Tag Archives: Bazza grabs fish

Ervie gave us a fright

Ervie kept quite a few people worrying yesterday. We all know Ervie. He is off flying around finding his own fish (we think) and sitting over on the perch, right? Well, his behaviour changed a bit and it had some of us wondering what was ‘wrong’. Ervie stayed on the same spot on the nest for over 12 hours. Seriously. We watched to make sure his feet or talons were not tangled in fishing line. They weren’t. And then he flew off the nest only to return to the same spot! ERVIE!!!!!!!!! Ervie was pulling a Bazza waiting on the nest to get a fish. Meanwhile the water was a bit choppy and the winds were blowing at 21 kph but gusting much higher.

Indeed, Ervie was still on the spot on the nest at 16:29 when he flew off for a second time. Ervie should have stayed a little longer!

Bazza does a quick fly over at 16:57:26.

Bazza returns to the nest to wait for a fish delivery.

Bazza intercepts the fish at 17:15:09. No one else is around.

Bazza protecting his fish dinner. Notice the waves and the white caps. The water is very rough. Dad is a great fisher!

I still do not know if Ervie managed to get a fish from Dad yesterday. The water is far too choppy for the juveniles to have much luck, if any, fishing. It is supposed to be windy today, too, at Port Lincoln.

M15 has been stepping in and feeding E20 when 19 is sleeping. It is really sweet. M15 also brought in a tree branch this morning just about knocking the babies out as he put it in place.

The branch incident happens at 07:33.

This is E20 sitting up. How did I know that? Two clues. First look at the size of the feet. The baby standing has smaller feet than the one sleeping. The one asleep also has a ‘dirty’ spot on its bad. That is E19.

You can see this a little more clearly. E20 is standing up.

Sweet sleeping babies!

So sweet.

Our great parents – M15 on the right and Harriet on the left.

So far there is no Daisy on the nest and the Sea Eagles have not returned since they were harassed so much.

Can you find Ruggedy the Kakapo? Hiding in plain sight. The rangers took a break and are now back at work checking transmitters and doing health checks on our favourite non-flying parrot!

I want to leave you with one of the most interesting radio interviews that I have heard. It is especially dear to me because the young woman being interviewed is from Oklahoma. She got her falconer’s license in 14 and went on to study in Mongolia. You can listen to this while you do other things or you can start and stop. You will be so inspired. She talks at length on what it was like living in Mongolia and being trained as an Eagle falconer. It is on Bird Calls Radio.

BCR 202: Lauren McGough, Falconer

It is warming up on the Canadian Prairies. It is -15. Feels almost like summer!!!!!

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, SWFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, Kakapo Recovery, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.

Late Thursday in Bird World – horrific storm hits Bald Eagle nest at Berry College

It could be early Friday, Old Eve Night, if you are in Australia.

Our beloved birds never cease to amaze me. For so long I have worried about Bazza, the oldest juvenile on the Port Lincoln barge. Bazza just never seemed to have that drive that he needs to take and protect his fish in the wild that he needs to survive. Well, this morning Bazza surprised everyone. And I do mean everyone – including Dad, Falky, and Ervie. I wonder if Mum was watching?

Ervie and Falky are waiting for the first fish delivery of the day on the nest. As Dad flies in with it, Bazza appears out of no where flying in behind and stealing the fish. His older brothers surely wondered what happened! It took less than 30 seconds. Have a look:

As much of a kerfuffle as that was, we don’t need to worry about Bazza anymore. What is that old folktale about the tortoise and the hare? That surely is what is happening here on this nest.

Last night there was a horrific storm at the Bald Eagle nest at Berry College. It was all caught on camera. There is no editing (so you see the entire 30 minutes) but I guarantee that you have probably never seen an eagle nest twisted around live like this one. Missey is incubating 2 eggs when the rain begins. The rain changes to hail and the worst of the wind and hail begins around 10:27. Cameras have gone out. I did see Missey’s wing raised once. All cameras are off today and with it being a holiday we might not find out the fate of Missey and her eggs for awhile. If you hear anything, please let me know. Send this nest your most positive energy.

There is no news coming out of Cal Falcons about the love triangle with Grinnell, Annie, and the interloper. Looks like we will have to wait a little while longer for that to sort itself out. There is, however, fantastic news of one of Annie and Grinnell’s fledglings, Sequoia. Every sighting of a fledgling is a reason to celebrate. They survived!!!!!!!!! They are not part of the 60%. Well done, Sequoia.

There are the two little stinkers melting everyone’s hearts! Looks like we are waiting for a prey delivery at SWFlorida.

E19 and 20 are definitely the cutest with those little wings and fat pink legs and talons. They will keep Harriet and M15 very busy! And thank goodness. They are healthy and strong.

Adorable.

That is just a short catch up on some of the nests. There is some really good news and – well, what can I say? That tree at Berry College is strong and seeing that wing flap from Missey gives me hope that all is well. Fingers crossed.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots and video clips: Port Lincoln Osprey Project and SW Florida Bald Eagle Nest and the D Pritchett Family. Thanks also to Cal Falcons for the information and images of Sequoia on their FB Page.