Writer, Conservationist, Activist, Bird Lover
13 July 2022
The following announcement was posted by the Ojai Raptor Centre. Our dear Victor is quite the trooper. He had a full body CT Scan – it must be stressful for him but the vets are going to try and find out why he cannot stand.
Please send your positive energy to Victor.
9 July 2020
All attention has been on the Fraser Point Bald Eagle nest of Papa Andor and Mama Cruz on Santa Cruz Island. Victor and Lillibet fledged on 30 June. On the 8th of July, Victor flew onto the nest around 1038 on 8 July exhausted and appearing to be in distress. Since then issues with his left leg have been noticed.
Santa Cruz is part of the Channel Islands and lucky for Victor, falls under the care of Dr Sharpe. If you watched both the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta or the Two Harbours net of Chase and Cholyn, you will know that Dr Sharpe and his team rescued eaglets that tumbled off the nest and also ringed the eaglets. Victor could not be in better care.
This is the latest announcement by Dr Sharpe:
Margit the Estonian Golden eaglet of Kalju and Helju and fledged today. What an amazing first flight from the nest in the Sooma National Park. She was 75 days old. This is the video of her first flight.
This is the link to the Golden Eagle cam in case you do not have it.
The whole family is home at the Bald Eagle nest on Gabriola Island.
When Louis arrived with a nice live fish on the Loch Arkaig nest, only the two osplets were home. There was already an old fish on the nest – quite a nice one. Louis moves the old fish to the side of the nest. Meanwhile one of the kids amuses itself with the fish breathing and doing little jumps. It attempts self-feeding. Dorcha arrives with a big branch and immediately sees the fresh fish and – everyone had lots of fish for their tea time meal.
The new little peanut on the Chesapeake Conservancy nest is staying warm and dry under Mum Audrey. They are having some rain today. Hopefully it moves along quickly!
It is raining in Finland at the #1 Osprey nest. Mum and wee one are enjoying some nice fish – regardless. This Mum really does like her fish. She fills up Only Bob, he goes into food coma, she moves the fish and has a really nice lunch! Well done.
It was raining – at times pouring- at the western Finnish nest #4 of Ahti and Nuppu today, too. Nuppu keeping the osplet dry and warm. All appears to be fine on this nest.
The Osplets at the Fortis Exshaw nest had a huge meal today. Just look at the size of the crops! Looks like it has swallowed a small baseball – or large golf ball – each.
It was not a good day for fledging at the Mispillion Harbour Osprey nest. Looks like they were getting some rain and wind.
And a swing to California where Annie and Alden were once again pair bonding in the scape! That should put a smile on your face! Thanks Cal Falcons. Annie initiated the bonding calling Alden…
Thanks for being with me today. Send all your best wishes to Victor and hope, beyond hope, that Dr Sharpe can find people to help him rescue Victor should this be required. Take care all. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and FB pages where I took my screen captures: Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies, Channel Islands Eagle Lovers, GROWLS, Friends of Lark Arkaig and the Woodland Trust Fortis Exshaw Canmore, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys, Chesapeake Conservancy, and Saaksilvie.
If you are looking for the NCTC streaming cam for the nest of Smitty and Bella and have not found it, here is the link. It is not on YouTube.
https://www.outdoorchannel.com/live/eaglecam/326707/326904
Everyone is hopeful that if the young female returns there will not be a horrific fight between her and Bella. I gather she was not near the nest today as Smitty and Bella got down to all those important preparations for eggs! They did not waste a second.
More love stories with the eagles! A very handsome 4 year old, A-14, named Andor is making a nest with Cruz at Fraser’s Point on the Channel Islands. Oh, goodness, another young dad. It was fantastic to see the young male at the MN-DNR last year. He was quite incredible once it all got figured out. Here is the link to the Fraser’s Point streaming cam. If you like the sound of frogs and crickets, turn it on at night!
The barge at Port Lincoln sure looks empty. It was full of pigeons yesterday cleaning. There is an Osprey sleeping on the perch and it must be Dad. I wonder if he is missing Ervie, too? They got to be good buddies. Wasn’t that fabulous?
Port Lincoln has uploaded the latest tracking on all three Osprey. Our Ervie is really getting around! The green pin indicates the last place he was. His pattern still seems to return to the barge. I do wonder if he will stop in again. He is also going along the coast for the most part which is what he should be doing. It is unusual for the Ospreys to inland but Solly did that last year, remember? Notice, there is a spot in the bay where he appears to have stopped to fish.
So glad that Ervie’s tracking is working and we can follow our favourite Osprey juvenile as he becomes more independent!
Andy brought in a really nice fish for Lena and the three babies this morning. Someone said it was a nice trout.
Lena, we want to see the babies not your tail!!!!!!
Andy looks awfully handsome with his crest fluffed up.
Can you say awwwww?
Each chick ate well.
At the 11:27 feeding, you can get a good look at all three of the babies. Andy brought in a whopper of a fish!
The new parents are getting used to being really busy. Andy has to provide food and security and Lena has to feed and keep them warm plus try to take care of herself. They are doing well. That is Little Bob on the right.
Parents are alerting. Now Little Bob is in the middle.
Everyone had fish. We have to remember that Big Bob will eat more than the newly hatched Little Bob. Don’t worry if it looks like he is getting all the food. They all ate well and Lena is a fabulous Mum.
Look at those little crops.
Here is the link so you can watch this fantastic Osprey family:
The soon to be named eaglets at the NEFlorida nest of Samson and Gabby have pin feathers! They continue to work on self feeding – particularly NE27. In fact, Samson dropped a fish in the nest to see what would happen. NE26 looked at it, NE27 had a go at eating. Then Samson jumped back in the nest and fed both of them. We are over the hump of worry and can look forward to lots of activity in this nest once they start working those wings.
You can see the pin feathers coming in on the wing of the chick on the right.
Adorable. They are both very interested in what is happening off the nest and the comings and goings of Gabby and Samson.
The chat moderator at the Kistachie National Forest (KNF) nest of Anna, Louis, and Kincaid got in touch with Lady Hawk and told her about the 20 fish deliveries . Tonya said she twisted her arm to make the video when she gave Lady Hawk all the time stamps for the 20 deliveries. I know that it is difficult to believe but I have been saying all along that Louis is the best pantry filler I have ever seen! Once I giggled that maybe he was in competition with Samson but he has blown all of the males out of the water with this last barrel of fish. Twenty fish in one day – during daylight hours only. Here is the proof. Have a look:
It is time to check on Iowa. It is now reported that the number of Bald Eagles in Iowa has risen. The Des Moines Registrar states: “Stephanie Shepherd, part of the Iowa DNR’s wildlife research staff, estimates the average number of bald eagles in any given winter to be about 3,500. But that number has increased to nearly 6,000 this year, the National Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey says.” Wow. Where did they come from? are they moving further north because of the weather? It is curious. Certainly other birds are moving farther north.
As of yesterday, 19 February at 16:15, there were two eggs in the nest at Decorah North home to Mr North and DNF (Decorah North Female).
Wow. Look at that beautiful straw and corn husk nest. Gorgeous. You don’t see that in Louisiana or Florida!
There are no eggs on the Decorah Bald Eagle nest (not to be confused with Decorah North). How lucky can you be with a trout fishery right across the road!
It is the 7th or 8th year for the Bald Eagles at the Denton Homes nest. They are named the Majestics. No eggs yet but this nest is currently on egg watch. Becky has been jumping around the nest for the last few days.
We are all holding our breath for Jackie and Shadow at Big Bear. Their first egg was laid on 22 Jan and the second on 25 Jan. Believe it or not we will be on pip watch for Jackie and Shadow on the 26th. Everyone is wishing this much loved Bald Eagle couple success this year.
Doesn’t Jackie look gorgeous as the sun rises over Big Bear Lake?
Here is the link to their streaming camera. Do check in and send all your positive energy to these two fabulous eagles. Maybe this year will be a golden one for them! Thousands and thousands will be crying with joy if it is. Like Captiva, the nest has been plagued by predators and thin egg shells from the DDT that is still in the region after 50 years. We keep our fingers crossed.
Smitty has been bringing in some grasses to the NCTC nest that he will hopefully share with his mate, Bella. I have not seen her this morning nor have I seen the new female (NF). Fingers crossed that there is no horrid confrontation between the two females and one gets injured – again. It had to be difficult for Bella when she was hurt on 1 February and had to leave her nest. Positive thoughts.
All of the nests seem to be doing well today. It is hard not to just watch those little osplets at Captiva and ignore everyone else. They are so cute and we all know that they will grow fast. It is a consolation to have them when we are all missing Ervie so much. Thank you for joining me today. Take care everyone. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Window on Wildlife, Friends of Big Bear, Explore.org, Denton Homes, NEFlorida and the AEF, and Port Lincoln Osprey Cam and FB page.
