Category Archives: Welsh ospreys

2 kg female osplet ringed in Wales…Tuesday in Bird World

25 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

‘The Girls’ and I are sitting in the conservatory despite the high temperature. It is 29 C. We have gotten hotter in the summers, but everything feels strange – like a big storm coming. The trees are twirling around and the clouds are moving quickly covering up the sun and yet, there is no prediction of anything happening. Cold water has been put out for the birds and more food for the Corvids as they are feeding babies and fledglings are coming to the garden now. I hope to get some good images of them one day.

I am not complaining. I understand from ‘MM’ that it is 96 F with a heat index of 101 in North Carolina. This is why all those osprey babies (and eagles) should hatch in the winter. So much better!

The garden is a shady paradise in the lilacs and the tunnel created with the vines and other trees. There is also shade on the deck in the late afternoon. The birds come out to feed again after having a siesta.

Junior wants a peanut but Dyson is there.

So he decides to have a bath.

It is hot everywhere. Please remember to leave out shallow bowls of water for the animals. You will save their lives. Water is more important than food when the heat is so high. Even pie pans with water – put try and put them in the shade. Thank you.

This just puts a smile on my face. Someone doing something to help birds. Enter mosquitoes to the Hawaiian Islands.

Millions-of-mosquitoes-released-in-Hawaii-to-save-rare-birds-from-extinction-Hawaii-The-GuardianDownload

Idris and Telyn have set a record at the Dyfi nest in Wales. One of the females broke the weight record for a chick ringed in Wales. She came in over 2 kg. Here is the announcement with the names of the osplets!

That is incredible. ‘Daddy Longlegs’ Idris has really been hauling in the fish. Even that male has a nice healthy weight.

‘MM’ sends news that we have the first hatch at Colonial Beach. It is hot there. 31.3 C or 88 F. Chick has already had its first feeding! Well done, Betty and David. See also ‘H’s report below on this nest.

Iris’s oldest chick is rather precocious. It is already nibbling on the fish!

‘A’ comments on something magical: “Finn brought in a leftover chunk of fish at about 18:44 and just stands with it on the nest for about 25 minutes. Finally, he starts nibbling at it and Iris stands up, but Finn just keeps eating himself. Baby Bob spots who has the fish and is promptly over to dad, although both chicks already have good crops. It takes dad a while to stop feeding his face (and giving the odd bite to Iris) and start feeding Little Bob, and then he looks the wrong way when dad offers him fish, but around 19:16 a feeding of sorts begins. Soon, Big Bob sees what is happening and lumbers up behind Little Bob but does not interfere. Dad leans over to feed the older chick and at this point, he gives up on eating and starts feeding the two osplets in turn. It is wonderful to watch. This guy really is a keeper. He has a bit to learn about leaving leftovers on the nest and if he is only going to catch two or three whoppers a day, to bring them back more than once so they represent more than one feeding, but none of that will matter shortly, when they are big enough to handle fewer, larger feeds. 

Finn has been an amazing first-time dad, guarding his family and the territory with great dedication and bringing in enough fish to feed the family (albeit his delivery schedule needs a little adjustment – see above). He has fed Iris on several occasions when she is tired or when it is wet, and now, he is feeding the osplets as well. This is one fantastic dad in the making. And Iris has chosen well. “

‘B’ writes that we have fledges! “Fledges at both Fraser Point and Bald Canyon this morning — the second FP chick (usually referred to as Reign) at 8:32:09 and Selene at BC at 10:07:54.  Reign was back on an adjacent branch at 10:38:06 and on the nest proper within a minute…So all the Channel Islands eaglets that are on nest cams have now fledged.” Congratulations everyone. A wonderful year!

‘B’ also sent us a link to an article in The Washington Post. Do you think the Bald Eagle is the official bird of the United States? Have a read!

Opinion | You probably think this is our national bird. Think again.

‘TU’ has sent us some news. A pair of Egyptian Geese took over a stork nest. Their chicks took the leap this morning. Video below.

In Montreal, Peregrine Falcon chick Polo fledges! Beautiful flight. Oh, how I hate those windows.

Let’s catch up with the news from ‘H’:

6/24 Colonial Beach Virginia osprey nest:  Congratulations to Betty and David on the hatch of their first baby!

6/24 Barnegat Light osprey nest:  Even though Daisy and Duke did not have any eggs this season, they continue to hang out together in the bay area.  We are delighted when they grace us with their presence on camera.  Theirs is a love story.

6/24 The Osoyoos osprey nest had another nice day. They had nine feedings, and all three of the osplets had good crops.  Meal times remained peaceful, but I did catch a pretty good beaking battle in between meals, and that kerfuffle was started by Little!

6/24  Fenwick Island osprey nest (Capt Mac’s fish House):  Okay now…I am starting to be impressed.  June is keeping her leftover fish, saving it for more feedings, and she is feeding longer.  Just look at the crop on that lil’ 10-day-old osplet.  Now, that’s what I’m talking about!

6/24 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  It was a veritable fish-feast-day.  There were a total of six long meals throughout the day .  Something really cool happened in the afternoon… At 1410 Mom brought a large fish to the nest (first fish for her this season), and two minutes later Dad landed in the nest with a large fish.  A dual feeding took place, with Dad primarily feeding the two older siblings for 1/2 hour before he left with half his fish.  And, Mom primarily fed Little.  She continued to feed everyone from her fish after Dad left, and her fish lasted an hour.  

6/24 Captiva ospreys:  The day started off with a surprise for Ding and Darling when they had a visitor in the middle of the night…a young heron landed in the nest for a short period of time.  The kids maintained their cool, but we’ve never seen their eyes so big!  Jack brought three fish to the nest today, and Darling had his very own hardhead catfish.  He was able to unzip it, and ate the whole fish.  Edie was last seen on cam on 6/23, but there have been sightings of an adult osprey landing in a nearby tree, and some believe that they have heard Edie.  It is believed that Edie is taking a short break, and that her absence from the nest has nothing to do with the fishing line incident of 6/21.  After the fishing line incident, Edie delivered fish to the nest on 6/21, 6/22, and 6/23, and she seemed just fine.

Thanks so much, ‘H’. That Fenwick Island baby is too cute – and oh, so full! Love it.

That little osplet in Kurzeme Latvia is also so cute. OK. They are all cute little dinosaurs.

Four hot ospreys at Field Farm. Little Mini is getting its feathers.

Birds of Poole Harbour Fab Four are deliriously wonderful. CJ7 and Blue 022. I can’t tell you how much I adore them.

And then there is Louis at Loch Arkaig that brought in a fish at midnight to Dorcha. Yes, midnight. Do ospreys hunt in the dark? how light was it in Scotland at midnight? Oh, I just wish I could send one of those fish over to Osoyoos.

Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig: Monday 24th June 2024

The day started out a bit soggy but soon improved, and Louis had a bit of a lie-in after yesterday’s midnight fish, not turning up until lunchtime with today’s first fish. He followed it up with three more, taking his tally to two hundred and forty six. Dorcha had fun with a stick but was left hungry as the growing chicks devoured most of the fish, however the arrival of a large 11pm fish supper meant she didn’t end the day hungry. The nest seems to be getting a little crowded now that the chicks are mobile and stretching out their suddenly long wings, perhaps that’s why one chick took a pop at the other and a short sharp fight broke out. There was much discussion on the forum about which chick is which as it’s getting very difficult to tell them apart. Garry LV0 turned up on Nest One again today, bringing nesting materials and doing a bit of nest scraping. Is this a frustration eyrie? Whatever his motives, it’s good to see him. Tonight’s forecast is light rain and light winds, luckily although the chicks are too big to fit under Dorcha, their preen glands are coming through and they’re starting to get some waterproofing. 

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 00.15.51 (02.48.23); Nest Two (03.32.32)

Watch the livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/Alfrd7novqE  N1 Garry LV0 arrives early and does some nest prep 06:15:01 

https://youtu.be/fs7pwvQ359g N2 Fish number one, small whole trout, chicks queue politely 12.45.07

https://youtu.be/iQA9jIPeDsE N2 Fight! Is the nest getting too crowed? Chicks have a pop 13.01

https://youtu.be/opTBHM-Q3jk N2 Dorcha brings a stick and hangs it round Chick1’s neck 14.28.44

https://youtu.be/ryxHF_M71io N2 Fish number two, big whole trout, Dorcha gets hardly any of it 15.30.25

https://youtu.be/45KVDHPY0x40 N2 Fish number three, headless small trout, soon finished, Dorcha’s still hungry 17.08.47 

https://youtu.be/Ijm7ts7aZGk N2 Fish number four, whole trout, Dorcha tucks in immediately 23.05.25

Bonus read – Flights, Camera, Action! Postcode Lottery discuss their sponsorship of the nest cam:

https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/postcode-hub/news/flights-camera-action

Blackbush. Sometimes dual feedings. Sometimes Dad feeding Mum who feeds babies. Send this nest hope. We have seen these little ones before survive. Tiny Dancer. Tiny Little. Blue 464. It depends on the amount of prey and the willingness of the parents to work hard to keep all of them alive – just like CJ7 and Blue 022 are doing.

Beautiful fledglings back on the VIMS nest.

Once in awhile you will catch a fledgling on the Frenchman’s Creek nest. These kids are gorgeous. Look at that clean nest!

Looks like Tuffy had a couple of nice fish today on the Moorings Park nest. These kids of Harry and Sally are gorgeous.

It was 26 C in Osoyoos today. Tomorrow will be 27 – and believe me, it is hotter on the top of an osprey nest than it is at ground level. Then there is to be rain. Oh, please give these babies some fish – some big fish because Soo and Olsen have to eat, too!

My goodness. The plumage on that baby at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is dark. Very pretty little osplet. The image shows Mum feeding the little one from the whole fish that Dad brought in around 1400. There had at least been one earlier fish. It is hot on that nest!

Oh, look at those fat little bottoms at Charlo Montana!

Winnie and Swoop have their second baby at Dunrovin on the 24th.

It is hot in Colorado. Pitkin County Mum is the perfect mumbrella keeping her babies cool. She fluffs her own feathers to keep herself cool as well.

I sure would like to see more fish in the heat at Cowlitz PUD but there are still three osplets that appear to be alright.

Beautiful baby at Clark PUD.

Boulder County Mum keeping their Only Bob cool and fed!

No love lost when it comes to food amounts San Jose fledglings!

Many of us are hoping to find out what happened to Redwood Queen and Zenith’s chick in the Big Sur Redwood Forest. We are joining the Ventana Wildlife Society’s Condor Chat which is on the last Thursday of the month. Very informative.

Got to the Ventana Wildlife Society website to sign up. The Condor chats are also archived and you can view them on YouTube.

Educate yourself about California Condors and the acute challenges they face. The Ventana Wildlife Society led the way in giving their flock vaccines for HPAI. Now they are helping others.

We have another Condor baby. Fingers crossed.

Decorah North continues to thrive despite the nest collapse.

Gorgeous Black Storks in Portugal.

Beautiful Mum at Port Lincoln Barge on the nest and eating a fish she caught and brought back quickly.

‘PB’ has been keeping an eye on Cowlitz PUD and Steelscape. She writes, “I just checked both Cowlitz and Steelcase since they are both in the same area. Fish seems to be coming in slow and far apart, keeping #1 grouchy and getting most of the food. Steelcase is worrisome to me for #3. It’s is constantly bullied by #1 when food arrives. Even bullies away #2. #3 Steelcase could use more fish. #3 managed to bravely grab a few big pieces of the tail section on ladt fish but is hungry. Cowlitz little baby ate a good breakfast but not much after that. Last fish there was 4 hours ago. Still light out so hoping for a late fish but both places need larger fish to feed 3 mouths.”

Smile. Canada Geese enjoying the grass by an airport in Alabama. Thanks, ‘L’. It seems so odd seeing them with palm trees! Oh, I love the Canada Geese – and guess what? They are not the national bird of Canada. The Gray Jay is. Go figure.

And another smile. Ospreys rescued and in care. Thanks, ‘J’.

Menhaden are the primary fish of the Ospreys in the NE USA. If you want to know how bad the commercial fishing industry is impacting these life-giving little fish, you only have to go to the FB page – Menhaden – Little Fish, Big Deal. here is a post from this morning. This is seriously concerning and the commercial fishing needs to stop before the Osprey are completely wiped out. Of course Dophins and Whales eat Menhaden, too, and they are practically disappeared from the area.

Our friend Hob in Kauai sends us news of the first moli fledge for 2024. how wonderful!

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care. If it is super hot where you live, drink lots of fluids. Consider putting water out for the animals even if you can’t see them – we have visitors during the night that eat and drink. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, letters, comments, questions, videos, images, posts, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, L, MM, MP, PB, TU’, The Guardian, Dyfi Osprey Project, Colonial Beach Ospreys, Montana Osprey Project, Montana Osprey Cams, Pam Breci, The Washington Post, Fenwick Island, Patuxent River Park, Osoyoos, Wildlife Conserve of NJ (Barnegat Light), Window to Wildlife, HorstsHorst, Montreal Falcon Cam, LDF, BoPH, Geemeff, Blackbush, VIMS, Frenchman’s Creek, Moorings Park Ospreys, Osoyoos Ospreys, MN Landscape Arboretum, Charlo Montana, Ashley Wilson, Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, Clark PUD, Boulder County, SK Hideaways, Ventana Wildlife Society, Lady Hawk, Tajo International, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Polk County Animal Control, Menhaden-Little Fish, Big Deal FB, and Hob Osterlund.

Iris second hatch, Lake Murray Osplet flies when hit by GHO, deaths at Forsythe…Saturday in Bird World

15 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Friday was a really beautiful day. The sky was a clear blue and there was no rain and little wind. The temperature was 24 C. It was a good day to check out the goslings and ducklings at the park later – I went around 1700 and they were coming out of their shady island nests to swim. Even with the sprinkler system, the rain and the heat are causing some algae/pond plant problems.

It was really hard to see the tiny ducklings.

Oh, I adore the little female Wood Ducks.

This Mallard had two surviving ducklings. Many had 12 or 13 and it was hard to tell as the Canada Geese do their ‘daycare thing’ so you might see several geese caring for nearly forty youngsters while the other parents forage.

Five beautiful and tiny little wood ducks.

My garden is lush. The water has caused everything to thrive in a year when I worried as the winter had been so dry. Some of you will recall that there was a peony plant and a climbing rose that were planted on my property in 1902 when the old two-story house was built by Italian rail workers. Both are still alive. The peony is full of buds that will bloom soon and the rose is simply bursting with buds. I coddle it as if it were the most precious thing and I often wonder who lived here and who the woman was who planted the roses and the peonies.

The roses now cover an area of approximately 3 metres by 5 metres. The area is absolutely thick with branches laden with these amazing buds. What a treat! I am already dreaming of what it will be like to sit next to the flowers and sip my tea when they bloom – imagine the scent!!!!!!!

I feel that I am such a bearer of bad news these days. There are so many issues that face our raptors and many of those are playing out around the world. You might recall that there was heavy rain and flooding around the nest of Liberty and Guardian. It was noted that the tree was dead. Today, Sol is dehydrated, and death could be imminent. FORE has tried to get a tree climber but the tree is in too bad of a shape for them to climb. Liberty tried to feed her eaglet but Sol was not interested.

Over the years the citizen scientists, like yourself, observing the nests of all avian species have noted issues with nests. If it isn’t happening (and certainly some places are diligent at inspections), nests should be inspected annually prior to breading season. Dead trees, sadly, should be taken down so that we do not find ourselves in the situation with Liberty and Guardian’s Sol. This might also help with nest collapses when the nests are simply too large and heavy rain would cause them to crash potentially killing eaglets.

Sadly Sol passed away Friday morning. He was 77 days old. Right ready to fledge.

For those concerned for Luna, boots on the ground found her and she is alive and well. What a relief!

At the Fraser Point Nest of Andor and Cruz, Reign has fell off a nest that is collapsing. She was found safe under the nest!

The full report of Ospreys on the Iberian Peninsula for 2023-24 is now available.

Aguila-pescadora-El-Corzo-2024Download

‘EJ’ sent us a news story to put a smile on our faces. We do need a good rescue right now!

Raptor-Resource-Project-Bald-Eagle-and-Bird-of-Prey-CamsDownload

What a beautiful Black stork nest in Poland!

Two juveniles on Tor – those West End fledglings are strong. Thunder and Akecheta got them a lot of high quality food. We see it in their spunk and in their flying. But, oh, to have such open spaces without buildings. They are blessed.

All three West End Eaglets – Koa, Treasure, and Sterling were caught on video soaring together. How lovely.

Idris and Telyn did a great dual feeding for the osplets at the Dyfi nest in Wales. They are looking for names. Need to be unused river and mountain names in Wales. Check it out! Dyfi Osprey Project.

Those Montreal falcons really want to fly! If you are missing the Cal Falcons and San Jose ones, then take a look at these three.

Things have still to settled down at Loch Arkaig. C2 still dominates all the feedings.

Blue 022 gets the fish to the nest for CJ7 to feed the Fab Four.

New dad, Finnegan, is actively involved in every aspect of the family including security, delivering food, feeding Iris, and feeding the chick plus being support. What a guy. So thankful you came along, Finnegan. This is an amazing story unfolding on the nest Iris now shares with you.

Good night, Iris.

‘A’ alerts us to the second hatch. Iris didn’t get much sleep!

“Darling Finn was in with a late fish last night (14 June) at 18:53:45. It’s a nice size and appears whole. When Iris stands up to claim it, we can see the second tiny head in the nest. It is still very tired from the hatch, and only wakes up because Big Bob disturbed it by standing up, getting ready to be fed. Big Bob is gigantic already, so this second hatch is going to need to be a strong-minded chick. Iris begins eating while Finn checks out his offspring. 

Finn stands and watches Iris feeding Big Bob, who is a great little eater. After a couple of minutes, he flies to the perch while Iris continues feeding. By 19:09 Big Bob’s face is covered in fish and he is falling into a food coma. Mum settles down to brood the pair. Finn flies down the nest, then at 19:16 heads off. Dad is back with a stick at 19:30:24 and leaves again immediately. 

Shortly after 19:29, Iris stands and begins alerting. She looks upwards, continuing to alert loudly. Intruder? She calms down relatively quickly but continues to glance upwards and to her left (towards the camera). It is at this point that Finn arrives (from the opposite direction) with the stick, which he nearly brains the chicks with. After he leaves, Iris remains standing and occasionally glances at the same spot again. 

Eventually, after a good rouse and another glance around, Iris goes to settle on the chicks but changes her mind and stays standing, looking around. Around 19:33:40 she has a good flap of her wings. Impressive.At 19:34 she carefully returns to brooding the chicks. At 20:06:30 Finn is back on the perch. He flies off again at 20:12:20.

This morning, Finn arrives on the nest just before 05:18, while it is still dark, to say good morning. He stands beside her. She is her usual very chatty self. He is silent. Having said only yesterday I’d never seen Iris sleeping tucked, she did so quite a bit last night (especially as morning approached). Shortly after 05:25, Finn set off to get breakfast. He returns soon after 06:30 but without a fish. Iris does not sound pleased by this development. 

He does a little busy work on the nest, but when Iris stands up at 06:3424, he immediately flies off. Iris stretches her wings and then flies off the nest herself at 06:34:40. She is back at 06:35:13, so obviously just did a circuit of the car park. Dad is back just before 06:38, again with empty talons. Iris leaves again. Finn is standing on his left leg a lot, which I presume is just resting but I am hoping he has not suffered any injury to the leg. I don’t think so. He wonders whether/how to brood the chicks and looks around for Iris. 

Eventually, shortly after 06:41 Finn settles down to brood the osplets. It appears Iris has taken breakfast into her own talons. Iris is back at 06:56:17. She has no fish. Finn gets up carefully and flies to the perch, allowing Iris to brood the osplets. Iris gets up, moves a large piece of bark, and settles down again. Why? Strange. After a good preen, Finn leaves again around 07:09, hopefully on a fishing expedition. Iris looks to have a good crop still but the chicks need feeding, especially the younger one. 

It is now 07:25 and Finn is not yet back. I do hope this new baby is not too tiny and that it is able to get fed. I also hope that it is a female and the first hatch a male, but I doubt that. This first hatch is precocious, physically and behaviourally. It is strong and a very good eater. I am fearful for the younger osplet, but then always was with the lengthy gap (a full week) between the laying of those two eggs. We will wait and hope.”

An absorbing article about Iris and Finnegan with interviews with Dr Greene and his helper Sharon Leigh-Miles.

‘Thats-a-great-mom-World-famous-osprey-welcomes-a-new-chick-Montana-Public-RadioDownload

‘A’ has finally fallen in love with Ospreys! She writes, “Iris carefully supervised Finn’s first attempt at feeding their chick yesterday morning (14 June) at around 08:55. Initially, he wasn’t very good at it, finding it hard to reach down far enough to put the food into the chick’s beak, but after two or three efforts, he successfully gave the chick a bite. And another. He was good at getting the pieces small enough but leaning down to get the food into the chick’s beak took him a little more practice. But he is learning. Iris standing behind him, watching closely but not interfering, was so sweet. She is happy to teach him how to be a good dad – I’m surprised she is not more protective of the wee one, but she obviously trusts this guy and he has already proven himself to her in many ways. Certainly, he has demonstrated an amazing level of devotion to his family. Let’s hope he remembers that his primary role is away from the nest – fishing for the family and keeping intruders away from the territory. Family time is a bonus. But I do adore how proud he is of Iris and their chick. I wonder how he will manage provisioning for two osplets, Iris and himself. 

By 08:57 Iris was a little concerned that far more fish was going into Finn’s mouth than into the chick’s beak and decided to intervene. When Finn tries to feed the chick a piece that is too large, Iris takes it from his beak and bends down to feed it carefully to the wee one. Finn continues to eat the fish, while Iris feeds the chick saliva several times. He keeps eating. She moves closer, obviously wanting more of this fish to be fed to the chick. (It is large and pretty much whole, so Finn is entitled to eat the head at least. Iris however is concerned only about feeding the chick.) When he turns to feed a piece to the osplet, she takes it from him again and feeds it to the chick. This is repeated several times, with Iris taking food from Finn to feed to the chick. This is SO sweet. They are not so much tandem feeding as team feeding. Iris is clearly teaching Finn about being a great dad. 

Finn now concentrates again on eating for himself, so Iris settles down to brood the chick, though it remains visible at her breast. She reaches out to nibble at the fish Finn is holding down, as he continues to eat beside the nest bowl. He feeds Iris a couple of bites, then continues eating. She continues nibbling at the fish too. When Finn flies to the perch shortly after, he leaves the fish beside Iris. He returns to the nest at 09:33:35 with eyes firmly on the leftover fish. Iris has a lot to say. He nibbles on the fish a little, but soon leaves without removing the remaining fish. 

He is soon back again (10:05), possibly with a stick, although Iris standing up obscures our view. She is very chatty. He is tall, dark and handsome, a man of few words. She settles back down to brood and he simply stands behind her on the nest, protectively. After a couple of minutes, he circles Iris and she stands up to show him his baby (and the hatching second egg, presumably). He looks down into the nest, obviously fascinated as always. She continues to chirp. Having closely examined his progeny, Finn flies to the perch. Iris continues chatting. By 10:19, she is settling down to brood again. Finn remains on the perch. There is still half a large fish (probably a fair bit more) remaining on the nest. “

We still have three chicks at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum! Mum provided good shade for much of the day and the three had some good fish.

Wow, that third hatch at Charlo Montana sure came quickly. Charlie looks on at this three kids and his new mate.

Little Mini had a bit of a crop earlier in the day from this feeding but was shut out later – something that bothered me a bit. It was rather submissive during a late feeding allowing the older Little Bob to lean over it and eat. I am hoping Little Mini was just full.

Only Bob at Sandpoint is a fat bottomed little cutie.

‘MM’ watched the Osoyoos nest for us on Friday and she reports: “It was offline again until about 9:30 this morning so not sure if there were any feedings before then but I have counted 6 so far today with the 6th one still taking place. For the most part they have been very small especially the first three or four. I’m almost certain at the first feeding(9:56 am) mom ate it all while the chicks bonked one another. The fish lasted all of 5 minutes, was so small you could barely see it. At 10:56 and 11:34 am dad delivered small fish again with each chick getting a few bites and mom also definitely wasn’t enough to fill their crops. At 1:26 and 2:51 pm he brought fish that were a little bit bigger but not by much. Again they each got enough to keep hunger at bay but still not seeing bulging crops like at other nests. Number 6 was delivered at 4:12 pm and was still ongoing when I started this email. It was definitely bigger than the others. As the chicks get older hopefully the fish will get bigger because there’s no way those tiny fish will fill up 3 growing chicks and mom has quite the appetite as well 😄 I noticed they are pretty well behaved whilst eating but not so much while there’s no food on the nest.”

The 6th fish of the day and the biggest. Thanks, ‘MM’

Two gorgeous feathered babes on the Patchogue nest!

The little one enjoying some fish on the Cowlitz PUD nest.

It is difficult to see if all the chicks are alright on the Oyster Bay nest because of the greenery.

Two surviving osplets at Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home are fantastic.

Smallie spent the night in the scrape. He is looking very well.

Prey continues to be provided for the Ns at the Cornell nest of Big Red and Arthur. Both fledglings appear to be flying strong.

‘H’ reports:

Dahlgren osprey nest:  Early on 6/14, viewers noticed that the 12-day-old chick was in a deep hole in the nesting, and sitting on a bottom wood slat of the platform nest.  The baby is surrounded by some articles of clothing, perhaps gloves (?), and can’t hardly move.  So far, Helen has been able to feed her baby in that position.  Viewers tried for hours to raise awareness with the nest owners.  Finally this morning on Facebook is the response:  Brigitte Schwurack Top contributor Thank you for your message, the owners of the camera are informed.

6/14, The weather started to clear, and it turned out to be a great day!  Due to poor fishing, the youngest osplet, Darling, had not eaten for over 3.5 days.  At 0917 Edie delivered a whole catfish, and Ding ate. Darling was not able to eat any of that fish.  At 1015 Edie brought another whole catfish and fed Ding.  While that was taking place, Jack arrived with a partial fish.  Ding grabbed Jack’s fish, and Darling was quick to grab Edie’s catfish, and ate his first bites of food for over 87 hours.  At 1024 Edie took the fish from Darling and began to feed him.  Darling ate for about 40 minutes.   At 1259 Edie landed with a partial ladyfish, Darling grabbed and mantled, but Ding took it away.  Ding ate until 1334, then walked away.  There was still a lot of fish left, and Darling self-fed on the ladyfish.  At 1337 Edie brought a whole ladyfish, Darling abandoned the other one, and Edie fed some of the new fish to Ding, but most to Darling. At 1428 Edie fed the remainder of the first ladyfish, mostly to Darling, and some to Ding.  Finally, at 1956 Edie delivered a partial catfish.  She fed Ding, and then Ding did some self-feeding.  Everyone’s prayers had been answered for tons of fish.  Darling had a large crop for most of the day.  We are so very thankful that the weather cleared and Edie and Jack were able to catch fish, and that our dear Darling is still with us!

6/14 Forsythe osprey nest: There are not enough fish being brought to this nest.  It has already undergone brood reduction once.  Mini4 died of siblicide/starvation on 6/11.  There were four fish brought to the nest on 6/14, and none were very large.  Big and Middle were both responsible for preventing Little from eating for the second straight day.  Little passed away overnight…COD siblicide/starvation.  Big also controls when Middle is allowed to eat, and Middle ate a total of 156 bites of fish the entire day.  This may end up being a one-chick nest, where once there were four of the cutest little osplets you had ever seen.

6/14 Fenwick Island osprey nest – Captain Mac’s Fish house:  Congratulations to Johnny and June on the hatch of their first baby at approximately 19:45.

6/14, Patuxent osprey nest:  There were six fish brought to the nest by Dad, and a couple were whoppers!  Everyone had a great day, and Little had several good private feedings.  Remarkably, at meal #5, Little was eating right beside Big…as if they had been best buddies their entire lives!


It was almost daylight, and I thought the osplet had survived another night without being hit by the GHO.  At 0538 C1 was standing up in the nest when she was struck hard by the GHO.  The GHO was not able to take her.  C1 managed to grab the rail sticks with her talons, but had been thrown  off balance, and she eventually fell off the nest.  That nest is very high, and we hoped that she was able to flap and float down to the ground.  Well, she did better than that….  The nest owner saw C1 flying across the lake!

‘J’ sent us an update on Connick, Connie and Clive’s eaglet from 2023.

‘J’ also sent us an update on Chance:

‘RP’ sent us a smile:

Thank you so much for being with me today. Please take care! 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, EJ, H, J, MM, PB, RP’, FORE, Vicki Jacques, BVS Girl, Aguila Pesiadora, The Raptor Resource Project, BocianiMyBolewice, IWS/Explore, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch Arkaig, Montreal Falcon Cam, Geemeff, BoPH, Montana News, Charlo Montana Osprey Cam (Owl Osprey Project), MN Landscape Arboretum, Field Farm, Sandpoint Ospreys, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, PSEG, Cowlitz PUD, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, Amersfoort Peregrine Falcon Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Lake Murray Ospreys, Forsythe, Patuxent River Park, Dahlgren, Fenwick Island, and CBS Sunday Morning.

Thursday in Bird World

13 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I had been saving that tiny bottle of champagne for Jackie and Shadow’s hatch, but Iris having a chick after so long, well, it really is a time for celebration! So here’s to Iris and Finnegan and to their new baby! May they all live long and strong lives with lots of fish and no intruders.

So many nests got ignored today because of the happiness for Iris and Finnegan and the hope that we might get a glimpse of this little miracle chick. I will continue to provide the posts by Dr Greene who must be simply over the moon today with excitement.

Finnegan and Iris are very devoted. He has been so protective. I hope he doesn’t forget his other role is Daddy Door Dash with all those fish dinners. Look how proud he is on that perch protecting his new ‘family’.

This baby is strong and hungry and Iris and Finnegan are ready with the fish!

What a gorgeous family. Finnegan feeds Iris and Iris feeds their chick. Gosh, does this remind you of Stanley? Iris must feel like the Queen that she is. Isn’t this wonderful?

The tiniest bites of fish go into the baby’s mouth.

Waking up on their second day of parenthood – Iris and Finnegan and little Miracle baby.

The pair at Charlo Montana are not giving much away but there was a nice pip in an egg on Tuesday.

Welcome, little one!

And now there are two at Charlo!

There are two cute little osplets at the Blackbush Beach Osprey Platform!

All is well for our Little Mini at Field Farm.

At Loch Arkaig, C2 finally allows C1 and C3 to have some food! This female reminds me of Zoe. What do I mean by that? Well, she is full to the top of her crop and more and doesn’t want to share the fish with her two siblings. Someone asked if it is too late for siblicide. No, it is not. The worst behaviour begins during the Reptile phase and should end as the chicks get their feathering. We will wait and see. Louis is an excellent provider and there is has never been any concern that all three would not fledge. C2 just needs to ‘cool her jets’.

C2 reminds me too much of Zoe from Port Lincoln in 2022.

Slow motion video of the owl attack directly on Dorcha last night.

Only Surving Bob, Middle, at Lake Murry is a beautifully plumaged osplet. So big. Thank you Lake Murray for all the efforts to save this one.

CJ7 makes sure her precious Little Mini is being fed. Things are going very well on this nest. No concerns. The osplets are all passing through the Reptile stage and getting their beautiful juvenile feathers.

Growing concerns for Jack, the male at the Captiva Osprey Nest, mate of Edie, who disappeared for several days and returned with an injured leg. Window to Wildlife says if he can be captured they would take him to rehab.

At the Golden Eagle nest 2 in Estonia, the food was not as plentiful on the 12th of June as it was when the fox cub came in. Portions of a crane leg and a small bird. Both eaglets were fed but the second hatch is hungry and calling for food. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better hunting day for the family.

It is a miserable day for the Golden Eagle nest in Bucovina, Romania. We must remember that weather plays a significant role in the lives of our raptors (as well as the songbirds that visit our gardens). Small mammals get shelter and cannot be caught for food. If the weather persists, chicks can die. The nests get damp and the babies can get lung issues and also die. Life can be extremely challenging. Heavy rains are not just going to impact Florida. They have already accounted for the deaths of hundreds of storks in Europe and for some of our wee ospreys. Send good wishes to all nests – and thankfully there is some food on this nest!

Sometimes I fail to mention this nest. It is one that is wonderful to watch – Llyn Clywedog. Dylan is a master fisher and the reservoir is stocked with fish. He loves to bring trout to the nest! Seren Blue 5F is an amazing female. She winters in The Gambia and can be found on the same post year after year.

Three osplets transitioning into the Reptile phase at Cowlitz PUD.

The Great Bay trio are getting their tail feathers and juvenile plumage.

It is remarkable how fast these little ones grow. The surviving two osplets at Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home are doing fantastic. Just look at that plumage.

Triplets at Eschenbach nest have their plumage and are doing fantastic.

The newly hatched chick at Finnish Osprey nest #3 died right after hatch. This was the first hatch for Nuppu and Ahti. Condolences to all.

The trio at the Goitzsche-Wildnis platform in Germany are also doing well, just like Eschenbach.

Big Red heads to the nest to feed the two fledglings at Cornell.

The San Jose chicks still have to fledge and they are getting antsy.

It is mayhem at San Jose!

The three chicks on the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest are still alive. It rained Wednesday morning and then it was a humid heat. The babies need food to get hydration. They are often left uncovered in the blazing heat of the MidWest.

Dad was in with a small fish after 1500.

Keo and Keke are taking good care of their surviving hatch, River, at the Sandpoint osprey platform. Roan passed away on Tuesday the 11th due to a nest accident. Condolences to this family for this tragic loss due to wind and then just bloody bad luck. Fingers crossed for this baby. It appears that the remaining egg will not hatch.

Lots of fish deliveries to the Bridge Golf Course osprey platform on Wednesday. Everyone ate well!

The rains that are hitting Florida are at Moorings Park. Both of our fledglings, Tuffy and Ruffie are on the nest, hoping to get a fish dinner. It would appear that one had an early fish and the other found a fish on the nest. Do not ask me which one is which! They are both strong osplets.

Sunnie Day captures the changes in the growth of the trio at Crooked Lake, Iowa.

The weather is now having a huge impact on the Florida nests. ‘PB’ says that Captiva is in for 7″ of rain in two days. This is going to have a very negative impact on that Captiva nest coupled with Jack’s injury. Send them your good wishes!

‘PB’ sent a late video made by Toni Hoover – I took screen captures to show you this amazing little falcon. It took prey from one of the sisters on the grate and jumped and pulled it into the box to eat. This kid is a survivor.

‘H’ reports:

6/12 Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  Congratulations to Louise and her new mate Harvie, on the hatch of their first baby.  There are two more eggs to go.  

6/12 Captiva osprey nest:  The stormy weather continued for the second day.  Fishing for Edie and Jack has been difficult, and Jack has an injured left leg as well.  The last time the 50 and 48-day-old osplets had eaten was the evening of 6/10. Edie was out fishing most of the day when weather permitted.  Jack was not seen all day, until 1634 when he landed in the nest, dropped off a small live pinfish, and he quickly left.  His leg still looked swollen, and the foreign object was still protruding from it.  Edie was out, and the youngsters did not act quickly enough to secure the fish.  The small fish wiggled in between some sticks and disappeared.  It’s too bad they were not able to get a meal from Jack’s efforts.  We had not seen Edie for hours, but finally at 2033 Edie arrived with a partial catfish.  Darling grabbed and mantled the fish, but Darling is not adept at self-feeding.  Ding soon managed to take the fish from Darling, and s/he ate all but the tail.  The rain and wind is expected to persist intermittently for the next several days.  Everyone is hoping that Edie will be able to deliver a fish this morning, and that she will feed Darling.

6/12, Forsythe osprey nest: Oscar delivered 10 fish to the nest, Including 9 fish in the morning, but most of the fish were on the small side.  The first meal was peaceful between the three remaining siblings, and they all ate.  After that, the eldest osplet ‘Big’ ruled the meals, although ‘Middle’ prevented ‘Little’ from eating at times as well.  Little only managed to eat 80 bites of fish at meals two through six.  The seventh fish, brought at 0922 was a large whole fish, and Little managed to eat 96 bites of fish at that meal.  Little did not eat at meal #8.  The ninth fish was delivered at 1032, and Little ate 55 bites of fish.  Ten hours went by without a fish delivery.  Then, Oscar dropped off a headless fish at 2022, and Little was shut out of that meal.  Overall, Little did well today, thanks to the efforts of his dad. 

6/12 Patuxent River Park osprey nest: The first fish of the day at 1009 was a medium sized whole fish.  Twenty minutes into the feeding, Little managed to work his way over to the other side of Mom to be fed, and managed to eat a total of 32 bites at that meal.  The next fish was delivered by Dad at 1214, and was a small whole fish.  Little was not able to make it to the table.  More than five hours passed, and we were worried that Little may not get any more to eat.  Then at 1753, Dad showed up with one of his huge goldfish that provided for a 90 minute feeding.  Little’s first bite of fish was not until 1847.  Little was fed for 30 minutes and he ate 158 bites of fish.  Go Dad!

McEuen Park osprey nest:  All four eggs have hatched, and there are now four little osplets!

We do not have them where I live but there are some breeding pairs of Porchards in the UK that stay.

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Just another horrible way that humankind is destroying habitat for wildlife and especially our feathered friends.

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Thank you to those who offered to watch the Osoyoos Osprey cam! The stream went offline Wednesday morning around 10am. It is now 1623 nest time and it is still down. Keep checking on YouTube!

Thank you for being with me today. What a grand celebration. We wait to see when Iris and Finnegan’s second egg hatches. I hope soon. This first one is strong! Take care all. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, PB’, Montana Osprey Project, Geemeff, Montana Osprey Cams, Charlo Montana, Blackish Beach Ospreys, Field Farm, Lake Murray, BoPH, Sunnie Day, Heidi McGrue, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bucovina Wild, Llyn Clywedog, Cowlitz PUD, Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home, Eschenbach, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Goitzsche-Wildnis, Cornell Bird Lab, SK Hideaways, MN Landscape Arboretum, Sandpoint Ospreys, Bridge Golf Club, Moorings Park, The Weather Authority, Toni Hoover and Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Fortis Exshaw, Window to Wildlife, Forsythe Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, McEuen Park, and The Guardian.

Monday in Bird World

10 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Thoreau, Walden, 58).

The Girls and I are revisiting Thoreau’s Walden – I learn something every time I read this book! Mostly, it cements in me how fortunate we are if we can spend time with the trees, the animals living in the wild, even nature in our own gardens.

I hope that you had a really good weekend and found some time to spend with friends, family, or outside—or all three! We worked in the garden and are sore from the tips of our toes to the top of our heads. The heat and rain have caused everything to grow out of control! So far there has been no rain so it was a good day since everything is drying out. I would love to send this rain to places that are running out of water. It is frightening because there are not only implications for humans but also wildlife.

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Two things to put a smile on your face today. The first comes from ‘T’. Watch ‘the cobra’ attack the Imperial Eagle. Then laugh. (Valid made the video and Rinur posted it).

The second comes from Missey and Hugo Yugo, who adore one another. When Missey lost her best friend Lewis last year, she was the saddest cat. Then Hugo Yugo came into her life and she took over the motherly duties the little ginger cat was longing for. Like Calico and Hope, these two are inseparable.

TWO Great Questions from the InBox:

Question 1. ‘NF’ asks: “Have a question…we had eaglets double fledge 6/7 in Kansas. Do you have any knowledge of that happening before? Many questions about that. Thanks in advance & keep up the good work!!”

Sadly, my data forms are for Ospreys but I could recall instances of eagles fledging close together, but not specifics. Thankfully, Elfruler came through and ‘NF’ sent me their response. I thought some of you might also be wondering. “Hi, Nina, it was fun watching your 2 juveniles take off yesterday!  Yes, there are several records of 2 juveniles fledging on the same day.  In recent years:

Maryland Port Tobacco, 6/4/23, three eaglets fledged on June 4, the first at 6:18, the second shortly after that (cam down, time uncertain), the third accidentally fell at 7:09.

Ohio Avon Lake, 7/7/22, one at about 6:22, the other at about 7:21.

Oklahoma Bartlesville 6/10/22, one at about 15:21, the other at 15:28.

Pittsburg Hays 6/10/22, one at 7:20, the other at 7:50.

Ohio Ashtabula, 6/24/20, one at 6:43, the other at 12:43.

British Columbia Surrey Reserve, 6/28/20, one at 8:15, the other at 10:18.

There are more in my spreadsheets, I’ve just searched the last few years, but from these you can see that it does happen.

Best to you,

-elf”

Question 2. From ‘PB”. “I saw your update on Seaside and #3 passed due to a wind/hail storm…but I watched their in memoriam video of #3 and they showed the storm so how did the little baby pass when under mom? Was it more lack of food?”

Yes, the little one was well protected by Mum. The death was not caused by anything human or by siblicide but was starvation and/or illness caused by a weather-related event. The storm was a mitigating factor in the chick not having enough food and also they get these terrible respiratory illnesses from the cold and damp. We won’t know precisely which it was.

If you missed it, Treasure at the West End nest of Akecheta and Thunder fledged on Saturday. Lady Hawks’ video shows the whole event clearing up many questions. Treasure is on a steep hill and has not been seen eating. Is this a place where the eaglet can get its footing to fly off? More questions than answers. The latest information is that Treasure is on a cliff face near the old nest.

‘B’ reports that Sterling has fledged on Sunday so all three of Akecheta and Thunder’s eaglets this year have taken their first flights.

Hats off to Dylan at Llyn Clywedog – he brought two HUGE trout (along with other fish) to the nest for Seren and chicks on Sunday. My goodness, gracious. Dylan does love his trout and if you don’t know, they stock the Clywedog Reservoir with 45,000 fish annually!

Dr Green just posted the following information as we are now on pip/hatch watch for the first egg at Iris and Finnegan’s nest.

I don’t know about you, but I am sitting on the edge of my chair in anticipation. I never thought Iris would have another devoted mate like Stanley.

Port Lincoln reports that Calypso and his new mate are checking out the Tulsa Platform. Could Mum and Dad be grandparents this year??? Things are beginning to heat up in Australia!

Little Mini right up at the beak for that fish dinner at Field Farm. One determined little osplet. This will certainly help with its survival. Don’t you just love these vivacious fourth hatches? They have to be clever and determined. Remember: It is only about 1 out of 100 fourth hatches that survive. Looks like Field Farm and Poole Harbour are going to be survivors if things continue as they are. Other nests are in trouble.

It rained some more. Each time there was a feeding Little Mini is there. No problems that I can see other than its size. The other three are rather ‘chill’ compared to many nests.

At Poole Harbour, Little Mini is right there. Sadly, Blue 022 has a love for black bin liners. I wish he didn’t bring them to the nest.

Two chicks for the WDNU Tower in 2024.

Two surviving chicks at Seaside.

The trio at the Salt Point Osprey Platform are all thriving. Do you know this nest at Cayuga Lake in Upstate New York? It is the home of Orpheus and Ursula. Here is some information provided by the Lansing Parks and Recreation Department.

“This nest was built by Orpheus in 2013, and with his two mates Ophelia (2013–2022) and Ursula (2022–current), they have reared many healthy fledglings over the years. The nest is ideally located within the Salt Point Natural Area in Lansing, NY, at the confluence of Salmon Creek, a fast-flowing trout stream, and fish-rich Cayuga Lake. Orpheus and his mate continually tend their nest built atop a 55′ dedicated nesting platform with a spectacular 360º view—and protection against marauding great-horned owls. This nest camera is a solar-powered camera operating in one of the cloudiest areas in the USA. After a streak of consecutive overcast or stormy days, the batteries drain and the recording may stop. After a few hours of sunshine, all will return to normal. High winds may also cause noise from the camera housing.”

Here is the link to their streaming cam. These chicks are doing fantastic.

Three at Pitkin County Open Trails and Spaces are doing well. We can just see the tops of their heads!

‘H’ sends in the reports for the nests she is monitoring:

“6/9, Forsythe NJ osprey nest:  This nest has become very unsettled and dangerous.  The nest dynamics continue to evolve for the worse.  The oldest of the four osplets, Big1, has become very aggressive and controlling.  Before today, Little3 was the primary aggressor, and would take out its hunger-frustration on Mini4.  Today, Big1 was beaking all of its siblings.  Every time LIttle3 would beak Mini4, Big1 would beak Little3.  But, several times at each meal, Big1 would beak all of them, including Middle2, so that Big1 would be the only one eating.  Quite often that would set off Middle2, and Middle2 would beak everyone.  There were six meals today.  Middle2 managed to make out okay simply because of its size.  Middle2 was able to position itself further away from Big1 at feedings, and still be able to reach Opal’s beak.  Neither Mini4 nor Little3 had very much to eat yesterday, as Little3 would keep Mini4 from eating, and Big1 would keep Little3 from eating.  Today, I counted fish bites for both Little3 and Mini4.  Mini4 ate a total of 36 bites of fish today, and Little3 ate a total of 17 bites of fish.  There is not enough fish being brought to this nest for three osplets undergoing a growth spurt, much less four osplets.  It’s going to take  A LOT MORE FISH.  This is very sad.”

6/9, Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  It was a good day for this nest.  There were “only” three fish and feedings, but a couple of the meals lasted so long, they should be counted as two meals.  The first fish at 0749 was a large live catfish, and that fish flipped and flopped all over the place.  No one was hurt, and I think the kids were mildly entertained, lol.  That meal lasted for 95 minutes.  Little still does get beaked and intimidated once in a while, but Little has learned to mitigate those occurrences.  S/he simply stays away from Mom in the early phase of a meal, so as not to incur the wrath of Big.  Little waited until about 0830 and then worked his way to the other side of Mom and she began to include her youngest in the feeding.  After a while Little had a bit of a private feeding, and had eaten a total of 80 bites of fish.  When Mom had given up on picking at the catfish skull, Dad moved on over, picked up the skull and pulled off 30 additional bits of meat for Little.  What a cool Dad.  The fish at 1118 was a small headless fish, and the meal lasted 10 minutes.  Big and Middle were not very hungry, and Little ate 55 bites of fish.  The last fish of the day at 1458 was a huge whole fish, that provided for another 95 minute feeding.  Little had a few separate private feedings and ate for a total of 30 minutes. 

Dahlgren osprey nest:  Being first-time parents, the new couple, Helen and Doug, continue to work out some issues with parenting.  There is a learning curve of course, and they are getting better.  Their single osplet is 8 days old, and is looking good…nice and plump!

Fortis Exshaw osprey nest:  Louise and her new mate Harvie are expecting their first baby at any time.  Louise laid three eggs, but we’ve never seen three eggs at one time in that deep egg cup.  All the best to them!

South Cape May Meadows osprey nest:  On 6/8 a crow destroyed one egg, and pecked at another.  We believe that there is still at least one viable egg remaining.  From the nature of the contents of the destroyed egg, we believe that egg was definitely not egg #1, and was more likely egg #3 (not positive, though).  Eggs #1 and 2 would be 38 and 35 days on 6/10.  We are hoping for a hatch for Hera and Zeus.

Fenwick Island, Delaware osprey nest, at Captain Mac’s Fish House:  Johnny and June’s first two eggs were destroyed by crows.  Eggs 3 and 4 remain, and we are on pip watch!

Osoyoos osprey nest:  Soo and Ollie’s two little bobs are doing great.  The third egg is 36 days old on 6/10.

McEuen Park osprey nest: They have three little hatchlings that hatched sometime between 6/4 and 6/8, with one egg remaining.  There is no rewind for that cam, so it was difficult to find a view when the parents were not ‘incu-brooding’.

If you were following Chance, the Red-tailed Hawk that went to an eagle’s nest for dinner and got adopted, you might know that it fell from the nest. Chance is near-fledging. Chance was rescued and is in a wildlife facility. This is the latest from the photographer covering the story, Jann Nichols.

‘PB’ writes that Smallie has been seen and photographed – see image below – but there is no confirmation that the eyas has had any food since being returned after its fall.

Big siblings on the grate.

One of the chicks, the eldest, wasn’t looking good to me at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It seems to have rallied a bit. I do wish this Mum would spend less time eating fish and more time feeding her chicks. That is precisely how we lost the chicks last year! Send good energy to this nest!

‘MP’ has been watching and counting. He says, “I counted her eating five bites to one she attempts to give one chick but if they don’t take it immediately she retreats with it and eats it herself. One chick keeps rolling on their back.” MP continues, “The male appears to be bringing bigger fish maybe so she will have enough for her and the chicks? He does stand there and watch which I’ve never seen other males intently watch the feeding. My take is he’s seeing if she feeds them at all. It is hard to watch not knowing if you are watching the makings of mental illness on a nest of innocent babies leading to their death.”

This is the oldest chick that keeps going over. I fear that the babies are dehydrated. Mum leaves them exposed and the little things cannot regulate their temperature. It is very hot at times and they need many feedings, lots of little bites throughout the day to keep them healthy. So very, very sad. We have seen this same behaviour in Hope at the Snow Lane nest consistently. I once queried an old hand at osprey behaviour about mental illness and our discussions wound up around the theme of how chicks learn. We know that they have instincts and we also know that they copy parental behaviour. That is how they learn. We know that some osprey nests are simply better than others. The environment is richer with fish. The parents are more attentive. Did this female as well as Hope come from nests where the female neglected her chicks? or where there was a drought and the chicks suffered? We will never know the answer to that question because the birds are not ringed and we cannot track their history.

Let us hope that this nest has a turn around.

This was earlier.

Later:

Three eggs visible at the nest of Hope and Beau in Newfoundland at Snow Lane.

Two cutie pies at the Sandpoint Osprey platform. Looks like we have one egg that could be a DNH. We wait. These two are only two days old.

Trio at Great Bay doing fantastic, too. Is it my imagination or are the inland nests doing better this year in terms of survival rates? In my data forms, we have regions such as North America, UK, Europe, etc but we do not have North America divided up by regions. That might prove helpful in the future.

Patchogue osplets are doing very well despite the nest being full of garbage – the plague of being a nest in an urban environment.

Three beautiful babies at the Dyfi nest in Wales enjoying a fish dinner in the drizzle.

Three little ones at Bridge Golf being fed. Fingers crossed.

Two eaglets – still – at the Eastern Imperial Eagle nest in RU.

Still seeing two at the Estonian Golden Eagle nest.

Fledge feels eminent at the Cornell RTH nest of the Ns – two hawlets of Big Red and Arthur. Both have been flapping and jumping from one end of the nest to the other. Arthur has been busy bringing in prey close together to try and stop them from flying today.

Oren and Ruth’s two hawklets (one died) are preparing to fledge form their nest at Syracuse University, too.

Cal Falcon fledglings visiting the tower.

Many of you are travelling to see osprey. For the next couple of days I will be including images. Today is from Mobile Bay and tomorrow will be Rutland. ‘L’ had a lovely tour of the Alabama and Florida coasts and sent some images of Ospreys on their platforms and fishing that she saw and took with her phone for us. Thanks, ‘L’.

Some great news coming in late. One of two chicks fathered by 4K at Belvoir Castle near where I lived in the UK has been photographed in the UK on his return as a two-year-old. 4K was the subject of a book, If You Build It, He Will Come. He was also the focal osprey for Sacha Dench’s first round of Flight of the Osprey. Blue 4K is a mature male Osprey from Belvoir Castle, Rutland, hatched in 2013 and satellite-tagged in 2018. I wondered how he had died and Geemeff gave me the following information months ago, “Blue 4K’s tracker showed him in Guinea setting off north, then stopped transmitting. The tracker was fitted in 2018 so was coming to the end of its service anyway, therefore we just expected to see him back at his nest a month or so later. But after weeks went by, it was clear he wouldn’t be returning, and Simon has assumed he died in Guinea when the transmissions stopped. But of course, we don’t know.”

Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care. We hope to see you again soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, questions, photographs, comments, videos, articles, tweets, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, L, MP, NF, PB, TU’, Thoreau, CounterPunch, Elfruler, Lady Hawk, Llyn Clywedog Osprey Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Field Farm, BoPH, WDNU, Seaside Ospresy, Salt Point Ospreys, Pitkin County, Jann Nichols Photography, isamersfoort.pl, MN Landscape Arboretum, Newfoundland Power, Great Bay Ospreys, PSEG, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bridge Golf Club, Imperial Eagle RU, Eagle Club of Estonia, Forsythe Ospreys, Patuxent River Park, Fortis Exshaw, Dahlgren Ospreys, SCMM, McEuen Park, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, and Fenwick Park Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, SU-RTH Cam, and Cal Falcon Cam.

Weather related deaths…Sunday in Bird World

9 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Saturday was a blue sky sunny day (for the most part) on the Canadian Prairies. It was 22 degrees C with a bit of a breeze. A perfect day to be working in the garden. With all the rain and heat the little grass and the few weeds about have caused me to wish I had a goat!

Today, I promised myself that I would never purchase anything that needs to be assembled. All of the new planter boxes are together, but the so-called privacy screens’ that attach to the back are a bloody nightmare. The easiest thing today was picking up the new trees at the Re-Leaf Programme. Hackberry and Pin Cherry were the order of the day. Someone in the future will benefit from the shade of that Hackberry, and I hope the birds in my lifetime will enjoy the berries from both.

The Girls are all back to normal after my mini-break. The lilac bushes are full of leaves, and it is difficult for them to see the birds sometimes – and for me, too! It was late, but Baby Hope was particularly inquisitive about the ivy plant on the island. She is gorgeous. The girls are all back to normal after my mini-break. The lilac bushes are full of leaves, and it is difficult for them to see the birds sometimes – and for me, too! It was late, but Baby Hope was particularly inquisitive about the ivy plant on the island. She is gorgeous.

The Girls are thinking of birthday parties. Baby Hope will be a year old on 2 July, and Missey will be two on the 15th of July. Parties are in the making, complete with sardines, special tin cat food, and, of course, some new toys.

At the Florida-Gainesville Osprey nest, Middle fledged on Saturday and did a beautiful return flight. Mum was on the best waiting. She did a stupendous job this year. We could have lost all the osplets when Talon went missing, but this one survived thanks to Mum overcoming her brooding hormones and going out to fish!

The Lesser Spotted Eaglet that hatched in Zemgale, Latvia, succumbed to obligate siblicide on 8 June 2024. It had hatched the day before.

If you are unfamiliar with Cainism and siblicide, you might like to read the following when you have the time.

1-PDF-On-Cainism-in-the-Lesser-Spotted-Eagle-Aquila-pomarina-and-a-possible-Explanation-for-thDownload

We often wonder why nests do not cooperate and why the adults do not stop siblicide. The following article gives us some insight into this question.

Siblicide-An-Inextricable-Behavior-in-Birds-ExploreDownload

No issues with fish deliveries at Loch Arkaig. Louis is a master!

There is something very special about that third hatch at Loch Arkaig. I love how ‘she’ (seems too aggressive to be a third hatch male) makes herself bigger when the pecking order battles begin. Little is on the left.

Border Ospreys wonders if any eggs of Samson and Ursula might hatch? Well, we were surprised to see three at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum after the first egg had been left unattended for some hours in the rain. We have also watched as Milda the White-tail Eagle had to leave her eggs in quite cold weather to feed when her mate died. The two eggs hatched. Oh, and just this year, we witnessed this same phenomena at the NTCT nest of Bella and Scout. The eggs hatched but the eaglets, very healthy, were sadly killed by Scout.

So maybe Border Ospreys. Just maybe! We will wait and see.

WHAT-IF…-–-Border-OspreysDownload

There are two hatches at Sandpoint Osprey Cam. That second one came along quite quickly!

To the delight of everyone, the Minnesota Landscape Mum is feeding her chicks! This is a difficult nest. Caution advised.

Keeping our eyes on Iris and Finnegan’s nest in Montana. Dr Green’s post:

The Only Bob at Boulder County is turning into a reptile!

‘A’ brings us up to speed on Field Farm. “This is an amazing nest. This afternoon, dad brought in another monster fish, this one whole and very fresh. Mini Bob and Little Bob were at the right place at the right time and made up the front row of the feeding line. Mum fed Mini and Little, with the two older siblings making up the second row, behind their two younger siblings and apparently quite happy to wait their turn. Mini is adorable. Absolutely the cutest little osplet. S/he is just SO much smaller than its siblings, it is sometimes hard to find it on the nest (hint: it likes to stay near or underneath mum if it can). They are all sweet, with their round little bottoms and their bandit stripes, and these parents are working hard to ensure all four get full crops several times a day. 

With the size of the fish being brought onto this nest, I would venture a guess that none of these osplets has experienced that unpleasant sensation known as hunger. And in the absence of that experience, the older osplets are confident they will get plenty to eat even if they are left until last. Perhaps most of these osplets are male (only one of them behaves like a female and even then, it’s pretty rare and not prolonged). Whatever the reason, it is at this point a very peaceful nest and an absolute joy to watch. 

We are all too aware that these nests can literally turn on a dime, with a prolonged spell of bad weather impacting fishing or intruders causing distractions that limit fishing time or even end in the loss of a parent. So it is unwise to speak too soon or to assume that things will continue to run as smoothly as they have done so far. Talons crossed for this little band though. They are just lovely and I couldn’t help but mention the afternoon feeding.”

Turn on a dime it might. Little Mini got itself upside down with its head stuck under an older sibling and is fiercely trying to right itself. Sadly it will die if it can’t.

What a glorious relief. After what seemed an incredibly long time, Little Mini is upright! (No timestamp, very frustrating).

‘A’ observes, “Mini Bob at Field Farm IS OKAY. It finally managed to get back onto its front, although it was hindered by a sibling that would not get off it and was holding down its head, as well as by a long thin stick that was laid right across the chick, over its neck and literally holding it down, no matter how hard it struggled. Eventually, the arrival of a second parent caused a general milling about, which both got the sibling off Mini Bob and also moved the stick pinning him down. And he finally struggled over and onto his feet. He is okay. There is a feeding now occurring (about six hours ago) and Mini is at the back of the feeding line by the time he has righted himself and got to the table, but there is a big fish, I think, and it is not shy about finding a way to mum’s beak. Its little tummy was very full when it was stuck on its back (I think it was so fat, it was actually hindering its efforts to right itself), so I’m not concerned about that. It will be fed. 

It has a survivor’s temperament and there is not much bonking on this nest, for some reason. I still think the spreading around of the aggression rather than its being c oncentrated on a single (third) hatch may make the four-chick nests a better siurvival chance for the younger hatch/es than a three-chick nest. I am interested in that theory, as you have probably gathered by now. “

‘A’ also brings in another one of our four clutch nests, Poole Harbour! “Just a quick update on Poole Harbour. There is a feeding underway right now at Poole Harbour (7 June, 12:39). Mini is front and centre of the feeding line and Blue CJ7 is feeding the little one along with two of its siblings, one on either side. Little Bob, on Mini’s left, is also doing very well at this feeding. The oldest is still lying down behind the other three, not bothering to participate in the feeding until about 12:42, by which time it is standing behind Mini Bob, leaning over him a little but not being at all aggressive or even stealing bites. All four are waiting their turns. There is no bonking as yet at this feed, although the older siblings are in the reptilian phase. Mini Bob is a confident little osplet and seems to have no fear of its siblings. Mum is feeding it some bites that are way too big for it, but it is struggling valiantly to swallow what it can, and is doing well and getting some good pieces. This is an impressive nest indeed to have a fourth hatch looking as good as this wee osplet is. 

As the feeding continues and all four osplets have joined in, CJ7 doles out the food relatively evenly, though Mini is too small to compete for bites with its much taller siblings so relies on CJ7 specifically leaning down to offer it bites, which she does, periodically giving the wee one two or three bites in a row. They are all waiting their turn, politely holding their positions and allowing their siblings to eat without intimidation or interference. This is a truly lovely thing to watch. It is a huge fish, so the only thing that will leave anyone with room for more will be mum getting tired of feeding the osplets. Four little open beaks are hard work! Mum is not neglecting her own needs, though, tucking in to some very very large chunks of fish herself in between feeding bites to her chicks. She really does seem to make a huge effort to share the food around to all of them and to ensure that each is being fed. She really does take extra care. Mini Bob, being so much smaller than its siblings, finds it very hard to reach mum’s beak in any competition. But mum leans right down to Mini Bob’s beak, turning her head to ensure he can take the food easily. Sometimes the piece is too large and she feeds part of it to a sibling, then turns back and gives the remainder to Mini Bob. 

I would hazard a guess that this is a mainly male nest – if this lot were females, there would be a lot more aggression than what we are seeing (none at all). The youngest is very confident indeed and has no fear of its siblings whatsoever. If this continues, and there is no intruder problem or fish shortage, this nest is almost certainly going to fledge four osplets if Blue CJ7 has anything to do with it. It is just lovely to watch, and how often do you say that about a four-osplet clutch?”

Hats off to CJ7 and Blue 022. This is one of the finest four chick nests I have ever observed! Little Mini gets to eat with the group or is fed separately at every feeding on Saturday. Gold medal nest.

‘H’ reports on some of the nests she is monitoring:

“8, Forsythe NJ osprey nest:  The chicks are 18, 17, 16, and 14 days old.  It is uncanny how much the dynamics of this nest remind me of last year.  It feels as though I have been transported back in time to June of 2023.  The reptilian phase of osprey growth has hit this previously tranquil nest with potentially dire results (I pray not).  Chicks number 1 and 2 are generally very mellow (just like chicks 1 and 2 last season).  Little Mini4 is mellow.  And, chick 3 has become very aggressive (just like chick 3 of last season).  Chick 3 has found out that the easiest target for her to take out her aggression is Mini4.  So, chick 3 has been severely beaking poor lil’ Mini4 many times during meals, and sometimes outside of meals.  On occasion, chick 1 takes it upon himself to beak chick 3 after chick 3 beaks Mini4…just like chick 1 would do last year!  Oscar delivered 5 fish to the nest, and most were on the small-ish side.  There was one large fish, from which Mini4 was fed 17 bites of fish.  Mini4 had fewer than 90 bites of fish in five meals on 6/8.  I am very worried about Mini4.  I’m sure Oscar is doing his best to provide his family with fish.  The nest platform is in a very expansive marsh, and is located at least 5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  There are a couple of shallow-water bays nearby.”

“
6/8, Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  Dad delivered five fish to the nest for his family.  The first fish of the day was of medium size, and of course everyone was hungry.  Little could not get to the feeding line, and was shut out of that meal.  At meal two, Little only managed three scraps of fish off the nest fed to him by Mom at the end of the meal.  Hang in there Little, things usually improve for you later in the day!  Well now…Dad delivered a huge live fish at noon.  At 1220 Little was fed his first bite of fish.  Little had a mostly private feeding for the next 34 minutes, and ate approximately 246 bites of fish!  At 1500 Dad brought a large headless fish.  Little ate a few bites at 1505, but was beaked by Big.  Little soon resumed eating on the other side of Mom from Big, and ate an additional 46 bites of fish, before Middle returned to the table and pushed Little aside. Little was able to grab a bite intermittently, and by the end of the meal had eaten 61 bites of fish.  The last fish of the day was a partial fish at 2040.  Little made no attempt to eat…he was still stuffed from his earlier meals!”

There are three osplets at the Crooked Lake osprey platform (Timothy Dygert Live Stream). They are 9, 8, and 6 days old today.

Ruffie and Tuffy on the Moorings Park Osprey Platform in Florida. Each hoping to win that prize fish dinner.

The trio at Goitzsche-Wildnis are great!

At the Golden Eagle nest, chick 1 had a huge crop. Chick 2 waited, very intimidated, and was fed! I want to be hopeful.

The oldest sibling is starting aggressive attacks on the younger. Golden Eagles – like the Lesser Spotted Eagles – practice obligate siblicide. It is, however, late for this to be happening. The only way now might be to push the younger sibling off the nest which appears to be what is being attempted in the image below.

The older didn’t manage and I find this very interesting. Both fed – oldest first and then second.

One of the reasons that I have such huge respect for the communities, groups, individuals that maintain the Osprey nests in the UK is that they do not have this:

The weather in the UK has been really bad in the region of the Kielder Forest in the north. Many healthy chicks and some struggling third hatches have died due to the horrific wind, hail, and rain. Condolences go out to everyone at Kielder. I will slowly be adding these to the Memorial Page along with Little Bob from the Seaside nest who died in a severe storm on June 2.

On 8 June around 1300, Smallie, the youngest of the Peregrine Falcons at Our Lady Tower in Amersfoort Netherlands fell off the scrape. The youngster was rescue and we await news to see if he will be returned to the scrape. Thanks, ‘PB’ for alerting me to this event. We all care so much for this little guy. Smallie has been returned to an area near the scrape. Meanwhile the big sibs have food fights on the scrape!

Lots of visitors to The Campanile on Saturday! These are seriously beautiful fledglings.

Remember: The juveniles have vertical banding on their chests while Annie has horizontal as an adult. Those kids sure have nice crops. Annie and Archie are incredibly protective parents. What an amazing year it was.

Fledge watch on for the Red-tail Hawks of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus is approaching.

It is heating up in Orange as Diamond and Xavier are bonding in the scrape! Seriously is it really time for the Australian nests?? Unbelievable.

The streaming cam at Colonial Beach is back on line.

I am still seeing two babies at the Imperial Eagle nest of Alton and Nova in RU.

Nesting Bird Life and More captured a feeding at the nest with both of the Golden Eaglets.

Osplets that hatched on 21 and 22 of May in the Ramuka Forest in Poland are doing well.

Three osplets at Finlands #4 nest.

There are two osplets in the Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails in Colorado.

News of the San Jose Falcons!

‘PB’ reports that Smallie has been heard. We cannot see if it gets food but I plan to assume that since Mum came into the scrape to feed Smallie that she will try and make certain he has food outside. Fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Tomorrow I hope to cover some of the nests not touched upon today. There are so many events – hatches, fledges and, sadly, deaths, that is especially hard to keep up sometimes. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, observations, comments, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, J, MP, PB’, University of Florida-Gainesville Osprey Cam, LDF, ResearchGate, ExploreBlog, Geemeff, The Woodland Trust, Border Ospreys Blog, Sandpoint Osprey Cam, MN Landscape Arboretum Osprey Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Boulder County, Field Farm, BoPH, Time Dygert Live Stream, Moorings Park Ospreys, Fischadlerwebcam, Eagle Club of Estonia, Lake Murray Osprey, Forsythe Osprey Cam, Patuxent River Park, Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Cal Falcons, Cornell RTH Cam, Cilla Kinross, Colonial Beach Osprey Cam, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Nesting Bird Life and More, Ramuka Forest Osprey Cam, Finnish Osprey Foundation, SK Hideaways, and Pitkin County.

It’s three for Minnesota Landscape…Saturday in Bird World

8 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

‘The Girls’ are all back to normal! Thank goodness. We are minus Missey in the photos. She wanted to be alone while the other three were enjoying watching the garden birds and animals going about their daily search for food.

It was Friday so organic chicken dinner. Tummies are full and it is siesta time.

The ‘outdoor’ kitties were to have roast chicken dinner, too, but the Crows and the Starlings found the plate! They decidedly preferred the roast chicken to cheesy dogs! I don’t blame them. Oh, but wait. They left some and ‘The Boyfriend’ was happy.

The rain has really helped the garden this year. We are becoming entirely overgrown without any effort.

If you skipped over the BBC SpringWatch programme which Geemeff copied for everyone who cannot access BBC’s iPlayer, I want to suggest you go back and have a look. About sixteen minutes into the programme is the first interview with Roy Dennis. The raptors flying over the UK today can almost all be attributed to his efforts in reintroduction and relocation including Ospreys, Red Kites, and Eagles (Golden and White-tailed). Roy Dennis has made a huge difference to UK Wildlife and our understanding of the raptors for more than sixty years. He is a legend.

If the world had 1 out of every 1000 persons as committed as Roy Dennis, imagine how wonderful the world would be for all of us – human and non.

Hats off to those amazing people in South Australia who are working as hard to create homes for the Ospreys. Today they managed to erect 3 platforms in Port Neill! Using a helicopter. It takes a village.

Platform for Streaky Bay, too!

You might have heard that Lucia fell off the scrape. She did and she was returned! Thanks to ‘B’ for wondering what happened and for ‘SK Hideaways’ for giving us the story. ‘B’ notes that Hartley and Monty brought Lucina lunch right away – about 45 minutes after she was returned. We can all jump for joy at these amazing parents.

Everyone was shocked to wake up Friday morning to find that there are three osplets on the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum nest. No one believed that the first egg would hatch – and I was hoping for only two, but we have three. Wish this nest luck as they will need it!

Oh, this nest makes me nervous. This is not a very attentive female. Watch this nest at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum with caution. This female does not seem to have matured from last year. The male is much older. Still, Mum needs to keep her babies warm and feed them -.

A female that does not have a good track record is Hope at the ‘Hopeless’ Snow Lane nest in Newfoundland. She is incubating three eggs.

There are now three osplets on the Collins Marsh nest in Wisconsin. This new couple fledged two last season. Hopefully there is a lot of fish – historically not so many and the nests have managed with two but consistently lose the third hatch to siblicide/starvation.

Field Farm baby so tiny. ‘A’ comments, “Field Farm is an interesting dynamic. I have not watched this nest, but I note that the tiny youngest, though very small, seems to be healthy and active and is certainly not cowed by its siblings. The aggression – and there is a lot on this nest – seems to be primarily started by what I think is the second hatch, Middle Bob (though it may be the third – the second and third are close in size) who is happy to attack all three of its siblings but on this occasion chooses the oldest. Bad move. Perhaps it is female and the third hatch rather than the second (which would account for relative sizes and explain the temperaments of hatch two vs hatch three) but certainly, Mini Bob is trying to stay out of its way. The oldest is forced to retaliate with some vigor, and in the process decides to beak Mini Bob for good measure. Wrong place, wrong time. But it was brief and not overly vicious, just a single shake by the back of the neck, but Mini remains tucked, as does Little. Big Bob seems satisfied. 

There is a parent on the nest, who did not intervene in any way but allowed the osplets to deal with their own pecking order negotiations. The baby rails at this nest are huge branches complete with foliage, and dad (I think) flies in with another of them. It is at least two metres long and requires quite some manoeuvring into position. On the other side of the nest, one of the older chicks grabs a largish stick and does its own work on placing it! TOO cute. This is the chick that appears to be the most nervous of the four. It is often tucked, just in case, and appears to be shyer than the youngest and certainly not aggressive like other two osplets. 

Dad is soon back with another, much shorter stick. A fish would go down a lot better, dad! There are a lot of ospreys on this nest, and half a forest in giant tree branches. It is starting to look more than a little crowded up there! 

This will be an interesting nest, but Mini Bob definitely has a chance, depending as always on a regular fish supply to the nest. Temperamentally speaking, it has the determination and courage to survive. It appears to be confident, healthy and very active. It also appears to know the basics of nest etiquette, not unnecessarily provoking larger siblings but nevertheless standing its ground. Time will tell.”

‘A’ continues, “Nevertheless, both Poole Harbour and Field Farm have four healthy, active osplets at this stage. Both nests have an excellent chance of fledging all four hatches, and I was pleasantly surprised to check them out. (I had not done so in either case until reading your blog mentioning these two cameras.) I am fascinated by four-osplet clutches after Mini did so well at Patchogue last season. That really did prove that four is not an impossible task, and in fact may even be a better risk than three, where two often seem to gang up on the youngest. With four, perhaps, the aggression is spread around a little more. I have no idea why but the social dynamic on the nest definitely seems different with four than with three. It is super interesting to me, and I will have to watch quite a lot more of these two nests to develop a theory on it. The sample size I am basing my observations on here is way too small, but still it seems interesting that it is the case on both of these nests for starters. I am probably talking nonsense, but it does strike me as interesting. “

Two surviving chicks at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home are thriving.

‘H’ reports: “The Osoyoos nest has their first hatch, egg #1 of three eggs, at 39 days.”

Aurora returns to the Campanile. How wonderful. Now remember you can go to moon_rabbit_rising on Instagram and see amazing images of the fledglings along with their parents flying around the Berkeley campus!

Mum was in the scrape feeding Smallie before 2300 on Friday. Smallie had a big crop and pulled away the prey item to tell Mum she could leave. Smallie has gotten a lot of plumage and looks much more like a falcon now. What a wonderful story of survival – tiny little one still being cared for after big siblings have fledged. What amazing parents. This would not happen in an Osprey nest.

It is hot in Montana as Iris watches the train go past her nest. We are on the count down to pip/hatch watch for Iris and Finnegan. Will there be a chick?

At the Green Ledge Lighthouse Osprey nest of Ollie and Olivia, there are now two little osplets. The first hatched on 4 June and the second on 6 June.

‘H’ sends in her fantastic reports: “6/8, South Cape May Meadows osprey nest:  This morning at 0530 Zeus arrived with a stick, and Hera immediately left the nest.  At 0555 Zeus also left the nest.  Then, at 0600, a crow arrived.  The crow pecked at one egg and completely destroyed another.  There were three eggs, with the first egg due to hatch at any time.

6/7 Patuxent osprey nest:  Everyone is so glad that Little was returned to the nest after a 48 hour stint in rehab.  Now…back to watching Little compete for food with his two older, and much larger siblings.  There were six fish brought to the nest by Dad, and 7 feedings.  Little had only managed to eat a few bites up until the fifth meal of the day.  At 1254 Dad brought a partial fish, and as per usual, Big and Middle ate first.  Finally, at 1330 Little had a 12 minute private feeding and had eaten approximately 94 bites of fish.  Little’s best meal of the day was the sixth meal.  Dad delivered a very large fish at 1618.  By 1641 Big and Middle had both moved away from the table, and Little began to eat…and eat…and eat.  Little had a ‘mostly private’ feeding for the next 30 minutes, and had eaten at least 236 bites of fish!”

“6/7, Forsythe osprey nest:  This is a nest of four osplets, ages 17, 16, 15, and 13 days.  With the exception of a few rare ‘off-meal’ short bonking battles, this nest has always been entirely peaceful.  All four kids have been lining up side by side for meals.  The only meals where Mini would ended up a little short on fish bites, would be when Oscar would deliver a small fish tail.  Until now that is….I noticed around 1400, the chick I believe to be #3 simply ‘went off’ on all of her siblings…bonking everybody.  This was very unusual, and occurred repeatedly until a fish was delivered at 1402 (the third meal of the day).  It had been 5 1/2 hours since their last meal, but they have gone 7 hours between meals before without aggressiveness being triggered.  However, now they are entering their reptilian phase.  Due to the size of the fish, all osplets ate well at this feeding.  At 1657, Oscar brought a medium sized fish tail, and for the first time ever, there was bonking during a meal.  Again, the instigator was chick #3, and she wasn’t picking on any one of her siblings in particular, he/she was bonking everybody.  Mini ate very little at this feeding.  The last meal of the day was at 2010 from a small fish tail, and Mini again was only able to eat a few bites.  Note to Oscar:  They need more fish!”

“6/8 The Osoyoos osprey nest has their second hatch. The baby was first seen at 04:45.”

We are also on the count down to fledge at both the Cornell and Syracuse Red-tail Hawk nests. This would normally not happen during a rainy period. Big Red often fills her chicks up to the top of their crop of she doesn’t think it is a good day to fledge.

If you were watching the Kansas City Eagles on Farmer Derek’s property, both Cheyenne and Wichita fledged! Together!!!!!!! Well…OK. Ten minutes apart. Amazing.

Golden Eaglets at Kaljukotkas are both alive. I have to say I really am wondering if both will survive. Normally the youngest is killed before it starts getting its feathers. The male is a good provider but Mum has not had much luck. Rain has started. Will this make hunting more difficult? and make the older sibling more aggressive if prey is scarce? We wait.

The Golden Eaglet in Bucovina Romania is enjoying huge crops on Friday.

Three at Cowlitz appear to be doing alright as well.

The trio at Great Bay seem to be alright. They were enjoying a fish dinner the last time I checked and all seemed well.

So many storks have lost their lives this year due to the flooding in Europe. In other parts of Eastern Europe, birds did not return. When there are nests, seeing ones with five storklets has been unusual. They are all doing amazing. Puts a big smile on one’s face…a big smile.

Please, please do not feed any waterfowl bread! We have seen this at our local pond. Angel Wing is deadly – not fun or cute. Do not feed bread! Get some birdseed or other approved foods or don’t feed at all.

The fourth hatch at The Bridge Golf Club has died of siblicide/starvation on 7 June. Dad has brought in a number of fish and the chicks have been full including Little Bob (three). Fingers crossed.

This article is very informative. Heidi and I have collected data that indicate the average hatch is 36.5 days after the egg is laid.

Everything-You-Wanted-To-Know-About-Osprey-Eggs-But-Were-Afraid-To-Ask-Osprey-Camera-BlogDownload

What is the odds of 4 osplets on a nest to survive to fledge? 100 to 1.

Four-osprey-chicks-in-100-1-odds-Kielder-nest-share-BBC-NewsDownload

The camera at the nest of Liberty and Guardian at Redding is down for the rest of the season. Hoping for posted updates. Here is some updates and information from Gary.

The two eaglets on the White-tail Eagle nest in Lower Kama National Park RU are fantastic. Well-fed and getting their full juvenile plumage.

The Zemgale Lesser Spotted Eagles now have two chicks in their nest in Latvia. Annas and Andra are the parents.

Thank you for being with me today. Have a wonderful weekend. See you soon!

Thank you so much to the following for their notes, comments, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H’, Geemeff and BBC SpringWatch, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Fran Solly, SK Hideaways, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Newfoundland Power Osprey Cam, Collins Marsh, Field Farm, BoPH, Maryland Western Shore for OTH, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Green Ledge Lighthouse Preservation Society, SU-RTH Cam, Osoyoos Osprey Cam, Patuxent River Park, Forsythe Osprey Cam, South Cape May Meadows Osprey Cam, Cornell RTH Cam, Androcat, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cowlitz PUD, Bucovina Wild, Great Bay Osprey Cam, Maria Marika, Jamie Maslar, Bridge Golf Club Osprey Cam, Osprey Camera Blog, BBC News, Gary’s Eagle Videos, Kama National Park RU White-tail Eagle Cam, and the LDF.

Monday in Bird World

3 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It was a scorching Sunday morning. I dedicated much of my time to tending the garden. I strategically planted hostas in areas with ample shade and moisture. The vegetable plants are thriving, and the vibrant red flowers of the annuals will soon bring immense joy. Despite the nuisance of mosquitoes and wasps, there’s nothing like the simple pleasure of being outdoors. It’s important to savour these moments while we can. By 1600, the clouds had opened, and the rain was pouring down. The garden will turn into an amazing jungle right before my eyes – heat and moisture are two great combinations. Not for ospreys, but decidedly for gardens.

Sol is the last of Annie and Archie’s chicks to leave the tower of The Campanile at UC-Berkeley. Fly safe Fab Four. What an amazing year it has been with you and Annie and Archie.

I want everyone to send their good wishes to Mini Little Bob at Field Farm. He is so tiny. Can you see him? There are four of them. I am so concerned for this wee baby but…

Now look. Mini Little Bob pushed himself right up to Mum’s beak! This is one you need to cheer for this season. Just like Little Mini at Patchogue.

Here is the link to the streaming cam at Field Farm:

https://www.youtube.com/live/HwzQ_9Eb8Rg?si=_3UEn7ZepOIRcnBS

Pitkin County’s first egg was April 28. We will be on pip/hatch watch from today.

Aran and Elen and their three beautiful osplets at Glaslyn. It is the couples second year together.

At the Port of Ridgefield (first year for this streaming cam), one egg was crushed and one did not hatch. There is a very lucky Only Bob on the nest. We can now see the top of its head.

CJ7 and Blue 022 are excellent parents to their four osplets. CJ7 feeds and feeds and fish are being kept on the nest so that they do not run out!

CJ7 and Blue 022 are brilliant. Tandem feeding – twice! That is how Mini Little Bob is going to survive.

Only Bob is doing so well at Rutland Manton Bay that I sometimes fail to report it. Bob is 24 days old today.

‘A’ sends news re Dyfi: “I spoke too soon – Baby Bob woke up full of beans and decided to bonk both Middle Bob and then Big Bob, a spat that Big Bob was forced to finish. This little one is far from cowed by its older siblings. The incident was short-lived and not particularly vicious – more tokenistic – and Baby Bob fairly quickly decided discretion was the better part of valour and lay down. Mum Telyn was not at all concerned, leaving the kids to it. I got the feeling she would have sat on them all, had that been required, but on this occasion, her intervention was not necessary. 

You mentioned goshawks as potential predators for the UK osplets, and I assume they are daytime hunters? So far, the parents are not leaving the babies alone for very long, though there were a couple of occasions when both parents flew off the nest for a couple of minutes before one would return. Telyn seems to just stretch her wings occasionally, and Idris spends most of his day on the perch, heading off to fish periodically. He does not seem to take very long to return with a fish when he does decide the pantry needs replenishing. 

These three osplets are looking extremely healthy. Cute round little bottoms, good-size PS’s, and all very active and eating well. Even Baby Bob can manage big bites of fish for one so young. The little one can find itself behind its older siblings, having trouble getting to the front of the feeding line and missing out a lot at some feedings, but at others, when it’s in front, it is allowed to eat without interference by its older siblings, which is a blessing. It is certainly not being prevented from getting food. Mum is sometimes a bit lazy about reaching over far enough for Baby Bob, which is frustrating, but it seems to be getting enough to eat and what it is eating is certainly high-quality nutrition. “

The Dyfi Moderator answered a question on the chat about how many fish are coming in now. The reply: “​It’s about four fish a day now. They do not have a favorite but Sea Trout (Sewin) have been the most common this year.”

It is nice to have ‘A’ watching Ospreys! She comments on Dyfi, a nest that she has fallen in love with: “When I checked the nest this afternoon, there was a large fish for each chick. Mum had already fed them as much as they could eat, and then woken them up to feed them again, and still, when she finished the fish, there were still three other headless monsters on the nest. It was as if an inner ring of kiddie rails had been constructed of fish! Unbelievable. Oh how some of those US nests could do with just one of these gigantic fish Idris brings in. With two of these osplets already pretty much in their oily teenage phase, I am presuming that this level of bonking is as bad as it is likely to get (in the absence of a major food shortage). That, together with relative size, leads me to wonder whether we may have three boys on this nest. Time will tell. But they really are a very laid-back lot. Loving them, and Telyn and Idris.”

Three wiggly babies for Seren and Dylan at Clywedog and they are losing their natal down and turning into reptiles, too.

A gorgeous strong Bob for first time Mum Blue 372 at Llyn Brenig.

Oh, my goodness. It just goes to show me that I have to check on these nests, the ones that are not ospreys, a little sooner than I have been. Those two little fluff balls on the White-tail Eagle nest in the Tucholskie Forest in Poland have their juvenile feathers!!!!!! All wet from the rain but aren’t they beautiful?

There are also two healthy osplets in the Reptilian Stage in the Ramucka nest.

Boulder County has one difficult-to-see chick in that deep egg cup. There is plenty of fish.

Dad feeds Mum and Mum feeds Baby at Boulder.

Two healthy babies at the Bridge Golf Course.

Outerbanks chicks are alright.

Tuffy and Ruffie on the nest with Sally at Moorings Park hoping for a fish meal.

Poor Tuffy.

Big and Middle Bob are doing well at Western Maryland Shore. Both had nice crops Sunday morning.

There is shock for the new couple at Dahlgren when one of the three eggs, pecked by a crow and left unincubated, has hatched!

There are at least two bobbleheads at Collins Marsh. Anyone have better eyes than me to see if there are three???

Three chicks as of 2 June at Kielder 5A!

If every male delivered fish like Louis, there would not be a problem. If every lake and reservoir were full of fish, there would not be a problem. If overfishing was not allowed, there would not be a problem. The nests need large high quality fish for the ospreys to thrive. Look at the size of that fish.

Oren and Ruth’s hawklets have almost all their juvenile plumage at the Syracuse University RTH nest.

I love the peachy plumage on the chest of Big Red and Arthur’s Ns. Fledge is coming too soon for both of these RTH nests in upstate New York.

Anna and Andrew have their first hatch of the season. These are Lesser Spotted Eagles in Zemgale, Latvia. Isn’t that a gorgeous nest and what a bright eyed baby. Please be aware that there is a good cause for siblicide at the nest of Lesser Spotted Eagles. They practice obligate siblicide. –

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Baby’s first feeding:

Prey continues to be plentiful at the nest of the Imperial Eagle in RU. Will both chicks survive?

Smallie is trying to get some food from the older siblings at the Amersfoort scrape.

Aurora and Sol together at Cal Falcons.

Charlemagne, the oldest Turkey Vulture, has died. What a sweetie.

These storklets are fortunate. So many died from the torrential rains in Western Europe over the past fortnight. So sad. Thankful to all those wonderful people who reached out to help when they could.

At Port Lincoln, Bradley joined Schultzie much to the delight of everyone listening and watching!

‘MP’ reports that Diane keeps her and Jack alive at the Achieva Credit Union nest. Is Jack unwell?? Just a thought. ‘MP’ says, “It looks as though Diane is doing much of the fishing now for them both. Although Jack does do some fishing, Diane is doing more on this day, 6/2/24. Here’s a pic of Diane bringing in one of two fish today.”

Many have written about Little at Patuxent and ‘H’ brings up the issue of the protrusion in her report: “6/2 Patuxent-1: We had some concerns with this nest on Sunday.  Dad must have had some difficulty fishing, and he was only able to deliver four fish to the nest.  The first meal consisted of a large headless fish, and the meal lasted for about 50 minutes.  Little had a private feeding near the end of the meal, and he ate at least 86 bites of fish.  The next two fish at 1158 and 1425 were smaller, and Big prevented Little from making it to the feeding line.  As the afternoon wore on, we were worried…hoping that Little would get another meal.  

In the meantime, chatters had been discussing something peculiar going on with Little.  Starting Saturday evening, some noticed that Little was attempting to crop-drop way too often…several times a minute.  The frequent crop-dropping continued on Sunday.  In addition, Little seemed to have a protrusion at the right side of his crop.  Something in his crop (a bone?) was causing an area to stick out, and was even causing a separation of his feathers showing a spot of white under-feathers.  It was quite noticeable.  The object in Little’s crop did not hinder his ability to eat at the morning meal, and he had a large crop after breakfast.  By late afternoon, Little’s crop was empty, but still showed the protrusion.  Little needed food in his crop, for more reasons than one.  We assumed that food would help to dislodge the obstruction.  We also knew that only a very large fish from Dad would allow for a feeding of Little, after the sibs had also not eaten for hours.  

Finally…at 1945 Dad landed with a very large headless fish!  Poor Little…Big was hangry, and took it out on Little several times.  Little started to make his move toward Mom at 2016, but was beaked by Big.  At 2019, Little ate his first bite of fish.  Middle had moved away from the table, and Big was pretty much finished eating, but continued to hover near Little.  With Big close by, Little ate slowly and with some trepidation.  Finally, Big retired from the table, and Little was able to eat freely.  By 2032 Little had eaten at least 140 bites of fish and moved away from Mom.  We had a partial view of Little’s large crop, still with the white-tipped area of protrusion.

Thank you Dad for your tireless efforts to provide food for your family.  We are all hoping for more fish on Monday.  And, we are hoping that the object stuck in Little’s crop will be passed into lower parts of his GI tract where it can be processed.”

“6/2 Dahlgren:  Helen and Doug, the new couple at the Dahlgren VA osprey nest, have a little baby osplet.  Their first two eggs did not hatch.  Congratulations!”

This is a bit of a miracle baby.

And to close it off, two things. Geemeff writes that she now checks the Lake Murray nest before the Scottish ones! Middle made it through another night. We are all relieved.

And always to put a smile on our faces, Louis at Loch Arkaig delivers a whopper of a breakfast fish. I cannot help but wonder if every nest had a Louis (or maybe a Finnegan) and there was plenty of fish what would the data on these nests be?

Thank you for being with us today. Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me write my blog: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, J, MM, MP, PB’, SK Hideaways, Field Farm, Pitkin County, Bywyd Gwywd Glaslyn, Port of Ridgefield, BoPH, LRTW, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog, Llyn Brenig, Tucholskie White-tail Eagle Cam, Ramucka Forest Ospreys, Boulder County, Bridge Golf Course, OBX/Outerbanks, Moorings Park, Western Maryland Shore OTH, Heidi McGrue, Collins Marsh, Joanna Dailey, Geemeff, SU-RTH Cam, Cornell RTH, LDF, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Angie Nerf, Rene Alleman, Fran Solly, Achieva Credit Union, Patuxent River Park, and Dahlgren Ospreys.

Cal Falcons Fledge, Sad news out of Border Ospreys…Sunday in Bird World

2 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

Saturday was a beautiful warm day and no time was wasted inside. My legs still needed a good work out. Is it possible one can get out of shape completely in four or five days? Everyone was happy so it was nice to be at the nature centre. There were five goslings but a host of songbirds in the forest. The 1700 rains have now started! So glad to have been outside earlier.

I am a little ‘upset’ at the garden birds. The European Starlings appear to have taken over the cheesy dog distribution centre to the woe of Mr Crow and family. I didn’t put any more hot dogs out late today. Will wait and see what happens tomorrow. They sure did love the leftover quiche from yesterday – the Starlings, that is. Yesterday at 1730, a Sharp-shinned hawk flew over the little weeping, curved back south and went straight into the trees at the back of the property. I have no idea if it had any luck getting dinner but it was a very focused flight pattern like the raptor had been doing this for some time. Oh, geez. Everyone knows when the babies are hatching.

There were some cute goslings, only five of them and these four found the only puddle big enough to stand in.

For all Dyson fans, here she is. I put out a new nut cylinder and Dyson quickly appears. She leaps form the lilac branches on to the big table feeder and begins getting the tasty nuts. She is doing really well. This iPhone image is not very good. Dyson is moulting and is a little ragged but in a week she will look so nice without that heavy winter coat.

Baby Hope and Hugo Yugo were too tired from playing to pay any attention to Dyson. They have been enjoying all the Starlings hopping around and eating all those cheesy dogs!

‘R’ sends us an article from the Washington Post – . It is what we do, we watch streaming cams and goodness, gracious, it can get pretty rough out there. Osplets beaking the whatever out of one another. Mothers killing their chicks and feeding them to their siblings. Nature is not Disney Land.

Live-bird-cams-are-natures-soap-opera-The-Washington-PostDownload

‘R’ also reports some concerns about Big at the University of Florida-Gainesville campus. He ponders, “Big appears to have injured her left knee.  Hobbling around the nest.  This seems to be a fairly frequent injury around this time in development!  I think in most cases they heal?  Frustrating nest this year! Wonder if the injuries are related to early attempts to hover/fly?  They are growing so fast their legs may be their “weak” point?”

‘R’ raises a good point. I have not been watching this nest closely as Stella has done a stellar job taking care of her only surviving osplet since losing her mate, Talon, early on after the three chicks hatched. Let us all hope she gets a super mate for 2025 – and that Florida stocks a pond for them. Now wouldn’t that be nice?

The wonderful news is that it looks like two of Annie and Archie’s four eyases have now fledged! Eclipse and Nox.

Pigeons falling from the sky?!

‘B’ sends us an image that a visitor to The Campanile took of Eclipse – he paused long enough to have his picture taken before landing and getting a meal with his siblings. What a fantastic fledgling. None of us have seen this happen before.

You might recall that a few days ago, ‘B’ wondered if nature tree nests were more prone to predation than human-made platform nests. ‘VV’ has been keeping close tabs on a group of ten osprey nests in the NE US for decades. She wrote to me about her observations of the nests she is monitoring. I thought it would be good to share with you – and she gave me permission to do so.

She wrote: “Keep meaning to send this, re query on  your blog, the osprey made vs  man-made nests. Here all osprey-made are in trees w/in copses, and some man-made platforms. Those w/in the trees and growth have not produced clutches down here. The two osprey-made nests I can see made gallant attempts last year and early this year but if they made it to eggs, varmints & probably crows got them. It seems too hard to defend the on-land nests., especially those in the trees.

The successful clutches (from what I can see this  year and extrapolate) are on the boxes made by our local electric company. The two shots below are Nest 9 on my chart. (hard to see but F9 incubating)  I hate them because I can’t see in, but they line the creek heading north. The two clutches I know that survive the April 28-30,2023 storms were both on these styled nests. Nest 9 fledged 2 last year.” Thanks, ‘VV’ for that very informative information.

Nest 9:

image001.pngimage002.pngNest 2

Llyn Clywedog is in a beautiful area of forests near a reservoir that is said to be stocked with 45,000 trout annually. Dylan and Seren have their nest there and this year they have three little Bobs. This nest has been subject to goshawk attention and last year one of the chicks was taken when Seren was doing a feeding! The nest is in a tree.

Hoping for luck to hold at Lake Murray tonight for Middle. ‘PB’ reports that there appear to be more lights out tonight under the nest. Send your best, best wishes for dear Middle.

As was sadly predicted, we lost Little Bob at the Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home late Friday night (around 2320). There was simply not enough large fish coming on the nest. The male is new. His name is Arthur. His fishing and understanding of the demands of a nest of triplets will hopefully improve – IF AND ONLY IF – there is enough fish in the area to begin with. Fly high Little Bob. We now must watch and see if there is enough for two on this nest as the osplets begin to really grow.

This quick rescue of osplets from a nest that had been hit by bad weather will make you smile. This is precisely what we want to read!

Ospreys-Safe-After-Renesting-Atop-Billboard-in-Kissimmee-Audubon-Center-for-Birds-of-PreyDownload

All babies at MNSA nest had nice crops Saturday morning.

Radford University osplets are doing really well.

Well, Louis isn’t going to let anyone on the Loch Arkaig 2 nest starve. Three fish in less than 24 minutes. My goodness. Some of the US nests would just like to have one of those in a day – the fish are just so much better in size and quality.

Ah, elevenses are always the nicest of breaks. I am sure Dorcha agrees.

Cute Little Bob begging for food at Loch Arkaig. Mum steps in and fills its tank.

Looks like Clark PUD and Port of Ridgefield are destined to have only one chick this year on each nest. Gosh, golly. Those will be blessed little osplets.

Mum had better rest because she knows that there is a hatch happening as I write this at Llyn Brenig in Wales.

There are two little cuties for Aran and Elen at Glaslyn. When Aran goes fishing Sunday morning, there will be a third! That little one is just about out of its shell right after midnight Sunday).

Idris and Telyn’s osprey nest at Dyfi in Wales has three and they are doing well.

Our friend ‘A’ writes, “I blame you entirely for this, but I somehow found myself on the Dyfi livestream today – so much to love about this nest. Idris (Daddy Long Legs, as I believe he is known) is a wonderful provider – the moment there is less than half a large fish on the nest, he heads off for more. And I love that he is happy to feed the chicks himself, even when mum is on the nest. If she is not feeding and he has brought food, he will start feeding the kids. Lovely. 

Also adorable is the youngest chick, who is still white and fluffy and SO cute. There appears to be minimal bonking on this nest, despite there being a couple of mini dinosaurs in the brood, and any bonking there is seems to be between the two elder hatches, who leave the little one alone altogether. Mum is careful to feed the youngest, often beginning a feeding with the little one. All three get along well and snuggle up together – that wind sounds freezing despite the sunshine. 

Oh they are sweet, and I am aware that there are two or three other UK nests that are similar to this one in that there are three well-behaved and well-fed Bobs with experienced parents. And some of those fish are HUGE, even after Idris has eaten his fill of the head end. No wonder it is easier to keep the bonking down. The only bonking I did see was minor and provoked by the second hatch staring down the oldest, who quite obviously had no choice but to remind it of the nest pecking order. Baby Bob does not need reminding – it just ignores everything but the adult with food, and waits with open beak for a parent to reach it, which inevitably it does.”

Idris and Telyn are incredible parents!

‘H’ reports on Patuxent: “6/1 Patuxent – Dad brought six fish to the nest for his family, and most of the fish were a pretty good size.  There were a few meals where Little was prevented from eating by Big, or he was only able to eat a few bites of fish.  Little was able to eat 89 bites of fish at the second meal.  But, Little’s big feast of the day came during the last meal.  Dad brought a large headless fish at 1908, and 30 minutes later Little began a long private feeding that lasted 17 minutes.  Little ate 121 bites of fish at that meal, and at least 272 bites of fish for the day.  Fingers crossed that Dad can keep up his excellent fish deliveries to this nest.”

Dylan and Seren have three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog. Sometimes you can’t see all of them for those wings that are getting longer and longer.

CJ7 makes certain that Mini Little Bob (#4) gets a fish meal – often when the others are full and in a food coma.

The outpouring of love in my ‘inbox’ and in Messenger for Smallie, the tiny Amersfoort falcon, is quite incredible. Concerns grow as the older siblings grab prey on the perch. Will Smallie survive? Perhaps the question is – will someone in Amersfoort ensure that Smallie survives if the oldest ones take all the prey? Do we know?

Smallie looks like he has crop in the images above. ‘PB’ reports that Smallie was busy self-feeding when Mum was feeding one of the older siblings. Bless its heart.

Iris and Finnegan taking turns incubating. If those eggs are viable, we should be looking at pip watch for an egg laid on 5 May around the 11th of June. (Our data form average is 36.5 days but it could be a little longer, up to 38 days).

We have what is believed to be the first hatches in the Finnish Osprey nests at nest #4 on Saturday. It is the nest of Nuppu and Nemo. Welcome little ones.

Three eggs waiting at nest #3.

Babies are fighting at the Imperial Eagle cam in RU.

Tragic news coming out of Border Ospreys this morning.

TRAGEDYDownload

My friend ‘S’ sent us an article on the havens that we can create to help wildlife not harm them. “We cry habitat loss, but it’s theft, really – no one is so careless as to lose their home. We call it progress, but how dare we? How many people, throughout the planning process, will have thought of or cared about hedgehogs? Or considered any of the other residents, both human and wild? The management company would have conducted an ecology survey, no doubt. But, as is often the case, it was probably done in winter, when the hedgehogs were hibernating. Did any residents other than Choel and me know there were hedgehogs on that estate? Did anyone care? The council paved over the gardens to save money on maintenance. The trees and park were lost because the car parks that replaced them can be a source of income. The residents placed there by the council would not necessarily have known or thought about those habitats, making them so much easier to destroy.”

Where-the-wild-things-are-the-untapped-potential-of-our-gardens-parks-and-balconies-Gardens-ThDownload

Birding Tourism benefits everyone. Wonder why more countries do not do this

‘More-profitable-than-farming-how-Ecuadors-birding-boom-is-benefiting-wildlife-Birds-The-GuarDownload

While some protect, there are others that destroy. Unbelievable. This man destroys more shorebird eggs in an instant.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/05/31/egmont-key-state-park-helicopter-landing-birds

Thank you for being with us this morning. Take care! Send positive wishes to all our birds!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post this morning: ‘A, B, Geemeff, H, PB, R, S, VV’, The Washington Post, University of Florida-Gainesville, Sharon Pollock, Cal Falcons, VV, LLyn Clywedog, Lake Murray Ospreys, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, MNSA, Radford University, The Woodland Trust, Geemeff, Clark PUD, LLyn Brenig, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Patuxent River Park, BoPH, Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Montana Osprey Project, Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Guardian, TampaBay.com, and Border Ospreys.

Saturday in Bird World

1 June 2024

Good Morning Everyone,

It is bright and sunny and nearing 1800 on the Canadian Prairies. We had a lovely brunch with the entire family on the deck with warm sunshine blessing all of us. The grandson is on his way back home to Ottawa. Son is heading north to go fishing, and we will be going to check on the eagles at Hecla Island in the coming weeks – not sure when. It was lovely to see everyone. We will have a bit of a break and then the third round – looking forward. Most everyone lives at a distance so these times together are very precious.

The cats have come out of hiding. Well, Hugo Yugo and Missey like company. Calico and Baby Hope don’t. They are all sleeping. Worn out by the excitement! The rain has made the garden really lush. The European Starlings seem to have taken over the area. Mr Crow comes for his cheesy dogs and then they fly in – at least 8 or 10 of them. They have nest in the garden and I think they just don’t want to risk the Crows predating their chicks. Mr Grackle came for a nice bath today and there have been quite a number of House Finches flittering about. No more Baltimore Orioles. The homing bird feeder is up but I have not seen any visitors.

My Girls wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Visiting. One day we did get in quite a nice walk but most of the time it is good food and lots of conversation, catching up. My legs needed to move and it was off this evening early to count the goslings and ducklings at the park. 68 goslings!

Richmond and Rosie had their first hatch on Friday the 31st of May! Yeah. We have all been waiting for our SF Whitley Crane couple on their new light post nest to start their family.

In Montana, Iris and Finnegan are doing well. Gosh, aren’t you getting excited? We might get to see Iris raise a chick. Seriously, I would. be happy if there was only one healthy one. That would not wear her out. The females, as you know, are known to lose 30% of their body weight during incubation and raising chicks. Mind you, Finnegan is one good provider for Rosie. We haven’t had to worry about her. Finnegan believes his first egg was laid on 5 May. That means that we are at 27 days. Hatch watch 10 June.

Continued good thoughts, please, for Lake Murray. I checked and there are no strobes on at the time I am writing at Lake Murray. Oh, goodness. Why?

Mum was on the perch and at 23:01 she flies off and then returns to the nest where she stays with Middle. Did she hear the owl? or was it the woman walking under the nest pulling something – lights? The strobes went on by 2308. Thank goodness.

Beautiful fledglings at Venice Golf Course. With 26 areas to get fish, this couple once again pulled off a nice healthy trio of chicks to fledge.

MNSA trio looking good.

Looking Bleak. Concerns grow for Little at Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home. He has had less than 20 bites of food, some scraps Mum found, on Friday. Not looking good. Be cautious if you are watching this nest. Sadly this baby will probably not make it through the weekend, if that long. Starvation is terrible thing. If only the ospreys had one or two chicks. If only.

Prove me wrong. OR maybe. Put some fish on that nest or near it for this family. Do a Port Lincoln and help out!!!!!!!

We are on fledge watch for Cal Falcons! Can you believe it?

CJ7 and Blue 022 have a nest full – the fourth chick hatched on Friday and they are going to be very, very busy. How many still remember when CJ7 didn’t have a mate and she met Blue 022? They ‘romanced’ all over Poole Harbour! This is wonderful. Send good thoughts to the little one.

We all wish Jack and Diane the very best. They need to go and find fish and get their health back to a good state. The nest has its predator baffles thanks to Tampa Bay Raptor Centre – we wait for another year.

At Boulder, the chick, the Only Bob, is cheeping away for fish and at another time Dad wants Mum to feed him, too.

They are all reptiles with big crops at Radford University. Little Bob looks good today!

The camera at Cowlitz PUD is beyond frustrating. We know there are chicks. Once in awhile you can see a little head. Hope those fish grates prove that are the most reliable predator deterrent (for GHOs and eagles) for our ospreys.

If you use the overhead cam at Cowlitz, you will see that there are three osplets. One is so tiny. I am already worried.

The Only Bob at Clark PUD is one lucky osplet.

Field Farm seems to be holding its own with its trio of hungry beaks.

Fledglings still visiting the Frenchman’s Creek nest for fish.

Great Bay – has three Bobs – and so far, so good. Big Bob is in the reptile state while Little Bob still has fluffy down.

The two chicks at Patchogue are getting their feathers. Gosh, don’t you wonder what Little Mini is up to? I sure hope she survived – certainly deserved to!

The camera at Collins Marsh is almost as bad as what my mind tells me water torture would be. There is at least one little bobblehead (new) on that nest. Why do their heads have to look like an egg on these poor resolution cameras?

Flopping fish at Loch Arkaig. Who cares when you have three Bobs in the nest and they are all hungry for a fish dinner?!

When I say – which I often do – that I wish each osprey nest would have one really healthy chick. This is what I mean. Only Bob at Rutland Water is transitioning out of the Reptile Phase – just look at that beautiful copper plumage on the back of the head – into getting its juvenile plumage. Only Bob is getting the best of the fish, not the skin, as many of the later hatches in dubious nests have to eat. It is understood that some fish are more beneficial and that others and only getting inferior parts of prey (this would also include other raptors) does not provide the high quality nutrition that all need. Maya and Blue 33’s only chick this year has the best of everything. Oh, goodness. We wish this for all the nests, but sadly, many struggle like the Little Bob at Maryland Western Shore.

Can you see Only Bob’s bursting at the seams crop?

At Goitzsche-Wildnis, Dad was feeding Mum. Osplets really growing. They have a Little Bob, too. Fingers crossed for all the ‘Littles’.

Betsy and Frederick’s two osplets appear to be doing alright.

Oh, goodness. There is a lot of flapping and hopping going on at the Cornell RTH nest of Big Red and Arthur. The Ns will fledge this month…too soon.

The strobes were not on when I checked Lake Murray. Hopefully someone will hit the switch or we could lose Middle Bob tonight. I am not saying strobes are 100% effective against predation. I believe the fish grate protectors are. I wish we could all go and make a lot of noise under this nest until such time as Middle Bob migrates!

May’s Ventana Condor Chat.

Monty and Hartley will be giving flying demonstrations to their Fab Four showing them what to expect when they spread their wings and dare to jump off the ledge.

We are on fledge watch at Cal Falcons…did I say that earlier? Look at the difference in plumage between the San Jose chicks and Cal Falcons – there is a week in age difference. Cal Falcons older.

‘J’ writes: “What a surprise when I checked the Cal chicks. They went from fluffy to falcon within two days! Gosh, were they cute in their woollen jackets. I’m keeping Archie in my thoughts, I really want him to be Annie’s forever partner. Did you see this video? It made me laugh so hard. That look: “what?!” You could write many memes for this video, so many expressions on those lovely faces.”

Adult in the scrape with the only falcon chick at Evergy Energy in Kansas.

Lots of prey on the nest of the Russian Imperial Eagles – and still two little fluffy white chicks. They raised two in 2023. Maybe again this year. Abundant prey is the key.

There are two of the most precious little bobbleheads in the Golden Eagle nest in Estonia. Wish for lots and lots of prey. Would love to see these nests be the exception to the norm of the oldest killing the second hatch! Wouldn’t that just warm our hearts from the losses at the osprey nests?

‘H’ reports: “The Captiva osprey family is doing very well.  Jack and Edie have been able to deliver plenty of fish.  Ding is 39 days old, and Darling is 37 days old.”

“Patuxent ospreys:  The osplets were 24, 23, and 20 days of age on 5/31.  At 0535 Dad delivered a ‘whale’ of a fish, that would last three meals.  The older and aggressive siblings actually ‘allowed’ Little to eat.  Little ate 98 bites of fish and had turned away from Mom by the time Dad removed a huge leftover.  Dad returned with the fish at 0922.  Little had a private feeding from 1019 to 1053, and ate 181 bites of fish!  Mom fed the large fish tail portion at 1118 and Little had an additional 30 bites of fish.  There were two additional fish brought to the nest at 1646 and 1721.  Little did not eat at those meals, but he did not seem hungry, and didn’t really try very hard to get to the table.  Little ate at least 309 bites of fish today.”

‘H’ loves Tuffy and Ruffie – and she wanted to add a photo of the two of them today. Thanks, ‘H’.

Just look at that face on our little Tuffy.

‘A’ checks on Smallie for us: “Check out Smallie a few minutes ago (from 11:05:43), when a sister allows him to grab a huge chunk of food from outside the scrape and pull it inside, where he then fights first her, then another sister who joins them, for his share of the food. With one sister holding it down, Smallie is able to self-feed with significant success, and then grabs at the food during a three-way tug of prey. 

My concern is that all three of the sisters are now spending a lot of time outside the scrape, where the food is being delivered. If Smallie joins the scrum out there, he is in danger of falling – the others are probably able to glide to the ground if they fall, with at least two of them looking ready to fledge, with virtually no fluff left. I am worried, though, that if he doesn’t get outside to eat, there won’t be food inside for him. So unless he can grab food from inside the scrape (which he did manage to do this morning), he will have problems. 

At least there is no chance that his sisters will mistake him for a meal – he is way too aggressive for that, and I’m sure at least one of his sisters is fairly wary of him. But he is determined to eat, and I suspect he will find a way to survive no matter what that takes. He is a very brave little falcon. Just adorable.”

Middle is still alive at Lake Murray. Relief. The lights held him off or some larger prey. Thank goodness.

Thank you so very much for being with me today. Please have a wonderful weekend. Spend some time away from the screens worrying – go outside and smell the fresh air and listen to some birds. We hope to see you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, videos, streaming cams, images, and articles that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, Geemeff, H, J’, Montana Osprey Project, , VGCCO, MNSA, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, Cal Falcons, BoPH, Achieva Credit Union, Boulder County, Radford University, Cowlitz PUD, Clark PUD, Field Farm, Frenchman’s Creek, Great Bay Ospreys, PSEG, Collins Marsh, Geemeff, LRWT, Goitzsche-Wildnis, OBX 24/7, Cornell RTH, Ventana Wildlife Condor Chat, SK Hideaways, Evergy Energy, Imperial Eagle Cam RU, the Eagle Club of Estonia, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Moorings Park, Amersfoort Falcons.

Thursday in Bird World

30 May 2024

Hello Everyone,

Today’s posting is very short. I got to spend all day Wednesday with my grandson, Zak. It was just marvellous – way too long since we connected. Oh, he has grown into such a lovely young man. (We seem to be having a big spontaneous family reunion!) We spent a lot of time walking the Chickadee Trail at the provincial park near where I live. Of course, I was busy telling him how the birds would land on your hand to take seed. I don’t think he believed me. The foliage is all out, and the birds have enough natural food. They don’t need birdseed. We could hear them and saw one while getting eaten by mosquitoes. Still, what a great day with blue sky and sun.

It is that time of year. Graduations, weddings, birthdays and just general family and friend get togethers. Please do not use balloons to mark your property, to give to children, or to decorate. They are absolutely deadly for our wildlife and, like fireworks, there is no need for them. There are many wildlife-friendly environmentally friendly options.

This albatross was lucky.

Agreement-on-the-Conservation-of-Albatrosses-and-Petrels-A-Black-browed-Albatross-survives-ingestiDownload

The OntarioSPCA says: “Balloons are also hazardous to wildlife, because balloons can float into their habitat as well. When wildlife is scavenging for food, balloons (especially Mylar) can resemble other food sources, such as fruits, berries or bright flowers. Rodents and rabbits can be browsing for dandelions or greenery and consume bits of balloon wrapped up in their regular food source and eat it accidentally. The string or ribbon tied on a balloon also presents a risk to wildlife. An animal can get its legs or wings caught, essentially trapping the animal and making it unable to get back to its nest or safe place. Sometimes we need to make sacrifices and change our behaviour in order to protect companion animals and wildlife. While you enjoy summer celebrations, remember to use balloons indoors and never release balloons outside to keep critters safe.”

Help our wildlife by educating your friends and neighbours. They will thank you as do we!

 I got a tip off from ‘MP’ and I will be keeping an eye on the MNSA Osprey nest with its trio. If you are watching this nest, please send me notes on any feedings that you see, etc. Always helpful.

Much concern for the third hatch at Maryland Western Shore for Old Town Home. The little one slipped in and got quite a bit of fish earlier but did not get up to the beak after the two big siblings ate an evening fish despite fish being left. I was a little bewildered. We will see if this Little Bob makes it.

The earlier feed. Big ones ate. Little one to the right of Mum eating. Got much fish, thankfully.

Shut out of this feeding.

CJ7 got fed up with that black bin bag on the nest at Poole Harbour. During a feeding she took it off the nest! Yeah!

As I head to bed, the fourth egg at Poole Harbour for CJ7 and Blue 022 has a little egg tooth pecking away. It looks like there will be four of them! My goodness.

First hatch at The Bridge Golf Course on Wednesday 29 May.

I am also keeping a wee bit of an eye on Radford University’s trio for any mischief.

At Loch Arkaig, Dorcha is very careful to make sure that Little Bob gets enough fish!

Telyn is doing the best she can with three little ones and the Welsh rain.

We are on hatch watch at Cowlitz PUD for the third egg. Electra has been doing a gallant job keeping the two little bobbleheads on the nest happy. Let us hope those metal grids hold for another year.

There is a cute little chick at the Port of Ridgefield. You can just barely see it because it still has its egg tooth. One egg was broken and I believe the other to be non-viable. But we wait to see.

Outer Banks doing alright.

Hard to tell if Balgavies Loch has one or two osplets but there is definitely one!

‘H’ reports:

“5/30 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  Dory quickly flew off the nest at approximately 02:30, and a GHO landed on the nest.  After a minute or so, Dory dive-bombed the GHO.  Dory and Skiff’s only chick was predated by a GHO last July.

5/29 Patuxent-I osprey nest:  Things were looking rather bleak for Little.  Little was shut out of the first two meals, and was only able to eat 16 bites of fish at the third meal.  Then at 1833 Dad arrived with a very large headless goldfish.  Little stayed tucked and did not even attempt to approach the feeding line for 45 minutes.  Big and Middle were finished eating, Dad had arrived back in the nest, and Mom walked away from the fish. Little was slow to go to Mom, and we feared that Dad was getting ready to remove the large leftover fish.  Little made his way over to Mom, and she got the message.  At 1930 Mom picked up the fish again and fed Little!  At that point our view was blocked by Dad.  At 1942 we could see Little lie down.  Was the fish all gone, or did Little stop eating voluntarily?  We waited…all of us waiting to see the size of Little’s crop.  Finally, Little stood and we saw that he had a huge crop, yay!  Dad removed the large leftover piece of fish from the nest.  At 2044 Dad returned with a small fish tail and Mom fed Big and Middle.

5/29 Forsythe osprey nest:  This family is doing well…Oscar is providing plenty of fish, and Opal continues to impress with her feedings, ensuring that all four of the osplets are fed.  There is some bonking, but so far it does not seem to be during meals.”

“5/29 Captiva ospreys – All was good for this family, and Edie delivered two of the eight fish brought to the nest.  Darling and Ding were practicing some wingers, and Ding even threw in a couple little hops!”

‘PB’ wrote with questions and observations about the Achieva osprey nest. Diane has had to leave the eggs to go and get food for herself. The first egg of the second clutch was (sadly) laid on the 30th of April. Jack has not been seen for some time. Is he MIA? is he no longer with us? Hard to say. But it was very late for a second round of osplets in an area that had drought last year and is very hot now. I am thrilled for Diane that these eggs will not hatch. I hope the Crow will come and get them.

‘J’ writes that the second egg at the Russian Imperial eagle nest has hatched. We have had two eaglets survive due to lots of prey deliveries. We wait and see.

Keeping an eye on Smallie. Some worried he would be lunch for an older sibling. Should not happen! ‘A’ writes: “I think the parents will return to feed Smallie, and I’m looking forward to a couple of those giant sisters fledging and giving him a chance at the food. He is so determined, and works so hard on those leftovers. He is getting some quality food from some of them – it just takes him a long time. But at other times, he’s literally eating feathers and bones. My hope lies in his aggressive determination when it comes to food. I think he will beg loudly and continuously for food, and the parents will feed him. I am hopeful of that, though they do seem to be having problems feeding these four at the moment.”

The single eyas at Evergy Energy in Kansas is doing well.

I haven’t been lucky checking on Larry’s eyases at Alcatraz. They are never in view!

Monty and Hartley raise very energetic and sometimes wonderfully aggressive little eyases. Think Soledad! Check out the four this year.

Have you been watching the falcon scrap in Kansas City called Shook? Oh, those three are cuties. Link to streaming cam below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/grylXMT82Yc?si=FT5YaP8EyHUaGlZ2

Oh, no! Annie and Archie’s chicks are thinking about flying.

Someone started a rumour that Gigi at the ND-LEEF nest is now missing along with Dad. It is not true. She is doing everything – security, hunting for the babies, feeding, and caring. You might not see her on the nest all the time because she has to be both Mum and Dad and – hunting is not easy! Gigi has fish on the nest, too, for the eagles to peck at and self-feed. Gigi is doing a good job as a single Mum.

The middle osplet at Lake Murray is still with us!

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please feel free to report any news or concerns with the osprey nests. It is always appreciated. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, comments, videos, images, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘A, H, J, MP, PB’, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, Ontario SPCA, MNSA Jay Koolpicks Osprey Cam, Maryland Western Shore Old Town Home, BoPH, Bridge Golf Course, Radford University, Achieva Credit Union, Superbeaks, Forsythe Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, Patuxent River Park, Window to Wildlife, Russian Imperial Eagle Cam, Geemeff, Dyfi Osprey Project, Cowlitz PUD, Port of Ridgefield, OBX Osprey Cam, Balgavies Loch, Amersfoort Falcon Cam, Evergy Energy, ParksConservancy, SK Hideaways, Shook Falcon Cam, Lake Murray Ospreys, and ND-LEEF.