Category Archives: storks

Pips, Hatches, and Fledges…Sunday in Bird World

19 May 2024

Good Morning,

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

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

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

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

Larry’s kids are really growing!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crops from various times of the day for Little.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All four storklets at Bolewice are doing well.

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

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

Dear Ms. Steggles: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Welcome little one.

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

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

Saturday in Bird World

18 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

We are having another severe weather alert with intense rain, potential hail, and high winds. The ground is absolutely water logged. When I went for my walk today at the nature centre, the trails were partially flooded. Mind you the trees will grow, the grass is green, and potential for fires is low.

Baby Hope – she melts my heart. Her first birthday is coming up on 2 July and this time last year I was so busy trying to coax her Mamma, Calico, to being friendly. It all worked out. Baby Hope is the sweetest thing.

Hugo Yugo is a character. She loves nothing more than to snuggle under my chin and sleep there all night and sometimes during the day if a nap is in store. She is curious to the extreme and her and Missey will be the ones getting into mischief – not Hope or Calico. They are angels.

Hugo Yugo is still very tiny. She is nine months old! She must be finished growing – so nice. I will have a large kitten for years to come!

A wonderful and informative message and a reminder to vote on the New Guy’s name from Dr Erick Greene.

I think Dr Greene is really excited about ‘The New Guy’. Now – tell the truth – we all are, right? Whoever dreamed Iris would have a loving, dutiful, caring mate again? It is exciting! I never wanted Iris to have chicks again because they would starve to death or be predated. This summer just feels so hopeful.

The lovely couple.

It is all about falcons. Cilla Kinross gives us the first look at the feeding at the Montreal scrape.

Waiting for names at Cal Falcons.

One of Annie and Archie’s chicks is very intelligent and lively.

Copy cat. Another decided to venture out, too! Tomorrow all four will be wandering around – just wait and see!

‘A’ loves the Cal Falcons and Annie: “

These nests are such a joy to watch. At Cal Falcons this afternoon (17 May), the mid-afternoon feeding began with the older pair, but finally, our wee lad joined in, and immediately Annie began feeding him. Number three was last to the table, and Annie began feeding him too (I believe the boys to be the two younger chicks, though I could be wrong about number three). She tries to feed three and four exclusively, but four is very close to number one and number two, who sometimes grab bites Annie intends for the youngest. But to the best of her ability, she feeds the younger two, knowing the older pair have already had a fair amount. 

She does this at every meal. As a result, the chicks are not in a rush to get to the table and all compete for bites at the same time. Rather, their confidence in mum to feed them is so great that they feel they’ll be okay as long as they get there while food remains. She is giving them the chance at a little self-feeding now, leaving a few scraps on the scrape occasionally for them to pick at, which they do. But effectively, these skills are secondary for falcons, who are not going to be scavengers as juveniles like the eaglets do. They will have to master a particularly difficult and dangerous hunting technique if they are to survive as juveniles, and there’s not really overly much they can learn about that in the nest, is there. “

Monty and Hartley raise some impressive chicks – often quite aggressive. Do you remember Soledad?

At Amersfoort, Smallie was right up at Mum’s beak or a nice feeding. Smallie is getting its feathers and will catch up! Can you see that full crop on that wee little one? Please take heart. Unless something terribly untoward happens, this little baby is going to fledge!

‘H’ reports on Lake Murray: “At 1048 Lucy arrived at the nest with a very small whole fish.  Little did not get any.

Kenny brought a large whole fish at 1053.  Little tried to position himself to Lucy’s left side away from the sibs, but was beaked.  He was intimidated or beaked several times to keep him away from Lucy.  At 1130, the fish was gone, the others had moved away, and Little was fed one bite before Lucy ate the tail.

At 1337 Kenny delivered a large whole fish, Little rushed to Lucy and the other chicks stayed back for a while.  Little ate 12 bites, before Lucy moved to a new position, which left Little at the back of the pack.  The older chicks ate, and they prevented Little from getting up to the line.  Little finally worked his way to the other side of Lucy, and he ate the last 3 bites of fish before Lucy ate the tail. Total for Little = 15 bites.

At 1447 Kenny brought in another large whole fish, which looked like the same species as the last fish.  Little was positioned on Lucy’s right and the other two chicks to her left, but those two did not seem very hungry.  Little was fed almost exclusively during this meal, with a few more bites going to Middle the latter third of of the feeding.  And, Big did not try to eat until near the very end, when he/she was behind Lucy, and was fed between Lucy’s legs.  Little ate for 28 minutes straight.

Kenny delivered a medium sized whole fish at 1538.  All three osplets still had big crops, and none were very hungry.  Little had eaten 12 bites of fish by 1542 then he moved away.  At 1547 Little returned to the table and had eaten a total of 28 bits of fish, when he was beaked by Big.  Then, Middle and Big ate, and Little seemed content to lay down and take a nap.  Meal over at 1601.

1719, Kenny brought a half a fish to the nest.  None of the osplets rushed to be fed, but they eventually gathered around Lucy.  The bossy twins were to Lucy’s left, and Little was to Lucy’s right, and out of our view.  Everyone got bites, including Little, as we observed Lucy reaching over to that side with fish bits many times.”

I love the look on Little’s face when he has Mum and the fish all to himself at Lake Murray.

‘H’ reports for Saturday at Lake Murray: “First feeding 0704 to 0714, small whole fish, one bite for Little. Second feeding 0737 to 0740, very small whole fish, one bite for Little. Third feeding 0844 to 0906, medium sized whole fish – Little was positioned to the right rear of Lucy and was fed both from her right side and through her legs.  Total of 53 bites for Little.

Returning two year old Ospreys. 5H1 from the very first clutch of CJ7 and Blue 022, the translocated programme at Poole Harbour, was seen in Pool Harbour and now at the Usk Valley in South Wales.

‘H’ spent a lot of time monitoring the nests that are in trouble today and Captiva was one of them. CO8 needed fish! Here is her report: “5/17 – Captiva Osprey Nest: 0726,  Jack delivered a very small whole sheepshead, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1137, Jack brought a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1520, Jack delivered a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  1554, Jack brought a small whole pinfish, CO7 ate, and prevented CO8 from eating.  

And, then it happened…  1607 Edie went fishing and brought back a whole gafftopsail catfish…enough to feed everyone.  CO8 made a beeline to Mom and had a private feeding for 39 minutes!  Eat-a-lot, eat-a-lot, crop-drop-crop-drop, eat-a-lot, eat-a-lot, crop-drop-crop-drop, eat-a-lot.  At 1647 CO7 decided it was time for CO8 to stop eating, and beaked him (a lot).  CO7 was more interested in harassing CO8 at that point than eating.  Edie was hungry, and she ate.  At 1709 CO7 ate some more, then walked away from Edie at 1718.  CO8 then had another 8 minute private feeding, and probably had the biggest crop of his young life.  At 1750 Edie found some catfish scraps, and fed them to CO8.”

Thank goodness for a big catfish. CO8 got a nice feeding – which it desperately needed. Just look at that crop on CO7!

There are three and you can finally see them reasonably well at the Patuxent River Part I nest.

Louis is continuing to work on those cot rails at Loch Arkaig. Wonder where he found this? We are two days away from hatch watch at Loch Arkaig.

I wonder if the RAF jets disturb the ospreys? Geemeff says that there were five yesterday instead of the usual two.

We are a day away from hatch watch at the Dyfi Osprey nest of Idris and Telyn.

Four days from hatch at Poole Harbour!

More than a week until we can expect a hatch from Aran and Elen’s eggs at Glaslyn.

Dad brought a really nice fish to Mum and the chicks at Patchogue and proceeded to block the feeding! Gosh, golly. These two are just amazing parents and Dad is still fishing crazy even though he doesn’t have four chicks to feed this year.

Sadly, there are problems at Severna Park. I did not see a male bring fish all day on Friday. The female left the eggs unattended – she has to eat! Where are you Oscar? Are you pulling a Louis? For this nest to be successful – like all of them – the female relies on the male to bring her fish and later to her and the chicks she cares for. Without that, her health would diminish, and she would have to leave the nest. It would be impossible for Olivia to carry on. I hope that she abandons the eggs and has a lovely summer.

I saw a post that said that a car might have hit Oscar. Seriously. How many ospreys have you seen on the pavement? Carrion eaters like eagles, crows, hawks, etc., get killed because they get on the roads, as do geese and ducks crossing the highways, lanes, and boulevards, but Ospreys! Really.

Should we be concerned about the US Osprey population this year? Last year, in the NE United States, only a handful of nests had chicks fledged. The cause was the June storm and the overfishing of the Menhaden. Individuals monitoring nests in Maryland and New Jersey that are not on YouTube inform me that they hope 40% have a single chick fledge. At least 60% of the monitored nests are without eggs or bonded pairs. This is a considerable change. We have seen Barnegat Light fail, and now it looks like Severna will follow suit. Do you know of others?

The ‘Only Bob’ at Carthage is being fed well by its attentive parents.

Little Bob at Venice Golf and Country Club is the only one who has yet to fledge. He is getting good air on Friday and the hovers are improving. Look for a flight soon!

Colonial Beach has its first egg as of Friday 17 May.

At Carova Beach, Betsy and Frederick have two chicks. One is twice as large as the other. The third egg has not hatched. Betsy does stretch to get that little one some fish. Makes me slightly nervous.

The couple at Hammonasset have their third egg on the 17th.

It was a beautiful day at the Bridge Golf Club Osprey platform.

Keke and Leo continue to exchange incubation duties at Sandpoint.

Everything is looking good at Cowlitz PUD including those fine and simple metal fish grates to protect the nest from predation from the local Bald Eagles. I am always grateful for the concern that Cowlitz PUD expressed for their birds and the efforts they made to protect them. Why aren’t we seeing this at other platforms? It was proven to work last year. Simple. Drill a hole in the platform. Insert a metal pole attached to the fish grid. It is that simple.

Port of Ridgefield still looking good.

We are on hatch watch for Green Bay, NH ospreys!

The nest at Oceanside MNSA Osprey nest is so full of human garbage and there are three little ones. One of them is quite tiny. Is anyone watching this nest? And if so, could you please send me news. (Thanks)

The first egg hatched at BUND-Goitzshe on the 16th while the second hatched on the 17th. We wait to see about the third egg.

When tragedy strikes an Osprey nest, does the news spread and there are no takers and it stays abandoned? Certainly I have seen that in a certain area of my province. Then there is the Cape Henlopen State Park platform where tragedy struck two years ago when the Dad was killed, the Mum fought intruding ospreys trying to protect her three feathered babies, to no avail. The chicks starved on the live stream. The couple left and didn’t return. It was all for nothing.

Beaumont and Hope are at the Snow Lane, Newfoundland Osprey platform. No eggs yet. The female that had been at the nest earlier has dispersed.

I wonder how big the Red-tail Hawk nest is at Syracuse? It looks small – what an advantage big Red’s kids have to work their legs on that grid of the light stand. It is like having a private runway!

There is likely to be a shortage of squirrels on the Cornell Campus. Arthur seems intent on covering the nest with them for N1 and N2. The feathers are coming in nicely and the ears are now covered. The eyases are looking out to the larger world. In June they will fly. Hard to believe.

Please, please prevent window strike. For a couple of dollars you can get Crayon Window Markers and reveal the artist you need knew you were. If you are handy you can take a thin strip of wood the width of your window. Drill holes every 5 cm or 2 inches. Run a nylon cord – I have only seen grey and black used – and tie it tight making sure it is the length of your window. Do this for every hole and attach to the outside of your window. This is what they use at our nature centre along with the Feather Friendly window dots. Or you can apply the Feather Friendly window dots. They say they last ten years. Mine are a year old and still fine. Everything goes on the OUTSIDE of the window not the inside. You need a lot of butterfly or hawk decals as the spacing needs to be every 5 cm or 2 inches to prevent strikes.

Do it so this doesn’t happen!

One of the things that we might possibly forget are the food chains that support our bird populations. Without insects, many birds are seeing swift population declines, particularly smaller birds. Without those smaller birds, some of our raptors do not have prey. Their numbers drop. I think you get the picture. Modern agricultural practices are certainly to blame but looking closer to home it is those perfect green gardens, the sprays used on your roses to keep the ‘bugs’ off that kill the small birds. We need to begin to think of our gardens as meadows instead of golf courses. Imagine walking out and picking your own wildflower bouquet for your table. It could happen. For now, encourage people to be pesticide free, please.

Swallow-swift-and-house-martin-populations-have-nearly-halved-finds-UK-bird-survey-Birds-The-GDownload

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, observations, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, PB’, Montana Osprey Cams, Montana Osprey Project, Cilla Kinross, Cal Falcons, Amersfoort Falcons, Lake Murray Ospreys, Birds of Poole Harbour, Window to Wildlife, Patuxent River Park, Geemeff, Dyfi Osprey Project, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, PSEG, Severna Park, DTC- Carthage Ospreys, VGCCO, Colonial Beach Ospreys, OBX Osprey Cam, Bridge Golf Club Ospreys, Sandpoint Ospreys, Cowlitz PUD, Port of Ridgefield, Cape Henlopen State Park, Syracuse RTH, Cornell RTH, Acadia Wildlife, and The Guardian.

Friday in Bird World

17 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poor Annie gets it right in the face!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What has caught the attention of Louis and Dorcha?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday in Bird World

16 May 2024

Good Morning,

It was miserable today. We have had rain and rain and are almost water-logged. I recall the day I begged for rain, but now we could have a week break! I went for two different short walks. The first was around an area known as the Sturgeon Park Greenway. The first thing that I saw was a group of twenty little goslings! One family was doing gosling day care while the other adults foraged.

There was a lovely little waterfall.

Red-wing Blackbirds were everywhere. I love their song.

I only saw this male Mallard.

I had not been to The Leaf for a few weeks. The Leaf is a huge conservatory at our zoo. It has a tropical area, a Meditteranean area, a special floral area that changes regularly, and a butterfly garden. It was a wonderful day in the Butterfly area! The last time I went, I did not see one butterfly. Today there were so many and they were active.

The only one that I recognised was this Blue Morph.

Oh, and yes, this is the Red Postman. The others I did not know.

My goodness, Bird World happenings just aren’t slowing down. The intervention at Rutland, the banding of the Cal Falcons, and then the banding of the eyases in The Netherlands, a fledge or two…endless delights. Even Little got a nice feed at Lake Murray!

That Bob is a toughie at Rutland. Tossed off the nest, rescued and then smacked with a stick. It is still alive, thank goodness. How would you put that if you were doing their ‘baby’ book?

Here is the banding video if you missed it at Cal Falcons.

If you are interested in Peregrine Falcons – it doesn’t matter what region of the world they are living – the Q & A after the banding is really informative. “A little squirming pillow in your hand, they are super duper soft” (Sean). I really recommend that you grab a cuppa and listen because you will learn so much! Great questions this year like how to peregrine falcons decide on where to have their nest? Do they predate Crows? What do they eat? Why not HPAI vaccination?

Names are now on the Cal Falcons FB, Twitter, etc – think of four names that fit together and have a theme. Heart the ones you like to make a short list!

‘H’ and I have been sounding an alarm over the osprey population decline in the US for the past two years. One of our researchers ‘VV’ is monitoring ten nests from their home in Maryland. Those nests are not on streaming cams, but they give us good insight into the current issues this year. One nest has recently had its eggs stomped by Canada Geese. Other bonded pairs are not bonded but divorcing putting the breeding season at risk. We hope that two of the ten nests will have fledglings.

Michael Academia has been discussing the Menhaden issue. Others have noted it. I want a moratorium on the fishing especially by the big net trawlers. It does not matter if the population appears stable – it isn’t. Few chicks last year and the same possibility this year. This can prove critical in 2-4 years.

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At Kent Island, ‘H’ reports it appears the Tom and Audrey will not have any osplets this year. “Kent Island (Chesapeake) osprey nest of Audrey and Tom:  Things have just been ‘off’ this season for Audrey and Tom.  Audrey was inattentive to her first egg in April and the egg was predated by a crow.  Audrey did not lay a second egg and then she took a hiatus, and was not seen on cam for several days.  Audrey and Tom returned and Audrey laid the first egg of their second clutch on 5/8.  A second egg was laid on 5/11, but immediately broke.  Over the past few days Tom has brought Audrey very few fish.  Audrey finally left the nest in the early evening of 5/15, presumably to fish.  She and Tom were both at the nest a little later. Tom left, and Audrey left the nest again at 19:52.  She did not return to incubate the egg overnight.”

The eggs are hatching at the Montreal Peregrine Falcon scape. The first one has hatched this morning!

While we have strong concerns over the depleting osprey population due to overfishing, loss of habitat, and loss of mates, they are having a bit of a different experience in Finland. this was posted in the chat on the Juurusesi Saaksilvie streaming cam on Wednesday:

“Good news from the other nests in Juurusvesi: all nine are nesting! Two nests in new artificial nests and ONE COMPLETELY NEW!. At all three nests in Karhenvesi, nesting is also fast!”

The feeding of the Outerbanks Chick:

Johnson City eaglet fledges on Wednesday.

Prepping. If you see a raptor lower their head, do a PS, there is a distinct possibility they are going to fly. And this one did! JC23 has not returned to the nest. Send good wishes. JC24 has yet to fledge.

‘H’ kept good track of Lake Murray today:

“At 1424 Kenny delivered a live largemouth bass.  Lucy was distracted, and the feeding did not start until 1428.  The feeding was very slow going for a while as Lucy dealt with the tough fish head.  Little was positioned to Lucy’s left and the older sibs to her right.  This tactic worked amazingly well in Little’s favor, and s/he was able to get many bites of fish.  Usually one of the siblings would nip this arrangement in the bud, and reach behind Lucy and put an end to it, but not this time.  All three were fed in this manner for a long time, but Lucy eventually shifted to her left and Little was displaced, forcing him to reach between Lucy’s legs for bites, and this worked!  Lucy fed Little many bites through her legs. There was some beaking of Little toward the end of the feeding, and Little was placed in ‘time-out’ by Big, but soon Big retired from the feeding, and Little was back, and eating beside Middle.  The feeding lasted until 1514, and Little ate at least 123 bites of fish.”

“At 1619 Kenny brought a headless fish to the nest.  All three osplets still had big crops from the last feeding.  Little ate a couple of bites initially, then was beaked.  The older siblings both beaked Little intermittently, even though Little was not near Lucy.  But, by 1651 they had both dropped out of the feeding and Little ate until 1654.  Little had about 46 bites of fish at this meal.”

Morning report from Lake Murray from ‘H’: “

5/16 – Lake Murray osprey nest – Kenny brought a large headless fish to the nest for breakfast.  Little was intimidated, but managed to grab a couple bites now and then.  When Big dropped out at 0640, Little crept up near Middle, but Middle gave him the ‘stink eye’, like “Don’t even think about it, Kid.”  At 0647 Middle beaked Little, but at 0648 Middle left the table, and Big returned to eat some more.  At 0656 Big was finally sated, moved away, Little had a nice little private feeding for 8 minutes, and had eaten at least 78 bites of fish.

This is not a photogenic nest, especially in the morning, lol.

See the second screenshot of the chat this morning.  There is a tragedy in the making here, I think.  But, I hope I’m wrong.   See the statement:  “All we can do is hope, and pray, and wait.”   You know that was not true… they could have done more in the off-season, as you had recommended.”

As ‘H’ indicates, the owners of the Osprey platform at Lake Murray were made aware, several times, of the fish grids that Cowlitz PUD attached to their platform to prevent predation. It is very sad. The GHOs will sit and wait for their opportunity. Why would they move? They didn’t move at the Pritchett Property but the eagles were able to defend. Ospreys can’t.

‘H’ also reports on the Audubon Boathouse. “5/15 – The Audubon Boathouse osprey nest of Dory and Skiff: Dory laid their third egg at approximately 09:00.”

‘H’ reports on Captiva: “

5/15 Captiva Ospreys:  Fishing was uncharacteristically slow for Jack the first part of the day, but improved later on.  Hence, it wasn’t the best of days for CO8.  CO7 is 22 days, CO8 is 20 days old, and CO7 is still dominant.  At the first meal of the day (0806), a large catfish, CO8 managed to eat intermittently for a total of 17 minutes, despite CO7 preventing him from eating at times.  The second feeding did not take place until more than six hours later, and it was only a small needlefish, so CO8 was not able to eat at that meal.  The third feeding, a snapper at 1518, only lasted for 6 minutes, and CO8 only managed to eat for about one minute at that meal.  Jack delivered another snapper at 1553, and that feeding lasted about 20 minutes.  Being so close to the previous fish delivery, CO8 fared a little better at this feeding, and managed to eat for a total of 8 minutes.  Jack brought a headless catfish for the final feeding of the day at 1926.  CO8 managed two private feedings of 14 minutes and 6 minutes.  CO8 ate fish for a total of roughly 46 minutes today.

So, life is difficult for this youngest nestling, as it often is on osprey nests.  But, the situation is not dire for CO8 (when compared to the situation that Tuffy at Moorings Park faced several weeks ago, or that C3 is now potentially facing at Lake Murray).”

Watching for hatch at Clark PUD.

Tuffy and Ruffie have been getting really good height with all their flapping. Some nice hovers by both. Fledgling is really near. Which one will be first?

Chicks at Patchogue doing well.

The single chick at Carthage was well fed on Wednesday. ‘H’ saw at least six feedings. Fantastic.

Still one hatch at Mlade Buky nest of Bety and Bukacek.

The most beautiful stork landed in Karl II’s nest in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. The young ones are returning. Might Bonus or Waba make this their nest?

Four beautiful black storklets in Poland at Bolewice.

Still incubating osprey eggs in the Ramuka Forest.

The two White-Tailed eaglets in the Bory Tucholskie Forest in Poland are doing well also. Just look at those crops! I am so pleased that once again there is plentiful food for two babies.

Three beautiful storks in the Lodzi Forest.

Where storklets hatching elsewhere, too, in Poland – these are in Zastawki!

There is serious concern for the Moraine Park Osprey platform which has been continually attacked by a GHO.

It is untrue that Ospreys tolerate humans well. Nests fail. Note the warning from Tweed Valley.

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

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, on line sessions, and streaming cams that helped me to write my blog this morning: ‘Geemeff, H, PB, VV’ Geemeff, Cal Falcons. Audubon, UniMFalcons, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Outerbanks, Johnson City-ETSU, Lake Murray Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, Clark PUD, Moorings Park Ospreys, PSEG, Chesapeake Conservancy, Captiva Osprey New (WoW), Carthage-DTC, Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Black Stork On Line Bolewice, Ospreys on Line Ramucka Forest, White Tale Eagle On line Tucholskie Forest, Lodzi Black Storks On Line, Bocian Zastawki, Moraine State Park Ospreys, and Tweed Valley Osprey Project.

Mason fudges and gains control…Sunday in Bird World

12 May 2024

I wish all mothers—that is, anyone in the world who has ever cared for another living, breathing soul (feathered, furred, gilled, scaled, or human)—a very happy day today.

Ah, it was hot on Saturday, but the skies were clear, and it was a good day to head to Delta Beach – or so I thought – when I left the City. The wind began to pick up as I neared the wetlands at the south end of Lake Manitoba. By the time I was on top of the lookout tower, they were so gusty that it felt like one could be blown to Oz. The wind and the heat did not do much for bird watching. The Black-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds and the Robin and Song Sparrows were out. A few geese and ducks and a pod of American Pelicans were flying overhead. The Bald Eagle in the nest was hunkered down tight and the frogs were so loud you could not hear a thing. It was a long drive there and back with onerous black clouds overhead and heavy rain on and off on the return.

Pelicans flew overhead.

A Common Tern has a small fish.

A female Yellow Warbler liked to play hide and seek with me in the thick of the tree.

The Killdeer ran up and down the beach in front of the Bald Eagle’s nest.

If you squint you can just barely make out the head of the adult on the nest. This nest makes me really nervous. It is not supported on one side.

Before I left, I checked on the third hatch at Lake Murray. It had some of the first two fish and on my return I did a quick recent check and the little one had a crop.

Felt relatively satisfied that the little one had done alright.

I did a few nest checks in the early evening, but the girls feel a tad neglected, and Calico has stretched out on top of the book we are reading. She is sending a loud message – as loud as Mr Crow, who quickly tells me that the hot dog dish is empty and needs replenishment. What a character they both are! I have noticed that I am later in sending out my post in the summer so, a warning that the post will go out by noon – Winnipeg time from now until the fall. (So you don’t worry that something has happened…you are all so sweet).

‘H’ sends us an exciting report that Mason fledged and then recovered and flew back to the nest. Way to go, Mason!

Two other updates from ‘H’: “

“5/11, Chesapeake, Kent Island osprey nest of Audrey and Tom:  Audrey laid the second egg of her second clutch at approximately 18:30.  Unfortunately, the egg was broken either during laying or shortly thereafter.”

“5/11, Fortis Exshaw osprey nest of Louise and Harvie:  Louise laid their third egg at 22:24, but we have yet to see the egg”

The first hatch at Manton Bay is a cute pie. That baby hatched at 23:19 on Friday the 10th of May.

I know that Redwood Queen is a favourite of many of you for her heroic attempt to save her chick Iniko during the Dolan Fire. Iniko was saved but Redwood Queen lost her mate King Pin. Now she has a new baby with Zenith and it warms my heart.

At Cornell, N1 and N2 are sleeping with their dinner. All that prey and two chicks – these two are growing fast!

I love seeing the comparison of the tree nest and the urban nest on a human light stand. I wonder how many trees Big Red has to choose from and why she choose the light stand? There is certainly much more room for the chicks to run and flap.

‘A’ loves this nest and writes, “Oren has brought in even more green oak leaf sprigs to their RTH nest, and it is full of greenery. I do hope it helps control the insects on the nest (I presume that’s the idea). It does look very festive and cosy. Ruth is preening her sleeping hawklets, and breakfast has not yet been served (it is 12 May and still very very early). The three are doing exceptionally well, with devoted parents and lots of food. They are such cuties. It has been raining a lot at the nest for the past two or three days and poor Ruth has looked absolutely miserable, but her hawklets have remained warm and dry in her underfluffies throughout. They really are very well cared for, these three. “

I have every confidence that if this precious egg of Iris and the New Guy hatches, the NG will supply plenty of fish for Mamma Iris and baby. We could be witnessing something wonderful and remember, I always wanted Iris to have a holiday from Louis. She seems contented and it is so nice to see someone bring her fish and care for her.

Another great mate is Louis at Loch Arkaig! So far they have kept the intruders away.

Remember that banding for the Cal falcons who are getting their tail feathers is on the 15th.

‘A’ writes: “I do so love a falcon scrape. That youngest at Cal Falcons is significantly smaller than its three siblings, who hatched within about 24 hours of each other, with the fourth chick coming nearly three days later (because of course Annie started hard incubation after laying egg three). So it has always been much smaller, but right from the beginning, it has been a little jumping bean just like Rubus, competing vigorously for bites. 

The four are being given far fewer feedings per day than was the case a week or ten days ago. They lay about the scrape for more than five hours between feedings today, until the 16:07 feeding, which began with the youngest and one of its older siblings grabbing big juicy bites until they were joined by another of the older chicks, and then finally, the fourth one joined in. By the time chick four arrived, the older of the initial two feeders had given up, the younger one never gives up, and the second two to line up were getting the most of the food. By the time the meal was over, all four had large crops that, if measured, would have been extremely close to being exactly equal in size. Seriously. That’s how good a parent Annie is when feeding her chicks. And if necessary, she would have moved the food, or her own position, or both, to ensure that all four were fed an adequate meal. No-one goes hungry at Annie’s table. 

The eyases compete for bites, and sometimes have a tug of prey over a bite, but not once is there any hint of aggression towards a sibling. Never. Not once. It is a beautiful thing to watch, and I do keep wondering how it is that good falcon parents can dole out food fairly to a clutch double the size of most eagle clutches, fledging four chicks instead of one or two. So I still cannot work out how sibling rivalry helps.”

Feathered kids also copy their parent’s behaviour.

‘H’ has been tracking several nests. One is at the Patuxent River Park and she reports that there are now three little bobbleheads.

There are concerns for Swampy from Eagle Country. Swampy was last seen on 9 May at 1006.

Sharon Lee also shows us where Dixie and Mason have gotten to on the natal tree.

Cute little White-tail eaglet peeking out from the adult at the Kemeri nest in Latvia. The other White-tail Eagle nest of Milda in Durbe County in Latvia failed this year.

One beautiful Golden Eaglet in Estonia.

Altyn and Nova, Eastern Imperial Eagles, have two eggs in their nest that they are waiting to hatch. Egg dates were 17 and 20 of April. In about ten days we should have a hatch!

The first of the two eggs of Bety and Bukacek in Mlade Buky has hatched on the 12th of May.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Keep an eye out on Mlade Buky and Manton Bay. Those last eggs should be hatching!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, H’, Lake Murray ospreys, Heidi McGrue, Chesapeake Conservancy, Fortis Exshaw, LRWT, Lady Hawk, Cornell RTH, Syracuse University RTH Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Geemeff, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Patuxent River Park, Eagle Country, LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Alton and Nova RU Imperial Eagle Cam, and Mlade Buky Stork Cam.

Friday in Bird World

10 May 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Thursday was 23 C, clear blue skies, no wind. Today will go up to 27 degrees C. Thankfully we have had some rain. Where my son lives in the Caribbean, the rains did not come and the water supply for the entire island is drying up. The reservoir at Etang is beyond low and cannot be used and other areas are bone dry. My heart breaks for people struggling with a lack of basic resources like water.

Thank you again for all your good wishes. I am feeling better. Not 100%, but good enough to run more errands in the heat. When I left, Mr Crow had a full dish of cheesy dogs. When I got home – and he knew I was home – he returned cawing his head off for more! Their tree was cut down, and they have made their nest this year on top of a three-story apartment building about 100 metres from the food dish! He can hear me when I arrive home – and see me. Of course, Hugo Yugo thinks she should have some cheesy dog, too, which started all of the others prowling around the kitchen except for Baby Hope, who is a real angel.

At the Border Osprey platform, Augusta (Blue 500) laid her third egg at 1100. Congratulations!

Mark the date on your calendar. Cal Falcons will be banding Annie and Archie’s chicks on the 15th of May. Yes, you spotted that right – five days from now. That is hard to believe.

The Fab Four think they are starving!

The GH owlet at Wolf Bay has branched and will soon be flying.

The nest at Loch of the Lowes is now empty and abandoned for this year.

Still no hatch at Manton Bay. If the egg that was removed was the first one to be laid, then the next one is currently 33 days old today. Three more days and we should be ready for pip.

Just look at those legs on Ruffie! If I were taking bets I would say Ruffy – despite their aggression – is a male. Daddy Long Legs like Idris – or maybe it is just the camera angle.

Ruffie is really working its wings.

Gorgeous Tuffy. Look at that sweet face.

Did we have fledges and returns at Frenchman’s Creek? Looks like it. Bravo. And look at the nest. Not so many fish there.

Iris and the New Guy are not messing around. They protect that nest and their eggs. I wonder if Louis even knows what is happening? Surely he does. Maybe he has just given up and will take care of Starr and leave that area alone. He might not win a fight with this younger male.

The House Sparrows are busy nesting under the osprey nest at Dunrovin. No eggs yet for Swoop and Winnie.

I think I worry too much about the little one at Captiva. It is hot and the big one always monopolises the feedings. Hopefully ‘H’ will have a better report.

Will CO8 get some fish?

‘H’ has the answer: “CO7 continues to dominate CO8 at meal times.  But as we have seen at other nests, as long as there are regular fish deliveries, the non-dominant sibling usually fares better later in the day, after the dominant osplet has already had his/her crop stuffed a few times.

At 1636 the meal consisted of a whole sheepshead, and CO8 ate first, but only for a minute until he was intimidated by CO7.  CO8 thought about trying to eat at 1639 and 1655 but was beaked by CO7.  At 1657 CO7 moved away and CO8 was able to eat.  Then he made a very unwise move… after CO8 had been eating for 4 minutes, he suddenly and inexplicably turned around and beaked CO7!  Oh no, silly osplet, lol.  Well, of course CO7 retaliated, and CO8 moved away.  CO7 ate some more until 1704, at which time CO8 ate for the next 14 minutes.  CO8 had eaten for a total of about 19 minutes at this meal.

The next meal, at 1831, consisted of a prepared sheepshead.  The sibs were both little angels.  For the most part they ate side by side until 1853, and by that time they were both refusing Edie’s offerings.  Then Edie was able to feast on the large tail portion herself.”

Big Red was so smart when she picked Arthur. What a hunter. Thursday morning nets three chipmunks and a squirrel plus what has been eaten already. Their family will never go hungry!

Please ask me how much I wish they would band these two chicks so we could see if they return to the area or stay?

What a difference seeing the little hawklets in a tree nest at Syracuse instead of the light stand at Cornell.

Will there be any osplets at Llyn Brenig this year?

There is a full clutch at Fortis Exshaw.

The Decorah North eaglets are a little wet from the rain. Those little cutie pies are growing and grown and ready to fly soon.

It is all good at Little Miami. That baby made it! Unless something happens this nest will fledge three. Fantastic.

Port Tobacco is fantastic. That single chick had all the love and all the food.

At Duke Farms, Leaper is 10 weeks and 1 day old which means that we could be within fledge range in a week.

At Superbeaks, Mason and Dixie have both branched. That was a week ago. Stay tuned for fledging.

Concern for Little at Lake Murray continues as he gets shut out of many/most/all feedings. ‘H’ reports, “5/9, Kenney delivered a late partial fish at 1950.  Big and Middle still both had huge crops and were not very interested in eating.  Little ate for three minutes before he was beaked by Big.  Big ate for 3 minutes, then walked away.  Little was then fed by Lucy for 7 minutes, when she suddenly halted the feeding, but there was still a large piece of fish remaining.  At any rate, Little had a large crop to start the night.” Huge shout out to ‘H’ for monitoring this difficult nest.

I highly recommended Isabella Tree’s new book on the success of the rewinding at Knepp Farm. Birdlife International has just published its study on the positive impacts of conservation and biodiversity. We can make a difference is the mantra in both! Never give up. Do what you can.

Science-proves-conservation-works-BirdLife-InternationalDownload

Another senseless murder in Scotland. This time of a satellite tagged Golden Eagle.

Police-confirm-satellite-tagged-Golden-Eagle-was-persecuted-BirdGuidesDownload

There is a new condor baby in California. Congratulations Ventana Wildlife.

White Storks Beta and Bukacek incubating their two eggs. Soon!

The two White-tail eaglets at the Tucholskie National Forest in Poland are thriving.

Two beautiful osprey eggs at the Seilli nest in Finland for Onni and Stefu.

News from Kakapo Recovery on their pesky flightless parrots.

I saw my first Moorhen in Grenada in 2022. It is great to see that others love them, too! Their appearance is so distinctive. The adult body is all black – the beak is a deep rich orange -red with at the tip dipped in a pot of bright almost neon-yellow. Their legs are green! The day these birds got their first plumage someone was having fun with the colours. They are very distinctive and when you have seen one, you will always recognise them. There will never be any confusion with any other waterfowl.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/country-diary-these-plucky-moorhens-have-become-local-celebrities?CMP=share_btn_url

All About Birds says this, “The Common Gallinule swims like a duck and walks atop floating vegetation like a rail with its long and slender toes. This boldly marked rail has a brilliant red shield over the bill and a white racing stripe down its side. It squawks and whinnies from thick cover in marshes and ponds from Canada to Chile, peeking in and out of vegetation. This species was formerly called the Common Moorhen and is closely related to moorhen species in the Old World…Common Gallinules eat vegetation, seeds, snails, and insects. They pick sedge, grass, pondweed, duckweed, and flower seeds from the water surface or just below the surface. Gallinules flip over leaves with their feet to grab snails and insects hidden .” They will lay anywhere from 3-15 eggs (what a range!) in nests made near the water’s edge. The incubation period is, on average, three weeks and they have two broods per breeding season.

“madres e hijos, polla de agua alimentando a su polluelo – mom moorhen feeding their chick” by ferran pestaña is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

We can be thankful that the hunting season in Malta is now over, but it should never exist, and, of course, as this says will the police do anything now? Wildlife certainly deserves the protection accorded to it by law. And that surely isn’t happening.

I feel like I am reading the news from Scotland.

Man-accused-of-shooting-protected-western-marsh-harrierDownload

Oh, those ads for the perfect lawn make me so mad. Dead bees. Dead pollinators. Even dead birds. Tell them ‘No, thanks’.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care all. See you 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, H, PB’, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Wolf Bay, Scottish Wildlife Trust, LRWT, Moorings Park, Frenchman’s Creek, Montana Osprey Project, Dunrovin Ranch, Window to Wildlife, Cornell RTH, SU-RTH Cam, Stephanie Scofield, Heidi McGrue, Raptor Resource Project, Little Miami Conservancy, Port Tobacco, Duke Farms, Superbeaks, Lake Murray, Birdlife International, BirdGuides, Ventana Wildlife Society, Mlade Buky Stork Cam, Bielk OnLine Bory Tucholskie, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Kakapo Recovery, The Guardian, BirdLife Malta, Malta Today, All About Birds, and Openverse.

*Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to credit the individuals who provided the information in today’s posting. If there is something incorrect or there is an omission, please let me know.*

Monday in Bird World

29 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I am finishing this posting late Sunday evening as I must leave the house early Monday morning. So, whatever happens between midnight CDT and Monday morning will be covered on Tuesday. It is also going to be cooler tomorrow. 2 C. We were 24 C last week. I do not know about the birds and animals in the garden, but it has been quite the past few months with the weather fluctuating daily.

Hugo Yugo and Missey want to wish everyone a great start to their week. These two are inseparable, just like Calico and Baby Hope. It is not just Missey that washes Hugo Yugo – that little ginger gives Missey a good going over. It is so precious.

Beautiful chortling from Jackie and Shadow to start your day.

I spent Sunday with my daughter and her three children to celebrate the granddaughter’s birthday. You will recall that this young woman is quite an inspiration to me and others. She has the most empathy and is a social worker helping those who struggle to live independently due to long-term abuse and addiction. She is also Vegan and has been for seven years. Her commitment to the welfare of animals and people warms my heart.

There are some sad and horrifying things happening in Bird World and I would like to dispense with them right away and get on to some of the more positive events that happened in our nests on Sunday.

I have great concerns for the second hatch at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. ‘R’ did a great job monitoring the nest and confirmed my fears. He writes, “At 0647 a fish was brought in.  It looks like Stella as only one Osprey came into the nest. At 1247 Stella again brought in a fish.  She is gone most of the time so I suspect she is doing the fishing. After this feeding both osplets had decent crops. At 1247 Stella fed part of a fish that was laying in the nest (catfish). At 1447 Talon brings in a fish.  This is the only time he is in the nest for 12H.  This is also the last feeding for the 12H period. Stella spends most of her time off the nest and occasionally brings in nesting material.

The birds must be getting very hungry as #1 (my numbering for the biggest and aggressive osplet) occasionally attacks #2 even when there is no feeding going on.  #2 is getting very little food. Very strange and hard to follow with such a poor arrangement of the camera.”

The image below is well after ‘R’s’ reporting. Sibling 1 has been eating all the fish and has a huge crop and is attacking the middle sibling. The third hatch died of a very vicious siblicide.

Tragedy was brewing Sunday afternoon when both Claire and USS7 got caught in fishing line on the US Steel Bald Eagle nest. In an incredible effort, Claire got that line off herself and her chick. She then gathered it up and flew off the nest! Well done – an experienced Mum working to save her little one.

‘H’ reports that the two eggs laid at the Fenwicke Island Osprey nest in Delaware have been eaten by Crows. Both adults were off the nest!

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum ospreys are being rained on. The first egg which had been left in the pouring rain is now well hidden under nesting material. The second egg was laid on Sunday and it has been walked on and rained on…It could well be a blessing if it does not hatch.

Good news coming from Decorah North. NC18 no longer has fishing line hanging from its beak. It appears it has been cleared as per Raptor Resource Project.

‘B’ writes: “I couldn’t believe it!  Archie snuck in there at 8:38:45 while Annie was away and began feeding the chicks.  He must have had that TINY bit of prey stashed somewhere, just waiting for his opportunity.  It only lasted a minute, because Annie returned at 8:39:45 and snatched it from him, also having a couple of words with him. Way to go, Archie!”

Cal Falcons caught this magical moment.

Sometimes it is hard to tell how much fish Tuffy gets, but he is being fed well and his feathers are continuing to grow and the nest appears peaceful.

Keo and Keke surprised everyone with their first egg laid late on the 27th or the wee hours of the 28th (?) at the Sandpoint Nest.

On Sunday that egg at Sandpoint had some drizzle on it.

‘PB’ found a nest in Canada in the Niagara on the Lake area. It is the Niagara Bee Group Ospreys and they already have two eggs!

Some rain got on the two eggs Sunday afternoon. It is not clear if they will be viable or not.

This is the link to their streaming cam:

Ollie and his mate have returned to the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society on Long Island. There is a new camera and the nest has been secured from a storm last year that wiped it out. Ollie returned on the 30th of March and his mate arrived a few days later. They now have one egg according to the wonderful moderator of their FB messaging who answered me promptly.

More and more fish deliveries at Frenchman’s Creek. Reflecting on this nest and the Mum who is obviously ill/injured makes me wonder how these two surviving osplets will behave as adults with their own chicks. For example, at the Hopeless Nest in Newfoundland, the female does not feed the chicks. Both died last year and I believe in all the time only one chick has survived and that was in 2019 (please feel free to correct me). Will these two not feed their chicks? if they are female? Or will their instincts or memories drive them to be good parents?

Dad continues to bring fish – thankfully he eats the head so the chicks can eat the fish easier. He is also still spending time feeding his two big babies. I think they are going to be alright. People should not worry about the fish piling up unless it compromises the nest structure. The carrion eaters will arrive and have it cleaned up in no time!

The weather is improving in Finland and the ospreys are busy mating, fixing nests, or laying eggs. There are two eggs at Satakunnan.

There is a new female this year at Juurusvesi. She is Yellow M76822 and was ringed in 2020 at a nest precisely 100 km away at Viitasaaki.

Did not see an osprey on the nest at Paltamon where there is still snow on the ground, but there was a Peregrine Falcon!

Both have returned to Janakkala – obviously eating well. No egg yet.

The male in Germany is feeding the female who is incubating their eggs a fish meal. How cute.

Louis must have been dealing with intruders. She finally got a fish and it was after 1500 – that is decidedly not the Louis we know.

There is a new couple with three eggs on the Estonian Osprey nest in Tartu County. (It is not believed that this is either the former male Ivo or his mate). This is wonderful news for a country where the osprey population is low. In 2018, 210 pairs.

No one will ever go hungry if Arthur is around. The nest of Big Red and N1 and N2 is now lined with squirrel. Do not despair of you see these two beaking away at one another. It will stop. Their eyes cannot focus properly – just like the falcons. Give them 4 or 5 days. Their heads are not steady and any beak is a potential meal! They will get rough – in this instance, it is play fighting unlike what is happening at University of Florida-Gainesville.

Buky and Bette still have two eggs at their nest in Mlady Buky.

Geemeff brings us up to date on the comings and goings of nest 1 at Loch Arkaig. “An unringed female came to Nest One and got two fish from Garry LV0! She spent a lot of time there, fingers crossed she returns tomorrow. Affric 152 hasn’t been seen since the 24th, and the unidentified pair at Bunarkaig are definitely now incubating eggs so it does look like that is her on that nest. So with luck she’ll stay away and Garry will have the time and space to woo this female and they form a bond. There is still time – just – for eggs this year but just seeing him with a mate would make me very happy.”

Geemeff has it all on video.

And then a second fish. This looks promising. There has not been a family of osplets on this nest since Louis moved to nest 2 with Dorcha after Aila did not return.

Swampy had a meal and slept like an adult perched with a parent on the natal tree.

‘H’ reports that Severna Park finally has its first egg – a fortnight later than last year. 17:26:55.

Deb Stecyk did a really nice tribute to Bella. Poor eagle…what a terrible year she had with her new mate, Scout.

When the young woman posted her linocut of Flaco on FB, I could not resist. It arrived and went off to the framers. I forgot to request non-reflective glass. Said with a loud sigh, as it was difficult to get a half-decent image without reflections for her to use on her Instagram page. I thought it came out rather well – the print with the matting and framing. It’s hard to tell the colours, but the largest matt is a deep grey-blue-black, with the little interior section the colour of a deep rust brick.

Thank you for being with us today. Please take care. We will look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, screen captures, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, MP, PB, R’, SK Hideaways, Baiba, Fenwicke Island, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, Cal Falcons, Moorings Park ospreys, Sandpoint Ospreys, Niagara Bee Group, Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, Frenchman’s Creek, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Fischadlercam, Geemeff, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cornell RTH, Mlady Buky Stork Cam, Eagle Country, Severna Park, Deb Stecyk, and DirtGirl Designs.

*Disclaimer: I make every effort to identify and thank those who have provided information. If I have made an error or omission, please let me know so I can rectify it. Thank you.*

Tuffy smiling at the camera…Monday in Bird World

22 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Falling in love with Archie. His enthusiasm is contagious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Second egg for the new couple at Dahlgren.

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

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

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

Honoring-Queen-HarrietDownload

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

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

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

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

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

Cream-coloured-Courser-found-breeding-further-north-than-ever-before-BirdGuidesDownload

All About Birds shows this normal distribution map.

Key:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earth Day…Sunday in Bird World

21 April 2024

Good Morning,

Earth day is the 22nd of April but we have celebrations today across my City so that everyone can participate as Monday is not a holiday.

Today is Earth Day. It is a day for us to remember that conservation, sustainability, biodiversity, and working together to help create a healthier planet for our wildlife and us are paramount. There are many events and initiatives. “The 2024 theme for Earth Day, “Planet vs. Plastics”, calls to advocate for widespread awareness of the health risk of plastics, rapidly phase out all single-use plastics, urgently push for a strong global agreement on plastic pollution, and demand an end to fast fashion.” (Canada Gov). “For over 50 years, Earth Day has been celebrated across the planet as a way to educate the masses about the environment, enact conservation efforts, and promote action towards the environmental movement. It’s a day of action to adjust human behavior and create policy changes for the good of Mother Earth. The annual event is marked with a wide range of events that are coordinated globally by earthday.org—reaching 1 billion people in more than 193 countries!” (Pioneer Woman)

‘The Girls’ and I are working hard to completely end our use of plastics and continue to ‘forest’ our urban garden. This year we will be planting 5 native shrubs along with four new native trees. It only makes a dent. The City’s Million Dollar Tree Project has only planted 44,000 trees, and the City has been cutting down diseased trees to the point that neighbourhoods have lost their gorgeous ambience with the birds and squirrels losing homes. We can all help by doing our part – and often it is close to home. What will you be doing to celebrate Earth Day? I suggest a short walk or a sit outside!

Correction: At the Lake Murray Osprey Platform in 2023, the third hatch was the victim of siblicide. The older two were taken from the nest by the GHO.

Morning Updates to eggs and hatches: The first egg has been laid at Tweed Valley by Mrs O and FKO at 11:35. Likewise, Asha at RSPB Loch Garten has laid her first egg at 10:47. Flo and Harry at Alyth have egg three at 06:53 and the first hatch has happened overnight at Lake Murray in the US.

Dorcha has not been able to catch a break so far this season.

We have been watching several nests getting ready for hatch watch. We should be having pip/hatch watch for Big Red and Arthur at Cornell in a week. On Saturday Arthur spent a lot of time incubating the eggs before Big Red took over later in the day. I wonder if her leg is bothering her and if it helps to have Arthur there during the day since she has to be there all night and if the position over the eggs doesn’t put strain on that leg.

But what is happening at Captiva? The first egg is 42 days old today. Too late to hatch. That would make the second egg 39 days and well, if it was the one that was crushed and went into a bean shape, then that leaves us with eggs 3 and 4. Will they be viable? Egg 3 is 36 days and should pip right away and hatch soon I it is going to. It is late and some believe that no osprey eggs ever hatch this late on the Barrier Islands.

Moorings Park. Harry Delivered a Fish at 0907 much to the delight of Sally who chirped when she saw him approaching the nest.

Harry comes in with a second small fish at 1044 and Tuffy will get some bites this time. Fish were small. Hoping for larger ones.

Tuffy with his/her feathers coming in.

Harry brought in a nice big chunk of fish at 1412 and Tuffy did get some of that fish. Ruffie is being a bit of an agro.

Fish at 1648.

Tuffy had some first bites – for about seven minutes -.

Tuffy had a good day and notice in the last image how ‘healthy’ and how beautiful he is.

It is Sunday morning and Tuffy is enjoying breakfast.

E23 still likes to be a ‘nestling’ and F23 and M15 like having her/him at home. This nest is a very good reminder of how post-fledge should work – fledgling returns to nest, adults bring food, fledgling learns to fly better and strengthen their wings, fledgling observes and learns to hunt all the while being fed by adults.

Thankfully M15 and F23’s nest is reasonably secure but those GHOs did visit. The GHOs and Canada Geese are taking over the eagle and osprey nests at other sites. This situation is not good at Cape May Meadows as ‘H’ is watching for Hera to lay her first egg. GHOs are formidable enemies and are top Apex raptors. They have taken many osplets off nests and injured and killed other raptors. They might be ‘wise’ – all of our feathered friends are – but they are also dangerous, not soft and cuddly!

GHOs took over the Wolf Bay Osprey platform this year in Alabama. I thought there were two owlets but only one is on the nest and waiting for adults to deliver food. Do you follow this nest? Do you know what happened to the other owlet?

Late spring snows have been hitting the nests in and around Montana and Colorado.

This is Boulder County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

The snow is gone at Dunrovin and Swoop is on the nest with his potential new mate.

Three eggs at Clark PUD.

It is nice in Scotland and Blue NCO was right on time with her second egg.

There are now three eggs at the Foulshaw Moss nest of White YW and Blue 35 in the Lake District.

The cam at UFlorida-Gainesville is frozen. There has been rain or so it appears. Do we still have three osplets? Can’t tell. They are under Mum.

At Tweed Valley, it seems to be a bit of a nest swap.

I have been very worried about the fate of Black-Stork Karl II’s family since he was electrocuted in Turkey last fall on his migration south. I have contacted Maria Marika on Saturday and there is no news. She is also concerned about Kaia. The younger storks she tells me return to the north the end of April. I hope we have some news of Bonus and Waba. Last word on Bonus was his battery did not charge on 28 August 2023.

The Royal Albatross Centre asks us to imagine what it would be like if there were no albatrosses. Today, they are protected (have a read how this happened), but what will happen with warming seas and overfishing and if the long haul trawlers do not change the way they load their lines.

I was able to confirm from ‘VV’ that Star and Louis did return before Iris. For a moment I fantasied about whether or not, if Star had not returned, would Louis turn out to be a good mate and provide for Iris and any osplets. — Well, squash that idea.

Loch Garten. Impossible to tell if there are any eggs. Look at that nest!

Great Bay has three eggs. The last one was laid on the 19th of April.

I don’t know why, but I still worry about that tiny third hatch at Little Miami Conservancy.

Bonnie and Clyde’s two eagles at Cardinal Land Conservancy are doing quite well.

Oh, just look at them all lined up being so civilised. They have their Mohawks and are getting their pin feathers – these are the Majestic eaglets from Denton Homes near Decorah, Iowa.

Almost at the precise stage of development, the Decorah North eaglets are quickly losing the downy soft white plumage of their heads and their pin feathers are clearly noticeable.

It was raining in Texas. JBS20 was lured to the nest for a meal.

ND-LEEF eaglets are getting their thermal down and are doing well – it is so good to see so many healthy and well cared or.

Swampy is still on the nest but continues to branch higher and higher. S/he will take to the skies shortly. Let us all hope that Swampy returns to the nest over and over again like JBS20, E23, Cal, and the others who have survived this year to fly.

I realise that camera angles make objects appear larger or smaller depending on the position and angle. That said, just look at how large the eldest chick of Thunder and Akecheta is compared to Akecheta!

Andor and Cruz with their two eaglets. What a beautiful image.

Well, I will say it. I wish more food were coming to the Duke Farms nest for the two eaglets.

Sassa Bird reports that White-tail Eagle Milda, whose partner Hugo has disappeared, finally had a full crop after leaving the nest on Saturday to eat. The eggs were not harmed in her absence.

Have you seen this very informative 25 minute film about the White-tail Eagles in Latvia? Please watch! These are such beautiful and rare birds. It follows the life of the couple from nest building, to an egg tragedy, to a fledge.

Close monitoring of the nests and the eagles in Latvia gives researchers much information on these large raptors.

Latvijas-valsts-mezi-Monitoring-Shows-White-tailed-Eagle-Nesting-Success-This-YearDownload

The Bearded Tit is a gorgeous little bird. Do you know it?

Country-diary-Holding-our-breath-as-we-watch-the-bearded-tits-Environment-The-GuardianDownload

Thank you so very much for being with me today. We look forward to having you with us 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: ‘Geemeff, H, MM, SB, SP, VV’, Earthday.org, Geemeff, Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park Ospreys, SK Hideaways, Heidi MC, Wolf Bay, Boulder County, Dunrovin Ranch, Clark PUD, Colin Douglas, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainsville Osprey Cam, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Royal Albatross Centre, Montana Osprey Project, RSPB Loch Garten, Great Bay Ospreys, Little Miami Conservancy, Cardinal Land Trust, Denton Homes, Raptor Resource Project/Explore, JB Sands Wetlands, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, IWS/Explore, Duke Farms, Sassa Bird, the LDF, and The Guardian.

Spring, eggs, and Tuffy starts a fight…Thursday in Bird World

18 April 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I want to thank one of our readers from Japan, ‘AM’ who sent the most beautiful images they took of a Sparrow Hawk and a Warbling White-Eye. Notice the magnificent cherry blossoms! It is spring in Japan and I would so love to have been there to see these birds in person. Thank you ‘AM’ for sharing with us! This is a wonderful way to start our day!

If you are not familiar with the Japanese White-eye, please have a read. The Canon Bird Branch Project provides some good information.

Canon-Bird-Branch-Project-Biodiversity-Initiatives-Bird-photo-guide-Japanese-White-eyeDownload

I had a question today that many of you might also be wondering about so I thought I would post it. Thanks, ‘AJ’ for allowing me to. The question: “I had a question about the Meadow situation. From what I saw, it appeared that Meadow did not eat for about 48 hours. She was fed around 10am the morning of her fall and then not rescued until she fell off the branch, two mornings later. I was wondering if there is some law preventing them from intervening unless the eaglet has fallen to the ground?” This is an excellent question and will help us to understand the complexity of the situation that Meadow was in. First, the Migratory Bird Act does now allow for anyone to approach a nest in North America during the breeding season without a permit from USFWS. Rescuers can get a permit if the nest occupants have been injured due to a human action – such as fishing line. We saw this at Dale Hollow and other nests. Other instances include infections that might be of interest to the public. We saw this at SW Florida when the two eaglets E17 and 18 had conjunctivitis. Neither of those cases would apply here because Meadow was blown out of the nest. You might recall the images of Meadow on the branch close enough to the nest for some to believe that Meadow might have been fed by the parents there or that Meadow might have been able to scramble up to the nest. A permit to rescue Meadow at that particular position might not have been given for two reasons: Rescuers arriving via rope or cherry picker might have caused Meadow to fall further causing injury or death OR those same actions might have caused Swampy to bolt and be injured or killed. Great caution has to be exercised in a situation like this. Still a permit has to be obtained and there has to be individuals skilled to make this type of rescue. The trees are quite tall. I do not know the terrain so I cannot comment on what could have been used or if anything could have. Permits take time. Getting a rescue team together takes time as well as the equipment. It is possible that was being undertaken – we might never know. What we do know is that Meadow fell. No permit is required to rescue an eaglet on the ground. That was what was done at that time. This was a very sad situation and there will be continuing debates over what should or could have been done, why postings were worded the way they were, and whether or not the infection weakened Meadow’s system and how its bone broke. A real tragedy for a much-loved eaglet. —– Thank you for this great question.

The same act applies throughout North America – the main law is the 1994 Migratory Bird Act. At times there have been some changes but anyone approaching a nest with occupants must have a permit.

Migratory-Birds-Regulations-2022Download

It is such a relief to not have to worry about Tuffy. No more going to bed wondering if the little fella has to wait til nearly 1800 to eat or if he will be beaked continually. Now, we can sit back and watch Tuffy grow and that little bottom get even fatter. What a turn around – a wonderful event and, if we had not witnessed the struggle of this second hatch, we would not be finding the joy that we are now that the food competition appears to be over. Sally is a great Mum and all is well. Tuffy ate so much and is now enjoying a good sleep.

Tuffy had nice crops and could be found eating much of the time. Then Tuffy got all fired up and started a fight with Ruffie. ‘H’ is making a video. ‘PB’ posted a screen capture and I am adding a few more. It was a hilarious exchange. Watch Tuffy’s posture. The confidence is growing.

Meals are peaceful.

Big Bad Tuffy telling Ruffy he has had enough.

Here is Heidi’s video clip:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/605504046583864/permalink/1832483540552569

There was a surprise delivery of a fish tail at Moorings Park in the night caught by ‘H’. “4/18, At 0235 Harry made a somewhat clumsy landing on the nest in the dark.  He was holding a small fish tail.  It took the sleepy family a few moments to react.  Sally was like: Harry dear, do you have any idea what time it is? lol.  Lil’ Tuffy started chirping away.  Ruffie was slow to wake up.  Sally began to feed Tuffy some bites of fish at 0238, although Tuffy found it difficult to find Mom’s beak in the dark.  Tuffy had only eaten 3-4 bites of fish by 0239, when Ruffie inserted herself in between Sally and Tuffy, and Tuffy reflexively moved away.  Sally and Ruffie finished the fish tail by 0254.”

Cute little Tuffy. Seeing this baby getting bigger, chubbier’ is so nice.

The three osplets at Venice Golf and Country Club ate well on Wednesday.

Little Miami Conservancy third hatch 7 ate quite well on Wednesday.

There is incredible news coming out of Rutland Water. 1H1, the eldest of a clutch of all females of Blue 33 and Maya at Rutland in 2022 is in Germany! Now, did she meet a wonderful German osprey male during her wintering in West Africa that invited her to join him? Everyone is delighted. That clutch kept Blue 33 so busy – all big healthy females. You might remember it! I am in tears – tears of joy. I watched those three grow up and am so thrilled we know this one has survived. I look forward to seeing her chicks.

Did I ever tell you that Maya and Blue 33 are super Ospreys? No only do they set records for raising healthy chicks, but their return rate is going to shatter some records, also. Good DNA and good luck – that is what my friend Tiger Mozone says is needed. Well, this bird has both.

I posted the following on 2 July 2022 when 1H1 fledged!

A close up of the nest of Richmond and Rosie.

We might never know the fate of the two remaining osplets and the Mum (the Dad appears to be fishing fine) at the Frenchman’s Creek Osprey Platform. After the death by siblicide-starvation of the third hatch and observers questioning the health of the female, the streaming cam has gone black. Actually, it is completely removed from YouTube. Anyone who wrote to Frenchman’s Creek might have received a reply that this is only a technical glitch.

It is like you have never seen it before! Beautiful done footage of the nest of Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig before the birds returned by the Woodland Trust (on X, thanks, Geemeff). Some screen captures:

It is snowing in Missoula, Montana and Iris has been at her nest. Louis came over to pay a visit. Now I know that many are going to be upset with me, but I would like to think that Louis will give Iris some attention, she will lay the eggs and then the Crows will eat them because Louis is busy with Star at the baseball field. Then Iris will go of and have a very leisurely summer catching award-winning size trout and warming herself in the sun. As someone said, maybe we have Louis to thank for Iris’s longevity. She has not had the stress of raising osplets since 2018. I hope she has a lovely serene spring and summer and returns to us again in 2025 to have all of this repeated again.

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Iris shows us just how good she is. She brings one of her whoppers to the owl pole late Wednesday.

It is snowing in Colorado at the Dunrovin Ranch and Swoop is at the nest with his new mate. They probably wished they had waited a few days to return to the north!

Snow at Charlo Montana but it melted later in the day.

First egg at Boulder County Fairgrounds.

No eggs at Crooked Lake, yet.

Jack and Edie exchange incubation duties at Captiva. You can still see the bean shaped egg. We wait to see if any of the other eggs are viable. We are on hatch watch.

After her incredible reporting on the Moorings Park nest, ‘H’ is back monitoring all manner of other Osprey nests and brings us this news to be aware of this morning:

“At Captiva, Edie was listening to the eggs some more yesterday (4/17), but so far no pip seen in the IR lighting tonight.  

Steve and Callie are both back at Hog’s Island.  They may not actually use the Hog Island on-cam nest, but it will be a pleasant surprise if they do.  Last season they simply protected the nest, and may have used another nest on the Island.  

Oscar and Olivia at Severna Park have been bringing a lot of soft grasses to line the center of the nest, as well as a few clothing items, lol.  Perhaps eggs soon.

Today is day 35 for egg #1 at Lake Murray, I don’t know if Lucy delayed incubation.”

Trudi Kron caught JBS20 returning to the nest in Texas in video:

JBS20 continues to return to the nest for prey. You want to see this: the chick fledges and returns to the nest. They might not do it immediately, but you want to see them return and follow their parents to the nest. Fantastic. Thank you ‘AE’.

The trio at Centreport seem to be doing well as per the post and image by Robert Schwartz. So happy!

Nothing sweeter than watching Liberty and Guardian with their eaglets.

Their dream of a family this year might have shattered, but Jackie and Shadow are as strong a bonded pair as ever. They dreamed, they hoped, they persevered. Now they are moving on. Good lessons for all of us.

Ask me how much I admire Isabella Tree and the rewinding of Knepp Farm and the return of the White Storks – you will get an earful and more.

Buky and Beth are incubating their eggs. The first one was laid on 7 April. Oh, we have 33-34 days on average to hatch so mark your calendars for 10-11 of May. Gosh, we are going to have some osplets hatching then, too!

There is a Black Stork at Nest 3 in Estonia. Is there a mate? And who is this stork? The nest in Estonia was found and a camera installed in 2022. According to Looduskalender :

“Nest site is situated in Pärnu county, near wind farm development area. That was the reason to track Kergu, male stork who nested here last year, as well as reason to install webcam. There are proposed some mitigation measures, like preparing better feeding conditions in other sectors of home range. Hopefully results of those measures will be visible also through webcam in time. The measures are at the moment in planning stage, yet. So if somebody has ideas for mitigation measures in that situation, those would be valuable to analyse in current situation.

Kergu has rings (incl. left leg 7047) since childhood, he has been ringed in 2011 as one of three chicks in nest situated about 10 km of current Kergu nest. Three chicks fledged in Kergu nest in 2022 and they were in good condition during ringing. Female in this nest we did not know, most probably she was without of rings. In 2023, here we did not see female in nest. Kergu refreshed nest properly, few times neighbour male Nurme visited the nest as well as not ringed immature individuals. But in general Kergu was in nest alone, listening neighbour bird species, like woodland owls, passerines, etc.”

A close up confirms that this is indeed the male Kergu 7047 at the nest.

In Latvia, we have, according to Sassa Bird, the hope for the couple Ogris and Urga at this nest of the former Jan and Janikka. Black Storks are so very rare in Latvia and Estonia and the loss of Karl II (and perhaps Kaia and the others, also) makes any presence of the Black Stork such a special rarity. I see below the nest a full stream which could provide frogs and little fishes for a family here. It would be wonderful if this happens. (Note: Please correct me if any of this information is wrong).

Want to know how to identify White-tail eagles in the UK?

White-tailed-eagle-guide-how-to-identify-and-where-to-see-in-the-UK-Countryfile.com_Download

Missing little falcons? The four are getting fed at Osaka!

Hawk Mountain’s first migration chart. They note, “The damp start to April has made for challenging migration, and counting, conditions. Low cloud ceilings and persistent rain kept our spring trainees off the rocks for the first three days of the season! In between showers and fog, the trainees have counted 302 raptors through April 15th. Highlights from the 14 species of raptors seen from the lookout include a sub-adult golden eagle observed April 11th and migratory bald eagles and ospreys dodging the local bald eagle pair. The first broadwing of the season passed the lookout on April 5, and numbers have been gradually increasing with 54 broadwings observed on April 15 giving the current high-count placeholder at 74 migrants. During the solar eclipse, clouds marred the 95% coverage, but the lookout continued to count sharp-shinned hawks migrating throughout the window.”

If you missed it, this man has spent decades recording the sounds and he knows the birds are disappearing.

‘These-birds-are-telling-us-something-serious-is-happening-the-songbirds-disappearing-from-BritainDownload

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

Thank you to the following or their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘AE, AJ, AM, Geemeff, H, MB, MM, PB, SB, SK, TK’, AM, Canon Bird Branch Project, Government of Canada, Moorings Park Ospreys, Pam Breci, Heidi Mc, VGCCO, Little Miami Conservancy, LRWT, The Woodland Trust, SF Bay osprey, Montana Osprey Project, Bird Watchers General Store, Dunrovin Ranch, Owl Research Project/Explore, Boulder County, Timothy Dygert Live Stream, Window to Wildlife, Hog Island Ospreys, Severna Park, Trudi Kron, Rob Schwartz, SK Hideaways, Knepp White Stork Cam, Mlade Buky, Looduskalender, Eagle Club of Estonia, LDF, BBC Countryfile, Osaka Peregrine Falcons, Hawk Mountain, and The Guardian.