Tag Archives: Bald Eagles

Late Friday in Bird World

LOL. It looks like Ervie roosted on the perch last night. The angle of the camera only allowed you to see the nails of the talons if you looked really close. He is back on the nest waiting for his breakfast fish!

They were moving the camera when I caught a glimpse of Ervie on the perch.

No one else appears to be on the barge. Ervie will be hoping that Dad or Mum will hear his calls for breakfast.

Andy and Lena of the Captiva Osprey Nest on Sanibel Island now have three eggs.

Despite the fact that I am always checking on on E19 and E20 at the SWFlorida Bald Eagle Nest, I often don’t comment. That is a shame. These are two of the best behaved Bald Eagles I have seen. It feels like the year for that. The Port Lincoln lads lined up and ate and really didn’t have much rivalry at all until they had fledged. E19 and E20 had a bit but that went away quickly. They are marvellous. I hope that Lena and Andy hatch three well behaved Ospreys, too. We will not know, however, as the owner has decided that once the eggs hatch the camera will go offline until the ospreys are too big for the Crows to take.

Meanwhile E19 and E20 are being ‘filled up’. Look at that crop.

The little one at the KNF nest could be heard chirping loud and clear wanting to be fed. Louis was brooding and, well, Louis is a great fisher but he isn’t such a good feeder – at least not yet. Give him time.

That little eaglet is very strong. It can clamour up the egg cup after food besides being able to sit upright for a bit.

Louis has brought more fish and Anna is brooding the eaglet now. It will get a nice feed. The microphones Cody installed are fantastic. You can hear the eaglet clamouring for a feeding under Anna!

Anna got up right away and gave the baby some nice big bites of Pike.

This little eaglet is so patient and Anna is a splendid Mum.

The baby will have a nice big crop when Anna finishes feeding but they aren’t going to show us. Look at how chubby it is already! This is one of the strongest little bobbleheads I have ever seen. A great family to watch. No worries about sibling rivalry or hunger here! The chat moderator, Tonya, has just confirmed that when Kisatchie, their eaglet last year, was 13 days old, Louis brought in 8 fish and Anna brought in 2 for a total of 10 fish on the nest in case the chick got hungry!!!! (or Mum or Dad). Wow. I recall that big stack of fish in the corner.

Remember to send in your name suggestions to nameknfeagle@gmail.com by 30 Jan. Let’s give this great eaglet a super name! Everyone can join in. They will select some names for a final voting.

Here is the link to this great Eagle family in case you lost it.

If you are looking for something to do on a Friday evening, if you haven’t seen it, I highly suggest the movie about Pale Male, the Red-tail Hawk that lives in New York City’s Central Park. He is 32 years old this year. Him and Octavia still live in the park. It is free. Scroll down for the white rectangle that says ‘Watch It’. It is an inspirational story of how the people of the City came together to save the nest of this amazing hawk.

https://www.thelegendofpalemale.net/

It looks like there could be a pip or a large crack in the second egg at Berry College. Will continue to monitor.

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

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Berry College Bald Eagles, SWFlorida Bald Eagles and D Pritchett, KNF Bald Eagles, Captiva Ospreys, and Port Lincoln Osprey Project.

Friday in Bird World

Just about the time I begin to think, and then say, that it looks like the parents at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge are slowing down with fish deliveries, they bring two nice sized fish to Ervie. There was a huge chunk at 07:34 and another nice fish arrived at 15:20. Ervie didn’t actually start eating it until 16:25. Ervie was the only lad about. Bazza was last seen on Sunday the 9th and Falky was last seen on the ropes with Mum and Dad at 19:40 on the 12th. Will Ervie stay or go?

Ervie is still full from the morning fish when the afternoon delivery arrives.

Ervie is still eating at 17:34! My goodness those were nice fish brought to the nest. Ervie finished off his fish and flew off the left side of the nest.

Will that be our last sighting of Ervie on the nest? No one slept on the barge last night. We wait.

Missy has been feeding the little one on the Berry College Eagle Nest. It appears to be doing fine. Everyone is watching for the second egg. Sadly that broken shell has really attached itself to that egg.

I believe this is Missy’s first eaglet to survive. She is figuring feedings out!

B15 is getting stronger. You can see the issue with the second egg clearly here. I cannot tell if the extra piece of shell is over the narrow or wide part of the egg. The eaglets pip on the wider end. Pip watch coming for that second egg.

The nest is empty this morning at Big Bear, California but everyone is on egg watch for Shadow and Jackie.

Anna let Louis brood the chick this morning! Last year she waited a long time and Lous is delighted to be involved with his chick. Both Anna and Louis have been on the KNF nest this morning and the eaglet is eating well. Lots of nice fish for everyone on that nest!

There seem to be two words used for Harriet and M15’s E19 and E20. They are ‘nice’ and ‘cute’. Look at the feathers coming on E19 and E20 and then look at Anna’s baby above. They change so quickly!

This is a great little film about the Kakapo. Since it is breeding season and we are looking at eggs, it seems like a good time to refresh what we know about this very endangered non-flying parrot and how they are cared for. The update on the numbers is that there are now 202 Kakapo down from 208 the beginning of last year.

Daisy the Duck has not returned to the White-Bellied Sea Eagle Nest to lay eggs since she visited with her mate on 1 January. That was two-weeks ago. Fingers crossed she has found another spot and is successful. One of the women who visits the centre was to send us images of Daisy paddling but nothing so far. Maybe Daisy is away from the area of water around the Discovery Centre and the Duck Pond.

Great Horned Owls have been mating on the Savannah Osprey Nest and the GHOWs have been mating on the nest that was stolen from a young Bald Eagle couple in Newton, Kansas last year. The couple who became known as Bonnie and Clyde raised two of the cutest little owlets on this nest. When the eggs are laid, I will definitely let you know.

For the most part the Owls and the Eagles live cooperatively but I really don’t like the owls when they try to knock the eagles off or hurt their eyes and heads as at the WBSE Nest by the small BooBook Owls and at SWFlorida when it is a GHOW hitting M15 and knocking him off the branch into the nest, sometimes.

One thing I did not know is that there are no Great Horned Owls near the WRDC Bald Eagle Nest in Miami-Dade County. The Coot delivered yesterday, the second one to arrive as prey on the nest, is gone! They seem to love the taste of that waterfowl. My eagle expert tells me that the WRDC are thinking about putting up more nests like this one for the eagles. Fantastic. It seems to be a really good design and they can work out any kinks watching this nest.

R1 ate well and now Dad is making sure that R2 is full to the brim. Ron, you are a great Dad! You can see R1 passed out in a food coma and Ron has even moved across the nest to feed the youngest sibling. Fantastic.

Today is Day 40 for the eggs at Captiva Bald Eagle Nest on Sanibel, Island. It is the home of Connie and her new mate, Clive. There is some chatter that the eggs might not be fertile. Let’s wait and see.

I haven’t seen any of Ervie’s tracking uploaded since 26 December. I will be checking on the PLO nest during the rest of the day to see if anyone returns to the barge at Port Lincoln. That wing of his could be our last sighting of the Erv until people along the coast send in images of him. There appears to be a huge interest ‘and caring’ for the Osprey in the region. That really helps!

Take care everyone. Have a great end to your week. Thank you for joining me. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Berry College Eagle Cam, KNF Bald Eagles, Friends of Big Bear, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Forest, Captiva Bald Eagles, Farmer Derek Owl Cam, and the WRDC Bald Eagle Nest.

Thursday in Bird World

I genuinely hope that the Bird World community does not have a fright like it did this morning when Gabby had not returned to relieve Samson of incubation duties for nearly 24 hours. Samson seemed nonplused by it all and maybe he knew where Gabby was. She has been known to disappear for a bit in the past but it seems unusual rip before pip. At any rate, all is well at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest outside of Jacksonville, Florida.

A video has been posted of an intruder chase at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest around the time that Gabby returned to the nest at 11:53. It would, thus, appear, as I thought, that her absence was based on a territorial issue rather than one of her ‘disappearing’.

B15 hatched this morning at 07:57 at Berry College. Everyone thought Missy might not ‘know to feed it’. She was up eating and looked over several times to see if its head was up and beak open. She knows what to do! Like the KNF eaglet, this little one is pooped from hatching.

B15 is a real little cutie! It looks very strong.

I sure wish Missey had gotten rid of those egg shells when B15 hatched. You will note that one has slipped over the end of the second egg. Hopefully this will not cause B16 trouble when hatching!

B15 looks so tiny compared to Harriet and Mitch’s eaglets at the Hilton Head Island Trust Bald Eagle Nest. Their feathers are starting to come in. Poor things. They are always preening and we think that they must be itchy.

I think this is a new take on ‘Sleeping with the Fishes’. Ron has been keeping the nest full of fish for Rita and the babies. He can often be seen feeding the little ones himself. They are doing nicely and this human-made nest seems to be working out well. Perhaps this design will be needed in areas that lose trees in big storms or fires.

The two of them are adorable. They scoot around all over the nest.

Bingo! Anna and the baby finally got feeding worked out. The little eaglet is going to have a nice crop. Louis is already beginning to fill the nest up with big fish.

I love seeing Louis and Anna on the nest. Look at that nice Pike that Louis brought in for lunch! And there is the little one with its crop holding its head up pretty good. It was so full it just fell over into food coma.

Louis has brought in more fish! No shortage of things for the family to eat. Louis is one of the most enthusiastic fisher-dads I have ever seen.

Anna and the yet to be named baby eaglet have figured all of this out! Just look there is a little tail!

This eaglet is seriously cute. The Rangers are looking for a name. Anyone can send in a suggestion. It should be gender neutral. Send name in an e-mail to: nameknfeagle@gmail.com Send it by 30 January.

You can see the tail and the strong wings below. Oh, adorable. This eaglet is going to be like Kisatchie – there were days you would think s/he was going to pop they had been fed so much. Anna is the kind of Mum that wants you to ‘take just one more bite, pleaseeeee’.

Just doing a quick check on the Port Lincoln Lads. Ervie was, of course, on the nest last night and Mum brought him a fish before bedtime. There are fewer and fewer fish deliveries indicating that the parents want all the boys to be out fishing themselves.

At 07:33:57, someone did, however, deliver Ervie a nice big chunk of fish!

Ervie has the fish.

That fish is under his talents but he is still mantling and flapping and prey calling. Just eat and enjoy it, Ervie.

An hour later Ervie is still eating his fish. His ‘gas tank’ is full!

I have been thinking about Ervie a lot. I have to tell a story to make my point. Years ago we had a black and white cat called Melvin. It was a time when cats could be outside where I live. Melvin loved nothing more than to roll in the dirt! He was always dusty. One day, when he was 2 years old, he disappeared. We looked and called but, nothing. Four days later Melvin was at the door crying to get in. We noticed some strange marks on his paws. It looked like thin wire had worn the fur off and there were a couple of holes. Had he gotten caught in a barbed wire fence? The result of his misadventure was real trauma. Melvin hid in the bedroom and walk-in closet. He rarely came out into the other areas of the house. When we had our cat sitter, Heather, she would take a flashlight to check he was OK under the bed and put his food there. Over the decade she helped us, she never actually saw Melvin, not once, just his eyes. Melvin lived 15 years in hiding, more or less. He would come out with us but no one else. While we will never know what happened to him, that event changed his life. This brings me to Ervie. If you remember, Ervie was the one going everywhere and being independent. It was Bazza on the nest. Then Ervie was away flying south of Port Lincoln. He has not left the nest since except to chase Falky. His behaviour has changed dramatically. Did he try to catch a fish and couldn’t get out of the water easily? We will never know what he experienced. I hope to goodness I am wrong about something traumatic happening to Ervie. He is clearly the dominant bird but why isn’t he out exploring?

The Audubon Society has announced today that the Migratory Bird Act has been brought back and will be strengthened in the US. Here is that information.

https://www.audubon.org/news/bird-protections-restored-and-key-process-advances-strengthen-rules?ms=policy-adv-email-ea-x-engagement_20220113_advisory&utm_source=ea&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=engagement_20220113_advisory&emci=3a9150f3-9e74-ec11-94f6-c896650d4442&emdi=35bb543f-a274-ec11-94f6-c896650d4442&ceid=5004576

And, last but never least, the Kakapo Recovery. Today’s report on the breeding attempts and eggs. This is great news coming out of New Zealand.

It’s an exciting time full of ups and downs. We are on pip watch for Captiva and NEFlorida and with two recent hatches at Berry and KNF – well, it is difficult to keep track of all of them! I am really pleased at Anna and the eaglet getting the feedings worked out. It is all good down in Louisiana. I look forward to tomorrow. Think about a name for this cute eaglet and send it off!

Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me today. Take care.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: KNF Bald Eagle Nest, Berry College, Kakapo Recovery, Port Lincoln Ospreys, WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, and Hilton Head Island Trust.

Where was Gabby?

My goodness! Everyone got a real scare this morning.

Gabrielle, Gabby, and Samson are getting ready for their two eggs in The Hamlet Bald Eagle nest, near Jacksonville, Florida, to pip. In the 2020-21 season they raised Legacy and in the 2019-20 season they raised Jules and Romey, named after Samson’s parents who had this nest first, Romeo and Juliet.

Gabby flew off the nest for a break yesterday at 12:30pm and was not been seen for nearly 24 hours. Samson has been on the nest incubating the eggs waiting for Gabby to return.

The trees surrounding the nest were examined and wildlife rehabbers within a 2 miles radius were called to see if a mature female Bald Eagle is in care. Nothing.

I began to dread that this was a repeat of Romeo and Juliet’s history on this nest. Juliet was injured (or killed). Romeo tried to take care of the nest to have a female intruder remove and kill the hatched eaglet. He subsequently left the nest. Samson, their son, hatched on 23 December 2013 took over the nest in 2019.

Well, we will never know where Gabby was but, she has returned to the nest!!!!!!! I kept looking at the eagle on the nest and saying to myself, ‘This sure looks like Gabby’. The American Eagle Foundation just announced her return. My heart skipped three beats.

There have been intruders. Samson is alarming.

Gabby is on the right and Samson is on alert. Neither parent is on the eggs. Protecting their territory is more important than the eggs.

Gabby back on the two eggs.

Gabby is very nervous. The wind is blowing and she is being ever vigilant. The other rule amongst eagles is that if it is a male intruder, the male chases it. If it is a female intruder, the female goes after the interloper. I hope whatever is concerning Samson and Gabby leaves!!!!!!!!

This is the link to their camera.

Please send out your warm positive thoughts to Gabby and Samson as they enter the pip stage. We do not want a repeat of Samson’s parent’s tragedy to happen to this wonderful Bald Eagle couple!

Just some quick news. Berry College has its first hatch.

Anna and the little one at the KNF Bald Eagle nest are still figuring out feeding and eating. It is a repeat of Kisatchie last year! Made me incredibly nervous. They figured it out so fingers crossed again.

I will return with more Bird World News in the early evening. Waking up to see Gabby had been missing so long took the air out of my sails.

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

Thank you to the NEFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and the AEF for their streaming cam where I took these screen captures.

Wednesday in Bird World

Oh, gosh, golly. Just when you think the day is going to be quiet, Missy at the Berry College Bald Eagle Nest in Mt Berry, Georgia, has a pip. The announcement of the pip was posted on FB this morning.

I just took this image a few minutes ago. The chick is making good progress! That is not a video. That arrow just shows up when you try to take a screen shot on their camera.

Speaking of cameras, Berry College has three – an approach one, one above the nest, and one closer to the nest. If you want to see thee action on hatch, I think the camera closer to the nest is the best. Their cameras are not on YouTube.

https://www.berry.edu/eaglecam/nest2

What spells Bald Eagle Fluff Ball better than cute? Be prepared to melt. Anna and Louis’s 15-hour-old chick is adorable.

Oh, the fluff balls grow too quick and get pin feathers in a blink. Soak them in when they are like this. So precious.

Bald Eagle parents work on instinct. There isn’t a manual on eagle parenting tucked under the nest. This is only Anna’s second chick. Last year I almost had a sore throat yelling at Anna to get closer to Kisatchie to feed him and for Kisatchie to turn around, face Mum (or Dad, Louis feeds his babies), and open that beak wide. Anna and this little one are struggling too. The little one is ready to eat and opens its beak wide and tries the grass in the nest! It has its back to Anna who is trying to feed it. She gets closer and the little one takes its first bite. This will only improve as Anna remembers and the little one figures out its part in the feeding-eating process.

Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinics work on donations and the sweat, tears, and love of volunteers. Our local clinic, Wildlife Haven, put out a call for donations to help a Snowy Owl in December. Today they were joyful in sending out a short video on its release. So happy to have been a small part of this success story!

There is currently no pip at the Captiva Bald Eagle nest. Waiting for Friday!

There is also no Daisy the Duck on the Sea Eagles nest in Sydney and that is a good thing!

Down at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge, Ervie is on the nest crying for a fish delivery. Twice now he has flown off the nest as if he saw an adult with a fish. He returned quickly the first time. Let’s see if he comes back with a fish the second time. No, empty taloned!

In Durbe, Milda and Mr L have returned to the nest to move around some sticks. There is still lots of snow in Latvia, just like Manitoba! I am really looking forward to Milda laying eggs and having a successful fledge of chick or chicks this spring. That would be so wonderful. Losing her long term mate, Raimis, last spring just sparked more and more sadness.

Just like Milda and Mr L, Annie and Grinnell are hanging out on The Campanile. Their scrape box is ready and waiting for those precious eggs in a couple of months. Cal Falcons posted this on their Twitter site today. So happy it will be Annie and Grinnell. The interloper has not been seen for a month! Yeah!!!!!!!

Annie is still there several hours later. Can you see her by the camera, perched on the pipe?

For other baby eaglets, it looks like it is fish dinners in Miami-Dade County and over in Fort Myers. R2 and R3 really seem to enjoy the fresh fish that Dad brings in. There have been several other varieties of prey items including a parrot and a coot. Did you know that Bald Eagles fish in both fresh and salt water?

E19 and E20 are also having fish. It is so hard to tell them apart. There is a white line under the cere of one of them but E20 does not seem to be that much different in size from its older sibling, E20. It is difficult to tell who is who sometimes. I ‘think’ it is E19 at the bottom of the screen and E20 in the middle.

Oh, tomorrow, the chick at Berry College will have fully hatched, the little one at the KNF nest will be stronger with its eyes more focused, and then there should be a pip coming at Captiva. Goodness.

There has been more snow on and off all day on the Canadian Prairies. There were 57 European Starlings in the Lilac Bushes and back trees this morning. They are still here. The feeders were filled twice. It is now 16:08 and it will not be long til every bird goes off to roost. It is normally dark here by 16:45. It is now 16:25 and all the birds are gone. It is absolutely still in the garden as new snow falls.

Thank you for joining me today. Please take care. See you soon.

A big thank you to the following for their streaming cams, Twitter, or FB pages where I took my screen captures: KNF Bald Eagle Nest, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Berry College Eagles, Cal Falcons, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, SWFlorida and D Pritchett Bald Eagle Nest, Wildlife Haven, Bald Eagles Live Nest Cam News, and the Latvian Fund for Nature.

KNF has a hatch

There are 57 European Starlings in my garden this morning. They are very skittery. Normally there are only 28. It is -12 and they are swooping down to get the chopped peanuts and sunflower seeds on the edge of the deck. They have already emptied the feeders. It is 10:49! They did that in less than two hours. Crazy.

The Starlings and Sparrows try – as hard as they can – to get those whole peanuts out but, they can’t. The peanuts go over in a box for little red and the little feeder gets full of meal worms, butter bark, and chopped peanuts. Often the Starlings will share a branch with the Sparrows so that all can eat.

The Black-capped Chickadee was all puffed up. It is fascinating how they take one tiny seed, fly to crack it and then return for another. We have one chickadee that always comes to the garden. On occasion, it will bring a couple of friends.

A few of us could not sleep last night and got up to wait for Anna and Louis’s little one to finish hatching. Cody and Steve had put a microphone inside the nest and you could hear the baby cheeping. It was soooo cute. Anna called Louis to show him their baby around 12:32. Everyone melted. It is incredible to be able to see this type of tenderness between Bald Eagles.

Louis wants to get closer and have a good look at the little fluff ball.

The rangers at the KNF nest believe that the little one was fully hatched at 00:17:00 on 12 January.

The lads at KNF spent a great effort getting that audio situated just right so, yes, please turn it up!

Here is the video of that hatch.

This is the wee one this morning. So soft! So fragile.

Anna will keep that baby nice and warm.

This is a very healthy and very tired eaglet. It worked really hard to get through that membrane and crushed egg. The fluids inside the egg provide the food for the eaglet so that it does not have to eat right away. Mother Nature is great – she compensated by giving it food because hatch is so tiring. Despite Louis’s enthusiasm for bringing in fish, this little one might not be interested in eating until late this evening.

Other Bird News:

There is no pip at Captiva Bald Eagle Nest yet. We might be waiting for two more days. Today is Day 38 and Connie’s eggs normally hatch around Day 40. Pa Berry and Missey are not giving anything away so it is unclear if there is a pip at Berry College. Ervie continues to chase Falky off the Port Lincoln Barge in Australia. Ervie was in the nest and Mum, Dad, and Falky were on the ropes. No sign of Bazza since Sunday. That statement does not imply anything sinister. He could be off camera or he might have decided it was time to leave on his journey to find a territory for himself — before his two brothers. That could be a very smart idea. I am pretty certain that Ervie will want the best spot!

R1 and R2 at the WRDC nest are really doing well and becoming more and more curious. They peak out to the rest of the world. These two of Ron and Rita’s seem to love to scramble out of that nest cup! If you don’t see parents right on the nest do not worry. They will definitely be close by!

They are just darlings. It looks like fish has been on the menu this morning.

Harriet and M15’s E19 and E20 are changing so quickly from the fuzzy little balls like the KNF eaglet to getting feathers. You can see the flight feathers coming in on the wing in the picture below. Look at those feet and the little tiny tails. They grow too fast!!!!!

The Hilton Head pair are also interested in what is going on outside their world. That low nest wall really makes me nervous. They are getting ‘long and lanky’ like E19 and E20 and soon we will be able to see their pinfeathers coming in clearly. Like the WRDC Bald Eagle Nest, Harriet and Mitch will be somewhere close by to their babies. No worries!

Oh, it is so nice that that little one of Anna and Louis arrived safe. What a relief when they finally make it into the world.

Thank you so much for joining me. It is so nice to have you with me today. Take care! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen shots: KNF Bald Eagle Nest, Hilton Head Island Trust, SWFlorida Bald Eagle Nest and D Pritchett, and the WRDC Bald Eagle Nest.

Late Tuesday evening in Bird World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KNF Hatch Progressing Well

The hatching at the Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle nest is progressing nicely. These are the latest images of the egg at 12:58 CDT.

As you are probably aware, the adults do not help the chick hatch. It is too dangerous for the fragile baby. There are also thoughts that the chick must survive the hatch to be able to survive in the wild.

The chick has a nice hole but it needs to get through that membrane.

It is unclear if this is egg 1 or egg 2. Anna had a bad landing and broke one of the eggs. Egg 1 would be 38 days old today and egg 2 would be 35 days old. It is a bit of a toss up. There were some marks on egg 1 and many watchers believe the egg that survived is egg 1. At the end of the day, it only matters for the data which egg it is. I simply want a healthy chick to get out of that egg. You can hear the sweet little thing cheeping sometimes. Anna must be excited.

Louis has returned to the nest. Is he wanting Anna to give him a turn? or is he there protecting the nest? Eagles that hatch with the membranes like this usually take a little longer than the clear break of the egg. Everything will be fine though! It just could be a little while.

Oh, thank you. You can see the chick’s beak with the egg tooth breaking that hole big. All around the shell is crushed.

Hi there…just a little longer. What an adorable little chirp. The eaglet has now broken through that membrane and can breathe air! It is doing so well.

That little one is really chirping. You can actually see it push outwards from inside the shell. Adorable. Anna watches her little one try to break into the world. This will be the second successful hatch for this young couple.

Anna is being so careful.

There are still no signs of a pip at Berry College. Both adults were on the nest when I checked in. Eggs were being rolled.

As far as I know, there are no pips at NEFlorida with Gabby and Samson yet.

If we are lucky, they will all pip and hatch on different days. It would be very difficult to watch all the eagle nests! Possible. But much better one at a time! With Harriet and M15’s E19 and E20 moving into the stage of getting feather growth, it is really exciting to have some new bobble heads coming our way.

I wonder what is going on at Captiva? Clive got off of the eggs and there is no real close up. Pip? Unknown.

So what is up with the PLO Lads? Sometimes when I check, it is only Ervie on the camera. Are there other family members on the barge? It is hard to say. Some could be sitting up on the wheel house. Mum and Dad could be over on the old barge so they have some peace and quiet!

Late in the evening, around 20:44, Ervie took off from the perch. At this time it appears that no one else is on the barge. He flies around the barge. He is seen on camera several times.

Gone.

Flying back.

Ervie does this interesting touch take off on the nest.

I wanted to make sure it was Ervie. You can see his sat-pak between the wings clearly in the image below.

Ervie returns at 20:45:23 to the nest with a very small fish it appears. Now this is the question. We can see no other members of the family on camera. But it is also impossible to tell if Ervie is wet. The camera is blurry for some reason. If he were wet, then he would have caught the fish. I actually suspect one of the adults delivered Ervie the small fish off camera. That is always something to remember- just because we cannot see what is happening does not mean it isn’t happening. Adult Osprey deliver fish at various locations for their fledglings.

In the middle of the night there are at least two other family members on the barge with Ervie on the nest — ‘his’ nest.

Morning has come and everyone appears to be off the barge leaving Ervie on the nest.

Ron has been doing a great job feeding R1 and R2 on the WRDC Bald Eagle nest. Those little ones are doing really, really well. Always a variety of food!

It has warmed up on the Canadian Prairies. It is now a balmy -14 C. Seriously after -32 it almost feels like spring. Most of the birds in the garden are the European Starlings. I think they are gorgeous birds.

Today is also bread making day and it is time to take those loaves out of the oven and find some nice butter.

Thank you for joining me. It is so exciting. There will be a fluff ball down at the KNF nest soon! Take care everyone. Please stay safe.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: the KNF Bald Eagle Nest, Berry College Eagle Nest, NE Florida Bald Eagle Nest and the AEF, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, and the Captiva Bald Eagle Cam.

Monday in Bird World. 10 Jan 2022

I was so very excited last evening that I could barely sleep. It really is marvellous to be able to look into the lives of wild birds without harming them – watching them from egg to fledge. What an honour it was to see Falky catch a fish off the Port Lincoln barge yesterday. As far as I am aware, it is the first time a fledgling has been seen on camera catching a fish at the nest. Here is that incredible moment again:

Several hours later, with the camera focused on Falky’s perch, the sunlight playing on the water seemed to agree that Falky was a star.

Falky had another fish at 20:26:33 that he brought onto the ropes and ate. From the background noises, it would appear that this was a delivery to the nest.

Bazza has not been seen on camera since the 9th. At that time he had a nice crop indicating that he is either catching his own fish or is being fed off camera. He could be anywhere on the barge nest and we cannot him or he may have decided he wanted to move on to find his own territory ahead of Falky and Ervie. Right now Ervie is enjoying having fish deliveries. The lads are still sleeping. It is Tuesday, January 11 in Southern Australia. Wonder what will happen today on the Port Lincoln barge?

I continue to check on the three or four Bald Eagle nests I monitor for pipping. So far, I have heard nothing but, it is entirely possible that I missed something! Which reminds me. Thank you to ‘A-M’ for sending me a comment about Falky catching the fish. I am incredibly grateful. Luckily I had been watching and seen the catch but, if I had not known…well, thank you for the alert, ‘A-M’. It was an incredible moment. Still smiling.

The Kakapo Recover Project in New Zealand reported that the non-flying parrots had started breeding on Christmas Eve. This information was posted on their website yesterday.

R1 and R2 continue to do well on the Wildlife Recovery Nest of Dade County in Florida. Ron is keeping the pantry full of fish today and both of them have been feeding the eaglets.

The two eaglets of Mitch and Harriet on the nest at the Hilton Head Island Trust in South Carolina are really growing and doing fantastic.

Just look at the full crops on those kids!

The second egg for Lena and Andy 2 at the Captiva Osprey Nest on Sanibel Island is due tomorrow.

If you ever want to recommend a Bald Eagle cam to anyone, especially a first time streaming cam viewer, you cannot do any better than Harriet and M15 at the SWFlorida Nest. Experienced parents – and that makes a huge difference! Cool headed. Both help one another. Everyone gets fed at Harriet’s table.

E19 and E20 are really beginning to change their feathers and are moving into the next phase of their growth period. Both are having lunch and both have nice crops. One has stopped eating and is resting on his ‘cropillow’.

Hopefully there will be some pip or hatch news from some of the Bald Eagle nests for this evening and I will continue to monitor the lads at Port Lincoln during the day.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your alerts and also thank you for your research into raptor cameras in Japan, ‘A’. I will include that information in my next report. Much appreciated.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB Pages where I took my screen shots and my video clip: The Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Kakapo Recovery, Berry College Eagle Cam, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Hilton Head Island Trust Eagle Cam, WRDC Bald Eagle Cam, and the Captiva Island Osprey Cam.

Sunday in Bird World

Oh, wow. It is a bright sunny Sunday on the Canadian Prairies. There is no snow falling and the temperature dropped from that very nice -14 C at midnight to -24 C this morning. It is supposed to further drop to -29 C. When I went out to fill all of the feeders, Dyson was on top of the large suet cylinder chewing away. He took no mind of me as I worked around him until I got the camera out. Then he scurried away! The now regular 28 European Starlings were the first to arrive. They were followed by the several hundred Sparrows. The chickadee seems to find a way to manage in the midst of all of them but I have not seen Junior or Mr and Mrs Blue Jay for a couple of weeks. Little Red will wake up sometime around 14:00 and join the garden gang. When it is cold like it is today the feeders are all filled twice. Thank goodness for bulk buying!!!

Louis just gave up his incubation duties at the Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle nest. He gave us a quick glimpse of the egg. Doesn’t look like a pip yet.

Louis had his talon caught in some of the Spanish Moss and it completely covered the egg. I wonder if this is egg #2? One of them was broken by Anna when she was landing one day in December. If it is #2, then pip watch could be delayed until Tuesday.

Annie arrives at 12:00:33 and there is a nice view of the egg after the moss is cleared away. Anna is looking at the egg closely. The adults will be able to hear the eaglet inside if all is well as we near pip.

The news coming out of Captiva Bald Eagle Nest on Sanibel Island is that there is no pip yet for Connie and Clive. Last night Lena 2 laid the first egg for the Captiva Osprey Nest.

Pa Berry is incubating the egg at the Berry College Eagle Nest. There is no pip there and they are expecting rain today. The weather has been terrible for this pair. There was snow last night and high winds and hail the other day. I honestly did not think the tree would survive that storm never mind Missey who was hanging on and keeping those eggs safe.

E19 and E20 are fast asleep at the SWFlorida Eagle Nest in Fort Myers. Their only job is to grow – so they eat and sleep. Adorable.

It got a little too hot under Mum but the shade is really nice! The Mumbrella.

Bald Eaglet spells ‘cute’. These two are really growing. Notice the egg tooth is almost completely gone.

R1 and R2 are ready for some lunch at the WRDC nest. It will be around 26 degrees C for these Miami-Dade eaglets today. I hope there is a nice breeze.

Here is a view of the Hilton Head Bald Eagle Nest in South Carolina. What a magnificent nest.

The two eaglets of Harriet and Mitch are in a food coma. They are doing very well. I love their fat little bottoms and tails. They scoot around pushing and moving with their wings.

Awwww. I have been watching the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge closely. You will recall that both Ervie and Falky had early morning fish. Then Bazza, who had a crop, decided to push Falky off the ropes. I was quite afraid for Falky but, on his third try, with a cool head, he was able to free himself from the water. It was brilliant.

Ervie decided that he was not giving up the nest. Indeed, control of the nest is all important by the dominant bird. That is how it came to be that Erive had four fish deliveries yesterday. The deliveries were at 07:08, 15:29:44, 18:05, 18:30, and at 18:40 Ervie seems to find another fish on the nest! His crop should have popped! There is clearly a reason that there is competition for the nest!!!!!!!

At 17:40, Ervie still had a crop from the 15:29 fish.

Ervie spots one of the adults coming in with a fish. It is Dad.

That was a nice fish for Ervie.

Ervie was still eating the 18;05 fish when Mum landed on the nest with a small fish. Falky flies over from the ropes to retrieve that little fish.

So there is Ervie in the back eating his fish and mantling. Mum is in the middle with the fish under her left talon. Falky has gotten turned around and is facing us.

Mum decides she wants out of there quick. Falky is still facing the wrong way. Ervie has his fish under his talons and is mantling.

Ervie decides he doesn’t like Falky on the nest and boots him off. Ervie takes both of the fish.

Now Ervie has two fish to eat! It seems like Ervie has been eating all day. There is no sharing like they did as youngsters. These are three males that will be future rivals if they are not fully already.

Ervie was selected for the sat-pak because he was believed to be the best bet for survival. I continue to say that made a perfect choice. It may feel entirely unfair but it takes confidence, creativity, and cleverness to survive it seems.

Ervie sleeping on the nest in the middle of the night.

Ervie is on the nest and Falky is on the ropes waiting for that first fish delivery. Wonder who will get it?

Other Bird News: Rafa Benjumea has reported that the recent count of Ospreys in the Sanctuaire des Balbuzards in Senegal is 161. That is excellent news. How many Bald Eagle nests and couples do you think are in the small state of New Jersey? The 2021 count shows 247 Bald Eagle Nests. Out of those, 222 were active. 296 eaglets hatched and there were 27 new Bald Eagle couples. That is quite the count! There are growing numbers of Bald Eagles being admitted to Rehab Clinics with high lead levels. A few make it while a lot perish. It is a simple fix: stop using lead in hunting and fishing equipment! If there is one thing that you can do this year to help the birds is to get on your computer and write to the politicians in your area asking them to ban lead in hunting and fishing equipment. While you are at it, you might want to ask them to ban the manufacture and sale of any type of rodenticide. We remain on pip watch for Captiva, KNF, and Berry College – and we are getting close to a pip watch for NEFlorida with Samson and Gabby.

Thank you so much for joining me today. So happy there are so many people who get joy from the birds! It is heart warming. Take care. See you soon.

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Hilton Head Eagle Cam, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, WRDC Eagle Cam, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Berry College Eagle Cam, and the KNF Eagle Cam.