The fall out from the force 11 winds and heavy rain in the UK continues to take its toll on the Osprey nests in the UK. Is the unseasonal weather a symptom of the climate changing? And how do the Ospreys cope when there is so much rain that the water is murky and the males cannot fish?
It has now been no less than 24 hours since Mrs G and the two osplets on the Glaslyn Nest had any food. The nest has been besieged by crows and Aran, the male, is protecting Mrs G and the babies.
Mrs G is screaming at Aran to get food for her and now three Bobs! It is now past 18:00 in Wales. Aran is hopefully off fishing. Mrs G cannot do anything because of the Crows. Send your warm wishes to them.
In many instances, the water has been so murky that the males cannot see to fish. Yesterday, Laddie (LM12) was only able to bring in a twiddler of a fish to the nest. Many feared that the two little ones would not survive the night. Laddie made up for it this morning by delivering a whopper to Nessie, Blue NC0 and the Two Bobs.
The third egg is due to hatch. A shell from an earlier hatch has slipped over the third egg – but that is on the small end it is believed. Most chicks begin pipping through the bigger end of the egg.
This nest is set for awhile. This is an enormous relief. Nessie is a first time mom.
Wow. I am so glad that I checked on Nessie and the Bobs at Loch of the Lowes before I closed. Bob 3 is hatching!
Laddie stayed on the nest so that Nessie could have a break and also eat some fish. You are doing a great job! Nessie has handled the weather and the Bobs just like she is an old timer at raising osplets not a first time mom.
One of the tragedies has been the death of chick 2 at the Dyfi Nest. You may recall that Telyn really had received some of the worst rain and wind. Idris brought in a fish and Telyn was feeding Bob 1 as Bob 2 was hatching. Sadly, it appears that chick 2 suffocated about eight hours after it was born. Meanwhile, E3 is set to hatch tomorrow.
The weather has calmed at Rutland and Blue 33 landed a big one for the Two Bobs this morning. Everything is fine or should I say, super fine, on that nest.
Now that the weather has calmed in Wales, Seren and Dylan at the Clywedog nest have had to content with human intruders in the nest area! Seren took a very short break while Dylan incubated the eggs. She returned in about three minutes! Hatch is coming.
I really feel for the Ospreys – the weather has been highly problematic for the past 48 hours. In Scotland, they said they felt they had returned to winter without having much of a spring, summer, or fall!
Thank you for joining me this morning. I will be keeping an eye on the Glaslyn Nest and Mrs G and Aran. I hope he brings in a whopper giving some hope for the Bob’s survival.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots: The Dfyi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog Osprey and CarnyxWild Wales, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Loch of the Lowes, LRWT, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife.
Around 18:00, the team to retrieve the bodies of EE1 and EE2 begin their work in the Matsula National Park. The person who climbed the tree was named Gunnar. The bodies of the two eaglets were examined carefully at the nest. It was noted that EE2 had a large swollen belly. However, it appeared that EE1 had a pellet stuck in their throat that they had been trying to cast for some time as there was vomit. Those were the general observations. The tests on all nest items will hopefully reveal causes. All of the prey items, every feather, and each piece of bone were removed from the nest for testing to discover what caused the deaths of the two White-tail eaglets of Eve and Eerik.
The chicks were retrieved very professionally and placed into sealed sample bags.
The cleaning of the nest of any prey items that could have harmed the chicks and/or the parents. The results of the testing and the post-mortem will be posted to the public forum for the nests. There are both Estonian and English sites. The tests will take some time. Remember that they will try to conduct them at the University of Estonia but if they cannot then the samples will be sent out of the country. Here is the link:
It is a beautiful morning in Ithaca, New York. Big Red wakes up to a golden glow and promises of a mostly sunny day and highs of 21. The eyases will be warm! And this heat and sun will give a chance to dry out the nest from the rains earlier in the week.
Already you can see the eyases prefer to sleep on the fur of the animals instead of the pokey sticks! The Ks are fine. Chatters have been worried about K3. K3, at the top, uses a Starling (I think) as a cushion. Look at its fat little bottom and strong wings and long neck. No one ever needs to worry about Big Red’s kiddos being hungry. It doesn’t happen. No one needs to worry they will fall off the tower either – they don’t! They are afraid of heights – yes, isn’t that funny?
Tiny Tot is ten weeks old today!!!!!!! Congratulations! Oh, goodness. So many didn’t think he would live to be this old. 70 days. But do not let the number of days fool you. For 12 full days Tiny did not eat and those days were mostly in the critical rapid growth phase. Tiny still has feathers to come in and lots of hovering to do before s/he fledges. Just as well she likes being on the nest and takes her time. We want her to succeed and not be rushed.
By noon both Tiny Tot and sibling #2 had had a fish each. Not bad. Tiny got the 7:55 am food drop from Jack. It was hazy and oh, is it going to be hot – up to 29 or 30 degrees C today. That nest must be even hotter. Poor babies.
At the Hellsgate Osprey nest of Iris, the oldest Osprey in the world, Iris was missing in action. She did not spend the night incubating the two eggs of hers and Louis’s and she was not there at dawn (image below is at 6:23 am).
Iris flew in around 8:11. She began alarming almost immediately after she arrived. She flew off the nest and returned at 9:11 when she began alarming again. Iris was on and off the nest – mostly off – as the morning progressed. Again I am not an expert but Iris does not appear to be too concerned about incubating the eggs in the nest. She is much more involved in protecting her territory.
It is 13:27 in Jacksonville, Florida. Legacy has been hunkered down on her nest since morning due to the high winds in the area. Wind is 32 kph with gusts even higher. Fishing would be very choppy and Samson will come in with fish for Legacy when he can. She has eaten well and we also know that eagles can go several days without eating – that is the way it is in the wide world that Legacy will enter one day.
You may recall that the nest of the Ospreys, LM6 and LJ2, at Lyn Brenig in Wales was cut down during the night with someone using a chainsaw and boat. With considerable effort the people in Wales renovated another portable nest for the couple and then replaced the old nest. An update was provided this morning.
LM6 and LJ2 have shown considerable interest in the new nest. However, a Greylag Goose has now laid eggs on that nest. This presents a problem and the folks in Wales have decided not to seek a permit to move the eggs of the goose but to leave it in place and create another nest at that site for the Ospreys.
Raising the new nest so it can be placed on its pole.
And now for the lead story. Blue 33 (11) brought in a headless fish for Maya to feed to the Two Bobs. Everything was going well for a few minutes when the fish began to flap, of its own accord, on the nest cup right where the Two Bobs and the third egg were. I will show you this in a sequence of images.
Look at Maya’s expression. She is scared!
Maya moves around to the other side of the nest to figure out what to do and the fish starts flapping directly, up and down, on top of the babies – again.
This was the scene when the fish finally stopped moving. It is horrific. No one knew if either of the little ones were alive. One’s body is caught underneath and the head of the little one is under the fish on the opposite side.
Everyone held their breath. After the two eaglets at the White-tail nest in Estonia, it was hard to believe that anything good could come out of his incident.
In a few minutes the little ones pull themselves from that fish.
Maya alerts Blue 33 (11) to remove ‘that’ fish from the nest! And she broods her babies.
What began as a horrible incident became a miracle. By 15:00 the Two Little Bobs were up and ready to eat again.
Smile! Just look at the two of them. Fantastic. I cannot think of a better way to end my blog today.
Thank you so much for joining me. Take care. And smile….think of the Two Bobs and the miracle that saved them if you start feeling ‘blue’. Wonderful things happen.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I gather my screen shots: LRWT and Rutland Osprey Project, Achieva Credit Union, The Eagle Club of Estonia, NE Florida Bald Eagle Cam and the AEF, Cornell Bird Lab, Montana Osprey Project, and Lyn Brenig Osprey Project.
I watched Legacy this morning. She seemed occupied by what was happening beyond the nest.
Then she moved to another branch and looked out.
She turned back to look at us. Then, Legacy lowered her head, did a ‘ps’, and flew off. It was 11:51:00 on 11 May.
It was a fabulous push off – and whoosh. Legacy left the nest.
There she is leaving the branch and flying out beyond the nest tree – in the two images below. What a gorgeous silhouette.
Notice the wing positions as she goes up and then thrusts forward.
Are Samson and Gabby training her to find prey elsewhere? Will she return?
And here is our answer. At 2:42 Samson coaxes Legacy back to the nest. He flies in and drops a small piece of fish on the nest. Sometimes Samson looks like a cartoon character – I promise you that is really Legacy’s dad standing on the nest! He has the most amazing legs!!!!!!! Almost like skinny jeans.
Here comes Legacy – she messes up her landing and has to fly around and come back on the other side. Meanwhile, Samson waits.
Samson sees Legacy coming and he is out of there. She mantled it and took only a few minutes to eat that small piece of fish.
Legacy was up on her branch looking out over the territory of her parents Samson and Gabby and hoping for another chunk of fish! So glad to see you Legacy.
Across the state of Florida, from Jacksonville and Legacy’s nest to the Achieva Credit Union Osprey nest in St. Petersburg, Diane appears to be giving more advice to Tiny Tot. Is it one of those mother-daughter chats about survival and raising her own chicks?
Oh, I hope that Tiny Tot hangs around the nest for 3 or 4 weeks building up her skills! The research indicates that the more food and the longer on the nest the stronger the possibility is of survival.
Blue 152 (female) and unringed male were still at Loch Arkaig at 16:09. Fingers crossed for a new couple. They are surveying what could be their territory. Looks like Louis might not give them any trouble. He is busy with his new mate since Aila did not return from migration on the other nest. Rumour has it Louis and her have at least one egg on that nest.
This is not the best screen capture, apologies. The female has a very beautiful necklace (she is on the right with the blue band). And look at the difference in eye colour from that of Tiny Tot. Osprey eyes are darker, an amber or orange-yellow, as a juvenile lightening up to a bright yellow as an adult. The female appears to have a bit of a crop – she was crying for a fish this morning – while the male’s seems to be fairly flat. Remember the crop is a pouch under the throat which is part of the bird’s (all raptors but owls) digestive system. I like to think of it as a holding tank. They might find prey one day and get ‘full to the brim’ – both the stomach and the crop bulging – to not have any food for a couple of days. The raptor can ‘crop drop’ – releasing food into the stomach.
The female spent some time rearranging the nest and the pair mated just after 4pm. Now bring your lady a fish!
Boy does he look grumpy. I hope it is just the angle of the camera.
Blue 33 (11) gets his status as super star of the Osprey world for his great devotion to Maya and his chicks. Here he is delivering a nice big one for the evening meal for the ‘Bobs’.
Of course raising 11 chicks in three years (2019, 2020, and this year if the third egg hatches) gives both him and Maya super Osprey status.
Blue 33 (11) is a very devoted dad and often spends time sitting nest to Maya in the nest while she incubates or broods.
Big Red took a break and the Ks all cuddled up together to keep warm. When she returned she had a fresh chippie for lunch. Watching the Ks learn to eat in the midst of a little bonking is fascinating. Big Red is so patient!
You can catch this entire feeding on a video. See if you can tell which K is which.
This morning the Ks were a little disorganized. Look at them five hours later standing still all lined up to eat. K3 knows that being in the front is important. This is more like it. They have dried out more and so has the nest. Almost looks like they have had a bath.
Grinnell was doing a great job feeding the three this afternoon. Those juvenile feathers are really starting to come in. Love the ‘peach’ at the end of the tail.
It is hard to imagine but they will look like Izzi in about a month.
Izzi is such a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon. Here he is at just a little over seven months old – 5 May 2021. Of course, we all want him to stay in his parent’s scrape box but, do they? In a nutshell, Izzi had three fledges – yes, three! One fludge, one that sent him into a window and rehab, and then a fantastic one. Each time he was returned to the scrape box so this parents, Xavier and Diamond, would accept him. But now, maybe he thinks the penthouse apartment on top of the water tower is his!
Look at those eyes. Izzi loves to see his reflection in the camera casing.
Jack brought in a nice fish for Harriet to feed the two osplets on the Dahlgren Osprey Nest in King George County, Virginia. It is nice to see Jack staying on the nest while Harriet feeds the babies. There is one egg lost in the nest that didn’t get incubated and another in the nest cup but from my calculations it is too late for it to hatch. That is probably a very good thing. Look at how big those two are!
I didn’t know if we would ever see Tiger or Lily Rose back on the nest tree in Kansas. And there, at 5:09 am is one of them sitting on a branch hoping for a food delivery. I think it is Lily Rose but I cannot be 100% certain. Bonnie and Clyde will continue to help them until they such time as they are able to catch their own prey – and that won’t be long.
Thank you so very much for dropping in to check on ‘the birds’ today with me. I hope that your day was good and that you are safe and well wherever you are. Tomorrow the Duke Farm eaglets will get banded.
Thank you to the following for their steaming cams. That is where I grab my screen shots: Cornell Bird Lab, Farmer Derek, Achieva Osprey, Dahlgren Osprey Cam, NE Florida Bald Eagle Cam and the AEF, UC Falcon Cam, Charles Sturt University at Orange, Australia and the Falcon Project, Woodland Trust and People Postcode Lottery, Scottish Wildlife Trust, and the LRWT Manton Bay Ospreys.
As many of you know, I have a ‘soft’ spot for several of our avian friends and clearly, Legacy, Tiny ‘Biggie’ Tot, and the Ks are at the top of that list but, in truth, there are so many amazing birds that have brought me joy that it is impossible to give each one of them the air time that they truly deserve. That said, Tiny is going to fledge in about a week. Legacy is still home but it won’t be long until she is gone into the big world, too. That is why I am spending so much time with them.
Tiny Tot working his wings. 7:15 pm. 8 May 2021
This morning Legacy really lucked out. At 9:30:16, she sees her parent coming in with food and she starts squealing. She flies down to the nest six seconds later to retrieve that fish from her dad, Samson.
Then at 2:43:25 Legacy starts squealing again. She flew down from her branch so quickly that she sent Samson off the nest with the fish. He had to come around and land again. Wow, it was a whopping piece of nice fresh fish. Legacy will be full until tomorrow for sure!
That is a really large chunk of fish that Samson has brought Legacy.
Legacy is learning how to hold the fish with all of her talons so it is easier to eat and doesn’t move around and so that no one steals her dinner!
Oh, Legacy is doing a really good job with the self-feeding.
Legacy’s crop is as full as it can be! Isn’t she just gorgeous?
Richmond is busy bringing in fish for Rose and the gang. Like all the dads, he loves the head. He has nice crop. Richmond is a great provider. It looks like Rosie is keeping the toys and hats out of the nest for now.
There they are. Three tiny little Ospreys.
Aran brought in a really nice flounder for Mrs G today in celebration of Mother’s Day. There are the three eggs that Mrs G is incubating.
Big Red and the Ks are beginning to dry out. Oh, it has been a soggy couple of days on this Red-tail Hawk nest.
Precious. Well behaved. Big Red always has everything under control.
Blue 33 (11) brought in a nice fish for Maya to feed ‘Little Bob’. There he is not even a day old. Oh, so cute.
The two little ones at The Landings Skidaway Island Osprey nest are growing.
Can you find them? Look carefully.
Still looking a little reptilian.
You can see the big crop on the eldest one and the youngest still being submissive in the image below. These little ones learn quickly – if they survive – to keep their head down, let the dominant one eat, and then go for it. So, like Tiny Tot they wait, listen, and get ready to jump.
And there is the little one getting a nice feed.
Tiny ‘Biggie’ Tot is enjoying a nice fish meal as I type this. Indeed, Tiny has had a lot of fish today. He might have even had more if it had not been for sibling #2 losing a whole catfish off the edge of the nest. This last delivery came at 8:11:58. You can just hear Tiny Tot squealing, “It’s mine”. If you look you will notice that Tiny still has a crop from earlier in the day.
Jack is so funny. He really is not comfortable feeding the kids. He keeps looking around for Diane. Meanwhile, Tiny must be thinking “just give me the fish, I can feed myself.” Turns out Jack is OK at feeding the little one.
Tiny is still being fed as the IR camera comes on and the sun is going down in St Petersburg.
This is a lovely image of Tiny Tot by Diane with sibling #2 eating its fish in the back. I want to try and get a really good front image of Tiny tomorrow. It appears that Tiny is getting a dark necklace. If that is the case, I am going to have to stop calling Tiny ‘Biggie’ Tot a ‘he’.
Tiny’s wings are getting so big and the tail feathers are growing nicely. The plentiful food in the last couple of weeks has made a big difference in Tiny’s life.
Thank you for joining me as we hopped, skipped, and jumped from nests today. Take care and all the best.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams. That is where I get my screen shots. They are: Achieva Credit Union, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Cornell Bird Lab and Skidaway Audubon, Golden Gate Audubon Ospreys, NE Florida Eagle Cam and the AEF, LRWT Rutland Osprey Project, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife.
