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.
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.
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.
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.
We woke up to a little more snow Friday morning after the rain and snow mixed on Thursday. It is quite cool at 0 degrees C today compared to other days, and it is quite windy. That snow continued on and off during the day and has now accumulated late Friday night. I feel for the birds who do not know if it is winter or spring. They do better in the snow than in the rain as some of the food does not get sloppy and wet. There were hundreds and hundreds today and south of where I live, people had hundreds of Robins on their lawns pulling up worms!
I should introduce new readers to some of the garden animals so they know who I am constantly mentioning.
Dyson is the matriarch of the Grey Squirrel family. She is named after the inventor of the famous vacuum cleaner because of her skill in ‘sucking up peanuts’ faster than anyone! She is at least five years old; my diary tells me seven. Last year, she had three kits. They still come to the garden. She is much adored and has her own fan club! She is extremely healthy this spring. I love how her little fingers cup the small Black-oil seed and peanuts.
Little Red lived in our garden shed until it had to be torn down for the conservatory two years ago. I tried to build him a new house. Then we purchased a special squirrel house from Finland – Little Red didn’t like it and then Dyson ate the wood around the hole so she could get in and eat the peanuts I had placed in there to lure Little Red. Little Red was always alone. Then Miss Little Red arrived and well, now we have at least four Reds living in and about the garden.
A baby?
There are also Mr and Mrs Blue Jay, who are the parents of Junior, who had his little jays starting two years ago. He does not migrate, and last summer, we had two Blue Jay families living within 10 metres of the garden. The fledglings arrived and ate at the feeders. There are currently six Blue Jays around. I cannot wait for this summer. The garden could be filled with Blue Jays!!!!! Their colours are so magnificent, and the white pattern on the tip of their tails is different for each one – that is how I identify them. Junior’s feathers are a bit of a mess right now. It looks like he has been in a fight, as it seems a bit early for moulting. Indeed some of the feathers appear broken.
Then there is Mr and Mrs Downy, Mr and Mrs Hairy, and Mr Pileated that come throughout the day. I caught Mrs Downy on the suet this afternoon.
The European Starlings are having a feast in the large table feeder. Today they seem to be attracted to the suet while the squirrels – both Dyson and the three kits from last summer – and the two little Reds – forage for peanuts. I have not seen the Blue Jays so far and it is 1322 Friday afternoon.
Four cats bring me more joy than anyone could ever imagine. Missey arrived with Lewis on 2 November 2022; they were adopted from the Humane Society, which takes in stray cats and kittens. Sadly, we lost Lewis in September 2023. Calico lived in the garden and was dumped as a kitten (or so it seems). I lured her into being friends in the winter of 2023 and then once she had her kittens – only one survived (Baby Hope) – they moved into the house. It was quite the ordeal tracking her and then hoping the kitten would find us (it had left their nest and was eight weeks old). The most recent addition is Hugo Yugo, who is a rescue. Her mother was starved when she was carrying her seven kittens. As a consequence, Hugo Yugo continues to be the size of an 8-10 week old kitten despite the fact that she is now eight and a half months old. She was supposed to be a male but turned out to be a Ginger Female (only 20% of Gingers are female). She is a character. I would not part with any of them. They create a life around me that is like a symphony.
Missey has been talking to the Dark-eyed Juncos through the window and Hugo Yugo along with Calico and Baby Hope went into a food coma and have yet to surface.
Mamma Calico and Baby Hope. They posed. I could not believe it. My heart just stops every time I see them together – and they are like this most of the day unless eating or playing. Inseparable. Calico raised Hope. She would come and eat and run back to take care of her quickly. Hope was the healthiest feral kitten I had ever seen. Calico did a superb job. Cannot imagine them living on the streets.
And for those wondering who I am, well, I am a Retired Professor who has undertaken a long-term study of siblicide on Osprey nests. Last year, I increased the number of eggs observed to 341 with ‘H’. This year, we are aiming for 500. The results will be published when we have good annual comparisons – starting with 2 years and then moving next to 5 years. In 2023, many chicks were lost due to a Nor-eastern in the Chesapeake Bay Area and overfishing of the Menhaden. Perhaps that will not happen this year. I am not desensitised to the tragic events on the nests that have deaths – I take each one pretty hard. It is the joy of seeing the chick we might believed would perish thrive – to wonder at their perseverance, determination, and cleverness. Ultimately, I would like to see if these beaten chicks that do survive the nest to fledge have a higher return rate in the second year. Sadly, due to the fact that so few nests band their osplets, it is impossible to determine.
I want everyone to enjoy nature. To marvel at how beautiful the world is right outside our own windows and to realise how important it is to get out and breathe the air and listen to the birdsong. Life is stressful and it is one proven way to calm ourselves down!
Friday was a day for egg laying…I continue to tell everyone to mark their calendars. That third week in May is going to be a very busy one.
On Friday afternoon, 19 April, Dorcha was injured in an encounter with a large raptor—a golden eagle or a Sea Eagle—at Loch Arkaig. According to Geemeff, Ravens were escorting the large raptor out of the area when Dorcha got involved. Dorcha returned to the nest at 1501 with scratches, blood, and an injured leg.
The injuries to the right leg – it looks like a large puncture to me – can clearly be seen when Dorcha gets up from incubating her egg when Louis brings her a fish.
Poor Dorcha. She was due to lay her third egg and she did at 02:26 Saturday morning, the 20th of April. Hard incubation should begin.
I am expecting the third egg if there is to be one at Loch of the Lowes today, the 20th.
All eyes are on the eggs of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus anxiously awaiting the sign of the first pip.
Positively nothing at the nest of Angel and Tom. Is Tom missing? ‘A’ seems to think he is.
At Eagle Country, Swampy is going higher on the natal nest tree. S/he will fledge shortly. What a seemingly strong and healthy eaglet.
Tuffy had a Good Friday. Harry delivered a huge Tilapia at 0941 at the Moorings Park nest on Friday. Tuffy was in and out of the feeding, but by 1055 was finished and had a nice crop!
Tuffy has had big crops all Friday. This little one is eating well.
Later than the image above, after another fish. Harry must have an excellent spot to land these whoppers…
A fish arrived at 1423. Tuffy had a nice crop at the end of that meal, too!
Tuffy had a crop when the 1602 fish arrived. He looked but didn’t bother to go over and eat. He was full already.
A little bit of a fish came at 1831..Tuffy even got some!
It ‘feels’ like Tuffy and Ruffie have done nothing but eat all day. Each time I go and check Tuffy is up at the beak. If this little one continues to eat this much fish per day, we will have to change the middle letters of its name from ‘F’ to ‘B’. Sssshhhh. Don’t say it out loud. We don’t want to give the second hatch a complex. All kidding aside, Tuffy did really well on Friday. In fact, both were so full that Sally got to finish off a nice fish as the sun was setting on the nest.
First egg for Cowlitz PUD is 18 April! Love these folks. They put up metal fish grates to protect the osplets from being taken by the Bald Eagles!
Egg #1 or Bruce and Naha at Seaside on the 18th of April, too!
We have an egg at Oyster Bay on Long Island.
‘H’ reports: “Opal did it again…she laid the 4th egg at 17.46.” I caution new observers that this is a tough nest to watch if all eggs hatch and fish deliveries are few. Siblicide warning.
All three chicks at the Venice Golf and Country club platform look fine.
The camera has gone black again at Frenchman’s Creek. Now it is only listed as Private so I presume residents only that wish to sign up. We will sadly never know the fate of the two older osplets. I hope that they continue to self feed and that someone from Frenchman’s Creek will let us know if they fledge.
All three eaglets at Little Miami Conservancy have nice crops on Friday.
Snow on Finland’s Osprey nests.
Egg three at Llyn Clywedog nest of Seren and Dylan arrives on the 19th as well.
‘L’ reports: “New female at Charlo is OJ (Wakati) from 2018 Dunrovin nest. She’s got her leg banded.” This might get interesting. Happy for you Charlie if Charlotte does not show up!
Lucy and Kenny’s three eggs at Lake Murray Ospreys. For new viewers, a GHO took all three chicks off this nest in 2023. Former mate, Ricky died and difficult for Mum to feed, hunt, and offer security.
Iris was at her nest in Missoula, Montana on Friday.
It is hard to believe that these two are Liberty and Guardian’s little eaglets.
Lots of soft bedding for the two tiny eaglets at Fort St Vrain – and a good thing, too, as the snow began to fall Friday evening.
Port Tobacco’s only eaglet appears to be doing just dandy!
Do you have a dream to see the geese that winter in the UK? Before the climate changes so much that they stay in Greenland and Siberia? Here is a file to help you identify them. It is on my bucket list!
To my knowledge, all nests are doing well. The snow has again started, and I am behind in my data entry. I will check on some of the eagle nests tomorrow, along with what is happening at our hawk and osprey nests. Take care everyone. Thank you for being with us today.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, L, PB’, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Cornell RTH Cam, Window to Wildlife, Eagle Country, Moorings Park, Cowlitz PUD, Seaside, PSEG, Forsythe Osprey Cam, VGCCO, Little Miami Conservancy, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Charlo Montana, Lake Murray Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, FORE, XCel Energy, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, BBC Countryfile, and Audubon.
*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to acknowledge those that provide information and material for my posting. If I have failed to credit someone, please do let me know so that I can correct this. Thank you,’
It rained. The skies opened up late Tuesday night. I stood outside and listened to the drops falling; the wet earth’s smell was amazing. It is supposed to rain periodically on and off until Thursday, when things will change to a mix of rain and snow. We are finally getting the moisture that the prairies need, and it is wonderful. The grass will turn green immediately! The geese will have something to eat besides the dead blades they have been living on for weeks. The Robins will be busy pulling the worms out of the soil tomorrow. I wonder if the Starlings will join them? Or the Brown Thrashers? It will be interesting to see how ‘The Girls’ react when I open the windows a bit so they can get a sniff.
Today’s news is mixed. ‘H’ and I are celebrating the triumphs of Tuffy at Moorings Park and new Osprey eggs while another Osprey nest is struggling to survive, and our dear Meadow has died. I do not want to get desensitised to the struggles and the deaths, and I do not want you to either. Last year, significant declines in osprey fledges were observed, especially in the NE USA. This year, we see low numbers of eaglets fledging on the streaming cams. This impact will not be noticed for a couple of years, but it could be substantial in terms of the declining population numbers of these raptors. At the same time, we must celebrate those that survive. Remember those that we have lost or the ones struggling. Find the joy because it is there. On the day that Meadow died, Swampy branched. S/he looks very healthy. Others laid eggs, and Tuffy continued to eat without much interference.
What can I say? Devastating news coming out of Audubon. Meadow was euthanised. The stated reason was fractures to the wing as in the announcement below and poor condition. On the 8th of April, Audubon put out a post stating that they had not found any breaks or fractures. Everyone is quite sad about this and felt encouraged that Meadow would recover. I wonder if he damaged his wings while flapping about in care?
‘H’ did the first-morning feeding and turned the rest of the day over to me to monitor. I hope to do half as good a job as she does! Tuffy had an extraordinary day on Monday. This nest has turned around because of the regular deliveries of large fish and the willingness of Sally to feed her chicks continually throughout the day.
Tuffy had a very good Monday morning. The smallest chick at Moorings Park dominated the first feeding. At 10:20 a large whole fish was delivered by Harry. Tuffy still had a crop from the earlier feeding. Sally begins eating the head of the fish while Ruffy moves into position. Tuffy stays away. Tuffy is intimidated by both Ruffy’s presence and position but is not beaked. Ruffy dominates the entire first part of the feeding. Tuffy tries to get into a position to be fed but cannot. Sally is obviously hungry and fighting with the head of the fish. At 1045 Tuffy does an excellent PS. The little one begins to move. Tuffy gets bite 2 at 1046. Sally tries to give bites to Tuffy but Ruffy moves to get in the way. Tuffy cannot position itself. At 1048 there is still fish and Tuffy begins its private feeding while Ruffy is in food coma under Sally’s tail in the shade. Our little Tuffy managed to get 227 bites of fish at this second feeding. Well, done, Tuffy, for waiting your time. It was a large fish – plenty for all three!
The third fish of the day was a headless large fish delivered at 1252. Harry stayed on the nest for a few minutes. Today Ruffie is 25 days old and Tuffy is 22 days old. They are exiting the Reptilian phase and that could easily account for the more peaceful nest. At 1253 Ruffie had an excellent PS. Tuffy stays back from the feeding at the beginning. He has a large crop. Ruffie goes to eat. Indeed, Tuffy does not appear interested! At 1259 Tuffy begins to move. Ruffie notices and moves her head but does not beak. Tuffy moves closer to Mum at the back of the tail. Tuffy is positioning himself. At 1301, Tuffie has a second excellent PS for the morning. Ruffie moves away and Tuffie is in position to have its first bite at 1303. There is a nice portion of tail remaining. By 1305 Tuffy had 32 bites of fish. Mum is feeding fast. By 1310 Tuffy has had 78 big bites of fish and has turned away. Ruffie moves up to eat again. Eats its fill and Sally gets to enjoy that nice fish tail. Both of the osplets have eaten very well by 1320 on Monday with no physical aggression from Ruffie to Tuffy. Oh, Tuffie gets more. At 1328, he got 14 more bites so a total of 92 good bites of fish for the third feeding of the day. Well done, Tuffy! Those excellent ‘ps’ demonstrate this chick is not dehydrated and is doing well. This nest is changing for the better.
The fourth fish was a slightly headless sheepshead – gosh, which are tough fish for these mums to feed. That fish arrived at 1520. Both Ruffie and Tuffy have big crops. Ruffie is not interested. Tuffy gets right up to the table to eat. Sally cannot feed the fish quickly, and Tuffy is often impatient and picks up pieces of dropped fish from the moss to eat while he waits. Tuffy was fed until 1539, when he had eaten approximately 1/3 of the fish and was quite full, moving away so that Ruffie could have some fish. No aggression was shown during the feeding. Sally was still getting the meat off that fish at 1640! Tuffy never returned to the table.
The fifth fish arrives in 1811 and is a large half-fish. Tuffy is right up there. Ruffy moves to the table, but Tuffy keeps eating. Then, at 1814, Ruffy takes exception hovering over Tuffy to force him into submission. Rufy gets fed, but Tuffy is back up at the table eating from 1829 to 1839. At 1842, Tuffy did an enormous PS right over the edge of the nest! The fish is done around 1843. I did not count bites. It was obvious that all was well despite the single incidence of domination. The two have eaten very well today.
The sixth fish arrived at 1939. It was a partial large Sheepshead. Both osplets were up at the beak. Ruffy ate until Tuffy began at 1946. Tuffy was fed until 1953 when Sally quit feeding. There is lots of fish on the nest. Both osplets had full crops at bedtime.
Sally decided to have a late night snack without the kids!
Tuffy’s ‘ps’. This excellent poop shot going well over the edge of the nest is a testament to Tuffy’s good eating and health over the past day. ‘H’ and I are going to stop counting bites as long as things remain stable on the nest. Tuffy is going to survive this. Both osplets are getting their feathers and I will probably say it several times – they are growing out of the Reptilian Phase and we would expect the aggression to be ceasing as long as Harry continues to provide this level of fish and their regularity.
*Caution*. I continue to worry about the Mum at Frenchman’s Creek. There are still fish piled on the nest. She fed one chick and stopped. The big one is trying to self-feed. This Mum is not lazy, she is ill. I believe it is possible that she has Trichomonosis. It causes severe damage to the tissues of the mouth, throat, crop and esophagus and affected birds may drool saliva, regurgitate food, have difficulty in swallowing food and water, demonstrate laboured breathing and/or have a swollen neck or throat. Several ospreys have died because of this including the Mum at Janakkala Osprey nest in Finland. The Dad piled fish on the nest and the two osplets tried to self-feed. One survived if my memory serves me correctly. The fourth eyas at the CBD in Melbourne died from this disease.
The older osplet is attacking the smaller one. Sheer frustration. Nest full of fish and chicks starving. Mum ill. Very sad.
Older osplets desperately trying to feed themselves in a nest full of fish. Little one has been beaked – leaning over top of nest. Has not eaten for a couple of days and will likely die shortly unless a miracle happens.
Mum is feeding the two older chicks this morning. The third chick is close to dying and by the time you read this will probably have passed.
The ospreys are into hard incubation at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home with three eggs in the nest.
Only 5 goslings survived the leap of faith at the Decorah Goose Nest on Monday morning between 0802-0804. Believe it or not, another goose rushed to the nest and began laying eggs at 1030! It is quite a year. The Goose eggs are expected to hatch on Nest 2 in about a week.
Here is the live cam from Nest 1.
More Osprey eggs laid in the UK On Monday.
CJ7 and Blue 022 laid their first egg at Poole Harbour at 1540 on Monday. Congratulations!
Harry and Flora laid their first egg at Alyth at 1101.
Idris and Telyn have their second egg of the season at Dyfi at 0801 precisely 72 hours after their first egg was laid.
Audacity and Jak had another egg laid today at Sauces Canyon. The time was 14:55. You can see the flattened thin-shelled egg below in the image. So sad for them.
A little branching but both feet were off the nest bowl for Swampy at Eagle country at 1524 on Monday.
Both eaglets at Duke Farms are little boys. I don’t think this is a big surprise. Their aggression was only limited to a bit of time when prey was scarce.
Wichita and Cheyenne are doing fine at the Kansas City Bald Eagle nest.
It was difficult to tell how much prey the third hatch at Little Miami Conservancy received today. This nest could warrant a *caution* in watching for now.
Johnson City eaglets are big and doing great.
It looks hot on that Osprey platform at the University of Florida at Gainesville. Stella and Talon still have three osplets! What a nice sight to see as I have missed checking on them for a couple of days. The difference between the first and third hatch had me worried, but so far, so good.
Big Red and Arthur’s eggs were laid from the 17-26 of March. The average period for Red-tail Hawks to hatch is normally between 28-35 days, according to most of the guides. Last year, Big Red’s first egg hatched on the 37th day. I have tried to avoid the nervous energy of an expectant auntie….but we are entering the time when we can all get excited.
First Bald Eagle Hatch at White Rock in British Columbia, Canada announced today by Hancock Wildlife that oversees the nest.
The fourth and I believe final egg at the Peregrine Falcon nest in Japan has hatched. Just look at the size difference. It will be a joy to watch that little one catch up.
A glimpse of a day with Hartley and Monty in San Jose.
Smile. Bradley returns with another Puffer! Oh, he reminds me of Ervie.
And another reason to smile. Murphy who incubated a rock and got an eaglet to raise last year will get another chance this year. How wonderful. It is a win-win!
Concerns for White-tailed eagle Milda this year as her mate Hugo has not been seen for four days. She has protected the nest of eggs from intruders but needs desperately to eat. This so reminds me of the year Ramis was killed. Milda, go eat!
For all the lovers of our gal Iris at Hellgate Canyon, a young male visited her nest yesterday and tried mating with our gal. Keep your eye on that nest!
That’s it for today. I spent my day watching Tuffy which was a sheer delight after the news of Meadow. Please take care. Thank you for being with us.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘H, PB’, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Moorings Park Ospreys, Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys, Raptor Resource Project/Explore Decorah Goose Cam, Poole Harbour Osprey Project, SSEN Alyth Osprey Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, IWS/Explore, Eagle Country, Duke Farms, Farmer Derek Kansas City Bald Eagle nest, Johnson City-ETSU, UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey Cam, Cornell Red-tail Hawk Cam, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, the Japanese Peregrine Falcon Cam in Osaka, SK Hideaways, Port Lincoln Ospreys, World Bird Sanctuary, Raine and LDF, and BirdGuides.
And now for some really good news before we even begin. Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig have their first egg of the season! Thanks, Geemeff. This is a good nest to watch. Louis is an excellent provider although they have had their tragedies and triumphs in the past couple of years.
JBS20 fledged this morning without an issue at 08:09:10. The wind was blowing and the eaglet was antsy. Perfect form. Mum waits for the return.
It is nearing 1700 on Saturday on the Canadian Prairies when I start writing this post. I am sitting on my deck basking in the blue sky, the sounds of the songbirds in the garden, and not knowing what to think of the 20 C temperature. It is, by and large, summer.
Baby Hope is looking more and more like Mamma Calico every day. Hope just chills on the back of the sofa in the Conservatory (or glass room as we seem to be calling it) while the others try for the best spot at the open window to smell the fresh air and listen to the birds.
Mamma got to be Queen for a Day.
Of course, Hugo Yugo has the best seat in the house. I would like to give some of Hugo Yugo’s attitude to our little second and third hatches. She has never taken any ‘gruff’ from the bigger and older cats. She just pushes her way in there and gets what she wants — and she never looks them in the eye. First rule to being a little eaglet or an osplet- do not look the older one in the eye when they are in a mood.
The arrivals in the garden today include House Finches, Song Sparrows, Northern Flickers, and Cedar Waxwings to add to the Crows, European Starlings, Grackles, House Sparrows, Blue Jays, and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.
I walked along the river, and I was unsure whether to believe my eyes. I did not have my camera with the long lens with me. Still, it looked like a family of Hooded Mergansers. This seriously cannot be possible. The Wood Ducks just arrived at the park. In fact, today I managed to go for a long, long walk at the nature centre and a stroll around St Vital Park to welcome the Wood Ducks while scowling at the water quality and the fact that with no rain, the pond is drying up. Is there a way and a will for our City to fill it? Then, it was a walk down the path by the river with a lovely ice cream cone.
Nothing is green except for a few patches of grass, here and there. I watched five Robins pulling worms from an area where it had rained. What a beautiful sight. Seeing Robins – for me, anyway – is a rare occurrence. They hardly ever come to the garden and – wow, there were five!
Some of the geese have discovered they like bird seed.
These geese were trying to find some plants to eat under the dry grasses.
The geese were particularly aggressive to one another at the park.
The waterfowl in the river. They turned out to be Common Goldeneyes. The ones with the white patch are the males. These are divers not dabblers. They arrive in Manitoba in late March and will migrate in November.
As you can see, I took my own advice and stayed outside most of the day. Going for a walk and stopping to just notice our environment is a good way to relieve any kind of stress. I hope you will get outside soon, too! — As a result, my post is rather short today. There is no news on Meadow and I am going to assume that the old saying applies – “no news is good news”.
It has been a hard week at the nests – well, it has been a difficult season, and it isn’t over. We often think that if there is only one chick on a nest that it will have an easy life, but that is not always the case. Little B17 showed us that. The nests get damp, there is mould, there are diseases, intruders, lack of prey and loss of habitat -. A very good nest can change over night and become a tragedy. Likewise, a nest that is in trouble, can turn around. A good example of that is Duke Farms this year. We can only hope that all goes well especially for those little third hatches. One nest that still hangs in the balance is Moorings Park – if you are concerned about beaking, do not watch this nest at this time. Give it a week – let us hope that the aggression will end with the transition out of the Reptilian Phase.
But all is not negative. There are so many good nests out there to watch but, for now, ‘H’ and I are keeping track of Moorings Park and any potential Osprey nests with conflict because that is what we do. For those new to watching Ospreys, I would caution against Moorings Park for the time being – give it another week and let’s see what happens.
At Moorings Park poor little Tuffy got really beaten by Ruffy on Saturday. Ruffy reminds me of Zoe. I cannot shake her from my head but the brutal attacks on Tuffy that ‘H’ documents below when there is plenty of fish and Ruffy is full to the tip of its beak reminds me too much of that first hatch Osprey at Port Lincoln that killed her two siblings. I hope Ruffy grows out of this attitude. — Please read ‘H’s’ narrative of the day. We must find that golden lining and it does come to Tuffy on Saturday. And just a note. The research that I have done alone and over the past two years with ‘H’ has demonstrated that on average an osplet can live (stay alive but not thrive) on about 100 good bites of fish a day when a nest is stressed. As today’s title suggests, Tuffy got much more than that today.
So, thank you again, ‘H’ for your great eye and constant vigilance: “At 0929 Harry delivered the first fish of the day, a huge whole tilapia, and Ruffie intimidated Tuffy to the side rails, but also followed him and beaked him. The size of the fish almost ensured that Tuffy would get fed eventually. Sally started to work on the fish, and at 0932 Ruffie started to eat. At 0947 Ruffie took a little break just to go over and beak Tuffy. Ruffie also periodically went half way over to Tuffy just to intimidate and warn him. At 1019 Ruffie went all the way to the rail to beak Tuffy. At 1023 Ruffie moved away from the table. Tuffy began to make his way to Sally, but had to get past Ruffie first…Tuffy didn’t make it, Ruffie beaked him and then she ate some more. At 1025 Ruffie moved away from Sally again, and Tuffy shuffled toward Sally, and got his first fish bite, but was intimidated by Ruffie and Ruffie ate some more. By 1029 Ruffie had moved further away from Sally creating a wider swath for Tuffy to traverse without having to come too close to Ruffie. Once at the table, Tuffy ate two more bites, but Ruffie beaked him and then she ate some more. At 1031 Ruffie backed away, and there was still a lot of the fish remaining. Tuffy got another bite to eat, and Ruffie attacked him brutally, beaking and biting him on his head, neck and wing. Ruffie ate some more until 1035, and then moved away. Tuffy stayed tucked in submission and Sally was the only one eating. Finally, at 1037 Tuffy tried to get closer to Sally, but Ruffie intimidated him, and Ruffie ate some more. The same scenario repeated at 1038. I noticed at that time, when Tuffy was tucked that his head had a small bloody spot, the back of his neck was red, and there was a pink area on his wing. Harry landed on the nest at 1039 due to an intruder issue. At 1041, Tuffy raised up and finally got another bite of fish, and he received several fish bits before Ruffie intimidated him, and Ruffie ate some more. At that point Tuffy had only eaten 9 bites of fish since the fish was delivered over an hour ago. At 1044 Ruffie moved away, and it just so happened that Sally turned slightly so that Tuffy was on the other side of her from Ruffie. Tuffy ate and ate! He had eaten a total of 74 bites by 1050, when Sally shifted, and Tuffy was once again exposed to Ruffie. When Ruffie saw Tuffy eating, she charged and intimidated him. There was still a lot of fish left, and Ruffie ate some more. Sounding like a broken record… At 1058 Ruffie moved away, Tuffy ate a few bites, then was intimidated by Ruffie, and Ruffie ate some more. When Ruffie moved away, Tuffy got a few more bites until 1102, when he was intimidated by Ruffie. This time Ruffie did not eat, but simply went away. Go now Tuffy… Tuffy was getting fed, but slowly because Sally was spending a lot of time pulling on fish skin… “feed faster please Sally!” By 1104 Tuffy had eaten 94 bites before being intimidated by Ruffie. Ruffie ate, and moved away at 1106. Then Tuffy ate again. At 1109 Ruffie intimidated Tuffy into a tuck, and Ruffie ate a few bites. When Tuffy resumed eating Sally was feeding faster. Tuffy had eaten 150 bites by 1114; 190 bites by 1119. Then Sally labored pulling on fish skin again… “please hurry up Sally, stuff the kid as fast as you can before Ruffie comes back!” Tuffy had eaten 217 bites by 1122, but then Sally began intruder-alarming, and she jumped up and accidentally landed on Tuffy. Harry arrived. 1123: “get up Tuffy, the intruder is gone”… but he stayed down. Was he hurt? Whew, 1124 Tuffy got up and resumed eating. Ruffie was still laying down across the nest. Tuffy had eaten 230 bites by 1126. At that time, Harry quickly flew off the nest after an intruder, and so did Sally, and she took the fish with her! Ah, but she immediately returned to the nest and still had the fish. Tuffy resumes eating at 1127. Ruffie was still too full to move, and had not been a problem since 1109. At 1129 this was now a two-hour feeding and Tuffy had eaten 250 bites of fish. 1129 there was another intruder issue, Harry was back, Tuffy pancaked. Feeding of Tuffy resumed at 1130, and by 1133 Tuffy had eaten a total of 265 bites of fish… at which time the live stream went down. There was still a little bit of fish remaining at that time.
…The live stream returned 40 minutes later at 1211, and Sally was feeding Ruffie from part of a fish. In my opinion, there had not been ’40 minutes of fish’ remaining on the earlier fish. I would estimate the previous fish would have only lasted about another 10 minutes or so. I wonder if Harry had delivered a small headless fish while the live stream was offline. At any rate, we returned live to find Tuffy on the furthest rail sticks, about as far as he could go without falling off the nest. It was obvious that he had been forced into into that precarious position. And, he was boxed in by the positions of Sally and Ruffie feeding right behind him. At 1219 Sally moved the fish and Ruffie followed, allowing Tuffy a space to climb back into the nest. This kid sure has a difficult life! Tuffy circumnavigated the perimeter of the nest attempting to come around the other side of Sally, but as he got near, he was cut off by Ruffie. By 1226 Tuffy was beside Mom and got two bites, then was intimidated by Ruffie. Another bite of fish, then Ruffie was on him, and a couple more bites and was intimidated by Ruffie who was no longer eating but was stationed right at Tuffy’s tail. At 1231 Ruffie ate some more. At 1237 Ruffie finally moved away, and Tuffy was fed. Tuffy had eaten 32 bites by 1241, and then Ruffie charged in front of Sally to beak Tuffy. Sally and Ruffie finished the fish, and Sally fed Tuffy a couple scraps later. Total for Tuffy at this meal (that we observed) was 34 bites of fish. Because of Tuffy’s position on the nest when the live stream returned, he was most likely forced to the nest edge by Ruffie, and I doubt that Tuffy had anything to eat from this fish while the live stream was down.
…At 1605 Harry dropped off a headless, medium sized fish. Ruffie began to be fed and Tuffy stayed away, waiting his turn. At 1610 Ruffie intimidated Tuffy just for the heck of it, Tuffy tucked. And she again intimidated Tuffy at 1611, so Tuffy moved further away. At 1625 Ruffie moved away from Sally, but Tuffy did not approach, and stayed on the far rim. He knew he had no clear path to get to Sally where Ruffy would not be able to attack him. At 1627 Ruffie ate some more. Ruffie seemed to be finished eating at 1629, and at 1630 Tuffy started to make his move, but about halfway to the feeding line, Ruffie cut him off, and Tuffy ended up tucked at the rail on the other side of the nest. By 1631 the fish was gone. It takes a really big, long-lasting fish for Tuffy to have a chance to eat.
‘H’ continues, “Harry delivered a large headless fish at 1658. It wasn’t just the size of the fish that meant Tuffy was likely to be fed, but also because it was delivered so close to Ruffie’s last meal, and Ruffie would still be full. To start, it just so happened that Sally was positioned in a way that Tuffy could be on the opposite side of her from Ruffie. Sally was preferentially feeding Tuffy to her left. Several times Ruffie tried to get at Tuffy by going under Sally’s chin, but was not able to do so. Eventually, Ruffie’s actions disrupted Sally and she had to move, which exposed Tuffy, and sure enough Ruffie inflicted a brutal and prolonged attack on Tuffy. Sally ate, and Ruffie was not very hungry. At 1705 Ruffie moved away, but Tuffy was hesitant and stayed tucked for a bit. By 1706 Tuffy was at Mom’s beak and being fed. Tuffy had eaten a total of 34 bites by 1707 when Ruffie returned, and Tuffy tucked. Ruffie moved away again at 1713, and Tuffy had a long private feeding. At 1723 Sally moved the fish a little closer to Ruffie and offered her some, but she wasn’t interested. Tuffy moved closer to Mom and started to eat again. To say Ruffie was more relaxed than earlier in the day would be an understatement. By 1725 Tuffy was still eating and Ruffie was standing close by, just watching him eat. At 1742 Tuffy was so crop-heavy he had to go lay down. Sally finished the fish. Total bites of fish for Tuffy at this meal = 249. So far today, Tuffy has eaten approximately 548 bites of fish.”
..At 1900 Harry brought in the fifth fish of the day, a large headless fish. Tuffy moved aside a little bit, and Ruffie started to eat. Tuffy was able to get 6 bites before he was intimidated by Ruffie, then he got a couple more bites at 1904, and by 1906 they were both being fed. From what he has been put through, Tuffy was understandably a little skittish of Ruffie, and Tuffy moved away a few times, even though Ruffie was not acting in a threatening way. Ruffie laid down at 1916, and Tuffy kept on eating. At 1917 Tuffy took a little break and laid down, but went back for more at 1919. By 1924 Tuffy was refusing most of Sally’s offerings, and Sally finished the fish at 1928. Tuffy ate at least 84 bites of fish at this meal. Total for the day = 632 bites of fish for Tuffy !
Remember – it is not the number of fish but the size that matters. Five large headless fish are much better than 8 small ones!
My inbox was flooded most of yesterday with concern for Tuffy. Those that stayed throughout the day even thought Ruffy might kill Tuffy. It was then such a relief to see the little one with that full crop. ‘H’ caught it as did many others including ‘PB’.
‘H’ is also monitoring a few other nests. She reports that Opal laid egg 2 at the Forsythe Nest and egg 3 arrived at Carthage today, too.
Each one of these nests brought some bitter sadness to viewers last year.
Forsythe (Caution watching this nest):
Carthage (Caution watching this nest):
There are now three chicks at Fort St Vrain in Colorado. Like many of you, I hoped that the third egg would not hatch. The two older siblings are just so much bigger than the little one. We will wait and see how this will all work out. Last year one of the two eaglets was dragged off the nest by a raccoon and killed. This appeared to be in retaliation for the eagles taking one of the baby raccoons to feed to the chicks. A predator baffle has been installed at the nest for this year.
Sunnie Day posted a note on FB about the female at Fort St Vrain: “Mom was banded in Colorado in May 15, 2002. she is 22 years old! She has hatched 36 eaglets. “
I cannot say how this nest will behave in terms of beaking yet.
In contrast, the three osplets at the Venice Golf and Country Club appear to be fine. There is plenty of fish in the area and this nest is recommended. The osplets are out of the Reptilian phase, also. They are all getting their juvenile feathers. Perhaps I have missed it, but life seems pretty civil compared to Moorings Park. Please feel free to correct me!
The first egg of the season was laid at the Osprey nest of Dylan and Blue 5F Seren at Llyn Clywedog on Saturday. This couple have successfully fledged a number of eaglets, many of them returning in their second year. Sadly, last year, one of the osplets was taken by a goshawk when Seren was feeding.
There is a difference between the nests of the UK and the US. First, there are far fewer Ospreys in the UK. Many of them have their nests in living trees. They are rural as opposed to living in cities near people. The nests are located near reservoirs or lochs full of fish. In the seven years that I have been researching siblicide, the incidence of this in the UK has been minimal. Loch of the Lowes is one exception that comes to mind. These are good osprey nests to watch. If I were to recommend just one, it would be the nest of Idris and Telyn at Dyfi in Wales for those just learning about UK Ospreys.
Iris worked on her nest at Hellgate Canyon in Missoula, Montana to everyone’s surprise and delight on Saturday. Maybe she just had a tour of the area after she arrived and now she is ready to work on her always amazing nest. (This nest is good to watch because it is Iris, but there will be no chicks. Since 2018, there have been no chicks because the male she has bonded with, Louis, has another nest with Star at the baseball field). Most of us hope that Iris lays her eggs, the Crows eat them, and she has a lovely summer to herself eating trout!
Intruders have been bothering Hera and Zeus and there was some concern for Hera earlier.
Harriet did not return from her migration to Dunrovin. Swoop might have a new female partner. This is the latest.
Now nests that I certainly recommend include the falcons and the hawks. There is little to no sibling aggression. We will be looking for a hatch in about ten days with Annie and Archie. Archie is a first-time Dad – or is he? He can certainly incubate eggs. Maybe he lost his mate, too. In fact, poor Annie has had four mates in four years. That gives you some idea of the dangers that the males face in this urban environment.
Archie loves incubating the eggs!
The little eyases are hatching in Osaka!
And you have to watch Big Red and Arthur, the Cornell Red-tail Hawks! Big Red is twenty-one years old. When her long term mate, Ezra was killed, Big Red chose a very young Arthur – he didn’t even have his red tail which is a marker when the birds turn a year old. Watchers thought she was ‘nuts’. Well, she wasn’t. She trained Arthur and he is an amazing Dad and an incredible hunter. The year was 2017. They had their first chicks in 2018. In all the years, possibly eighteen, that Big Red has raised hawklets, only one has failed to fledge and that was K2 who had to be removed from the nest due to a jaw issue. She was later euthanised.
There are several really good eagle nests. The West End nest of Akecheta and Thunder is top notch.
But what about the nest of Liberty and Guardian in Redding, California? Their two eaglets are younger and they are doing well. (One egg broke).
The Duke Farms nest has turned around. At one point, the bites of fish that Jersey got were counted. Ringing is expected on Monday morning with measurements. Recommend to watch or fledge.
‘L’ found a recent image of Wisdom, the oldest banded Albatross in the world, taken by the USFWS on Midway Atoll. Wisdom is on the right. She is in her 70s.
‘L’ sends us images from the birds at the Fairhope Pier on the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama. An Osprey couple make their home on the lighthouse while a Blue Heron suns itself among the gulls. Thank you for sharing your day – this is where everyone should be, if they can – outside!
Osprey are on the light platform.
Birds never want to pose for a good picture – right when ‘L’ got close enough for the Heron to be in focus! Gosh, isn’t this the problem trying to photograph wildlife?!!!!!!! Or cats.
Just look at those legs.
They are beautiful. There are parakeets in London and in San Francisco and I bet some of you can tell me more places. Here is a beautifully photographed article in a French magazine about the “Parakeets of Paris.”
Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, photographs, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘Geemeff, H, J, L, PB’, Geemeff, JBS Wetlands, Moorings Park Ospreys, Forsythe Ospreys, Carthage Ospreys, Fort St Vrain, SDNP, VGCCO, CarnyXWild and Llyn Clywedog, Montana Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Osaka Peregrine Falcons, Heidi Mc and Joy of Ospreys, Pam Breci and Joy of Ospreys, Cornell RTH, IWS/Explore, FORE, Duke Farms, USFWS, and MFCH.
*Disclaimer: I make every effort to acknowledge those that send me photographs, videos, articles, etc. If I fail to recognise someone, please let me know and I will rectify the situation. Thank you.*
Thursday and Friday were difficult days. Jackie and Shadow said goodbye to their eggs after one cracked, with Jackie covering them later. The miracle babies hatched at the NTCT nest of Bella and were killed and eaten by the male, Scout. Audacity surprised everyone with another egg, but it broke Friday morning. Little B17 died and Meadow is ill. It felt a little bit like a roller coaster of emotions. Others call it ‘hope fatigue’. These events take their toll and sometimes we need to go outside and listen to the birds or sit and stroke a beloved pet. Then we need to stop and be very thankful for those that survive – they are very precious.
Bella feeds her second little eaglet before flying off to find food. She returns, looks around the nest, cannot find the baby while Scout is on the perch, then Bella flies off saying goodbye. It would have been difficult, if not impossible or Bella with the attitude that Scout was exhibiting. Many wondered if this was not a blessing in disguise.
The empty nest says it all.
The Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey is expressing concern over Meadow’s condition on Friday. Send your positive energy to this eaglet.
So what is giving us hope?
Iris returned to her nest at 20:51:22 Friday night. She looked like she had a full crop. So the Matriarch is fine! She stayed til after 0633 Saturday morning. Perhaps she didn’t want Louis to see her!
Annie and Archie. We are 11 days away from hatch watch. ‘A’ is getting excited. “Annie is looking particularly lovely this evening – she really is an exquisite specimen of a bird. Just beautiful. I cannot wait to see four little fluffy eyases lined up with their beaks open in that scrape. Poor little Archie is going to be run off his talons. And if he thinks it’s difficult to incubate four eggs, wait until he tries brooding four chicks. That should take some serious enfluffling.”
Tuffy is getting smarter and is sometimes braver. This nest gives me hope because of “H’s great observations.
‘H’ reports on how Friday morning began well for Tuffy: “At 0728 Harry arrived with a large live tilapia. Sally started to eat, and for once Sally was positioned near the rail facing outward. Her positioning would afford Tuffy an opportunity to position himself on the other side of her from Ruffie. Tuffy was on Sally’s right, and Ruffie hung back a bit. Tuffy received 5-6 bites of fish before Ruffie reached over and beaked him. So much for Sally’s new positioning. Tuffy scooted away and tucked. At 0728 Tuffy was trying to move around to the other side of Sally, but Ruffie saw him and cut him off at the pass. At 0750 Tuffy was getting a little too close to Sally for Ruffie’s liking, so she beaked him. By 0753 Ruffie moved away from the feeding, but still kept an eye on Tuffy and was giving him a warning look. Soon, Ruffie started to eat some more. At 0803, brave lil’ Tuffy decided to go for it, and shuffled right up to Sally in front of Ruffie, and started to get some bites. Ruffie turned away for a PS, and she then stayed away. Good. By 0813, Tuffy had eaten approximately 100 bites of fish. The view was partially blocked and I was not able to see if bites were dropped. I just had to count when Sally leaned toward Tuffy, and he leaned toward her. At that point Ruffie returned to the table to eat some more, and she beaked Tuffy. Ruffie was finished, this time for good, at 0816…Tuffy untucked and resumed eating his breakfast. Tuffy took a break for about a minute at 0822, then resumed eating. At 0831 Tuffy simply couldn’t eat any more and shuffled away from Sally sporting a very large crop. Sally finished the fish. Tuffy ate an estimated 180 bites of fish. Great way to start the day!”
Look at Tuffy’s crop!
“… At 1128 Harry brought a nearly whole tilapia. Ruffie was fed, and Tuffy remained on the sidelines. Harry stayed in the nest for a while, so Tuffy gradually moved to get into Dad’s shade. Even after Harry left, Tuffy stayed away from the feeding line. At 1207 Tuffy moved to be closer to Sally, and was beaked by Ruffie. By 1214, Ruffie had moved aside slightly, Tuffy moved in, and it appeared that Sally was feeding Tuffy (view was blocked). Sally did move a little bit and we were able to see that Tuffy was eating. By 1218 Tuffy had eaten 40 bites of fish before being intimidated by Ruffie, and he shuffled away. Ruffie continued to eat, and around 1222, Sally reached over to Tuffy to give him some bites, before Ruffie again banished Tuffy to the sidelines at 1224. At 1227 Tuffy was again reaching to Sally to receive fish bits. Ruffie simply did not want little brother to eat, so at 1228 she made a big physical display of dominance and Lil’ Tuffy scurried away. At 1234 Ruffie seemed to be finished eating, and our view was partially blocked, but it was obvious that Sally was feeding Tuffy. The meal was over by 1248 save for a few scraps. Tuffy ate at least 78 bites of fish.”
.”..Harry delivered the third fish of the day at 1705, a headless tilapia. It was a smaller piece of fish, which did not bode well for Tuffy’s chances for a nice meal. Ruffie approached Sally, Tuffy moved further away from Sally. I noted that Tuffy’s crop was flat at that time. Ruffie was giving warning glances to Tuffy as Ruffie was fed. However, Sally managed to periodically sneak a bite to her little one who was standing off to the side. Many of those quick bites to Tuffy went under Ruffie’s radar, but some did not. When Ruffie would notice Tuffy getting a bite she leaned toward Tuffy to intimidate him. So, Tuffy would move a little further away, but would then slowly inch closer to Mom as he dared. By 1731 Tuffy had eaten 14 bites of fish by Sally quickly sneaking bits to him. Then he received 5 bites in quick succession while Ruffie was trying to eat a big piece of skin. Ruffie was not able to eat the skin, so she dropped it, but seemed irritated that Tuffy had eaten those bites…so she charged Tuffy who went to the rails. Ruffie then wedged herself in between Sally and Tuffy. Finally, at 1743, Ruffie was full and moved across the nest and laid down. Tuffy made a beeline to Sally, but unfortunately there wasn’t much fish left. Tuffy ate, and some bites were a pretty good size. Sally did her best to pull every last bit of meat from that fish tail, then she offered the tail several times to Tuffy, who simply could not do anything with it. Total bites for Tuffy at this meal = 46, and he had a small crop. Total for Tuffy so far today = 304 bites of fish.”
Sally was calling for fish at 1957.
The three osplets of Talon and Stella at the Florida-Gainesville campus continue to do well. This is excellent news. They are all lined up like the three lads at Port Lincoln in 2022. You can see the size difference now between the first hatch in the centre and the baby on the right. At one time, they were almost all the same having hatched within a 36 hour window.
‘H’ reports that the Canada Geese and the Ospreys have switched nests at McEuen Park in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. Grateful for Geese and not owls!
In the UK, Idris and Telyn have their first egg of the Osprey season on Friday at the Dyfi Nest in Wales.
Waiting for Seren and Dylan at Llyn Clywedog to have their first egg of the season. Seren was not impressed with the food gift o a frog that Dylan brought to her and when he wasn’t looking, she dropped it overboard.
Intruders have been bothering Aran and Elen at Glaslyn. It was sent packing over to the Pont Cresor Nest of Aeron Z2 and Blue 014.
Louis fishes in the worst weather and delivers beautiful fish to Dorcha.
I am grateful that Laddie LM12 made it home safe this year to Blue NCO. No eggs at Loch of the Lowes yet.
Blue 33 guards Maya. He has been bringing in gold fish – beautiful bright orange-gold Koi. Someone’s pond is getting raided. He must like the colour!
Bradley makes me smile and it is fantastic that Port Lincoln continues to post videos of him bringing his fish to the barge. It is heartwarming when these fledglings thrive. A still form that video. Check out what is happening at Port Lincoln by going to their FB group.
And there are these various stages of some of the bobbleheads that are doing well:
US Steel 7: It is pitching down rain but Irvin has the nest full of fish and Claire is trying to keep the wee one dry while keeping it fed.
Little Miami:
Johnson City-ETSU:
Superbeaks, Dixie and Mason:
Kansas City, Cheyenne and Wichita:
Duke Farms, Jasper and Leaper who will be ringed on Monday:
ND-LEEF – Dad’s new mate Gigi appears to be doing well:
Eagle Country – Swampy in the nest and Meadow in care. Hoping dear Swampy is not sick, too:
Denton Homes – three Majestic babies:
Decorah North:
Redding with Liberty and Guardia:
Port Tobacco:
Bluff City and Viper:
Fort St Vrain. Two little bobbles doing well.
West End. Aklecheta and Thunder showed us how to deal with three healthy energetic eaglets this year:
Fraser Point, two adorable eaglets for Andor and Cruz:
PA Country Farm – a family who can consistently raise three:
Dade County, R6 has fledged and returns to the nest:
SW Florida, E23- so grateful that M15 had a new family this year after the sorrow of losing Harriet and the joy of raising E21 and 22 to fledge by himself:
Poor E23 has had to defend its nest!
JB Sands Wetlands, JBS20. We lost JBS21. Please keep Mum in your thoughts because of her injury:
Trudi Kron captures JBS20 getting ready to fly.
It isn’t all of them, but count these as blessings. In a year when many nests did not have a single hatch, we can be grateful. There is no news on Meadow Saturday morning form the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey.
Jackie and Shadow start over. What an amazing pair of eagles these are! ‘A’ writes: “Meanwhile, the sadness at Big Bear is felt by thousands of BB viewers. Jackie and Shadow are much loved by so many. This video really broke my heart. They take it in their stride and carry on, together. While they have each other, there is always next year. Spirit was such a miracle. It was a joy watching that couple caring for their precious eaglet. They were so devoted. That little one sure was spoiled for love. And fish, obviously.”
The Royal Albatross are always bittersweet. Little fluff ball TopFlat Chick, the Royal Cam chick, waits for food deliveries. LGK Lew in on Friday to feed the little one who can be heard squeeing. At the end, you see TF flap its little wings copying the adults.
The top bird sightings in the UK. Please note the huge decline in House Sparrows since 1979 and the growth of some others. House Sparrows live amongst humans that is why they are seen so often and we are destroying their habitat which is why the huge decline. Feed them. Be joyful when you hear their song. Just imagine if they were not there.
Thank you for being with me. Step outside. Celebrate spring, listen to the birds that live around you. Smile. There are things in the world that we have no control over. We change what we can, when we can doing the best we can. We mourn the little ones that are lost, but remain joyful and hopeful for those thriving on the nests.
*Disclaimer: Every effort is made to credit individuals who send me information, those who take screen captures, create videos or posts, those who write articles, and those who operate streaming cams. If I miss acknowledging someone’s contribution, please let me know so I can rectify that omission. Thank you.*
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, streaming cams, videos, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, J, H, PB, SK, TK’, NCTC Eagle Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Cal Alcons, Moorings Park ospreys, Florida-Gainesville, McEuen Park, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, The Woodland Trust (Loch Arkaig), Geemef, The Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), LRWT, Port Lincoln Ospreys, US Steel Eagle Cam, Little Miami Conservancy, Johnson City-ETSU, Superbeaks, FARMER DEREK, Duke Farms, ND-LEEF, Eagle Country, Denton Homes, Raptor Research Project, FORE, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Bluff City-ETSU, Fort St Vrain, IWS/Explore, PA Country Farms, WRDC, SW Florida Eagle Cam, SK Hideaways, JB Sands Wetlands, Trudi Kron, Lady Hawk and The Guardian.
I have said it before and I hoped not to say it again – it has been an incredibly tough year for our Bald Eagle families. Send your warmest and most caring thoughts to all the nests who have lost eaglets or adults – and continue to send supporting energy to those who have eaglets in the nest. They need it! Life is not easy this year.
Monday 8 April might have been the day of the Solar Eclipse, but it was also a day of joy that ended in tragedy in two of the Bald Eagle nests in the US – NCTC and Hanover. It is not the first time this year a young male eagle has mistook its newly hatched chick for prey and it won’t be the last, but for Bella, this is such a bittersweet moment. I cannot even imagine what she will be thinking when she finds her baby gone.
Regardless of its tragic ending, I want to document what happened at the NCTC nest. We have seen eagle eggs left in the cold and eaglets hatch. The best example I can recall is the Latvian White-tailed Eagle Milda when her mate Ramis died several years ago, right after she laid her eggs. Milda incubated for eight days without eating. She left her eggs in cold weather for approximately six hours to forage so she did not starve. No one believed the eggs would hatch, but they did. Sadly, the ending with the new male was the same result as at the two nests today.
This is what I wrote before I knew the ending: Miracles do happen. Not always when or where we want them, but this is a delight for Bella and Scout who have had difficulties this breeding season. A chick is hatching on Monday in eggs, which is believed non-viable!
From Deb Stecyk: Monday, April 8, 2024 – Welcome to Bald Eagles (BE) 101. Could a miracle hatch be underway at NCTC, we think so!! These eggs were left uncovered and not turned for long periods of time in cool temperatures, so we believed these eggs were nonviable!!! However, yesterday we noticed a small pip hole (Day 37) in one of the eggs and Bella’s behavior was highly suggestive that something was going on. Bella was fussing, more attentive and listening to the eggs. She also was sitting up higher while incubating the eggs. A brooding position is sometimes seen when a hatch is in progress. We also thought we heard chirping coming from one of the eggs. Just before dark, Bella took a break while Scout incubated. Bella returned with a catfish, which she did not want Scout to eat!!! The catfish remains on the nest! All these signs are highly suggestive of a hatch in progress. Despite these positive signs we remain guardedly optimistic and glued to our seats waiting to see if Bella and Scout are blessed with a miracle hatch!!! Talons crossed for this new pair!!! If a hatch occurs at this nest it will be precedent setting and unheard of in the eagle community.”
Well, that miracle happened. Remember.
The miracle baby’s first feeding – I hope they call this little one ‘Miracle’. Seems fitting under the circumstances.
It was Stella’s first eaglet to hatch in a few years after losing her mate Smitty. It was the miracle and now at 1930, Scout removed the eaglet from the egg cup and ate it.
The hatch at the Irvin plant of US Steel – parents Claire and Irvin – made the news. Let us hope that this little one remains safe.
Everything is good at the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. Experienced parents!
The accidental burial the day prior at Redding.
The little trio at Denton Homes are adorable. Treasure those three heads – this will be a huge effort for the parents to get them all to fledge.
Cheyenne and Wichita are doing fine on a nest piled with fish on Farmer Derek’s property in Kansas.
The two eaglets at Decorah North are getting their thermal down, and some pin feathers. Little treasures they are.
And this is the news you have been waiting for. Every day we hold our breath afraid to check on that Moorings Park nest. The news is good today, too…so read and look! (It always starts out rough but gets better as the day goes on…). It is after 1000 and it is hot on the Moorings Park osprey nest. Tuffie is doing what it can to get some shade. No fish in to the nest by Harry yet. Tuffie hanging in there.
‘H’ reports: “1031 – Harry delivered a beautiful whole largemouth bass. Tuffy was beaked into submission. Ruffie made sure s/he reinforced Tuffy’s ban from the feeding a couple of times. Sally and Ruffie ate the whole fish by 1049.1219 – Harry delivered a whole tilapia. Tuffie was immediately beaked into submission. The feeding was mostly blocked from view. At 1226 and 1229 Tuffie tried to get closer and was driven back each time. At 1230 Tuffy moved to the other side of Sally, but Ruffy followed and beaked him. At that point, with Tuffy out of view, we didn’t know if he was getting bites, but thought it unlikely since he was still next to Ruffie. At 1248 Ruffie moved away from Sally for a couple of minutes, and we knew that Tuffy was eating, then Ruffie returned to the table. Again at 1256 Ruffie moved away, and we knew that Tuffy was being fed. Ruffie later returned to the table, and by 1320 the feeding was over. Sally was still blocking our view of Tuffy. It wasn’t until 1338 that Sally moved and we were able to see that Tuffy had quite a large crop! Yay!”
“At 1507 Harry dropped off a headless fish. Tuffy had been sleeping and did not approach the feeding line for a minute, but when he moved toward Sally he was out of our view. At 1512 we got a brief glimpse of Tuffy, and he was laying down, not eating. Then at 1524, we could just barely see over Sally’s shoulder to note that Tuffy was eating. At 1527 Tuffy was beaked by Ruffie and he moved away. At 1532, we once again could see Tuffy getting bites of fish, and by 1533 the meal was over. Tuffy was seen with a nice crop after the meal.
At 1705 Harry arrived with half a fish. From 1706 to 1710 Tuffy was beaked or intimidated several times to keep him from eating. At 1712 Tuffy managed to get 6 bites, then he was beaked. At 1718 he got one bite and was beaked. Tuffy moved further away from the feeding. Finally at 1731, Ruffie moved away from Sally. Tuffy moved into position to eat but was out of our view. Sally began obviously feeding Tuffy. We could not see the fish pieces actually connect, but just counting the number of times Sally turned in Tuffy’s direction, Tuffy may have eaten 72 bites of fish. Total bites of fish for Tuffy at that meal = 79.”
‘H’ continues her reporting with a new fish arrival at Moorings Park: “At 1830 Harry delivered another headless tilapia. Tuffy was beaked and stayed away. Tuffy received 3 bites at 1837, then he was intimidated and moved away. Ruffy did not seem very hungry, but focused mainly on preventing Tuffy from getting near Sally. At 1841 Tuffy got a few more bites, then a few more bites at 1843. By 1846 Tuffy was eating solo, while Ruffie just laid there and watched. At 1849 Ruffie had a little more to eat, and they ate side by side. At 1851 Ruffie quit the meal for good. And, at 1852 Tuffy quit eating, walked away, and laid down on top of his large crop. Sally continued to eat for a while, but left a large tail portion on the nest. Tuffy had started the meal with a crop, and was noted to be crop-dropping a few times during the meal. Tuffy ate at least 55 bites of fish at this meal.”
Settled in for the night, you can really see the size difference between Ruffy and Tuffie.
There is beaking at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Cruz. Nothing to be worried about right now – . Remember that it takes time for the eyes to adjust (for falcons this can take up to 5 days) – and a beak, any beak might mean food.
Mamma Cruz sits on them when it gets too be too much. Too funny. She has been chatting with Thunder.
And this is how you do it – constant food and diligent parenting. Thunder and Akecheta at the West End nest raise three.
At the University of Florida-Gainesville Osprey Platform of Talon and Stella, ‘R’ reports that at day 8 (as predicted), “the bonking has started”. Talon continues to provide lots of fish and the trio are doing well, otherwise.
In the second image, Talon is helping Stella feed the trio that hatched within 36 hours of one another. There is no little and no Big – isn’t it amazing. Eggs laid six days apart and hatch 1 and hatch 3 are the same size. We will see as they age but I am hoping Talon and Stella have them selves three nice little boys.
In contrast to the previous year, ‘R’ notes that the fish are larger this year and that it has been relatively wet as opposed to dry.
‘MP’ confirms that JBS20 has branched at the JB Sands Wetlands on Monday the 8th of April. When there isn’t a tree you must consider that both feet are off the nest and JBS20 flew to the rail. Well done!
‘AE’ sent this gorgeous image of JBS20. She will be fondly missed when she fledges.
The adults have had many problems to overcome at the JB Sands nest this year – the death of JBS21 and Mum’s injury and, the many intruders that still trouble the nest. ‘MP’ describes the scene below: “Dad or Pa at JBS has an intruder chase him as he brings prey (white bird) home with chick quite the spectator. The nest is bussing with activity the last coupe of days. The intruder is the one on the bottom and Pa is above with the white bird.”
I don’t want JBS20 to get knocked off that nest before she is ready to fly.
Mum is still doing all the work at the Trempealeau Eagle nest. Two eaglets. They are often left alone because Mum has to go hunting for food. She is trying. She can brood them without food or hunt and keep them alive as best she can. We have seen this before – M15. Decorah. It is not an easy thing to do, but there is little choice for single-parent couples or those that have a partner who is injured or MIA.
This is the latest news about Meadow from the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey.
I began to wonder that if Meadow was in this rough of a shape, what is the condition of Swampy. Every eagle nest is infested with bugs, but were the eaglets getting enough food those last days before Meadow was blown off the nest?
Did you know that the folks that rescued Meadow had already rescued 18 eagles this year and it is only April?
There is distress at the Hanover Bald Eagle Nest. The little eaglet hatched and all were excited. Then, like Tom at Angel’s nest last year, the new male attacked and killed the eaglet. Condolences go out to all.
Geemeff noticed Maya’s laboured breathing a few days ago. Now Rutland have called in Osprey expert Tim Mackrill to see what is wrong.
Flora and Harry at Alyth.
Beloved Gary returns to nest 1 at Loch Arkaig.
Dorcha and Louis have an intruder doing a fly-by.
Images of Mr President and Lotus and at least one eaglet.
There was a double rainbow at Loch of the Lowes, too. May Laddie and Blue NCO’s breeding season be doubly blessed.
Send your positive wishes to Bella and the Mum at Hanover who lost their eaglets today. They will be devastated that those healthy, bright-eyed eaglets are gone.
Thank you for being with me today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, screen captures, and those operating streaming cams who assisted me in writing my post today: ‘A, AE, Geemeff, H, J, MP, R, SP’, NCTC, Deb Stecyk, PIX Cams, FORE, Trudi Kron, Judy Eddy, Denton Homes, FARMER DEREK, Moorings Park, Florida-Gainesville, MP, AE, JBSands Wetlands, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Rutland Osprey Project, Stephanie Scofield, Geemeff, American Eagle Foundation, Loch of the Lowes Visitors Centre, and Livia Armstrong.
We hope that you had a really nice weekend and that the coming week will be full of delights, laugher, and love. Plus healthy eaglets and more Osprey arrivals. It is so wonderful to see the bonded pairs reunite and all those males rushing to find a nice fresh fish for the female.
The weather on the Canadian Prairies continues to be mild with +2 temperatures, blue skies, and sun. It is dry and I want everyone to blow those rain clouds my way! The trails are now slushy at the nature centre. More geese flew in today to join the overs on Devonian Lake. I keep saying – at least they have water. If the rains would come the grass would turn green and they might get some nutrition. If the shallow ponds thaw, they can get the pond grasses. I know there are some ducks in with the geese in the image below but I did not have either my binoculars or my long lens – just my phone and it is really rather useless for identification.
The Bison were up close to the road for part of the time on Sunday.
Deer tracks.
Some of the taxidermy exhibitions in the Interpretative Centre. I love this old Snow Goose!
Or the Boreal Owl looking down.
We have a lot of owls in Winnipeg. It is not unusual to see a Great Gray like this one in our urban environment.
The following panel at our nature centre helps explain the change in the winters in Winnipeg.
Calico always knows which of the tiles have the best heat under them.
Baby Hope is never far away from Mamma. Inseparable they are except when Hugo Yugo is around.
Hugo Yugo was nearby but she was sound asleep for most of the day.
Sometimes Hugo Yugo’s tail appears to be bigger than she is.
Missey was the Queen of the Cat Tree on Sunday! It was a nice change. Except for claiming this sacred spot, the four of them are getting along splendidly.
The Ospreys continue to arrive in their summer breeding grounds.
The male, LJ2, is now back at Llyn Brenig in Wales as of Sunday.
Both FS2 and Oscar are at Tweed Valley as of Sunday.
Aeron Z2, Tegid’s brother, is at home at the Pont Cresor nest with his mate Blue 014.
Bay has arrived at the Island Beach State Park Osprey nest.
A memorial plague has gone up to Harriet at the Pritchett Property. I am so glad that they included a tribute to the heroics of M15 last year in raising E21 and E22.
There is the first hatch at the University of Florida-Gainesville nest of Stella and Talon. Eggs were laid on February 21, 23, and 27. If this is egg one, it is 38 days at the time of hatch.
It seems that Richmond and Rosie are building two nests. I find this rather interesting. One is on a light stand the other is on the old Whirley Crane they have used for years.
Jersey did very well, indeed, on Sunday. Food was plentiful – including a squirrel for a change – and there were no perceived hostilities on the nest. This is an enormous relief. ‘A’ gives us a fantastic narrative for the entire day!
Mum stuffing Jersey to the top of its head and those little dandelions that are left.
‘A’ gives us a great narrative: “The chicks had to wait until 10am for breakfast this morning (31 March). They played nice, and were so cute cuddling together and playing with nesting material. Both had healthy PSs. Food eventually arrived in the form of a nice whole fish, courtesy of mum, and although Jersey turned away and allowed his sister to take first turn at the table, he did not take up a submissive posture. He had another PS while he waited for his turn. At 10:04, dad flies in to contribute yet more dried grass, which he spreads about. He then decides to move a large stick, which is partially beneath Jersey, who thinks he is being bonked and goes into submission. Mum has paused the feeding, as dad continues to arrange sticks, and Leaper turns away from the table. Jersey is in submission, wings outspread for balance, and Leaper leans over him, almost as if to check that he is okay rather than to peck him. Whatever the contact, it was exceptionally minor – just a brush of Leaper’s beak against the back of Jersey’s neck/shoulder. It actually looks as if Leaper loses her balance, her crop working against her effort to turn away from the table and head over to the rails to snuggle, and her beak just brushes Jersey. I would not call it a bonking incident. Whatever the reason, Jersey has missed out on breakfast, though there are still a few remains on the side of the nest. Shortly before 10:06 Leaper does another PS and heads over towards Jersey and dad. She is looking hopefully at dad. She shakes her head and in the process brushes the edge of dad’s wing. He responds by making a sudden lunge to his left, as if warding off something invisible in front of Jersey. I had to watch it a couple of times to realise he is reacting to the slight touch with an attacking move, with his head down and neck extended. A reflex action, aborted in mid-air – he withdraws his head as quickly as he had extended it. Shortly after, he flies off. Jersey has not yet eaten. A minute later, Jersey turns around and makes his way to his sister, where he snuggles up beside her and begins preening. He flops down and plays with some grass. Leaper too is playing with nesting material. These two are such cuties now they are getting along so nicely. Little Jersey is not so little any more.. In fact, he is catching up with Leaper, with the size gap not nearly as great as it was a week or ten days ago. So much so that I am starting to think we may have a couple of boys here. Leaper is not so very much bigger than Jersey now, and her (or his) behaviour towards Jersey has not been that of a Zoe. Perhaps, especially given the speed with which the aggression has ceased as soon as the food supply was restored, Leaper’s behaviour has simply been that of a first hatch in a food shortage. In the interests of clarity, however, I think I will leave it as she and he at this stage!! Jersey doesn’t have to wait too long for some brunch. At about 10:16:40 what looks like dad (only his feet and a small bit of head is visible, so it could be mum) flies in with something large and mammalian that I’m sure all Americans could easily ID but which is foreign to me. It has a very long bushy tail and a white stripe. Leaper is closest, and Jersey turns away to one side, just slightly. He does not approach the table but nor does he go into submission. He watches. Dad begins feeding Leaper without defurring the food. I’m not certain Leaper appreciated the taste/texture but she ate several bites. Jersey waits less than a minute before beginning to sidle along the rails towards the table. At 10:17:27, without any hesitation, he takes the first bite dad offers him. And the second. Leaper moves forward beside Jersey, who stays exactly where he is. Dad begins giving alternate bites to each eaglet. Leaper moves forward a couple of steps and Jersey, who is a little closer to dad, immediately shuffles two steps forward himself, leaning in to grab the next bite. This is most definitely not the Jersey we were watching five or six days ago. He takes the next half dozen bites, moves even closer, and eats some more. Leaper is obviously wanting more food but is making no objection to Jersey taking bites from in front of her eyes. The two are side by side at the table, Jersey closer than Leaper to dad, and competing for bites. Mostly, Jersey wins, though occasionally, it appears that he sits one out and allows Leaper to take the bite. This is a very big piece of prey and both eaglets eat until they cannot manage any more. This will be a complicated task if Jersey tries self-feeding, though over recent days, as the food supply to the nest has so dramatically improved, he has not needed to resort to feeding himself, reverting to the joys of being fed by his parents. He occasionally nibbles on something, but only when it’s being held down by a parent. The little one is still very nervous around food when Leaper is nearby. A couple of times during the mammal feeding, Leaper would move suddenly (such as to scratch an itchy spot over her shoulder) and Jersey would immediately turn away in case the sudden movement represented an attack. So although he is much more confident than he was a few days ago, he is still wary of his sister, and I doubt the memories of some of those beatings will not quickly fade for Jersey. The feeding lasts for over 45 minutes. At 11:03, Jersey is still being offered the final leftovers. These eaglets have totally demolished that giant piece of prey with a tag-team eating effort to be proud of. Now, however, they are so full, they can barely move. Mum is back shortly after 12:49 with a nice big fish (again, I think it is mum but it could easily be dad). Dad has darker plumage but that can also be a trick of the light. And their feet are the same colour too, so as I said yesterday, they are hard to tell apart even when they are both on the nest together. The lengthy feeding this morning was more mum’s style, but as we could see very little of the parent, I could not guarantee which parent it was. The same is true with this fish delivery. However, these eaglets only finished a 50+-minute feeding 45 minutes ago, so it will amaze me if they can eat another morsel. Jersey is nothing if not determined, though, and of course he manages to eat some fish. He was asleep at the table when the food came in, so found himself in prime position for the feeding, with Leaper behind him. Of course this made him nervous, and he refused the first bite he was offered, turning away and doing a small crop drop. Thereafter, he took whatever mum gave him. Leaper watched, still resting that gigantic crop, one leg fully outstretched. At 12:54:20 Jersey gets offered such a gigantic piece of fish that he is intimidated by it. You can see him thinking omigod, what does he expect me to do with that? Leaper thinks she is up to the challenge, however, and moves up behind Jersey, which causes him to duck and tuck. Mum reaches over Jersey to offer this massive chunk of innards to Leaper, who grabs at it. But mum thinks better of it, and pulls the food back out of Leaper’s mouth and eats it herself. Leaper is not impressed. She is soon given a few more pieces but that’s all she could manage. She backs up for yet another PS and then heads for the centre of the nest. This is the signal for Jersey to lift his head and return to eating. He manages half a dozen more bites but it is obviously hard for him to fit anything into that giant crop. He has learned his lessons well over the past week, and he knows he must eat as much as he can when he can. So he does a valiant job, but even he has limits, and he reached them around 13:00. As he turns away, Leaper returns to the table for a second (or is it a third?) helping of fish. By 13:04 the feeding is over. At least half the fish (possibly three-quarters of it) remains on the side of the nest. Mum hangs around the nest with the eaglets for a while after lunch. Both eaglets are in food comas. Mum leaves shortly before 14:06. At 16:20, Jersey lines up for a PS while Leaper plays with nesting. By 16:21:30, both are side by side at the table, playing beakies. SO adorable. Their crops are still gigantic. That size gap is shrinking rapidly. I think that in another week, or even sooner, these two will be the same size.At 16:39:25, Mum returns to feed the eaglets the remainder of the lunchtime fish. Leaper is in prime position and appears to have a smaller crop than Jersey, so Jersey just lies and watches until 16:44:30, when he heads up to the table. Mum feeds him about ten consecutive bites. Leaper eventually stands up and leans in for a mouthful. Mum feeds three bi9tes to Jersey, then Leaper leans in and grabs one. Another three bites for Jersey, then one for Leaper. Jersey is given the next 14 bites in a row. Leaper tries to grab one about halfway through the 14 but fails and sits back to watch in awe. This pattern continues, with Jersey eating multiple consecutive bites and Leaper occasionally leaning in to try and grab a mouthful. She fails more often than she succeeds – when competing for bites, Jersey sure is the king of this nest. Soon after 16:49, Jersey begins to flag and Leaper gets some bites. Jersey still takes one bite in three or four but at this stage, Leaper is finally getting her share of the fish. By 16:54 Jersey has had enough and turns away. He has a HUGE crop pillow for tonight. Leaper stays at the table. Somehow, Jersey finds a bit more room and returns to eat a bit more. The fish is finally finished at 17::03, and Mum cleans up the nestovers. She finds a chunk of something (the remains of the mammal perhaps?) and starts to feed it to Leaper. Jersey stretches and moves up for his share. He is eating AGAIN. By 17:09 the food is finally gone and mum flies off the nest. These are two very well-fed eaglets. They will both go to sleep with happy tummies tonight. They are in a cuddle puddle in the middle of the nest when, at 17:30, yet another fish arrives, this one from dad, I think, but it is so hard to tell because we can only see his feet, and part of his head when he reaches forward with a bite. At 17:32, Mum arrives with some grass, which she spreads around. Already, both chicks are too full to eat. I think you get the drift – a great day at Duke Farms. Lots of food for both eaglets and not a hint of aggression that I witnessed.”
And here is the text or Monday morning. “
Mum left the babies alone overnight, flying off the nest shortly before 00:40. An early fish was delivered for breakfast by what looks like dad, but in this light, the difficulty in telling these two apart is even greater than usual. Either way, food arrives at 07:04:19. It looks like a large fish.
Leaper immediately heads for the table. Jersey looks up but remains where he is, sprawled in the middle of the nest. He makes no move of submission. Dad is slow to get a bite off the food for Leaper, then drops the bite he does prepare. This frustrates Leaper, and at the same moment, Jersey decides to stand up. This provokes the first aggression I have seen in days, as Leaper turns around, spreads her wings and looms over Jersey, to grab him on the back of the neck. He lets go, then grabs Jersey again by the back of the head. She quickly drops him and returns to the table. Jersey is a little startled and remains ducked and tucked. Wake up on the wrong side of the nest this morning, Leaper?
Leaper eats. At 07:06:20 Jersey unfurls himself though he stays low. By 07:07 his head is up, and he periodically glances at the feeding. At 07:08:36 he stands up, his back to the table. I’m fairly sure this is dad – his plumage is looking darker as the light improves and his normal feeding technique involves much smaller bites than mum’s. Just before 07:09 he stands and leans over forwards for a big stretch. Leaper turns and looks at him, then turns back to eat more.
Jersey is glancing over his left shoulder at the food now, He moves closer to the rails, the start of an attempt to sidle around to dad and the food. When Leaper drops a large bite, Jersey sees his chance. He moves closer, and when dad picks it up, he offers the big bite to Jersey, who leans in and grabs it. There is no reaction from Leaper, who has a good crop by now. After Leaper takes one more bite, Jersey takes over, with all but one of the next couple of dozen bites going to him. Small bites, in the main, as is dad’s pattern;.
By 07:11 they are both eating, most bites still going to Jersey, who is eating confidently but still being careful to defer to Leaper, ensuring she does not want the food before claiming some bites. He has had a recent reminder of who is the older sibling on this nest. (Mind you, that’s all it was – Leaper was frustrated that dad took so long to get that first bite to her, and Jersey bumped into her at exactly the wrong instant, it appeared. It was a fairly tokenistic bonking effort.)
By 07:12:30 Leaper has had enough, refusing a bite offered to her by dad at least four or five times, then standing up, stretching and turning away from the table. Jersey is left to continue eating. Leaper has a good PS and flops down in the middle of the nest. Watch her turning her head almost upside down at 07:13:37 as if she’s looking up dad’s nostril. TOO funny. What IS she doing? Dad thinks she’s asking for food so offers her a bite. She refuses so he gives it to Jersey. He also has a few bites of breakfast himself. Good for you, dad. He sure got the short end of the stick (fish) yesterday.
Jersey seems to have had enough but Leaper gets a second wind and dad feeds her as she lies duckling style in the middle of the nest. Jersey is sitting up beside her, watching, and occasionally refusing a bite of food. By 07:15 both eaglets seem to be full. Dad eats some more himself. There is a lot of food left over on the nest and the chicks both have excellent crops. A nice start to the morning, with the exception of Leaper’s minor temper tantrum. Nothing more than an older hatch reminding the younger of the pecking order. Certainly not something to worry about and nothing to stop Jersey from eating his full.”
I do not think we have to worry about Little Jersey any more.
Duke arrived at the Barneghat Light Osprey platform in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon! What a mate – he flew in with a partial fish for Daisy. Time was 1623. Avid viewers had been watching and worrying – this is such a relief.
Watching for Iris to return to her Hellgate Canyon nest in Missoula, Montana.
Snow remains at some of the Finnish Osprey nests. No signs of any returnees yet.
Watching the Ospreys at Old Town Home Western Maryland for an egg.
Thunder and Akecheta are busy feeding the trio at the West End. Lots of really awful looking prey on that nest – must seem like a Sunday buffet to the kids!
Feeding behaviour and confirmation of a hatch at Centreport!
Cute little bobbleheads in Iowa! Denton Homes and Decorah North.
At Decorah North, I am afraid the chicks are having the Easter Bunny for dinner.
Port Tobacco had squirrel. The mammals are awake and the raptors are catching them.
The pair at Little Miami Conservancy Bald Eagle nest are enjoying their Sunday dinner, too.
I am not seeing any issues at the Bald Eagle nests unless it is eggs that are not going to hatch. All eaglets and ospreys on the other nests as of Sunday evening appear to be doing well.
Ruffie and Tuffy at Moorings Park had lots and lots of fish thanks to Dad Harry’s phenomenal fishing skills.
E23 likes being with its parents high up in the nest tree!
Swampy and Meadow and the turtle Dad brought to the nest.
Yesterday, I included a post from FB by Toni Hoover. That post identified Lewis and Rosa at the Dulles-Greenway Nest. After much consultation with many and comparing images, I believe TH is incorrect and this is the new couple on that nest.
What happens when birds experience a total solar eclipse? Remember, it is coming on 8 April.
Missed the Condor Chat? Want to catch up with what is happening at Big Sur and Pinnacles? Here’s your chance!
On Monday, Prince returned for a visit to Loch Arkaig nest 2.
I reported that Elen returned to her nest at Glaslyn on the 26th of March. Aran returned but Elen has been no where to be seen. (Did they make a mistake in identification?). We will wait to see what transpires. Did Elen go for a fly about? Did she get injured? Maybe it wasn’t her.
The bird with Aran is 372 who visited Llyn Brenig the other day.
Thank you so very much for being with me today. It is always a delight to hear form you – either by email or through your comments. Thank you for taking the time! We hope to have you with us again soon. Take care.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, MM, SP’, Fort Whyte Alive, Llyn Brenig Osprey Cam, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Welsh Osprey, Erica Crowley, Diane Lambertson, Pam Kruse, Wildlife Consere of NJ, Montana Osprey Project, Finland Osprey Foundation, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, IWS/Explore, Centreport Eagles, Denton Homes, Raptor Resource Project, Port Tobacco, Little Miami Conservancy, Moorings Park Ospreys, Lady Hawk, Eagle Country, Earth Sky, Geemeff, and Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn.
For those celebrating Easter, may you have a lovely peaceful day full of family and friends.
Calico made me promise – since I embarrassed her so much several weeks ago – that I would show you her new ‘slender’ figure. She has lost more than two pounds on her new cat food and is really beginning to run and play with the other girls.
Calico is actually sitting under a chair staying out of Hugo Yugo and Baby Hope’s way. They have been jostling for the ‘Queen of the Cat’ Tree crown all morning.
Baby Hope held the throne, the orb, and the sceptre for a few minutes. She basked in the happiness of being able to have a front row seat in order to see the little squirrels running back and forth with their peanuts.
It was only a short time until Hugo Yugo ousted Hope. And then it began all over again!
They make me tired.
There were four Blue Jays in the garden today! It looks like both bonded pairs have returned. I watched carefully. The pair whose tree was cut down has found a new home and Junior and his partner are in the Maple across the back lane.
I did not come up with the title today. Jeff Kear wrote it in a comment, but it is so true. Now, I can’t get the tune out of my mind. The Boys are truly back in town. Idris and Aran returned to Telyn and Elen and their nests in Wales on Saturday, March 30th.
All is well in Glaslyn. Aran and his new mate, Elen, will have their second breeding year together. They had two lovely fledglings in 2023, and Elen proved to be an incredible first-time mother.
Aran marked his arrival with a huge fish! I bet that tasted good after such a long migration.
Idris brought a huge fish for Telyn and then worked on their nest. Talk about egg-cited. Joan Brady got the screen capture!
Dorcha also arrived on Saturday, arriving at the nest and soaking wet. Louis was quick to get a fish to her and pick up on their bonding! She always reminds me of Mrs G with that gorgeous dark plumage.
Louis and Dorcha’s reunion.
If you missed it, Blue 33 and Maya have the first egg of the UK Osprey season for 2024. Her gentle little chirps called out to Blue 33 to come and see.
Each of us has a warm spot for a bird – maybe several. Tegid, Z1 of the “White Egg”, was one of Monty’s lads. He has a mate – an Unringed Female -and they have been raising osplets at a private nest in Wales for several years. Tegid is the brother of Aeron Z2 at the Port Cresor nest near Glaslyn’s Aran and Elen.
Dylan and Seren’s lad, Blue 496 from 2021, landed at Lock Arkaig, and then, guess what? He flew home to be near Mum and Dad, landing on nest two at Llyn Clywedog on Saturday. Oh, and might we hope for a beautiful female to arrive, too?
No ospreys at Llyn Brenig yet.
BirdGuides celebrates the arrival of CJ7 and Blue 022 at Poole Harbour.
Everything is calm at the Duke Farms nest, and Jersey had at least one massive crop on Saturday. Jersey and Leaper even ate side by side. Can you believe it?
The time stamps and big crops tell the story of the morning.
At 1640 there were lots of fish tails on the Duke Farms nest. Looks like no one is going to go hungry today.
‘A’ gives us another terrific narrative of what part of the day at Duke Farms nest was like for little Jersey! “Jersey gets fed a very good breakfast. He did start off snatching at the bites but gained confidence as the feeding progressed and he suffered no attacks from his sister. It was wonderful to watch. Such a happy wee eaglet. Just after 9am, he takes a huge piece and turns away to eat it. Leaper has decided she could do with seconds so has headed back to the table. Mum has a bite to offer Jersey, but is waiting for him to finish dealing with the immense piece he had just grabbed. As Leaper approaches Jersey, she decides it would be a good idea to pacify her by giving her that bite. She gets another, and considers giving it to Leaper, but changes her mind and turns towards Jersey, again waiting for him to have an empty beak! As Leaper moves closer to him, Jersey gets nervous and turns away, so mum gives a couple of bites to Leaper. But Jersey regains his confidence and moves back towards mum, so that he is actually pushing in front of Leaper. Mum is working hard on the last piece of the fish. The second she has it ready, Jersey snatches it, even before she has raised her head to offer him the bite. The fish is finished. Mum moves around the nest looking for stray pieces, which she feeds Leaper, who happens to be closest when she finds a scrap or two. Jersey has a very nice crop. At 09:02:35, mum finds the other half of the fish dad brought in at 08:55 – it appears he bit it in half and mum has only fed the chicks one of the two halves. She gives two bites to Leaper and then drags the partial fish over to where Jersey is on the rails and begins feeding him again. She drags the fish even closer to Jersey and further away from Leaper. This is definitely the larger half of the fish. Jersey is now less nervous, with Leaper quite a distance from him. He eats and eats. When mum offers him the tail, sideways, he politely refuses it so mum downs it herself. She cleans the table, feeding Jersey any leftovers she can find and he takes them, even though his crop is now noticeably larger than his head. Just as the final flake is gone, at 09:09:45, dad is in with another fish. He has unzipped it a little on one side but it is otherwise whole. Mum immediately takes charge of the fish. Both eaglets have absolutely gigantic crops and surely could not fit another single bite. Jersey staggers over to Leaper and flops down beside her, forming a fuzzy ball of happy eaglet in the centre of the nest. Dad comes over to check on their bedding, spreading a little grass behind the pair. TOO cute. He is still on the nest and has turned back to survey his fish. Mum begins her warning vocals (the ‘do not even think about taking this fish’ ones). The look on her face is absolutely clear. This is a mum protecting her babies’ food. She means business. Dad is suitably chagrined and leaves at 09:10:20. Obviously aware the eaglets need no more food at this moment, she heads into the centre of the nest to check on her eaglets. She does a little aerating and tidying, feeds a tiny food scrap or two to Leaper. Jersey turns around to face the table. The two are now both facing the same way but still snuggled up close. Just look at those cute little tail buds and round bottoms. Both are looking a bit woolly and oh so cute. Little Jersey only has half his white head feathers, Leaper having spat out the others after ripping them from Jersey’s head last week. Jersey has quite the individual hair style as a result. Mum returns to the fish and looks around and upwards. She vocalises threateningly at something above from 09:18:25-34 (probably warning dad not to take the fish if she leaves it). She continues to look around in all directions for another minute or two. More threatening vocals from 09:19 to 09:19:15. She is sitting over the fish and has her very stern look on. At 09:22:30 dad lands on the opposite side of the nest with YET ANOTHER whole fish. This one is medium-sized and very much still alive. Mum stays where she is but immediately begins with her warning vocals. He stays where he is, surveying his fish. Mum is not looking his way, so he is perhaps assessing his options. What does a man have to do to get a decent sushi breakfast around here after all? This is his third fish of the morning. When is it his turn to eat? But mum continues with her unambiguous warnings. Dad is looking down at the fish, then up at mum, then back to his fish. It is just TOO funny. I wonder who will win this battle of wills? Any bets? Of course, mum. Dad admits defeat, and shortly after 09:24, he flies off the nest. I’m starting to feel a bit sorry for dad. Eat the next catch away from the nest, I suggest. He deserves one. Mum goes and stands over the floppy fish perhaps to protect the chicks from it. There is some shuffling in the cuddle puddle as Jersey makes his way to the table and moves confidently up to mum’s beak, with Leaper literally against his back. Just after 09:31, mum begins feeding Jersey, and despite the massive crop he has, he takes the bites. Leaper is in a food coma. Jersey should be too, but having learnt the hard way that you eat whatever is in front of you, he is stuffing himself further. By 09:32, after a dozen or so bites, he is having trouble, so tries a couple of small crop drops. Mum waits for him. He continues to eat. Mum downs the tail. At about 09:33:30, another small crop drop. He is really struggling now. That crop looks uncomfortable but he soldiers on. Another small crop drop just after 09:34. He takes four or five tries at the next bite and eventually swallows it. Another small crop drop. This crop is getting ridiculous. His crop drops are small – I am not sure whether he has much room for them either!! Perhaps he has not yet fully mastered the technique. By 09:35:30 mum is having to literally force food into Jersey, who is leaning back, away from the food, as if to say ‘please mum, no more!’ but she is slow on the uptake and keeps offering the piece. Sometimes after four or five attempts, usually involving the spitting out of the food, Jersey usually manages to get the bite down. But at this point, he really has had significantly more than enough. Around 09:37 Jersey seems to get a second wind (or a second stomach), as he leans forward to grab a couple of big bites. But it is short-lived and by 09:37:30, he cannot eat another flake.”
Thank you, ‘A’ – we love your narratives. You should write a book!
Leaper and Jersey shared breakfast Sunday morning. Jersey is doing the snatch and grab but still nervous if their beaks touch. Meanwhile, both are learning how to scale a fish! Fingers crossed for another good day with lots of fish in the nest. Notice that both have their thermal down and that their pin feathers are coming in.
In San Jose, Hartley laid her fourth egg of the 2024 Peregrine Falcon season keeping up with Annie and Archie. Monty, you are going to be busy!
Monty managed all those eggs for incubation!
The camera is back up and running and sometimes off again at Two Harbours. The egg is rolled. No visible pip yet.
Chase and Cholyn are 26 years old and have been together for 21 years. This only egg was laid on the 22nd of February. Today it is 39 days old. I am hoping for a pip under there!
Pair of eaglets at Decorah North are sooooo cute.
The pair at Little Miami Conservancy are pretty sweet, too.
The view isn’t as good as some, but the pair at Kansas City are also doing very well.
There is a big of a mystery going on at Berry College. Missey continues to cover up newly hatched B17 and the egg is now completely covered – B17 is sitting on the grasses covering the egg. That egg is 40 days old today and Missey knew it was unviable.
Port Tobacco’s only eaglet is doing just fine.
Second eaglet Sunday morning at Denton Homes.
At Bluff City, Oliver is growing nicely.
At Johnson City, JC23 and JC24 are getting their juvenile feathers.
Ruffie and Tuffy had an early breakfast fish from Harry at Moorings Park and several fish throughout the day. Food is plentiful.
Tom is home with Audrey at the Chesapeake Conservancy Osprey nest.
The ospreys at Moraine have a beautiful nest! Thanks, ‘L’!
Big Red and Arthur continue incubating their four eggs. Meanwhile there is no sign of an egg with Angel and Tom.
R6 fledged today from the WRDC nest!
Dedication and love. Plus hope. Sadly, there will not be a hatch at Big Bear this year for Jackie and Shadow. If only someone had airlifted an eaglet in for them.
Across the US, in NE Florida, Gabby and Beau continue to work on their nest with dreams of 2025, too.
In Eagle Country, Swampy and Meadow dream about flying – while they wait for the right time to arrive.
Toni Hoover reports that Rosa is back with Lewis in the nest at Dulles-Greenway.
Both Ospreys are home at the very popular German nest, Goitzsche Wildnis.
There is an osprey back at Great Bay. Sadly, the couple lost all their chicks in 2023 due to weather and starvation (one had to be euthanised). The nest is in Greenland, New Hampshire.
There are two little Great Horned owlets at the Wolf Bay Osprey Nest in Alabama this year.
The third hatch at the Venice Golf and Country Club is so tiny compared to its two older siblings who are entering the reptilian phase. For some reason, this nest is making me a little bit nervous this year.
Nest renovations are well underway for the pair at the Bridge Golf Club osprey platform.
In the UK, Black-necked Grebes had a remarkable breeding year. Bravo!
A lovely opinion piece sent to me by my friend Wicky Woo for all of us to enjoy! Birding is one of the best ways to avoid the therapists’s couch!!!!!!!! That is what Calico tells me.
Thank you so much for being with us today. It was busy. There are nests not included, but as far as I know, JB Sands and Frenchman’s Creek. I have not heard of a hatch at Gainesville, but we are monitoring Two Harbours. There is a rumour of a hatch at Centreport on the 29th of March but no confirmation of feeding, and there is a pip watch underway Saturday night at ND-LEEF. Take care everyone. See you soon! For those celebrating Easter, the very best wishes for the day.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, articles, images, videos, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, L, SP, WW’, Jeff Kear, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Geemeff, LRWT, Welsh Osprey, The Woodland Trust, Llyn Brenig, Bridge Golf Club Osprey Cam, BirdGuides, Duke Farms, SK Hideaways, IWS/Explore.org, Raptor Resource Project, Little Miami Conservancy, Farmer Derek, Sharon Lee, Port Tobacco, Yale Sharon, Bluff City-ETSU, Johnson City-ETSU, Moorings Park, Heidi McGrue, PIX Cams, Cornell RTH cam, Wolf Bay, FOBBV, NEFL-AEF, Toni Hoover, Goitzsche Wildness, Eagle Country, The New York Times, and David Suzuki.
It was a busy Friday. Eaglets were hatching, problem nests to be watched, and ospreys were arriving in the US. I spent the day watching prey deliveries at Duke Farms while trying to catch up with entering data in the forms for the siblicide research project. At noon, I stopped and walked for 7 km. It had gotten warm. +3. The geese continue to fly in. The ones heading to the nature centre have water and some grass. The pond at St Vital Park, where I took my first walk and goose check, is mostly frozen, but it was beginning to show promise of a nice thaw if the +3 temperatures held. The trunk of my car is full of corn, and these poor things will get some tomorrow. What a misery for them.
There was one deer near the hide eating corn and a red squirrel desperately trying to get a peanut out of one of the feeders.
It is such a privilege to walk outside – gosh, it is such a gift to be reasonably healthy and go outside. I cannot imagine being shut in a bed in a room and not going out. The animals in the garden, the girls, and all of those that cross my path during my walks bring such joy and create this wonderful space of contentment.
Scientists continue to discover how intelligent birds are —-.
Idris is home at the Dyfi Osprey nest. Telyn is already there, so another couple has reunited!
UV, the male at nest 5A in the Kielder Forest, arrived home this morning.
A 2021 fledgling of Dylan and Seren at Llyn Clywedog has landed on the Loch Arkaig nest!
Possible pip or Stella and Talon at the University of Florida-Gainesville campus. The eggs were laid on Feb 21, 23, and 27th. This makes egg #1 38 days old today.
FORE fans have had their fingers and toes crossed for the second clutch. Now, Liberty and Guardian have two precious eaglets at their nest in Redding, California. What a happy image. They are so white!
Life on the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta could not be more perfect. The ‘kids’ are starting to look like eagles with their thermal down. That first hatch is enormous. Think she is going to be a granddaughter for Cholyn?
The third hatch is tiny. Akecheta thinks he has a boy.
Gifted parents, Thunder and Akecheta looking out over their domain.
Harry returns to his beloved Flora at Alyth on 29 March.
The situation at Duke Farms was not as good on Friday as I hoped. Remember. Jersey had a nice full crop Thursday afternoon but received no food at the last feeding Thursday night. A small prey item came in at 1104 on Friday. Leaper got it all. There was no prey delivered to the nest when I last checked which was 1649 nest time.
A fish came at 1729 and little Jersey got fed! This nest can go either way. Mum works hard to feed Jersey but there remains tension in the nest.
Little Jersey is smart. He works his way around the rim of the nest. You have seen this behaviour many times before – Patchogue last year, Achieva. They watch and listen and move carefully ready to get into position if there is any food left for them when the older sibling stops and goes into a food coma.
“‘A’ sent us her most welcome Friday summary: “It is notable that Jersey had a crop before the second breakfast of leftovers, which Leaper got to eat all of. Jersey was still exceptionally nervous about approaching mum and the food while Leaper was still up at the table. Watch them from about 11:16am (and especially 11:17). Jersey is lying comfortably, one leg fully outstretched, when Leaper comes over to him and lurches at him as she sits down beside him. He watches her but makes no move to protect himself. She leans over him, nuzzling his head with her beak. Caution, but no significant reaction from Jersey. The pair are seemingly the best of friends. The only time that things seem to get out of control is in the presence of food, especially if Leaper is hungry. Then, I hold my breath. They did wait a long time for breakfast this morning – I did not see it come in or the first feeding, so I don’t know whether there was associated aggression. Due to the waiting, there may have been. But Jersey did have a discernible crop when waiting to see if there would be anything left for him from the second breakfast feeding at about 11:04 (very short and consisting of a tiny leftover and some dropped pieces). There weren’t.
Jersey’s little beak has been opening and closing, as if he is calling for mum. He might be hungry. Leaper is playing with sticks as it nears noon. But it is 14;46 before a parent arrives, and it is dad with a giant stick!! It reaches right across the nest. Leaper heads immediately towards the table. Jersey, perhaps thinking he is being bonked by the giant stick now lying across him with dad manoeuvring it, goes instantly into submission. It is all to no avail, as there is no food delivery and he soon leaves again. The next parental visit is from mum, who arrives at around 15:42:35 and simply perches on the side of the nest. She has no food either. She soon leaves again.
At 15:45, poor little Jersey is sitting hopefully up at the table, searching for leftovers, without success. He is hungry. He finds something that looks impossible to swallow but picks it up and tries. Leaper is alerted to this and comes to investigate. Jersey turns away but hangs onto his piece of whatever it is. As he makes another effort at swallowing, Leaper behind him has a stretch, which causes Jersey to become submissive, dropping his leftover (it was only pellet material at best anyway). Note that submission has often become a bowing of the head rather than a full tuck, which is progress – he gets up faster too.
At 15:47:30, Jersey gives up, turns around, and heads back to the middle of the nest to snuggle up with his sister. Sweet. A cuddle puddle is formed. By shortly after 15:52, Leaper is literally lying on top of Jersey, right across his back. By 16:33 they are both up, standing, and hungry. This nest needs a food delivery asap. And sure enough, even as I type this, Leaper heads across the nest towards Jersey with obvious intent. Jersey turns away and huddles for the coming attack. It is short-lived, consisting of two pecks only, one to the head and one to the wing, but we have returned to a situation where Leaper is hungry. This is NOT GOOD.
At 16:43 Jersey picks up a bony leftover and tries to swallow it, but Leaper grabs it from him and downs it fairly easily. It was almost pure bone, by the look of it. It may have been the piece Jersey was trying to swallow earlier. It looked very similar. FINALLY, at 17:28:35 dad brings in a long thin whole fish. Mum immediately comes in about a minute later to take it from him. He leaves. She gets down to the job of feeding her babies. When the fish arrived, Jersey was sleeping with Leaper lying on top of him. So when the food came, he just stayed where he was. It wasn’t until dad’s departure that he ducked his head. Interestingly, so did Leaper, who was standing up but turned away from the table with his head ducked down. Strange. Jersey had the front position at the table, so was probably aware that Leaper would lean over him to eat. So he was cautious.
Mum starts feeding Leaper. The eaglets are side by side at the table but Jersey has turned his back on Leaper and the food. The fish is still moving, the tail striking Jersey and making him more nervous. As the fish tail hits him, Jersey shuffles further away, ending up down at mum’s tail. There, at 17:35, he suddenly has a brainwave. He realises he has space to go up to mum on the other side, putting her between himself and his sister. He thinks. He looks. Then he starts putting his plan into action, moving towards mum’s head along her left flank. 17:37 and he is nearly there. Mum knows he is there, and at 17:37:20 reaches out to him with a bite. He snatches it. Seven seconds later, a second piece. He takes that too. And a third – he is so grabby that it takes him three or four tries to take the food, but mum is patient, staying still until finally he grabs the bite. She is waiting for him to swallow each bite so she can give him the next. He realises he is safe where he is and moves right up beside mum’s beak and the fish. She is feeding him exclusively at this point, with all the bites going to Jersey. There is nothing Leaper can do about it whatsoever.
Jersey eats a little less quickly now, grabbing the pieces but not snatching at them. Mum waits for him – occasionally, he is scared to take a bite but she waits until he turns his head back and accepts the food. This mum is a gem. She is caring so carefully for her youngest;. I am certain she made a decision three days ago that this little one wanted to fight for his life and she was going to help him any way she could. And that is what she has done. At about 17:38:15 Leaper leans in for a bite and Jersey instinctively turns away, but mum waits for him with the food, and he turns back and takes it. Another few bites from mum before this happens again at 17:38:45. Again, mum waits for Jersey to turn back towards her for the bite. She has not fed a single bite to Leaper since Jersey made it up to her beak soon after 17:37. Jersey has had a couple of dozen mouthfuls, some quite large. Finally, mum gives one bite to Leaper, then returns to feeding Jersey. After half a dozen bites, she gives a single mouthful to Leaper, then back to bites for Jersey.
Mum then becomes more even-handed, giving a bite to one then to the other, occasionally giving two consecutive bites to one or the other, But both eaglets finish this fish with good crops. Both will have happy tummies tonight. Good for dad. He took a while to bring in dinner, but when he did, it was a whole live fish, and although it was skinny, it was pretty long. So that’s a huge relief because this mum really needs a bit of a break, if looking after two eaglets can be considered restful!!! She has worked so very hard over the past week, and she deserves to have dad step up the hunting for the family. These two will need more and more food as they grow of course, so it’s a big job for a single parent. I’m glad of the fish stocking you mentioned and hope it affects this nest.
Just after 17:41, Jersey grabs a HUGE bite. He turns away with his prize to eat it but drops it. He wonders whether to have another try at swallowing it or instead return to mum’s beak for more fish, deciding eventually to try the former course. He fails, as the bite is at the wrong angle. He drops it again, picks it up again, this time at the correct angle, and downs it easily. After a moment of triumph (and just checking to make sure crops really don’t burst) he turns back to mum and continues to accept bites. He has a very large crop but has learnt to eat and eat and then eat some more, regardless of how full you may be.
Another day, another important lesson learnt. Today’s lesson was: you can use mum like a shield to protect you from Leaper during feedings. What an important lesson this one really is, as we all know. Many is the younger hatch who has survived as a result of being A+ students in this particular subject.”
This is A’s summary for Saturday morning, so far, at Duke: “Mum wakes at 6am at Duke Farms and leaves the nest at 06:03:30, presumably to organise some breakfast. There are no leftovers on the nest, though both eaglets went to bed with full crops. Jersey, whose head is underneath Leaper, doesn’t even stir in his sleep. It is still dark. Leaper does some preening, waking Jersey up, and actually does some allopreening of Jersey’s head. Or reaches out to gently touch Jersey’s head or face with her beak. He is a little wary but basically without fear. She can be SO sweet towards him. I am convinced that once these two reach that certain age, they will become firm nest buddies (assuming, of course, a n adequate and consistent food supply). I hope they don’t wait too long for a nice big breakfast fish.
At 06:47, they are still waiting, snuggled up together, doing some preening and so far behaving themselves nicely. It will be an important day for little Jersey. Are we setting a new pattern of sibling interaction on this nest or will circumstances send us spiralling back into food shortage and insecurity-related aggression? After three days now of little or no aggression from Leaper, another day without violence may well be enough to cement a reversion to pre-famine peaceful sibling interaction.
Mum is back at 07:03:46 but she has no food – just a talonful of dry grasses. Leaper jumps up and heads straight for the table while Jersey goes into submission. There is no bonking, but nor is there any food. Mum searches the nest for bites of anything she can find to feed Leaper and finds perhaps six to eight bites of something that has been dropped or spat out yesterday. By 07:09:12 Jersey’s head is up and he is lying on his tummy, albeit with his back to mum. She leaves again soon afterwards, at 07:09:28. At 08:30 they are still waiting for breakfast but are cuddling, asleep, and there has been no aggression so far. “
Please send continued energy to this nest – they need all the good vibes they can get.
There is a little bobblehead at the Little Miami Conservancy Bald Eagle Nest in Ohio – but, wait…there are now two of them!
There is a pip at Denton Homes in Iowa Friday evening and DH14 is with us this morning.
The fish that Telyn Blue 5F brought to the Dyfi nest would sure look good on the Duke Farms nest! She is a master angler.
The new dad at Pittsburgh-Hayes brought Mum a fish gift on Friday.
There is an Osprey on the Steelscape nest in the US.
The pair at Allins Cove West are working on their nest. Dad arrived on 18 March with Mum landing a few days later.
Both ospreys are home at the Bridge Golf Course Osprey platform.
I don’t often recommend a FB group but I would like to draw your attention to Della and Warren’s Osprey Platform at Mispillion Harbour, Delaware. It is at the Dupont Centre. Heidi has put together a FB page for this adorable osprey family. Let’s surprise her and see if we can get 50 members over the Easter weekend! She is making videos and knows these birds and their behaviour inside and out. By signing up, her hard work doesn’t go to waste.
They are both home at Clark PUD.
The storks are arriving. Betye and Bukacek are back in their nest in Mlade Buky.
Bradley photographed at Port Lincoln.
Wow. A White-tailed Eagle in California! It is a rarity.
I hope to have the news of the Imperial Eagles soon.
Volunteers have done a clean up where Richmond and Rosie fish at SF Bay. Every area should be cleared, every nest cleaned annually before our ospreys arrive (if possible) to try and make their lives start off safe.
Captured and convicted for leaving dead raptors and animals in front of a shop in the UK.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, comments, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, The Guardian, The BBC, John Williams, Dyfi Osprey Project, Joanne Daly, University of Florida-Gainesville, Vicki Jacques, IWS/Explore.org, Jeff Kear, Duke Farms, Little Miami Conservancy, Denton Homes, Dyfi Osprey Project, PIX Cams, Steelscape, Allins Cove West, Carol Craig, Heidi McGrue, Clark PUD, Mlade Buky, PLO, SF Ospreys, BirdGuides, and Raptor Persecution UK.
Birds are so beautiful. Anyone that has watched a House Sparrow closely will know that it is not just dull brown but is a range of colours from an espresso chocolate with brick red touches to taupe and oatmeal – all the latest catwalk colours. My Blue Jays that grace my garden feeders and look so beautiful when the lilac blossoms appear beside them, are anything but simple blue. Have you ever thought about drawing or painting birds? or making birds out of textiles? Begin your day with a look at these talented individuals and their attempts. Why not try yours?
The wind has finally left, and the temperature in Winnipeg is currently +1 C. It is sunny and gorgeous, and everyone has a hop in their step. It is the beginning of a very long weekend for those who work, and all of the students have been out of school this week for their spring break (public schools, K-12). It is funny when one is retired – there is hardly ever any need to know what day it is unless it is when the City picks up the recycling bins.
‘The Girls’ continue to enjoy the conservatory and the heat pouring in from the sun. What a change in 24-48 hours! They are napping and jostling for the top spot on the cat tree. Of course, Hugo Yugo is the reigning ‘Queen’ of the Tree. She won’t let anyone kick her off that little square and I am certain that she reminds Calico and Missey that they are too big to fit there even if they would like to sun themselves.
Hope tried and gave up. Hugo Yugo sometimes bites her, and they play fight, but here she is just pushing her off the top.
Hugo Yugo was rather ‘smug’ in her victory. You could hear her – ‘na, na, na, na, na, na’.
She is so tiny but she certainly rules the roost around her. She is fearless. I can only imagine what she would do to Leaper on that Duke Farms nest! That eaglet wouldn’t be trying to take her food!!!!!!! It would be lucky to have any feathers left on its head for bad behaviour.
Baby Hope decided to go and sleep with Mamma.
Thank you to everyone who commented or sent a note thanking me and ‘A’ – and especially ‘A’ for her wonderful narrative about the Duke Farms eagle nest. We are happy to inform you of what is happening at the Duke Farms Bald Eagle nest. It is difficult to watch a nest with the potential of siblicide. We both understand that, and believe me, it breaks my heart and brings me to tears, too. However, there is the most ecstatic happiness when a nest turns around and what could have been a dire situation becomes hopeful. That is where we are at Duke Farms right now. Hopeful.
I also want to thank you for your birthday wishes, your supporting remarks about the overfishing, and your shock at the loss of any information about Mr President and Lotus – they were two very loved eagles and we are disappointed not to know how their lives and breeding season are going. We wish them well.
And then this was posted this morning! Congratulations Mr President and Lotus on your little eaglet.
On Thursday morning, Jersey got a private feeding after Leaper was full. The time was around 10:30. At first, Jersey did the snatch and grab, eating as many bites as it could while Leaper was going into a food coma. You could tell that Jersey was very nervous. Mum kept a keen eye. She was feeding Jersey and then Leaper began to move. At that point, Mum looked at her little baby and moved the fish back on the rim of the nest. Leaper put its head down and Mum began to feed Jersey again. This time it was more relaxed. By 1038, Jersey had a nice crop. The feeding continued until 1040 when little Jersey flapped its wings in happiness with a fully crop and was off to sleep. What a relief to see these developments. Mum is completely aware of what is happening on the nest and is making every effort for Jersey to survive.
There were two more feedings. Jersey ate well at 1428 but is very tense. Any sudden movement will see Jersey draw back, not quite going into a submissive pose but well aware. Leaper leaves Jersey alone and by 1436 Jersey has a nice crop. A wonderful blessing. The little one has had a very good day. There will be one last feed on the small bit of remaining fish and Leaper will get all of it.
Little Jersey does not attempt to go to Mum’s beak at the last feeding. Indeed, even in the earlier feeding, Jersey would not eat even if offered fish bites until Leaper was completely finished. This is the cost of the fear that was imposed on the second hatch over the last weekend. Jersey is getting its confidence, but it will be some time before it feels able to eat freely – without the fear of being beaked and shaken – if Leaper is awake and watching.
I know that everyone likes ‘A’s comments so I have them here in full for the entire day for Thursday at Duke Farms:
I was really having difficulty distinguishing mum from dad mid-morning. Based on head shape and feeding style, I really think it may have been dad (he eats more bites than he gives out and he also gives very small bites – or occasionally very large ones – but brooding the eaglets after the late morning feeding was something mum is far more likely to have done than dad. That being said, the following can be considered to apply to either parent – sometimes, it’s so hard to tell when only one of them is there.
Both eaglets already had a crop and there was an almost untouched whole fish lying on the nest when what looked like dad flew onto the nest with a talonful of dried grasses (what is it with dad and grass, usually dry?) at around 10:20 this morning (28 March). They had been in a cuddle puddle in the middle of the nest when big sister leant over Jersey to line up a large PS. When dad arrived, he buried the fish in grass, then dug it out and starts eating it. Leaper is interested and sits up, watching. When dad offers her a bite and she leans over to take it, Jersey gets up and huddles into his submission pose, back to the food. There has been no hint of aggression from Leaper, and they have been happily cuddling all morning.
Dad went to a different feeding school from mum – he eats three or four bites for every one he offers a chick and he hands out the tiniest pieces. More token gestures often than beakfuls. Jersey realises he has nothing to fear and sits up, turns around a bit, looks over his shoulder towards the food, then shuffles forward towards dad. He loses courage when Leaper leans forward for a bite, and again turns away But his head is still up, and he soon turns around again, approaches dad, sidles closer and gets offered a bite. Leaper is right beside him at the table and closer to dad, so Jersey again hesitates and waits. He stretches, turns away again, waits, watches.
Eventually, shortly before 10:30, Leaper has had enough and turns away. Jersey moves up to dad (or is it mum?). Leaper changes her mind and turns back for just one more bite. Jersey waits. Leaper is done. Jersey grabs for a bite but misses in his haste. It’s a bony bite and dad eats it. The next grab is successful and Jersey takes a large piece. He moves closer and eats. Dad is eating a lot himself, but he is also feeding Jersey. Jersey continues to eat. Leaper, lying in the middle of the nest, is playing with dad’s tail, which periodically brushes Leaper when dad turns to feed a bite to Jersey. It’s an idyllic scene.
Soon after 10:40, the little one has eaten enough and turns away. He has a large crop and he has not been beaten for a day and a half now. He is so happy about that that he stretches and flaps his wee wings, nearly losing his balance in the process. Dad flies off the nest. Jersey flops down beside Leaper, so close that his wing is on her head. After a moment, he stands up again, turns towards his sister and stumbles across her, stepping on her beak in the process. She makes no objection to his extreme clumsiness and the pair end up in a cuddle puddle in the centre of the nest.
Just before 11:02, mum (or is it dad?) returns clutching a huge bunch of twigs, lined up as if in a carefully bundled package of sticks of equal length and circumference, though surely I must be seeing things. He (or she) spreads the grass around, then when the kids don’t wake up, returns to eating the leftover fish. Leaper’s interest is soon aroused and she reaches for a bite. Jersey lifts his head and stretches but is too full to bother getting up. As dad is eating rather than feeding, Leaper turns away and stretches, leaning over Jersey as she does so, but there is no fear from Jersey.
She spreads her nesting material all over the nest, around the eaglet pile, and just before 11:15, she flies off the nest. The eaglets return to sleeping. Watch Leaper allopreening Jersey just before 11:17. TOO adorable.
Just after 11:40 mum (or is it dad?) is back with a long stick, which she carefully places. She then settles down to brood the eaglets. Jersey heads underneath mum, his little bottom sticking out in front of her, which is fortunate because just after 11:42, he does a healthy large PS.
Mum brings in a good-sized whole fresh fish just before 14:10. Leaper immediately heads to the table while Jersey stays where he is, lying duckling style in the middle of the nest. He does not go into submission and Leaper does nothing to intimidate or hurt him. Even when Leaper makes contact with Jersey while leaning forward for a bite, all Jersey does is languidly stretch one leg out towards Leaper. No fear. No aggression.
At 14:17 Jersey stands up and positions for a PS (healthy and large at 14:17:30). He then turns his back to the feeding but does not go into submission. Instead, he sits there, preening, while mum feeds Leaper. Pecking order is being respected. At 14:18:30 Leaper has had enough and turns away. Jersey starts to sidle around the nest towards the table but Leaper stretches and flaps her wings, startling her sibling. Mum leans over to offer more food to Leaper, who continues eating. Jersey gradually heads around the nest towards the table.
He retreats again, back around the nest, then back to the middle, where he again positions for a PS. This one (14:17:30) is even larger than the last! After several false starts and a number of attempts that he chickened out of, Jersey eventually gets up to the table at 14:21:20. Leaper, who has turned away and returned to the table several times, is still eating. About ten seconds later, mum offers Jersey a bite but he is too nervous to take it. He has no basis for fear, having not suffered any aggression from Leaper today that I have witnessed.
Soon after 14:22, so close to mum it is awkward for him to access her beak, Jersey finally has the courage to take a bite. There is still a lot of fish left, and Jersey still has a crop from this morning’s feedings. Mum feeds Jersey, who takes everything he is offered. Leaper watches from the centre of the nest, where she is lying duckling style, tired of carrying her giant crop no doubt. She is relaxed and happy, without any grudge against his little brother, who continues to fill up on this nice fish. Mum is feeding him as much fish as he will take from her.
Afterwards, mum broods the babies. As always, the little one burrows under mum head-first. At 15:39, mum gets up and leaves the nest. Jersey doesn’t even wake up. He’s working hard, growing, converting all that fishy protein into eaglet. At 15:42:43, Jersey has woken up, backed up, and produces yet another large, healthy PS. He’s been processing a lot of food the past two days. So good to see. He stumbles onto the sleeping Leaper, disturbs his sister again while preening (his feathers are coming through – Jersey has been very itchy this afternoon) and generally annoys his sibling, who merely stretches out a leg. Jersey plays with a stick and returns to a lot of preening. His right wing is covering Leaper’s head! Leaper stretches out a wing and a leg to reclaim her space and slumbers on.
Jersey continues preening for a few minutes, then finally flops down beside Leaper, who chooses this moment to wake and stand up. Jersey is anticipating retaliation, as he has been all over his sister in the past ten minutes or so as his preening has been quite vigorous plus he has overbalanced several times and fallen onto her. So he goes into submission just in case. But Leaper just lies down again. At 15:53:47, he does YET ANOTHER PS, this one somewhat smaller than the last three but still respectable. He really is very itchy and cannot seem to stop grooming.
Just after 16:57, mum is back with yet more grasses. She spreads them about the nest and leaves again before 16:59. At 17:00 Leaper does a good PS. The two have been snuggling in the centre of the nest all afternoon, changing position occasionally, and sometimes being clumsy, stumbling over each other or onto each other. This can make Jersey slightly nervous, but his reaction to that at this stage of the day is now to stand up and turn away rather than to cower in submission.
At 17:00:32, Jersey reaches over and gently pecks at Leaper, having just pecked at a piece of bark in front of him. Initially, it appears she will retaliate. She stands up, leaning forwards and spreading her wings as if about to launch an attack on Jersey. But Jersey’s response is to stand up, head held high. As he resumes preening, Leaper leans forward to groom her own underside, bringing her close to Jersey, who reacts by leaning back slightly, beak open, and keeping his head up. This is an eaglet who seems prepared to defend himself against an attack. He is not reacting by automatically going into submission. He is quite literally standing up for himself. This is very interesting to watch. It is now nearly two full days of food for Jersey and no beatings from Leaper.
At 17:01:07, with Leaper standing up and Jersey, lying in front of her, Jersey makes the fatal error of staring his sister in the eyes. There is a pause. Jersey continues to watch Leaper. At 17:01:15, Leaper pulls herself up, spreads her wings and leans over Jersey, who stands and turns away in the one movement, still watching Leaper. Leaper pecks Jersey, just once, at 17:01:18, then continues flapping her wings. Jersey remains submissive, as Leaper twice overbalances and falls onto Jersey with her wingercising. Leaper does a little more preening, then snuggles back down beside Jersey. At 17:04:12, Jersey’s little head pops up and he and his sister are snuggled side by side, the best of mates again.
This was the only episode of bonking I saw today (28 March) or yesterday (27 March), and it really was a single peck to the side/back of the head to reinforce pecking order. Obviously, Jersey needed a reminder about the ‘looking one’s older sister in the eyes’ rule. But it was nothing resembling an attack. Let’s see how it impacts Jersey’s confidence tomorrow (29 March). He has eaten very well today. He looks strong and he is getting more confident. He is growing every day and learning vital life lessons. We can only hope the food keeps coming onto this nest. I am confident that as long as it does, Jersey will survive to fledge.
Check the ‘synchronised watching’ at 17:28:43-47 (something, presumably a parent, is above). I love it when a scrape full of falcon eyases does some synchronised watching of a passing parent. TOO adorable.
Just before 18:54, Jersey is standing and flapping his little wings. This suddenly annoys his sister, pecks him (again, just once) in the side of the head. It takes him by surprise and he goes into submission. A few seconds later, at 18:54:44, mum lands on the nest and begins feeding Leaper the meagre pickings from a small bony piece of leftover fish. Jersey remains in submission until 18:58:24, when he raises his head and flops onto his tummy, though he remains with his back to the table.
Around 19:07 he gets up and looks over his shoulder towards mum. He still has a good crop (as does Leaper, who is eating but the bites are small). By 19:08:30 the fish is gone and Leaper turns back towards Jersey. Another big PS for Leaper at 19:08:53, who then snuggles up with Jersey for the night. Mum settles in to brood her babies.
All in all, it has been an interesting day. Jersey has eaten well, and although there were two occasions when Leaper pecked at her sibling, these could certainly not be classified as attacks, and I doubt they will intimidate Jersey much when it comes to eating tomorrow. We will see what the day brings. But today’s two minor incidents were the usual pecking order behaviour of an average nest, not the vicious beatings we were witnessing four days ago.
Jersey is not yet out of the woods by a long shot. But things are improving by the day as his confidence grows, and today was another step in the right direction
It is raining Ospreys in the UK. They must all have felt the wind currents were favourable as quite a number landed on their nests all over the UK.
One of the first was Louis at the Lock Arkaig nest 2 that he shares with Dorcha. Geemeff heard him coming before he even arrived!
Blue HKO, otherwise known as ‘Flora’, the mate of Unringed Harry at the Alyth SS nest, arrived home on Thursday, too.
It was not clear how happy Blue 5F Seren was to find snow on her nest at Llyn Clywedog in Wales when she arrived Thursday! Wonder when Dylan will get home?
Dylan must have been right behind her!
The getting reacquainted is often cumbersome unless, of course, you are Laddie!
At Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria, White YW welcomed his long-time mate, Blue 35 who arrived Thursday. (White YW arrived on the 24th)
The Real Saunders Photography caught E23 lying and being chased by smaller birds – just like he will for the rest of his life. The image is magical and majestic. What a glorious fledgling E23 is!
E23 took a rabbit from Dad and flew off with it – oh, E23 you are learning so fast.
Meadow and Swampy are not flying yet, but it won’t be long. On Thursday, both demonstrated that they could clean up a large fish in record time. Once rivals, the pair shared part of the carcass.
Liberty and Guardian have their second pip – and by the time you read this – a probably second hatch at Redding. Isn’t this incredible? Congratulations.
I would so wish too see this happen at Sauces and Big Bear.
Names have been given for the two osplets at Moorings Park. The eldest is to be called Ruffie and the youngest is Tuffie.
Oh, gosh, these two are so cute. Their fat little bottoms and tiny little tails.
Every year, I used to discuss the beauty of the babies with a dear friend who has now passed. She preferred the White-bellied sea eaglets and I the osplets and little red-tail hawklets.
Egg number 5 has been laid by Mother Goose at Decorah.
The kids at Decorah North are doing very well, indeed. Mr North keeps the food coming and from the look of DNF, no one should mess with her nest! Dad brought in what appears to be road kill later. And this reminds me! Please keep a small shovel in the trunk of your car. Whenever you see road kill, either in the City or in the suburbs or the country, stop your car safely and remove the dead animal to a place where the other animals can feed of it without fear of being hit by a car.
The eaglet at Port Tobacco has a very full crop!
Big Red and Arthur diligently keeping those four precious eggs warm.
Noble and Whitley on the Crooked Lake Osprey nest. What a gorgeous area.
Second to last. I am certain you can tell that I adore Akecheta. Here is a nest with three eaglets – and not their first clutch to hatch three. Thunder is a rigid disciplinarian and it has made all the difference in the world. At the same time, Akecheta keeps that nest filled with fish. So civilised. Just makes my heart beat a little more joyful seeing them together with the three eaglets.
‘A’ agrees: “
At WE, we have two parents doing the most wonderful job. By 16:17 yesterday afternoon (28 March), when Thunder had finished giving the three eaglets yet another feeding, just check out those massive crops. So when Akecheta landed with yet another big fish at 16:17:09, no-one really had much room left to fit in any more food, as all three were in food comas. Shortly after 18:14 Akecheta returned with a huge amount of dry grass and spread it about where the chicks sleep. Mum continued to try to feed the babies, and managed to get them to accept a few bites. Everyone went to bed with large crops. SEDs on this nest. .
The WE nest spends much of the time looking like a fishmonger’s shop. My goodness there were a lot of fish sitting there late yesterday afternoon, two of them sizable leftovers, the other piece smaller. Seconds before 18:00, Thunder arrived back to take over looking after the eaglets for the night. Akecheta left soon afterwards. Mum first fed a few bites to any takers but the kids were pretty full, so she had a snack, checking repeatedly to see if the chicks are hungry. They were not. She had a good meal and the family settled for the night.
There is some niggle between the siblings but nothing to worry about. No-one is getting hurt or intimidated or stopped from eating. They are just the usual feisty offspring this couple seems to produce.”
I always look forward to what Dani Connor Wild is doing. She has just posted a video about her life living four hours south of the Arctic Circle when it is -37 C. Watch it for the beautiful images of Golden Eagles and get the tissue at the end when she shows some quick images of the Penguins in Antarctica. Fortunately, the penguins are not showing any symptoms of bird flu while, at the same time, testing positive. See article below. This is hopeful news.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We hope to see you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J, SP’, Sue Greely, Duke Farms, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Jeff Kear, Clywedog Osprey Cam, Real Saunders Photography, Lady Hawk, Eagle Country, Meredith Gertz, Beth Lorenzo, Moorings Park Ospreys, Raptor Resource Project/Explore.org, Port Tobacco Eagle Cam, Cornell RTH, Timothy Dygert Osprey Cam, IWS/Explore.org, Dani Connor Wild, The Guardian, and The New York Times.
