It’s a Pip at Port Lincoln and other news in Bird World

17 September 2022

Good Morning Everyone!

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.

ps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/14/unstoppable-bird-flu-epidemic-causes-growing-alarm-among-dutch-farmers

File:Animal Abuse Battery Cage 01.jpg” by Compassion Over Killing is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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.

It is good to have a reminder.

https://thecorrespondent.com/831/the-next-pandemic-is-being-hatched-in-industrial-poultry-farms/1080687412200-1dda10f4

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!!!!!!!