Tag Archives: Brooks and Molate

Ervie fishes with Dad, Fledge at Mispillion, and more

12 July 2022

Ervie. Bazza Hockaday caught Ervie fishing with Dad! He posted images of the two of them together on the FB Page of the Port Lincoln Osprey Group. Now, how wonderful is that? I am so excited. Ervie can fish with dad and not feel so rejected..he just can’t go on the nest near Mum! Remember how Ervie and Dad used to sit in the ‘shed’ and chat? Seriously, tears of joy!

Dad above and Ervie below with the tracker.

@ Port Lincoln Ospreys and Bazza Hockaday. 10 July 2022

The newsletter that I get from the Cornell Bird Lab is carrying an article on neonics, a pesticide, that is having a deadly impact on our songbirds. Have a read. Also consider, however, the fact that the ‘Green’ herbicides and pesticides used on lawns are toxic. Take, for example, the neighbour who wants the weeds killed so that they can put down a matt and then put on wood mulch — the ‘Green’ spray was toxic — it killed the weeds. They did not know that they could simply use vinegar.

Neonic Nation: Is Widespread Pesticide Use Connected to Grassland Bird Declines?

The three Ls (L3 is in care) are flying as almost as good as Big Red and Arthur. They are learning more and more about catching their own prey and in 2-4 weeks they will leave the territory of Big Red and Arthur and find their own place in the world of hawks. So thankful for Suzanne Arnold Horning who takes her camera to the campus each day and allows me to share her images of Big Red and Arthur’s family with you.

One of the Ls hunting in the pine trees. Big Red and Arthur have been moving them around to various parts of the campus for prey drops and hunting. Everything they do are lessons for the kids -. Once the Ls leave the territory, Big Red and Arthur are going to enjoy a much needed rest. We will then see them back on the nest checking things in the late fall or early November. Time definitely passes too quickly!

L4 – we worried and worried and it turns out he loved to climb over his siblings to get to Big Red’s beak – totally unafraid – and was one of the first two to catch prey and become an official juvenile. Here he is on top of a small shed stalking something and stretching.

L4 – cutie pie.

Ferris Akel just uploaded his tour of the Red-tail hawks at Cornell from last weekend. Here you go!

The storklets on the Mlade Buky nest of Bukacek and Betty are big! No wonder Bukacek was working on a second nest. No room for him and Betty!

Urmas and Dr Madis V’s experiment to raise the storklets of Jan and Janika continues to go very smoothly. Karl II has brought food in. Bonus watches the others and begins the same ritual to cause Karl II to be able to regurgitate the fish. Everyone looks nice and healthy on this nest and we know from the postings that both Karl II and Kaia have found the fish basket left for them by Urmas.

The storklets are losing their white natal down and those lovely black feathers are coming in. Bonus is in the front with the two metal rings.

At 13:30 ‘H’ reports that one of the ospreys on the Mispillion Harbour nest fledged. It was a beautiful first flight returning in about a minute and a half. Congratulations to everyone and to you ‘H’ who has watched this nest like a wonderful auntie and kept us informed. Now…when will the next one fledge?

There he goes!

Louis and Dorcha’s two osplets are being ringed at Loch Arkaig at this very moment! There is the proud mama Dorcha with the two before the banders arrived. Dorcha flew around at the arrival of the humans and her and Louis are now perched on a tree waiting for everything to be finished so they can get their chicks back! Will there be one big girl??? and a boy?

The camera is turned off and will come back on line when the ringers are finished.

The chicks of Louis and Dorcha have been ringed but no word about gender, weight, etc. Will post tomorrow when I hear.

Fledgling 554 is enjoying her freedom as she stares at us from the perch at the Llyn Clywedog Osprey nest of Dylan and Seren. 554 was the first osprey to fledge in Wales for the 2022 season – yesterday.

554’s other siblings are flapping their wings now, too….will there be a rush on fledging?

Idris has brought in 3 fish in three hours. Those three big girls will each have their own fish at the Dyfi Nest this evening.

It was a gorgeous day in the Glaslyn Valley. Mrs G looking over her nest full of osplets no doubt so happy that this season went superbly.

Since last year many of us have wondered what the fate of CJ7 would be. Would Blue 022 return? would they bond? would they have chicks? They did bond, they did have chicks….the nest was so deep that we could only get a glimpse of them. Now, here they are staring at us. Just gorgeous osplets. Congratulations – you two are famous. Right, you don’t care. Just clean up the environment so that Ospreys can have lots of non-toxic delicious fish, clean air, safe migration, and wonderful nests. Oh, right..and stop the shooting of Ospreys. Gotcha. We are gonna work on that.

Dory watches over three sleeping little ones on the Boathouse Osprey nest on Hog Island. Just look at how well their plumage camouflages them and how much copper/orange they are getting on the nape of their necks. So lovely and content.

Meanwhile, in California, Rosie continues to supply Brooks and Molate with goldfish. This is number 8!

To the delight of everyone Annie and Alden continue to pair bond in the scrape at The Campanile every other day it seems. This was yesterday.

If you missed it, Mama Thunder made quick work of that juvenile intruder yesterday. Here is a 40 second clip of the action at the West End Bald Eagle nest:

Lillibet wondering where Victor is in the middle of the night at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Mama Cruz.

It is going to take a few days for the blood work to come back on Victor and for all other tests to determine what is causing him to lose his balance and not be able to fly. Here is an edited post by Dr Sharpe.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Both Little Bit 17 and Victor are getting fantastic care and as someone joked – “There will be a run on Costco trout, I want to eat what Victor is having!” Cute. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam and/or FB pages or blogs where I took my screen captures: Suzanne Arnold Horning, Ferris Akel Tours, Mlade Buky Storks, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Audubon Explore.org, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Cal Falcons, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Bazza Hockaday, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies.

Late Saturday in Bird World

25 June

Hi Everyone. Just a quick check on some of our favourite birds for this late lazy Saturday in June.

Wow. Lindsay is one gorgeous peregrine falcon! Have a read:

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/06/22/uc-berkeley-falcons-fly?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Berkeleyside&fbclid=IwAR135T5s_P5RpSCzOtAtDjst7vZ1bTgP6JaM9yD7kPMhOYEoOZN8deWtINw

There are some beautiful birds coming out of San Francisco and Rosie and Richmond have two of them. Brooks and Molate.

Oh, stunning. They remind me of Idris and Telyn’s chicks of 2021 – Dysynni and Ystwyth.

I once asked Tiger Mozone about the qualities of a good Osprey. He asked me if I knew about racing horses. Of course! So the answer to the question is that it isn’t ‘looks’ – it is performance. How many of their osprey chicks survive? fledge? return? breed? That is the measure of a good Osprey parent. So see if you can find a history of your favourite Osprey and look at their ‘track record’.

Here is the one for the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales.

One of the reasons that Monty is such a ‘Kingpin’ in the Welsh Osprey history – if you look at the family tree above – is that he had three different mates and in 8 years he fathered 8 returnees. Many of those have made Monty a grandfather. My favourite is Tegid Z1. You won’t see him on a streaming cam – on private land in Wales but his brother Z2 Aeron causes all that mischief with Mrs G. Z2 is at the Pont Cresor and this is his second year to raised chicks. As a female, Telyn who is now mated with Idris after Monty died has had 4 of her chicks return. You can only find out this kind of information if you ring the ospreys! They will be at the Dyfi Nest this week! We will find out the gender and names at the same time. Fantastic.

You can increase the size of the graph by going under View on your computer and zooming ‘in’.

I have to look up Blue 33 and Maya. They have done better than Monty, I think. There are gaps in the information. For example, there are no returnees listed for 2021 on the family tree. Perhaps there were none.

Malala fledged this morning, the little Red-tail Hawk brought in for dinner and raised by Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island, British Columbia. The time was 06:17:30. She flew by at 06:17:44. The video is quick. I hope they raised enough funds for a much better camera!!!!!

The adult arrives on the nest with breakfast and Malala takes that opportunity to fly off the nest. Perfect! Congratulations everyone!

My focus today has been on the ND-LEEF nest. It deteriorates by the minute – little pieces fall off here and there. It was therefore quite shocking to see an adult land with a squirrel and then have 15 fly in and Little Bit there trying to eat. Little Bit began to slide. Oh, I hope this nest survives a few more days.

Little Bit is eating it. The parent did not stay on the nest very long.

Hang on Little Bit 17!!!!!!!!!

Here is a video from today on that nest when breakfast arrives.

It is a warm steamy night on the Canadian Prairies. More rain. It is absolutely impossible to keep up with any weeding. The vines that grow and shelter the birds in the heat have doubled in size this month. It is crazy.

I do have some news to share with you. It appears that Little Red is father to a couple of new little ones. We have located his ‘new digs’ and have been entertained by the two babies. So cute. My goodness can they balance. I have not seen them anywhere but the tree nest and the wires.

It is hard to understand their size but they are very, very tiny. These images are blown up quite a bit. They chase one another back and forth on the wires! Their colouring is so beautiful. Little Red’s bright red colouring has faded a bit over the years. We sure hope they stay safe up there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this quick peek at a couple of the nests. I know that some of you watch Lady and Dad at the WBSE nest. It takes 42 days for the eggs to hatch (normally) and they were laid on June 8 and 12. So egg 1 is now 17 days and egg 2 is 13 days. There is a ways to go yet.

Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or websites where I took my screen captures: Dyfi Osprey Project, the ND-LEEF, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, GROWLS, and Cal Falcons.