Tag Archives: Alden and Annie

Sarafina flies, Too many fish at Osoyoos, and other good news in Bird World

31 August 2022

Good Morning! I hope this finds all of you well. For those of you waiting to see Sarafina fledge, she did it at 0655 Sunday morning, 31 July. Congratulations to Louis and Dorcha and to all at Loch Arkaig!

I am so glad that Saturday is over! This means that if the forecast is correct, the nests in the Pacific Northwest that are broiling will begin to get some relief from the heat in two days. Gosh, that seems like such a long time but they have weathered extreme heat for nearly a week and all are still with us.

Olsen and Soo have really done an amazing job keeping the two osplets in the shade on Saturday and, well, anyone who has ever fished know that the fish go down deep to get into cooler water. Ospreys are only able to dive 1m or 3 feet below the surface of the water – so they need those fish swimming around near the top not going deep to get cooler. By 0930 Olsen had delivered quite a number of fish, apparently some better sized than others. I did not count them. There was one delivery around around 19:30ish. It appeared that the two chicks were super full and Soo got some nice fish, too. — They look good at the end of today. Such a relief.

‘H’ sent this image of the ‘unwanted’ fish.

At 08:55 Sunday morning, One chick is sleeping on a fish piece, the unwanted is still there, and Soo has a super nice crop. I sure hope Olsen got some good fish, too. This family is depending on him! And Olsen, you get the gold star for the week. You and Soo are doing amazing.

On Saturday, Ferris Akel ended his tour, as always, with a stop at the Cornell Campus home to Big Red and Arthur. He found L4 prey calling to Mum and Dad. Big Red was also located.

Oh, my goodness, what a handsome fledgling. L4 has lovely light grey-blue eyes that will get darker and darker turning into an exquisite espresso colour in adulthood. He will also get his red tail when he is a year old.

L4
L4
L4
Big Red

The White-Bellied Sea Eagle nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest is becoming much calmer. There is plenty of prey. Lady feeds SE29 and 30 still about every hour. I noticed that the feedings are getting a little longer and that both chicks have nice crops at the end. It will not be long until there are fewer feedings with the chicks consuming much more prey.

What to expect as we end week 2 and prepare for week 3? The chicks will have doubled their size. You might also notice that their shape is changing – they are getting longer and so is their beak! We will begin to see them climb out of the nest or egg cup exploring their surroundings and pecking at leaves. By week 4, some pin feathers on the wings will begin to show.

The last feeding before night fall in the forest. If you look carefully you can see how the down is ‘looking different’. There will be little ‘black dots’ soon.

If you love White-tail Eagles then you will be excited to know that the oldest WTE couple on Mull Island just fledged their 25th chick! Skye is 28 and Frisa is 30. Look at that beautiful baby!

https://www.birdguides.com/news/uks-oldest-known-white-tailed-eagle-pair-fledge-25th-chick/?fbclid=IwAR2VaicG4ZgKYXqWASf-x4qjwOstyti3NUx0uEiQnEJ51PY8waezLbHO-ig

Another article about our dear Victor’s recovery.

Please note that Victor is not standing on a towel but has moved to a low perch. Lovely.

https://www.ojaivalleynews.com/news/sick-bald-eagle-recovering-at-orc/article_c4540a4a-0f08-11ed-91fc-4ba35f94378b.html?fbclid=IwAR1dT0-m8dw_Q5mF4p4ZyPyaGIuZ6Wo_9uuVq1-WpQ4PLlLe3CI0LF-Fs3Q

I am certain that everyone will agree that you can see the improvements in Victor. The top image is a couple of days ago- the lower one is when Victor began his physio.

I saw no images but on thee Notre Dame chat, Little Bit ND17 was seen by someone at the park. That is good news.

Our other lad, Ervie, really flew about Port Lincoln yesterday!

You may recall that the Port Lincoln Osprey Project carried in parts of a new tower platform nest for the couple at Turnby Island. Previously their eggs had been predated by foxes on the island. The new tower was to stop that predation with a plan in place to rid the island of its invasive fox population. The time for egg laying is near – and look what is causing the ospreys to alert.

Port Lincoln says this foxes’ days are numbered. He cannot, however, get to the eggs which were previously laid on the ground. Thank you Port Lincoln!

The two Ospreys at the Janakkalan nest are safe from the Goshawk again. They eat and sleep, sleep and eat…

Eating..

Dad with another delivery.

Last but he could never be least – one of our ‘saviours’ of the year – Alden. Alden who insured that Annie’s eggs and the last of Grinnell’s chicks would hatch – with maybe a contribution of his own! (No word on that yet). Alden finally found a little time to ‘loaf’.

Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a little wet on the Canadian Prairies – again. My garden is like a jungle. The three fledgling Blue Jays and the three fledgling Crows continue to visit. Images to follow tomorrow. I hope that all of you are well and enjoying some time in nature today. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB postings, etc which have become my screen captures: Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Osoyoos Ospreys and ‘H’, Sydney Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Sydney Olympic Forest, BirdGuides, Ojai Raptor Centre, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and Cal Falcons.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

14 June 2022

I want to start this newsletter off with something wonderful! At the Redding California Bald Eagle nest, Sentry and Star are both on a high branch of the tree. Sentry has found his way home to Liberty, Guardian and Star who has yet to fledge. This is fabulous news!!!!!!!!

The weather in California is beautiful.

The bad weather returned to the Canadian Prairies and thus, also, to the MN-DNR nest of Nancy and E1. The tree is twisting around in the heavy winds at the moment and rain is pouring down.

There are floods in Montana and, we should check on Iris and her nest at Missoula. Iris did not spend the night on the perch or the nest that I could see. There is a wee bird that has made its home and nest under Iris’s big one. Can you see it?

The waters in the Clark Fork River are said to be rising. There are floods in various parts of Montana which means that it is difficult for the Osprey to catch fish. No wonder Iris did not want to share her fabulous catch yesterday with an intruder. Iris is simply amazing. There she is holding that precious fish and fighting off the intruder at the same time! Bless her heart.

The weather is quite bad at the Charlo Montana platform. (For Ospreys but occupied in March by geese…and not aware of current occupants, if any).

There are birds singing at Dunrovin!

Harriet continues to sit on her eggs even though they are well past the day to hatch. Swoop is supporting her. We wonder as do the folks at Dunrovin when they will quit hoping for their miracle.

Why do eggs not hatch? Dunrovin in their newsletter listed the following causes: cold weather, high humidity, lack of food, lack of egg fertilization. They noted that like many places it has been a very cold and wet spring in Montana.

The camera is still down at the ND-LEEF nest. It is 96 degrees at the nest – perhaps more higher up. Thoughts go to Little Bit 17 who desperately needs food (as do the other two but less so than 17).

The tea time feeding at the Loch of the Lowes left Middle and Big with gigantic crops. There was clearly enough fish for three. But we need fish for four – Mum has to eat, too.

Before Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was fish begging to Blue NC0 before she tucked them all in for the night. He first looked to see if Big Bob was in a food coma. He was. Little Bob is smart.

It would have been the perfect time for a fish to arrive. Little Bit would have had his fill along with Blue NC0! Sadly it was not to be.

Blue NC0 stood waiting and waiting for a delivery. Finally, everyone is in bed.

They are a beautiful couple – CJ7 and Blue 022 at the Poole Harbour Osprey Platform. Blue 022 brought in a nice big fish for CJ7 and the three Bobs at 21:08. These are first time parents making history in Poole Harbour. There have been no ospreys hatched in Poole Harbour for 200 years.

Know what? They are doing a fantastic job!!!!!!!!!

All is well at the nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales near the River Dyfi. Bobs are well fed and sound asleep. Another great Osprey couple. This is good news…we need all the good news we can muster. Good night Telyn. Good night Bobs. Good night wherever you are, Idris.

Gracious. Look at the crop on Mrs G!

Louis delivered a real whopper to Dorcha and the two surviving chicks at Loch Arkaig. What a monster. Everyone is going to eat well – a good time for it to come on the nest. Hopefully the weather will start giving this nest a break.

Middle Bob looks sassy!

The sheep are bleating. Aran is on his perch and the kids are asleep. It looks like Mrs G is going to go into food coma, too!

Notice the grass growing in the nest. In Finland they have noticed that grass growing in the Osprey nests actually helps hide the chicks from predators. Quite interesting.

At Rutland, the three osplets are fast asleep and Maya is going to take some time to enjoy some fish before lights out, too. Looking forward seeing these three ringed any day now.

The Bobs are still quite small compared to those at the Loch of the Lowes but everything at RSPB Loch Garten with Mr and Mrs AX6 and chicks seems fine.

It is 21:30 at the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales – the nest of Dylan and Seren and the three Bobs. Seren is giving Dylan grief and telling him to go and get some more fish. Meanwhile the Bobs have eaten very well today. It takes a lot more fish to feed these fast growing large Bobs – and Mum.

Did you know that there are less than 1500 ospreys in the whole of the UK? That includes juveniles, too. There are a little less than 100,000 in the US. I hope to find out the distribution in the US. There are many in the US and the Cape area in the NE area of the US.

At the Manchester NH Peregrine falcon scrape, Clem was returned this morning. It looked like she wasn’t going anywhere for some time and then – she fludged again.

Colum, one of the males, is at the nest now. Little Colby fludged too but photos of him doing well have been posted on the groups FB page.

Lindsay and Grinnell Jr were ‘loafing’ earlier this morning and now I can only find one of them playing hide and seek. Fledge watch is on.

Alden is doing some ‘loafing’ too. Once those two chicks fledge he is going to be even more busy! So glad he signed up for all of this. You are fantastic, Alden.

Gosh. Do you remember when Alden had no idea how to feed a chick? maybe he had never seen one! – most likely.

Both fledgling ospreys from the UFlorida-Gainesville nest were having a fish dinner at 18:00! Lovely. These two have figured it out perfectly. Fly and get your wings strong. Learn about landings and take offs. Fly to the nest and be fed by Mum and Dad. When you are ready, 60 million years of knowledge will have you catching fish without realizing it….if there are fish to be caught.

They are gorgeous!

Oh, those three Black storklets of Jan and Janika are doing fabulous in rehab care at the Vet Clinic. The plastic decoy mother fell into the nest and the chicks were delighted!

Notice also that a couple of times they work to stand on their feet not walk on the ankles. It will not be long til they are standing and walking. Lovely crops. So healthy!

Today has had some really good news. We will continue to watch the Loch of the Lowes nest as well as wait for word of the ND-LEEF nest and Little Bit 17. Did I saw it was 96 degrees on the ground at the nest – hotter above! I hope 17 got some food.

Thank you so much for being with me. Lots of fledge watches – Star at Redding, Star at West End, the Cal Falcons, L4 at Cornell, National Arboretum, etc. The list is long! Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen captures, for their FB postings and for the videos uploaded: Liz M and EMU, Peregrine Networks, Cal Falcons, Friends of Redding Eagles, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Friends of Redding Eagles, MN-DNR, Montana Osprey Project, Owl Research Project Explore.org, Dunrovin, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, RSPB Loch Garten, Scottish Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, and CarnyXWild.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

3 May 2022

A very bad storm hit the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest today. Mum jumped in to stay on the nest with the triplets. That tree was swaying so much and creaking.

Everyone is soaked but those strong winds have passed through the City.

At 15:56, Alden was caught ‘loafing’ on the CalFalcons Cam. In their discussion, Sean and Lynne mentioned this posture when resting as being particular to Alden as an adult. They thought that it might be because of his injured leg and that this rest position was more comfortable.

Alden better rest. Tomorrow is 4 May and in one or two days he is going to be hunting for his and Grinnell’s family. Alden, you are adorable. And so healthy with that bright yellow cere and the lines around your eyes.

CalFalcons made a quick video of Alden when they found him.

Dr Sharpe and his team made another rescue today. On the 19th of April the Bald Eagle nest tree with a single eaglet in it on Santa Rosa Island broke. It was kept from falling into the gulley below by a single branch. The Institute for Wildlife Studies built a new nest for the eaglet and placed it back inside. Another eaglet saved! And, yes, the parents were feeding the eaglet. Apparently many of the eagles have their nests on the ground for lack of suitable trees. The local predator is the fox.

These images are reposted from the Institute for Wildlife Studies FB page. The image below shows the broken tree. The nest is on the ground in the background.

What a happy little eaglet! No injuries and you can see it has been well looked after by its parents. What a cutie.

The newly constructed nest is 1.5 metres or 5 feet off the ground. Dr Sharpe said the adults were around the entire time watching. They know where there baby is and will be right there once the humans leave.

Happy eaglet in its new nest. Thank you to the Institute for Wildlife Studies for their magnificent work at this nest and all the others in the Channel Islands that they oversee. What would these eaglets do without you?

I was doing a nest check and came across R2 at Ron and Rita’s nest in the Miami Zoo. What a wonderful surprise this morning. It was like seeing Kincaid get a fish drop yesterday. Once the raptors have fledged it is so reassuring to see them return once in awhile just to let us know they are doing fine out there.

Nancy landed on the MN-DNR nest at 19:07. Some had worried that something had happened to her. No, she appears to be fine.

Earlier today, at 15:05 Nancy landed with prey and fed E1.

E1 is of the age that Nancy can leave it to go hunting for both of them. Sadly, it appears that Harry might not return. It has been a week.

This is just a quick check on some of the nests to continue boosting our spirits. The day has been going really well with Middle at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest getting a really good feeding. Positive energy needs to go out to keep those intruders away from all of the nests. What destruction they make!

One last peek at a wee one, L4 who is melting everyone’s hearts.

Well, that little one is not shy. Today he wanted to be first in line and that is precisely where he wound up. I made a short video clip. Enjoy!

BTW. L4 came out of that with a nice big crop! You can see him getting fed by Big Red and the crop is growing every bite. Fearless this little one is.

Oh, we needed some smiles. Too many intruders. Too much sadness some time. Give me a falcon or a hawk nest. They are generally always happy – and have their very funny moments.

If you are a follower of the Port Lincoln Osprey barge and have wanted to make a donation and knew that PLO could not accept the funds, here is an announcement from today. It indicates how you can do this. Fantastic. Please read this carefully. They have laid out a good plan for using the funds received.

The 2019 fledge, Calypso, continues to be seen with her mate where they perch on a dead tree on Tunby Island. PLO have indicated that Tunby is being considered for an artificial platform as there are no good nest trees. Oh, that would be wonderful. Calypso might choose to breed with her mate this season 2022 or next year, 2023. Mum and Dad would be grandparents! How grand.

Thank you for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you shortly.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures or video clips: Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, The Institute for Wildlife Studies, MN-DNR, Pix Cams, and Cal Falcons.