Tag Archives: Barnegat Light Ospreys

Brief Bird World check-in

27 July 2022

The presentation about Eagles Dying of Electrocution: What Can be Done? was quite informative. A number of topics were covered including why it is important for utility companies to not have wildlife incidents. Because they boost of having reliable electricity they cannot afford to have too many power outages due to wildlife electrocutions (squirrels, raptors, etc). So while wildlife is not their primary concern, if an eagle gets electrocuted it does impact their goal of ‘reliable’ transmission of power and it is actually in their best interests that their poles are safe. It is also good for their public image.

A PDF of a very large study done in 2006 was mentioned several times. It studied different birds in different countries with various configurations of hydro poles and how electrocution might be mitigated. Christian stated that the solutions are still solid examples. Here is a copy of that large study:

Click to access ML12243A391.pdf

One interesting note in the mitigation is that you simply cannot install insulators or insulated cables. You must also deal with the transmitters.

A question or statement by one of the chatters for the presentation had to do with the lack of responsibility in this situation. If the first electrocution for an eaglet from the Gabriola Nest was accidental, isn’t the second one intentional? Many power companies will immediately move to fix the poles if they know there has been an incident. Florida has so many big raptors and it was mentioned that the power companies are pro-active in protecting the large birds.

An example from Belgium was shown. That is a perch for the eagle that is higher than the pole. The perch is not dangerous to the eagle. To mitigate further, the pointed triangle on the left has been installed making it impossible to create a connection also. Fantastic.

An example of good spacing and bad spacing in terms of wildlife.

Here is the presentation link in case you missed it or would like to listen again. It is about 50 minutes long.

Yvonne Roll Peterson posted the following image on the Notre Dame Eagles page. She carefully took the time to mark out who was where. You can’t see ND16, she is on the nest (of course). ND15 is on one branch and our Little Bit 17 is on another branch behind some leaves. Smile.

My eyes are on the Osoyoos Osprey nest where temperatures are climbing getting hotter and hotter. Olsen brought in a nice sized fish but it has been more than four hours ago. Hopefully they will get another. Soo is doing the best she can to try and keep her panting chicks shaded.

After the presentation on the Eagles and electrocution, I spent some time observing SE29 and SE30. SE30 did two ‘ps’ – one at 0634 and the other at 0713. Both were good. I did manage to capture one. Look carefully below.

Dad brought in what appeared to be a bird – possibly a Silver Gull chick? for the next feeding. Neither chick was that enthusiastic about eating at either feeding.

SE29 did hover but, there were no violent attacks at either the 0634 feeding or the later one right after 0715 ish. After SE30 did his ‘ps’ he did eat some bites.

Lady may have lots of prey items under the leaves. It is hard to tell but I did not see the piles of fish like I did when these two first hatched. So two good ‘ps’ to indicate that SE30 has been eating and its plumbing is working fine. Dad comes down to the nest and flies off – to go fishing from Lady and 29 & 30. Good luck!

At 0745 Dad returns with a large fish. SE29 did take exception when it appeared that 30 was going to get the first bites. In situations where the eldest sibling is trying to establish dominance, most of you will have seen them eating first and once they are full the second eats if there is prey left. It would appear that 29 is asserting that dominance.

It should be sorted out in a few days. Look for good ‘ps’ from 30. Lady continues to feed them almost every hour. All those little bites add up. In a week or a week and a bit, the feedings will show down because the eaglets will be eating more at each feeding.

Things remain really stable and good at the Boathouse Osprey nest in Maine. Dory is feeding the three chicks another good sized fish.

Every once in awhile you can catch one of the Ospreys at Mispillion Harbour on the perch today.

Duke has been bringing some really nice fish to the Barnegat Light Osprey nest in New Jersey. Daisy feeds the kids and winds up with a big crop herself. Oh, I would love to send that fish to Osoyoos! Wouldn’t you?

I have seen no news on the cause of Tom and Audrey’s chick suddenly dying at the Chesapeake Conservancy nest. Will continue to monitor. The adults have been on and off the nest.

Aran and Mrs G have been doing a lot of posing on the perches – sometimes with but today without the fledglings.

Notice the difference in size. Mrs G is at least one-third larger than Aran. Check out the difference in size in wings. — It is always good to remember, when watching a raptor nest, that the females require more food in order to grow to the larger size and to also grow all those additional feathers. Often the females are not the first to fledge either even if they hatched first.

The difference in size – where the females are larger than the males – is called reverse sex-size dimorphism.

I hope if you did not get to attend Christian Sasse’s presentation that you will take the chance to listen to it later. Some very good information with a lot of common sense when approaching utility companies. To all who wrote in, thank you.

Thank you for being with me this evening on this quick check. I am just watching two nests – Osoyoos and the Sea Eagles for stability. One for weather and the other for sibling rivalry. Fledge should be happening anytime at the Janakkalan Nest in Finland (or it has – have not checked today so if you know – send me a comment). Take care all. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their videos, FB postings, and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Christian Sasse, ND-LEEF, Osoyoos Ospreys, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, and Audubon Explore.

Late Monday news in Bird World

25 July 2022

Oh, I hope that you had a good day wherever you are. Everything ‘seems’ to be fine in Bird World.

The rain has started pouring down – just a couple of minutes ago. Before that the three every-growing-larger Crow juveniles were having fun in the Bird Bath, eating their sandwiches and peanuts along with Dyson, the Blue Jays, and a host of sparrows. Dyson has to have a nest somewhere. She has a very short tail and I was told that she would line the nest with the fur. She is ‘quite large at the back end’ my daughter responded when she saw her. Baby squirrels soon? We hope. Lots and lots of peanuts were put out so everyone had plenty.

I just checked on the Osoyoos Osprey nest. I could not see the time stamps but Olsen apparently brought in at least one large fish to Soo today! There was an early one and one later and maybe some in between. The chatters were happy.

The smallest eaglet on the White-bellied Sea Eagles nest, SE30, needs a shampoo. There is fish juice stuck to all of the soft down on the top of its head. You can easily identify who is 30 and who is 29. 29 is also bigger. That extra day surely makes a difference at this stage. I stayed with the feeding to make sure that 30 got fish and it did! Lady tried 29 and its beak was closed and 30 moved to the other side for bites.

I am always asked if the female Ospreys bring fish to the nests. Oh, yes, they do! They normally do not do this until well after the chicks have fledged unless there is a need (for example, the male disappears or the fish deliveries are not enough). Rosie brought Brooks a nice piece of fish today. Brooks has been doing a lot of flight training.

Blue 33 landed at 17:52 with a really large fish – including the head. Two of the female fledglings had been on the nest fish calling to Dad when the third flew in wanting any leftovers on the Manton Bay nest.

It was delightful seeing all three girls on the nest and Dad. It is always nice to ‘see’ that everything is going to plan. It is not often you catch them on the nest and all seems well.

That is such a nice fish. I wish that Soo could have just one that size for her and the Osprey chicks in Osoyoos every day. What a difference it would make in their development.

Watching Osprey and Eagle families is very educational. You do not appreciate the necessity for good plentiful food until you have seen a nest suffer from lack of prey with stress lines in the feathers of the chicks and babies dying from starvation. It is the same with human animals.

There are so many Osprey nests and Daisy and Duke at the Barnegat Light nest have fallen off the radar. There the two surviving osplets are – goodness, full plumage – ready to go! (The third was accidentally pulled out of the nest cup at a very young age and died).

Every year I remember a friend telling me that if I really loved the plumage of the Red-tail hawk juveniles then just wait til I saw the fledgling Sea Eagles! But…I know we all have our favourites – there is nothing for me that can improve on the plumage of the fledgling Ospreys. I think they are much more beautiful than their parents! And wish they did not have to change. I would say the same for the Sea Eagles – juvenile sea eagles with their creams, golds, coppers, browns are smashingly beautiful.

The three osplets of Dory and Skiff are simpy adorable. They line up nicely for dinner and no one seems to want to cause the other any big problems. They are now standing and learning how to walk on their feet instead of their knees.

Oh, just look. Kissed by the peach at the nape of the neck and on the ends of the feathers with that dark eye line. How many young women wish they could get their eyeliner to look like that?

Dory did a great job – a big shout out – for this first time Mum. Skiff did, too!

The camera at Two Harbours in the Channel Islands panned around and caught one of the adults perched. Then they did nice close ups of Lancer waiting for a fish!

Lancer waiting patiently at time for a fish delivery – until she sees an adult and she really lets them know she is hungry!!!!!!!!!!

At the West End, Thunder was out on the Lookout Rock. Yesterday Akecheta brought Kana’kini a fish on the natal nest. I did not see any of the juveniles today. Did you?

At Fraser Point, Lilibet was on the perch and then on the nest eating a small piece of prey. Gosh, she’s gorgeous.

Ah, if you go to the Glacier Gardens Eagle nest and re-wind you can find spots where the camera does not have moisture on the lens. Peace and Love are getting big and they have been working their wings! I did notice that the rain has caused them to look a little ‘rough’. They will fluff back up quickly.

It is gently raining at the Big Bear Valley nest of Shadow and Jackie. Gosh it looks lonely without Spirit and her parents. Did you know that this is the one of the highest Bald Eagle nest in the US? The nest itself is 44 metres or 145 ‘ up in a Jeffrey Pine. The elevation is, however, 2164 metres or 7100 ft.

This is just a hop, skip, and jump through a small number of the nests we are watching. The nest of concern remains Osoyoos and it is doing well today. Fingers crossed and positive wishes for tomorrow and the next day. Thank you so much for joining me. It is such a nice change when the news is all good. Thank you so much for joining me. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their FB posts and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Glacier Gardens, Explore.org and the IWS, Explore Audubon, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, and LRWT.

Middle and L1 Fledge and other news in Bird World

8-9 June 2022

Oh, what a day Wednesday was and Thursday is starting out to be just as exciting. We have two fledges so far. Middle at UFlorida-Gainesville and L1 at Cornell!!!!!

First, Big threw a hissy fit on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. It was so unexpected that even Mum was shocked at the oldest siblings response to Middle wanting to take her fish! Of course, we have seen this before but, in particular I am thinking of the Port Lincoln Lads of 2022. They were so polite on the nest before fledge and then after all had fledged the competition and the dust ups started. Middle is yet to fledge but he could – just needs to be ready to do it.

The action came at 16:39:45. I am grateful to ‘R’ for sending that time stamp to me. A fish arrived. Big got it – Middle wanted it. Big wanted it more. Mum couldn’t believe what she was seeing!

At 07:03:59 on 9 June Middle took his first flight off the left side of the nest!

Congratulations to Mum, Dad, and Middle and a big thank you to ‘R’ who sent me the time stamp!!!!!! Way to go Middle!

There is excellent news coming out of Lewes, Delaware. The female Osprey at the Henlopen Nest has been fishing since her mate has gone missing. It has been a couple of days now and there was concern that she might not fish. The first time she went out she came back empty taloned. But nevermind. This Mum has demonstrated very clearly that she can provide for her osplets! Today she delivered five fish to the nest. The three osplets were stuffed beyond being stuffed. Their crops looked like they would pop all afternoon. I really hope that Mum had some fish for herself, too. It is hard work playing all the roles. Fingers crossed for this family.

Here comes Mum with a really nice fish. Everyone was hungry.

Five fish. That is possibly a better delivery rate than most males.

Here is another one. Some of the osplets still have crops from the earlier feeding.

Mum must be very tired.

As the sun is setting just look at the crop on the chick that is still eating. The others are full and have walked away. No one is going hungry.

Well done Mum. I felt so sorry for her. In the evening she was calling and you could imagine that she might have seen an osprey and thought it was her mate. So sad for her. Let’s all send good wishes to this nest! And I will remind myself to check on them every day for everyone.

Little Bit 17 has been on a roll for the last few days. I often call him warrior but Lightning would be more appropriate. He is that quick to steal prey. At 21:05:17 for at least the third time today, Little Bit stole from one of the older siblings.

But first. At 19:46:16 Little Bit 17 has a nice crop. Still easy to spot with the feathers missing on his head. Squint. That crop is there!

At 21:05:02 an adult lands with a very nice fish. Little Bit is on the left and a big sibling on the right. It looks like the big sibling has the fish. But do they?

There are wings everywhere!

Middle ate for a full 7 or 8 minutes before 16 – the sibling that beaks Little Bit – took the fish from him.

Little Bit ate well today. He managed to snatch and grab several key pieces of prey showing his great skill. When he wasn’t doing that he was searching the nest cleaning up every flake of fish on it that the others had dropped. A survivor.

Checking on a sometimes neglected nest (shame on me) – Barnegat Light. Just look at those two with their mouths open wide for that fish! Cute.

If you missed it, Lady and Dad have their first egg for the 2022 season at the Sydney Olympic Park. It happened yesterday at 17:15. This is really exciting but I wished they had waited til all of the hawklets of Big Red and Arthur are all fledged. Normally they do. I got a lovely note from ‘F and M’ explaining to me that Lady and Dad are actually two weeks early laying this first egg! That is, indeed, very interesting. I wonder if the other nests in Australia will also be early? Diamond and Xavier at Orange, Mum and Dad at the CBD-367 Collins Street in Mebourne, Mum and Dad at the PLO Barge?

I find this early laying very interesting. Andy and Lena have struggled to have successful hatches and failed due to predation at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. This year they laid their eggs one month early and beat the Crows who normally eat their eggs. Is there a reason Lady laid these eggs 2 weeks early? could it be to avoid the Currawongs chasing their eaglets out of the forest? or is it going to be extra hot in Sydney? We wait to see if we can find out.

At the West End Bald Eagle nest, Ahote (the youngest) fledged six days ago. He has finally returned to the nest yesterday and has since been flying around. Everyone thought it would be Kana’kini that would go first. Now it is Sky that is hovering high.

All three Amigos lined up on the nest rock. Will Sky be the next to fledge?

This is also interesting. We know that Kana’kini is a big female like her Mum, Thunder. At the Red-tail hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur, anyone watching the nest believed that L1 was definitely going to fledge first. In the end it was L2. That got me to thinking. Normally the large females do not fledge first. I want to do some data crunching in the next couple of days and see how many times in the last ten years the first hatch fledged first at Big Red and Arthur’s nest.

Here was Big Red feeding L4 tonight. The other two are still ion the nest just at the other end. And if you are wondering and I am certain that you are, at least one prey drop if not more were made to L2 on top of the Rice building. Big Red does not like to feed the eyases on the nest after they fledged. Last year she did feed them because of K2 who was not well. K2 is the only chick that has not fledged in all of Big Red’s mothering – what 17 years? That is a lot of little hawks out in the world by this amazing Mum.

At 09:26:24 L1 flew!!!!! You could only see her on cam 2. L3 is watching as L1 leans down.

She is off. You can just see the wing under the light box.

L1 landed in the Fernow trees across the street.

L3 and L4 look on with amazement. Congratulations L1 – you are a fledgling. Well done Big Red and Arthur – two down, two to go!

Big Red comes in and feeds the two remaining chicks on the nest.

The Dyfi Osprey Project zoomed the camera in nice and close and we can really see the difference in appearance between Middle Bob and Little Bob. Middle Bob is in the Reptile Phase while Little Bob is losing the down on its head and you can see that the dark feathers are only starting to come in. Big Bob ate earlier and is in a food coma while these two enjoy this really nice fish Telyn is feeding them.

It is just getting light in The Czech Republic. Bukacek and Betty’s five storklets are quickly growing. The little one is very, very smart. He gets into the center of the group when there is a feeding and he gets lots of little fishes. Fingers crossed for no brood reduction here.

Karl II and Kaia have three beautiful storklets at their nest in Estonia.

You will remember that Urmas Sellis retrieved the three surviving storklets and the one deceased one when Jan did not return to the nest with his mate, Janika. A full report has come in and this is the text that was posted in Looduskalender, the English Forum for the Black Stork nest. This is very informative and you can see what good care is being given to the storklets and why it was necessary for an intervention.

Have a read:

News about our Black Storks chicks by Delfi
“The three storklets of the stork pair Jani and Jaanika, who became famous in front of the nature camera, were taken to the animal clinic of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, where they are taken care of by Madis Leivits, a veterinarian dedicated to wild animals. Despite the shock caused by the loss of parents at such an early age, birds recover nicely and have the prospect of living their future lives in the wild. Exactly what happened to the missing male bird is still unclear.

Last week, the male bird, Jan, disappeared and the female, Jaanika, had to take care of the storklets alone – it is customary in stork families for the male to take care of the food side and the mother is responsible for warming the storklets’ nests.

As the weather was not warm in the summer either, Jaanika’s attempt to leave the nest was fatal for the third storklet and it died. “The pattern of behavior of the female bird became exceptional. Instead of keeping the storklets warm at night and looking for food in sunny weather, she did the exact opposite,” explained Madis Leivits, a veterinarian at the University of Life Sciences, who has been taken care of the three surviving storklets with the help of the Kotkaklubi.
According to him, the male bird has a very responsible role in the family of black storks. “The father is a language of weight, the diet of the sons depends on him,” Leivits said. “Even if the female bird leaves the nest, the storklets will not be able to maintain their body temperature in the rain. What exactly happened to the male bird, we can only speculate.”

However, considering all the circumstances, the surviving storklets are doing quite well. “The two largest ones are growing visibly and have already gained more than a hundred grams in a few days. The third, the smallest, is a bit more passive,” Leivits described. “Of course, it can’t be called great, because a person can’t be as good a parent to an animal or a bird as they are to their own.”

He added that storklets are fed with a special decoy stork
– a decoy that resembles a black stork to make it safer for the storklets. They mainly have fish on their table. “Black stork differs from white because it finds its food mainly in water – fish, frogs, aquatic,” he explained. The path of the three storklets will probably lead to an artificial nest, where they will be gradually prepared for independent living and the natural environment. “Fortunately, they are quite early sons, they have high hopes for themselves,” said Leivits, who said that sons born later in the second half of the summer tend to be prey for birds of prey and predators. “Under artificial conditions, we can also feed them strong enough.”

On 7 June Ervie’s tracker reported that he was flying out further into the ocean from his normal Port Lincoln, Australia haunts. You may recall that it was believed that the lack of a talon on that right toe of the right foot might only allow Ervie to catch Puffers – he brought a much larger fish to the nest shortly before Mum booted him off the barge. Here is Ervie’s 7 June report.

In other Port Lincoln Osprey Project news, the platform for Turnby Island is being erected. It is hoped that Calypso (2020 PLO hatch) and her mate might make this their nest. It certainly looks sturdy! Fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be grand? We could watch one of Mum’s chicks begin her own family.

This has been a very long newsletter. So very much is happening! Thank you so very much for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB posts where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell RTH, Dyfi Osprey Project, Mlade Buky, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Barnegat Light Ospreys, and Henlopen State Park Ospreys.

Sunday Afternoon in Bird World

5 June 2022

It was another beautiful weekend day. Great for those that are working all during the week. One of the parks was so full of people and politicians and well…I went somewhere else. At the end of the day, my normal walking route was the best. Word to self: If you want to go up north to check on ducklings and goslings or waterfowl, do it in the middle of the week! Six goslings. Red-wing Blackbirds. Goldfinches.

You had to look twice. The American Goldfinch at the feeder is just like the one on the identification board at the Songbird feeding station.

There were three goslings with their parents. This little one wanted to get the food under the feeders!

It was, however, wonderful to come home to find that Dad had flown into the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest and had fed Little Bit 17.

Before I went out, Little Bit had successfully snatched and grabbed a couple of prey deliveries only to have them taken away. It felt really good to see this little one with a crop! Well deserved feeding by Dad before 15 took the rest.

The surviving storklets at the Jegova Black Stork nest of Janika were taken into care this morning. This ends Janika trying to feed them and not being able to provide security or brood them to keep them warm. It rained on the four yesterday and they were cold during the night. One died. I hope the storklets thrive in care. Certainly Urmas and everyone at the Vet School love the stork families and will do whatever they can to create a success.

Janika did the best that she could in bad circumstances. It is impossible – if the chicks are this young – to be both Dad and Mum. It is unfortunate that she did not find the fish basket provided for her. It might have helped keep her brooding at night when it gets cold.

The deceased chick along with the survivors was placed in a basket and lowered.

All storklets safe and sound in the basket.

The storklets will now be raised by a veterinarians – this is not different than them being taken into care by wildlife rehabbers in North America. They will be fed and will be kept warm. No doubt there will be controversy. I hope we get to see the wee ones when they are bigger!

Everything is fine at the nest of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. This Black Stork couple have three very healthy storklets in their nest. There is one egg and it looks like it is not viable. That is fine. Three is good! it might mean that even though the small storklet is small it will not suffer brood reduction.

There is also an Osprey nest in Estonia on a streaming cam. It is the nest of Marko and Miina. I have watched them at their nest in the force in southern Estonia at Vorumaa. There is a fish farm very near as well as a river running through the area so the ability to get fish is excellent. Three chicks hatched but the little one did not make it. There are two healthy chicks on the nest.

Below the camera screen on YouTube there is a link to the English language forum for this nest. Here is the link to their camera:

Middle and Big have been fed and are both doing fine in the warm sun of north-central Florida at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest.

Mom brought in fish and fed them.

Richmond brought four huge fish in to the Whirley Crane nest for Rosie and the kids in as many hours yesterday. Richmond is a crazy fisher for his family. More came in later but just look at how big their two chicks are.

A pile of Bobs at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Idris brought in an enormous trout for everyone earlier. They are all sound asleep waiting for Monday to come.

It was still a little wet when that pile of Bobs woke up and had breakfast. You can see the size difference better in the shot below. These chicks are all doing fine. Telyn and Idris are experienced parents. Sadly, if you were following the Llyn Brenig nest, the youngest one that just hatched has died. They have had bad weather – that coupled with inexperience could have caused it. This is not a concern for Idris and Telyn unless that Welsh weather stays cold and damp.

Aran has made sure that there is plenty of fish on the nest for Mrs G and the three bobs.

It was an absolutely wet – very soggy – day for Seren and Dylan and the three Bobs. I sure hope it dries up for them.

I haven’t checked on the northeastern Osprey nests in the US. It looks like all is well at the nest of Duke and Daisy and their two chicks at Barnegat Light.

Grinnell and Lindsay continue to be nothing short and adorable at the scrape of Cal Falcons in The Campanile on the grounds of UCalifornia at Berkeley.

Kana’kini and Sky remain on the West End Bald eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Ahote, the youngest was the first to fledge. There has been a lot of conflicting information on where he is. It remains unclear whether or not Ahote has been fed by either Thunder or Akecheta.

This is the latest from the IWS: “Ahote has never gotten closer than 30-40 meters from the nest since he fledged. Where you’ve seen him fly to or walk to is still on the transmitter hill. The whole ridge down to the nest is hidden.”

Thank you so very much for joining me on this late Sunday afternoon. I hope each and every reader has had a lovely day. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures or video clips: ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Explore.org, Cal Falcons, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon.

Glacier Gardens, Ervie on the nest, and other news in Bird World

19 May 2022

It has been a rather dreary damp day. The garden has been full of Orioles, Chipping Sparrows, European Starlings, and Harris Sparrows. They sure bring a lot of joy. At the same time, they let you know that your place is to fill the feeders and then get inside and do not disturb them. They can be rather loud about that. Little Red was about a metre from his new home. I do not know if he found it. Will continue to watch on and off. Fingers crossed!

Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle streaming cam is now live at the new nest of Liberty and Freedom! It is also a brand new camera.

Here is the link to the Glacier Gardens camera:

Big and Middle (known as Warrior by some) were both on the Dale Hollow nest this morning. Then Big left and Middle has been flapping his wings. Our time with them could be limited. So nice to see these two beautiful juveniles.

Yesterday it seemed that Big was up on a high branch. Middle kept looking up. If there is a fledge the camera might not catch it if they are up on those high branches.

Look how big Warrior is. After Big killed Little Bit, we did not know if Middle would make it. We can now rejoice that all is well and we can hope that he or she has an amazing and long life.

I have not seen a prey delivery today at the MN-DNR nest of Nancy. The weather is not great and it is unclear if there are any intruders about. Nancy has been up on the branch watching over the territory.

Nesting material is being delivered to the Barnegat Light Osprey nest in New Jersey today by both Duke and Daisy.

Lady and Dad both spent the night on the old Ironbark nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest where they raise their little White-Bellied Sea Eagles. Sea Eagles are the second largest raptor in Australia with the Wedge-tail Eagle being the largest. Lady and Dad normally have two eggs and fledge both chicks. That said there are birds in the forest that chase them far away so they cannot map the route to and from the nest in their GPS systems. This means the fledglings do not learn from the parents how to fish or have the opportunity to be fed on the nest and get their flying stronger. Last year WBSE 27 went into care twice and was finally trained to hunt and get their flying strong before release the last time. 28 is believed to have returned to the nest recently – to everyone’s surprise – but it was very gaunt. There can be some food competition.

If you have never heard the ‘Dawn Duet’ by the White-Bellied Sea Eagles you are in for a real treat. I taped it last year on 22 June – have a listen. The couple do this every morning at dawn to wake the forest. The chicks also join in!

Many have commented that it looks like the Manton Bay trio of Blue 33 and Maya grow right before our eyes. They are certainly moving from the soft fluffy new born nestling phase and will soon enter the dark wooly period. As the plumage changes the osplets do tend to get a little edgy. Those feathers must be really itchy and irritating. No worries – it is just ‘feather stress’ (that is what I call it). There will be no problems with siblicide on this nest!!!!!! Blue 33 has spent a lot of time on the nest with Maya and he has been feeding the chicks every once in awhile.

They are considered to be a Power Couple in the Osprey World. They are certainly very strong together.

Maya was first seen at Rutland in the summer of 2009. She is the only Rutland osprey to have a name. The letters for Maya come from Manton Bay (first and last two letters to form Maya). The Greek word ‘Maia’ means ‘coming of spring’. Maya successfully bred with 5R (04) from 2010 to 2013. They raised 11 chicks! At least five of those have returned to Rutland – if not more. I have not checked the last two year’s stats. Sadly, Maya’s mate did not return in 2014. She waited and then finally paired with 28 (10). She laid three eggs. But Blue 33 (11) wasn’t having it. He wanted both the nest and Maya as his mate and he persisted – finally kicking the other males eggs out of the nest!!!!! Blue 33 and Maya have been together ever since. They are utterly devoted to one another and with the exception of this year, have often arrived from their winter migration within minutes of one another. They first raised successful chicks in 2015.

So why are they considered a power couple within the Osprey world? In addition to the 3 chicks in 2015, there were 17 chicks from 2016-2020 including two years of clutches of 4 chicks raised to fledge!!!!!!!!!!! Two years of four chicks. Think about that. 2019 and 2020. In 2021, they fledged 2 making a grand total of 22 chicks fledged with three now in the nest. In total, Maya has fledged 33 chicks. Incredible. I love this nest. This year will make that 36 chicks.

Here is a video of Blue feeding the chicks. I should mention that Blue is quite different to other male ospreys; he likes to be involved in every process, spends a lot of time on the nest, sometimes feeds Maya and brings in a heck of a lot of fish!

I am a great fan of the California condors and have followed the trials, tribulations, and the victories of both Redwood Queen 190 and Iniko 1031. Everyone was waiting for Iniko to be reunited with her mother after they were separated because of the Dolan Fire. Indeed, if you do not know the story of Iniko – it is beautiful and it should give us hope that things do work out. Iniko was in the Redwood nest that her father, Kingpin and Redwood Queen shared, when the Dolan fire ripped through Big Sur in 2020. The fire raged around the nest tree. Iniko survived but was knocked out of the tree by Ninja 729. Redwood Queen came to the rescue! Iniko was taken into care at the Los Angeles Zoo supported by the Ventana Wildlife Society. Redwood Queen has a new mate, Phoenix, and they had an egg this year that was believed to be non-viable. Iniko was released on 4 December and this is the first time Mum and daughter have been seen together. Both females dive into the pack and get close to the carcass!

@Ventana Wildlife Society

The only surviving chick on the Dahlgren Osprey nest of Jack and Harriet has a nice crop at 1800 today. The heavy storms and rain caused the waters to rise and be murky. Not good if you are an osprey trying to catch a fish. The water is now clearing and let us hope everything stays on track with this one Bob.

It was nice to see Louis cuddled up with Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig Osprey nest in Scotland. The weather has been terrible – that along with a mess of intruders have really not made it a good start to the year for these two.

I can hear rain falling on Theo’s nest in Latvia and see that some work continues to be made on the nest but no Theo and no mate. Beautiful birds singing in the distance.

Black Storks are very, very rare in Latvia and Estonia. Because of this conservation status, they are much loved by the people – and many of us. Karl II and Kaia have four eggs on their Black Stork nest in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. The first egg was laid on 24 April with the last on 1 May. We should be looking for a pip in what? Incubation is normally 32-38 days (varies by author). So we are at 25 days with the oldest egg.

Here is the link to Karl and Kaia’s streaming cam:

The Black Stork nest of Jan and Janika is also in Estonia in Jogeva County. There are five eggs. The couple are, according to the chat moderator, on day 34, 31, 31 and 30 (counted from laying). Here is the link to their streaming cam:

There was one Black Stork nest that was monitored in Latvia. It was the nest of Grafs and Grafiene. I have not been able to confirm any activity for this couple this season.

There was a scary moment on the nest of Big Red and Arthur when Big Red brought in greenery at 11:47 and L3 looked as if she would fall backwards off the nest.

There is tug-o-war with some prey and the inklings of self-feeding with bits of prey left on the nest. Too cute. L4 looks on and wants to join in the fun.

I checked on Ervie a few minutes ago and he was not on the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Then ‘B’ checked after me and Ervie flew onto the nest and is now sitting in Dad’s cave!!!!!!! Oh, we are truly blessed. Thank you ‘B’. Now anyone can go to the Port Lincoln streaming cam and see our beautiful boy!

Seeing Ervie brings tears of joy! So happy for this third hatch. He is much loved and adored by so many. Thank you ‘B’ for taking the time to send me a note! It is much appreciated. Ervie might well bring a puffer back. He seems to find them around the barge.

Thank you for joining me today. It was a whirlwind around the nests. Too many. Too much going on. It is hard to keep up with them. Take care all. If you want to see Ervie, here is the link to his camera:

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB pages: Ventana Wildlife Society, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Glacier Gardens, Cornell RTH, Eagle Club of Estonia, Latvian Fund for Nature, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Sea Eagles @BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre, MN-DNR, Dahlgren Ospreys, DHEC, and LRWT.

Late Monday in Bird World

16 May 2022

I was waiting to see if Big and Middle got any fish today. Then I had to go out but when I returned, at 14:44:15 Mum delivered a ‘piece of fish’. It looked like a 4 or 5 inch catfish steak. Seriously? These chicks have not eaten since yesterday and they are growing and big. Of course, Big was acting up and a couple of times lunged at Middle — but not enough to keep Middle from trying to get some bites right away. The only hydration the chicks get is from the fish – it must be hot on top of that nest. That piece of fish lasted until 15:56:37 and that it includes the time Mum ate some bites and moved the fish to the other side of the nest. So, less than 12 minutes. Big got the tail and Middle got some bites. Did I ever mention that the Peregrine Falcon Mum at the Manchester NH nest feeds the five eyases for an hour? Everyone gets fed. What is up with this nest at the University of Florida at Gainesville? Does it have anything to do with that ‘other’ nest that was shown on the pan around the practice field nest that ‘R’ alerted me to? I wonder. Thanks, R!

The two chicks were really hungry.

Mum settles down. Big is on her right and Middle is on the left.

Big decides she wants to walk over to the other rim and flap her wings so Mum gives Middle a bite of fish.

Well, Big did not like that. She took a very aggressive stance and Middle went into submission. Mum just put her head down.

When Mum moves to the other side you can see the size of the meal – seriously, this is a snack. This nest needs an entire catfish or two, maybe three, not a snack.

Notice the difference in the length of the tail between the two.

Middle sneaks around and under Mum and this manages to get him some bites.

It started pitching down rain towards the end of the feeding. Mum finished the feeding as quickly as she could and took off!

It’s nearly 18:00 and I have seen nothing on the nest but that one chunk of fish. If you see the two get fed, let me know!

Do I dare hope that these two might more fish? So that is one Bird Mum at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest.

It was an entirely different story at the nest of Red-tail Hawks Big Red and Arthur. Big Red knows that a storm is coming. She can tell in her hollow bones. So what does she does she do? She fills the chicks up with food first. She finishes feeding just about the time the storm hits. Then she does everything she can to wrap those chicks in the safety of her wings!

There are four and she is holding them as tight and close as she can.

Just look at that – Mumbrella!

Check the time. Four hours and counting. Big Red will not let anything – weather or an intruder – harm her chicks if she can possibly help it!

I wonder if you were a bird which Bird Mum you would want to be caring for you?

I went back to check on Big Red. At 18:47 she was still hunkered down over her chicks.

At 19:08 Big Red was off the chicks; the system has passed. She flew off the nest a couple of minutes later to take a break and get some prey. The four eyases are, of course, fine. They are extremely lucky to have Big Red and Arthur – utterly devoted parents. I should point out that Arthur dropped some prey onto the nest around 16:00 in the middle of the storm. If you picked the UFlorida-Gainesville male and female as parents, would you like to change your mind? Just sayin’.

Wow. Lucy laid her fourth Osprey egg on the nest she shares with George on Long Island. Oh, gosh, golly. Would I want to be the 4th hatch? I don’t think so despite George being a fabulous provider. (Note: Blue 33 (11) and Maya did successfully fledge four one year – it is rare).

Lucy did not start hard incubation until after she laid the third egg. Fingers crossed for this great couple. We will be checking on them as hatch approaches which won’t be until mid-June.

Here is the link to their Osprey cam.

The five eyases at the Manchester, New Hampshire scrape had a nice dinner at 18:00. They should almost be set for the night now.

There is a cracking article on the BBC site on Dr Peter Sharpe traveling to the Chanel Islands to save the eaglets.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160602-a-man-who-saves-eagles-by-helicopter

The balloon story struck a nerve in a few people. ‘B’ writes that every time he goes out on a wilderness backpacking trip – far from other humans – he inevitably finds balloons on the ground. ‘B’ points out that if you drop a deflated balloon on the ground it is littering but if you allow it to float into the sky it is considered ‘fun’. Back down on the ground the balloons cause havoc along with many other things – mesh fruit and vegetable bags along with face masks. Why do humans just feel they can make the planet their garbage bin? I wonder if educating at the elementary level might have a lasting change in the future? Thanks B!

‘S’ sent me a link. The Big island of Hawaii, Oahu, is banning the release of balloons in January 2023 but ‘S’ feels that they should just ban balloons period. Agreed! ‘S’ also notes that two of the Hawaiian islands, Kauai and Oahu, had trouble with wind turbines and the Shearwaters. ‘S’ hopes, like all of us, that more research into location and bird deaths are undertaken before anymore are put into position especially on migratory bird paths. Thanks S!

The eaglets in the Dale Hollow nest are still on the nest. Keisha Howell posted their age as 79 days old today. I had it as 78 (if they hatched on 28 Feb) but, hey – the point is they could fledge anytime.

It was a hard nest to watch at times. I know that each of us is thrilled that there will be two healthy eaglets fledging from this nest near Dale Hollow Lake on the Obey River.

The Barnegat Light Osprey nest is one that is a favourite of many including ‘S’. This Osprey nest is located in Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, Ocean County, New Jersey. It is 19:00 nest time and there is a big storm – a quick mover – that is going to plow through the area. It should all be over by 20:00. This nest is very exposed – just the way that Ospreys like it! But it can get super windy and rock the nest and the camera making the wind appear worse than it is.

Duke and Daisy have three eggs on this nest. The last was laid on 27 April. The couple have had good past seasons. They fledged two in 2018, three in each of 2019 and 2020. In 2021, three hatched but only two fledged.

Duke is extremely handsome. He arrived on the nest on the 8th of April this year just like he does every year (he must be related to Iris). Daisy was waiting on her sixteen year old mate even though some younger males had been trying to court her! He quickly brought Daisy a fish and got rid of the youngsters.

Here is the link to their camera.

I want to close with a cute image of Alden trying to brood the two chicks. Like all the others, the two at Cal Falcons have grown too big and do not fit under the adults very well anymore! Alden is helping out in every way that he can. Sweet.

I received my long sleeve shirt with Annie and Grinnell on the front. It is fabulous! If you wanted one but didn’t order, there are still some remaining. Go to the Cal Falcons website: falcons.berkeley.edu I am going to wear mine tomorrow as I put the finishing touches on Little Red’s new condo! Stay tuned.

Thank you so much for being with me this afternoon. We continue to wait for a pip for Richmond and Rosie. I hope that each of you has a lovely, lovely evening and a wonderful morning. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Osprey Zone, Peregrine Zone, DHEC, Conservation Wildlife Foundation of NJ, and Cal Falcons.