Tag Archives: Bukachek and Betty

Early Monday in Bird World

6 June 2022

Liz has posted a video of Urmas and his team removing the Black Storklets from Janika’s nest in Jegova County, Estonia on 5 June. I reported earlier that a glove like a Black Stork shape had been used to place the storklets in the basket. That information is incorrect and my apologies. Bare hands were used. One storklet, sadly, died in the nest over night before the intervention. They need temperatures of 22-28 degrees C. They cannot thermoregulate their temperatures yet. In addition, it rained and well – I hope the remaining chicks survive and thrive. It will be a first for the Veterinary College to raise Black Storklets to fledging. Good luck to Urmas and his team!

Here is the video that Liz posted:

The White Storks Bukachek and Betty still have five storklets in their nest in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. You can see the difference in size from the oldest to the youngest known as ‘Little Finger’ by the chatters.

Bukachek (male) is making sure that the wee storklet gets food in the image below.

It has been raining on and off. The rich Red Iron in the clay makes all of the Storks look dirty. Maybe when it is not so rainy more straw will be brought to the nest! That would help.

Awhile ago I mentioned the Lesser Spotted Eagles. Andris and Anna, at their nest in Zemgale, Latvia. The camera was down for awhile but it is now back and running. In the meantime, a beautiful little Lesser Spotted eaglet has hatched!

It is so cute and fluffy! There was only one egg so this is the only chick. Had there been two eggs, the first hatch most always predates the second. So having only one is a good thing! The parents can focus on bringing food to this cutie pie.

Voldis came to the White-tailed Eagle nest that he shares with Milda near Durbe, Latvia. He arrived at 05:30 and stayed for well over an hour.

Milda has had a terrible time since her long time mate, Raimis disappeared two years ago. I hope that Milda and her mate if it is to be Voldis have a very successful next breeding season. This year the eggs were predated.

Margit hatched on 25 April and is growing by leaps and bounds with the tender care of the parents, Kalju and Helju. This Golden Eaglet’s nest is in Soomaa National Park in the southwest of Estonia.

Oh, such a beautiful eaglet. Margit is waking up. The black dot behind the eye is the ear. It will be covered over with feathers before the eaglet fledges.

Helju just brought breakfast for Margit. Liz caught it in a video:

This is the streaming cam for this nest:

What is happening with Ahote? Ahote, the youngest of the three eaglets at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta, fledged on June 2. He has spent the time since then on Transmission Rock and is getting hungry unless food was delivered. Working his way back to the nest, he got some wind on his wings and got to the nest but was blown off course. No doubt he will get there! Very determined.

In the image below you can see him directly below and slightly to the right of Kana’kini and Sky.

Checking on Osprey nests in the UK, the third chick hatched at Llyn Brenig but did not survive.

Aeron Z2 and Blue 014 have had their first hatch at the Pont Cresor nest in the Glaslyn Valley.

Laddie LM12 delivered nine – yes, 9 – to the nest for Blue NC0 to feed their three Bobs at the Loch of the Lowes.

All three Bobs seem to be doing fine at the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. Just look at how dark Mrs G’s plumage is and that necklace.

Aran has been busy delivering fish. Little Bob is not always in the most perfect position!

I do have to admit that Idris and Telyn are my favourite Ospreys in the UK along with Blue 33 and Maya.

Telyn is feeding the two older Bobs while Bobbie Bach is asleep.

Food coma!

Oh, could that be comfortable?

There is Bobbi Bach ready for his meal while the others sleep. Poor Telyn. They are surely keeping her busy.

It looks like it is starting to dry out for Dylan and Seren at the Llyn Clywedog nest. Gosh, Seren was just so wet and hunkered down keeping the three Bobs warm and dry. Let us hope the sun comes out, too, to warm them up.

Both of the Ospreys were on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest sleeping during the night.

Both are back on the nest waiting for a breakfast delivery!

Good Morning Little Bit 17! Everyone is waiting for prey deliveries at the ND-LEEF nest. I hope that the adults will feed Little Bit like they did yesterday. That would be grand.

The scrape box at Manchester NH is getting to be quite the mess! A good wind will help clear it out. It is hard to believe but this scrape will be on fledge watch beginning on the 10th or 11th of June – this coming weekend!

Nancy is on the nest at 08:40 feeding E1. It looks like they will have a beautiful day at that Bald Eagle nest in Minnesota. Wonder when E1 is going to take to the skies? Nancy has done wonders taking care of E1 and fending off intruders.

Fledge watch is on for the three at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest. It looks like only two but 17 is up higher in the tree.

There are still two eaglets – Sentry and Star – on the Redding nest of Liberty and Guardian. We are on fledge watch for these two also! It could be a very busy week!!!!!!

We are definitely on fledge watch for the eyases on the nest of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell campus. The chicks are restless and L1 is definitely ready!

Oh, the excitement of a nest of four hawks – each itching to fly including the youngest, L4. Wonder if L1 will be the first of the oldest to go? Stay tuned.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: the Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, Latvian Fund for Nature, IWS and Explore.org, Friends of LOTL and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, ND-LEEF, Peregrine Networks, MN-DNR, Pix Cams, Friends of Redding Eagles, and Cornell Bird Lab RTH.

Late Saturday and early Sunday in Bird World

28-29 May 2022

Saturday was an incredible day for a long walk at the nature centre. Thankfully individuals have donated benches in their loved one’s names and they are scattered about the trails. Much of Ft Whyte has been covered with water and there are areas that are more wetlands than anything else. Those are the interesting places. The Red-winged Blackbirds and the Yellow-rumped Warblers seemed to love eating the seeds? of the bull rushes. It was a fascinating day. Way across the lake were two adult Double-breasted Cormorants and nine juveniles. The Cormorants make their nests on islands or in the tops of trees or platforms. Normally there are 5-7 eggs that are incubated for 25-59 days. This couple seems to have hatched 9!

They were at a great distance and the sky was getting very dark. Not touched up but a lovely scene.

The usuals were around – beautiful Yellow Warblers, American Goldfinches, the Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker.

What a striking difference between the male Red-winged Blackbird and their female mates, below. She is having a wonderful time gleaning for insects and seeds on the ground.

This female American Redstart flitted around the Cattail branches. She was very difficult to photograph! She was hovering around the pools of water foraging for insects.

The Canada Geese are still incubating. No one seems to know when the eggs are due to hatch at Ft Whyte! (or not anyone that I could find).

You often see evidence of the woodpeckers presence but, most times, you do not actually see them. So to see both a Hairy and a Downy over by the songbird feeding station was quite a treat.

A female Hairy Woodpecker.

The female Downy Woodpecker.

In fact, today was a fun day because so many of the female birds were out feeding. What a joy!

I had hoped to head out today, Sunday, but right now it is raining. The birds in the garden are not happy! Hopefully the sun will come out later for them and they can dry off and I can go for my walk.

Sadly, Saturday was not a good day on the ND-LEEF nest. The lack of prey coming to this nest is becoming highly problematic. The two older siblings have figured out how to self-feed. Little Middle 17 had an advantage when they didn’t know how to do this! There was someone on chat that made a comment that Little Bit 17 had some food from Dad last evening – a heron?? I did not see it. Perhaps some of you did. My notes indicate 48 hours without substantial food. Let us hope that the fish get on the nest tomorrow and are plentiful. In fact, one of the older siblings – I do think it is the Middle one 16 – attacked Little Bit today and Mum flew down from the branch and intervened. We need fish on this nest quickly. Send all positive thoughts to Little Bit 17.

Two fish have so far come to the ND-LEEF nest on Sunday morning. The second one right before 10:58 when Mum flies down and feeds 17. Originally the fish was left on the nest but no takers and Little Bit seemed reluctant to eat it. He is staying back in the part beyond the camera. After a few minutes Mum comes down and takes the fish. Little Bit eats. Then in a few minutes 16 steals the fish. How much did Little Bit get? It isn’t clear but when 16 stole the fish, there was only about half of it left. I know Little Bit can eat fast – he has had to. Let us hope he got enough and that another fish comes and then another. We need to get out of this bad loop on this nest. 16 continues to attack Little Bit. 16 is one nasty bird.

If you are at all sensitive, I would not watch this nest for a few days. Let it sort itself out. I am very concerned about the level of hunger and the attacks by 16 on Little Bit.

The eyases on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur are changing by the day. Those juvenile feathers continue to grow and grow. Watch their tails. It is best if they have 5 or more dark tail bands for fledging.

That is little L4 showing off his beautiful wings. Big sister is in front. It is awhile til fledge from the look of the tails!

At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest, Middle was busy eating a really nice fish. And guess what? He did not share!

This nest is so civilized now. If you just tuned in you could never imagine that the third hatch died from siblicide or that the Middle chick had been beaked and stopped from eating. It is a lovely nest to watch.

Middle was making some headway 9 minutes later. It is hard for the osplets to figure out how to hold the fish down and unzip it at the same time. They need to watch Mum carefully when she digs her beak into the skin and pulls hard!

Both of the osplets have been eating on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest Sunday morning. Each has had a turn at a fish and there are fish on the nest if you look closely – well, pieces of them. These two are healthy and doing so well.

As the sun went down on a beautiful Saturday at the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 was feeding the three nestlings. I am cautiously hopeful for this third hatch. It is a nice strong little one.

It was so windy earlier in the day that Blue NC0 was literally blown off the nest.

It is Sunday morning and Blue NC0 and the trio of Bobs are waiting for Laddie to deliver a fish!

Laddie came through – of course, he did! They have all eaten well and Little Bob felt like he wanted to start a fight. He is a little toughie. LOL. You can see the plumage changing on Big Bob.

Telyn had gone for a break at 0503 and Idris flew in with the breakfast fish two minutes later. He thought he was going to get to feed the Three Bobs but, no. Telyn had a different idea. Gosh, they are so cute…I wish they would stay this soft grey downy chick for awhile longer before becoming a Reptile-Dinosaur showing their DNA chick.

It is quite amazing how quickly they get stronger. Adorable. Nice dark bands around those eyes.

The Dyfi Osprey Project created a video log of the hatching.

Aran and Mrs G now have two Bobs at the Glaslyn Valley Osprey nest. One more egg to go!

These two look like they will be a hand full.

CJ7 and Blue 022 have already made history by laying the first osprey eggs in a nest at Poole Harbour in more than 200 years. The eggs were laid on 23, 26, and 29th of April. That means that the first egg is 36 days old now. I am thinking pip watch in a couple of days?? This morning CJ7 ate her fish off the nest so no hatch yet! Gosh this is going to be a difficult nest to see those historical hatches!

Oh, those three Bobs on the Manton Bay nest of Blue 22 and Maya are getting huge. It seems it was only yesterday that we were worrying that the flapping Perch had killed one or both of the nestlings. It was 13 days ago!

This is such a good nest. A fish is right there when Maya gets the chicks up in the morning. It must surely help to have a stocked lake that is free from leisure vehicles and people.

You can almost hear Maya saying, “Oh, please, just have one more bite.”

Maya looks like she is in shock as Blue 33 arrives with a fish.

And what a fish that was!!!!!!!!!! Oh, gosh, is it going to land on the chicks?

All lined up like the Osprey lads at Port Lincoln last season. No need to fight over food on this nest – everyone is fed regularly til they are full. Would love to send this fish to Little Bit 17.

Blue 33 also brought in some nesting materials this morning and dropped them over the chicks. The look on Maya’s face was priceless!

After Blue flies off, Maya turns and looks at the camera. My goodness she is a beauty.

I haven’t mentioned them for awhile – shame on me. There are three osplets in the Osprey platform at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. They are doing fine and from their heads you can see they are now moving into the Reptilian phase.

Bukachek and Betty have five White Storks this morning in their nest in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. Everyone is so excited. There is one more egg to hatch.

Here is an adorable video of the six storklets at the nest of Jan and Janika!

There are wee ones on the nest of Karl II and Kaia, too. With all the nesting material it is hard to see how many.

It is rainy and blowing at the MN-DNR nest. Nancy has gotten food on the nest and E1, Harriet, continues to do very well. Hopefully Nancy will have a new mate next year. So many of us still miss Harry. What a real shame to lose him – he was only 5 years old. Just starting his life really as an adult. And what a wonderful mate he was while he was with Nancy!

There are way too many nests! And too many things happening. There is Annie looking up at us at 05:53 this morning in San Francisco. She is asking you to pick ‘nice’ names for the two chicks that her and Alden have raised. Suggestions stop and then there will be a vote…it seems that there will not need to be a run off for the name of the male. Grinnell is running away with the numbers! How could it not be Grinnell, seriously?

To suggest a name go to https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu and click on the Facebook tag. Scroll down a few entries and put in your desire names. Suggestions end on the 30th with voting starting immediately for the finalists once they are listed. They are giving us a short time so do not delay choosing your favourites of the short listed. I will try and remind everyone, too.

Take care everyone. Have an absolutely fabulous Sunday. Thank you for joining me today. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, MN-DNR, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osprey Webcam for Cape Henlopen State Park, LRWT, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Brwyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH cam, and ND-LEEF.

Late Afternoon in Bird World

26 May 2022

The morning started off terrible in Bird World. Dylan was believed to be missing at Llyn Clywedog with three hungry chicks on the nest and Seren calling and calling — and another floppy fish covered the oldest Bob at the Dyfi Nest. Things turned out well and I thought it was a good idea to tell everyone immediately!

The weather is very bed at the site of the Llyn Clywedog Nest. The wind is blowing strong and it is raining. Dylan did manage to get a fish on the nest for Seren and the chicks. Fantastic. The babies were so hungry. You can see one of them at the left.

John Williams says the weather and fishing are set to improve tomorrow. Thank goodness. Most of you will recall the horrific storms, the damp and cold last season.

Telyn got up to eat the Flounder and there was Big Bob. There was also Middle Bob!!!!!!

What a relief.

Just look. Big Bob was so strong when it hatched and so is Middle Bob. Middle Bob is still a little wet from hatching. These two are going to be a handful and we have egg 3 to go.

A look at Aran and Mrs G’s first Bob at the Glaslyn Osprey nest. Cutie Pie. This is chick # 50 for Mrs G.

It seems that the Racoon event at the Fort St Vrain Bald Eagle nest is not a one off revenge attack. EJ searched and found a 2019 incident at a nest in Washington DC involving a Raccoon and an Eagle.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/raccoon-invades-justice-and-libertys-nest-eats-their-eggs/2693/

It doesn’t look like there has been a fish delivery at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest before 1430. These are such gorgeous chicks. That is Middle flapping his wings this afternoon.

Things are still going well at the Loch of the Lowes!

Here is a good look at that eye. Looks perfect to me.

There continue to be six storklets on the nest of Jan and Janika in Lativa. No elimination so far.

At the nest of Bukachek and Betty, there are three storklets and two eggs. So far everyone is doing well.

The eyases at the Manchester NH scrape are going in and out of the scrape to the ledge. If you go to the streaming camera and only see one or two chicks, do not panic!

Oh, Annie, Grinnell, and Alden’s chicks are getting their beautiful feathers too. Look at the eyes beginning to reveal those steel blue-grey feathers. Gorgeous. There is a reminder at the bottom that the banding is at 0800 tomorrow – Friday the 27th. Set your clocks!

Cal Falcons posted a great growth chart of these two chicks on their Twitter and FB feeds. I am certain that they do not mind if I share this with all of you. Everyone is here to learn!

Mum and chicks doing well at the Great Spirit Bluff Peregrine Falcon scrape.

If you do not have it, here is the link to the Spirit Bluff streaming cam:

Life on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur at Cornell is changing rapidly. Juvenile feathers are coming in. Indeed, with the sticks in the nest you can see how well camouflaged the eyases are compared to a couple of weeks ago.

Self-feeding is happening! Lots of little chippies on the nest for the Ls.

Gorgeous peach feathering coming in along with the belly bands!

Every time I go to the Big Bear nest, I fear that Spirit will have taken the leap. She spends a lot of time on the balcony and is now able to go back and forth from the front porch to the back. For viewers this means that she could be on the nest tree and just out of view of the camera.

Today is the last day for the Captiva Osprey cam and chat to be operational. If you would like to be notified of any videos posted by Windows for Wildlife be sure to go and subscribe – it is the bell under the streaming cam image on the right.

The streaming cam at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta is running again! Fantastic. Many of us were afraid we would miss the trio – Kana’kini, Sky, and Ahota – fledging. Oh, how grand.

We are also able to watch Lancer on the Two Harbours Alternative Nest of Chase & Cholyn.

It feels like we can all go whew but the weather at Loch Arkaig is not good. Poor Dorcha. It is great to have the cameras running at West End and Two Harbours. Remember that the banding for the Cal Falcons is at 8am Pacific Time tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: CarnyXWild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, ND-LEEF, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, FOBBV, Cornell RTH, Mlade Buky, Peregrine Networks, Cal Falcons, and Explore.org