Tag Archives: bird migration

Wednesday in Bird World

17 July 2024

Good Morning Everyone!

As promised, I am including a review of the latest children’s book on ospreys by Connie Dennis from Nova Scotia, Canada. Calico and I have read it several times since its arrival last week and Calico gives the book her Golden Paw Award! The cover below gives you a good idea of the quality of the images and the other page shows the great layout.

I am going on a little holiday to Toronto from Wednesday evening through Saturday. I will take you to some of the City’s parks where I will be ‘birding’. The blog will be much shorter on Thursday than usual – I arrive in Toronto late, late Wednesday night. However, we will have Heidi’s reports, Geemeff’s, and a few nests Thursday morning! Things will be back to usual Sunday. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my little excursion.

BOOK REVIEW:

Connie Dennis and her husband, Don, are more than just residents of Nova Scotia. They are privileged observers of the lives of the Osprey couple, Ethel and Oscar. Their home provides a front-row seat to the incredible fish-eating raptors, and they have used this unique perspective to create Pickles the Osprey. An Osprey’s Journey in Nova Scotia.  This children’s book is beautifully illustrated with Don’s photographs, offers a rare glimpse into the life of these majestic birds, a perspective that only Connie and Don could provide.

Pickles the Osprey is a delightful book. It has Calico’s seal of approval, which is very hard to earn! Pickles gives us a first-hand view of his life as an osplet in a nest in Nova Scotia.  He introduces us to his parents, who work hard to provide their chicks with a nice nest and fish. We learn what kind of fish ospreys consume in Nova Scotia, which differs from fish hawks in other parts of the world.  Connie provides useful scientific facts in a manner that is not dull to young people.  She also peppers the story with ‘Fun Facts’ alongside the humour of Pickles.  Children will learn about the unique talons of the osprey that allow them to grasp fish and carry them back to the nest.  They will learn about fledging and migration.  In addition, Dennis brings up one of the main challenges of our raptors – hydro poles.  The couple worked tirelessly to ensure the ospreys in Nova Scotia were safe.  They have provided images of the help that Nova Scotia Power has given to the raptors such as Oscar and Ethel. 

The book has stunning close-up images of Pickle’s nest and great graphics.  Included are photos of Canadian currency with ospreys and some fun photoshopping with Pickles sharing a meal of fish tacos with his parents after migration. I had no idea that ospreys appeared on our paper currency!  And I did not know that Ospreys are the provincial bird of Nova Scotia.  This proves that there is always something for us to learn. Grandparents, parents, and teachers will find this an excellent resource to help young people understand the life cycle and the challenges that ospreys face in a contemporary world—highly recommended!

All profits from the sale of Pickles the Osprey: An Osprey’s Journey in Nova Scotia go to Hope for Wildlife. Connie will also sign and mail copies anywhere. This way, ALL profits go to Hope for Wildlife.  The address for ordering is below.  Copies can also be obtained from Amazon and Indigo.

https://morningdovepress.myshopify.com/products/pickles-the-osprey-by-connie-dennis

[Thank you to Morning Dove Press for the images!]

For slightly older youngsters, I highly recommend Belle’s Journey. An Osprey Takes Flight by Rob Bierregaard and Kate Garchinsky. This book gives you an excellent glimpse at osprey migration using a GPS satellite-tagged bird and twenty years of research into bird migration. Belle takes her first flight from the nest and travels down the coast of the United States all the way to South America. Through her trials and tribulations, we learn about the great challenges and why so many do not last the journey. It is another Calico favourite, and Heidi tells me it suits adults, too.

It remains hot with no break in sight for some of our Pacific Northwest nests. Let’s check and see how a few of them are doing:

At Charlo Montana, Lola’s posture says it all.

It is much nicer for the ospreys in the early morning and evening. Iris is hot like Lola and keeping her babies cool. These poor females.

Iris doesn’t know but Finn has a big fish coming in if he doesn’t lose it!

Finn ate on the fish for nearly an hour and delivered a huge headless piece to Iris. She is delighted as are the chicks.

‘PB’ sent me the Owl cam view of this feeding!

Dunrovin. It is hot there for Swoop and Winnie.

At McEuen Park, Mm continues to try to keep her only surviving baby safe and fed as best she can. She often alerts that intruders are near. Did they harm her mate? Will they try a nest takeover?

Cowlitz PUD: The one remaining osplet, not taken by the eagle, is getting to be a fair size. Maybe the eagle will give up. That would be wonderful for Electra. It started out promising until the heat hit the nest and the eagle. Take a breath.

Steelscape:

The Only Bob at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum continues to appear to be thriving.

Expecting fledges at Field Farm any time!

Hoping Beaumont and Hope keep up the good work with their two osplets. Knocking on wood!

For those birds in the area where Menhaden is their main source of food – and it is being scooped up by the millions of pounds, let’s stop this.

Bailey isn’t the only raptor donating blood. Connick did and saved a Red-tailed Hawk. Thanks, ‘J’!

A great Osprey rescue.

Geemeff’s Daily Summary for Loch Arkaig and The Woodland Trust:

Daily summary Tuesday 16th July 2024

A slow day today, no fish arrived on the nest but Louis did bring a very impressive ten foot pole, and spent some time positioning it on the nest and doing some nest-scraping. Despite Dorcha calling loud and long for fish, he decided to attempt mounting her but a wayward breeze put paid to that by blowing him away. LizB says: The mating attempts, along with coy mantling, skydancing, nest scraping and bringing in nesting materials are all normal bonding behaviours to reinforce their bond after what they see as a nest failure following the loss of their chicks. No Ospreys visited Nest One, just a Thrush visited and perched for a few moments. The light rain and light winds of tonight’s forecast were already in evidence when night cam switched over much earlier than usual, and thundery showers are expected tomorrow.

Night cam switches on (day cam): Nest One 23.24.45 (03.27.14); Nest Two 23.10.47 (03.40.54)

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/b9ycwbSrAqQ A Thrush visits and perches for a while 11.34.21 (zoom)

https://youtu.be/bcctn-mHR5s Comedy moment: the wind blows Louis away during a mating attempt 13.03.11

https://youtu.be/tmvFGPHenBo How does Louis manage to fly with a 10 foot pole? 18.35.27

Bonus read – Scottish Ospreys translocated in 2023 to the place in Spain where our chicks are now:

https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/07/15/twelve-scottish-osprey-chicks-arrive-in-pego

Watch the Loch Arkaig Osprey livestream 24/7 and join in the conversation here:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

‘H’ reports:

7/16 Osoyoos osprey nest:  The live stream was offline until 0930, so we may have missed a couple of Olsen’s early fish deliveries.  It was another very hot day, with a temperature of 102F/39C at 1600.  We did not see a fish delivery until 1759, and it was a very large whole fish brought by Soo.  After such a long time without a meal, I was concerned that there might be some aggression, but there wasn’t.  It was a peaceful, 41 minute feeding, and Soo and her two remaining chicks had a nice meal.  At 2113, Olsen dropped off a small partial fish, and there was some slight intimidation from Big toward Middle.  This feeding lasted for 7-minutes, and Middle was able to eat during the last 2 minutes.  Weather for 7/17: Partly cloudy, high 99F/37C, light winds.

7/16 Audubon Boathouse osprey nest:  As you know, Dory and Skiff’s two young chicks were killed by a Great Horned Owl in the early morning hours.  There was some light rain in the evening.  Dory dropped down from the perch and tried to cover her chicks’ bodies to protect them from the rain.  In 2022 Dory and Skiff fledged three chicks.  They have had 6 chicks over three seasons, and half of them were predated by a GHO. 

7/16 Mispillion Harbor osprey nest:  Della and Warren have done a wonderful job raising their two 49 and 50-day-old chicks.  The chicks have both been doing some major wingercising.  They have not achieved any significant lift as yet, but it won’t be long!

7/16 Chesapeake Bay Foundation osprey nest (Annapolis):  This is a cam without rewind.  Three eggs were laid, and three hatched.  The two youngest nestlings died within days of hatching.  The oldest chick seems to be doing very well, and is estimated to be 37 days old.

7/16 Patuxent River Park osprey nest:  It is still difficult for Little to acquire food because of his aggressive fledgling sibs.  Mom doesn’t even get enough to eat.  It has been extremely hot at the nest area (101F on Tuesday), and the fish count to the nest has dropped.  Little’s only meal of the day was at 0515 from a large leftover fish, but it was a good, long feeding from Mom.  For the first time, Little was performing some high hovers that were completely out of our sight.  I think the kid may be ready to fly…but he needs a good meal first. 

7/16 Colonial Beach osprey nest:  This area reached at least 97 degrees today.  Once again, there were only three fish brought to the nest.  The chicks are 21 and 22 days old.  Chick #1, Big, has just started to become aggressive during meals over the past couple of days.  At 0720 David dropped off a large flatfish, and Big prevented Little from eating during the meal.  David delivered another large fish at 0900, and Little was finally able to eat for about 5-minutes at the end of the meal.  More than 8 hours passed, and finally Betty arrived with a medium sized fish.  Due to aggression by Big, Little was only able to eat two bites of fish and the fish tail.  I am worried for Little.    

Sweet Baby Blue at the HWF-BBC Central Nest in British Columbia. I am so glad that you have been enjoying seeing the fish pieces fly to the nest! They all deserve our help.

Kristel had a Raven and, consequently, a huge crop on the 15th. Kristel was 10 weeks old. She is waiting for more prey deliveries this morning.

Cute little Dorsett Hobby Mum is learning!

Mr Crow would like you to learn more about Crows so that you will consider feeding them! Just as the creator of the video states – the Crows know our car! And there is nothing shy about them when it comes to telling us their food trays are empty. Just like all the other birds living in an urban environment, their habitat is being destroyed as I wrote and there are little food choices for them. Please help if you can. You will be rewarded much more than you give.

Thank you for being with us. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, videos, images, screen captures, posts, comments, and letters: ‘Geemeff, H, J, PB’, Connie Dennis, Don Dennis, Morning Dove Press, Charlo Montana, Montana Osprey Project, McEuen Park, Dunrovin Ranch, Cowlitz PUD, Pam Breci, MN LA, Field Farm, Newfoundland Power, Lesley the Bird Nerd, SK Hideaways, Hancock Wildlife Foundation, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Osoyoos, Audubon Boathouse, Mispillion Harbour, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Patuxent River Park, by Rob Bierregaard and Kate Garchinskyand Colonial Beach.

For the love of Sparrows

There are so many birds that come to our feeders. The visitors come and go during migration and then there are the ‘old standards’ that stay with us year round. They know our habits just like the squirrels do. Every day we put out the food and water and wait for them to come just to know they are alright.

One of the issues that I have is identifying the sparrows. While the majority that remain are Old World House Sparrows just like this young man enjoying playing in the water today, there are other varieties and I want to learn about and appreciate them, too.

I love Sparrows.

This male House Sparrow had such fun playing in the water.

Did you know that House Sparrows were introduced into New York City in the 1850s to help with insect control? They didn’t help much because they are vegetarian preferring seeds and fruit. Today, most of the bird books indicate that they do feed on insects now. Birds adapt. House sparrows are not related to the other sparrows but, rather, originated in Eurasia and are a member of the Weaver Finch family of birds. In my province, they are abundant year round and we certainly love it when they are flitting about between the deck and the lilacs.

Not so common in my garden is the Harris’s Sparrow. This is an immature Harris’s Sparrow below. This one is just getting started on his black crown. Notice the pink beak and those lovely pink legs. He has a bib which also helps to identify him.

I am really grateful for one of our e-Bird ‘birding giants’ in my community for confirming the identity. The Harris’s Sparrow is not in Manitoba Birds. These sparrows migrate to their breeding grounds in the far reaches of Canada’s boreal forests near Hudson’s Bay and in Nunavat through Manitoba. They are arriving in Winnipeg now to begin their long journey to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (straight south of Winnipeg).

You have a long way to go little fella. Happy to help you fatten up for your journey.

Then there was this little cutie. If you look carefully you can see the spot of yellow between the beak and the eye. These are called lores. There is a white throat with a striped crown. The rusty underparts are just coming; there are no stripes on the light breast. The bill is grey. This is a White-throated Sparrow. It is known for its beautiful songs in the early morning. These lovely little sparrows visit from April to October. Their winter homes range from a line running through Kansas to Pennsylvania down to the very southern tip of New Mexico, Texas and across to Florida (and all parts within those borders).

Some were scratching in the grasses looking for invertebrates.

Others were taking baths.

You will notice that our grass is long and we are leaving all of the leaves. We not want to disturb the butterfly larvae, microbes, and worms. Leaf litter is where many of our butterflies and moths overwinter. It is a good excuse to put away the mower and the rake and those dreaded leaf blowers – which should never have been invented.

Oh, they are all so sweet. Each of them has been feeding on a variety of seeds that included insects and berries. Most of all they loved the water today. If you are reading this and live in a place where birds are migrating, please leave out shallow dishes of water for bathing and other dishes of water for drinking. Water is so important to them on their journeys. They can easily get dehydrated.

One of the favourite dishes for baths, other than the bird bath, is actually a shallow dish meant to go under a planter. You can see that it is not very deep. The depth is, however, perfect as the birds are not afraid of being drown.

If you don’t have dishes, check at your local secondhand or charity shop. They tend to carry lots of ceramic dishes that would be perfect for the birds at exceedingly reasonable prices.

The Dark Eyed Juncos are here, too. The numbers arriving on the deck are growing each day. I hope to get some images of the Juncos in the dill tomorrow. My goodness they seem to love the stuff! or maybe there are insects in there that I cannot see.

Juncos will not normally eat from the feeders. They prefer to scratch the ground for invertebrates, dig in my outdoor carpet for fallen seeds, or help the sparrows make a mess with the fruit, bug, and nut seeds that are left in bowls. Those that breed in Manitoba during the summer are the ‘Slate’ coloured Juncos. They winter throughout the US midwest to the southern most parts of Texas across the Gulf and up to Georgia. They seem to not winter in Florida according to Peterson’s guides. I wonder why?

They are certainly easily recognized and they come through in huge groups. We know that spring has arrived when the Juncos appear and that fall is definitely here when they leave. Something to look forward to again next April will be their return.

All of the usual suspects were here today. Mr Blue Jay would like it if more dry corn cobs appeared on the deck but, he did seem satisfied with his peanuts in the shell. Little Woodpecker has a new cylindrical suet and he and she are happy. The easiest to please these days are the Black-capped Chickadees and the squirrels. They seem to be willing to eat almost anything – the squirrels that is. It is doesn’t matter what species they are, each day they bring so much joy.

Thank you so much for joining me as I share some of the visitors to the garden with you today. Take care everyone. Stay safe!

Taiki to get GPS tracker

It is 9 September in Australia. My computer tells me that it is 17:34 on the Canadian Prairies on the 8th of September. In three hours, around 20:00. CDT, the NZ DOC rangers will fit Tiaki with the tracker. She is 228 days old and could fledge any time.

Here is the link so that you can watch. Both LGL and LGK were fitted with trackers. LGK’s is still working providing valuable information on where the adults forage for food for their chicks.

In other nest news, it has been confirmed that Z2 (Aeron) and his family have now all departed for migration. Aeron’s nest is the Pont Cresor in Glaslyn. At the same time, Aran is still at the Glaslyn nest. Many worry about his late spring wing injury but, he most often doesn’t leave until mid-September.

Wales issued a statement that due to the cold spring weather and misfortunes, their six nests produced only six chicks to fledge.

9 October is one of Cornell’s big bird submission dates. This year they are even calling it October Big Day. They want everyone to do a bird count around the world. Mark it on your calendar. I will give you more details closer to the day.

eBird submissions are very helpful. Some recent discoveries, sadly, include bird and plane collision information.

https://ebird.org/news/identifying-patterns-in-bird-plane-collisions-with-ebird-data?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=89cdfffc38-ebird+enews+sept+2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-89cdfffc38-324597667&mc_cid=89cdfffc38&mc_eid=12cb6f15fe

A photo of an adult Osprey yesterday leads everyone in Missoula to think that Iris is still in Montana. The image was taken from the Owl Pole Camera.

Let’s chick on where the Black Storks are today.

Pikne is in Moldova.

Udu is in Southwest Poland.

Udu’s area is full of lakes!

There was no data update for Karl II.

Julge, the only surviving chick of Jan and Janika, has made its way through Germany and looks like he is flying into France. This stork picked the Western Route! Julge is the purple line going into Belgium. It is nice to know he is safe.

The last time that Big Red and Arthur’s K1 and K3 were spotted was 3 September. If they are truly gone and starting their own lives, we wish them and those that are migrating good winds, food, and safe landings.

My original computer issue was fixed but now it seems that some of the keys are sticking. It isn’t fun to keyboard. I will leave you with a couple of images of ducks and geese from my excursion to the park today. It was quiet. Everyone was off tracking down a Green Heron that had flown into town!

A juvenile male Wood Duck.
Juvenile Female Wood Duck
Adult male Wood Duck,moult
Canada Geese

Thank you so much for joining me today. Don’t forget to drop in and see Tiaki get her tracker! My hope is that it is equipped with a 7 year battery. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen shots: Montana Osprey Project, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cornell Bird Lab and NZ DOC, and BirdMap.

Good News in Bird World, 31 August

The sky is blue, the sun is shining bright and it is 21 degrees C on the Canadian Prairies. Just a grand day for everyone. And it is a good day for our birds. Let’s dig into those good news stories.

Jan and Janika’s Black Stork fledgling, Juleg, is not in Russia! He managed to turn around. It would appear he flew because the speed is faster than a tanker but, does it matter? Juleg is back on course having spent the night at Jaroslawiek in Poland. Fantastic news!

The question now is whether ‘the brave one’ will continue going southwest or try to correct his heading heading through Greece and Turkey? We wait. He is alive and well. That is what matters most.

Hurricane Ida temporarily took out the connection to the streaming cam at the Kistachie National Forest in Louisiana. Everyone was worried. However, the winds and rain did not damage the system that the USFWS has put in place to watch the Bald Eagles, Louis and Anna. This is great news!

If you have been watching the Boulder Osprey Cam and were frustrated that it quit working, it is back on line today. The female is still delivering food to the fledgling. Everything is good.

Remember Only Bob? The only hatch of Dylan and Seren at the Llyn Clywedog Nest? the largest male Osprey ever to be born? Today the researchers issued the list of fish that were delivered to Blue 496. There were 354 of them! Rainbow trout were almost exclusively the fish at the beginning and end of the season with Brown trout making up the middle time slot. There were also 10 Grey Mullet that Dylan took from the Dyfi Estuary 15 miles away! —— Ah, you remember! Dylan is the one that flew 25 minutes one way, got a trout, and flew back 25 minutes with it. What a guy.

Here is Dylan delivering one of those whopper trout to Blue 496, Only Bob.

The arrival of fish at the Llyn Clywedog Nest in the Hafren Forest has puzzled some of the observers. It is now thought that when Dylan chased intruders away he sent them packing and instead of returning empty handed, he would stop and fish. Hence the reason from the Brown trout from Nanty Moch which is 7 km from the nest and the mullet from the Dyfi Estuary which is 12.7 km away. Dylan and Seren, Blue 5F, did a great job with their only hatch. Seren left and will be seen where she always spends her winters – in the Tanji Marsh in The Gambia.

Aran is still at the Glaslyn nest. Mrs G has not been seen since 30 August. Can you see him?

The tiny little birds all over the Glaslyn Nest yesterday have been identified as Mistle Thrushes.

Mistle Thrushes are common and are found all over the United Kingdom. They eat berries, earthworms, and insects. They would have had a grand time foraging in the Osprey nest!

Here is a short video showing the Mistle Thrust eating berries in the winter. Listen for their song.

All you have to do is look at the photograph of WBSE 27 and 28 – yes, that is 28 with that massive crop – to see that things are going quite well on the White Bellied Sea Eagle nest in Sydney. What a relief.

It feels like a good day. It would only be better if someone had a sighting of Tiny Little, Blue 463. White YW was seen on the nest today so he is still around.

Take care everyone. Enjoy the rest of the day wherever you are. I am off to check on the local Ospreys.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots: Sea Eagles, Birdlife Australia, and The Discovery Centre, City of Boulder Osprey Cam, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Carnyx Wild and Llyn Clywedog Osprey Cam, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, and BirdMap.