Tag Archives: Audubon Boathouse

16 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

We have a predation at the Audubon Boathouse. For those of you that knew Steve and his mate and are familiar with Bailey, ambassador Osprey at the Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, you will be familiar with the predation at this nest. I realise that there is no guaranteed way to keep owls from attacking osprey nests and killing the chicks – it didn’t even eat them, just killed them, but you would think that they would be trying out something even a huge bright light (won’t hurt the ospreys) but might keep the owl away like they did at Lake Murray) to stop the slaughter.

It was nice and cool Monday morning and a good day to go and check the geese at the nature centre. The paths were somewhat wet after the big thunderstorm that went through Sunday evening, but the geese didn’t disappoint. Two little clips of a few of them.

Everywhere I turned there were geese.

Need a smile? There was a hatch at the Loon Cam! It’s slow going at first. About 12 minutes in there are some cute shots of the hatchling.

I haven’t forgotten about all those grouse moors in Scotland with their hunts and all the raptors that are killed in the process. Ruth Tingay says in her most recent posting, ” call them ‘The Untouchables’. Those within the grouse-shooting industry who have been getting away with illegally killing golden eagles, and other raptor species such as hen harriers, buzzards and red kites, for decades.

They don’t fear prosecution because there are few people around those remote, privately owned glens to witness the ruthless and systematic poisoning, trapping and shooting of these iconic birds. If the police do come looking, more often than not they’re met with an Omertá-esque wall of silence from those who, with an archaic Victorian mindset, still perceive birds of prey to be a threat to their lucrative red grouse shooting interests.

For a successful prosecution, Police Scotland and the Crown Office must be able to demonstrate “beyond reasonable doubt” that a named individual committed the crime.” ——– You might see the problem if you think about the vast landscape that is Scotland and when these men own thousands and thousands of acres of land, who will see them? Have a read:

You might recall that I mentioned that Waba’s battery was at only 1%. ‘J’ went on the snoop to find out about these GPS trackers on the storks. This is what she found:

Some information taken from the Ornitela website:

What factors affect number of GPS positions that can be collected?
GPS positions logged by OrniTrack transmitters represent the parameter that is most relevant for the majority of users. GPS logging primarily depends on sky view and available battery power.
Sky view is needed for GPS antenna to detect satellites. Connection with satellites can be obscured in places with limited sky view, such as under the forest canopy, in mountainous terrain or urban areas among buildings. GPS position logging in such environments often takes longer, which results in higher battery drain than in open areas.
Logging GPS positions is a relatively expensive process in terms of energy use. When developing OrniTrack transmitters we paid particular attention to achieving the highest possible energetic efficiency of this task. Extensive testing of OrniTrack transmitters in an open terrain revealed that fully charged battery of smaller OrniTrack-30 is sufficient for logging at least 1500 GPS positions and larger OrniTrack-50 can log at least 5000 GPS positions without additional recharge. But please note that data transfer via GPRS, which is more energetically demanding process, was set to infrequent intervals of one data upload per day during the testing.
Further, please be aware that GPS position logging stops when available battery power drops below 3675 mV. The remaining power down to 3600 mV is conserved for data transmission and the transmitter stops completely if battery voltage drops below 3600 mV. Once solar panel recharges the transmitter battery, GPS logging and data transmissions resume.
Therefore, it is paramount that a user monitors the available battery power and adjusts transmitter settings accordingly.

Battery charge by solar panel
OrniTrack transmitters are equipped with efficient solar panels which recharge internal batteries. We experienced that under favourable light conditions solar recharge can be fully sufficient to continuously log GPS positions at 1 minute intervals during daytime hours. But for solar panels to do their job, they need to be exposed to direct sunlight.
Overcast days offer little to no direct sunlight. Low sun angle above the horizon, like it is at high latitudes in winter, also delivers inefficient charge. Species living under the forest canopy may also receive limited charge due to scattered light.
Finally, perhaps the most frequent factor restricting battery charge is due to bird feathers covering the solar panel. This highly depends on species tracked and transmitter placement. From manufacturing perspective it is not difficult to increase transmitter height so it sticks through the feathers. However, empirical studies and experimental testing in wind tunnels revealed that externals transmitters may increase bird flight costs due to air resistance and turbulence. We therefore chose the transmitter design that minimizes possible impacts on birds.
While we supply transmitters capable of efficient recharging under good light conditions, it is user’s responsibility to consider all relevant factors influencing recharge and monitor battery status when choosing transmitter settings.

Alma and Lucia still come home.

‘PB’ reports that Mum is feeding the oldest and only surviving osplet out of four at McEuen Park. Oh, I hope this one makes it. It is just going to get hotter. Send all your best wishes to our poor ospreys.

Meanwhile at Hellgate Canyon, Iris knows Finn is around and coming with a fish. Turn the volume up for the full effect. I would like to put a fish that size at the Osoyoos nest. Soo would pass out. She probably thinks the only fish there are are those little twiddlers. Their lake in that town needs to be stocked. Did you hear me Osoyoos?

A tired and proud Mamma Iris.

The moderator at the Charlo Montana osprey nest says they have not had a fall off the nest for the last nine years. Poor baby. For those who don’t know, little backed up to do a ps and fell off the nest Friday evening. It is still hot. Charlie is delivering good fish. But these nests in the Pacific Northwest need a break.

And they are not going to get it. Temperatures are expected to rise.

Minnesota still looks good.

Some of the Field Farm babies are spreading those wings and wanting to fly.

There is still one osplet at the Cowlitz PUD osprey nest in Washington State. Let us just hope that the eagle decides not to return tomorrow. Electra and her mate worked hard in very hot conditions – surely to goodness, they deserve to have one baby fledge.

Three big osplets at Oyster Bay. What a difference it makes to have your nest in protected waters away from the Menhaden trawlers and also not to be having heat in the high 90s.

Two out of four have fledged at Poole Harbour.

It is much cooler at Seaside and Bruce and Naha’s two osplets are flapping and jumping and thinking about flying.

Moraine: ‘PB’ sent a great image of the chick with a huge crop after Dad delivered dinner. Now that is what I would like to see at Osoyoos and McEuan.

I am so grateful for the turn around at Snow Lane, Newfoundland.

‘H’ reports:

7/15 Forsythe osprey nest:  ‘Larry’, the only surviving osplet out of four, fledged this morning, at 55 days of age.  We were joyful, and grateful that there was at least one fledge this season.  We are happy for Opal and Oscar…that their efforts this season have not been completely in vain.  Larry made a beautiful landing back in the nest four hours later, and Oscar brought him a large fish to celebrate!

7/16 Colonial Beach:  The ‘kids’ are 20 and 21-days-old.  Today was the first time I have seen any significant dominance and aggression from Big during meals.  This nest averages three fish per day, but I wish David would deliver more.  The osplets need more frequent meals.  Due to the aggression from Big, Little did not eat at the first meal.  Little eventually ate very well at the second meal, and had a very long private feeding.  When the younger chicks first start to be denied food by a sibling, they don’t know what to do, so they just keep trying and can be further brutalized.  They need to learn to employ certain tactics to get fish bites from Mom.  Well, it seemed that Little was ahead of the curve.  After the third meal commenced, and Little was attacked by Big, Little scooted over to the other side of Betty and was receiving some fish bites at her left side.  But, Little soon decided that he wanted to eat beside his ‘bestie’ and went back beside Big.  I was saying, “No no, what are you doing, Little…go back to the other side!”  Little was beaked again, and after a brief period of being tucked, Little returned to Mom’s left side and was able to eat a nice meal.  Thus endeth the lesson, kiddo.

7/15 Fenwick Island osprey nest (Captain Mac’s Fish House):  This is another nest where I wish there were more fish being delivered.  Johnny used to drop off 5-6 fish per day, but now only 2-3 per day.  31-day-old ‘Fen’ is hungry.  And for the past few days, Fen has started aggressively attacking both June and Johnny.  This nest has not been subjected to extreme heat or high winds.  However,  it is located in a summertime tourist area, with thousands of vacationers this time of year.  I wonder if there are too many boaters out on the local waterways, and that may be hindering Johnny’s efforts to catch fish.

7/15 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The extreme heat has lasted for several days and will continue for several more days.  As a result, there simply have not been enough fish brought to the nest to support three growing oplets suffering in the heat.  Little had not eaten very much for over three days.  Little passed away this afternoon, at approximately 1430.  I saw four fish delivered to the nest, and the last one was at 1731.  Big and Middle were both fed at this meal.  There have been meals over the past few days where Middle was denied the opportunity to eat by Big, including at the second meal this morning.  Middle’s survival is not a given at this point.  I’m not sure when the live stream went offline.  There could have been another fish delivered in the evening, but I was not able to rewind to check.

7/16 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  Last season, the only chick ‘Skipper’, was predated by a Great Horned Owl just days away from fledging.  Most of us have been on pins and needles watching this nest this year.  The GHO had already been at the nest twice earlier this spring, and we feared that it would be back. This year Dory and Skiff had two beautiful osplets, named Harbor and Gray.  The GHO did come back, and it attacked both chicks early this morning at approximately 0340, and killed them both.  After all the predations that have occurred at the Hog Island nest, Steve no longer uses that nest.  He and his new mate come around in early Spring to tend to the old Hog Island nest, but they do not use it to raise a family.  Dory and Skiff will need to find another nest.  The owl will never forget.  

Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Monday 15th July 2024

Today brought more news of the chicks – some footage of them preening, looking healthy and nicely rounded, and some tweets and facebook posts with photos and more details of the translocation programme. No action on Nest One but a little flurry on Nest Two, with Louis bringing two fish today. He gave the first one quite readily to Dorcha, but teased her by mantling over the second one and flying away with it. He did return with it later on and let her take it, and both adults ended the day with full crops. Weather was settled, tonight’s forecast is misty with light winds, and the prospect of sunshine, well, sunny intervals, and a gentle breeze tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.46.29 (03.24.36); Nest Two 00.01.35 (03.36.46)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/5Y9kwM70tXI  N2 Two fish in two days! Louis brings an early breakfast  04.51.00

https://youtu.be/qJEOIijj5Hc  Valencia: the chicks are preening, plus tweets & FB posts 13-15th July

https://youtu.be/2pzx2f_0dm4 N2 Fish number two arrives but Louis won’t give it to Dorcha 16.58.40

https://youtu.be/h9oCsNTe8zE N2 Louis returns and this time gives Dorcha the fish 18.16.47

https://youtu.be/rlP1X8w_HrI  N2 Dorcha’s not happy when Louis brings sticks not fish 21.41.48

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

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

The three chicks at Finnish Osprey Nest #1 were ringed on the 15th. There is one male, Vaino, and two females, Valma and Vieno. Well done!

Mum caring for the chicks at Janakkalan.

Muonion is alright! Two little chicks. Three weeks old.

Latvian Ospreys. The oldest is eating really well. The second appears, at times, to be a bit shy. Both seem alright.

Kristel eating a Northern Raven – has a huge crop!

Kakapo in care after discovery of a beak injury. Thank yo so much for your annual checks. I hope this was caught in time.

Things are getting better at the Dorsett Hobby nest.

The Northhumberland Trust has an art contest and it is about Osrpeys.

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their notes, messages, posts, videos, articles, and streaming cams that helped me to write my post today: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB’, LPC Loon Cam, Raptor Persecution UK, Looduskalender, SK Hideaways, McEuen Park, Weather Network, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, Charlo Montana Ospreys, MN-LA, Field Farms, Cowlitz PUD, PSEG, BoPH, Seaside Ospreys, Moraine Park, Cathy Cohen, Geemeff and The Woodland Trust, Finnish Osprey Foundation, LDF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Kakapo Recovery, osp, Northumberland Trust, Osoyoos, Fenwick Island, Colonial Beach Ospreys, Audubon Boathouse, and Forsythe Ospreys.