First up, if you would like the recipe for the Nova Scotia Brown Bread with oatmeal and molasses, send me an email (maryannsteggles@icloud.com), and I will happily send you the recipe that I used. It was delicious, especially after 24 hours! I did not use a bread machine (a few of you asked). Having spent a few decades as a potter, the kneading of bread is enjoyable. The bread slices nicely after it has a chance to sit for several hours (perhaps 6) and even better the next day. It was good with a curried chickpea filling as a sandwich today.
Oh, I thought the baby Cowbird had left the garden…Well, I should say that the House Sparrows raised three cowbirds in their nests in the lilacs and nearby trees. But, there, sitting on a lilac branch, big and bold, was a beautiful little Cowbird. It is making my day. I don’t like what they do to the other little birds – laying their eggs in their nests and having tiny birds feed those big hatchlings, but I like to know that all of them are safe. Despite knowing that the local hawk has to eat, I still have a big ache when I hear he had a Blue Jay for lunch or a little woodpecker.
It remains hot for Winnipeg – not in the 30s anymore, but a hot 27 C. The bird baths are busy and have to be filled constantly.
The peppers are ripening every day, and so are the tomatoes. I wish you were here so I could give you armfuls of herbs! Hugo Yugo and Baby Hope are playing Hungarian Sweet Pepper hockey tonight!
Mr Crow has left me some feathers from his moult. The squirrels are busy eating. In about a month, they will begin hoarding peanuts. Right now, they are eating them at their leisure. My neighbour finished my planter, and I put in three big gobs of grass. It is a little late. We will see if their roots take before winter. If this heat keeps up, we might not have winter until the new year. That said, a goose wedge (or skein) flew overhead around 1800, heading to the river. They will begin flying into the pond at the nature centre in a few weeks from the north (or that has been the historical practice). On the ground, they are called a gaggle.
It could be a better image – heavily cropped and taken with an iPhone through the conservatory windows – of either a Great Crested Flycatcher or an Eastern Kingbird – sitting on the lilac branches this morning. It is so tricky seeing the birds when the foliage is dense.
I wonder what else is lurking in those branches. When I set Merlin to listen, everyone becomes quiet. It is too funny!
I had hoped that we would not see any more osprey deaths this season, but such is not the case. The middle chick at the Osprey Environment Centre in Australia has died. The weather turned cold, rainy, and quite nasty and it was difficult for George to fish. The stronger sibling, the first hatch, did survive. Parents are George and Hope.
The fish deliveries and the anxiousness of Sum-eh and Antali are ramping up the action at Hellgate Canyon.
Just look at Antali’s crop!
There is good news about Yellow USU. Nothing wrong with the wing. It appears that the issue had to do with a bit of a lack of fish. USU is doing well in care and eating buckets of Bream. What a relief for this sole survivor of its nest in Finland.
There is a lot of fish coming to the nest of Eura and Eve (nest # 1). The fledglings have huge crops – there are three of them, two females and a male, but I cannot see the yellow Darvic rings in the images below.
Adult cleaning out the nest bowl at nest #4. He was sure working on that nest bowl – you would have thought there was another male’s eggs in there he wanted to get rid of but, it is just preparations for next year.
Two on the nest at Pitkin County fish calling!
Windy and one on the nest at Llyn Brenig. Three fledglings apparently at Clywedog, but I missed them.
All of the youngsters are still at Glaslyn.
Those fish that are coming in are a nice size to fatten these babies up for their long flight.
Kiddos of Idris and Telyn still wanting fish at Dyfi.
Xavier and Diamond are working on eggs for the 2024 season!
Do the Osprey (and other fish and mammals) a favour if you live in the US. Find your Senator on the list and write to them to push an end to the industrial fishing of Menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay and at its mouth – we need more than a 3 mile ban.
Gabby is expected back at the nest in the NE of Florida within the next three weeks! It doesn’t stop many from checking in daily. When will Beau return? Will this be ‘their’ year?
Blue 5F Seren is still home at Llyn Clywedog and those fledglings are getting some whoppers for their dinners.
Mr North and Mrs DNF are getting a new nest after theirs collapsed during torrential weather this season.
Another Montana fledgling with a crop that is about to pop!
Juveniles eating fish at Allin’s Cove East on Long Island.
At Rutland, Maya, Blue 33, and 1R0 were all on the nest Monday morning. I caught 1R0 screaming for fish and Blue 33 obliged with a whopper for their Only Bob.
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Monday 19th August 2024
No activity on the nests today bar a fleeting visit by a little Robin. Has Garry LV0 headed south? He only made a brief appearance yesterday, and with the wet and windy weather which is set to continue for days, he may have decided to seek out warmer climes. As always, nothing is certain so it’s wait and watch to see if he turns up again. If you’ve enjoyed watching the Osprey cams this season, the bonus section has the different ways you can support Woodland Trust.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.48.46 (05.20.05); Nest Two 21.37.58 (05.21.11)
Geemeff sent us some more very interesting news items. I am including all the links as I am certain there are several that will be of interest to you if not all!
The day old White-tail Eaglet is doing well according to PLO.
Jolene and Boone are visiting their nest in Johnson City, Tennessee. More and more eagles will be returning in the next month to get reacquainted and freshen up their nests.
Today’s special! A free copy of August Birdwatch Magazine!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, messages, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, PB’, Osprey House Environment Centre, Cornell Bird Lab, Pam Breci, Pyhtaan lintuhoitola, Saaksilvie, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Llyn Brenig Osprey Cam, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Cilla Kinross, SK Hideaways, Save our Menhaden, NEFL-AEF, Llyn Clywedog Osprey Cam, Raptor Resource Project, Allin’s Cove East Osprey Cam, LRWT, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, fws.gov, Sky Hi News, Country Times, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Sara A,
The plane left late, sat on the tarmac in Winnipeg on arrival, and it seemed it took forever to get home. Of course, I was anxious – that old saying that it is a good thing to be away and even better to be home. ‘The Girls’ are so excited. All four of them are running around playing but staying right close to us. The birds were well looked after, and my neighbour is building a large planter out of stones so wild grasses can be planted. He even weeded the area around the weeping Caragana. I am so grateful. The rest is so overgrown and needs some good attention. Ten years ago it was easy – the heat just seems to take the ‘steam’ out of everyone. Everything is growing like I recall the vegetation did in Grenada. I need some sheep and goats out there!!!!!!
It was a magnificent holiday – one of the best ever, and we have had many holidays- graduate studies ensured that. I think it was because we chose not to do too much and not run around the province of Nova Scotia trying to check out tourist sites and osprey platforms. We did that one day and went ‘no’ after. The small villages and the surprise birding areas fuelled our joy. Sitting on the sidewalk sipping coffee and eating the most delicious lemon cake in Canning was just the right speed. Tonight, we are sipping some of the nicest coffee from beans roasted in Berwick and eating chocolate processed in Antigonish while the girls cuddle. It is hard to describe how wonderful it is to have Hugo Yugo wake me up during the night, nuzzling her head under my chin. Then, I looked down and saw Calico at the foot of the bed. Everything is alright in the world. The squirrels are out eating this morning – it seems I left them enough food for two weeks, not six days! When I think of Jen and her sanctuary, it is farm animals. In our garden, it is a sanctuary for those who find themselves living in an urban area that used to be wild. It makes me feel good. It also made me feel guilty as I dreamed of moving back to the hills of Nova Scotia. I think the key is to travel there often! Settling in a beautiful small village without a doctor, a grocery store, or a bank might be challenging. Today, we will revisit Nova Scotia by making a lovely brown bread with oatmeal and molasses. It is traditional – most eat it with scrumptious baked beans, just like in the States of New England. So, despite the heat, the oven will be on.
Well, the bread tasted much better than it looked. First effort! The chowder was top-notch if I say so myself. It’s Missing Nova Scotia.
The cat sitter had one thing to say, and you won’t be surprised: “Hugo-Yugo is such a little helion. LOL. She chased all the others throughout the house one morning.” The tiniest ginger cat has been the boss since she arrived. There is no question. She is not vicious, just persistent.
Calico, who loves to eat, will quickly move out of the way when she sees her coming towards her dish! They do get along. No fighting…just everyone needs to remember the hierarchy – the youngest is the boss. Antali would like that.
I ordered two books that I could skim at the sanctuary apartment. One of those is The Pig Who Sang to the Moon. Anecdotes from this volume will, no doubt, fuel some of the stories in my post in the future.
It is hard to fully articulate just how tired I am. Hopefully this posting will make some sense and not seem too scattered.
It is time for annual summaries and Dr Green has supplied us with two for Iris and Finnegan. I will continue to add these as I find them as it is so nice to revisit our nests before everyone departs.
Antali finds a fish hidden in the nest! And then Antali gets another. Well done. Don’t worry. Sum-eh has had fish.
Dr Green prepared this timeline for Iris and her nest happenings this season. Finnegan did fantastic. 8-9 fish a day, and the one day he and Iris brought in 10. Incredible. This was the biggest miracle in the eyes of all watchers who sent me their ‘miracle’ lists.
‘PB’ caught Antali waiting at the nest at Hellgate Canyon wanting a fish.
The ospreys around the Clarke Fork River are helping the scientists. Here is a podcast by Dr Green.
“Osprey chicks are helping scientists track pollution in the Clark Fork River
Iris the Osprey is a world-famous bird who’s nested along Missoula’s Clark Fork River for most of her long life. She’s also a longtime participant in research tracking mining pollution in the river. After more than a decade, the latest data on the health of the river is expected soon.”
Iris has certainly caught and eaten her share of fish in the local river. Today, she had another whopper on the Owl Pole! And after she has a good feed, Sum-eh and Antali will be wanting some.
Dad is busy filling up the little sea eaglets!
‘A’ comments on the sea eaglets breakfast:
“The littles had someone else’s chick for breakfast (probably a baby water bird with white feathers, which Lady took the prey away to pluck. Dad arrived early and was sent off on a breakfast mission at 06:48, returning just five minutes later with the bird. Once the breakfast was defeathered, Mum decided the littles were still sleepy and settled down to brood them a little longer. She got up and began feeding them breakfast soon after 07:15. SE33 is still sleeping, so she starts by feeding SE34, who is in front of SE33. After a few bites, SE34 wakes up, so Lady gives it some bites. The pair are both eating nicely, side by side, with each being given bites. SE34 is not afraid to accept the food it is offered and SE33 does not interfere.
By 07:20 Lady is feeding SE33 exclusively. When she offers SE34 a bite at 07:22:25, it is refused. She returns to feeding SE33. Again, about a minute later, SE34 refuses a bite to eat, even though it is sitting up and indicating it would like some breakfast. At 07:23:40 Lady again tries to get SE34 to take food and it refuses. This is a worrying development. Lady again returns to feeding SE33.
At 07:24:10 Lady again offers a bite to SE34 who is slow to accept it, but Lady persists and eventually SE34 takes the bite, without any response from SE33. From this point, Lady offers the eaglets alternate bites, with both littles accepting the food they are offered. They are like the best of mates, side by side at the table. Plenty of food and mum keeping a close eye on the kids and ensuring both get enough to eat. Lovely;
Well that was a nice start to the day at WBSE. Dad is really doing a great job of keeping food on the nest for the family. That fish he brought in, was it yesterday?, was the largest I think I have ever seen brought in to this nest. And of course Lady is her usual self when it comes to doling out the food evenly and ensuring that the kids play nicely. “
“It was time that I spent a day with the littles at WBSE and ensured that everything was progressing well and that both parents were doing their respective jobs, while both littles were eating well and behaving themselves nicely. So today, I watched the feedings in some detail. I have already talked about the breakfast feeding.
There was bonking at the lunchtime feeding. Dad brought in a nice fish, and Lady began feeding SE33, with SE34 asleep in front of it. After a while, SE34 woke up and lifted its head. Lady offered it a bite, which it accepted without any objections from SE33. Lady then returned to feeding SE33. At 12:38 Lady eats a big mouthful of fish herself – it was easier than preparing it for one of the littles. This seemed to frustrate SE33, causing it to wait too long between bites, and it beaked SE34 in the back of the head. SE34 ducks and tucks. It is slow to accept bites now, and Lady is slow to offer them. Lady continues to feed SE33, however, leaning over SE34 to do so. SE34 just sits, head up and waiting but not competing for food. It is a little intimidated when SE33 tries to remove a bone from its beak, thinking perhaps it is being bonked, By 12::41, SE34 is leaning towards the fish, only inches from his beak. Mum continues feeding SE34. By 12:41, SE33 is full, refusing a bite that Lady offers three times. When SE33 turns its head away, Lady offers the bite to SE34, who accepts it without hesitation. She gives the next bite to SE33, who takes it. She then resumes feeding SE33. When SE33 refuses the third bite, she offers it to SE34, who is slow to take it so she again offers it to SE33. This time, it is accepted. SE34 lifts its head and makes it clear it is wanting food but Lady offers the fish to SE33. Whenever Lady tries to clean fish off SE33’s face, it cringes away from her as if scared. Neither eaglet is keen on having its face cleaned by mum!
!2:42 and SE34 has its head down as Lady feeds SE33. Just before 12:43, SE34 lifts its head again but Lady continues reaching past it to feed SE33. When she leans close to SE34 to pick up a dropped piece of fish, it immediately pulls as far away from her as it can. This is such strange behaviour, as mum has never hurt either of the littles, intentionally or otherwise, so I have no idea why her movement close to the eaglets causes them to behave as if intimidated. 12:43:20 and SE34’s head is up again and it is waiting hopefully for fish. Lady continues to feed SE33, who is sitting up behind SE34. At 12:45:38 Lady finally offers a bite to SE34, who takes it immediately. She offers another bite to SE34, who takes that one too. There is no reaction from SE33. From this point, Lady offers bites to both eaglets, sometimes giving SE33 two bites in a row but usually alternating between them. SE34 is initially a little cautious but is soon confidently eating with its sibling. Nice.
By 12:52, SE33 is full and Lady appears distracted. SE34 could certainly eat more but Lady decides the feeding is over. ABut Sgain, I think SE33 did better at this feeding than SE34, and this appears to be the case at virtually all the feedings, unless Lady takes the opportunity to give SE34 a private feeding while SE33 is sleeping. This situation provides SE34 with its best opportunities to eat without concern or trepidation. There is still half a fish left on the nest (though this fish is a different species from the giant one Dad brought in yesterday and is a medium-sized, plate-shaped specimen.
At 13:46:46 dad removes the half-fish from the nest and takes it up onto a branch to eat. At `3:53:30 he returns what remains and Lady gets up from brooding the eaglets to feed the remains to the littles. SE33 is too full for more food! It gets stepped on as mum leaves the nest, waking it up. SE34 snoozes on. But SE33 finds room for some more fish and SE34 wakes up and is also happy to eat more. Lady feeds both. By 14:04, SE34 is being offered every bite, with SE33 finding itself too full to accept bites. SE33 is behind SE34 and leaning on its sibling, leaving SE34 a little cautious, though it is not stopping the little from eating. It is finally getting its fair share of this fish! SE33 momentarily finds some more room in its crop and rejoins the feeding but by 14:06 it is again full. The bites Lady is giving SE34 in this feeding are large, but the eaglet is managing them with ease.
Lady keeps coaxing SE33 into eating yet another bite, and SE34 is still eating with gusto. Lady is getting careless about the size of the bites she is offering, many of which are so large, she is eating them herself after the eaglets reject them. 14:09 and both chicks are accepting bites. By 14:10 Lady is feeding only SE34, who is really stretching to take the bites from mum. The winds are so gusty, Lady loses her balance on the nest and has to use her wings to steady herself. 14:11 and Lady has switched to feeding SE33. Then SE34 gets a few bites in a row. Lady is doing her best to feed both eaglets, moving the fish closer to SE34 and continuing to offer bites to both chicks. 14:12 and she is again concentrating on SE34. These chicks have impressive appetites and are gradually demolishing this fish, which is larger in pieces than it first appeared when a whole fish. 14:13 and both chicks are sitting side by side at the table, eating nicely together as they are fed alternate bites. What a cute picture they make when they’re not beaking each other in the head. Just too sweet for words.
Both chicks ate a good breakfast of bird and a good lunch of fish. They both did small but healthy PSs while I was watching those two feedings. There was no significant aggression and nothing that intimidated SE34 from eating in any meaningful way. There were moments when it was cautious because its sibling was behind and leaning on it, but nothing that prevented it from eating a decent amount of food at breakfast and at lunch. It had a full crop after each feeding.
I am hopeful for this nest, despite the immediate bonk-fest that these two started almost as soon as SE34 hatched. They are two very feisty eaglets and it would not surprise me if we had a female first hatch. I am unsure about the second, but it could be a little brother, based on its size and behaviour. It does appear to be the dominant hatchling, and SE34 is obeying nest order etiquette by being careful not to trigger SE33 with, say, direct eye contact. SE33 occasionally enforces its dominance but this is rare and SE34, beyond observing the courtesies, is not being intimidated by its sibling or prevented from eating. I am keeping an eye on the obvious size gap that has opened up between them since SE34 hatched, at which stage they seemed remarkably similar in size. I cannot be certain whether the size gap that now exists is the result of gender or of SE33 getting a larger proportion of the food. I suspect the former. “
Geemeff’s summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Saturday 17th August 2024 The promised dry spells did appear on and off today – a bit like Affric 152 and Garry LV0, who spent hours on the nest, coming and going at different times over a three hour period. Garry showed off his nest-building skills, bringing moss and sticks, but no fish, to Affric’s displeasure. She rebuffed his advances and if he has any hope of getting her to abandon Prince and pair with him, he’s going to have to do better. Fish is key! No activity of any sort on Nest Two, and rain forecast for tonight, tomorrow and the whole of next week. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.48.22 (05.05.22); Nest Two 21.39.17 (05.09.41) Today’s videos:https://youtu.be/K86m0Q234Sc N1 Something scares Garry and Affric off the nest 12.12.38https://youtu.be/_qwTc6b2sdY N1 Affric wants to see Garry’s fishing skills, not nest-building ones 12.24.16
Bonus video of beautiful Loch Arkaig scenery – Eas Chia-Aig waterfall near Spean Bridge:https://youtu.be/N7G3OfNTKGI
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Not much happened today, Garry LV0 provided the only action on either nest when he popped in to Nest One with half a flatfish in his talons. Ironically Affric 152 wasn’t around to take it, so he departed with it less than a minute later. LizB posted a possible reason for her absence: “Bunarkaig update – second hand information, but apparently the male was fishing in the bay this morning for around an hour, making a few trips back to the nest with fish for the chick. Perhaps there was plenty for Affric too which might explain her lack of appearances at nest 1 today”. Weather was wet as forecasted, and will remain wet for the rest of the week, with winds varying from gentle to moderate.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 21.47.38 (05.09.00); Nest Two 21.39.08 (05.12.56)
The Colonial Beach Osprey Project sent me the following information: Joanie Millward, President of the Virginia Osprey Association, kindly included numbers for last year and this for comparison. This information will go into the International Osprey Data Project to help us continue to grow a more thorough understanding of what is happening in each region.
You will note the high proportion of nests that only fledged one chick. This is an indicator of the nests’ lack of prey in that region, which is so sad.
We should all be enjoying the adults and kiddos flittering around the nests occasionally. Migration is well underway as we saw with the Shorebirds in Nova Scotia.
Will Blue NCO return and breed successfully again at Loch of the Lowes? Will her mate be the Dark Knight? We have to wait til next spring and see.
Tweed Valley reports:
Another miracle nest this year is Snow Lane, the home of Beaumont and Hope and their fledgling and soon to be fledgling in Newfoundland. It has been eons since osplets fledged from this nest and I am certain tears are being shed by all who love this couple. It is truly wonderful.
Trudi Kron posted an update from the Hancock Wildlife Foundation regarding Blue:
What a gorgeous group at Glaslyn! Aran and Elen’s 2024 graduating class.
Lola and fledgling at Charlo on Sunday.
Still home in Minnesota!
‘H’ reports: “8/18 Osoyoos osprey nest: The new fledglings seem to be doing great, flying to and from the nest. And, their parents are providing them with plenty of fish to fuel their flights. The cam was down until 0844, so we may have missed an early fish. At 0946, Soo delivered a huge salmon to the nest. Soo kept the fish, and Chick 2 was the recipient of the first meal from that fish, then Soo removed the huge leftover. At 1023 Olsen brought a medium sized whole fish, Chick 2 nibbled at it, but was already too full. Chick 1 flew to the nest at 1108 and ate that fish. Soo brought back her fish at 1109, but neither chick was interested, so she left with it again. She returned with the fish at 1134, fed Chick 1, and again Soo removed the large leftover salmon. At 1246 Soo brought the same fish back, and fed some more to Chick 1. It was interesting that Soo would never allow the chicks to take that fish from her. Then at 1254, Soo removed the large leftover again. At 1316 Chick 2 grabbed a medium sized partial fish from Olsen and ate it. At 1317, Soo returned with the same fish she initially brought to the nest at 0946. The massive fish had been gradually getting smaller. She fed Chick 1, and finally the fish was all gone except for the tail. That salmon should certainly qualify for frequent flier miles! Olsen brought the last fish of the day at 1927, a whole fish that Chick 2 grabbed and started to eat. But, Chick 1 flew to the nest after a few minutes and stole the fish from Chick 2!
8/18 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: All three fledglings are still returning to the nest for fish, and they also like to hang out a bit on the perches. Harvie brought six fish to the nest for the juvies today, and there were some pretty good battles for the fish. The intruder was only on the nest for less than a minute in the morning, and she left when she saw Harvie approaching. We did not see Louise today.”
We watch these beautiful birds from the time they hatch to fledge. We cry sometimes and then they are free. It is time we protect their environment as there are far too many electrocutions.
Netflix is requesting the removal and/or relocation of osprey nests. Seriously? Thanks, Geemeff.
Cowlitz fledgling caught on the nest Sunday morning.
Chicks home at Oyster Bay.
Raining at Patchogue – no one home.
Keke and River on the nest. Keo continues to deliver fish.
Port Lincoln has a new baby on a barge and it is not an osprey – it is a White-bellied Sea Eagle!!!!!!!!
Iris wasn’t the only female raptor catching a whopper on Sunday. Just look what Jackie hauled into the nest at Big Bear!
Xavier and Diamond are thinking ‘eggies’.
In Latvia, the first hatch, a female, Red 59T, flew for the first time on the 15th of August followed by her little brother, Red 59V, on Sunday, the 18th. Congratulations!
Thank you so much for being with us today. It is always nice to have you here – and I always enjoy your letters, your news messages, and your comments. Keep them coming! Take care. See you soon.
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, PB’, Montana Osprey Cams, Cornell Bird Lab, @HellgateOsprey, Montana News, Birdling Life and More, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Rosie Shields for Border Ospreys, PLO, Raptor Persecution UK, Joanie Millward, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Newfoundland Power, Trudi Kron, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Charlo Montana, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, PSEG, Sandpoint Ospreys, Celia Aliengirl, The Two Rivers Times, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, LDF, Osoyoos, and Fortis Exshaw.
It is grey and very windy today. The only animals in the garden are Dyson and her kits waiting for me to put out new peanuts. Some of the larger container pots of tomatoes were blown over during the night and I have a thick jumper on with wool socks this morning. It feels like fall!
We hope you enjoyed a little trip down memory lane with the events at the nests and the birds that gave us hope and smiles so far during the 2023-24 breeding season. I enjoyed reading every list that you sent! Thank you again. Some of you have sent in more memories than reading the lists triggered. I will include a mini-listing tomorrow or the next day. I am so happy that you enjoyed that post. If you forgot someone, feel free to tell me.
‘H’ sent me a note saying little Cobey at Colonial Beach was rescued. Tears. Thank you to the owner of the cam who persisted in requesting help, to the DWR who came to the rescue, and to Dominion Energy, which brought in the bucket truck to help get little Cobey down. Cobey’s condition was described as ’emaciated’.
And her report: “8/7 Colonial Beach osprey nest: This morning David delivered a partial fish to Cobey at 1131, and he also chased away an intruder. Cobey worked on the fish on and off for a couple of hours before David removed it, thinking that Cobey was done with the fish. Mom Betty had been missing for over four days. And, David was not providing enough fish, nor was he feeding his 44-day-old youngster, Cobey. Cobey had to take a crash course on self-feeding the past few days. But, Cobey wasn’t getting enough to eat, and he was declining. Everyone knew it. The weather forecast was predicting a few stormy days, and Cobey would not have had any protection from the weather. The nest owner continued to consult with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, and the earlier decision to not intervene was reversed. We were notified on the chat at around 1430, and within a half hour, we saw the bucket being raised and someone with gloved hands reaching across the nest for Cobey. Many of us were crying. It was a miracle. We owe a debt of gratitude to Colonial Beach Osprey Nest Cam, and VA DWR, that Cobey now has a chance to live. Cobey was taken to Alton’s Keep Wildbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, and will be under the care of Mr. Harley Thomas White. “Now, you listen to Mr. White, Cobey, and do what you’re told… and he will make you better… And one day you will fly.”
Screen captures from a video Heidi posted on FB of the rescue:
Harley Thomas White is caring for Cobey. He made a fish gravy and fed Cobey some fish pieces, emphasising Cobey’s critical condition. Cobey is thin and weak. There will be daily updates. These images came from a video on the website of Altons’ Keep Wildbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Inc. Check out Harley Thomas White’s FB page for the videos and updates for Cobey as well as the website of the centre. (Want to show your support for this rescue from the nest? Have a spare tenner? I bet they would appreciate it).
WordPress Media Storage. Once again, I have hit 99.95% of my storage capacity. Tuesday afternoon, I spent some time deleting educational and information files, videos, and images from posts in 2022 and 2023 to make room for Wednesday’s post. I will gradually go back through the Memorial Walls and try to leave the single best image for the deceased bird instead of including several. Moving forward, you will see that I am putting in links to articles and videos instead of inserting the video or the PDF file. It all goes to saving space. I pay the top subscription fee for WordPress, and they will not sell me any more storage, so this is the only alternative I have discovered. There will be images, but fewer of them, sadly. If you know any secrets to getting around this issue, please let me know!
I am getting extremely excited about the upcoming trip to Nova Scotia. There are three reasons for this. You might recall that we were in Toronto a few weeks ago. It was a trial run for a longer vacation. Two years ago my husband (at the age of 63) began having memory issues. This was followed by hallucinations beginning in March 2023. All the while, I could not get a doctor! With the help of an old friend, we were able to see a specialist in December of 2023. That visit, MRIs and trips to a neurologist confirmed a diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia. Some of you might remember that the American comedian Robin Williams had LBD. It is a terrible illness – not the memory issues. They come and go and never disappear like those who have Alzheimers, but it is the hallucinations that are tormenting. Thankfully, the pharmaceutical cocktail Don is taking is helping, and after Toronto, we got the green light to travel a little further and stay a little longer. (Please do not worry or fret. Believe it or not, we are doing great. Being outside on long walks fits me perfectly and it is also good for those with dementia. Nature heals and changes everything! We are living a good life – and enjoying every moment that we can). We are excited to return to a place we called home for so long but haven’t seen for 26 years. The second thing is that Nova Scotia is a birder’s paradise. While we will miss seeing the osprey chicks in the nest with the adults because they have now fledged, we hope to see them fishing and getting strong before they leave on their migration. We also hope to look out our windows in the morning and see Bald Eagles flying and get to add some shorebirds and waterfowl to our life lists. Meeting the Dennis family, who organised people throughout the province to observe and record the osprey nests, will be an honour. Last, luck found us the perfect place to stay. It is an Animal Sanctuary for rescued farm animals – pigs, goats, cows, etc. The entire property is Vegan, and we will be staying in a new apartment above a gallery. Across a quiet country road is the estuary where the eagles fly and the shorebirds scurry. What a wonderful change from living in the middle of a growing Prairie city! We are even hoping to ride bicycles!
‘CG’ reports on the search for Blue at HWF-BBCentral nest in Boundary Bay, British Columbia: “No reports yesterday of hearing Blue or the parents after Blue left the nest. Also, the parents were not seen later in the day. Normally, Mere would come back to the nest and be perched above from around dinner time until Blue was tucked in for the night. At 1251 hours today a parent was seen on a post near the water. Departed.”
In the United Kingdom, the fledging of two White-tail eaglets is causing a stir.
Beaver kits in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland are also putting smiles on the faces of those who worked so hard on their reintroduction. You may be aware that beaver activity is essential to establishing thriving wetlands and biodiversity.
In Finland, all chicks at Saaksilvie #1 have flown.
USU is on the nest with Mum at nest #4 in Finland. The status of its wing is unclear or what might happen to the chick.
Beautiful osplets in Latvia waiting to fly.
Hollywood movie crew members watch Iris as she feeds her chicks. They should be considering making a movie of her life! Sum-eh fledged and returned to the nest after practising flying. She is flying around the parking lot and Dr Green reported she had also gone up and down the river. Antali is yet to fledge. S/he is five days younger than Sum-eh.
‘A’ comments: “When a lovely big fish is brought in at around 16:55, the only one home is Antali, who does not try to claim the fish or self-feed. Iris, in response to the constant begging for fish, soon begins feeding Antali. who already has a healthy crop. He can see Finn and/or Sumeh flying above – watching from below but not at all alarmed as he would be were the osprey above an intruder. Sumeh flies in at about 16:59, eager for fish. Iris obliges. She feeds both osplets, but Sumeh is hungrier and more demanding, so she is given more food. This is a very big fish – there is plenty for the whole family. By 17:39 Iris is feeding primarily herself, although occasionally, one of the osplets (usually Antali at this stage of the feeding) decides one more bite could just fit. Dad arrives just before 18:04. Sumeh is closely studying the leftover fish mum is standing on. Iris is not pleased at the arrival of Finn, although he has BYO fish. It looks like a chunk of fish but may be something of the smaller variety. Finn takes it to the perch – the remainder of the earlier fish is still on the nest (about half of the fish) so there is still another meal for Iris and the kids.”
Beautiful osplet at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum on a cloudy day. Waiting to fly. The chick has officially ‘perched’.
It really is not a coincidence that so many ospreys are dying in the Chesapeake Bay area. The extreme heat arrived, and there was no fish to hydrate the ospreys. Adults and chicks are being found dead. It is interesting to note that the Pacific Northwest had the extreme heat – even hotter in places – as did Iris – and the deaths were much less. So think about the lack of fish! The overfishing of the Menhaden needs to stop, and so does the rescue of starving osplets. We need a healthy population of fish hawks.
Mark Avery reminds us: “The Inglorious 12th – the start of the grouse shooting season is approaching. It’s one of the few issues that brings animal welfare, climate change, nature conservation and law enforcement together so clearly.” So what is the Inglorious 12th those that do not live in the UK ask? (12 August)
PETA UK says: “Traditionally, the Glorious Twelfth – or the “Inglorious Twelfth”, as it should rightly be named – marks the start of the red grouse shooting season. But this year, many estates have been forced to delay or even cancel it after human-induced climate change saw unseasonably hard sleet and cold rain, resulting in fewer birds for hunters to blast out of the sky…About 700,000 red grouse will be killed between now and December. According to a report by the League Against Cruel Sports, 40% of birds shot are wounded rather than being killed outright, causing intense and prolonged suffering. Grouse are low-flying and difficult to shoot cleanly, and hunters need no formal training or competence with a gun to go on a shoot – it’s a free-for-all. These are just a couple of reasons why this barbaric “sport” should be banned.
Grouse are charming, sensitive birds who are devoted parents to their chicks. They deserve better than being killed in cold blood for someone’s twisted idea of entertainment. And it’s not just the grouse who suffer at the hands of the hunters. To preserve the interests of their own sick pleasure, hunters remove the grouse’s natural predators, meaning foxes, stoats, weasels, squirrels, and birds like hawks, falcons, owls, hen harriers, and eagles are trapped, poisoned, or shot or their nests are destroyed.
All this cruelty and destruction so that a tiny minority of bloodthirsty people can wander through the British countryside gunning down sentient animals – it’s a senseless massacre, not a hobby.”
When you sibling wants your other slipper!
In a comment to a post about migration and if the males ever leave a chick on the nest (the question was in regard to nest #4 in Finland where the sole surviving osplet appears to have a wing injury), the author of Belle’s Journey and many papers on Osprey behaviour and, in particular, migration, Rob Bierregaard says: “Adult females almost always leave first, usually a week or two before the males. In the northeastern US, it’s usually mid-August for females and the first 2 weeks of September for the males and young. This information is based on 107 satellite-tagged birds, so I know when birds start migrating, as opposed to leaving the nest and hanging around somewhere, which they’ll do, especially after a nest fails. When young leave the nest, they are not necessarily starting their migration. Some wander all over the place and and delay the start of their migration until, exceptionally, November. I had one young from Martha’s Vineyard, an Island off the east coast of Massachusetts, wander 1,200 miles all the way to the Great Lakes! I had one male linger into late September when a young couldn’t get its act together and was constantly on the nest begging. The male finally gave up and left before the young did.”
The Eurasian Hobby in Dorsett is becoming a Hobby instead of a ‘baby chick’. Don’t you just love those strong legs of the falcons?!
Geemeff sends both a happy and sad story of Ospreys at the Cape which has grown from a few pairs to now over 500 they estimate.
Geemeff also sends the daily summary from Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Wednesday 7th August 2024
No action whatsoever today, not even a visit from a little bird. It’s not yet the middle of August, but with night cam switching on ever closer to 10pm and staying on until almost 5am, and no chicks flying around demanding fish from Louis, the season feels suspiciously like it’s over for this year. Affric152 and Prince should still be around as they have a young fledgling to look after, and with luck we might even see their chick testing his wings on or near one of the cam nests. Garry LV0 was the last one to leave last year so perhaps he’ll do that this year too but it does seem as if the star pair, Louis & Dorcha, have already headed south. With the weather being wet and windy today, and more of the same forecast for the next ten days, moving south seems the sensible thing to do.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.21.45 (04.41.53); Nest Two 22.14.31 (04.49.20)
Today’s videos: none – not even a visit from a little bird!
Bonus read – a free ebook by W. H. Majoros Season with the Osprey:
The wind appeared to be strong at the Port Lincoln barge. Both Mum and Dad were tucked in and then Dad flew off and left Mum hoping he was going to bring her a nice big fish for brekkie.
Jackie and Shadow were at the nest for morning chortles on Wednesday.
Ceramic nests save the life of little seabirds and they are coming to Alcatraz to save birds. Thanks, ‘EJ’ – a very engaging story of people figuring out solutions.
But this is good news. It is time for some serious consideration about taking all the Menhaden that keep our ospreys alive (and other birds and mammals).
Atlantic menhaden board votes to study more restrictions on controversial Chesapeake Bay fishery
The measure passed this week is meant to help protect birds and fish that rely on menhaden as a key food source. But researchers say more data is needed to understand the dynamics in the bay.
I really hope that my readers living in this area and loving the Osprey will speak up – and anyone else that feels it is important for Osprey to have fish to eat! The commercial fishing of Menhaden has to stop – inside and outside of the Chesapeake Bay.
‘H’ reports:
8/7 Osoyoos osprey nest: Unless I missed one, it seems that there were only 4 fish brought to the nest, all delivered by Olsen. There were two good size fish from which Soo provided nice feedings. And, the two very small fish were acquired by Chick 1. Chick 2 was doing much better with his wingercizing today. At 1749, Chick 2 was so high that s/he was almost completely out of view for a second. Keep exercising those wings #2! Weather forecast for 8/8: Partly cloudy with smoky air, high temp 92F/33C, light winds.
8/7 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Everything is going well for Johnny, June and 54-day-old ‘Fen’. Today was the first day in a few weeks that June did not catch a large striped bass, but the wind and rain may have had something to do with that. Fen was wingercizing with some nice hops today.
8/7 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: There was another fledge today. Due to the dirty camera, it is still difficult to see details of the birds. But, at 1200, we believe that chick 2, named Peyto, fledged at 54 days of age. Peyto landed on the nest perch at 1240, and dropped to the nest when a fish arrived. Congratulations Peyto!
A wee peak at WBSE 33 and 34. They always look like fluffy little snow people to me.
Hugo Yugo wishes everyone the best Thursday (or Friday) depending on where you live. She is a sleepy girl waiting to get her eyes cleaned, poor thing.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, CG, EJ, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RP’, Heidi McGrue and the Joy of Ospreys, Henry Thomas White and Altons’ Keep Wildbird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Inc., Pam Breci and The Joy of Ospreys, Sea Eagle England, Cairngorms National Park, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Montana Osprey Cams, LDF, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Osprey Cam, Chesapeake Mermaid, OpenVerse, PETA UK, Dyfi Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, CBS News, SFStandard, The New York Times, Mark Avery, Brian Collins and Menhaden- Little Fish, Big Deal FB, Osoyoos Ospreys, Fenwick Island, and Fortis Exshaw.
This is part of a fabulous message from ‘B’: “Gosh, Mary Ann, Hellgate is breaking the smile-meter today. Not only does Sum-eh “branch” to the perch at 6:53, but then s/he tires of the perch at 7:43 and takes off on a real fledge. And without even seeing her, we can follow the whole flight by seeing Antali track the whole flight, right up to the landing a minute later. At 8:00 Iris lands and begins calling for the celebratory fish, but she must already know it is on the way, because Finn arrives with fish at 8:00:54, and the whole family is on the nest to celebrate Sum-eh’s fledge.”
How many of us just had tears in our eyes when we saw Sum-eh fly? I keep thinking that this is the perfect Osprey family. Everything this year was as if it had been choreographed by someone directing a world-famous symphony or ballet company at the Hellgate nest of Iris and Finnegan. I want it to stay this perfect.
Iris and her family have energized me.
Information on Montana Ospreys and where they migrate and when:
Oh, it was not so hot today but that did not stop the Blue Jays dive bombing the Crow fledglings whenever they came to get cheesy dogs and kibble! The sounds of the fledglings alarming and wanting the parents to come and help was, at times, a bit eerie. And then a community cat came and that really got the Crows going!
The tree you can see is where the Blue Jays nest. They gather there and swoop at the fledgling Crows whenever they come for food. You will see that one of the Crows on the fence has a lighter chest (far right)—it is moulting and an adult.
BirdGuides Photo of the Week is an osprey diving for a fish. Several places in the UK offer hides for taking these amazing images – at a price. Most of all, it helps the ospreys because there is a healthy amount of fish available and, in all cases, as I understand it, the ‘farmers’ who monetised their ponds or fish tanks are making more money from folks like us who want to get that winning image. Note that I have been more than careful not to say ‘shot’ – as the ospreys steal fish at the commercial fish ponds in South America and do get shot. I wish those farmers would advertise hides for taking photographs. They might discover this win-win situation, too.
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Monday 5th August 2024
Just a raft of Mistle Thrushes and a Woodpecker on Nest One today – no Ospreys, no other action on either nest, just plenty of rain. Filling in the gap a little, LizB posted more footage of the Bunarkaig nest showing Affric and her chick, links in the bonus section. The wet weather continues tonight and tomorrow, with the possibility of thundery showers in the late afternoon.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.35.04 (04.41.35); Nest Two 22.46.59 (04.49.03)
Concerns for USU at nest #4 Finland continues as migration approaches. Will someone take the osplet into rehab?
‘PB’ caught USU flapping!!!!!!!
We are going to have a fledge at Charlo soon!
The other nest to keep an eye on is Minesota Landscape Arboretum. Our only surviving chick is on the perch with Mum on Monday.
Dad continues to deliver nice fish meals to the Cowlitz PUD nest.
River has come a long way to getting very proficient at self-feeding. Mum Keke looks on at the Sandpoint nest.
All three on the nest at Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour.
Nice crops on Mum and the fledgling at Boulder County.
‘PB’ caught a great image of the McEuen fledgling – just look at that crop. Mum did well. Such a sad year for this nest but one osplet survived with Mum despite the heat and having a single parent nest.
Blue (HWF BBCentral nest) was doing some wingers and moving around the nest including standing on the rim.
From the Forum:
‘CG’ reports:
AP Hovasse was out taking videos this morning. Believes Blue is ready to FLY!! He will be out again tomorrow morning.
Cams came back up at 1452 hours.
At 1715 hours, she pulled a plastic bag up out of the nest and proceeded to rip it up scattering it across the nest.
At 1750 hours, a parent delivered food, dropping it at the edge of the nest. Blue grabbed it and mantled it.
She did her usual flapping and seems to have taken to sitting on the edge of the nest. She also had three healthy looking PSs this afternoon.
Close up of Blue.
By 2251 hours, she is lying down asleep.
Weather for Tuesday high of 73F, low 50F, sunny. Temperature predicted to rise to the 80s Wednesday-Friday, then back down to the 70s with clouds for Saturday through the next week.”
Dad brought a really nice fish to Mum at the Port Lincoln Barge Tuesday morning! Oh, these two are getting me excited. Think the fish fairies will be around this year?
Small beak peeking out of the egg at the Olympic Sea Eagle nest in Sydney. The chick has made some progress during the night and Lady didn’t get much sleep. Let’s hope it is out today.
At Osprey House Environment Centre, the three osplets are little reptiles. I wonder if they will continue to play sweet. Let’s hope!
Where does Australia’s Painted Snipe go in the winter?
8/6 Colonial Beach osprey nest: By 0935 this morning, Betty will have been missing for three days. Yesterday, David brought 43-day-old Cobey a large headless fish in the morning, and Cobey ate some of it a few times throughout the day. Cobey is doing well with his self-feeding, but he is not strong enough to tear through much of the skin, especially as the fish dries out. There was an interesting period of time when there was an intruder on the nest for about 1.5 hours. Fortunately the intruder was not interested in Cobey, and he did not take the leftover fish. The intruder simply looked around, and moved some sticks. We were hoping that David would bring a fresh fish for supper, but he didn’t. Cobey was noted to have a few good PS on 8/5, but s/he needs more fish than what he is getting. Unfortunately, David does not do any feeding. As a single dad, we are hoping that David will increase the amount of fresh fish that he provides for Cobey. Today will be mostly cloudy, high temp 90, winds gusting to 17 mph. Please come home, Mommy!
8/5 Osoyoos osprey nest: They had a good day. There were 7 fish brought to the nest, including 2 from Soo. And, both Soo and Olsen delivered some whoppers. Chick 2 is still not quite ready to take that maiden flight. S/he did some wingers with slight lift, but no hovers that I have seen. Weather for 8/6: sunny, high temp 90F/32C, winds gusting to 13 mph.
An Osprey family living in the Turtle Mountains of Manitoba just west of where I live taken by Brenda Lyons two days ago!
In Estonia, three new Black Storks have been fitted with transmitters. Yeah! We wish them a long, long life. We hope that one of those, Kerli, which is believed to be Kergu’s sweetie pie, will return with him next year to breed.
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, observations, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, CG, Geemeff, H, PB, RP, TU’, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, mt.gov, McEuen Park, Hancock Wildlife Forum, HWF-BBCentral, BirdGuides, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Cathy Cohen, Osprey House Environment Centre, The Guardian, BirdGuides, Colonial Beach, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Brenda Lyons, Ciconia Negro.
It is getting to the time when you need to be getting your ‘miracles’ of the year in! Deadline: Wednesday, the 7th of August, so Tuesday evening CDT is the deadline—about 2000. Even a single sentence! Let me know what made you happy this year. I won’t spoil it, but there is already a clear winner for the top miracle of the year. Can you guess what that was?
It is cooler on the Canadian Prairies. Imagine extreme heat (32 for us) and then waking up and thinking you need a jumper! That was what it was like Sunday morning. The garden animals are loving it!
I did have a bit of a scare this evening. All the Crows were about and two of them were ragged and had white on their breasts. Took a deep breath. It is Junior and his mate and they are molting. Poor things. Junior stays but she heads south in the fall. I hope one or two of the youngsters will be around with us for fall and winter. They have been busy tonight protecting their territory. Urban crows live in family groups taking over a specific area and making sure that other groups of crows don’t enter! That said, when the GHO arrives, everyone comes to help usher it out of the space.
The blog is a little all over the place today. Osprey nests are winding down with fledglings returning for fish and awaiting the time to depart for migration. People are starting to stop and look at the state of the eagle nests and – we are on pip watch for the Olympic Park White-Bellied Sea Eagles in Sydney!
Update: Confirmed pip for SE33!
The three osprey chicks at the Osprey House Environment Centre are doing very well. Three weeks old!
In Port Lincoln, Mum is resting on the barge nest. Yes, yes, it is all beginning to happen ‘down under’.
Xavier is delivering prey to Diamond in the scrape at Orange, Australia. Now all we need is the Melbourne CBD Falcon cam to come on line. Typically that is after the eggs are laid.
If this is your first time to watch ospreys, you might want to find out about their migration – as most (save for Florida and some Gulf areas, the Caribbean, and Austral-Asia) fly to winter homes.
Many of you will remember the Red-tail Hawk raised by the Eagles on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. You will also recall that the eaglet that shared the nest, Junior, was electrocuted. We all cried. It is too common an occurence. We lost one of two gorgeous osplets raised by Oscar and Ethel at the Russell Lake Osprey nest in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It was discovered that it was Heidi. She had fledged the day prior. These events are so very sad.
If you recall the discussion with Dr Christian Sasse and Dave Hancock on how to mitigate against electrocution using simple methods and know that YouTube video, let me know. I am looking forward to sharing it with our friends in Nova Scotia. I have written to the HWF but have not heard back from them.
‘H’ reports:
8/4 Osoyoos osprey nest: There were nine fish delivered to the nest, including one from Soo. Olsen had tapped into a good location to catch those small green-colored fish, so his offerings consisted of those fish. Soo brought a large headless fish at 1251 that actually resulted in two separate long feedings. It was interesting to note, with 5 of the 8 fish delivered by Olsen, chick 1 rather easily took the fish from chick 2, after chick 2 had initial possession of it. Chick 2 still displays some residual effects of the psychological conditioning that took place during all those weeks when chick 1 had been very aggressive toward him, and he learned to submit. Chick 2 needs to get over that, and try to hold on to his food! Chick 1 did not eat all of those fish he acquired, and he left a couple of good sized chunks on the nest for chick 2. Everyone had plenty to eat today. Chick 1 took a few flights off the nest throughout the day. And, chick 2 managed to get several inches of lift off the nest during his evening wingercizing! Weather forecast for 8/5: Sunny, high temp 94 F, light winds. There is a chance of strong thunderstorms in the afternoon.
8/4-8/5 Colonial Beach: Betty has not been seen since 0935 on 8/3. Last night, 42-day-old Cobey spent his second night alone on the nest. Cobey did not have anything to eat on Friday. On Saturday, David dropped off a headless fish, Cobey self-fed for the first time, and was able to eat most of that fish. On Sunday, David provided Cobey with a headless fish at 0724. Once again, Cobey did a great job with his self-feeding. His technique is not perfect, but he does amazingly well. He ate the fish off and on for several hours, and picked it clean. At 1828 David brought a live fish to the nest. The fish was not very lively, but it took Cobey a while to figure out how to unzip the fish. Cobey managed to do it, and ate the head! Then he reached in and pulled out a lot of the center of the fish, avoiding the tough skin. This morning 8/5, Cobey has already tackled the leftover piece of fish, and managed to pull off a few bites, but it is dry and tough. Hopefully David will bring Cobey a fresh fish this morning. And, we are praying for Betty to come home. Weather forecast for 8/5: Sunny, high 90, light winds. The forecast for the rest of the week may include periods of very heavy rain and some wind, as the remnants of ‘Debby’ moves up the coast. Cobey will need some protection from all that bad weather, and David doesn’t seem to like that kind of Dad. Please come home, Mom.
I am so looking forward to seeing these beautiful Nova Scotian ospreys in real life. Take off in a week! Will be announcing a wee break in normal posting – I will be sending out special Nova Scotia episodes while I am away so you can learn about one of our beautiful Atlantic provinces. It is famous for birdwatching – I am so excited.
Flipping over to Wales. Dylan has been busy delivering his famous Brown Trout to the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales that he shares with his mate, Seren. The kids are there wanting fish! And if one is eating the other is fish calling very loudly!
Aran is busy at Glaslyn fishing for his and Elen’s kids, too. Everyone wants and needs to eat before migration.
In the south of England, the kiddos are waiting at Poole Harbour, too – and Blue 022 has four to feed!!!!!!!
At the nest of Iris and Finnegan, Sum-eh is getting restless to fly.
She is getting more height by the hover. Could today be the day she flies?
Our friend ‘A’ comments: “I’m hoping that her bond with Finnegan will bring her home. Certainly, she has something to come home to, which has not been the case before now. I know they’re territorial, and she returns to her nest, but now that nest has someone waiting on the perch, she may have an even stronger urge to be back. If indeed the older chick is female, then it is an incredible testament to the mothering skills of Iris, who has raised these two to be as close as any siblings I’ve seen on a nest. Never a hint of aggression or intimidation. They love to snuggle. Little Bob is usually fed first, but regardless of feeding order, they wait their turn. Sometimes, they compete for bites or even eat from each other’s overflowing beaks but never with violence attached. And if indeed Iris has achieved that outcome with a huge female hatched a week before her younger brother, we are definitely in the presence of a super mum. I love the way she has abandoned the nest to the kids, watching from the perch. She does always look to have a good crop, so at least Finn is keeping the family well fed. Perhaps too well fed. Why would these kids bother to leave home? This generation doesn’t, apparently. I do need to remember their names!!
This morning, big sister did a big and healthy PS, which pleased her so much that she had a hover. She is getting very good at her hovering. Oh Mary Ann she is magnificent. Such a beautiful osplet. She is gorgeous. (Little Bro is not yet interested in leaving his version of terra firma.) Iris immediately rises as if in an invisible lift, and she is out of there. Let hovering practice take place without her!! She can supervise from the perch. There is much fish calling (it’s 06:53). Little Bro is fascinated by his sister’s hovering (or perhaps he is just worried she’s about to land on his head)! But certainly, he is keeping his eyes on her. She is really getting some strength as she flaps. She is holding herself aloft for longer and longer, sometimes landing on an outer kiddie rail (is that technically branching or does she have to reach the perch?) and she is really enjoying the sense of wind beneath her wings. Those talons already look pretty deadly to me! “
At nest #3 in Finland, Tuulos and Taika have a fish and mate in the nest.
They are rebuilding at Decorah North!
Only one left to fledge at Blackbush – the other two that are flying continue to return to the nest for fish. Everyone is so well fed that on Sunday even Mum had some time to have a nice fish meal to herself.
In Newfoundland, Canada, Hope and Beaumont’s oldest is starting to work its wings. The chicks are 42 and 37 days old. We could have fledge in a little over a week for the oldest. Fledge dates average around 55 days. (some say 50-55)
Little Eurasian Hobby doing well eating dragonflies brought to the nest. As a fledgling, it will glide over the water catching dragonflies and other bugs for its meals along with small birds.
Everything you wanted to know about the Eurasian Hobby and more:
Geemeff’s Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Sunday 4th August 2024
A dreich day with no sign of Louis or Dorcha, it’s starting to feel like they’ve headed south to warmer climes as Dorcha was last seen eight days ago on the 27th, and Louis last seen five days ago on the 30th. Of course, those are the dates they were last seen on nest cam so there’s the possibility they are still in the area. Affric 152 and Garry LV0 are definitely still around and both came to Nest One today. Affric looked hollow-cropped and asked Garry for fish but he didn’t have any for her. It’s her mate Prince who should be providing fish for her back on the Bunarkaig nest where their newly fledged chick is probably still returning to, but like last season, there’s a complex relationship with that pair and Garry LV0 which seems to be ongoing. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is heavy rain with a gentle breeze, and light rain for the rest of the week too.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.29.01 (04.37.17); Nest Two 22.21.56 (04.44.16)
Worries continue for USU’s wing at nest #1 in Finland against growing concerns that Nuppu (Mum) will depart the area. At the moment fish continues to be brought to the nest for the youngsters.
And back in California, Hartley and Monty are bonding after a great season!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following who sent in notes, posts, comments, videos, articles, and the streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, Connie and Don Dennis, CG, Geemeff, H, J, RP’, Hellgate Osprey X, Becky R, Olympic Park Eagle Cam, Osprey House Environment Centre, PLO, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Avian Report, Purpleshrub.com, Audubon, Ospreys of Nova Scotia FB, Osoyoos, Colonial Beach, Llyn Clywedog, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, BoPH, Montana Osprey Project, Saaksilvie, Raptor Research Project, Blackbush, Newfoundland Power, Wildlife Window, The Peregrine Fund, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, CNN Weather, The Guardian, whec.com, obawebsite.com, diesachen.de, Heidi McGrue, John Williams, and SK Hideaways.
A year ago we were running a couple of blocks to feed Calico and any living kittens that we couldn’t see. We had ordered a GPS tracker then, and when we take our walks now, we are reminded of the worry and anxiety of those days. This is Calico and her only surviving kitten, Baby Hope, on 6 September 2023, two days after Baby Hope came to join us. Calico had come inside a week earlier. Hope came to the feral feeder…it was such a joyful day.
The woman who helped me told me to leave Baby Hope in the kennel, alone, for six days. I couldn’t. She needed to be with Mamma. They continue to be inseparable. The joy that kitten had when she saw her mother and dear Calico, too, – well, who says animals do not have emotions?
Double Calicos = Double Happiness.
November 2023.
March 2024.
And then there are the Crows. Such beautiful intelligent birds. The fledglings are getting braver. They are coming to the bird baths more often and they are eating at the big table feeder.
We cannot forget the baby Blue Jays. They are sooooooo adorable. This one reminds me of the littlest one last summer. The babies have their crests. The adults are molting and look ragged – an easy way to tell them apart. Every day I wake up and feel blessed by having these wonderful garden animals and ‘The Girls’ in my life.
Today is Owl Awareness Day! Many of you know how I feel about owls when they decide to have an osplet for lunch. Poisons should not be used – ever. Spread the word -DO NOT USE RODENTICIDES!
With the destruction of habitat and the dwindling number of small mammals, rats and mice become food. If they are poisoned, they move slowly and the raptors catch them. It can kill them or their chicks. So sad. We have seen this happen. I know you remember the nests! Of course they also kill domestic pets such as cats who also catch mice and rats.
Dr Green is in the hide on the lift taking photos of Iris and her family. He hasn’t done this since 2018.
There were concerns when Antali was trying to pass a pellet early Saturday, but all is OK. The chicks are eating well and getting huge crops. Thanks for the close-ups, cam op!
I cannot imagine waking up and not seeing Iris and her babies – and Finn, too, and that day is coming in 5 weeks or less.
Fledges Saturday at Island Beach State Park and Blackbush Old Tracerie.
There was also a fledge at nest 10 in Kielder Forest. It was the young male. He took off and did a quick return. Kielder cannot confirm this was his maiden flight but it probably is.
Oh, goodness, there’s a fledge at Osoyoos, too. I’m shedding tears over this one. Heidi will report it in full, but we have lifted off in a year when many feared we would lose all three chicks to extreme heat and not enough fish. In the end, it appears the nest will only lose one chick, Little. Congratulations, Soo and Olsen—you did it!
‘H’ reports:
8/3 Osoyoos osprey nest: Great news: At 57 days of age, Chick #1 fledged at 0533, and made a nice landing back on the nest less than two minutes later. Chick 2’s head was on a swivel going round and round, as he stood in the nest and watched his sibling flying. Chick 1 had performed some very high hovers yesterday, so the fledge was not unexpected. Olsen delivered a small whole fish at 0620 and Chick 1 grabbed it and gobbled it down. After his breakfast, Chick 1 took a few more short flights. At 0753 Olsen dropped off a large partial fish, and Soo fed both osplets for 45 minutes. There was still some fish left, but the chicks both walked away, so Soo was able to finish the fish herself. Olsen also brought some nice-sized fish at 0927 and 1024, and Soo fed both siblings. Then the cam went offline for 4.5 hours. After the live stream resumed, we saw Olsen deliver a small fish, and Soo fed Chick 2. Chick 1 didn’t even approach the chow line. I did not see any more fish delivered today. The high temp today was 101 F, and Olsen had done a great job fishing despite the heat. Unless I have missed it at some point, I don’t believe Chick 2 has performed any hovering as yet. Weather forecast for 8/4: partly cloudy with smoky air, high temp 95F/35C, winds gusting to 17 mph.
8/3-8/4 Colonial Beach osprey nest: This is a sad story. The last time 41-day-old Cobey ate well was on Thursday. There were no fish brought to the nest on Friday. On Saturday, Betty left the nest at 0935, and she did not return. David dropped off a medium-sized headless fish at 0957, and he left. Cobey had not previously done any significant self-feeding, but he was ravenous and he tore into the fish. He was doing a pretty good job of pulling off fish bits. Cobey ate the fish off and on over the next several hours. His efforts were tiring, and he would have to take breaks to rest. It appeared as though Cobey managed to eat all but the tail of that fish. There were no other fish brought to the nest for the rest of the day. At 1915 David stopped at the nest for just a minute, and he did have a crop. Poor lil Cobey was fish-begging, and David left. We hoped that David would return with a fish…but he didn’t. Cobey had been left alone for 9.5 hours on Friday, but Betty eventually did return. The weather was warm on 8/3 (90 F), and there was a moderate breeze, but we had known Betty to have success fishing in much more adverse weather. On 8/4, David arrived at the nest at 0724 with a headless fish. After Cobey briefly chatted with his Dad, he started to eat. The fish seems to be tough, and Cobey is expending a lot of energy. We are praying that Betty is safe, and we are praying for her to return to the nest. Cobey needs a proper Mom-feeding at this point. Weather forecast for 8/4: partly cloudy, high temp 88, winds gusting to 14 mph.
The only surviving osplet out of four at McEuen Park is gaining wing strength flying from platform to platform.
Female osprey Goldie seems to be able to care for the three osplets despite her mate Kurt’s MIA and the heat in the area.
I wonder how many birds are electocuted each day because of hydro poles that have not been mitigated to protect them? This poor darling caught on fire and then, hitting dry grass, started a fire.
The situation really needs to change if the Ospreys in the region of the Omega Menhaden trawling are to survive.
Please urge people to watch their speed. Their are so many fledglings and many get hit by cars. So sad.
Thunder and Akecheta were spending some time at home on Saturday – the West End nest of Catalina Island.
Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Saturday 3rd August 2024
No Ospreys seen on either Nest One or Nest Two today, but LizB pulled off a coup by getting clear footage of the resident female at Bunarkaig and yes, her video confirms what’s been suspected for some time – it’s Affric 152. Link to her video in the bonus section. Nest One had some little songbird visitors and Nest Two had bigger and less melodious visitors when some Hoodies arrived for a fruitless check for fish scraps. It was a dreich day with rain on and off throughout the day, and more rain expected tonight and tomorrow.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.26.50 (04.24.39); Nest Two 22.25.18 (04.34.28)
Top Flatt chick required a supplementary feeding today and the NZ DOC rangers were there to help.
Clark PUD fledgling back on the nest resting and waiting for fish.
Fledgling waiting at Cowlitz PUD, too. These images are important because our flying babies lived for another day!
The Only Bob at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has the most beautiful wings. Flying soon.
Still showing up at Poole Harbour. Six fish arrived at the nest on Saturday. Mum helped deliver some, too.
Blue NC0 looks out over the Loch of the Lowes. Her life changed completely this year. Her dear Laddie LM12 was killed and her precious eggs were kicked out of the nest. The good thing – no chicks hatched, no chicks starved. Blue NC0 seems to have kept her nest and maybe she has a new mate. We will see next spring.
One chick left to fledge at Collins Marsh. The other two continue to return – as they should – for fish and rest.
The only surviving chick at Charlo Montana is getting antsy with those wings. I wonder which will fly first – Sut-eh or the chick at Charlo?
River with a full crop at Sandpoint!
Family portrait at the LDF Osprey nest in Kurzeme.
Hen Harriers are one of the most gorgeous raptors. Two more have been killed, and investigations are underway. Sadly, one of those is Susie. You might remember that I reported on her nest of chicks – five of them. An individual stomped on them til they died. It is worth reading about these amazing raptors that make their nests on the ground. I have mentioned Bowland Beth and A Hen Harrier’s Year. Both are excellent.
Little Taquito is getting feathers. Thanks, ‘J’ for the video capture.
The camera at Boundary Bay is frozen at 0901. On Saturday Blue had a remarkable ‘ps’.
At the Captiva Osprey nest, Jack was seen at least twice. Poor Dad. Easy to recognize. He still has the spike in his leg but he appears to be doing well.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, questions, videos, articles, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, MP, PB’, RATS, Hellgate Osprey, Montana Osprey Project, Kielder Forest, Osoyoos, Colonial Beach, Pam Breci, castanet.net, wavy.com, Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal FB, Red-tail Hawk Tales, IWS/Explore, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Lady Hawk, Clark PUD, Cowlitz PUD, MN-LA, BoPH, Scottish Wildlife Trust (LOTL), Collins Marsh, Charlo Montana, Sandpoint Ospreys, LDF, Raptor Persecution UK, BirdWatch Ireland, Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, and HWF BBCentral Forum.
Don’t forget to send me a note or a long list with your favourite moments of the 2023-24 season (every bird counts, no matter the species). I will publish these on Wednesday, August 8th. We need to have some smiles and I just know that there are some surprises lurking out there that have not been mentioned! You can put the list in the comments or send me an email: maryannsteggles@icloud.com Make sure I get this before midnight CDT on Tuesday August 7. Thank you so much!
Another hot day. 32 C. The bird baths needed filling continually. The Crows and Jays kept quiet during the high heat of the afternoon and are just coming into the garden. Dyson should be joining them soon!
We are nearing the time when every osplet should be fledgling. They will then have time to gain their muscle strength and get lots of practice. Some very precious osplets might even catch their fish before they leave on migration, but most will depend on their parents and, in particular, Dad as Mum will be departing well before anyone else. The females lose from 10-15% (some even have been found to lose up to 30%) of their body weight, and it takes them extra time to build up for their long journeys.
The University of Toronto reminds us of the simple facts, “There are two distinct populations of osprey with respect to lifestyle, the Residents and the Migrants. Residents are the ones, which breed in the subtropical latitudes in winter; they either stay in the same area all year round or move only locally during the non-breeding season. The other ones are the Migrants, which nest in the temperate latitudes and fly off each autumn to spend the winter in the tropical regions. North American ospreys start migrating south to their wintering grounds in Central America and in the northern parts of South America, around mid-August. By early September, most nesting colonies in the northern latitudes are empty. The numbers of migrating ospreys observed at selected watch points along their southward route are at their greatest during mid-September and early October. They reach their wintering grounds by late November. During winter, the only thing an osprey does is to eat, rest, recover from the stress of the previous breeding season and prepare for the next breeding season. It has been observed that during winter, they become more tolerant of each other as they congregate in loose flocks and are even known to hunt together in small groups, a few birds hovering over water, looking for fish might also stimulate others to join in the frenzy. Adult ospreys start leaving their wintering grounds in early March, by late March, more than half of the wintering ospreys have left the wintering areas, for their natal nesting grounds. Yearling ospreys stay on their wintering grounds for another eighteen months, returning to their natal nesting grounds at the age of about two years. Two-year-old ospreys however, leave the wintering grounds much later than the adults, and may reach their natal nesting grounds as late as June, by then; they are already too late to breed. However, pre-adult ospreys may become a nuisance to the breeders, because they try to take over nest sites and may interfere with the breeding pairs, as they explore and search for nesting sites of their own. They are also sometimes known to replace a partner in a breeding pair if it dies or is incapable of performing its duties. Ospreys arrive back at their natal nesting grounds by early May.”
If you are looking for interesting books on Osprey migration, here are my top two.
Soaring with Fidel by David Gessner is not your typical academic book and that is why it is my favourite choice for anyone wanting to understand the migration of ospreys and, in particular, those on the NE coast of the US. Gessner follows Fidel down the coast, to Cuba, and into South America. I promise you that you will want to travel to the mountains near Manzanillo, Cuba to see the hundreds if not thousands of ospreys that fly over heading south. It is the top of my bucket list. And I will get there!
The second choice is more for older chidren but Heidi expressly told me that it is not just for children, adults can enjoy it, too, and I agree. Belle’s Journey. An Osprey Takes Flight will touch your heart. It is the true story of a GPS tracked osprey. Rob Bierregaard takes us from Belle’s fledge, to her first successful fish catch, through a tumultous trip down the coast of the US to South America.
Which leads us into these amazing birds that are hopping, jumping, and hovering and will soon spread those wings with confidence and fly for the first time.
Oldest chick fledges from Saaksilvie nest #1 while the remaining chick gets some high hovers!
I haven’t reminded anyone about the benefits to birds of shade grown coffee for awhile. It is time to do that as we examine, on occasion, agricultural practices that can benefit not only humans but wildlife. The Snithsonian certifies ‘bird friendly’ coffee. They even sell it. In Canada, it is Birds and Beans. Yes, it is more expensive than brands where the tree canopy has been clear cut but, compared to other high quality small roasters in Canada, it is only about $3 more per 454 grams (one pound). It is discounted if you get a subscription. And no, I don’t get a commission! But I do support every effort to rewild and to make our planet more inhabitable for all living creatures so I cut back on the amount of coffee that I drink so I can purchase the bird friendly brand.
Ventana Wildlife is not all about Condors. They are a Species Recovery Programme. This is a recent video about the success of the restoration of the Bald Eagles in Central California. It is beautiful and short, 1:27 minutes.
Some news about Blue and a lot of flapping at Boundary Bay.
Food deliveries for Blue:
‘CG’ sends her report on Blue’s Day: Mere. Ha, ha. I’ll bet she was the twitterer I kept hearing yesterday. Blue knew she was there and was squeeing at her. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before.
Blue greeting the day from her favorite spot. Wonder what she thinks of the fog.
I thought she had a pretty good day. She was very active all day long and did quite a bit of squeeing. I wondered if a parent was around but didn’t hear any adult twittering until later in the day. She spent the morning wingercising, hopping, and dancing across the nest. It was so cute that they put together a video.
Great Flapping From Blue on YouTube with a message from Hancock Wildlife regarding concern about Blue.
There was a food delivery of fish around 1000 hours. Blue pounced on it, and there was a struggle to release it from Mere’s talons. I’d called it a medium sized piece, and it was all gone by 1018 hours.
,During the afternoon, she spent time moving around the nest, looking out, preening, wing stretching, and more dancing, skipping, and flapping across the nest. She lay down a few times today but not for long except when she lay down in her favorite spot in the late afternoon. I think she was dozing.
There was another food delivery at around 1830 hours, and she accomplished a good clean snatch. It was a large piece. It looked like moist fresh meat, a little more work than fish, but she did a good job of holding it down and pulling pieces off and all the time was squeeing while eating. After dinner, she stood for a while, and after squeeing, she was answered by a lot of twittering. Someone asked about Pere. He is still around. In fact, it looked like he delivered the last meal. When chicks become “exuberant” trying to grab food when delivered, dads tend to retreat. All chicks are bigger than dad, especially the females. Poor Akecheta delivering food to his 3 eaglets at the West End Territory ended up on his back in the melee.
At 2200 hours, Blue was up and started doing a lot of preening. I had seen a lot of moths on previous nights, but tonight, as well as the moths, there were lots of tiny flying insects. Had to be annoying.
I checked in at 2244 hours, and she was asleep lying down with her head to one side. She looked so adorable. Funny, the flying insects and moths were gone.
WEATHER: Thursday, 8/1, at 1715 hours, it is 82F, mostly sunny, wind 8 mph, humidity 63%, feels like 90F, low tonight 61F.
Friday, 8/2 through Monday, 8/5: Highs ranging from 79F to 82F with lows ranging from 50F to 62F.”
If you missed it, Finnegan and Iris’s chicks were named. This article includes the overwhelming numbers of people who voted and how many chose the winning names.
Iris, Sum-eh and Antali see Finnegan coming in with a fish!
This nest just makes me smile. Thank you and good night Iris, Finnegan (wherever you are), Sum-eh, and Antali.
‘RP’ found this on X. So cute.
When fish deliveries come, everyone wants in on the action and some of that nice dinner! Fledglings who have been civil to one another on the nest take on a new energized stance as they prepare to live independently in the world.
Dyfi Osprey Nest.
It is precisely the same at every nest.
Glaslyn.
The baby, 5H6, claims the fish at Poole Harbour!
Later, other siblings want some fish, too.
At McEuen Park, the fledgling is enjoying a fish dinner all by itself.
It feels like things are finally settling down in the nests. The last of the osplets will be fledging and then they will need to eat and fatten up a bit – so will Mum and Dad – before they begin their migrations (if they migrate, some don’t). What a year it has been.
Annie and Archie are finally getting some quiet time after successfully fledging four! Dear Nox, the fourth hatch that landed in the water at the marina is improving. Great news. If I had a list for cutie pies this year I bet Nox and Smallie would tie. Interesting that they are both Peregrine Falcons!!!!!
Geemeff’s daily summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Thursday 1st August 2024 Not much action today but after a quick pop in on Nest One from a pair of Warblers, we did have the pleasure of seeing an Osprey – Garry LV0 arrived and spent a few quiet minutes looking around and preening before flying off again. Chaddie 14 gave us the exciting news that the chick at Bunarkaig has fledged, this chick is thought to be the offspring of Affric 152 & Prince. Link to his update: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15536809. WTS George says we would really appreciate people signing our Living Legends petition to protect our ancient trees: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/?ht-comment-id=15532685. The weather was settled today, but tonight’s light cloud and light winds will change into heavy rain tomorrow. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.32.55 (04.30.46); Nest Two 22.32.34 (04.38.42) Today’s videos: https://youtu.be/9LKihnfJAjo N1 A pair of Warblers visit 10.31.12https://youtu.be/QTRqeePpg8I N1 Garry LV0 arrives, stays a while, and preens 13.07.21
Bonus watch – Soar with a Golden Eagle as it flies over Scotland wearing a go-pro eagle cam:https://youtu.be/JDmgtkaKx6c
Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:
Royal Cam Chick is loosing all his baby down and transforming into a beautiful albatross that will be fledging in another 5-6 weeks. Isn’t he lovely?
Everyone is still home at Blackbush.
Morning rained stopped. Minnesota Landscape Arboretum chick is certainly ready to begin some great hovering and flapping. My goodness, I hope some fairies bring some soft material to this nest next year to help the ospreys get a head start.
Fledgling at McEuen Park waiting for Mum to bring some fish! This is actually a bit of a miracle, too. It is hard enough for a single parent to take care of chicks in a perfect world. Then imagine a single parent with four chicks, intense heat, and babies not able to thermoregulate. I think we are lucky that we had one survive on this nest in Idaho this year.
My goodness. The two chicks at the Latvian osprey nest in Kurzeme seem to have grown even more overnight! Look at the wing spread and look at that healthy ‘ps’. Another miracle nest and congratulations to Singa and Svings. The chicks were ringed on the 30th of July. The oldest is Red 59T, a female weighing a whopping 1750 grams. The second is Red 59V, a male weighing 1400 grams. The third egg DNH.
It’s very windy there.
Dorsett Hobby scares everyone by climbing to the rim of the nest. Is chick hungry?
Chatters have expressed some concern over what appears to be a wing problem with the chick on nest #1 in Finland.
Many of you will know that the largest wildfire in California history is burning and could be a threat to many nests. Here is an update on Liberty and Guardian.
Russian Imperial Eagle fledglings waiting at the nest for prey deliveries.
‘A’ sends the latest posts from Australia if you have not seen them:
At the Olympic Park, we are very close to hatch:
August 1: The 35th day since the first egg was laid. Early duets, and then Dad came in and took the fish tail off himself. He returned and sat for a short while. Lady returned after only 31 minutes. Another shortish shift each, then Lady came in at 9:20 with leaves and incubated again. During the morning, both were in for short shifts, with calling and duets. Later, both took their turn at incubating during some light rain. Late afternoon, Dad relieved Lady briefly, until she returned for the evening at 5:20. Lady spent some 7 hours on the eggs today, and they were uncovered only briefly during changeovers. No prey was brought to the nest.
August 2: A cold wet night for Lady. After a few calls, Dad came in at 6:30, and Lady was off for a break but heard close by. She returned after only 33 minutes – a quick break for her. There was some rain in the morning, and several changes. Lots of calling off the nest. Some rain on and off. Dad had a long (two-hour) shift from just before 9am, and again in the afternoon. Is Lady out getting prey for herself? Both brought some greenery in today, though again, no prey was brought to the nest. Lady was home from 15:35, and other than a few short stretches and rolls, she sat on the eggs until evening- though there was quite some muttering from the nest. A few late ups and downs, then settled. Both parents spent a similar time on the eggs today, with the eggs only uncovered for brief periods.
‘H’ sends her reports:
8/1 Osoyoos osprey nest: Breakfast consisted of the large leftover fish from yesterday. Soo fed her youngsters for about 18 minutes. The first new fish of the day did not arrive until 1221, when Olsen dropped off a very large partial fish. That fish provided for a 46-minute feeding for the osplets. I did not see any more fish brought to the nest the rest of the day, but I noted that the chicks both still had large crops late in the afternoon. It was a very warm day, with the temperature reaching 101F/38C. Soo was acting as Mombrella to help shield her big kids from the sun most of the afternoon. Weather forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high temp 102F/39C, light winds.
8/1 Colonial Beach osprey nest: It was a better day for this nest. Four fish were brought to the nest, three of from Betty. And, David delivered a fish after he had not been seen on cam for three days. So, little Cobey ate pretty well today. Betty was even seen acting as Mombrella for a while to shade Cobey from the hot sun…that’s progress! Forecast for 8/2: mostly sunny, high 95, winds 16 mph.
8/2 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: There is a patch on the ground at the very top of our nest-cam-view where the marsh grass is thinned-out a bit, and I have seen both fledglings fly to that spot on occasion. There’s something they like about being on the ground, and they think they are hidden by tall grass. It was getting dark, and at 2030 in the evening on 8/1, I saw both of the fledglings fly from the nest to that spot. I could make out one of their heads, while the other one was just out of view. I have not seen a fox this season, but I have in the past. They roam the marsh at dusk. I didn’t like the fledglings being on the ground at that time of day. How would they learn to stay up high out of harm’s way from ground predators, especially as darkness approaches? Shouldn’t it be instinctual? Or, is it something that they would somehow learn from their parents? Certainly learning from experience doesn’t sound like a very good idea. Well, I worried all night, and I was very grateful to see those silly juvies fly to the nest early this morning. I wonder where they actually spent the night.
If you happen to be near St Louis, Missouri, there are celebrating Murphy at the World Bird Sanctuary (Thanks, J)
And they continue…Omega will be there til they get the very last Menhaden. Perhaps it is time for a world wide boycott of Omega!
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their wonderful reports, posts, pictures, videos, articles, books, and streaming cams that helped me write my post today: ‘A, CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB, RP’, Amazon (book covers), David Gessner, Rob Bierregaard, Nesting Bird Life & More, Oxford Brookes University, Ventana Wildlife Society, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, All About Birds, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, BoPH, Pam Breci, SK Hideaways, Geemeff and the Woodland Trust, Blackbush Beach Ospreys, MN-LA, McEuen Park, LDF, Finnish Osprey Foundation, FORE, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Olympic Park Eagles, Sharon Dunne, Montana Osprey Project, DancinLionHeart, and Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal.
Tomorrow is the first of August! The summer is absolutely flying by. Today’s report from my end – not those great folks that send me news on specific nests they are monitoring – is a bit brief. I spent a lovely afternoon in the park yesterday despite the 31 C heat. There was a lovely breeze and it was simply wonderful to hear the sounds of children’s voices splashing in a pool. A grandfather and his two grandchildren asked to share my picnic table. The children were so cute. One asked if I would like one of their ‘Bear Paws’ – a soft chocolate cookie. Yummy.
The correct cable arrived and now we can have some images of the garden friends from the better camera.
Is this just the most gorgeous Crow? I am finally beginning to be able to tell the new babies – not baby size – by their shape and personalities.
Its sibling was down on the top of the Weeping Caragana.
One of the siblings is very ‘tall and thin’ compared to the others.
They seem to have very different personalities, too. Gosh, they are wonderful. As are the Blue Jays!
There are six baby Blue Jays. Three were on the big tray feeder.
One wasn’t sure it would like beets and rice as much as the Crows!
The other two were on the deck amidst the seeds and sparrows.
There are hundreds of lively sparrows everywhere.
The squirrels habe been busy both Dyson kits and the Reds.
‘J’ wrote to ask me if the Tortilla Bird counts for happy moments. Yes, every bird counts! Every one of them. Put them on your happiness list. They don’t need to be on streaming cams.
Yesterday, a question from another reader : “So where is the food? Why aren’t the parents delivering food like we have seen on other nests? I wish that the there was a forum that would discuss this.” should have appeared at the top of CG’s report on Blue at HWF-BBCentral as a lead into their story. It remains unclear to me how this worked its way into that report! ‘CG’ certainly knows there is a forum. Apologies all around for any confusion or angst.
Here is CG’s report for Blue for 30 July (Thanks, CG):
Blue started the day by being a wet bird. Rain had been forecast for today.
She started out by working on some old food and came back to it about 4 hours later. She spent her day doing eaglet things like wingercising a number of times, stretching, preening, standing around, and poking around.
Blue looking pretty sleek here. It was around 1200 hours and she was surveying the scene and preening on and off.
Looks like getting some height here with her wingercising.
Food delivery by parent around 1630 hours. Blue, by the way, is good at mantling.
Half an hour later, another food delivery. One of the larger deliveries. She left only a small piece.
At about 2000 hours, she was lying on the nest. I left her looking out over the countryside at 2117 hours.
Weather forecast for Delta for the rest of the week. I have come to appreciate cams that show the weather in a corner.
Geemeff brings us some really good news from Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust (Thanks, Geemeff):
Daily summary Tuesday 30th July 2024
The highlight of today was the welcome return of Louis, last seen on the 25th. He spent over two hours on Nest Two, perching on Dorcha’s perch then flying down to do some nest cupping, before departing. Nest Two had another visitor – Affric 152 made a surprise visit, just a brief touchdown really before flying off again. No sign of Dorcha, last seen on the 27th, or Garry LV0, last seen yesterday. No visitors to Nest One although a Wood Pigeon did a fast flypast caught on nest cam. Itziar Colodro from Fundación Migres gave us an update on 1JW and safety measures in the translocation area, see bonus section. The weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is a pleasant partly cloudy with a gentle breeze and a low of 9°c, and tomorrow promises to be dry and sunny with a high of 19°c.
Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 22.54.55 (04.12.32); Nest Two 22.52.04 (04.27.02)
Bonus info on safety measures for Ospreys in the Spanish translocation area, and update on 1JW (thanks Itzy):
Update on 1JW:
I have received lovely updates from Itziar Colodro about our surviving chick 1JW. She works for the Fundación Migres but has a much earlier connection to Loch Arkaig – a chick from a nest on private land, ringed JH3 in 2017 and named Pean (‘cousin’ if you like to our first Arkaig chick from new pair Aila & Louis, ringed JH4 and named Lachlan), didn’t migrate very far and took up residence in her area in Spain. There were a lot of photographers in that area and he became quite famous until sadly he was electrocuted on a faulty power line in 2018. Itzy was instrumental in getting the utility companies to act to ensure the safety of the birds.
After Itzy posted on Adam’s site Walking With Daddy / Osprey, I mentioned her work with the utility companies after the loss of JH3, and got this response:
Your words have really moved me🥹, because I have not forgotten JH3 either, that wonderful animal did not deserve that ending. Thanks to him, hundreds of electrical towers were corrected and are now safe for all birds of prey. In fact, we have built a nest for Ospreys since the entire power line was gone. Now it’s a very good and safe place for Ospreys.
Updating: 1JW is adapting great to the environment. It is an honor to be able to take care of him (and his brother 1JR). Loch Arkaig has meant a lot to me for many years you know. I hope I will soon visit that area, where I feel united with all my heart since many year ago. Thanks to you and your support and effort for the conservation of this wonderful species🦅🫂
‘H’ brings us up to date on a few of the nests she is monitoring (Thanks, H):
7/31 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest: The camera view became partially obscured about two weeks ago from PS (forceful elimination) from the chicks, and our view has been almost totally obscured for the last week. The camera is positioned low, and it has a history of being hit with PS. Last year we got lucky, and Banff’s and JJ’s aim was off, and they couldn’t manage to hit the camera! The chicks are 49, 47, and 45 days old. Occasionally a chatter will remark that they think they see some wingers being performed, or we can listen for screaming and watch for moving shadows indicating that a fish may have arrived at the nest. Prior to the camera becoming soiled, we knew that family life was going very well. There were plenty of fish being brought to the nest, mainly from Harvie, but some from Louise as well. There had not been a lot of sibling rivalry and aggression, and the chicks all looked very healthy. A chatter that lives nearby has visited the nest a couple of times, and reports seeing the heads of two chicks each time she has visited. Should we be worried that only two have been seen? Or is it just the limited view when our BOG has been there? The BOG spotter has not been able to get a good elevated view of the nest due to restricted areas nearby. There have been reports that river and lake levels are low in Alberta, due to a significantly reduced snowpack last winter, and because of the heat and drought this summer. Is it possible that Harvie and Louise have not been able to catch enough fish to support three growing chicks? We simply do not know. The chicks are approaching an age where they will be ready to fledge soon. Pray for rain to help relieve the drought and clean the camera !!!
7/30 Captiva osprey nest: Even though live streaming from the camera has ended for the season, the Mods and others continue to have viewing access. Yesterday Ann P. reported seeing Jack at the nest. He still has the ‘spike’ going through the skin of his left leg, but he is alive and looks well. Jack was a phenomenal mate and dad this season. We are thrilled to see him. Photo courtesy Ann P. NOTE – FOR SOME REASON THE IMAGE WILL NOT ‘STAY’ ON THIS PROGRAMME. IT KEEPS DISAPPEARING.
7/30 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: Mom stopped at the nest for just a few seconds. We had not seen her since 7/18, the day before the cam went down for 5 days.
7/30 Osoyoos osprey nest: We had a short viewing day, as the cam went offline at 1215. Olsen brought the first fish at 0536, and he just so happened to drop it right at Middle’s feet. Middle strongly mantled over his/her prize and probably could not believe his good fortune. Big did not make a strong bid to take the fish from Middle. Middle ate for 20 minutes before s/he relinquished the fish to Big. Dad dropped off another fish at 0557. Big abandoned the fish she was eating to join in on the feeding from Soo. Both siblings were fed during that 10-minute meal, and then Big resumed eating her earlier fish.
‘PB’ brings us up to date on what is going on at The Port of Ridgefield (Thanks, PB).
‘PB’ also caught two of the fledglings on the Steelscape nest that has been so harassed. Hoping to see the fledgling with the injuries.
‘PB’s other report is that the McEuen female was feeding her hick with a male at the nest. The male has been missing for over a month and during that time three of the four chicks died from starvation. Is this the mate of the female or another male? It is unclear.
Good news coming out of Steelscape.
I remain so excited for the two osplets growing up in Latvia. They are not quite ready to fledge, but the two osplets on the Latvian nest in the Kurzema Forest are doing splendidly. It is believed there are approximately 200 osprey couples breeding in the forests of this beautiful country.
Gorgeous fledgling at the Mlade Buky nest of Bety and Bukacek.
Snow Lane, Newfoundland. Hope and Beaumont. Incredible season with this family. I never thought it would happen – checking on Hope and finding her often feed her chicks. Amazing, in fact.
It is raining at Hellgate Canyon. Iris and her two osplets look beautiful even soaking wet. Iris and her family are not out of the woods from the heat. It is going to return but they have ‘made it’ through several weeks of scorching weather and a huge storm and they have survived. It is at the top of my happiness list for sure. The image below is, to me, simply a miracle. I never thought I would live to see Iris raise a family again. But it happened. Miracles do happen.
Finnegan is working hard for his family!
That is a gorgeous osplet at Charlo, too. What is their weather going to be like? Ah, the same as Iris! A bit cooler and then gradually getting hotter.
It has been raining on the only chick at Dunrovin Ranch, too.
At Collins Marsh in Wisconsin, there are three well-fed, healthy, fully feathered osplets wanting to fly and they are going to do it any day now!
Family portrait at Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum. That chick is like the ones at Collins Marsh – ready and wanting to fly.
A fledgling with a fish meal and a Hooded Crow hoping for some leftovers at the German nest, BUND Goitzsche-Wildnis.
Marder’s Osprey Platform on Long Island has a chick that wants to fledge, too. It likes to still be fed, too.
At Manton Bay, Blue 33 has been bringing fish to the nest and sometimes Maya is there or flies in to grab them. Sometimes the fledgling is there. Nice to know that all three are still in the area.
It was a sad year for the Loch of the Lowes nest in Scotland. To be sure, though, we were blessed and so was Blue NCO, that the eggs did not hatch before Laddlie LM12 was killed. She has been at the nest with the dark osprey male. We will have to wait and see what transpires next March – but it looks like Blue NCO has, for now, held on to her beautiful nest.
Waiting for fish at Llyn Brenig!
Idris has been working over time at the Dyfi Osprey Platform feeding his chicks. He brought four fish to the nest in less than an hour.
You might be used to the Bald Eagles cutting back on prey but the osprey parents will keep this food coming so that the chicks can bulk up for migration. They are not yet fishing. Indeed, many will only catch their first fish while they are travelling south to their winter grounds. The parents, mostly the male, will work hard to get them in top shape for this journey. Then the male will remain for a few days to get strong, too (sometimes not – they leave right about the time of the kids) while Mum left earlier.
Well, if this doesn’t make your heart race!!!!!!!! We should never count the ospreys ‘out’. We might not ‘see’ them but this doesn’t mean they have met their demise. This is a great story.
‘J’ sent me the following image of the Centreport Eagles. It comes from the Bald Eagles 101 FB page she notes (Thanks, J).
It looks like theya re trying to take every last fish that an osprey could eat in Chesapeake Bay. This makes me so angry. If you take Omega supplements, or eat farmed/battery chickens or farmed salmon – that is where these fish so vital to our ospreys – are going!
It is your last day to vote on the names for Iris and Finnegan’s kids. Go to the Montana Osprey Cams FB and click on the image. Please vote.
And ‘J’ sends us the latest update on NOX:
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their observations, posts, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CG, Geemeff, H, J, PB’, CG and HWF-BBCentral cam and Forum, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, H and Fortis Exshaw, Patuxent River Park, and Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Pam Breci and Port of Ridgefield, Steelscape, and McEuen Park, LDF, Mlade Buky Stork Cam, Newfoundland Power, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Collins Marsh, MA-LN, Goitzsche-Wildnis, Marder’s, LRWTm The Scottish Wildlife Trust and LOTL, Llyn Brenig, Dyfi Osprey Project, Faye Hill, and J and Centrepoint Eagles,Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal, and The California Raptor Centre.
Morning Update: ‘PB’ report that two adult ospreys attacked the two fledglings this morning at Steelscape.
It looks like one fledgling is back at the nest now. Let us hope that both are alright.
Saturday was a 30-degree C – humid – day on the Canadian Prairies. The garden animals were active early and arrived again once the sun moved further to the West. The heat is meeting up with a cold front and we are in for another evening of severe thunderstorms. Hugo Yugo gets so scared and wants to cuddle in tight while Calico runs and hides under the sofa. It makes me only imagine what a fifteen or half-hour of fireworks does to them.
The Girls and I started reading a new book tonight. They might not understand what is going on but Calico knows she likes to sleep on the foot stool in front of the Dyson fan. The book is, The Heat Will Kill You First. Life and Death on a Scorched Planet’. I am hoping to understand more about what is happening and how it is impacting our raptors. Some of it we are witnessing before our eyes – in Montana and British Columbia.
Geemeff just sent me an article on the changing weather in the UK.
The weather, for now, is giving the Montana nests a break, but it will get hotter again. Fishing was good in Montana once the heat dissipated, with whoppers coming on all three nests – Hellgate, Charlo, and Dunrovin. It is all good.
Elsewhere, the chicks are fledgling. The ospreys will begin to make their move to migration, with many of the females leaving early and the males staying behind, as is tradition, feeding the chicks til they fledge. Everyone should be gone in less than six weeks. That time is going to pass quickly. It will not be long until we have a hatch at the nest of Lady and Dad in the Sydney Olympic Forest. Then there will be eggs and hatches at Orange and the CBD in Melbourne, and, of course, all the fun at the Port Lincoln barge.
As we enter the end of the breeding season for our raptors, storks, and sea birds, I would love to hear from you. We know that it has been a ‘tough’ year but there is that old saying about there always being a silver lining. Send me a note and tell me what were the golden moments, the miracles, that brought a smile to you this year. I hope to do part of a posting on these- so don’t be shy!!!!!!!! You can write in the comments or send me an e-mail: maryannsteggles@icloud.com Thank you.
Llyn Brenig has its first fledge. Bethan (Blue 8B9) fledged on Saturday, the 27th of July. The male, Emrys, will be following his sister soon! Bethan returned to the nest after a two-minute foray. There she is, feeding on a nice fish while Emrys waits for his turn.
Della and Warren’s two chicks fledged on Saturday. Both returned to the nest safely.
Everyone has fledged at Glaslyn and the chicks are enjoying the valley and chasing Aran and Elen around after a fish dinner. Or waiting on the nest fish calling and hoping for a delivery.
Meanwhile the trio at Blackbush are waiting to fly.
At the Russell Lake nest of Oscar and Ethel, the eldest, Skylor, fledged on Saturday. It won’t be long til Heidi takes to the skies, too. (Video capture from footage by Don Dennis)
Skylor is the first known fledgling out of the Nova Scotia nests. Did I tell you they have done really well this season.
There is always something to be happy about. We lost Karl II and Kaia and our hearts broke for these beautiful Black Storks from Estonia. But now, our dear Urmas, has located a female feeding at the fish baskets and he has tagged her and put a transmitter on her and everyone hopes that she will return to the area to be the mate of Kergu. Her name is Kerli and her ring number is : 719R.
Urmas set up fish baskets to save the lives of the storklets. He has been doing this for years when the streams had few frogs or little fish. He loves these beautiful birds. He also helped with the removal and adoption of Jan and Jannika’s storklets. You will remember Bonus who was given to Karl II and Kaia to be raised after being in the medical centre. Urmas is an individual with a heart that grows bigger and bigger.
Boulder Colorado’s Only Bob fledged around 1338 Saturday the 27th.
The fledgling returned to the nest just as it should. Great take off and landing.
At Hellgate Canyon, Iris and Finn’s oldest is really beginning to flap its wings dreaming of flying like Mum and Dad.
Finn brought in a really nice headless fish at 1837.
There was a nice fish on the Charlo Montana nest as well.
‘PB’ caught Mum feeding the Only Bob at McEuen Park! Excellent luck with a camera with no rewind.
Winnie was trying to keep Only Bob at Dunrovin cool. Hard to fit under Mum now!
All three of the chicks at Mrs O’s nest in Tweed Valley have fledged.
Fledglings at Fort Calhoun are doing fantastic.
Even the Dorsett Hobby is getting into the act with its wingers!
Geemeff’s Daily Summary of Loch Arkaig activites and The Woodland Trust:
Daily summary Saturday 27th July 2024 All the action took place on Nest One today, apart from a sweetly singing Wren and some juvenile Tree Pipits exploring Nest Two. Garry LV0 paid three visits, the first time bringing a stick and doing a bit of nest work, the second time Dorcha arrived soon after he did and then both took off in a hurry when a third Osprey, possibly Affric 152, flew overhead with a brief flash of blue Darvic ring. A little later Dorcha returned for a very brief visit, and Garry returned mid afternoon for his third visit which lasted all of ten seconds. No sign of Louis today. LizB provided another update on the Bunarkaig nest, link below, the chick was on the nest so either hasn’t fledged yet or had returned for food. The weather was a little unsettled, and at one time it was raining on Nest Two but not on Nest One, showing the difference made by the few kilometres separating the two nests. Tonight’s forecast is light clouds and light winds, with the prospect of a dry sunny day tomorrow. Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.20.14 (03.33.35); Nest Two 23.23.32 (04.01.46) Today’s videos: https://youtu.be/5cs0x94tC-A N2 A sweet little singer and a variety of little birds visit 07.34.53 https://youtu.be/OuuyJzYB3ZM N1 Garry LV0 brings a stick and does some nest prep 10.09.53 https://youtu.be/K3oYtZEf5MA N1 Dorcha visits Garry LV0 but another Osprey makes them flee 10.42.47 https://youtu.be/6FoEZpmrZks N1 Dorcha pays another visit 11.19.25 (zoom) https://youtu.be/iXEdt1LR4_s N1 Garry LV0 returns for a very brief visit 15.59.11
Trudi Kron is keeping an eye on Blue at Boundary Bay.
‘CG’ also sends us some historic information on the Boundary Bay nest and updates on Blue:
Photos by AP Horvasse
The nest was installed in September 2022. AP Hovasse made a brief video of the installation with David Hancock explaining a bit about the process and about why the area is important for eagles. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGYxfOBd08
Now I ask you, what osprey would not like this nest? I wonder with the sunshade and supports how well they would work to deter flying predators. Nests are never going to be 100 percent predator proof; just try to make it more difficult and more work to take the chicks.
7/27: Blue was awake early calling to no avail. She spent the day wingercising, hopping, laying down, and vocalizing. Mere showed up around 1100 hours with empty talons. Finally, a small meal was brought by a parent at around 1700 hours. Another showed up around 1800 hours. Then another at around 1830 hours! A fourth delivery showed up around 1900 hours. Blue started eating No. 4 then decided to leave it. Thinking ahead to breakfast? I believe it was Mere who brought all the food. Blue finished off the night standing, head tucked in, sleeping.
All we can do is take one day at a time and send positive thoughts Blue’s way.”
News coming from the West End nest!
Fledge at Alyth SSEN on the 27th! Congratulations Harry and Flora.
‘H’ sends her report:
7/27 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest: Hooray! Both juveniles fledged this morning at 61 and 60 days of age. They were both looking like they were going to take off at any moment, and we didn’t know which one would be first. Chick 2 seemed to have a leg-up in experience, because s/he had made it up to the nest perch yesterday. Chick #1 fledged first at 0639, about four minutes before chick 2 decided to fly. How exciting! Chick 2 made a quick loop around the area and returned to the nest in less than a minute. Chick 1 followed Mom in, and landed back in the nest after three hours. Both of the fledglings made perfect first-time landings. Congratulations to Della and Warren for the fantastic job they did this season raising these two delightful young ospreys.
7/27 Forsythe osprey nest: The live stream had been down for 48 hours, but we were pleased to see Opal deliver a large whole fish to Larry for supper.
7/27 Osoyoos osprey nest: It was a pretty good day for this family. Olsen delivered 5 fish to the nest. The first meal commenced at 0924 and there was no aggression from Big. Soo seemed to preferentially feed Big. Moms know…get the aggressive one filled up early! Middle has also learned not to push Big’s buttons, so s/he was not very assertive during the feeding. Middle only ate approximately 20 bites of fish during the entire 17-minute meal. The next fish at 1034 provided for a 14-minute meal, and Middle had an 11-minute private feeding. There ya’ go! The 1441 fish was small, and Middle was intimidated a bit by Big. Middle ate 5 bites of fish during the 5-minute meal. The fish at 1524 was another small fish, and Middle ate 20 bites. The last fish of the day was delivered by Olsen at 1758. It was large, and Soo fed for 21 minutes…the longest meal of the day. Middle was at the chow line first, and had a private feed lasting 6 minutes before Big arrived. After that, the siblings ate side-by-side, and seemed to be fed rather equally. The osplets are 49 and 50 days old, and they have both been doing a little ‘wingercising’. Weather forecast for 7/28: Sunny, high temp 91F/33C, winds 13 mph.
Thanks so much, ‘Heidi’.
The best news is coming out of the Dyfi Osprey Project this morning with the sighting of Teifi. Teifi is a 2020 hatch – the first year that Idris and Telyn were bonded mates after the death of Monty. I am just jumping up and down with joy. We look for these returnees and hope they make it. Teifi is now four and is obviously returning to find his own nest. Wonder where he has been?
How does the composition of farmland and its diversity or not impact birds?
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘CG, Geemeff, H, PB, TU’, Steelscape, The Golden Thread, The Weather Network, Llyn Brenig Osprey Cam, Brenig Osprey Project, Heidi McGrue, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Blackbush, Connie and Don Dennis, Looduskalender, Boulder County, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana, Dunrovin Ranch, Pam Breci, Tweed Valley Osprey Project, SK Hideaways, Trudi Kron, HWF-Boundary Bay, Scyllabub, Lady Hawk, BirdGuides, Osoyoos, Forsythe, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Mispillion Harbour.
Morning Updates: Cowlitz chick did fledge and fly, not just to the fish grate! Congratulations. This kid beat the eagle………yeah. Dad flew in with a fish, Mum followed, and then the Baby was back on the nest for a fish reward. It could not have been more perfect.
Bridge Golf Course Chick fledges this morning!
Last update is Cornell: The Sedlacek’s were filming N1 this morning when she appeared to have some kind of accident. Cornell has said nothing on X.
Tuesday was a beautiful day—20 degrees C and overcast. This is my view as I start writing my post for tomorrow. I needed the solitude and quiet, listening to only the birds and watching squirrels scurry about that this little oasis provides. I am very fortunate to have such a gorgeous, tranquil place to visit and to be able to stop and breathe when needed.
I can hear a Crow cawing, and the scent from the flowers envelopes the entire area. This gorgeous Monarch landed so close.
When I got home half the bowl of little juicy grape tomatoes were missing. Guess what?! Hugo Yugo has a new game – Tomatoe Floor Hockey. Baby Hope decided to join in for the fun.
Outside six baby crows wanted hot dogs, Blue Jays were everywhere, and Dyson’s kits were running around with about 150 little sparrows. The most wonderful chaos. Thank goodness for the garden animals and ‘The Girls’. They cushion some of the saddness.
There will be more osprey deaths announced. We will be saddened, and then we will get angry. It is partly because it has been an endless year of disappointments. I remember a time, not so long ago, when it was the little osplet deaths from siblicide that were so heartbreaking. This year, it is something else. Weather, just straightforward starvation, predation, nest accidents – older chicks nearing fledge that are dying before our eyes – wow. Not little ones with their soft down or just getting into the Reptile phase. No – feathered chicks. Close to fledge. The parents got them there through some challenging times. Then to lose them. Well, it breaks your heart.
Allow me to ramble a bit. Can we do something about these deaths in older ospreys? To answer that question, I need to share a post that my son posted from Borneo, where he has been fishing.
Studies have shown that in North American as much as 40% of the food purchased is wasted. If we shared, no one would be hungry. This also goes for the animals.
Saving your food that would otherwise be thrown away will feed the Crows, the Blue Jays, the Starlings. It will also feed the feral cats. Get one of those nifty pails with a good lid and collect daily and find a spot to put it out. You will see that the food is gone quickly. Buy a meal for a person at a restaurant that supports these programmes. Donate to a food bank. ——Put out life saving water! Every little bit helps. Every living being counts.
Then we can work on what needs to be done with the birds on streaming cams. The Migratory Bird Laws must be amended so that quick help can be given – not endless bureaucratic paper work. There must be provisions for providing food – and individuals to do this – during the inevitable heat dome periods that will increase in number and severity or when a parent dies. The Mum at McEuen has done well, but she lost three babies out of four because of heat and the loss of her mate. Put up baffles on every known nest. They are inexpensive. Don’t wait for something to happen. Fort St Vrain now has baffles after a raccoon took one of the eaglet babies, Achieva was getting a baffle after the chick fell through the hole this year, Moraine Park needs one, and they say they will install it next year. But, again – don’t wait. Encourage every cam owner to put up baffles. If there is any chance of an owl striking, then put up solar red strobes and a big bright light. Lake Murray tried everything – we have to continue to try. I am hoping that Cowlitz will look again and decide to put in another fish grate. That should stop the eagle but not harm the ospreys. We need emergency numbers to phone when there is an accident. This has been known for years, and efforts were made years ago to try to get the cam owners to post an emergency number under the stream. Those of you watching these nests have been the first to notice something wrong with a nest!
Today, the utter disappointment for non-action is pointed directly at Charlo Montana. When chicks are ringed (right about the age of those on this nest), the chicks pancake. They are taken down in little bags, weighed and measured, and checked over while their Darvic rings are put on. Often people help with the railings on the nest at the same time or during the off season. Fish are left to soften the intrusion and many times the occupants are misted if it is as hot as it is in Montana. None of this happened. The baling twine was removed. That is also a good thing but under the circumstances they really needed to do more. My inbox went up to 163 letters from viewers who expected Charlo to help their ospreys and didn’t. No one understands why this family was not provided with fish in the scorching heat and poor fishing conditions.
Let us all send Charlie, Lola, and the remaining chick fish, cooling weather, and a fledge.
So that is my rant…in days to come I will be posting other deaths. We need, each of us, to sit quietly and breath like I did at the park today. I have to remind myself to stop and think of the miracles this year – Finn and Iris, the fledge of four for CJ7 and Blue 022. They defied the odds and did it. What a pair. I still remember Blue 022 courting CJ7 near the end of the season and all of us wondering, a few years ago, if they would return and raise a family. They did…several. And this year was amazing.
Well, the death I was waiting to post is one of the Loch Arkaig translocation chicks. The vets did everything they could in Spain. The chick appears to have had congenital issues that caused its heart failure.
This is a good place for Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig because she always has the inside scoop with The Woodland Trust!
Daily summary Tuesday 23rd July 2024
The main story of today is the news just received of the sad loss of our chick 1JR. Try as they might, the veterinary team in Valencia were unable to save him when he started having seizures. More details in WTS George’s post, link below. Tonight’s bonus video is 1JR in happier times a few days ago, looking strong tucking into a big fish dinner. We”re happy to hear his brother 1JW and the other ten Scottish Osplets on the translocation project are all well and thriving. In other news, Dorcha went adventuring and turned up on Nest One, before returning later to her own nest. Neither of the two males were seen although sky-dancing was heard while Dorcha was at Nest One. Was it Louis, or Garry LV0, and were they dancing for Dorcha or another female? Today’s weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is partly cloudy with light winds, but rain is forecast for tomorrow.
You might see an osprey that needs help. Make sure you have the nearest wildlife rehabilitation clinic’s contact information in your phone!
One of our readers, ‘EJ’, got to visit Hellgate Canyon, and she was overjoyed to see Iris! ‘EJ’ sent us these photographs that give us an entirely different perspective. ‘EJ’ stayed far away to avoid disturbing our miracle nest.
Despite the heat, Finn continues to bring in good sized fish that will safe his family from the effects of the heat dome that continues over the area.
Blue is calling out for prey when he sees an adult about. It looks like he did not eat the delivery from Monday. You can see it covered up on the nest. I wonder why the adult doesn’t feed this eaglet?
The recent osprey hatches in Australia are reported to be doing very well.
The latest on the Dorsett Hobby chick from SK Hideaways.
Family portrait (of a sort) at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. One beautifully feathered osplet.
Cowlitz PUD are fantastic. When sent the images of the osprey in a box, they responded! And we know they care because they put their heads together and came up with the fish grates. They did not protect the chicks this year but they worked last year (there are eagles all over the area). We have one survivor and it is doing well. Dad came in with a big fish for Mum and osplet.
Looks like we have only one left to fledge at Field Farm.
Kristel, the Golden Eaglet at the Estonian Nest #2 is nearing fledge. She is growing stronger. Prey deliveries are like their life in the wild – sometimes abundant and sometimes not. Kristel worked on eating nestovers today. I did not see a delivery. It is hard to drop a small vole on a nest with an excited eaglet!
Sandpoint osplet, River, is preparing for fledge as well!
In Boulder Mum looks on as chick does some nest renovations! Fledge is near.
‘PB’ reports that McEuen osplet is up and waiting for Mum to arrive with a fish – had a reasonable ps, too.
It will not be long until we have little White-tailed eaglets at the WBSE nest in the Sydney Olympic Park.
I am often very proud to be a Canadian. (Not proud about the Omega company and its trawlers – let’s be clear – or any other Canadian ecological disaster company and we have some doozies or our garbage that floats around and gets on bird nests). I am proud that many of our Osprey nests have done well this year. I have mentioned those in Nova Scotia and then there is also Niagara Bee with its three healthy (or seemingly so) osplets.
Tomorrow I am going to go and check on a Bald Eagle nest. It looks like the heavy rains and storms that we had over an extended period of time caused our local osprey nest to fail. It is not clear what is happening in the north of our province.
Betsy and Frederick’s kids at the Outerbanks (Carova, OBX nest) fledged awhile ago. They are returning to the nest – great news.
The three at Blackbush are just getting bigger and bigger. We are going to have a lot of fledges coming on the same day from the looks of things.
The ospreys around Mobil Bay seem to be doing well. ‘L’ checks on them and today sent us an image with a female and two chicks on a nest she watches often. Thanks, ‘L’ for sharing!
Another good news story to help soften the week.
‘H’ reports:
7/23 Osoyoos osprey nest: The first fish of the day did not arrive until later in the morning. At 1004 Olsen dropped off a small whole fish. Big beaked Middle, grabbed the fish, and ate the entire fish in 8 minutes. At 1419 Soo arrived with a large headless fish. Big took the fish to self feed. Soo allowed Big 36 minutes to work on the fish, then at 1455 she took it. There was still a large piece of fish left. Big beaked Middle, so Soo fed Big. By 1507, Middle had worked its way over to the other side of Soo, but the feeding was going slowly. The fish was tough, and Soo was also distracted by something. Big was being disruptive as well, by trying to reach across in front of Soo to get at Middle. Middle finally got a bite of fish at 1509, and then 6 bites by 1512, but was then beaked by Big. By 1521 there was still a good sized piece of fish remaining, and Soo was still feeding Big. As the feeding continued, Big would intermittently intimidate Middle and cause him/her to move away. Middle was only able to grab a bite of fish now and then. At 1547 Big had a bulging crop and started to walk away, but changed its mind, beaked Middle, and resumed eating. At 1549, Big moved away, and I could not see how much fish was remaining. Middle moved in and got a few bites of fish before being beaked by Big, then Big ate some more. The meal was finally over at 1555. When Soo had taken the fish from Big at 1455 it was not large enough to have provided an hour-long meal. The fish being tough, plus the various distractions, caused the meal to drag out. Middle only ate a total of 23 bites of fish.
At 1620 Olsen delivered a large partial fish, and Soo took it. The feeding began at 1622, and Middle was beaked by Big. By 1625 the siblings were positioned on opposite sides of Soo, and Middle was able to grab a bite of fish now and then. Big backed away at 1643. Middle had only eaten 25 bites up to that point. The rest of the feeding belonged almost exclusively to Middle. It was a 30-minute feeding that ended at 1652. Middle ate at least 107 bites of fish. Thank goodness. When I checked the live stream a couple of hours later to see if another fish had been brought to the nest, the cam was offline. Weather forecast for 7/24: Sunny, high 93F/34C, winds 16 mph.
7/23 Colonial Beach: 29-day-old ‘Cobey’ seems to be doing well. There were only two fish brought to the nest yesterday, but there were four fish today. It looks like Betty has had to return to being the primary provider, and she caught three of the fish today. Predicted high temp for 7/24 is 81 F, with light winds.
7/23 Barnegat Light osprey nest: As you know, Duke and Daisy did not have eggs this season. But, their love story continues to delight and inspire viewers. Daisy and Duke continue to hang out with each other every day. And, we actually saw Duke catch a fish in the Bay! Kudos to the cam-ops for always managing to find them.
7/23 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House): Things are going well for this osprey family. 39-day-old ‘Fen’ seems to be more calm, and I haven’t seen him/her attacking June or Johnny for a few days. I’m sure that has something to do with the ‘whales’ that June has been bringing to the nest that have provided many meals. June caught another one of those whales this morning, and Johnny contributed a large fish of his own in the afternoon. High temp for them on 7/24 is predicted to be 79, with 12 mph winds.
Thanks, ‘H’ for all your wonderful reports – every day! And for catching that fledge at Bridge Golf.
The tortilla rescue is doing well.
Smile. More ospreys being saved.
Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, photographs, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘EJ, Geemeff, H, J, L, PB’, Cowlitz PUD, Cristofre Martin, Charlo Montana, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Orange Beach Wildlife Centre, The Guardian, British Wildlife Rescue, Montana Osprey Project, HWF-BBC, Osprey House Environmental Centre, SK Hideaways, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Field Farm, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Sandpoint, Boulder County, McEuen Park, Niagara Bee, Outerbanks 24/7, Blackbush, Pacific Wildlife Care, Osoyoos, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Colonial Beach, Fenwick Island, Wildwest Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Bobby Horvath.
