Tag Archives: Australian raptors

Early Sunday in Bird World

2 October 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

It is going to be 21 degrees C on the Canadian Prairies. Just a fabulous autumn day to be outside checking on the geese and the ducks and other birds that are migrating through the area. That is where I am headed shortly. It is so rare to get this kind of weather in October that it has to be enjoyed.

I want to thank everyone, before I forget, for all their letters and comments. Much appreciated!

In the Mailbox:

I have had word that it will be a long time before anything can be confirmed about the eagles and ospreys on Captiva/Sanibel. Individuals have seen both eagles and ospreys flying in some of the news broadcasts from the area. The area was more or less completely destroyed I was told. So sad for everyone’s property but thrilled that the raptors appear to be around.

Several have written in to ask if there is something wrong with Mum’s eye at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge? Thank you, ‘M’ for the image of Mum!

What you are seeing is the nictitating membrane or third eye lid. This thin membrane helps the Ospreys to see under water and instead of lowering this third eye lid, it raises up from the bottom. You will often see the birds pull up the nictitating membrane when they are resting. Some people call them a windshield/windscreen. Their function is to hold in the lubricating fluids of the eye. — So there is absolutely nothing wrong with Mum’s eyes!

Making News:

A recent poll in the UK reveals that the majority of individuals believes that nature is in need of protection! While I do not have a crystal ball, it seems that this might be the sentiment in most countries in the world. So why is there not being more done to protect the land and the wildlife – not just words – but action?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/30/most-uk-adults-think-nature-is-in-urgent-need-of-protection-poll

Cornell Bird Lab reminds us that October 8 is Big Day for Bird Counting.

Here is how you can take part:

https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2022#:~:text=Mark%20your%20calendars%20for%20October,birds%20to%20bring%20people%20together

The Tweed Valley Osprey Project has given an update on Blue 694, a fledgling, seen in Portugal!

https://forestryandland.gov.scot/blog/osprey-update-29-september?fbclid=IwAR2DpHTcmnVUilg0fnubkJ2CgXBsTLFLADdXdpZdKJ4HPflqdvep8_RjknE

Mr Kes at the Robert Fuller nests in the UK has a new mate!

Nest News:

If you are a fan of Big Red and Arthur, the Red-tail Hawks on the Cornell Campus, then you will be thrilled to hear that L4 was caught on Karel Sedlacek’s streaming cam catching a squirrel yesterday. This is the longest that any of this popular couple’s fledglings has ever been seen on campus. It is fantastic.

The osplets at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge just seem to be ravenous. Big Bob is 2 weeks old and they are entering their big growth spurt and consuming more and more fish will help that. Dad brought a small-medium fish in at 1334 and it was completely gone by 1400. At first Big Bob was right up there followed by Little Bob. Little Bob got a couple of good bites and then Middle joined the line. Middle had the advantage in terms of position with Middle and Little seemingly getting all the bites. I wondered when Big would tear into them but s/he didn’t and all left the table with crops. I wondered about the heat – it is 19 degrees C in Port Lincoln and they are in the direct sun. They had a nice meal and that is all that counts. What was interesting was that both Big and Middle made attempts to pick at the fish themselves! Keep the fish coming in, Dad!

The three had another fish and finished it off around 1900. Look closely. Little Bob is losing his soft light grey downy coat. Oh, he will be a reptile soon!

It was really hot up in the scrape box at 367 Collins Street. Mum was just panting and it appears that both Mum and Male2 provided the eyases with some much needed shade until the sun was no longer on the scrape.

Yesterday I said something that confused one reader and I presume more, so my apologies. The couple at the Melbourne 367 Collins scrape are both new parents. I had been watching the old couple for about 5 years -.

What I ascertained from the 13:13 feeding is that it is possible the male has now served as a umbrella to shade the chicks, is bringing in prey for the female and the chicks, and has fed them. I admit to being completely confused by these two unless they are side by side and I can see the line of black in the white at the neck of the male. Both have extremely dark heads. The be all end all of this is that we should not be worrying. These first time parents are working this out and it seems that male2 will be another ‘saviour’ like Xavier.

They are soooooo cute!

Everyone is wondering whether or not Xavier and Diamond will have a second hatch at the scrape box on the water tower in Orange. Big Bob (or Only) is only a day old. Yes, many times falcon eggs hatch within 24 hours of one another but, that not happening in Orange does not mean it can’t. The last two years Xavier and Diamond have had only one hatch out of three eggs – Izzi in 2020 and Yurruga in 2021. It is common for not all of the eggs to hatch – there is one egg still in the 367 Collins Street scrape that hopefully will not hatch!

Mum and Dad have done wonders with SE29 and 30 this year. Big beautiful eaglets ready to fly.

I love this image of SE29 up on the parent branch with Lady. SE29 has ‘officially’ been declared as branching at 1445 on Saturday. Thanks, ‘J’.

Thank you for being with me this morning as we check on all the action that happened late Sunday in Australia. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and posts that make up my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab, Robert E Fuller, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

Will the Sea Eaglets fledge today? and other brief news in Bird World

1 October 2022

It is 15:44 on the Canadian Prairies and it is Saturday. The sky remains cloudy with a temperature of 12 degrees C. In Australia, our raptor families are waking up and I wonder what will be in store for them today.

At the Sydney Sea Eagles nest in the Olympic Forest near the Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, SE29 and 30 were particularly active around 0522. If official branching has not been called, it could certainly be done this morning. The eaglets are very interested in the world beyond the nest and are hopping and flapping and standing on the parent branch. An adult flew in but had no food in its talon. Oh, I would love those two eaglets to follow an adult out of the forest to the River Roost on the Parramatta River. There, safely away from the Pied Currawongs, Lady and Dad could continue to feed them while teaching them to hunt their own prey and letting the eaglets get their flying perfected.

At any rate, it feels like fledgling is imminent.

At the 367 Collins Street scrape, the eyases woke up to a feed. Mum looked around, rushed down the ledge, and flew back with a small item of prey. Was it the leftover pigeon? or a Starling? It was hard to tell.

‘A’ has assured me – much to my relief – that male2 is providing the food for Mum and the trio at the Melbourne scrape. There was much e-chuffing and Mum flew out to retrieve the prey from the hidey-hole. Meanwhile, Male2 comes down the ledge, stands over the chicks as if to protect them, and then moves out of the way watching as Mum feeds the three white furry balls. All is well in Melbourne. Relief. Thank you ‘A’.

Xavier and Diamond’s first hatch had Starling for breakfast this morning. It is a running joke at this scrape that Diamond hates Starling. She will refuse to eat it if Xavier brings her a fresh bird but, she is happy to feed it to the eyases!

Meanwhile, the osplets had a nice fish delivery – everyone seems to have eaten well although Mum moved and it is hard to see how much Middle and Little are getting.

Everyone still had a nice crop over an hour later.

So far this morning in Australia all is well on each of the four nests. There are three eyases and a Mum being fed in Melbourne by the new male who we all hope will turn out to be as lovely as Alden and Xavier. The Sea Eagles are more than ready to fledge and they are beautiful. I wonder if they will take their first flight together? Port Lincoln was relatively calm this morning with the feeding and Little Bob is beginning to turn into a reptile, too. Diamond and Xavier could not be happier with their first hatch.

Thank you for joining me on this catch up again with our Australian raptors. If you did not hear, Harriet and M15 have been seen and photographed at their old nest tree and Samson and Gabby are home, too. We continue to hope that all of the others impacted so badly by the storm at Captiva will be seen – but, it is unclear if there is anyone to check on them the area was simply destroyed I am told. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures and to ‘A’ for letting me know about the prey delivery at Melbourne: 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.

Harriet and M15 return to nest tree…and other brief news in Bird World

1 October 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

It is a super cloudy day on the Canadian Prairies and the bird feeders and baths are relatively quiet this morning. The visitors have been mostly the Crows who, for some strange reason, have decided they only want to eat the dried corn off the cob this morning – nothing else. No cheesy sandwiches. Nothing but dry corn. It is 11 degrees C as I write.

The big news in Bird World – and there is lots going on – is the arrival of Harriet and M15 back at their nest tree. Thank you bogs for getting images and posting them! With all the damage that the hurricane left behind, there should be no shortage of building materials even just on the Pritchett property. I know that all of you will be so relieved that they survived and this gives us great hope for Lena and the eagles over at Captiva.

Thank you Linda Russo for sharing your image and providing such relief and hope to everyone that the nest will be rebuilt!

Samson and Gabby are fine and they have been seen at their nest near Jacksonville, Florida.

Ron and Rita are back to their nest in the Miami Zoo. It is nice to see that they are also safe and sound. We wait to hear about Captiva – all the wildlife there – and Pink Shell Resort.

There were two and then there were three eyases at the 367 Collins Street scrape yesterday. Mum has done a great job feeding them – and herself – from a single pigeon carcass which appears to be depleted now. Everyone is wondering if her thwarting of male2 is because he is arriving empty taloned? Let us all keep a close eye today to see if she has new prey items. Let us all hope that the young male brings in a nice fat pigeon first thing.

Of course, there were tears and cheers when Xavier and Diamond’s had their first hatch of the 2022 season. What a fantastic falcon family!

For those of you just learning about falcons and hawks, I want you to look at the yellow eye ring, the cere (the part of the beak between the black razor sharp tip and the forehead) and the legs. Notice that deep rich orange-yellow colour. This is an indication of a super healthy bird. To me, Xavier and Diamond seem to be in much better physical shape this year than last.

This is Xavier who is delighted to get time with his newly hatched eyas.

Will there be another hatch at Orange today? We wait.

The Sydney Sea Eagles are still home! They are so big. Dad and Lady continue to fly from the branch showing the sea eagles a good spot to fledge from. Fingers crossed that the Currawongs leave our beautiful SE29 and SE30 alone! I know – it is wishful thinking but, gosh I wish they were otherwise occupied elsewhere when these two fledge.

That was some dust up between Big and Middle Bob at Port Lincoln yesterday. Poor Little Bob got caught, literally, in the middle of this spat for dominance on that nest.

Dad brought a nice sized fish to the nest at 1700 and Mum filled the trio to the brim. The cam operator gave us some incredibly beautiful close ups.

Little Bob was right up there and look at that nice crop before bed. Fantastic. None of the osplets seem to be the worst for the big battle, lasting more than six minutes, that occurred a few hours earlier.

Everything was fine at all four of the Australian nests when lights when out for the night. ‘A’ sent me a note to remind me – and all of us – that Daylight Savings time starts in Australia just about now! I also want to remind everyone that Big Bob is 14 days old today.

In other news, Scottish landowners who have grouse hunting estates continue to deny killing raptors even in the face of the evidence of the 9 found in bags at the Millden Estate. The movement to make Red Grouse hunting illegal continues by those that are concerned about the killing of raptors that are being re-introduced into the UK after being wiped out by shooting, egg collecting, habitat loss, and climate change.

Scottish Land & Estates still refusing to acknowledge extent of raptor persecution on grouse moors – Raptor Persecution UK

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. It is so nice to have you here with us. I will do a round up of the days happenings later today. For now, everyone should be sleeping in Australia! Take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for the images and streaming cams which make up my screen captures: Linda Russo, NEFL-AEF, WRDC, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

Quick news – late Friday in Bird World

30 September 2022

I did not intend to send another blog out until tomorrow but a few things have happened in the last hours that might interest you.

First, ‘L’ writes that Samson and Gabby have both been seen at the nest tree near Jacksonville, Florida. What a relief!

There are three eyases at the 367 Collins Street scrape in Melbourne.

At Port Lincoln, the fight between Big and Middle Bobs began around 0817 and continued for a full seven minutes. Little Bob was often literally caught in the middle of the two and, on occasion, Middle Bob whalloped Little Bob just because it was there.

Big Bob is clearly trying to set dominance and Middle isn’t having any of it. They are pretty evenly matched. When Big Bob relaxed thinking the fight was over and it had won, Middle came back and started it all again.

It was quite brutal. I wish I had my video app that I used on my old computer. I will try and see if I can get it transferred to this machine. The battle for dominance on this nest will continue. I felt so bad for Little Bob. He looked quite scared at one point. The images are from the very beginning. Big Bob pushed and hit Middle Bob out of the screen at the right. I am just glad that it is the two older ones fighting one another and leaving Little Bob, for the most part, alone.

Of course, when the fish arrived they all lined up for Mum and ate till they were full and silly.

Now I wonder if there will be another hatch at Collins Street – there is one more egg to go OR at Xavier and Diamond’s scrape. Gosh, we could even have a fledge at the Sea Eagle’s nest before I wake up tomorrow.

Take care all.

Thank you to ‘L’ for sending me a note and for the streaming cams at 367 Collins Street by Mirvac and Port Lincoln Ospreys.

It’s a hatch for Xavier and Diamond!

30 September 2022

It was a lovely day on the Canadian Prairies. 20 degrees C. Summer. No jackets, no heavy sweaters, beautiful light. Today I got out of the house. There will not be many more likes this – and I discovered a new park in our City. This one is called King’s Park and it is huge – gently rolling hills along the river with a dog park, ponds, a water fall, and a Chinese pavilion. Few birds!

The big news of the morning in Australia is that Xavier and Diamond have their first hatch for the 2022 season. Chick was visible at 0926.

When I left, I was in a really good mood because I had looked back at the footage from the ledge at 367 Collins Street carefully. Yesterday the male came to the nest and the female had a wee break. He was fascinated with the eyases but was quite uncomfortable brooding so he just stood over them. That is fine. He is beginning to engage and he is providing food.

The eyases are being fed and without being able to see really close up, it looks like they are doing just fine.

The Sea Eaglets are incredibly gorgeous. They are up waiting for a breakfast delivery!

And it arrived – nice fish was brought to the nest around 0905. There is still little or no aggression between the siblings. Eventually Lady will feed them!

There was a very early feeding at Port Lincoln, 0620, today. The osplets had one big feed yesterday but it did not arrive til after 1500. They really needed to have fish first thing this morning. I continue to marvel at the civility that was at the nest yesterday. So happy.

When Mum gets up the kids get ready for a delivery. Note the difference in size between Middle Bob and Little Bob. Look at the wings.

Still sleepy babies.

Middle Bob has a bald spot right on top of its head. And now you can also see the size difference between Little Bob and Big — just look at the wings. That tells it all. It is a good thing that Little Bob is feisty like Ervie!

Little Bob still looks like you could have a good cuddle with him. I am astonished at the size of Big Bob already – even the length of its beak!

All is well in Bird World. Congratulations to Xavier and Diamond, Dr Cilla Kinross, and all the gang at the Orange scrape. We will wait and see if a second egg hatches for one of the most beloved Peregrine Falcon couples in the world.

Thank you so much for joining me for this brief look at what is going on in Australia as the 1st of October begins. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cameras where I took my screen captures: Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.

Hungry osplets, eyases eating and other news…Early Friday in Bird World

30 September 2022

Good Morning Everyone!

It was a beautiful autumn evening, just perfect for watching some of the geese arrive at the nature centre at dusk. There were not nearly as many as expected – normally the pond surface is covered and the honking is so loud but, not so tonight. So I am heading back in a week to see if the numbers of migrants has increased.

Cormorants were sitting on some of the logs in the water – far away in the distance.

The geese begin to arrive about 15 minutes prior to dusk.

They fly in from all directions.

The silhouettes against the sky are so beautiful. They remind me of cutting paper and making silhouettes as a child and sticking them to the windows.

The geese were flying about 70 metres above my head.

The pond should be filling up with geese as the sun set but, there were only about 5,000 scattered about the two large ponds. Perhaps next week!

In the Mailbox:

There have been several repeated questions. The first one is: “Has the Old Dad been seen at Melbourne since the eyases hatched?” Sadly, the Old Dad will not see his last chicks. He has not been seen at the ledge for 4 weeks. Male 2 is about and has been seen on the ledge. Let us hope that he is providing food for the Mum. When Xavier took over Bula’s place at the Orange scrape on the grounds of Charles Sturt University, he provided food but did not interact with the chicks that were Bula’s. The situation was slightly different with Alden as one of the eggs was believed to be his. Let us all hope that this new Mum at Melbourne and the new male provide for and raise these healthy babies. She is going to be exhausted having to do almost everything – let us hope she doesn’t have to hunt, too!

Question 2: “Has Harriet and M15 been seen?’ The Pritchett family released a statement that all of the cameras had been found. One tree that a camera was on was down and it is going to take some time to get things repaired. There has been no sightings of Harriet or M15 yet. Eagles can fly great distances and they are great weather predictors. Let us all hope that they are at some distance from the nest enjoying prey.

Making News:

Mum and Dad made the news!

The AEF has reported that Samson and Gabby’s nest in Northeast Florida near Jacksonville is intact.

The practice of Red Grouse hunting continues to impact the lives of raptors in the UK. Nine dead raptors were found, thrown into bags, outside a games keeper’s lodge. The book that I am reading, Bowland Beth. The Life of an English Hen Harrier by David Cobham speaks to the barbaric nature of this sport that threatens the lives of the raptors that seek out prey in order to live and find themselves on the hunting estates. There is a huge campaign to stop grouse hunting in the UK but, it might not have any legs in the current political situation.

Nine raptors found shot & dumped in bags outside gamekeeper’s houses on Millden Estate and at the nearby River Esk in the Angus Glens

Nest News:

On the 29th, the chicks at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge ate really, really well. The 30th turned out to be the opposite. Those three are hungry and they are moving about. Mum even took off and had a bath. I wonder if she tried to catch a fish. Today the chicks are 13, 12, and 9 days old. I am hoping that some fish come in later and these three have a really good feed. It is not the time for deliveries to be variable – they need to be steady.

A large fish came in at around 1500. All of the chicks were fed until their crop was popping. Oh, they waited such a long time and were so good to one another in the meantime. Let us all hope that the fishing for Dad is much better today.

Mum has been in and out and the two eyases at the 367 Collins Street scrape. She tried to feed the eyases earlier and they were not hungry. We all held our breath when she dropped the prepared pigeon. And each of us has worried how this would all work out.

At 12:11 the pair had their first feeding and they held those little beaks open and Mum fed them really well. I was surprised at how well she did putting the morsels of pigeon into their beaks. She looked like she had done this before! So, for now, male 2 is coming around and Mum is talking to him. The two hatchlings are eating well and – well, we could not ask for anything more. For all the worrying, I wonder how many of us shed a couple of tears of joy?

At Orange, we are on pip watch with Xavier and Diamond.

Beautiful SE29 and SE30 are still with us. Lady fed them their late meal yesterday. She must know that her time with them is limited. They simply could fly off the edge at any time but, hopefully, they will stay on the nest and get really strong.

Migration News:

Following the family of Karl II, Black Storks from the Karula National Forest in Estonia, there is all good news. Karl II is feeding on the Danube Delta betweek Ukraine and Romania.

Kaia, Karl II’s mate, was in Bulgaria and is quickly flying south. It is wondered if she will stop in Turkey.

Waba is in Moldova.

Bonus is also in Moldova.

So as of yesterday, all are safe and sound. What a relief.

It may be some time before we hear about the arrival of the eagles back in Florida. Captiva has simply been decimated, according to the news and with no land bridge to connect the barrier islands to the mainland, this will be a slow process of clean up and rebuilding. Our thoughts continue to be with every animal and bird that was impacted by this horrific hurricane – and, of course, all of the humans impacted, as well.

In the world of Australian raptors, we are looking forward to more feeds at Melbourne and a pip at Orange. Of course, our little scamper Little Bob is going to be right up front, like dear Ervie, when the morning fish comes in!

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and posts that made up my screen captures: AEF, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Looduskalender, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

It’s a Hatch in Melbourne

29 September 2022

Around 0316, Mum pulled a half egg shell from underneath her to the ledge. At that point, everyone knew that all the wiggling and fluffing earlier had signalled a hatch was in progress.

She completely ate it replacing some of the calcium from her body that had made that eggshell.

There is the fluffy little eyas on the left of two large eggs.

We wait for the others to hatch. It will be very interesting, also, to see how prey delivery and feeding plays out. Fingers crossed for these first time parents to have this worked out through millions of years of DNA and hardwiring.

In other news, nest 2 – the old nest of Harriet and M15 – has survived on the Pritchett Property. That said, we know that Eagles can rebuild nests quickly. We wait for all of our beloved birds — and it could be some time – since Captiva/Sanibel and Fort Myers have had devastating damage to communications, etc. The cameras are down at SWFlorida and, of course, we have no idea what has happened at Captiva. Thoughts remain with everyone impacted. I understand the storm is on the east coast of Florida, the Atlantic side, and was moving up from Daytona Beach.

Take care. Thanks for checking in. I am off to see some geese land at dusk today! It is 21 degrees C. – a perfect day! See you soon.

Thank you to 367 Collins Street by Mirvac for my screen captures from their streaming cam.

It is a wild Wednesday in Bird World

28 September 2022

It was really a difficult day to sit and think of hurricanes and osplets beaking one another. After Ian made landfall, I headed for the nature centre to check on that wee duckling. For the second visit in a row, I did not find it. I did find, however, a Solitary Sandpiper, some other Mallards, a couple of Northern Pintails, various Vireos, an adorable squirrel to mention a few of the birds that greeted me today.

A baby American Coot.

The White-breasted Nuthatch stayed at the peanuts for a really long time. The nature centre has a ‘hide’ (a building of sorts with openings where you can watch the birds and not disturb them). It was fantastic to see this beautiful bird make its gravity-defying struts over the wire mesh container.

What a darling. This little Red Squirrel had no idea I was watching him. He is in a perfect spot below the feeder with the American Goldfinches who are dropping seedings all over the place.

A very nice gentleman saw me looking at the Coots but pointed this Solitary Sandpiper out to me on the shore. There had apparently been a Green Heron here the week prior.

This is believed – by me – to be a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet female. But I am waiting for e-Bird to write back with confirmation. Our bird books with their images are often lacking in the kind of detail to make a certain ID and Merlin and I seem not to get along very well!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are moulting – these American Goldfinches.

Being out in the forest with the birds and a few people passing by, with school children researching leaf configurations, and Canada Geese honking in the sky was fantastic. It is the best way to relieve any kind of stress. Shinrinyoku – forest bathing.

In the Mailbox:

Mark your calendars for October 8. This is Cornell Bird Lab’s Big Bird Count Day. I will be posting more information nearer to the time.

As we sit with our eyes glued to the eggs on the ledge of 367 Collins Street waiting for hatch, ‘A’ sent me a note and reminded me of the day the eggs got pretty wet from the rain. Oh, I needed that reminder. It is possible that they will not all hatch. It is possible that none of them will hatch. And bless this young couple if all four do hatch! That new male will really have to show that he is up to the task of feeding a family of 6 including himself. The old dad sure was!

Making News:

The news continues to be about the impact of Hurricane Ian on our beloved raptors. Captiva/Sanibel took a direct hit from the hurricane’s core with winds at 155 mph.

Across the State and a little north is Jacksonville which is home to Samson and Gabby’s nest. This is a video of the impact of the winds on their nest.

Across the country, in the Channel Islands, Thunder and Akecheta were at their nest. It looked like there might have been some intruders as both appeared to be alarming at times. They are a super Bald Eagle couple and it is nice to see you, Cheta.

Australian Nest News:

A super nice fish has shown up at Port Lincoln at 08;28:53. Fantastic. Hopefully these osplets will calm down a little.

It is really nice to see Little Bob right up there in the sweet spot. That fish should fill them all up and put them into super food comas. Mum can have some fish, too, and the kids can sleep.

Little Bob is getting some really good bites and both the older siblings seem, at this moment in time, to be behaving and letting Mum share the fish all around.

A food delivery came around 0740 for the Mum at 367 Collins Street. She flew off the ledge but when she returned she ran from the opposite end of the ledge to the nest. She carefully placed herself over the eggs and rolled them.

My heart goes out to this Mum. She has had food -thankfully but, no real help with incubation. She has almost had to do it all. In Orange, Xavier is so anxious to incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks that it just puts a smile on your face.

How much longer will we get to enjoy the not-so-little Sydney Sea Eagles? They are jumping and flapping and seem to have mastered self-feeding in spite of themselves! Still, it is nice to be fed by Mum and I am sure Lady knows that the days are limited for her to feed her babies.

Thank you for joining me this evening for a brief check on the nests. Head over to Port Lincoln and re-wind to catch that 0830 feeding. Take care of yourselves and continue to send the warmest wishes to the people and nests being impacted by weather around the world. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and videos that make up my screen captures: Northwest Florida-AEF, Explore.org and IWS, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and 367 Collins Street by Mirvac.

Beaking and hurricanes…and other news in Bird World on Wednesday

28 September 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

My thoughts are with everyone and anything that is in the path of Hurricane Ian. So many of you live in this area and my thoughts are with you and your families and our beloved birds and their nests.

This is the latest image of the eye as it moves. The wind at Captiva is currently 94 kph (or 55 mph). All of the streaming cams are down at Captiva and SWFlorida. The eye of the storm at 12:43 is moving towards Captiva/Sanibel.

Making News:

I started writing this blog on Tuesday so you will also be getting some hurricane news here (as well as above). Here is the news on Hurricane Ian. As I write this, the eye is approximately two hours from making landfall which could make landfall at around 1400 and that hit could come at Sanibel/Captiva. This is live coverage. NOAA is the only institution that can declare landfall and where/when. It looks like this huge and strong hurricane will impact all of our beloved nests. We will be so glad to see them when this is over.

This streaming station was working. If it should go out, check on YouTube for others that are covering this massive hurricane.

Farnley, a female fledgling of 2022, is making news as she continues to work her way south in the UK while she is thinking about migration. I note that in the long list of beautiful images of this juvenile, towards the bottom is an image of her catching a good sized fish. Most of the fledglings will never have caught a fish before they leave the nest for their journey to their winter home. We worry that they cannot do it. Well, if Farnley can so can the rest of them we hope!

Update on 1B3/Farnley | Kielder Ospreys (wpcomstaging.com)

It is now 2136 on the Canadian Prairies on Tuesday. This is the current satellite map and the cone showing the wind strength of Hurricane Ian as he moves towards making landfall near Tampa/Fort Myers as a category 4 hurricane.

At 22:25 Tuesday evening, the eye of Hurricane Ian was 100 miles from the Captiva Osprey nest.

Rita came in to check the status of her nest at 0845 this morning.

The platform at Captiva Ospreys was rocking and rolling with heavy rain drops (or hail) when it quit working around 0335. The Southwest Florida Bald Eagle cam is down and this is the view at Northeast Florida and the nest of Gabby and Samson.

Nest News:

Well, it has started – the beaking. It was Middle Bob giving Big Bob quite the headache. Little Bob looked the other way and ignored it. The behaviour, as predicted, began when Big Bob went into the reptilian phase.

Big Bob is miserable with all the itching from feathers growing in. It is Day 9 and this behaviour is pretty much right on schedule – it began yesterday. It is about nest dominance. I have included tonnes of screen captures because I have yet to import my little video programme I use. I hope you don’t mind. Some of the physical gestures and looks are quite interesting.

You have to feel sorry for Big Bob. Just look at him. You can really see how the soft down is leaving Big Bob’s body and being replaced by feathers. We saw this yesterday clearly happening. There is sweet Little Bob with its soft down. Each osplet still has their egg tooth.

The down from the back of Big Bob’s head is almost entirely gone. There are a few whisps of dandelions and a bunch of dandelions on top of his head.

Now you can see the back of Big Bob’s head. Slick and oily black. This will become magnificent coppery coloured feathers.

It all began with Big Bob hammering Middle Bob as Little Bob looks on.

And then Middle Bob got fed up and when Big Bob turned around, he gave it to him. These two would have a ‘draw’ if they were in a boxing ring. Meanwhile, Little Bob is on the other side of Middle Bob looking in the opposite direction.

I did say evenly matched but Middle sure did give Big a thrashing.

The Middle Bob moved over and Big Bob beaked Little Bob just because he was in the wrong place at that moment.

And then Mum finally sat down on all of them. Thankfully Little Bob did not get too much of a thrashing from Big. The beaking stops when dominance is established and normally by 28 days. Of course, siblings can be killed. The dominant bird normally gets fed first and will eat til it is full then the others can have their fish. If the deliveries fall short, which they have certainly done, then there can be death. I do not believe that is going to happen on this nest unless there is a sudden and long lack of fish deliveries. It will be an interesting outcome because Middle Bob is very strong. Let us hope Little Bob keeps getting lots of fish! He needs to grow. Middle Bob will get really cranky when his feathers really change which could be tomorrow late or the next day. Nothing like two itchy rivals in a nest!

The new male has made a stop at the ledge of the 367 Collins Street scrape. The Mum was kerchuffing and they had a bit of a conversation. She had been looking down at the eggs and, she did not leave right away even if lunch was waiting for her elsewhere.

The Mum has been quite restless. I wonder if we might have eyases for the 29th in Australia?

The Sea Eaglets are a bit worrisome. They are so energetic, jumping and flapping all over that nest. Last year SE28 fludged because of this kind of activity. They sure look like they want to fly but, I have not seen them self-feed properly. Have you? That is what I mean by worrisome.

Look at the height achieved in the last image.

Xavier and Diamond wait with one another. We will be ever so excited – like these two lovely parents – when those eggs hatch.

Thank you so much for being with me today. We are sitting on pins and needles for the hatch at the Melbourne scrape. The Sea Eagles will continue to bounce and flap higher and higher. Let us all hope that the PLo nest is flooded with fish and that things go smoothly there today. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window to Wildlife, WRDC, NWFL-AEF, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.

Poor Lena hangs on as Hurricane Ian comes to Florida and other news in Bird World

27 September 2022

Good Afternoon,

A brief check on what is happening at a few of the Osprey and Eagle nests that are on the edge of Hurricane Ian as it moves towards Florida and a peek at the Australian nests as the 28th of September begins there. At the moment, it appears that Port Lincoln Osprey barge is offline. Maybe that cam will start working again before I finish. The Sea Eagles appears to be offline as well.

I know that our thoughts are always with the people and birds when these treacherous storms arrive. Osprey Lena is hanging on tight to her new nest at Captiva as I write this. On top of having to hunker down and ride out what could be a category 3 or 4 hurricane by tomorrow, Lena also has not seen her mate, Andy, back at the nest. I just feel for her right now. The wind is blowing at 25 mph and the rain is intensifying at both the Osprey and Eagle nests at Captiva.

Lena continues to hunker down in the same spot.

An hour later she is holding on in the same spot. You can see on the live streaming cam the gulls and pelicans flying low to the water’s surface. Rain and wind are picking up.

At around 1700, Romeo, the young male tried to land on Lena and Andy’s nest so Lena not only has to contend with a hurricane coming but also is alarming and trying to protect her nest. She is not impressed.

Lena is blown off the nest.

There she goes.

You can watch the Captiva nest and Lena here:

You can catch the Captiva Eagle nest of Connie here:

The Achieva Osprey nest is starting to sway in St Petersburg and the wind seems to be picking up a bit at the nest of Harriet and M15 in Fort Myers. The nest of Ron and Rita in the Miami Zoo would make you seasick if you were so inclined!

The little sea eaglets – who are not all that little anymore if you look at that wing spread – are acting more and more like adults. Someone took a video clip of them sleeping. Have a look at how grown up they are standing with their heads tucked.

The Mum at Melbourne was doing some ker-chuffing at 0606. She did not take a break for several minutes later -at 06:10:43 -and she was gone long enough to have a nice meal and stretch her legs. While she was away the new male came to the end of the ledge. He did not incubate the eggs. He stayed for a few minutes and then flew off before Mum returned.

There she goes.

Mum appears to be a lot more careful when approaching the eggs and her body appears to be fluffed quite a bit. Can she hear her babies? From the pip to hatch can take anywhere from 24-72 hours. Oh, I wish we could get a real close up on those eggs!

Fluffed out and looking around.

This year Xavier appears to be spending much more time in the scrape box with Diamond.

Port Lincoln still appears to be offline. Send all your best wishes to the people and our beautiful birds in the line of Hurricane Ian. Captiva is S of Tampa and Tampa is expecting strong winds to hit tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you so much for being with me on this quick check as to what is happening. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window to Wildlife, Captiva Bald Eagles and Window to Wildlife, WRDC, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.