. When Little was ‘at the table’, s/he was positioned closer to Soo’s tail. It was only a 5-minute feeding, and I did not see Soo reach back and offer a bite to Little. There was an 8-minute feeding at 2058, and once again, Little hesitated to approach. But when s/he did get to the table at 2103, he ate two bites, then was beaked. The last meal of the day was at 2122, and lasted five minutes. Little was beaked, and was not able to eat. Little’s crop was noticeably hollow. Unfortunately, Little did not eat much today, which is all the more serious due to the extreme heat which can hasten dehydration. Little’s last good meal was around 11:00 on 7/6. Middle was not prevented from eating today. It’s going to be another hot sunny day on 7/8, with the high temperature predicted to hit at least 102F/39C. Winds will be 14-22 mph. Wouldn’t it be nice if Olsen could find a big whopper of a fish? Surely, Little would then get a good meal. Good luck out there Olsen…we know that you are doing your best.
7/7 Patuxent River Park: The osplets are 57, 60, and 61 days old. A few days ago, Big and Middle were making some progress with wingersizing and managing some brief hovers. But, over the last couple of days, their activity has been reduced, possibly due to the extreme heat and calm winds. The temperatures have been in the upper 90’s.
7/7 Captiva osprey nest: Ding is 75 days old, and fledged 15 days ago. On 7/6, Ding caught her first fish, and it was a needlefish. This morning, on just her third fishing attempt of the day, Ding caught another needlefish! After she finished her breakfast, she resumed diving for fish. On her sixth fishing attempt of the day, Ding caught another needlefish, just 32 minutes after her last successful catch. You go girl! Ding may be known by some viewers as the ‘Needlefish Kid’. Ding made numerous attempts at fishing over the next six hours. Edie was not seen on 7/7. Ding is expending a lot of energy with her fishing. It would be wonderful if Edie would drop off a fish for Ding in the morning.
7/7 Moorings Park osprey nest: Monday morning at 0900 the camera will be turned off for the season. Tuffy treated viewers to some extended appearances today. At 11:29 we witnessed Tuffy dive into the water to try to catch a fish. He didn’t appear to come away with a fish on that attempt. About an hour later, Tuffy flew to the nest carrying a tilapia. Tuffy was wet, and shaking off water. He took a long time to eat that tilapia. How wonderful that we got to witness those events on the last day of the live stream. We have been blessed to witness your life thus far, Tuffy… through all your struggles and your victories. You are a survivor. We wish you a long and prosperous life.
Studies identifying the extent of the bycatch problem and our beloved birds like those cute little Royal Cam chicks. We do not want them, their parents, or any of the colony ending up like the ones below. Those trawlers gather the fish to provide feed for salmon and chickens. Want to save our seabirds? Stop eating farmed fish and industrially grown chickens.
New study shows the real scale of seabird bycatch in European waters.-https://www.birdlife.org/news/2024/07/03/bycatch-tragedy-we-are-losing-200000-seabirds-annually/
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, MP, PB, TU’, PSEG, Heidi McGrue, Deb Stecyk, Newfoundland Power, Eagle Club of Estonia, Great Bay Ospreys, Charlo Montana Osprey Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Space Coast Daily, Pam Breci, FORE, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Moorings Park, Raptor Resource Project/Explore.org, Boulder County, Seaside Ospreys, Steelscape, Cowlitz PUD, Birdlife International, Osoyoos, Patuxent River Park, and Window to Wildlife.
As I write, it is 25 degrees C in Winnipeg, and it is mid-morning. The birds in the garden are taking advantage of the water, having had their seeds, peanuts, and cheese dogs put in dishes very, very early. I am hoping that the shaded tunnel areas we have created will help keep the birds and small mammals cool. I cannot imagine what it is like in the Pacific Northwest where temperatures will be as high or higher than 100 F.
Yesterday, with that horrid medication, I had a bit of a brain freeze. Smedley was at the Audubon Centre with Bailey – a long-term resident. Don’t tell me that ospreys don’t do well in care! Ridiculous. Sorry, I am on a rant. There is so much disinformation on the chats associated with the streaming cams. That, along with people who cross over into hyper-hyper-hyperbole, causes much damage and frustration in our understanding of avian behaviour.
The sunhine of the day was the first sunflower, a gift of the birds and animals. Every year they miss some seeds and the gift is a garden full of sunflowers blooming from now until the fall.
Everyone wants water or peanuts – or cheesy dogs. Notice this one is missing its crest. The adults are moulting. The new babies have their crest!
Mr Crow is watching me and wanting more dogs before the Starlings come and take them. He can see me. He knows I am sitting here taking his photo – and then he waits and the cheesy dogs appear! On Friday night we had eight crows visit for food.
Hugo Yugo says she prefers flowers.
Thankfully, the Hibiscus is in a place where The Girls cannot get to. Poison for cats, but oh, so beautiful.
It is a work in progress. The path to the feeder is now planted with bee and butterfly friendly perennials and a huge hosta! Can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end of the summer. Mulch will be going in this weekend!
It’s hot. And it will get hotter. Here is a message about the impact on songbirds. I will have a fan out tomorrow and we continue to top up the water!
I really want to give a shout-out to one of our readers, ‘EJ’. We can make a difference, and ‘EJ’ made a bold business move to save the raptors. She told me – “I used to be a co-owner of an agricultural sales business. I did not know about the harm rodenticides did to raptors until I read about it in your blog. At that point, we stopped selling rodenticides and explained to the farmers why. I don’t know if they stopped using them or not, but I wasn’t going to be responsible for the deaths of any raptors, like little Flaco.” Wow. Thank you, EJ. If everyone would do this, the world would be a better place.
We have a fledge at the Patchogue nest on Long Island. Patches made flying look easy and her return to the nest could not have been any better. Congratulations!
It is 80 degrees F with 2 mph winds and a 63% chance of rain. Babies you need to stay on the nest and not try any bold moves when the raindrops fall. Wet feathers don’t do well with a first or second or third flight. You need practice for that.
I love the look on the siblings face as Patches flies! They are going to want to join in the fun. Keep watching. Both chicks are more than ready to fly.
Fledgling rewarded with a nice big fish!
Patchogue adults sure make beautiful healthy osplets.
Patches took off again at 12:47. Oh, the other one is itching to fly. Wouldn’t be surprised if they go today, too.
Good news coming about Louis and Dorcha’s chicks in the Spanish Translocation Project:
I have been monitoring the Snow Lane nest of Hope and Beaumont and here is some interesting observations posted by Ian Winter who lives in the area on the FB page. Hope is also fishing and feeding her two babies.
I did not take screen captures of Hope’s head in last years and would be the last person to say that I could recognise her but, the behaviour of the female on this nest is very unlike the Hope that has been with Beaumont for past years where chicks have starved. So, please, I am not starting a rumour of a new female; just wondering what’s up. But happy no matter what the answer is! The chicks look good. Let’s hope the weather stays great for fishing.
There is also great news coming through Lucille Powell’s post about the second hatch chick at Hellgate Canyon and its eye.
Tuffy on the nest at Moorings Park before the heavy raindrops begin. Cam will stay on until Monday the 8th of July.
The four osplets at Field Farm are difficult to tell apart now. Little Mini grew and is probably a female – all that feist and sass that kept it alive – with those big siblings could only be a girl. They are now working on those wings and dreaming of flying like Patches.
Rain has come to Poole Harbour and the Fab Four of CJ7 and Blue 022. Oh, dripping wet osplets. Ever wonder what a really wet fish laden osprey nest actually smells like?
The rain and gale gusts have stopped at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales.
It’s nice at Glaslyn, too. That nest is getting quite full with those big chicks!
All is calm at Clywedog.
Dad has delivered a tiny little teaser and a Starry Flounder (I think) to the Clark PUD nest on Friday before noon. Will watch for other deliveries. It is going to be hot there…Clark PUD could get to 98 degrees F. The heat warnings continue through Monday in the area of Clark PUD, Cowlitz PUD, Osoyoos, and other nests along the Pacific Northwest.
This is the fish that I think is the Starry Flounder.
There is good news coming from Kielder Forest after so many disappointments this breeding season.
‘MM’ reminds me today that Keilder Forest Nest 7 has a streaming cam. It was offline when I checked but here is the link.
The second nest at Llyn Clywedog Reservoir in an area maintained by Forestry England has just ringed two chicks – the first for the adults at this new nest! One girl weighed 1680 grams, and a boy weighed 1410. Congratulations! (They are not on streaming cam only the original Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren is live streaming).
Dad is bringing in some nice fish at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. 74 degrees F. 10 mph winds.
Chicks at the Iowa DNR nest in Des Moines are doing fantastic. Lots of fish! How wonderful.
Cute little babies of Swoop and Winnie are enjoying their fish meal in Colorado. Looks like we have Reptiles. For those learning about Ospreys, the soft natal down gives way to the ‘Reptile phase’. Notice the black oily heads, the beautiful copper feathers at the nape of the neck. This is normally the time when they get ‘cranky’ and get serious about bonking if it is going to happen. Then you begin to see their pin feathers grow in along the wings and at the little tail and it won’t be long til they begin to look like juvenile ospreys. This stage they are growing very fast and often appear ‘lanky’.
Three cuties for Charlie and Lola at Charlo Montana. Little Three needs some more food – send good wishes.
Three much older osplets at nest #4 in Finland are doing fantastic.
Great news from the Oakland Zoo – a treated and released Condor.
Prey in the form of several voles and a Raccoon Dog have been delivered by both adults at the Estonial Golden Eagle nest 2. While the oldest gets the majority, the youngest has mantled the remains of the Raccoon Dog, after the oldest ate some, and has eaten. This is good. The oldest still attacks. The eaglets are hungry but now that both parents are delivering again we will wait and watch – with hope.
Another sunrise and two Golden eaglets at Estonia nest 2 alive. Hoping for another Racoon Dog for them today along with a basket of small voles.
‘PB’ is “mpressed with Steelscape! Dad just delivered a lunch fish 1230pm nest time and it’s 88 there high 95 today. All 3 babies look good!” This is fantastic news. Steelscape is in the heat area, too!
Learn all you can about Menhaden – the Osprey fish of choice in the NE US. Why they are important and then learn what is decimating the numbers and why coastal osprey in specific areas are suffering nest loss repeatedly.
I am hoping that Little Mini at McEuan Park is still with us. Mum shading and I can only see three big ones but baby could be on the other side. No, sadly, Little Mini has passed at McEuan Park sometime during the late evening of Friday or early Saturday morning.
The kids at Grand Lake want fish. Just look at that nice meal Dad just brought in. They were telling Mum to hurry up and quit messing about. “We want fish!”
What a gorgeous evening in Colorado at the Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails Osprey Nest. One of those successful osprey rescues took place at this nest two years ago. The chicks were accidentally pulled off the nest with some straw. One died and one survived and was in care for awhile because the chick needed to get well before it could learn to fly. Yes, one of those ospreys who testifies that they do well in care! Saying that they don’t is an excuse not to rescue and try.
‘H’ reports:
7/5 Osoyoos osprey nest: This family ended up having a pretty good day. The temperature was predicted to hit 35 C. After two very early fish, there was not another fish brought to the nest for the next eight hours, and I was starting to worry. But, Olsen resumed his deliveries at 1446, and brought three more fish by 2032. There were no ‘whoppers’ today. The meal durations were: 10, 26, 9, 5, 7, and 8 minutes in length. The osplets were all little angels, and they ate side-by-side as Soo fed them.
7/5 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: It was very warm at this nest, at least 97 F. But, Dad was able to provide ample fish for his family, and everyone ate well. The chicks are 55, 58, and 59 days old. Chick #2 continues to be the leader in the race to fledge, showing off with a few mini-hovers.
7/5 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s Fish House): The little 21 day old osplet is doing well. There were six fish meals provided, with one long stretch of six hours between meals. Because the chick was ‘hangry’, I caught the lil’ one taking its frustration out on Mom. S/he stretched and sat up as tall as it could and repeatedly tried to beak June in the face. “I want fish, Mom!”
7/5 Colonial Beach: Betty and David’s 10 and 11-day-old chicks are doing well. For the most part, there is harmony and both are getting fed.
7/5 Captiva Ospreys: We do not have a report from CROW as yet regarding the condition of Darling, since he was rescued from the water on 7/4. Ding had two fish meals brought to him by Edie on 7/4, but we did not see Edie on 7/5. Ding is trying his best to learn how to catch a fish. She made at least eight attempts to fish from the platform on 7/5, with no luck so far. Fingers crossed that Ding has a meal today, either from Edie, or perhaps when Ding catches her first fish.
Geemeff’s Daily Report for Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Friday 5th July 2024 Louis and Dorcha are still around, and reaffirming their bond – he coy-mantled and attempted mating, she rejected his advances, and later he brought her a fish. At the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, their chicks are settling in and WTS Jill gives us this update: RDWF reported yesterday that both birds are feeding well and seem to be settled in the lovely dry aviary. But it’s still too early to say they are out of the woods entirely. The final vet screening will happen early next week, we’ll get more concrete news after that. Nest One had a visit from Garry LV0 bringing moss and doing a bit of housekeeping, several songbirds also visited and a Hoodie preened on Dorcha’s perch for a while. The weather was reasonably settled after a wet night but more rain is forecast for tonight, with thundery showers tomorrow. The chicks are missed but the consensus on the forum is that in the circumstances, they’re better off in the translocation programme.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.06.53 (03.35.23); Nest Two 23.45.16 (03.43.32)
Blast from the past, this day in previous years: https://youtu.be/KmKrmLCYAdk N1 The chicks Bring Jollity doing flight prep quick time 2020 (Classic Ospreys – Holst)
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Both White-tailed eaglet fledglings on the nest resting in the Tucholskie Forest in Poland.
Bety and Bukachek’s only storklet is gorgeous.
Thank you for being with us today. Please take care of yourselves. Stay cool if you are in parts of Canada and the US. Remember to hydrate and for those feeling a little cooler down under, stay warm! Hope to have you with us again soon.
Thank you to the following for their letters, notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, EJ, Geemeff, H, MM, PB’, PSEG, Native Songbird Care and Conservation, Mary Cheadle, Ian L Winter, Lucille Powell, Moorings Park Ospreys, Field farm, BoPH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, LLyn Clywedog, Clark PUD, Kielder Forest, Minnesota Landscape Arobretum. Iowa DNR, Dunrovin Ranch, Charlo Montana Osprey Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Guardian, Oakland Zoo, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Steelscape, The Fishermen, McEuan Park, Grand Lake Ospreys, Pitkin County Osprey Cam, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Bielik On Line, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach, Patuxent River Park, and Window to Wildlife.
It’s the middle of the week. I thought we would have a wonderful Tuesday. It looked like a great day for a long walk at the nature centre and then the rains came – pouring rain you could hardly see 3 metres in front of you. And then finally the grey skies left and the blue skies and fluffy clouds arrived. The birds are singing for joy. The squirrels are running around looking for peanuts and Mr Crow is yelling that his cheesy-dogs are gone. The Starlings ate them! Life is back to normal. ‘The Girls’ survived the July birthday part and the horrific thunder and lighting of Monday night. We are all hoping that the rain will stop and we can have a few days of sunshine and warmth.
It is now July and I am hoping, beyond hope, that fledgling and osplet deaths are over. Many of the osprey chicks are now past the 3 week mark – a few aren’t. I am hopeful that without any major storms all will survive but, we continue to watch a few nests closely such as Captiva, Cowlitz, Forsythe, and Steelscape.
The latest for Steelscape comes in late Tuesday from Pam Breci:
I have still been feeling a bit low after the removal of the chicks at Loch Arkaig, even though I support interventions in such cases of great need. It just makes me sad seeing Louis and Dorcha without their babies. So, I want to start with a story that will amaze you. I added some quotes, but please read the entire article. You will be amazed.
Geemeff sent me the link:
“A pair of White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Mull have amazed experts by continuing to care for their injured offspring into its second year of life, going so far as to skip breeding this year to focus on tending to the youngster.
The chick injured its left wing in July last year after its nest fell to the ground during unseasonably wild weather. Despite its sibling surviving unscathed and fledging not long afterwards, the injured youngster’s story has been a little less smooth.
As the parents continued to support the chick its wing continued to heal and it finally took to the skies in the autumn, in rather wobbly fashion, with little hope from locals that it would survive the long, harsh winter ahead.
Ringing took place at Glaslyn late on 2 July 2024. Heather Corfield reports “We have two females and one male. 6M8, 6M7 and 6M9 in age order. The youngest is the male. No surprises there.”
I continue to call for a boycott on eating tuna and salmon and this is one reason not to eat farmed salmon! They have destroyed the stocks of fish in the Chesapeake Bay and are now moving to the coasts. Multitudes are concerned and the regulating authorities are not listening. This is one of the main reasons that osprey chicks are starving – the fish they need is being taken to feed fish! Please tell your friends and find a viable alternative if you eat salmon or tuna.
Bad storms in Croatia are having an impact on our feathered friends. Many storks are being found dead.
‘H’ wondered if I had been checking the ND-LEEF nest lately. I haven’t and I am sorry that I have been occupied by the ospreys. Dad went missing on the 8th of May. The two eaglets were just a month old (like Harriet’s at SWFlorida in 2023). Gigi raised them alone. They fledged on June 26 and June 30. Isn’t that wonderful? Dad would be proud of Gigi and his babies. Phillipe Josse posted this photo of Gigi and her fledglings. Aren’t they lovely?
Iris’s youngest chick has a closed left eye. We are hoping for improvements. The chick is eating and moving well and the eye apperared to open a little Tuesday afternoon. Send good energy.
Meanwhile, Finn is being security guard!
‘A’ comments: “Darling Finn was in early with a nice fresh fish for the osplets’ breakfast. He arrived at 05:49 and Iris got straight into feeding the kids. He stays less than a minute before moving to the perch to dry off. As always, Little Bob is at the front for the feeding and the chicks are perfectly behaved. There is not a hint of aggression between them. This has to be the most laid-back osprey nest I think I’ve ever seen. It’s like watching a pair of RTH chicks or a couple of peregrine eyases. Just lovely.
By 6am, Finn is getting a little impatient. He returned to the nest about 05:58 and picked at some dropped bites and random pieces, but Iris has not finished stuffing her osplets, with Big Bob still managing to find some space in that massive crop. By 06:02 Finn is stalking the fish but Iris moves away from him, not yet ready to give it up. Big Bob has eaten very well but Iris hasn’t and Little Bob could definitely eat some more. So she continues feeding Little Bob, with Big Bob having finally left the table, full as a tick. Finn already has a very respectable crop.
At 06:03, with Little Bob turning away, Iris lets Finn take the half fish from her. He begins eating on the nest. Or is he preparing to feed the chicks? Within ten seconds, Iris has retrieved her fish and returns to feeding Little Bob and eating herself. Finn gives up and returns to the perch at 06:03:50. Iris keeps eating. She needs to have her own breakfast. But she still keeps trying to give bites to both osplets, but especially Big Bob, who has come back for seconds (or is it thirds?). Eventually she eats, and eventually, Finn gets his share. “
“When our darling Finn brought the lunchtime fish in at around 11:50, it was another humongous whole very floppy (well, more thrashy) fish, so Iris waited for Finn to disable it before she took it from him. Probably teaching him that large floppy fish and small osplets should not mix. She is a thinking woman’s mum, is Iris.
Both chicks are hungry but they behave perfectly while they wait for mum to get the fish bites ready. Finn is arranging sticks, periodically bonking Little Bob on the head with his tail. Little Bob gets confused about which direction he should be facing.
At this point, I’m going to raise something I’ve been worried about from the beginning really. But yesterday I watched something that again worried me a great deal – could you keep a close eye on Little Bob and see whether you think his sight is compromised in some way. Yesterday, he was grabbing at the bites and missing them to the right-hand side each time, as if one of his eyes was not focusing properly. I have noticed this before, but not to that extent. Mind you, it was 10pm and he may not see well in the dark. (We of course have the IR lights.) But I would like your considered opinion on it over the next few days or so, if you have a chance.
Obviously, he is still managing to stuff his face but it would not be a great way to live as a fledgling, so I am a bit worried, which is why I am finally asking your opinion. (The fact that nobody else has questioned it reassured me until that feeding last night around 10pm when it really was very noticeable. And how does he still end up facing the wrong way at his age? I wonder and I worry. Let’s hope I’m just totally mistaken.
Anyway, spoiler alert: although it was a wet morning, the chicks dried out in the afternoon and ate well all day. The midday fish was almost the size of Big Bob and, obviously, significantly larger than Little. Iris had some trouble (and had to use her wings) to even move it around the nest, and I cannot imagine her being able to rip it out of the water. That would take a very strong bird, which says something about our hero, Finn. He surely is a diamond and Iris SO deserves him. And wow, is he a looker. Such a handsome osprey. He is glorious.
At the noon feeding, Little was closest to mum and was fed first. His older sibling simply watched and patiently waited for his turn. Finn obscures our view as the feeding proceeds, but it appears that at noon, ten minutes after the arrival of the fish, Big Bob is still waiting. When Finn finally moves, at 12:04, we can see that Little Bob is still at mum’s beak but Big Bob does have a small crop so may have had some bites.
Finn decides he will start feeding himself from the tail end of this monstrous fish while Iris continues feeding Little Bob from the head end. I’m hoping Finn will feed Big Bob, who has turned to face dad and is obviously hopeful. Just before 12:07 Finn, who has come around to the head end of the fish, attempts to pull the fish from Iris’s grasp. She pulls back. She continues feeding Little. Big Bob is still hungry, and Iris turns her head to reach him, deciding Little Bob has had enough for now and her other chick needs his turn. So she feeds Big Bob bite after bite. Little turns away from the table. Finn plots his next attack on the fish.
Around 12:09 Finn gives up and heads for the perch. Mum keeps feeding BIg Bob. Just before 12:10 he begins alerting, looking upwards. That chirp of his is incredibly melodic for an osprey. Quite beautiful. Little, who has face-planted, sat up for a short while, then face-planted again, is not turning back to the table yet – I’m sure he will manage some seconds shortly. Just before 12:12 Iris joins Finn in alerting at something above. Finn is tracking it across the sky. He is concerned. At 12:12 the chicks both pancake.
At 12:12:28, another osprey attempts to land on the nest! Iris immediately rears up, flapping her wings with menace, and the bird flies off, with Finn in pursuit. Iris soon returns to the fish, but the chicks stay pancaked. Iris returns to eating herself, then feeds Big Bob again when he lifts his head. Little stands up but then decides his eyes are bigger than his stomach (well, not literally, obviously) and lies back down.
At 12:20 Iris is again looking upwards, and soon resumes alerting. Twenty seconds later, Finn lands back on the nest, much to our relief. This boy is strong and young and determined to protect his family. He is doing a wonderful job at it. Here is a big statement: this is a male with what it takes to become an M15. He is not quite there yet – I cannot see him raising two month-old osplets single-taloned as M15 did with his eaglets. But with another season or two of paternal experience, I can certainly see him becoming a dad of that calibre. I adore Finnegan. I cannot say enough good things about him. “
The nest is a mess but the chicks are fantastic at Niagara Bee.
Things continue to go well at Blackbush for the trio.
Concerns for the two osplets at Newfoundland Snow Lane nest of Beaumonth and Hope as bad weather continues. Prior to the rain a large fish was on the nest and Hope was feeding the chicks.
Big fish and four big osplets at Field Farm.
There are so many big osplets just eating, growing, and waiting for their day to fly. That is Great Bay, too.
The trio at Charlo Montana are changing from cute little bobbleheads and into Reptiles!!!!!!
So, it is too close to call for three of the Poole Harbour four. The little one is believed to be a male but the three older ones are either small females or large well fed males. Can’t sex. I am going to go with four males because of their behaviour – too sweet and nice.
Louis has been consistent in bringing in a morning and evening fish. Dorcha was on the nest around 2000 and Louis came in with her dinner. You could hear him returning her calls.
The video of that fish delivery:
The two chicks of Louis and Dorcha are believed to be two males! Here is Geemeff’s report:
Daily summary Tuesday 2nd July 2024
Today was the first day waking up to the reality of an empty nest. However, Woodland Trust Scotland spokesman George tells us the chicks are reported to be doing well after a warm, dry, peaceful night with plenty of fish. They have been initially assessed as two males, although a more thorough assessment will take place in due course when they are ringed and satellite tagged. Questions were raised on the forum as to the feasibility of continuing to feed the chicks on the nest rather than placing them in the translocation programme – WTS gives the reasons why that’s not possible, details here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15244841. It might have been thought that activity on the nest would tail off now but Garry LV0 stepped up to provide plenty of interest by intruding not once but several times on Nest Two. He even brought nest furnishings. If he does fancy Dorcha as a potential mate, both Dorcha and Louis have other ideas, and there was much flying on and off, alarm-chipping and hasty exits. Once Garry had left for the night, Louis turned up with a good size late night supper which was eagerly seized by Dorcha. No improvement in the weather, it’s deteriorating if anything, with a forecast of heavy rain and light winds tonight, and rain all day tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.44.17 (02.50.32); Nest Two 23.34.00 (03.23.23)
This is a video showing where the chicks of Dorcha and Louis will be translocated. Thanks, Mary Cheadle for posting this. We are all curious.
We have had more osplet deaths and the Memorial Page is now up to 90. The only surviving chick on nest 4 at Kielder Forest in the UK became lethargic and was not growing properly and died at 39 days right before ringing. It is believed to have been a lung infection due to all the cold rainy weather.
Nest 7 at Kielder had three healthy chicks that were ringed on Tuesday. Two females and a male. Very interesing names. Have a read:
All is well at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Please be careful if you are looking for this nest. There is a lot of archived footage on YT that might cause you to not be seeing the current time/day.
Lots of feedings. Mum is very attentive. Chick is doing well. The colouring is off – everything appears darker than it is. The chick is normal osplet plummage. On my screen, it looks very dark.
Here is the link:
The lens is all fogged up at the nest of Dylan and Seren in Llyn Clywedog. The chicks are feathered and doing great. Fledging shortly.
The little one at Cowlitz does wait for the other two and then, if there is fish, it gets a few bites before it is moved away. There was not a lot of fish coming in on Tuesday. It was 69 F with 10 mph winds.
Here are Heidi’s reports for the day!
7/2 Osoyoos osprey nest: After the live stream was offline for 2.5 days, it went live at 0938 this morning. The chicks looked good. The first delivery we saw was a tiny fish at 1006. What struck me was that Little immediately shuffled away and tucked as Soo prepared to feed. That was a new behavior that Little had acquired since the last time we watched. This indicated that there had been some dominance and aggression at meals. It was only a four minute feeding, and Little got 3 bites. The next fish at 1146 was also tiny, for a 5 minute feeding, and after some initial intimidation, Little ate. At 1212, Olsen delivered a Whopper! As Soo was dragging the large fish into position, Middle beaked Little into submission, but then Big beaked Middle! So there it was…yes there has been aggression at meals. By 1218 Middle was able to start eating beside Big. By 1222 Little had worked his way around to the other side of Soo and was getting a few bites…but, don’t ya’ know Soo moved the fish, so Little had no protection. After several more minutes passed, Little was eating right up beside the other two osplets, and all were having a good meal. At 1242 the cam went down for more than an hour, so we don’t know how long the meal was, or if Olsen removed some leftover fish. The next (and last) fish of the day was at 1553, a large whole fish, for a meal that lasted 13 minutes. Everyone ate peacefully.
7/2 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Things are going well for Johnny, June, and their 18-day-old youngster.
7/2 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest: The oldest osplet, Harbor, seems to be calming down a bit, and is less aggressive toward Gray. I was able to observe a few meals and they were peaceful. Good news. The nestlings are 18 and 14-days-old.
7/2 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: Della, Warren and their two 35 and 36-day-old osplets are doing great. There is never a shortage of fish from Warren.
7/2 Forsythe osprey nest: This has been a very sad season for this nest. Only the oldest osplet (named Larry) remains out of the original four chicks. It seems that there’s not enough fish in this area. There were six fish delivered to the nest, including two from Opal. Larry is 42 days old, and should be able to make it to fledge.
7/2 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: Everything is going well for this bunch. There may be a fledge in a day or two…and I am predicting that Middle will be first to take flight. Middle is a bit smaller than Big, so has less body mass to get into the air. Middle has been getting some nice lift while flapping/leaping across the nest. (Ages of the osplets: 56, 55, 52)
7/2 Captiva osprey nest: Darling dominated the nest all day. Ding was prevented from landing on the nest many times. Edie delivered the only fish of the day at 1114. Ding flew in, there was a scramble with Darling over the fish, and it appeared as though Ding left in possession of the fish, or she may have dropped it. It was obviously not a good day for fishing. You may recall that Edie took a 6-day break, and returned on 6/29. In Edie’s absence, Jack worked his tail feathers off fishing for his kids during that period of time. It seems as though Jack may now be resting and taking a well deserved break. He was last seen on cam on 6/29.
Oh, those San Jose siblings!!!!!!!!
And more from this adorable family who continue to visit their scrape for us!
Ventana Wildlife continues to vaccinate the California Condor population against HPAI.
Plastics are everywhere. They are not good for our birds – not good in the sea, in nets, in human garbage, mesh bags, etc. As humans we need to try and minimise the number of plastic items that we purchase. I know that it is difficult. I made a vow several years ago to sever ties with plastic – they are everywhere. If you are heading to the lake or the beach, The Guardian ran a good article on how to avoid plastic. Even if you live elsewhere, there are good ideas here for everyone everywhere. We can help our wildlife.
I have a number of nests to report in Canada during the coming week. At least one of them has four healthy chicks! Stay tuned.
Thank you for being with us today. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, questions, posts, announcements, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Pam Breci, Scottish Field, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal FB, Menhaden Defenders, Phillipe Josee and the ND-LEEF Eagle Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab, Niagara Bee, Blackbush, Newfoundland Power, Field Farm, Great Bay, Charlo Montana, BoPH, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Mary Cheadle, Kielders ospreys, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Llyn Clywedog Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Forsythe, Mispillion Harbour, Audubon Boathouse, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, SK Hideaways, Ventana Wildlife Society, and Kakapo Recovery.
First. We thought for sure he was no longer with us and well, here is the good news from Geemeff:
“Louis the Loch Arkaig Osprey makes a triumphant return
08.26.37 The two chicks alone on the nest look up and start squeaking. Then Louis lands, with a fish. Wonderful to see him back looking magnificent with a nicely rounded crop. Where has he been? What happened to him? We’ll probably never know, but right now, this is the most wonderful sight. The two chicks immediately go over and take the fish off him. 08.26.55 Dorcha returns, and immediately looks for the fish 08.27.00 Louis departs – please return soon! Dorcha moves over and takes the fish away from C1 and starts dishing up. Normal service has resumed!”
The Girls are anticipating the big birthday party on the 2nd. They have found a few little boxes but they can’t open them! Calico was hiding – but Hugo Yugo, Missey, and Baby Hope, the birthday girl were out playing.
Goodness, it is almost July. Hard to believe. The ‘bad’ news in Bird World generally tapers off this month and that is a good thing. It was pitching down rain in Winnipeg and much cooler than it has been. It was a good day to go to our biosphere, The Leaf. For some reason, I was fascinated by the flowers. Enjoy. The iPhone didn’t do too bad!
There was a special exhibition of plants used in traditional healing. Camomile, Cedar, Sage, Sweetgrass…
The koi pond through the mist of the water fall.
It was a lovely quiet day.
‘H’ is taking some time. We will look forward to her reports when she returns.
We are still hoping that Louis will return to Loch Arkaig. Plans are being made if this doesn’t happen. This is the latest news from George at The Woodland Trust.
Dorcha comes home to well fed-osplets.
The family cuddles together wondering where Dad is.
In all her sadness, Geemeff is still able to send out her daily report for The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Friday 28th June 2024
There is no easy way to say this: Louis is still missing, not seen since Wednesday evening. We still hope to see him safe and well, but as the chicks were beginning to suffer from the incessant rain and lack of food despite Dorcha’s heroics with catching an eel yesterday, Woodland Trust took the unprecedented step of approaching NatureScot for permission to intervene. They are the Scottish Government’s lead adviser on wildlife management. In this case, using the evidence of Steve Quinn’s meticulous fish stats showing Louis’ decline and first hand observations of Louis’ unusual behaviour by LizB, permission was granted. Intrepid licensed raptor experts Lewis and Henry braved the climb to the top of the very tall nest tree and hand-fed the chicks with mackerel, leaving some on the nest as well as on a specially built platform below for Dorcha. Not a moment too soon as Lewis observed the second chick was approaching the stage of being too weak to eat. Luckily, after the initial strangeness, both chicks fed well and downed a whole mackerel each. Dorcha returned soon after they left and fed herself and the chicks from the fish left on the nest. Whatever your opinion about intervention, it’s good to see the chicks with full crops again. In other news, Garry LV0 paid a visit to Nest One and returned bringing nesting materials. Tonight’s forecast for the nest area is light rain showers and a gentle breeze, but the sound of the wind and the movement around the nest suggest otherwise.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.48.40 (03.30.52); Nest Two 23.19.18 (03.59.43)
I wrote to Dr. Greene to find out if Iris’s osplets will be banded. The answer is “no”. The camera and the nest are only for education, not research purposes.
‘A’writes: “Darling Finn slept on the perch all night, as he has taken to doing every night, watching over his family. He is such a sweetie. He left on a fishing trip to get breakfast very early indeed – it was still dark just after 05:30 – but for once, he had left fish on the nest and Iris got up at 05:35 and grabbed a large headless fish to feed the osplets. The pair as always lined up at the table and were beautifully behaved, as mum shared out the food to both. Oh my goodness, Big has had a growth spurt!
Little is slow to get up but makes his way to the table. Mum welcomes him with half a dozen bites. These two are just so sweet together. I saw one short, minor early episode of very half-hearted beaking and that was it. I still believe it could easily have been as much about curiosity as anything else, as there was no real aggression involved in it. More like checking what this small thing was. I am not entirely convinced it could even be classified as real bonking. Certainly, Little Bob did not interpret it as such, as hsi behaviour subsequently did not alter in any respect whatsoever. So it was not even worthy of being considered an act of establishing ‘pecking order’. Little Bob is harder for Iris to feed – he needs to move forward a step so she doesn’t have to reach as far forward and down to reach his beak. She makes the effort, but it means that when the two are side by side and competing for bites, Little Bob generally loses because of its greater height and reach. It’s surprising that Little doesn’t move forward – he normally does in this situation but sometimes makes mum really stretch. He is first to turn away from the table too, his little crop bulging.
So far, Iris hadn’t had a single decent bite for her own breakfast – she will always ensure that the babies have had a decent amount to eat before she starts sneaking in the odd bite for herself. This is truly one incredibly devoted mum. I love watching Iris with her chicks. The way she shades them, shelters them from the rain, keeps them warm at night, righted Little Bob when, early on, his little balloon body ended up flailing on its back – these osplets are the centre of her existence and she prioritises their welfare above everything else in her world. Watching her, you feel genuine joy for her.
Finn is back with a fresh headless fish just before 06:02. Good on your dad. There is still half a fish leftover from last night (and this morning’s first breakfast). He spends a bit of time trying to work out whether to choose the fish he’s just brought in or the half-fish left on the nest. He stands beside Iris for several minutes, reaching out at one stage as if to gently touch her with his beak. He adores her. Eventually, he decides on the fresh fish and flies to the perch with it just before 06:04. Ten minutes or so later, he returns the leftover fish to the nest. Good man! At 06:15 he tries to feed Iris, offering her a bite of fish several times before she accepts a small piece. She then stands up and grabs the leftover fish from the early breakfast (not the one Finn caught this morning) and begins feeding Big Bob while Little Bob backs up for a tiny PS.
Little Bob appears to have entered his own reptilian stage this morning, his little head starting to look oily. Big Bob is definitely a woolly oily teenager but perfectly laid-back and well behaved. He eats far better now, though still does not comfortably manage large pieces and still has trouble finding the right angle to get food from mum’s beak. He experimented with some self-feeding yesterday.
Finn watches breakfast feeding number two for a couple of minutes, then takes the leftovers of his morning catch and flies back up to the perch with them.
I wrote this yesterday – but I will send it anyway. Iris really is looking absolutely exhausted to me. I worry about her. She is putting everything into this season – she adores her babies – but you may well be right. If this is how she spends her last year, she would have wanted it this way. She is such a natural mum. She is in her element. I have come to love her a great deal.
I continue to believe Finn is literally heaven-sent. Just the sweetest guy. His loyalty has been fantastic. Louis never stood a chance against Finn’s determination to win Iris. I worried so much about him, but just look at the mate he has turned out to be. And what a handsome catch he is! I actually don’t hear them chat together at all – I hear Iris doing a lot of chatting but I never hear him answer. He just listens, learns and obeys. “
Osoyoos: It is 77 degrees F and 4 mph winds.
Olsen brought in a tiny whole fish at 0446. Each chick and Soo had some bites. She fed, stopping on and off, until 0453:10.
At 0800:53, Olsen brought in a very alive nice sized headless fish! Thank you for eating, Olsen. You and Soo have to eat in order to care for the babies.
Everyone got fish. Little walked away and the feeding stopped at 0818:25.
Olsen brought in the third fish of the day at 1131:49. It was a really nice size.
All of the chicks already had big crops when this big fish arrived! I am so glad that today was my day to monitor. It has been terrific. Soo fed the chicks and was still eating off the fish herself at 1158. Tears.
Little turns around and looks like it is trying out for the role of Hulk at 1157. Kids are too full to eat anymore.
At 1610 the chicks still had big crops. Did I miss a fish?
At 1728, Olsen brought in a large headless fish. Everyone has eaten well all day. The cooler temperatures and no wind must be helping. This is tremendous for this nest. Please send positive wishes every day to this family. They certainly deserve it. So was still feeding everyone an hour later and still had fish left. Sweet dreams babies…
I will check later but this nest doesn’t need any more fish today to survive but gosh it would be good for all of them if they ate and ate.
From now on I will add the temperature and wind conditions, where possible, on nests we are closely monitoring.
That tiny third hatch at Blackbush seems to be breaking hearts! It is a cutie. ‘MP’ adores this little one for being “persistently motivated, resilient and goal-driven in the face of challenges and difficulties of the parent’s predicament. Dad is lovingly family-oriented.”
‘PB’ has been monitoring the Cowlitz PUD nest and reports: “Cowlitz, little had around 115 bites. Excellent feeding and you can see a crop! This is a spunky little one that knows how to get to mom and be safe from big ones. When big one approached, little scooted closer to mom for protection and was able to feed again.Add 50 mote bites for Cowlitz little 3=165 total so far. Little found a gap between mom and dad to be fed 50 more bites!
You might remember that Challenger had cataract surgery. ‘J’ writes that it went well and sent us the link. He is now back home!
If you missed the June Condor chat, here it is!
David and Betty welcomed osplet three to the Colonial Beach nest on Friday.
Fledglings continue to return to the Venice Golf Course osprey nest for fish dinner. How lovely.
Family portrait at Oyster Bay. All is well.
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Only Bob is alive and Mum is feeding it – looks OK.
It was really windy and rainy at the nest of Beaumont and Hope in Newfoundland. Hope is feeding the baby better than she has done in past years. 12 C with winds gusting to 40 km/h. Not good for fishing those winds.
Gorgeous day in Colorado. Charlie and Lola are doing really, really well. What a beautiful trio. Did you know that Lola is Charlie’s new mate replacing Charlotte? And she is 14 years old and was banded in Lola, Montana? She must have lost her mate, too. Glad these two found one another – they are a beautiful family.
Two beautiful osplets in Latvia!
A nest full of big beautiful osplets in Poole Harbour.
All is good for the Dyfi kids of Idris and Telyn.
The Dorsett Hobbies have three eggs.
Gorgeous eaglets at the Estonian nest #2. Walking stronger. Eating well. Both of them.
Well the persecution of raptors continues and now there is a Taskforce. I hope it does something besides having meetings — something good for the raptors.
A large number of my readers live in the UK. Here is a great article – for those times you are going out to find wildlife – on where to go, who to spot, etc.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, J, MP, PB’, George Anderson and The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Montana Osprey Project, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Blackbush, Cowlitz PUD, American Eagle Foundation, Ventana Wildlife Society, VGCCO, PSEG, MN Landscape Arboretum, Newfoundland Power, Charlo Montana, LDF, BoPH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Dorsett Hobby, Eagle Club of Estonia, Raptor Persecution UK, and The Guardian.
