I am starting this blog early. It is 13:00 Sunday afternoon. Thank you so much for your e-mails and your concern. Your thoughts and warm wishes are welcome and appreciated. I am feeling much better! As I mentioned I am not a good patient so getting well quickly is a must. I decided that I must get this blog out so that you can see the little one at Port Lincoln if you haven’t spent all day staring at the screen.
It is a beautiful sunny day. Earlier there were no clouds not soft blotches like flattened cotton balls are moving in. It is summer temperatures at 24 degrees F and the Crows, the Blue Jays, the Squirrels, and about 100 song birds have invaded the garden. It has been fascinating watching the Blue Jays check the peanuts. They pick them up and shake them – can they tell the best ones? or the shells with two nuts inside instead of one? The real joy is seeing Dyson returning often to eat. I am beginning to wonder if the two ‘new’ additions to the squirrel family are not Dyson’s children? Photos to come tomorrow!
Making the News:
Could a tiny solar backpack save some very endangered birds? There are some scientists that are really hoping they can get some answers. The Plains Wanderer is depending on them!
The article below is about talking to whales but, in the future, it might be titled ‘Talking to Raptors’. To me, Laura Culley, falconer, understands falcons and hawks better than anyone and if you ask her if Big Red and Arthur talk to one another, she will look at your like ‘are you daft? Of course they do!’ Culley will go on to explain that humans are ‘lesser beings’ having not turned on the DNA to fly and we have lost our ability to talk ‘without making a sound’. I suspect she would tell me today that we have lost the chance to keep our own nest clean and refurbished — reminding us all the time of how clean the nests are thanks to the squads of Crows and other birds that come in after the raptors looking for tasty morsels.
Osplet 1 is fully out of the shell and is quite an adorable to the Port Lincoln family. The second chick is working hard. Some worry that Big Bob will be hungry and will have used up his energy reserves. Mum will feed him but, coordinating the hatched and the hatching is difficult – and Dad needs to bring in a fish, too. You can see Dad on the perch waiting for all the kids to arrive.
The egg shell has come loose from the third egg. Very good.
Oh, I wonder if you will be nice to your brothers and sisters.
Our beautiful Mum has to be hungry and tired. She has rarely had a break until now and she has two more chicks to hatch and this lively one to feed. The sunshine makes her pure gold!
The first feeding came at 08:14 but the wee one was ready at 08:11. This little one is strong and just look at how wide it can open its mouth. Incredible.
It looks to me as if there is a pip in the egg on the left and some cracks in the egg on the right. Fingers crossed. This strong first one is going to be a strong force on this nest.
It was a superb first feeding!
The send feeding came just a couple of minutes ago at 09:07.
There are still ospreys at the Boathouse (or Hog Island ) nest in Bremen, Maine. Skiff still delivers a lot of fish to Sloop. Today, however, Sloop had an unlikely encounter with a hungry gull – and sadly, lost his lovely fish.
Dad!!!!!! Dad!!!!!!!!!
No worries, Skiff was in with another one in about an hour but, it was a bit smaller than the one the gull stole. Cheeky thing! How dare that gull take a fish away from a certified fledgling osprey!!!!!!!! Named Sloop. And Sloop you did well. You defended that fish rather nicely.
If we don’t think about the troubles at the Melbourne scrape box, things are going well and as to plan for Xavier and Diamond and the Sydney Sea Eagles. The poor Melbourne Mum is suffering through the commotion and incubating those eggs. We are about a week away.
I hope you enjoy the images of the little one at PLO and Sloop. She is quite the gal. I will be sending my blogs now in the early evening Canada time so that I can get all the day’s news in. Thank you again…Please take care of yourselves. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Audubon Explore.org and Port Lincoln Ospreys.
Well, it is Sunday morning and I did not make it to Toronto this trip. I have been slightly unwell – nothing concerning – just a bad reaction to a new medication which I have not stopped using. Still, it makes you feel like you just want to get under the duvet and sleep for a week. I want to spend superior time with that Harris Hawk so soon. Until I am back to normal, the blog will probably be a little shorter than usual.
So, like many of you, I spent Saturday anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ervie’s sibling. It seems that this pip did not emerge into a crack as soon as some of us might have hoped. Here are some images from today. It is now after noon in Port Lincoln. Perhaps there will be a little osplet by evening – and, perhaps, just perhaps, its cheeping will bring the second one along!
Mum will be very tired. Dad blew in and gave her a break at 12:16:17 until 12:26:41. Good for you Dad. Mum was hungry! Here is an image of the changeover! (Thanks Renie for that timestamp!)
The first egg pipped on the 17th of September at 20:53:37. Hatch was on the 18th at 21:27:30. The second egg pipped at 19:53:00.
Making News:
The male intruder at the Melbourne Peregrine Falcon nest has made the news along with the nest and the wonderings about how this might end.
It remains unclear what will happen at Melbourne, however. The arrival of the second male has clearly caused a disturbance in what should have been a routine incubation and hatch with the old male and the new female. The fact that the old male has not been able to rid his territory of this second male is very worrisome. The old male began breeding at this site in 2017 which makes him at least 8 years old now. The average life span, according to Victor Hurley, is 6 years. There is definitely competition for the nest site and the female which might prove to create a very difficult season for hatch and raising chicks. There has been a lot of ‘racket’ in the background. The competition will probably not end well as normally the males will fight to the death.
Meanwhile things are fine at the Sydney Sea Eagles cam. Lady Hawk posted a video of a great feeding with the eaglets flapping and getting stronger every day as we enter week 9. SE 30 continues to get some really good fish, too. Both sea eaglets doing well. Expect much more flapping..
Everything is rock solid at the scrape in Orange, thankfully. We do not need the drama that Melbourne is experiencing – just a strong healthy eyas or two in about 12 days.
Handsome Xavier.
Loch Arkaig has produced their season review. Have a look. Enjoy the bag pipes! Thanks Mary Kerr for all the great memories from arrival to departure.
Thank you for joining me for this short blog. Stay tuned to Port Lincoln as the second hatch will probably come quicker than the first. Then we wait for three and hope that they are grouped together closely. Let us all hope that Melbourne can settle and save this years clutch. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, videos, or posts that make up my blog today: Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Lady Hawk, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Mary Kerr and Friends of Loch Arkaig, the Woodland Trust and the People’s Post Code Lottery.
The rain has not really stopped. Perhaps I realize it more now that I am literally living in a glass room (and loving it). My neighbour corrected me as I referred to ‘the sunroom’ being nearly finished with a smile – ‘conservatory’. Yes, of course. Mr Blue Jay and the Crows would not be able to stand above me – smiling – telling me that all of the peanuts are now gone if that was a solid roof. I knew the peanuts and cheesy sausages were sparce as one of them picked through the leftovers – it was Little Red! Little Red has come to get peanuts. You have no idea how absolutely happy that makes me feel…having felt guilty for months for tearing down his penthouse so I could have this lovely space. I wish I could share photos – between the heavy rain and the window screens it is impossible.
Making News:
Avian Flu is not going away anytime soon. Farmers are calling for a vaccine for ‘the invisible enemy’ in this article in The Guardian.
Virologist Thijs Kuiken would say that it is the factory farming of poultry that is the case and that the solution is to not farm animals. Dr Kuiken graduated with his PhD from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and is now with the University of Erasmus at Rotterdam. He is a world authority on Avian Flu and I met him when the two White-tailed Eagles in Estonia contacted H5N1 in the spring of 2021. This is an article that he wrote to help non-scientists understand Avian Flu – its origins and consequences for humans.
The Ferris Akel Tour is early this Saturday. Ferris is at the Cornell Open House at their raptor centre and guess who was there?!!!! E3. One of Big Red and Ezra’s eyases that was injured from 8 years ago. She is a beautiful ambassador!
There was a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon ambassador.
And a lovely owl…
You can tune in to Ferris Akel’s tour. The ambassadors are at the beginning. There are Blue Herons and Green Herons, too!
Nest News:
The big news of the day arrived in my inbox a second ago from ‘H’ – there is a pip at Port Lincoln at 20:53:40!
The pip in the back egg is larger and it is possible something is happening in that front egg closer to the screen. We wait.
Mum is sleeping. She is going to get terrifically busy after incubating these eggs – soon!
View of the eggs: pip, 21:32, 22:03, 22:19, 22:43, 22:57, 23:42, 23:54, 00:01, 00:10, 0:20 so far.
You can catch the action at Port Lincoln here:
I cannot think of a better shorter blog this morning than the hatch watch now at Port Lincoln. I couldn’t wait to tell you so you can tune in and watch some of the action as we wait for Ervie’s siblings to hatch!
Thank you to The Guardian, Ferris Akel, and to Port Lincoln Ospreys for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures this morning.
Thank you for joining me. I will be back either later today or tomorrow from Toronto. Please take care. See you soon!!!!!!!
Thursday was a gloomy day on the Canadian Prairies with delightful periods of sunshine popping in and out – like the squirrels and the Blue Jays gathering peanuts to store for the winter.
One visitor, in particular, managed to let me get her photo – Dyson. It is difficult to tell if she is still nursing babies but, she is in good form. So grateful.
I do not know where her nest is precisely. It used to be in the century old Maple tree in the front of the house until the City cut it down this summer. Now she runs along the back lane to the West. Her tail is beginning to grow out.
Squirrels are like the Blue Jays. They can also let part of their tail break away if they are being attacked in order to survive.
One of the other garden surprises today was the visit by at least two different Blue Jay fledglings and Junior. Everyone is stashing peanuts. It is said that September is the month when the Jays do the most gathering. As a result, the pile is always large. Some Blue Jays over winter while others migrate. Will wait to see what happens.
It’s Junior. How can we tell? As the adult, he is the only one of the Jays moulting as the three youngsters only hatched in the spring. Notice that he is just getting a hint of his new crest and he does not have all of his tail feathers. The feathers that he has are nice and healthy, brightly coloured. Blue Jays can live to be 7 years old. Junior is now about 5. His parents are not longer with us as of this year. He has a mate and they were so lucky to have the 3 fledglings – they outsmarted the Crows and the Cooper’s Hawk!!!!!!! And even the GHOW. Their nest is across the line in a Maple tree. Like Samson, the Bald Eagle, Junior took over his parent’s nest.
The Sparrows find the 17 degree C a little chilly. There is a nip in the breeze and many perch on the ends of the lilac branches to get warm in the sun.
And here it is Friday mid-morning and it continues to rain. The trees and plants are loving it – the birds not so much! I see only two brave souls at the bird bath…oops, no…about 60 now!
Making News:
Ervie was flying close enough to the barge this morning to say ‘hi’ to Mum! Oh, cheeky Ervie. You just wanted Mum to remember that you are a year old now. Oh, and you were thinking she would invite you home for a fish dinner?? Oh, poor Ervie. You almost have brothers and sisters. Mum is busy. Hopefully you can have some fishing time with Dad.
The Ojai Raptor Centre reports that our beloved Victor continues to make progress and his zinc levels are normal. Oh, gosh. Isn’t that wonderful? Look how handsome this Two Harbours fledgling is!
A new subarctic seabird is breeding on the Diego Ramirez Islands. Have a read — oh, and they are using the Grey-headed Albatross’s nests!!!!!!! Thank you to Holly Parsons for posting this on the Albatross Lovers FB Group.
With Idris having departed the evening of the 13th and not seen since, the staff at Dyfi Osprey Centre will turn off the streaming cam in just a few hours. Here is that pastoral view.
The view at Glaslyn
At Loch Arkaig.
At Loch of the Lowes.
One of my friends in the UK said that it is best if we start knitting Osprey toy lookalikes until the end of March or beginning of April when the Ospreys return. That would actually be a great charity idea!
Travel safe and always with full crops our dear UK Ospreys. Full crops over the winter and safe and swift winds home in the spring.
New News:
Well, SE29 has been getting the fish deliveries on the Sydney Sea Eagles nest but, Lady, always keeping a watchful eye makes certain that SE30 gets some! Lady has blossomed over the past four years into a fantastic Mum.
The sea eaglets jumping and flapping at 0644 in anticipation of breakfast arriving.
Look at how clean the eaglets feet and talons are compared to those of Lady.
Attempts at self-feeding will continue until these two will remarkable appear that they have always been able to hold the fish down and pull with their bodies to get the flakes off. Early days of training.
SE30 waits very patiently. Remarkably civil these two. Both females? Both males?
Lady lets SE29 try and then feeds both of her babies so that each gets a good start to the day.
The second male at the 367 Collins Street Peregrine Falcon nest in Melbourne continues to make his presence felt by continuing to land on the ledge but, is he actively wanting to be involved in the raising of these eyases? or is his presence going to harm? It remains unclear as we are now 11 days from hatch watch.
His presence is clearly causing the older male whose scrape box this was to be reluctant to incubate the eggs. So what will happen when prey is needed for the eyases and Mum needs a break in feeding them? Who is actually protecting this Mum and the scrape box?
This is an image posted on 367 Collins Falcon Watchers of the two males. The original male – father of the clutch we believe – and the visitor on the right. Don’t worry! It is the camera angle that makes the one on the right appear larger.
Our cute little dad has very large yellow circles around the eye. The oneon the right does not and has a line on the right of black on white. Note: Most male Peregrine Falcons have a prominent yellow eye line like Dad 1 here and Xavier.
A close up of beautiful Mum has been posted accompanying a link to the tracking data for the nest if you are interested.
Let us all hope this works out well.
It is raining and about 11 degrees C in Port Lincoln. Rain is good but let us all hope it dries up before hatch watch on Monday!
Diamond was busy rolling the eggs before the IR camera came on Friday evening. Less than 2 weeks!
The Bald Eagles in Florida and the SE US are working on their nests – Pa Berry and Missy have been doing so for over a week now, Samson is happy Gabby is home – and those on the Channel Islands are busy, too. Oh, and I thought we would have a break after all the Ospreys migrated. BUT not all the Ospreys have migrated. ‘H’ caught Dory on the Hog Island nest in Maine! So Dory, Skiff, and at least Sloop are all still at home with no hint of starting their flight south!
‘H’ and I both think Sloop is a female from all her behaviour over the year. She can join the club of being kept home and fed well so that she is fully developed like Sarafina, Blue 497, and Padarn.
In the image below, Dory has flown onto the nest in the late afternoon on 15 August. Sloop has also been fishing – seen returning to the nest empty taloned but wet twice. Thanks ‘H’ for keeping us up to date on this nest. Much appreciated.
Migration News:
One of the Finnish Ospreys has spent a week in Ukraine and has safely departed. This is a good sign. Warm thoughts for Karl II and his family who continue to be feeding at various parts of the country.
Bonus remains in Belarus near the Pripyat River. He must really be getting a lot of nice fish and frogs there.
This is an image of the area that Bonus is fishing.
Kaia remains near the Desna River in Ukraine. No word from Karl II.
From the Archive:
I am ‘the most’ famous Red-tail Hawk in the world. Who am I? Where is my nest? Who is my current mate? and do you know how old I will be in 2023?
Thank you so very much for joining me today. I hope that each of you is well. Please take care. Looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their posts and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Ospreys, Ojai Raptor Centre, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, People’s Postcode Lottery, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Wildlife Trust, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, 367 Collins Street Falcon Watchers, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Audubon and Explore.org, LAJI-FI, Looduskalender, and Cornell Bird Lab.
I am Big Red. My nest is on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. My original mate was Ezra and my current mate is Arthur. I will be 20 years old in 2023. I was banded as a juvenile at Brooktondale, New York only 7.5 miles away form my nest now in the fall of 2003.
It was the perfect day to go out to the industrial area looking for ducks – and shorebirds. And then it wasn’t. Things to remember: empty the memory card in the camera after downloading all of the images to your computer or to an external hard drive and – take an extra battery, one that is fully charged! As a result of not following such advice, it became a great morning to just relax and watch the shorebirds!!!!!!!!
I am becoming quite attached to these Greater Yellow Legs (or are they Lesser?). Their movements are quick and they bob their heads up and down like falcons and hawks getting their prey into focus. So cute.
The geese have certainly been making a ruckus everywhere for a couple of days. Because there are so many of them, it is like they are taking over all the ponds and vacant fields.
Once the geese had left the area, the two Greater Yellow Legs rushed to the other end of the pond where there was a nice muddy shore. Don’t let anyone ever tell you ducks and shorebirds are ‘slow’ – they are decidedly not!
Once home, it was a real treat to see Junior. Last time we saw the Dad of the three Blue Jay fledglings, he was moulting and had lost his beautiful crest. Junior is not longer bald on the top of his head. The bright blue is coming in and it is easy to imagine what he will look like once that crest grows longer! Like the Greater Yellow Legs staying away from the geese, Junior seems not to like coming around when the Crows are about. Those three fledglings have really grown and they can be quite intimidating. Junior has also decided that he likes the Black oil seed and the White Millet that is on the ground. If you look you can see two brown legs. they are four legs to a little feeder with a roof but, this morning our dear friend Dyson & Co decided to make the feeder go sideways and everything dumped all over the place. It will not take them long to clean it up.
Look at Junior’s tail. He has kept enough to fly and has moulted the others which will grow in and replace any damaged feathers.
Have you ever heard of the term ‘fright moult’? A fright moult is when a bird’s tail feathers all fall out at once. This normally happens when a predator grabs the bird’s tail feathers. In order to save its life, the bird being attacked moults all of its tail feathers at once!
Another interesting and strange fact about Blue Jays. Their feathers are actually brown but appear to us as being the blue colour we identify with the birds because of light interference from the feather structure. If the feather is crushed, the blue colour disappears (https://www.thoughtco.com/blue-jay-birds-4692850.
I am so grateful being back in the sunroom where I can watch the birds go about their daily lives without causing them any stress. Hopefully our dear Dyson will slow down and let me get a picture of her soon. She is sooooo beautiful. Her fur is all back to normal and is bright and shiny. Did I tell you that Little Red is around, too? He loves the new fence because he can now run from his new home in the neighbour’s tree along the top of their fence to the new one here and then with a single jump he can land in the square hanging feeder and dump every seed everywhere!
In the Mailbox:
‘A’ has been watching the Sea Eagles carefully and believes that SE30 is a female. “SE30 has always been a feisty eaglet, except for a short period about three weeks ago where she seemed fearful of SE29 at feedings. Since then, she often seems to have been getting most of the food and nearly always grabs any fish tails, mantling if necessary to keep them! Size and temperament point to female. What do you think?”
Alison, I totally agree with you. SE30, at 8 weeks plus a few days, is showing every sign of being a dynamic female. She takes charge of the food and is really growing and no longer ‘takes grief’ from 29. It is unfortunate that the eaglets are not tested and ringed!
Making News:
Holly Parsons posted one of those great intervention stories of an Albatross who had had hook caught in its beak. Always happy to have a success story – and that hook just makes me ache. Poor baby.
Here is the announcement:
Thank you, Holly, for also making everyone in Australia aware of the petition for banning the release of helium balloons. This should be a world-wide effort but, it should be to ban all balloons other than those required for weather research. This is, however, a start!!!!!!!!!!
It is an ad for a camera but, for us, what is interesting are the beautiful images of the Peregrine Falcons!
Nest News:
The California Condor chick in Tom’s Canyon is 4 months old today!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic.
Ron and Rita continue to work on their artificial Bald Eagle nest in the Miami Zoo designed by Ron McGill. Gosh, the eagles seem to be busy making nestorations everywhere. Is it going to be an early season? We haven’t even said goodbye to the last UK ospreys yet!!!!!
The cameras will be coming on soon at the Southwest Florida Bald Eagle nest in Fort Myers. Harriet and M15 have been diligently working to get their nest into shape after E19 and 20! In the meantime, here is a video of M15 and Harriet working on the nest yesterday.
Shadow is at the Big Bear Valley nest starting to bring in those whoopers of sticks that only Shadow seems to find.
In Australia, the ‘little’ (not really sure that term is applicable anymore) Sea Eaglets 29 and 30 are continuing to practice their self-feeding. They are standing so much more and at least one of them is standing on the very rim of the nest. This always makes me nervous! Both Dad and Lady are also stepping in and feeding both of them. All is well in the Sydney Olympic Forest.
Diamond and Xavier continue to take turns incubating the eggs. There are a couple of weeks to go til we have hatch watch at Orange. Sadly, Diamond is also having to deal with an intruder female at Orange this year. Neither Diamond or Xavier are ‘young’ falcons but rather, slightly older.
I adore little Xavier and here he is bringing Diamond a yummy lunch.
Thank you, ‘H’ for letting me know about Victor Hurley’s posting on the 367 Collins Falcon Watchers FB Page. Hurley is the key researcher for the Victoria Peregrine Falcon Project that includes the Melbourne falcons. He has now stepped in to comment on what is happening at Melbourne. Please read carefully to the end…
The new female arriving to incubate the eggs after a meal.
Victor Hurley has also included another fact sheet on the 367 Collins Falcon Watchers FB and has changed some of the data based on this new knowledge. (It is formatted so I cannot just post it here so you can read it, you must go there). A great article!
At Port Lincoln, the eggs are 38, 35, and 33 days old. On the 19th, egg 1 will be 41 days. Time is going to pass quickly. Hatch watch should begin on Monday.
Migration:
Things are just going quiet with the Ospreys in the UK. The last two lingering nests seem to be empty. No one appears to be home at the Glaslyn nest – Aran and Blue 497 both seem to have started their journey south. Padarn was last seen on the 12th of September at 19:20 with Idris last seen on the Dyfi Osprey nest 24 hours later on the 13th of September at 19:41. Safe travels, full crops. See you in the spring!
‘H’reports that there are still family members at the Boat House Osprey platform in Bremen, Maine. Sloop, the third hatch and reluctant fledge, is eating well having had at least 3 deliveries yesterday! She has sent a photo of Sloop excited for a delivery! She has not seen Schooner or Skipjack on the nest for 5-6 days but other osprey calls have been heard so it is unclear who remains as of today.
I am finding this very interesting. This nest is one of the most northern of all the US nests. It is migration season and we continue to have ospreys on the nest. Let’s watch and see when they depart.
Karl II and family:
All of the family members transmissions show them in the same areas that they were previously. There is no transmission for Karl II. He is believed to be at his favourite nature reserve in the Kherson Oblast region of Ukraine. I found several active reports on the current activity in the region yesterday.
Stay safe Karl II!
If you are following the new Osprey family at Belvoir Castle in Lincolnshire (my old haunt), Tim Mackrill has posted news!
From the Archives:
Do you remember: who are the storklets? what is their story?
Thank you so very much for joining me this morning. Please take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, posts, tweets, etc that make up my screen captures: Holly Parsons and Albatross Lovers, Orange,Australia, Peregrine Falcons, Sony A1, WRDC, Condor Cam, SWFL Eagles, FOBBV, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Victory Hurly and the 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Tim Mackrill, ‘H’ and Audubon and Explore.org, Ukinform.net, and Dr Madis and the EMC plus the Eagle Club of Estonia.
The Black Storks of Estonia are rare and treasured. When Jan did not return and was deemed injured or dead, Janika had to try and feed her storklets. She could not manage even with the fish basket she found that Urmas, the Ornithologist for Estonia, provided. It was decided that the three surviving storklets would be taken into care at the Vet School in a stunning attempt to keep them alive by feeding with a decoy male and having a decoy female. In the image, Bonus is the largest of the three. The stotklets thrived. Two were placed with Eedie and Bonus was placed to be fostered with Karl II and Kaia. A goshawk attacked Eedie’s nest killing all the storklets. Bonus is now on migration and in Ukraine where he appears safe. Bonus is the only one of Jan and Janika’s six storklets of 2022 to survive.
Good Morning Everyone! I hope that you had a fabulous beginning of the week. Here we are at the middle. My calendar tells me that thing are going to begin happening in Bird World soon. First up will be the Port Lincoln Ospreys who should have a hatch in 4 days. Then it should be the Melbourne Peregrine Falcons on the 27th quickly followed by Xavier and Diamond. By the time those nests have feathered osplets and eyases, we will be fledge watching for SE29 and 30. It is going to be wonderful!
Tuesday was a big ‘T’ day but that doesn’t stand for Tundra Swan but, ’tiler’. It was fantastic to see the floor tiles in the sunroom being grouted today with the news that tomorrow I can move back in and watch my beloved garden birds. Oh, how I have missed seeing them from that perspective. A new book arrived in the post, too. Having purchased Crosley’s Guide to Waterfowl – well, logically, it seemed to me that the volume would cover Shore birds but, no. Definitely not. The new book is The Shorebird Guide by O’Brien, Crossley, and Karlson and it is wonderful. Most appreciated are the excellent images of the plumage during the seasons. It still is missing the inclusion of the females in great numbers just like all of the other bird guides who continue to focus on the more colourful plumage of the males. Yes, I am growling. LOL. Quiet and monochromatic can be viewed as ‘classic’ beauty. It certainly is with many of the female Sparrows.
Just like the ducks, my mind has been taken over by the Greater and Lesser Yellow Legs and Willets at one of our local ponds. If I close my eyes I am transported to the marsh where the shore birds are tapping away at the mud with those long long bills. Incredible. If you stay quiet and don’t move, they will completely ignore you, going on with their deep quick probing for food. They are really quite lovely. Learning to identify them is going to take some time.
The Greater Yellow Legs from the other day.
The plumage on the Mallard is really lovely.
It is overcast and cold at 13 degrees C this morning. The Crows have been for their morning hotdogs, the sparrows are wanting a bath, the Blue Jay has been flitting in and out (only one), and the cat has already been chased once. Meanwhile Little Red has been running back and forth on top of the new fence which now meets up with that of the neighbour so he never has to get on the ground to get to his new home. Yes! Little Red has found a place to live since his penthouse was torn down. So thankful. The torrential rains this year and saturated ground meant that all of the trees literally tripled in size. He found a hole in the big tree and if I look carefully, I can see him going in and out. So relieved after feeling so quilty about the shed. With my chair back in the sunroom this morning, I can watch over them and hopefully get some good images of Dyson who is looking ever so healthy and fluffy these days. Gosh, that squirrel is quick. I wonder if the Crows frighten her?
In the Mailbox:
‘A’ writes that I have awakened a love of ducks for her. That is fantastic. They are often very unappreciated, like the geese, in my City but, there is nothing so peaceful as sitting on a clean bit of lawn or blanket and watching them go about their daily paddling and preening. This is wonderful news. Thank you for letting me know! In honour of this, I have used one of our favourite ducks for ‘From the Archive’ today.
Making News:
There is growing disillusion within the environmental and raptor groups in British Columbia, Canada at the decision by the Department of Forests and the University of British Columbia to cone a long standing Bald Eagle nest on the campus of the University. Their are ongoing campaigns to stop the coning which is due to take place today, the 14th of September.
Also in British Columbia, this time in Surrey, the David Hancock Wildlife Foundation is attempting to stop the cutting down of a Bald Eagle nest on the property of a Costo in that city–or get the owner to agree put up a platform nest for the eagles.
British Columbia is home to more Bald Eagles than any other area in North America. Because of this their conservation status and threat is very low – often cited as an excuse to cone the trees or cut down the nests — some 140 Bald Eagle nests were destroyed at the Site C Dam project by the province this year. Of course, what is the real count? With Avian flu still with us and in Manitoba nests and eggs destroyed by flooding with few goslings, perhaps we should be re-thinking our approach to preserve. Declines can begin to happen and spiral.
If you are in Southern Manitoba, Wildlife Haven is having its annual Open House on 23-24 September. Tickets can be pre-purchased and space is limited. It was gorgeous weather last year and the event was sold out. I can’t think of a better way to spend a few hours on a fall afternoon than getting to meet the ambassadors, tour the new flight training buildings, and check out the great vet facilities. These are the people giving our wildlife a second chance.
Do you live in New York? do you love Bald Eagles? Here is a fundraiser event you might not want to miss.
Would you like to be an Albatross detective and help get a true worldwide count of these sea birds? Here is the information.
The Bald Eagles have been returning. Yesterday it was Gabby returning to the Northeast Florida nest to Samson.
NEFlorida Eagle Nest
Samson and Gabby love to ‘kiss’ just like Alden and Annie.
Anna and Louis are back at the Kisatchie National Forest and now Mr President and Lotus are at the National Arboretum Nest in Washington, DC.
National Arboretum Nest
They are really coming home. If you see a return, send me a note!
Thunder and Akecheta were caught sitting together on the cliffs of the Channel Islands yesterday. Oh, goodness. What an incredible year we had with Ahota, Star, and Kana’kini.
Thunder flew into the West End nest with a super fish yesterday, too… Ah, it would have been grand if one of the kids swept in and took it! Everyone misses those three amigos.
Andor was at the Fraser Point nest. I haven’t seen any new updates on Victor. We can all presume that he is doing lots of flying and strengthening those wings!
The nest that our dear Little Bit ND17 grew up on had dwindled down to only a bit of mud and straw at the joint of the branches. Everyone has been concerned that the adult eagles would not return and rebuild – knowing that if they didn’t St Patrick’s County Park in South Bend, Indiana, would not be moving the camera. Well, guess what? Dad has been caught returning to the nest! This should be a ray of sunshine for everyone. It will take work but each of us has marvelled at how quickly the raptors can whip a nest into shape. No, it will not be huge like a decade old nest but it will be a new beginning.
In the image below you can see what little is left.
It appears that Idris is finally alone to enjoy his fish and that Padarn has left the territory for her migration.
At Glaslyn, however, Aran is still bringing fish for Blue 497. It won’t be long, Aran!
497 is an incredibly beautiful osprey.
To my knowledge, Blue 497 is the only fledgling left on an Osprey streaming cam in the UK to migrate.
Did I mention mantling (when a raptor spreads its wings over its prey to conceal and protect) was one of the development stages coming quickly for the Sea Eaglets in Sydney? Well, guess which of the two was the first to demonstrate this stage of growth?
If you said SE30 you would be absolutely correct! Both eaglets held the prey down with their talons and pulled. Eventually they were fed but this is very good training. So proud of 30! Go baby. Don’t you just love the look on 29’s face? (squint)
The sea eaglets have been well fed and have been sporting crops on and off for a few days now.
Watching incubation and expecting a hatch in less than a week can be nerve wrecking.
The beautiful Mum at Port Lincoln. It is the 15th. Oh, so soon we will be having little osplets –. Cannot wait.
For Melbourne, mark your calendars for the 27th of September.
Xavier and Diamond will follow after Melbourne!
Migration News:
Into Hawks? Aren’t we all? Here is a new tool to follow the counts.
Some good news on one of the Tweed Osprey fledglings, Glen. (Sadly it appears that Kirk who had gone West and was in Ireland continued west over the Atlantic and is probably lost).
From Karl II’s family, the Estonian Black Storks from the Karula National Forest nest.
Bonus is really flying and remains in the same area he has been for several days now-the Prypjat River. He is safe. Relief as always.
Waba is at the Hrabarka River in Ukraine.
I see no transmission for Kaia or Karl II.
Audubon scientists are using data from hawk Mountain to monitor the places that raptors migrate.
I am not a cartoon character but, for many raptor watchers in Australia (and elsewhere), I am the most famous duck in the world. Do you remember me? What is my name? What kind of a duck am I? Whose nest did I lease? And do you remember what happened?
Thank you so much for joining me today and for your lovely notes. It is actually relatively quiet in Bird World but soon…so soon, there will be action in Australia – at Port Lincoln and Melbourne. Meanwhile, we can all enjoy the antics of the little Sea Eagles who are jumping, flapping, and learning to mantle and eat their own prey. Take care of yourselves. I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Thank you to the following for their tweets, their posts, videos, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Wildlife Haven, Bald Eagles of Centreport, Albatross Space, Channel Islands Eagle Lovers, Notre Dame Eagles, NEFL-AEF, NADC-AEF, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Conservation Without Borders, and Looduskalender.
From the Archive: Daisy is a Pacific Black Duck. She first appeared on the nest of the Sydney Sea Eagles in December of 2020. She attempted three clutches of eggs – all predated by the Crows, sadly. The last clutch in 2021 almost made it to hatch. We were all cheering! Daisy stole our hearts and taught us many lessons about the challenges the female ducks face in being both incubator and security guard. The couple came this year to check on the nest. Oh, it was delightful to see Daisy and her mate but, equally, there was relief that she decided to lay her eggs elsewhere in the forest. Did you know that less than 15% of all duck eggs laid make it to hatch?
A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings.
I had a lovely time at an industrial park in the city again Sunday. There was the Great Egrets, the Great Blue Heron, the fast little shorebirds, some ducks, some gulls, and a lot of Canada Geese. As the Egret was flying away, a couple stopped on their bicycles and chatted with me for a long time. After they made me feel rather good by saying they watched and noticed that I did not get near the birds but rather used that long lens on my camera so as not to frighten them. (I was 250 ft away). I was very humbled. I have seen people find out there is an owl and take their children running and practically land on the raptor or people using fishing poles with line and a mouse to try and get that perfect ‘shot’ of the owl flying directly at the camera person. To me, those are not ‘birders’ they are a special irritating ilk of photographer. At any rate the couple told me about another lake not that far from where we were standing and we talked about how the city planners required the area to keep 30% of the land for nature. It is certainly a beautiful green area in the middle of gravel pits!!!!!!! Yes, I am serious. I also got a tip about a cemetery with a Cooper’s Hawk family. That was so nice.
Decades ago I looked at the world through the eyes of a ‘human’. Oh, I can hear you laughing, I haven’t turned into a hawk yet!!!!!!! Or have I? At that time I considered golf courses and cemeteries as wastes of precious land — and that was a time when I was researching British cemeteries on the Indian subcontinent! Today, the view from my eyes is very different. As humans eat up all the land they can with bigger houses and ever expanding amounts of land, the golf courses and the cemeteries are places of refuge for the birds and the raptors. The geese fill the newer cemeteries that only allow flat markers while the Crows and hawks make their homes in the older ones with the mausoleums and large head stones. If I could increase the number of golf courses and cemeteries I would! And that is a 180 degree change in thinking. (Of course the golf courses should not be using rodenticide!)
From the Mailbox:
‘L’ writes: I don’t see the male at Melbourne bringing prey to the female. Do you know what is happening?”
What a really good question because we often see Xavier bring prey directly into the scrape box at Orange for Diamond. It seems, at Melbourne, that the male has hidey-holes on the other ledges and behind some of the architectural features of the building. He will have a stash of food there for the Mum and for her to feed the eyases. You might have seen Xavier put prey in the corner of the scrape at Orange. Rest assured, she is eating and the amount of time she spends incubating, she is not catching it but the little male is doing the hunting. He is also a very good hunter from previous years – if prey stocks remain good.
Just a note about Melbourne. ‘A’ wrote and asked what was on the nest fluttering around and then answered her question. A white plastic bag had made its way up to that scrape! That is so worrisome. The Mum got it off by tearing it but oh, we humans need to pick up after ourselves.
Making the News:
There is a webinar today on migration. I just saw this posting on the Cornell Chatters FB page. Apologies for not knowing about it earlier. I hope that they will post the webinar on YouTube after. Fingers crossed.
Six more Golden Eagles were released in the UK as part of a reintroduction programme.
The bird photographers of the year have been announced….It is so sad to see that some of the images of the urban birds are around human garbage but that is their reality. Indeed, many of the European storks – and those Adjutant Storks in India – spend their time in the landfills trying to find food. I was chatting with my granddaughter this afternoon about the need for dead but not diseased animals to be taken to a specific spot for all the birds that eat carrion. It would be a tremendous help. Instead of running big incinerators using energy and pouring ash into the air, the animals like Bald Eagles, Crows, and Vultures would have food.
A detail of Kerry Wu’s award winning image of a Barred Owl.
The winners are shown in this article of The Guardian:
This beautiful Golden Eagle gets a second chance at life because of the Audubon Centre and now she has a new home!
Nest News:
Thanks to ‘J’ I was able to go and see the Magpies attacking the two little sea eaglets on the streaming cam. Thank you ‘J’.
A number of years ago I was mortified when I saw the Magpies and Currawongs swooping at the little sea eaglets. My heart sank to my feet and my palms got sweaty. It is a difficult thing to watch for the very first time… maybe even the second. Far more enjoyable are the visits of the Rainbow Lorikeets! I did not see Lady or Dad to the rescue today…another learning experience for these two eaglets who are now in their 8th week. Soon they will have to contend with these aggressive little birds alone – even without a sibling – so best they get used to them and honk those wonderful horns of theirs.
The Sea Eaglets will be the top dogs wherever they take up residence like Lady and Dad are in the Sydney Olympic Forest. For the remainder of their lives, the smaller birds will be annoying – sometimes even downright dangerous – because they have nests with babies, too and they don’t want the big Apex Predators around them. We see it with the Mockingbirds attacking Big Red all the time. The older the eaglets get the more they will ignore the smaller birds but, for now, this is good training. I caught it on video for you.
The Sea Eaglets were fed early. You sure miss those hourly feedings when Lady was giving those wee ones little bites. Now it is so long between meals.
The adults were in the nest tree looking about for pesky intruders around mid-day.
Cornell has been busy posting images of L4 since her release from care as well as other members of the family including L2. It is so good to see the four of them – Big Red, Arthur, L2 and L4 out in the wild doing what hawks do. Cornell has said that it is working to improve the areas where the hawks might get injured – let us hope they get to it fast!
The two posts below are from Cornell’s Twitter feed.
They were not together long-Idris and Padarn. The moment reminded me of Iris and Louis on the Hellgate Canyon Osprey platform in Missoula, Montana a week plus ago. There was Idris with his daughter, Padarn, on the Dyfi nest in Wales. Idris wasn’t looking straight at the camera but Padarn was – and it gave me that same feeling of ‘goodbye’ like that eerie image of Iris and Louis. Stunning image of father and daughter – Padarn looks even more like Mrs G with ‘that look’.
BTW. Some of you will remember a question about which gender migrates first. I had used the Dyfi statistics which were colour-coded. My good source tells me that the first hatch, Pedran (2022), who was identified as a female at the time of ringing, is now deemed to be a male by Dyfi. Is this from mouth swabs? or because Pedran migrated so much earlier than Paith and well…Padarn is still with us, bless her heart. She is one healthy and robust Osprey who is well taken care of by Dad. Just look at those legs – short and stout.
Blue 497 is still at Glaslyn with Aran. It started raining last night and looks a little miserable this morning, too!
Something has caused Xavier and Diamond to leave the eggs and check on their territory at Orange.
There was a lot of alarming and looking at the sky but nothing could be seen on the ledge or tower cams. There is work, however, going on somewhere near the tower. You can hear the machinery in the background.
It was, however a great day for Xavier to have some time with the eggs. He had a two hour incubation!!!!!!!! Couldn’t hardly believe it.
Alden and Annie have been bonding and doing their little kisses in the scrape box today. Oh, isn’t it fantastic to get to see them together outside of breeding season?!
At the Port Lincoln Osprey barge, Mum had had enough of that pesky piece of pine bark and was moving it. While she did, we got a good glimpse at those precious eggs that are due to hatch at the end of the week. Can you believe it? We are finally getting there!!!!!!!
It could be my imagination but things seem to be settling down a bit at the Melbourne Collins Street scrape. The new Mum does not give Dad a lot of incubation time which he has really enjoyed in previous years. So far today, though – and it is only mid-day (1335), the eggs have not been left for long, long periods of time (like hours).
What a gorgeous view!
Migration News:
It appears that Sarafina is on her journey. It is unclear if Louis has left Loch Arkaig. He might well be eating and resting up after feeding his daughter well into September!
Checking on Karl II’s Black Stork family. Waba remains in Ukraine in an area around Manachyn.
He is fishing along the river bank.
Bonus remains in Belarus around the Priyapat River.
There is no transmission signal for Karl II. In the Kherzon region some of the villages are only now getting their cell service restored. No transmission that I can see for Kaia either.
From the Bookshelf:
Jonathan Elphick is no stranger to birds. Just Goggle his name and you will find a long list of titles by this wildlife writer and ornithologist. Birds. A Complete Guide to their Biology and Behaviour is the first title of his on my bookshelf and what a great addition it is. The book begins with a look at birds and their relationship to dinosaurs and moves quickly to bird anatomy. Anything and everything you could possible ever want to know is in this detailed chapter. The chapter on ‘flight’ was one of my favourites with its intricate drawings of the wings with the feathers labelled as to their correct names. How different birds fly, their speed, discussions on wing loading are all there along with hovering and energy saving flight. Further chapters examine food and feeding, birds as a group or society, breeding, where birds live and migration. It is, in effect, an excellent reference book filled to the brim with the most beautiful imagery. I was particularly interested in the discussion on birds and humans and was not disappointed. Elphick starts with the earliest assaults by us on birds and continues to the problems of today including human overpopulation and climate change. There are also surprises – I learned a myriad of things from each page. We listen to the duets by the White-bellied Sea Eagles at Sydney but did you know that there are actually 44 distinct bird families that sing duets? The Eastern Whipbird and the Common Swift are two. There is an excellent index and a good bibliography. Highly recommended if you are looking for a comprehensive book on all aspects of our feathered friends — including some of their quirky behaviours.
From the Archives:
Everyone fell in love with me. I have the loudest voice of any eyas! I kept the researcher fully fit walking up the stairs to keep putting me back in my scrape box. Who am I? Who are my parents? and where is my scrape box?
I have seen no recent updates on Victor or tracking information on Ervie.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Take care! See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their tweets, posts, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cornell Hawk Cam Chatters, The Guardian, Audubon Centre for Birds of Prey, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Cornell Hawks, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Cal Falcons, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Looduskalender.
I am Izzi. My parents are Xavier and Diamond and I hatched in 2020. First I fludged – fell over the edge when I was sleeping. Cilla Kinross climbed the 170 stairs to put me back in my scrape. Then I fledged but hit a window and went to rehab and was taken back up the 170 stairs by Cilla Kinross. Finally, I fledged! But Mum and Dad couldn’t get rid of me. Finally as the 2021 season approached, Diamond blocked my way into the scrape which is on the water tower at Charles Sturt University in Orange, Australia. Aren’t I the cutest little falcon you have ever seen?
I hope that you had a lovely Saturday – and welcome to Sunday!
How many of you have used eBird ID? I would love to hear from you. I was so hopeful in finding an ID for the waterfowl below but, Merlin ID said they were Crows. Is Merlin serious?
After consulting many books and looking and looking at these birds, they are juvenile American Coots.
Every nook and cranny might just have a duck or two at our nature centre! Only when someone walks by on the boardwalk do they come out of hiding – sometimes.
The reeds are so tall and thick and abundant. They are making excellent hiding places for the ducks, the Coots, and the geese. You can see that some of the foliage is turning colour. Autumn is upon us. Our temperature dropped to 7 degrees C Saturday evening. The coolest it has been in a long time.
This one scurried out of the reeds.
This Mallard was feeding near to where I saw the baby duck the other day. I looked and looked and could not find the wee one today. Hopefully I will spot it sunning itself in the next couple of days.
There are geese everywhere.
This little fella was flitting around the trees. It looks like a juvenile Least Flycatcher with its dark pointed beak and the white circle around the eye. The wings should show two white bars. They do not just feed on flies – all insects and flies are welcome.
This female Downy Woodpecker was working very hard to try and get some peanut pieces out of this feeder! She had them all to herself!
Making News:
Ospreys are making the news in the UK as re-introduction efforts continue.
The Dyfi Osprey Project announced they would be shutting off the live streaming cam and chat today at 8pm nest time BUT they have changed their mind and will leave it on until Padarn and Idris are gone from the nest.
A group of White Storks escaped from a zoo and went to the beach – they were rescued.
The Sydney Sea Eaglets are walking stronger and working their wings – just like they are supposed to be doing right now. It is nice when they turn back to the centre of the nest with all that jumping. Your heart can fall out if they get near the edge!
Lunch arrives for these two hungry eaglets.
Padarn is still on the Dyfi nest keeping Idris busy bringing in some fish. She is breaking records everywhere in the UK for the longest lingering female Osprey (or any Osprey). She hatched on the 26th of May. She is now 108 days old. How many days will she stay on the nest?
Enjoy this beautiful gal.
Blue 497 remains at the Glaslyn nest also. Aran continues to bring in nice fish – the boys and Mrs G have left the area.
Let’s go back to Australia. That is where the action is!
The new female at the 367 Collins Street scrape is sure not giving the cute little male much time on those eggs this year! Perhaps she doesn’t know too or maybe she is like Diamond and reluctant at times. Hopefully it will all work out with a chick or two.
At Port Lincoln, it is less than a week til hatch watch!!!!!!!!
L4 seems to be enjoying being back on the Cornell Campus after 5 weeks in the rehab centre. It is lovely to see her flying so strong and doing her own hunting. Suzanne Arnold Horning caught her this morning looking out on the territory. L4 has a lovely necklace, just like her Mum, Big Red.
Migration News:
Loch Arkaig appears to be empty with Sarafina on her way to the south for her migration.
News for Karl II’s family: Karl II has not sent any tracker information since 4 September. He is in an active war zone near Kherzon, Ukraine. It is not expected that we will hear any reports form Karl II for 5-6 weeks form that date as per his normal behaviour and time staying at this location during past migrations.
Waba is still in Ukraine.
Kaia is still in the Desna River area of Ukraine.
Bonus remains in the Prypjat River area of Belarus.
From the Archive:
Who is the eaglet? Gold stars if you can name the nest and the parents! Hint: This was the natal nest of the eaglet’s dad.
The eaglet grew up into this beauty.
There is not a lot going on in Bird World. We are seeing migratory birds moving throughout the UK some landing on nests for a rest. There are still Ospreys at Dyfi but all of the other birds from the streaming cams seem to be gone now. Incubation continues at three of the Australian nests. Hatch watch is coming up for Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Some of the Bald Eagles are returning to their nests in the southern US. Avian Flu is still about as owners of factory poultry farms continue to cull birds. The latest was 3 million.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope all of you are well and that you got a chance to see the beautiful harvest moon last night. The skies cleared on the Canadian Prairies just in time to enjoy it rising above the tree tops.
See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their posts, videos, photographs, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: sea eagles@Birdlife Australia, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Ospreys, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Suzanne Arnold Horning, Tim Mackrill, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Looduskalender, NEFL-AEF.
Answer to From the Archive: The nest is the Northeast Florida Bald Eagle nest that once belonged to Romeo and Juliet and passed on to their son, Samson. Samson and his mate Gabrielle (Gabby) had one hatch in 2020. The eaglet’s name was Legacy and she was a beauty.
Friday morning turned out to be a fantastic day to go and check on the birds in a pond in one of the industrial areas of the city. There had been a Great Blue Heron spotted there according to eBird and I hoped to get a glimpse. That beautiful bird and the Lesser Yellowlegs, the Canada Geese, the Mallards, and the gulls did not disappoint.
Then as I was driving around the other side to leave I looked over and saw something ‘white’. It was a beautiful Great Egret wading in the water fishing.
What a lovely way to start the morning! I feel blessed. It is always good for the mind and soul to get out into nature, however long or short one can, and if, by chance, we get to see these beautiful creatures then it is doubly wonderful.
It is also the full moon. Around the world people will be looking up and hoping for clear skies. It is known as the Harvest Moon and is a time of thanksgiving. Many years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to be in Kyoto during the Tsukimi or Moon Viewing Festival. Moon Viewing has been practiced in Japan since the Nara Period from 710-794. One did not look at the moon directly but, rather, observed the moon’s reflection normally in a beautiful pond. Many residences of the aristocracy had moon viewing platforms. Poems were written. Auspicious gifts placed on the tokonama while the flowers, the incense, and the hanging were changed to reflect the move to autumn. I recall stacks of mochi and vases with beautiful sheafs of grain. ‘A’ also reminds me that it is a time for eating dumplings – which we will do later this evening while watching the rabbits pound the mochi in the moon!
Making News:
Yesterday I reported that Big Red and Arthur’s youngest hatch for the 2022 breeding season had been released on the Cornell Campus. Here is the YouTube video of this fantastic event! Please note that L2 is still on campus and has not left- as believed- and hopefully these two will hook up. They were always best friends.
L4 was spotted on the Campus this morning. She has made herself right at home! Suzanne Arnold Horning got a shot of her with her phone.
The raptors really need our help to spread the word. Making the news today is an Osprey with a balloon tangled around its legs. Don’t wait to get to the state that I am in – chasing after every loose balloon I see – but help educate. Tell everyone you know and ask them to tell 5 friends and family. Soon, the web of knowledge will grow and the birds will be safer.
If you live in this area, please keep your eyes open for this bird. Thank you.
It is sadly that time of year. The Bald Eagles and other birds of prey that eat carrion get lead poisoning because our governments will not outlaw the use of lead in any hunting and fishing equipment! They need to ban the manufacture, remove the supplies off the shelves, and stop this senseless pain, suffering, and death. We know the solution. Tell your elected officials. There are alternatives. ——— Of course, as you know, my alternative is to end the recreational shooting of animals – it is barbaric.
Nest News:
Idris brings his daughter, Padarn, a flat fish for her evening tea. What a fantastic dad he has been to this healthy and robust female that will soon, should the winds blow in the right direction, head off on her migration leaving Dad some time to recuperate from what has to have been a tiring summer with three girls and Telyn to take care of!
Padarn was on the perch for the night.
She was still there on Saturday!
The sun was setting on Loch Arkaig. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see if Sarafina is still with us! But there has been no activity on the nest today.
On Saturday Louis was seen on the nest. The last time that Sarafina was seen on the nest was at 0634 on the 9th of September. There have been no visits and no nest calls by Sarafina on Saturday.
Who is home at Glaslyn? It looks like it is Aran and 497. The boys and Mrs G are gone!
Aran is over in the Oak Trees.
497 has been in the nest and on the perch. Aran did not seem to be responding! 497 has had a hard time with siblings and Mrs G around to get some of those fish. Perhaps a few days longer will get this little one in shape to fly if Dad obliges with a nice big breakfast tomorrow!
Talk about beautiful. You can sure tell she is Aran’s offspring. She may have the glare of a female Osprey, but that lovely head turned…that is Aran. Until you see the dark necklace – then Mrs G comes in.
Her dark necklace she gets from Mum, Mrs G.
The nest was empty at dusk.
497 was there on Saturday and Aran was busy bringing her fish!
Xavier convincing Diamond that it is time for her to have her breakfast so he can get some eggie time.
You can see a big change in the Sea Eagles at the Sydney Olympic Park nest. They are standing more on their feet and walking about the nest more. SE29 is really flapping its wings and investigating the branches! Yesterday, SE29 got the fish that Dad had brought to the nest but wasn’t sure what to do with it. Lady took it and fed both!!! ‘J’ wrote that she thought this was the cutest part of it – 29 trying to figure out what to do with the fish! I am grateful she mentioned those moments. You might have seen that instance. I am certain SE30 was delighted when Lady fed both of them.
Look at those nice strong legs. Great wings, too! Developing those muscles. These two are simply precious.
It is fascinating – looking at the nest – how the branches help to camouflage the eaglets.
SE29 will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. What to expect for the next couple of weeks in their development? Their wings will begin to get heavy and you will notice that they will begin to sit with them drooping. There will be more hopping and flapping of their wings and by the end of week 9 they should be able to mantle, hold their food and tear off pieces to eat. They will begin sleeping upright with their head tucked into their wing like the adults. Their feathers will continue to develop all over their body. Watch at the end of the two weeks to see them standing on one leg!
Dad on the ropes and Mum on those three eggs at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. It is the 11th of September in Australia. Do you know what this means? We could be one week from hatch!!!!!!!!!!!
Incubation continues at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne! But there are strange things going on…I wonder how this will turn out.
Mum departed around 0856. Dad came and stayed on the eggs after they had been left for an hour. He stayed about 15 minutes. The eggs were left uncovered for another 43 minutes…and then Mum finally comes and settles down after 2 hours. She then leaves again briefly a little later. This couple appears to have trouble getting their rhythm going…let’s hope it is all worked out by hatch.
Mothering is not always easy, especially the first time!
There are still chicks on one of the Finnish Osprey nests.
CROW provided a really good post today especially with regard to birds and window strike. It is migration season…have a read. Tell your friends and family to turn off their lights and also tell them how to help stunned birds. Thanks so much!
Continuing in our tracking of the Estonian Black Stork family of Karl II, there is no tracking or transmissions for Karl II today.
Bonus remains in Belarus in the same general area of the Priyapat River he has been feeding at. The fish and frogs must be plentiful!
Kaia is still feeding near the Desna River in Ukraine.
Waba is near the Makachinsky Hydrological Reserve which is also in Ukraine like his parents Kaia and Karl II.
Maya and Blue 33’s first hatch of the 2022 season, 1H1, has been seen in Portugal.
From the Archives. Two images today!
First: Can you name this nest? Do you remember the names of the chicks? It was 29 September 2021. Gold stars for anyone who can put the name with the right osplet!
Second: Do you remember the circumstance where these two images were taken?
Thank you so much for being with me today. I hope that you have a wonderful start to your weekend. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their tweets, posts, and streaming cams that formed my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab, Suzanne Arnold Horning, A Place Called Hope, Raptor Educational Group, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Ospreys, BirdCast, CROW, Looduskalender, LRWT, and Cape Wildlife Clinic.
Answer to From the Archives:
First. It is the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Mum is feeding Bazza (top), Ervie (middle), and Falky (bottom). You can see that the osplets have lost their soft down and are in the Reptilian Phase – looking like dark black crude was poured over them.
Second. This is Arnold and Amelia the bonded pair of Canada Geese. Arnold had its foot injured by a snapping turtle and had to have surgery. It shocked the vets when they heard a tapping on the glass door. There was Arnold’s mate. The vets realized that the pair had to be together. Amelia was allowed to share meals and whenever Arnold was moved outside she would break into the pen to be with him. This was a really learning moment if every wildlife rehabber paid attention ——–do not take one Canada Goose into care without its mate. Many times volunteers pick up the injured one and whisk it off tens of miles away. The remaining one of the couple is ‘lost’ and depressed and sometimes does not eat.
Thursday was truly a bit of an uneventful day mostly spent waiting on a parcel delivery that came much, much later than anticipated! It was a good time to just watch the garden to see what was happening. For Dyson fans, she is back to her normal self since having the babies. She was flying off branches today, landing on the deck, grabbing peanuts and running so fast I could not catch her on camera! Two of the Crows alerted me to the presence of the cat under the bird feeders. My goodness, they are quite remarkable and were given ‘extra treats’ – cheesy sausages – for their good work in protecting the rabbit and the songbirds. It has also been quite in Bird World, pretty much. These images have been shot quickly through a screen!
The Crows on the line cawing very loudly and looking at the cat below the feeders.The culprit – a well fed pet!
In the Mailbox:
A couple of days ago, ‘B’ asked which gender migrated earlier – males or females? I have spent time asking Osprey experts and have uncovered some preliminary data using the Dyfi charts. It seems that gender is always discussed with regard to fledging but is only a footnote when it comes to migration. With a very small sample, males are 75% more likely to migrate first than females 90 days and under.
The chart below is of the Dyfi chicks. So those who fledged at 90 days, 75% more males than females. As you can see the older the chicks get, there are more females that take longer in the nest to migrate after fledging. I cannot assume that this is the same for other nests but, for now, this is the clearest data chart I have found for us to interpret. I will be looking for others in the days to come.
‘L’ wrote to me about the new climate bill in the US. The Audubon Society had posted an article on the 12 ways that it will help birds – and other wildlife. Thanks for sending me that article, ‘L’. I am certain others will find it of interest, too.
Mississippi Power is putting up some Osprey Poles. How wonderful! Maybe they will place some more nests and other utility companies will follow suit. Sitting on the Canadian Prairies it is easy to imagine the number of Ospreys that might choose to winter along the Gulf or in the Gulf States.
The Royal Albatross and the campaign to change the long line fish trawling practices may have a new champion in King Charles III.
Nest News:
Based on their size and weight, the wildlife rehabber believes that Big Red and Arthur’s L3 and L4 are both female! Nice. That explains a lot about L4’s behaviour in the nest — not afraid of anything, just barreling over the others to get to the beak. Is it possible they were all females?
L4
At the Osprey nest of Aran and Mrs G in the Glaslyn Valley in Wales, all three of this years fledglings have joined the 100 Club. This means that they have been on the nest for over 100 days and counting before migrating. Today they are 106, 105, and 102 days old! Aran might be wondering if everyone has decided to over winter.
This was early Thursday morning. Mrs G is in the second photo. It was the last seen of her. The time was 08:58. If she isn’t hiding down in the Oaks or trying to fool us, Mrs G has now left for her migration. She took a piece of fish off one of the fledglings just to top up her tank! If you have left Mrs G, safe travels, lots of fish, and return again next spring – you remain the oldest osprey in the UK and what a lovely group of offspring this year!
Idris continues to deliver fish to Padarn. It looks like some are very happy to stay in Wales!
Padarn this morning. She is still in Wales!
Louis still has Sarafina fish calling!
The Melbourne scrape seems to be getting a lot of attention lately. First up, the building number is 367 Collins Street. There are now 36.7 members of the FB group. That is an incredible number of supporters. Here is the announcement:
There has been much concern over the incubation time and whether or not there was another male falcon present at the building. Victor Hurley, the chief researcher of the nest for the Victorian Peregrine Falcon Research group posted this today on FB:
The images that I have taken today appear to me to be the same male that has been at this nest since I began watching some years ago. Dad is relieving Mum so she can have a break this morning.
Later the couple were having a conversation.
In Orange, there is heavy rain falling. Diamond watches it from inside the scrape. Xavier has been in and out helping with incubation duties. I hope he is somewhere trying to stay dry.
At the Sea Eagles nest, it was chilly and the two eaglets wanted nothing more than to be able to shrink so all of them would fit under Mum.
Dad brought a little fish in for their breakfast so that Lady could feed the two.
Both SE29 and SE30 are really getting much more steady on their feet and they are spending more time walking on top of this twig nest. That surely cannot be easy!
At the Port Lincoln Osprey barge, Mum has been hungry. Dad has been known to bring in a fish, eat a large portion of it before bringing her a piece. Today he brought her a really nice sized larger fish for her tea. How wonderful. Thank you, Dad! Mum was really excited for that lovely dinner.
Looks like Alden’s funny quirks have rubbed off on Annie who was caught ‘loafing’ on the ledge of The Campanile on Thursday.
Oh, how I love Samson. He was at the NE Florida Bald Eagle nest today waiting for his mate, Gabby, to arrive from her migration. Like Richmond, the SF Bay Osprey, Samson stays in the area of the nest and does not migrate. Both Rosie (Richmond’s mate) and Gabby, do. Gabby is usually home by the 12th of September.
Migration News:
There is information from Bonus, Jan and Janika’s Black Storklet that was fostered by Kaia and Karl II. Bonus remains in Belarus near the Pripyat River where he has been feeding for some time.
Kaia remains in the general vicinity she has been in Ukraine.
Karl II is still believed to be in the area of Kherzov. We now know that the telecommunications in the area is down. Storks should, unless shelled by accident, wish to stay away form the people and there are the many nature reserves in this area where Karl II stayed for long periods in previous years. I am trying to remain positive for him!
Waba has had trouble with the tracker so there is no conclusive report.
From the archive:
Do you know which nest this was? The year is 2020. The older sibling supported the younger. The Magpie helped ‘this eaglet’ when the Pied Curra were attacking? The third image is the last one at the nest.
Thank you so much for being with me on this very quiet Friday in Bird World. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their posts, videos, tweets, and streaming cams that make up my screen captures: Dfyi Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab, The Scottish Daily Express, Mississippi Power, Royal Cam Albatross Group NZ, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Charles Sturt falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Cal Falcons, NEFL-AEF, and Looduskalender.
From the Archive Answer: That is SE25 supporting SE26 after its little leg was broken. Lady is feeding both of them. SE26 struggled in the forest after fledging. After 6 days returned to the nest massively hungry and exhausted. Lady and Dad fed SE26. When 26 had recuperated, she flew to the camera branch where she was attacked by the Pied Currawong. A Magpie came to help 26. That is the last picture we have of SE26 in the forest. She flew out, chased by Curra, during the time of a storm and landed on the balcony of a 22nd floor condo some 1.5 km away in Horn Bush. SE26 was taken into care and euthanized, sadly. It was believed the damage to her leg would cause extensive pain and could not be repaired properly. It was a very, very sad day. SE26 was inspirational to all you watched her struggles to ‘be an eagle’…she flew. That is one consolation. What we learned was that the Pied Currawong are unrelenting in chasing the Sea Eagles out of the forest. This has caused extensive difficulties which have been noted in recent years with SE27 going in and out of care and requiring training to fly and hunt prey.
