Tag Archives: Andy and Lena

Late Saturday Bird World News

I have spent the morning sorting books and clearing out paper and all that gets accumulated before you realize it. In the midst of all of that I found a really nice letter from the Director of the 1000 Islands Environmental Centre in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. I think that each of you will be interested in the contents of this letter – indeed, I know you will.

“Bald eagles typically have a clutch of 1-3 eggs laid in late February or early March and hatch approximately 34-36 days later…Observations on the nest of the 1000 Islands Conservancy Zone confirmed a successful hatching with video and photo evidence of eaglets. Over the weekend, additional video of the nest was able to show that the adult pair have successfully hatched four eaglets.”

This is an extremely rare occasion. Nowak continues, “Successfully hatching four chicks in one nest is a very rare occurrence for bald eagles and it is an event to celebrate and safeguard. There have been very few documented cases of nests with four eaglets, and despite the success the eagles have had to this point, the adults face a significant challenge to provide enough food to sustain the young eaglets until they are independent this summer.”

There are the four nestlings being fed by Mum. Can you imagine how busy those parents were providing food?!

Here is a video of one of those feedings:

And guess what? The four eaglets fledged!!!!!!!! So if anyone ever asks you if you know of a Bald Eagle nest fledging four, you can now say ‘yes’ with confidence. This is one of those really feel good stories.

Today, I have spent more time cleaning than checking on the birds. Ferris Akel has his tour going on behind me and he has made me really miss the ducks in our City. I am just counting the weeks until April when they return.

In other Bird World news, we are still eggspecting Liberty to lay her second egg today. Lots of people watching and waiting. I continue to check.

UPDATE: Liberty laid that second egg today, as expected, at 14:42. I have to say I even felt for her as she was in labour! Congratulations Liberty and Guardian.

Andy is giving Lena a bit of a break at the Captiva Osprey nest. We are now on pip watch for this couple. It remains unclear to me if the owner still intends to shut off the camera after a hatch. The Ospreys have had bad luck in the past with the Crows taking the chicks. My understanding is that the camera is to be shut down until such time the chicks would be too big for the Crows. We wait to see.

And sadly, the camera at Port Lincoln is off line again. This is the last available image of Ervie and Dad on the barge. I always keep these. You never know if this will be our last sighting of Ervie for some time.

UPDATE: The Port Lincoln Osprey Barge camera is now up and streaming again. Ervie is watching the water! That is a good sign. Oh, wouldn’t we love to see him catch a fish off that barge! And not a Puffer or a Toadfish, please, Ervie.

It is a beautiful blue sky with sun here creating deep shadows on the snow. It is -19. Today’s garden adventure is brought to you by Little Red. A week ago I put a suet bell on a hanger for Little Woodpecker. Someone has been working very hard because they got the heavy suet off the holder, took it across the snow and got it on top of the small wood shed in the back. At that point the suet got stuck on a branch. (I lay them on top of one another on the top so the birds can get inside and hide if Sharpie comes!). That someone is Little Red! What a surprise. He deserves every bite of that suet. What a character! And a hard worker.

There is the object of desire. That little squirrel really managed to get it quite far.

Little Red got big bites of the suet. He would then run up to Sharpie’s post and eat it in the sun and then run back and get some more.

Isn’t this squirrel adorable?

Oh, the joy and the giggles these garden animals bring!

Thank you so much for joining me today. Little Red says to remember to leave some food for the squirrels, too! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB page where I took my screen captures: Redding Bald Eagles, Explore.org, Captiva Osprey Cam, and 1000 Islands Conservation Zone FB page.

Good night from Thunder and Aceta at the West End Bald Eagle Cam on Catalina Island. Looks hot.

d
Catalin

Thursday in Bird World

Oh, we started out with more snow this morning! And with it came the return of the European Starlings – a few of them! The phone caught the flakes coming down reasonably well. For now it has stopped and the small feeders with the butter bark, mealworms, and hand chopped peanuts have been filled for the third time. Gosh, they love those mealworms in the winter.

Poor things. This is before we cleared a bit between the piles of snow. You can see one Starling down with thee Sparrows trying to find seed that had dropped from the feeder.

There are at least 60-75 House Sparrows (at a quick count) in the Lilacs. Dyson, our seed sucking Grey Squirrel, has found a litre of Black Oil seed in the square feeder with the dome. He sits and eats and sways like he has his own personal swing. No one bothers Dyson when he is eating but they do hope he gets off balance and dumps a lot of seed below. We won’t tell Dyson that in the evening we put our special food under that feeder for Hedwing, the garden rabbit, who has been showing up at dusk and dawn and sometimes in the middle of the night. It appears he lives under our deck.

So my birds are fed and as happy as they can be til the wind and the snow start again in a few hours.

There is some good news in the world today and there is some very sad news regarding wildlife. Lots of animal rights issues rising to the top of the news. Brief highlights:

The City of Dallas, Texas is protecting two of the cities favourite raptors!

https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/city-life/02-09-22-bald-eagles-white-rock-lake/?fbclid=IwAR3j0kOCOyuruYEWEsoR0wtkkaeceODJB8zLsnaWWodWzzPi3rilKJ3a31Y

As Dallas protects, people in Britain are calling for criminal charges to be laid to the individuals that killed 2 of the 5 White-tailed Eagles reintroduced to the Isle of Wright. The shooting took place near or over a shooting estate. Chris Packham and other environmentalists have called for the end of killing animals for fun!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/10/two-white-tailed-eagles-found-dead-in-southern-england

Criminal charges have also been laid against one of England’s footballers for dropping and kicking his cat. The fine is set at 250,000 GBP – yes, you read that right. You can find the story on line if you are interested. Now if we could please get all authorities involved and people educated on the rights of animals – and our beloved birds.

The one thing that sent my granddaughter to becoming Vegan six years ago was the culling of male chicks. At the time they were simply tossed alive into a machine not unlike a wood chipper. Today, Germany has ended the practice of culling the male chicks from the females.

Everyone continues to wait to see how the current H5N1 highly pathogenic avian flu will impact European birds. It has been around since 1998 according to virologist Thijs Kuiken. It is rearing its head this year in the UK and has already crossed the Atlantic into Newfoundland, Canada. At least one wildlife rehabber has had almost all the birds in their care killed because of it. Very sad. That was the Whitby Wildlife Centre. They will not be able to resume caring for the wildlife injured for at least 1 year, perhaps 2.

The camera is working on the Port Lincoln Barge and so is the sound. We just can’t see anything but the deck! Ervie was definitely there earlier. I had to turn the sound down. He even sounded like he was getting hoarse and then everything stopped. I hope he got a fish or flew off to find one.

Gabby and Samsons, NE26 and 27 are really changing. They are certainly no longer little fluffy balls. Today they had the rest of the bird on the nest following by some fish. They were really full!

The weather has really improved in Jacksonville.

It is a gorgeous day to incubate eggs over at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ.

OGK has returned after three days at sea to relieve his mate, YRK at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand, home to the Royal Albatross. The image below is actually of YRK feeding the Royal Cam chick that I took late last night. How touching.

To date 26 Royal Albatross eggs have hatched out of 35. The other 9 will not hatch due to embryo deaths.

Dennis Brecht makes frequent and regular visits to the nest of The Love Trio on the Mississippi River near Fulton, Illinois. So far this year he has not spotted Valor I working with Starr and Valor II on the nest. This trio was extremely unique and popular. The question is: does Valor I have his own nest or has something happened to him? We wait for an answer. Brecht has contacted the Stewards of the Mississippi for assistance and finding the answer to the mystery.

The Ventana Wildlife Society is releasing a few condors into the wild currently. One of those was Condor 340 who was treated for lead poisoning.

Condor 340 hatched in 2004 in the Oregon Zoo. Its name is Kun-Wac-Sun. It was released into the Pinnacles National Park in 2005.

Wheeee. How beautiful. A wild Condor flying free again in the Pinnacles.

Kincaid at the Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle nest of Anna and Louis was 4 weeks old yesterday. Oh, this eaglet is getting so big! Finishing up getting its thermal down and you can see the tips of a few juvenile feathers.

I was so happy to see the Captiva Osprey Cam back up and running. Lena is rolling eggs and calling Andy wanting a fish and a break.

You can see the three beautiful eggs. Oh, let us all hope that by laying their eggs a month early this couple will be able to fledge Osprey chicks off Santibel Island.

Hatch watch begins this weekend.

Those are just a few of the many nests to check on. I am really hoping to see Ervie today with a fish! Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, Captiva Osprey Cam, NEFlorida and the AEF, Duke Farms, KNF Bald Eagles, Cornell Bird Lab and the NZ DOC, and Ventana Wildlife.

Late Tuesday evening in Bird World

It is 18:30 on the Canadian Prairie. It has been dark outside for approximately 2 hours. The weather is actually balmy at -6 C. This winter, for the past several weeks, the temperatures have gone up and down like a rollercoaster. It is difficult to get used to and somehow manages to make sure that you have a cold at one time or another. The tissue box is sitting right next to me!

The hatch at the Kisatchie National Forest in Central Louisiana of Bald Eagles Anna and Louis is going well. If this chick survives the process, it will be only the second Bald Eaglet to hatch in this nest since 2013. Anna and Louis are so lucky. It is one of the most beautiful Bald Eagle nests I have ever seen – for its location. Lake Kincaid is not that far away and is stocked with fish. Louis does not have to go far!

Anna, finally, had to get up and take a break. Louis was more than happy to step in. In fact, he had arrived at least one time and Anna was not giving in to letting him take over. Poor guy. When she did finally let him, when he got up to change shifts when his time was over, Louis pulled Spanish Moss over the egg hiding it. Anna had to look and look all the while the chick could be heard cheeping.

Anna finally found it and removed the covering. Whew! For a few seconds everyone watching must have held their breath.

The side with the egg tooth protruding is hidden. You can see the membrane and the cracked, crumpled shell.

It is great that Cody attached a small microphone to the nest for sound. That little one sounds like it has healthy lungs!

There is no pip at the Captiva Bald Eagle nest. Land owner, Lori Covert, said that Connie’s eggs usually hatch late at day 40. Today is only day 37.

Over at the Captiva Osprey Nest, however, Lena laid her second egg of the season at 17:06:01. Poor Lena. She has no idea how many people are watching her fluffy bottom!!!!!!!

R1 and R2 are really doing well. Ron has brought in fresh fish and has even fed the babies once today when I was watching. He is funny because he stands way back at the rim. I am hoping that he isn’t afraid of feeding them just cautious. It has been raining and there is currently a food warning for parts of Miami-Dade County.

About a month ago, the Kakapo Recovery posted a series of cartoons of the male Kakapo. Today they did the same for the females! Too funny. The one thing these cartoons do is point out that the birds that may look the same are actually individuals with their own personalities. I know that you have seen this with the birds that you watch in your garden or on screen.

Ervie had a fish delivery at 09:13:18 so all is well in the world of the Erv. The camera operator also showed the area around the barge and the clean up crew.

There are pigeons sitting on the top of the ladder waiting for Ervie to drop some of his fish now and again.

Some of you might remember when that barge sunk during the storm. Nice view off in the distance.

These are some of the places that Ervie visited – where the fish are brought in. A good place to find some unwanted fish, perhaps.

Anna is not giving away any secrets at the KNF nest. This little one is going to keep everyone up late pacing back and forth!

Harriet and M15 have been chasing off an immature eagle, perhaps 2 or 2.5 years old, from the nest! Lady Hawk posted the event as a video.

It is time for dinner. So looking forward to a fluffy little chick at Anna and Louis’s tomorrow!

Take care everyone. Thank you so very much for joining me. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or their FB Pages where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, Kakapo Recovery, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, WRDC Bald Eagle Cam, and the Captiva Osprey Cam.

Captiva Ospreys have their first egg and other Bird World News

Calling all Osprey fans. We have lift off. The new couple at the Captiva Osprey Nest have their first egg. Meet Lena and Andy 2. (The previous pair were also Andy and Lena).

Lena 2 laid her first egg at 10:04:08. From her actions, it appears that she could be a first time Mum from her reactions to the egg. She was very cautious which is a good thing and seemed a bit unsure about incubation at first.

Just imagine laying an egg for the first time!

The wind was really blowing. The weather station says it is 18 kph but, the gusts have to be much more than that. I have to remember that the breeze would feel good in southern Florida where the nighttime temperature is currently 24 C.

There is our proud Mum. Isn’t she lovely?

Oops. A big gust caught Lena when she was trying to incubate the egg and almost sent her flying off the nest.

Hang on, Lena!

Ahhh, nice and settled.

The nest is on the same property as the Captiva Bald Eagle nest. The land is owned by a Canadian, Lori Covert.

The first Andy and Lena laid eggs on this nest before. Sadly, the Corvids in the area come to the Osprey nests once the chicks hatch and eat them. As a result, Andy and Lena 1 did not fledge any chicks.

There is currently a discussion about having a poll to see if watchers want the cam left on if the eggs do hatch or have it turned off so that if the Crows come, we do not see what happens. The ultimate decision is, however, with the land owner.

This couple arrived early and laid their egg a month ahead of most. Hopefully that will help them with the Crows as well as any issues with the red tide that can occur in this area. Currently there is no red tide. If you would like to know the impact of the red tide, here is some very good information:

https://www.mysanibel.com/Departments/Natural-Resources/Protecting-Our-Water-Quality/Sanibel-H2O-Matters/Red-Tide-Information

Oh, let’s send this young couple positive wishes. You can watch Andy and Lena 2 here:

My intention was to report -again- on the Port Lincoln lads but it was so exciting to check on this nest first and find an egg had just been laid. Oh, I sure hope they do well.

It is quite clear from happenings on the Port Lincoln Barge why Ervie and Falky don’t have enduring brotherly love for Bazza. But, before I begin, this morning both Ervie and Falky had fish delivered which they ate on camera. Ervie got the first fish from Mum at 07:08 and Falky got a fishy shortly after from Dad at 07:23:25. When I went back to look at Bazza he had a nice crop so he has eaten off camera. I expect that one of the parents made a delivery to him but, it is possible Bazza was fishing and caught it himself.

In the image below, Bazza is on the bottom right perched on the yellow and black ropes. You can see he has a crop. It looks nice and full to me.

A few minutes earlier an incident between Bazza and Falky occurred. Please watch carefully as Bazza attacks Falky shoving him into the water. You will see Falky floating in the water below the ropes. Falky will make three attempts to get out of the water.

Falky kept his cool and did not panic. He managed the situation really well. That said, it is possible that Falky might have drown. I know that I have been watching the dust ups between the three brothers but there are instances when it can go very badly. It was such a relief to see Falky flying free of the water.

Ervie remained on the nest all day. Mum delivered a small fish to him at 15:29:44. Port Lincoln provided some really nice close ups of Ervie.

He’s a lovely juvenile.

There is a rare Stellar’s Sea Eagle that is making its way South. It was up around the Atlantic coast of Canada not that long ago and bird watchers, especially those working on Life Lists were ever so excited!

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2022/01/07/stellers-sea-eagle-maine-boothbay-harbor/?fbclid=IwAR2j9R5vZTrVaT46gMvLavzwKgUupiHysJMAoJDsUWnmYbKbVuRZrNSYsN0

I want to leave you with a smile on your face. Have you seen anything cuter today than Harriet and M15’s babies, E19 and E20? It is getting much more difficult to tell them apart! They are adorable with their clown feet and big wings. They both have crops and enjoyed the ‘mystery’ meal that Dad brought in.

We could have pips Sunday morning from Captiva and the KNF Nest. Stay posted. We are also monitoring Berry College. So much going on.

Right now there is snow falling on Missey at Barry College. My goodness she just survived a hail storm and incredible winds. Now snow.

Take care everyone. See you soon! Thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Window to Wildlife Osprey Cam, Berry College Bald Eagle Cam, SWFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, and Port Lincoln Osprey Project.

Thursday in Bird World

The camera for Daisy’s nest is offline. This is the last image and it was raining at the time. Daisy will come to the nest just as she has done for the first 7 days to lay egg 8 today. It will become increasingly difficult for Daisy to cover the eggs as the number increases unless there is a miracle on the nest and a bunch of leaves fall for her to gather. As I pointed out in an earlier blog, Daisy had much more down last year and this was helpful but – it is not helpful in the rain as it shrinks and is for naught. We can only hope that Daisy’s luck continues but we must be prepared that it is a long slog for our little duck until these eggs hatch. Anything and everything can happen.

I will bring a brief update on Daisy later this evening if the camera starts streaming. Just wish our little duck all the luck you can.

There are wonderful reports coming from Jean-Marie Dupart in Senegal. The Osprey count is more than he would have imagined and he is having to report early. Dupart believes, by the end of the month, that he might have counted 1000 individual Ospreys!

At the Kalissaye Reserve, there were 127 for the entire month of November. Already in December for one week, the count is 160. Saloum Park had 64 birds for all of November and now already there are 90. Dupart is overjoyed.

The Kalissaye Reserve is a small nature centre or reserve near the Casamance River. The Casamance Region is know as ‘The Green Garden of Senegal’.

Wet lands and the Casamance River in the background. This is the area of the Ospreys. Wikimedia Commons.

This is Saloum Park or Delta in Sengegal. These look like perfect places for our Osprey to over winter.

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

The Port Lincoln Lads had plenty of fish yesterday. Ervie had the first two fish at 06:19 and 08:39. Bazza had the next four deliveries! At 14:22, 15:58, 17:33, and 20:40. Falky did steal one of Bazza’s fish so he did get something to eat yesterday. Mum delivered the 14:22 fish to Bazza – she even looked like she might have even fed her big boy! I think Bazza is indeed Mum’s ‘baby’ despite the fact that he was the first hatch.

The Captiva Osprey Pair, Andy and Lena, arrived back at their nest early.

I will give you this link to watch this nest but there is a word of caution. Andy and Lena have had many successful hatchlings but have never fledged any Osprey. The reason is that the Crows come and eat the chicks. That is so sad. Maybe this year Andy and Lena will have good luck like Port Lincoln.

The Kakapo Recovery has announced that 2021 adoptions are closing today – that is the 10th of December in New Zealand. If you are a supporter of the Kakapo Recovery, you might wish to adopt one of the non-flying parrots as a holiday gift to all your family.

There are two eggs at the Captiva Bald Eagle nest with Connie and Clive and two eggs with Anna and Louis at the KNF nest in central Louisiana.

Connie’s new mate, Clive, looks at the two eggs.

You can watch Connie and Clive here:

Louis is just a great dad down at the KNF Bald Eagle nest. Last year he was so excited when Kisatchie hatched that there were 18 fish on the nest for the eaglet and Mum. There was no way they could eat all of them. This year he is really helping to build up a really cosy nest!

This is Anna and Louis’s second breeding attempt. Last year they fledged Kisatchie. They are in a very old nest in the Kisatchie National Forest. It had belonged to another Bald Eagle couple who had fledglings up to 2013. Kisatchie, last spring, was the first eaglet to fledge from the nest in 8 years. It was a wonderful event.

Here is the link to Anna and Louis’s nest. I promise they are a fun couple.

Thank you for joining me today. It is so nice to have you stopping in to check on the birds. Isn’t that a great count of Ospreys in Senegal? Wow. I am hoping that Blue 463 might be spotted — our very own Tiny Little Bob from the Foulshaw Moss nest in Cumbria. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or their FB Pages where I took my screen shots: the Kakapo Recovery, the KNF Bald Eagle Cam, the Captiva Bald Eagle Cam, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Wikimedia Commons, Captiva Osprey Cam, and Jean-Marie Dupart for his report on the Ospreys in Senegal.