Tag Archives: Bonnie and Clyde

Late Wednesday and Early Thursday in Bird World

1.23-24.2022

I have to admit that I can’t stay away from the Captiva Osprey nest for long. After dinner, I decided to stop in and see what I had missed. It was two things! There was a fifth feeding. The last two ran together and the fish were lovely Mangrove Snappers. The other one happens around 12:33 nest time. Little Bob is in the back. Big and Middle Bob are not that interested in food. Lena begins to cut through the two older chicks and she feeds Little Bob full to the brim. The other two paid absolutely no mind.

All the thoughts that keep going through my head keep asking: Is this a clutch of three males like Port Lincoln?

You can see that Little Bob’s crop has filled up in the image below.

That was an excellent feeding for Little Bob. The fifth feeding so close to the fourth insured that Mum also had some fish before she went to bed. Marvellous family working so well together!

After all my praise for Andy having a fish right at the dawn, today Lena called and no answer. Andy flew in with a fish at 09:07:36. Lena checked a couple of times, each returning to brood the kids. In the image below she knows that Andy is coming with a fish.

It is now 11:30 nest time. Lori, the owner of the property, has posted on chat that Andy is below the nest in the mangrove eating the head of a huge fish. Looks like the kids will have a big lunch! Despite the late breakfast, the trio were well behaved. Just like Port Lincoln.

Here is that big fish being delivered at 11:37:08. No doubt Lena is going to fill herself and the nestlings up to the brim! Nice one, Andy.

It took a few seconds for Little Bob to wake up and get himself around to the side where Lena is feeding. Ah. Now they are all lined up. It looks like it will be another great day at Captiva!

Oh, Little Bob got himself right up to the front so he can get lots of fish! Just like Ervie. Gosh, I miss Ervie. That Port Lincoln Osprey nest is so lonely.

Big Red and Arthur continued work on their nest today – almost at a frantic pace.

You can really see the nest cup much clearer at night.

Big Red and Arthur are on the edge of a system that could bring up to 30 cm or 12 inches of snow to the Northeastern parts of the US. It looks like it could just miss them. Fingers crossed.

It looks like Big Red and Arthur might have escaped the storm.

The Dahlgren Osprey nest of Jack and Harriet now has its streaming cam live. You might recall that Jack brings in a lot of toys to the nest. Sometimes there is so much stuff that the eggs get lost in the jumble. This year there is a brand new platform for the Ospreys to fill up! You can see it in the image below in the link to the streaming cam.

It is 08:52 in Big Bear Lake, California. The sun is filtering through the snow covered nest of Jackie and Shadow. That nest is 44 metres or 145 feet up at the top of a Jeffrey pine tree. You can see the eggs as they are being gently rolled. It will be hatch watch for Jackie and Shadow this weekend. Thousands are holding their breath for this couple in their quest to raise eaglets.

Egg 1 was laid on 22 January with egg 2 laid on the 25th.

Here is the link to Jackie and Shadow’s camera if you do not have it on your list.

There has been a fight between two White-tail eagles on the nest of Milda near Durbe in Latvia. It was posted as a short video on YouTube. It was a younger eagle, perhaps 4 or 5 years old, fighting with Mr S. Thankfully Milda was not involved.

It is snowing on Bonnie at the Great Horned Owl nest in Newton, Kansas. The one egg of Bonnie and Clyde was laid on the 16th of February this year. Last year, the couple fledged two fantastic owlets, Lily and Tiger. They have taken over the nest of a young Bald Eagle couple.

The human made nest at the WRDC is looking a little bare to the wire this morning. R1 and R2 – Rita and Ron’s kids – are looking good. It is lovely to see them doing so well. I know that many of you worried, like I did, about R2 in the early days. He is a big strong creative eaglet. His early attempts at self-feeding really helped.

Kincaid had a Red-eared Sunfish for breakfast this morning at 10:15:18. Like R1 and R2 his juvenile feathers are really coming in now although not as advanced as the Miami duo. He is doing a good job at self-feeding but loves when Anna stays and does the honours.

They are all doing so well. Put a smile on your face! It is so nice that the egg laying is staggered from region to region so that we have the time to enjoy these wee ones growing up into beautiful juveniles!

For the first time in I can’t remember when, all three Grey Squirrels – No Name (the great big one), Dyson, and Scraggles were all in the same area at the same time. I had eyes on all three. Then Little Red ran along the telephone lines. So everyone was around the garden. Dyson was eating on the solid seed suet and in the snow and Scraggles was eating seeds on the snow. I took lots of photographs – none of them great quality but, I wanted to find out if any of them had been injured by the cat yesterday. (Of course, that was only an assumption based on the two locations of blood). No Name is fine. Tail in tact, no scars. Both Dyson and Scraggles have tail issues. There are no marks anywhere on Dyson other than his beautiful tail seemingly thin to the skin in one area. I know it is Dyson because of the tufts and his sweet little face. You can see what would be a nice solid busy tail. It doesn’t quite look like it does when Dyson is moulting.

Little Scraggles seems to look the same as it did the other day. So I think that it was Dyson caught by the cat.

Dyson is fine! He is vacuuming up every seed he can find! It is such a relief.

And we are now heading out to fill up all the feeders so there will be more for him. It remains terribly cold here. It is now only -23 C but temperatures are dropping throughout the day to -31.

Take care everyone. Thank you for your warm wishes for the injured squirrel. Tails will grow back!!!!!!! No real damage done, thank goodness. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife and Captiva Ospreys, KNF Bald Eagles, WRDC Miami Eagles, Dahlgren Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab, Friends of Big Bear, Farmer Derek, and CNN Weather Tracker.

Late Thursday 2.17.22 in Bird World

Wow. There are a lot of weather systems moving about that have the ability to really impact not only people but also, wildlife. The UK has been hit many times this season with named storms. The latest one, Eunice, looks like she could bring more devastation to the large trees that serve as nests for the Ospreys and the Eagles as well as the owls and other raptors.

Wales is in the Red Warning area and it is home to some of our beloved Osprey couples including Mrs G and Aran and Telyn and Idris. All train travel has been suspended in Wales. Tiny Little Bob’s nest in Cumbria is in the orange area along with Kieldner Forest and the Scottish nests are, for the most part, in the yellow. Hearts go out all who face extreme flooding and downed trees amongst other catastrophes.

There are various tornado warning areas and a system is moving through the US that will certainly impact Bald Eagle nests in Pennsylvania along with my friend, R. It also looks like bad weather could hit the Berry College nest and Big Red and Arthur’s. Arthur was working ferociously on the Fernow light stand nest today. Birds can tell when bad weather is coming.

Kansas City – right in the middle of the US – has had a record snow fall today! That sleet and snow as falling on the nest of GHOW’s Bonnie and Clyde at Newton.

If having tunnels of snow as high as I am tall in my yard isn’t enough, there is more coming! At one point we had set the 1997 snow record but we surely must have tossed that aside by now. The winds will be really bad also. The birds in the garden stayed a little later but when they were here today they did not stop eating. One of the nut and bug solid cylinders is almost gone thanks to Dyson!

This bad weather really makes my heart break for all of the animals. This huge amount of snow makes it very difficult for them to get prey.

The two Osplets at the Captiva nest are doing very well, indeed. It is the first day but already Andy and Lena seem to have the feedings, the delivery of fish, and security almost under control. The little ones are so healthy. Fat and plump little bottoms. There has been no discord!

I hope that the third egg does not hatch. These two are just perfect. They are almost the same size. Their development seems to be about the same. The most recent images of the nestlings are at the top.

Isn’t it adorable that wee baby with its arm around the egg? Sure makes a good prop!

Andy has been good to stand guard when Lena is feeding the little ones.

Once today my heart sank when the wee ones were on the nest alone! I am going to keep telling myself that an adult was right there.

Everyone is tucked in tight and Lena is catching some sleep, too. Babies keep you busy.

Little Bit continues to thrive on the NEFlorida nest. Another fish came in and Little Bit ate most of it. Samson really filled that eaglet to the brim.

If Little Bit keeps getting fed this much, we will soon have to start calling him Big Bit! That is a very nice crop. Indeed, Little Bit has spent the day eating more and more always ready for more even if its crop is bursting. Well done Little Bit! You are certainly learning some good survival skills including eating everything you possibly can even if you are full. In the wild, you will not know when prey items will be available. Meanwhile, NE26 sleeps.

I am always amazed at how clever the ones who are bopped become out excelling their older siblings. It is fantastic.

Everyone is tucked in tight at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest, too. Just look at Little Bit! Looks like he swallowed a beach ball. You can now see clearly that they have both been to the stylist and have lovely black nails in the latest pointy fashion.

So sweet. They are trying to sleep sitting up like Samson and Gabby with their heads tucked. What darlings.

Hatch watch is on for the Savannah Skidaway Island Great Horned Owl Nest.

Audacity laid her first egg of the 2022 season yesterday on the Sauces, Santa Cruz, Channel Islands nest.

That nest is in a really beautiful location. Here is the link to the camera. There is also a chat with very informed moderators.

Eggs are coming faster than I can keep up. Mr President and Lotus have their first egg of the 2022 season at the National Arboretum Nest at 17:05 today, the 17th of February. This is the couple’s first season together.

The couple were in the nest together about 45 minutes prior to Lotus laying her egg.

Lotus really puffed her feathers prior to the egg’s arrival.

Once it was hard, Lotus rolled the egg.

Lotus is tucking the egg so she can incubate it.

Everything appears to be quiet.

Here is the link to the streaming cam of Mr President and Lotus:

Port Lincoln has posted Ervie’s tracking for yesterday. Someone said on chat that Ervie had been seen catching a fish near the Marina. How brilliant!

At this very moment Ervie is on the barge yelling at Dad to get him a fish!

Thank you so much for joining me for this late report. I admit to not being able to tear myself away from the little osplets at Captiva. They are adorable. I am certain you would join me in shooing away the crows so these two have a chancer at a full life. Take care. If you are in the areas of bad weather, please stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Labs, NEFlorida and the AEF, Explore.org, National Arboretum and the AEF, Farmer Derek Owl Cam, CNN Weather Tracker, BBC Weather, and Environment Canada.

Congratulations Captiva (updated)

There are two cute little Osplets at the Captiva Osprey nest on Santibel Island this morning. If the third egg hatches, there will be three late Friday or Saturday. The first chick hatched at 21:40:12. I am not clear when the second hatched. They look almost like twins!

Eggs were laid on 8, 11, and 14 of January.

Oh, how wonderful to see that soft light fuzzy down and that dark stripe down the back of the nestlings. Oh, I have missed baby Ospreys! No doubt these two will bop one another and tumble on the nest. Here are a group of images from this morning.

You might notice that Andy and Lena do not keep a pile of fish on the nest. That would attract predators. Andy will, no doubt, have places where he stashes a little fish for the family elsewhere.

That little one wants some fish. Just look at the cute little tails already!

The oldest one has had at least one meal.

Andy is really on alert protecting his beautiful family.

In other news:

Bonnie and Clyde have one egg in the nest that stole last season from the Bald Eagles on the property of Farmer Derek near Newton, Kansas. That egg was laid when ice pellets were coming down about 00:47:00 on the 17th. Perhaps Farmer Derek will post an official time.

That icy sleet has turned to snow. Do not worry. You can just see those distinguishing ear tufts of the Great Horned Owl but Bonnie has thousands of feathers and her and the egg are absolutely safe.

Ervie is on the nest and Dad is on the perch. Everything is fine at the Port Lincoln Osprey Nest!

Send out warm wishes and positive thoughts to Andy and Lena. They will need to be so alert. We all hope that they will raise successful chicks to fledge this year!

Thank you for joining me this morning. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to Window on Wildlife, Farmer Derek and Port Lincoln Ospreys for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures.

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Oh, how I have missed seeing that lovely stripe and the fuzzy light down of the tiny little ospreys. Congratulations Lena and Andy!

Here is a variety of images from the morning. You will notice that there is not a pile of fish kept on the nest. That would attract predators.

Oh, just look. Little tails!!!!! And one of them wanting some fish.

Absolutely adorable.

There is our beautiful Osprey family. Andy is on high alert.

Oh, send out your most positive wishes to this Osprey family as Lena and Andy try to keep their babies safe.

Here is a link to the Captiva Osprey Cam:

Other quick news:

The Great Horned Owl couple that stole the Bald Eagle nest, Bonnie and Clyde, have one egg now. It was laid around 00:47:00 last evening it is thought. I have not seen an official time. There were ice pellets falling at the time and now Bonnie is covered in snow.

Bonnie will be fine and so will her egg. She is very insulated! If you want to watch this GHOW nest on Farmer Derek’s property near Newton, Kansas, here is the link:

Our favourite juvenile fledgling osprey is fine. Ervie is on the nest and Dad is on the perch. Everything is alright with the world in Port Lincoln.

Thank you for joining me today. Congratulations to Captiva and Bonnie and Clyde. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to Window on Wildlife and Port Lincoln Osprey Project for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.

Sunday in Bird World

Yesterday my friend, ‘R’ saw an article in her local newspaper in PA, the Philadelphia Inquirer, by Rita Giordano. Its title was ‘Copper Bullets could help with eagles being poisoned by hunted animals’. Today, one of the FB groups that I belong to trying to end lead poisoning in birds – both flying and waterfowl – posted some information. I would like to add fishing equipment to these topics, not just bullets. That article, ‘Those Bullets that kill Birds’ will be coming tomorrow. Sadly, those that hunt and fish with lead equipment will probably never read my blog but, hopefully, it will inspire you to reach out to those you know who do fish and hunt with the consequences and how they can help be part of the solution.

I am also working on Avian Flu and falcons. That is coming up.

It started off a wet yucky day in Jacksonville at the nest of Gabby and Samson. By mid-day, the eaglets were drying out. Poor Gabby needs to go to the stylist!

Gabby is an amazing Mum. I love watching her take care of her babies. She tries so hard to get them under her so she can keep them dry. She was also spread out like a huge Mumbrella at one time.

It’s a nice fresh fish for the family. Those babies are getting their mohawks.

It was the same for Harriet, M15, E19 and 20 at the Fort Myers Bald Eagle nest on the property of D Pritchett. The one difference between Harriet’s eaglets and Gabby’s is their age and their plumage. E19 and E20 have their juvenile feathers and the rain and cold can be controlled by them – but not by E26 and 27 yet.

still Harriet tries to stuff those big babies underneath her!

R1 and R2 were soaking wet when they woke up at the WRDC nest in the Miami Zoo, too.

Ron and Rita’s nestlings look more like eagles now. My goodness. They are catching up with E19 and E20.

The Osceola Bald Eagle nest looks dry. The Mum was there feeding the eaglet this morning even though it can easily feed itself now.

It is difficult to tell if there is a pip on the first egg for Andy and Lena at the Captiva Osprey nest. Lena has been rolling the eggs and calling for Andy to bring her some food! He brought in a small fish earlier but she is still hungry.

The poor Mum at the Duke Farms nest is under some snow! Dad has brought in food and has done some rotations in the incubation rota with her.

It is pretty nice down in Louisiana. Kincaid always looks so lonely on the nest when he is there by himself, just like the little eaglet at Berry and Osceola. The truth is that Bald Eagles are solitary birds, most often. It probably doesn’t bother them at all – just me! Anna is going to feed that entire fish that Louis just brought to Kincaid! His crop will pop.

The forest rangers are going to add an IR light that will light up the canopy of the tree, more sound, and a new camera. The sound they have now is incredible. This morning Kincaid was food calling and those little cheeps just tugged at your heart strings.

Are you a fan of Bonnie and Clyde, the Great Horned Owls that took over the Bald Eagle nest on Farmer Derek’s property last season? If so, the GHOWs are back! They have visited the nest but no egg was laid last night.

You can see one of the Owls on the branch above the nest at dawn.

Remember that the owls are active during the evening and night – and most active at dusk and dawn. Once Bonnie lays her first egg, she will remain on the nest taking some breaks with Clyde providing food.

Here is the link to this camera:

On the 11th of February, three days ago in Orange, Australia, that little cutie pie Xavier chased a Wedge-tailed Eagle – the largest raptor in Australia – out of his territory! The encounter was caught on the new tower cam. Xavier, you are amazing.

This is the best I could do from the streaming tower cam. You can see the wings of the Wedge-tail eagle in a downward stance to the right of the image. Below and to the left you will see a small dark spot. That is Xavier.

Here is a 3 min 20 sec video on this magnificent bird so you can see how large a Wedge-tail Eagle is and then you can marvel more at Xavier’s ability to get it out of his territory. A short introduction to the Wedgie.

We are in the midst of another blizzard. The snow coming down is not big flakes but it sure is blowing. I thought I caught Dyson eating the nut cylinder but when I cropped the images it was Scraggles eating all those nuts. Dyson is sure missing out! Yesterday, no one in the garden had hardly touched this lovely nut cylinder and by the end of the day, Scraggles might well have eaten it all. Do squirrels get tummy aches?

The snow is sticking to Scraggles’s fur.

I love how Scraggles moves around eating the seed cylinder and hanging on. That cylinder was more than triple the current size when Scraggles started out. He is eating well and looks quite healthy except for his tail which is actually growing back. We believe he had a bad encounter with one of the local cats.

The Sparrows are all puffed to stay warm.

I put some chopped peanuts, meal worms, and Bark Butter balls on the snow for those that wanted to eat off the ground. It was nice to see the Starling and the Sparrow sharing the food.

Little Red has decided to stay inside his penthouse today. I have not seen him out at all. That suet he ate yesterday should keep him full for several days.

The Port Lincoln Osprey cam is offline again. It has just not been the same since the big storm. Hopefully it will be back up shortly and we can check on Ervie.

Thank you for joining me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: NEFlorida and the AEF Bald Eagles, SWFlorida and D Pritchett, Duke Farms, Osceola Bald Eagles, KNF Bald Eagles, Captiva Osprey Cam, Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross, WRDC Bald Eagles, and Farmer Derek.

Friday in Bird World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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