Writer, Conservationist, Activist, Bird Lover
25 August 2022
I had just finished dinner and heard a ping. The news is heartbreaking but I want to thank ‘H’ for getting it to me immediately. Lindsay was raised by Alden and Annie on the Campanile along with her sibling, Grinnell Jr. It is thought that she was the last chick that Grinnell fathered with Annie.
Condolences go out to Annie, Alden, Grinnell, Jr, the Cal Falcon Family and all who love these birds. More to follow tomorrow.
18 June 2022
In the end, Lindsay and Grinnell Jr fledged on the same day! He immediately flew back to the tower. It was a great fledge.
I hope they return to the Campanile for some time to get prey from Annie and Alden but if they don’t wishing them safe flying, lots of prey, and a good territory to raise some more grandchicks for Annie, Alden, and Grinnell.
Congratulations to absolutely everyone at Cal Falcons but a super thank you to Sean and Lynn for providing us with those incredible Q & A sessions on YouTube — and all the videos.
27 May 2022
The banding at the University of California-Berkeley scrape is over! My goodness! The male chick is so loud you need noise cancelling head phones. Seriously.
Hatch 1 is a girl. This is Annie’s only 4th female in all the chicks she has hatched. You might remember that last year they were all male. Hatch 2 is a male.
Here are some images of the banding – which went very smoothly!
The female is being banded first. The female was quiet during the whole procedure. Her little brother was very vocal. Just look at him in the corner when his sister is moved.
Measurements.
Clamping of one of the bands.
The federal silver band has a different kind of rivet.
“I want my sister back!”
Taking a tiny piece of feather for DNA testing.
All done. Weighed, measured, health check and banding. The little male is vocalizing and in the protective mode.
This is my favourite image of both of them calling at once!
Measuring.
Banding.
Removing a feather from the back for DNA testing.
Checking and measuring the wing.
Both back in the scrape safe and sound.
Cal Falcons have posted the view from the north during the banding. You can see Annie and Alden flying around The Campanile while the chicks are being banded.
Thank you! There is a banding discussion and Q & A session at 12 noon Pacific Time.
Thanks Cal Falcons for your streaming cam and for the video of the banding!
18 May 2022
Annie’s new mate, Alden, is trying really hard to feed the chicks and be a good mate. One day he brought in a moth and tried to feed them. Annie rushed in! Alden has incubated and has brooded the chicks and he is fantastic at bringing in interesting prey items. Alden loves to hunt at night and has found many different species than Grinnell who liked to hunt his prey in downtown San Francisco. Pigeons are larger and it doesn’t take lots of them to fill up the female and the chicks. Most times Alden’s prey items are smaller.
Today the two chicks were in the scrape. Annie was not there. It was hot. They certainly did not need brooding.
Annie was not around later and Alden came in with a prey item. The chicks were hungry. Alden decided to feed them. The following video that Cal Falcons posted is better than any comedy I have seen in a long time. Enjoy!
Thanks Cal Falcons. That was brilliant!
6 May 2022
The automation of YouTube has once again caused havoc and I am sending my apologies.
The Question and Answer session with Sean and Lynne is set for 3pm Pacific Time. My YouTube automatically set mine for 5pm even showing that on the poster!!!!!! Crazy.
You can type questions into the active chat, too. Or just sit back and listen to two very excited individuals who love Annie, Grinnell, Alden and the chicks.
Here is the link:
If you go to Cal Falcons, you might be able to see the second chick hatching. It is working on that shell!!!!!!
18 April 2022
Thousands of individuals sent in names suggestions for Annie’s new mate at The Campanile on the grounds of University of California – Berkeley. The single stipulation was that the name honour someone related to the Campus. While the initial list was narrowed down to nine names, by Friday there were three clear favourites: Lou, Archie, and Alden.
9478 votes were cast! Isn’t that incredible? And the winning name is Alden.
Cal Falcons posted the announcement just a short time ago.
Alden, you have been kind and loving to Annie. You came at the moment she needed help the most – almost as if you were sent by Grinnell. You won our hearts the minute you incubated the two eggs of Grinnell and we are so happy there is one of yours in there, too. May you and Annie stay safe, live long, and raise lots of little falcons!
It has a nice ring – Annie and Alden!
Thank you to everyone who took part and thanks to Cal Falcons for their FB page where I took my screen capture.
9 April 2022
It has been ten days and, yet, it seems like yesterday that we lost our beloved Grinnell. His stature amongst the falcon community and the abundance of people that loved this small feathered stealth flyer are, along with the continuing tributes, a testament to how our raptors can touch and melt our hearts.
Megan Fradley-Smith wrote one of the most moving tributes for the Golden Gate Audubon Society. I wanted to share it with you in case you had not seen it.
Another article also appeared in The Times in London.
Thank you for joining me. I wanted to share these tributes as I know so many of you watched Annie and Grinnell from the time they were first raising eyases on The Campanile at Berkeley. It is so difficult when such a beloved bird dies. Grinnell was part of our families, our lives. We looked forward to seeing him everyday. It has been a huge loss to us all since his death on 31 March. Thankfully, there is not a lot going on in Bird World. It is, thus, a wonderful day to reflect on all the joy that Grinnell brought to our lives. Grinnell will continue to live in our hearts forever.
05 April 2022
Someone once told me that if you can get people involved in the lives of the birds, get them to see them as the individuals that they are, get them to understand the hardships that they face because of ‘us humans’, then there is hope that the world will be a better place for our feathered friends.
One of my readers, ‘B’ mentioned to me that California loves its birds. He sends me wonderful links to the news stories of Grinnell and Annie or Jackie and Shadow. It was mind blowing to see the sheer mass of press coverage – everything from breakfast news, to the headline news at 6pm, to the printed pages – stories of the lives of the birds from eagles to falcons. What a fantastic way to get the public involved. No wonder the streaming bird cams in California have over 5000 viewers at times.
Today there is another wonderful article surveying the life of Annie and Grinnell, the death of Grinnell, and the rise of the ‘new guy’. Have a read, it is a good one:
I miss Grinnell. There was something about that little falcon that tugged at my heart every time I saw him. For transparency sake, I should say that I feel thee same heart tugs when I see Xavier bringing prey to Diamond or the male at the CBD 367 Collins Street scrape in Melbourne plucking a pigeon for his female triplets. They are tiny up beside the females. If someone could design a pajama onsie like the plumage of an adult male falcon, they would surely make a lot of money. Seriously, these little males are cute. We cannot forget – at the same time – that they are the best aerial predators in the world flying at speeds up to 350 kph, breaking the necks of their prey in the sky. Still…put that altogether with the ritual bonding of the couples and you have a most interesting raptor. I disagree with some who say watching falcons is the ‘gateway’ into watching larger raptors. For me, the falcons and the hawks are just as interesting, if not more, than the eagles. Eagles frustrate me. Falcons can feed three eyases without a problem and have them all fledge. Enough said.
For Annie’s sake and for the two eggs of Grinnell’s in the scrape along with the one of the ‘new guy’, I am glad the NG came along. I like the fact that he brings prey to Annie late at night. If she isn’t hungry she can stash it away and have it in the middle of the night or eat it for breakfast. There is no waiting for food. I like the tenderness that he uses in trying to roll the eggs and get them under his tiny body along with the fact that if Annie calls him – he comes. New Guy isn’t going to win a lot of awards for his jammies – they are a little rough at the edges, something that goes along with his lameness – but he will most certainly win hearts and minds, just like Xavier did at Orange, for rescuing this 2022 breeding season for Annie — and for our dear Grinnell. We must not forget that. He isn’t the male that comes storming in and shattering the eggs of his predecessor. Nope. He is tender and caring. It is a miracle of sorts that he came along, just at the right time, slipped into place. In a month, we will play guess whose nestling belongs to whom – and we won’t know and the new guy and Annie won’t know. They will just take care of all three of them.
I do wish that the falcons wore identity tags. It appears that the ‘new guy’ flew up to the ledge. No prey in talons but obviously working on something. Is it stashed somewhere? The ledge clock says it is 17:16 when he arrives.
Simultaneous with the new guy’s arrival, Annie gets up and leaves the eggs to take a break.
It was only the limp that gave away it was the ‘new guy’ trying to fit the eggs and roll them under him without causing any damage.
Annie returns with some nice YSL red lipstick at 18:08. She obviously had a nice supper. Did I say I was getting to like the new guy? How many times?
Cal Falcons put together this video of the exchange of incubation duties. Enjoy!
Good night Annie and ‘the new guy’. Good night to all of you. Take care. See you soon!
Thank you to Cal Falcons for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.
05 April 2022
Good Afternoon Everyone. It does not feel like spring on the Canadian Prairies. The sky is snow white, the snow is melting, and it reminds me of the first winter I spent in the United Kingdom when I was cold to the bone and came to appreciate heavy wool sweaters and a warm fire! Canada Geese continue to fly into the city while fears of a flood are mounting. The river is rising and rising and rising some more.
I want to thank those individuals – in addition to each of you – that stepped up to help Little Middle or to help me find people to help: Keith Buch (falconer), Ron Magill (Miami Zoo Goodwill Ambassador and Communications Director who retrieved the monofilament line from R2 in the WRDC nest), Resee Collins (Eagle & Rehabilitation Permit Coordinator, Migratory Birds & Science Applications, USFWS Interior Regions 2 – 4), Rusty Boles, Al Cerere, founder of the AEF, and Jessica Halls with the American Eagle Foundation.
As of yesterday, Jessica Halls was awaiting permission from the Army to enter their property; the nest is on their land. It came to my attention that a video showing River removing monofilament line was posted yesterday. I shared that knowledge with Jessica. I have not seen the footage. If the line is off the nest, great! Jessica is in charge and is working to verify if that is true. I have every faith in each of these individuals – their only concern, as is ours, is the health and well being of the eaglets. I want to give them a big shout out for stepping up and helping in any way they could. Little Middle and the Dale Hollow nest are now in their expert hands.
At 09:342 this morning it appears that DH15 or Little Middle still could have some monofilament line around that left foot area. It seems to move. I took an overall image showing the date and time stamp and then blew up the area with Little Middle.
Jessica will certainly ascertain if that is fishing line. We have done our due diligence and hope for a happy ending for Little Middle. He has eaten well today! He is more mobile than earlier. And with the rain, the nest and the eaglets will be turning into soggy little birds.
At 12:21 there is an image of a wet Big walking over to River to eat. Does Big have fishing line over its back? or is it nesting material? I don’t want to be the person that sees monofilament line where it isn’t. There is enough real line along the shores of the two rivers that impact my City and our wildlife.
River is staying in the nest with the eaglets – too big to fit under Mum unless she wants to pop the umbrella for them.
I had a wonderful note from ‘MR’ from New York who wants me to mention the Peregrine Falcon nest in Utica, New York. So many of you adore the falcons and would like to see more ‘good’ nests. The couple are Astrid and Ares. Astrid laid her third egg on the 4th of April.
The group is really organized. They have an excellent web page with both current and historic information. There is also daily information so be sure to check out the ‘latest news’ section. There are six – yes, 6 – cameras. Here is the fish eye view:
You can find everything you needed to know on the website including access to the six cameras. Here is the link:
They also have a FB group called Watch Utica. Why not check them out?
The first egg is hatching at the US Steel Bald Eagle nest. The chick is making excellent progress and appears strong. Here is a short video of that action:
There is another hatch in progress as of 09:43 nest time at Two Harbours. Chase and Cholyn are getting ready to welcome a sibling for Thunder over at the West End nest!
Here is the link to their camera:
Kincaid from the KNF nest in Louisiana and the second eaglet of Anna and Louis fledged yesterday morning. It happened at 08:17. Congratulations to Cody, Steve, and everyone at the Kisatchie National Forest. It was a great year. This is a wonderful eagle nest to watch. Cody and Steve are always working on improving the camera and the sound and are often on chat to answer questions. The mod is also wonderful – Eagles at Work.
This is an image from today. Unlike Kisatchie who fledged last year and never returned to the nest, Kincaid has been lured back by his/her love of fish. S/He had the opportunity to eat three fish so far today. Fantastic. As we all know, the fledglings that return to the nest, get better at flying and learn how to hunt/fish have a much better chance at survival. Hopefully we will be able to see more of Kincaid over the next 2 or 3 weeks. S/he is a gorgeous fledgling.
Life continues to be good at the West End nest of Thunder, Akecheta, and the triplets. They are so big now and have all of their thermal down. There is a hint of feathers coming!
The naming contest for Jackie and Shadow’s only eaglet this year is set to be announced. The deadline was 4 April. The children from the grade three class of a local school pick the name from randomly drawn submissions. Can’t wait. Baby is getting quite big!!!
The two nestlings at the Decorah North nest of Mr North and Mrs DNF are thriving. Aren’t they cute? And seemingly well behaved.
The two eaglets of Harry and Nancy are also thriving. Harry continues to load the nest with prey.
No worries for the triplets at the Pittsburgh-Hayes nest. They are all growing and doing quite well, transitioning from wee white fuzzy babes to getting their thermal down.
There is really good news at the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales. Idris is home!!!!! He is often called Daddy Long Legs and no matter short or long, welcome home. Telyn has been waiting for you.
Dr Bast at the CROW Clinic has issued a statement on the death of the eldest osprey on the Captiva Nest. The chick died suddenly on the 15th of March. There were, of course, worries that it was the highly pathogenic Avian Flu, H5N1, that is spreading through the region. However, the other two osplets continued to thrive. Here is that announcement:
I am so grateful for all the wildlife rehabbers who work tirelessly – and through donations – to care for injured wildlife or in this case to rush to retrieve a dead chick to find out the cause of death. Thank you CROW.
It is that time of years. Birds are returning, local counts are being undertaken, and everyone with a camera is out trying to get that ‘great’ shot or to fill in their ‘Life List’ of birds. Cornell posted these guidelines for the photographers. Even if you don’t take pictures, it is always good to respect the space of our friends – feather, furred, or scaled.
The tributes continue to come in for our dear Grinnell. It is so wonderful that a falcon could bring such joy to so very, very many. The role that birds play in enriching our lives should never be underestimated. Many who write to me feel closer to their bird friends than to humans. They find great solace in watching their lives and the care they give to their families. Grinnell certainly did all of that!
The ‘New Guy’ continues to bring Annie prey late at night, to help her protect the nest, and incubate the eggs. He is certainly rising to the occasion.
Karl II’s transmission for today has not come in. He was in Belarus yesterday having made it through the Ukraine without a problem.
I want to close today with a few images of the Canada Geese that I have been out counting for the past several days and for the rest of the week. As I said, I adore them! Some absolutely do not.
The local nature centre puts up wonderful nests and provides the straw – if the geese want to use them. This one did. Her mate is on the boardwalk and has decided that I will not walk through! I did turn around.
I remember when the geese used to arrive the middle of April. Now it is in March and we continue to have snow, rain, and melting snow. It is hard to find food.
The geese scour everywhere hoping to find a morsel of grass – green or dry. It doesn’t seem to matter.
There are geese everywhere!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care of yourself. I look forward to seeing you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and FB pages where I took my screen captures: CROW, Pix Cams, Explore.org, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Dyfi Osprey Nest, MN-DNR, KNF, and Utica Falcons.
3 April 2022
It was cold, damp, and dreary counting Canada Geese this morning. I did not take my camera – it is bulky and heavy – but I will return and take some images for everyone early this week. There are Canada Geese everywhere there is a large puddle!!!!!!
There is lots going on in Bird World – too much to keep straight. I want to start with dear Annie at the UC-Berkley Campanile. When Grinnell was killed we thought all was lost. Turns out Annie has her own ‘saviour’. It is thought that Annie laid an egg on Thursday but not in the scrape box. Cal Falcons felt that she thought she could only take care of 2 by herself. On time, she laid egg 4 and that is the big news. By my reckoning, this egg belongs to the new man since it takes approximately 2.5 days for Annie to make an egg. Oh, I hope this turns out well. It would be wonderful to see the last two chicks of Grinnell be healthy and fledge.
He’s a little raggle-taggled compared to Grinnell. I wonder how old you are Annie’s new man??
He is certainly trying to show Annie he has good intentions and is a good hunter.
Last evening Annie accepted ‘dinner in the scrape’ from the new lad. She stashed it for later and returned to incubate but how sweet was that?! Everyone remains hopeful.
Many of you are falcon fans. I have discovered a new scrape on top of the stadium at Michigan State University. It is brand new as of January 2022 so nothing is known, as far as I know, about the falcon couple. Here is that link – and there are 3 eggs!
Here is the link!
Michigan is working to reintroduce falcons into the state and there is another scrape that is funded by the Lansing Board of Water and Light.
How long do Red-tail Hawks live in the wild? I believe that Pale Male will be 33 this year. Him and Octavia have not had any clutches for the past two years. It will be three this year. Robert Yolton writes a wonderful blog on the wildlife around New York City’s Central Park. He found Pale Male eating a brown rat yesterday and took some video. His feathers appear to be fading a bit but what a legend Pale Male is.
Have you seen the free movie about Pale Male and how the community, including Mary Tyler Moore, lobbied and picketed for him and his mate to keep their nest on one of the nicest pieces of real estate in NYC? If not, watch it or save it for when you need something uplighting. The voices of people can really make a difference to the lives of these fantastic raptors. We just need the right person to hear us!
https://www.thelegendofpalemale.net/
Pa Berry and Missy at the Berry College Bald Eagle nest have been trying to coax 78-day-old B15 into the nest for some food. Missy has been watching her first fledgling closely making sure that he is learning to fly and land but not venturing far from the nest. Late this morning B15 returned to the nest and Dad flew in with a fish immediately for his boy.
Meanwhile Kincaid is branching higher and higher at the Kistachie National Forest nest near Alexandria, Louisiana. No one will ever know for sure if Kincaid is a male or a female; the eaglet will not be banded. But from the size comparison with Mum and Dad at this stage – right before fledge – most think Kincaid is a female. She is definitely a sweet eagle. Anna and Louis did a fine job this season. Hats off to everyone at KNF who worked so hard to get the two camera system in place, for taking the time to mod the chat and answer questions most of the day.
Closely watching the progress of Karl II, the patriarch of the Karula National Forest Black Stork nest in Estonia, as he flies over a war zone to get to his nest. Isn’t he gorgeous? This image was taken in 2017. He is still as handsome!
Who doesn’t know CROW? and who doesn’t wish we could wiggle our noses and get them to land at the Dale Hollow nest to check on that monofilament line? Made famous for their rescue of E17 and E18 of the SWFlorida Bald eagle nest when they had non-human caused conjunctivitis, CROW this morning cleaned out an Osprey nest full of human garbage. It is a threat to the wildlife – just like all those toys at Dahlgren are, sadly.
Oh, the Osprey chicks of Andy and Lena have been so neglected by me. They are just gorgeous and getting way too big too fast. So happy for Andy and Lena. After two horrible years, it looks like they will fledge two this year.
There was a statement on a FB group about the number of eggs in a Bald Eagle clutch. They said it was ‘rare’ for three and rare for three to survive. (They did not mention the rarity of siblicide twice at the same nest). I dug around and found a very interesting study on the change of clutch size in Bald Eagles in the Chesapeake Bay area of the US. It is really interesting ready. The author, writing in 2017, begins with the age of egg collection and continues to 2011 demonstrating that the size of the clutches has increased significantly since the beginning of the 20th century. It is not onerous reading. Very insightful.
Dave Hancock of Hancock Wildlife in British Columbia did a study and found that the average for that province’s Bald Eagles in terms of clutch size is 2.
https://hancockwildlife.org/hancock-wildlife-reference/bald-eagle-biology/eggs-incubation-hatching/
There are a number of 3 chick clutches currently being watched by us as well as one with 4, the PA Farm Bald Eagle nest. Pittsburgh-Hayes consistently has three and Redding would once again had three this year had their one egg not gotten broken. One of the most visited Bald Eagle sites is the West End where there are three eaglets this year. I wonder if this varies by region? Will look to see if I can find any solid information for us.
Deb Steyck made a video yesterday of the four at PA Farm being fed.
Meanwhile, Mr President seems to be really loving being a Dad again after 4 years and Lotus is figuring out everything as a first time Mum rather quickly. This is one spoiled little nestling that will grow fast and strong if Mr President’s prey deliveries are any indication of what is to come.
In contrast, nothing arrived on the Dale Hollow Bald Eagles nest until a two-bite teaser appeared at 11:24:55. We all know who ate that! These eaglets hatched on the 28th of February. Jackie and Shadow’s only chick hatched on 3 March. The Big Bear eaglet had been fed 8 times by 16:00 yesterday. The Dale Hollow nest continues to baffle me.
The eaglets are hungry.
At 12:31:34 a small fish was brought to the nest. Almost before the parent landed, Big went and began beaking Little Middle. Big’s beak is large and it can still encase Little Middle with its body hurting him. Big is a big bird.
To survive, Middle Little gets that head down and stays put.
I do not believe there will be enough for Little Middle to have any fish. I hope to be wrong. I also hope that the parent would change the direction they are feeding so Little Middle could move. It appears from the image above that the fishing line could be around some of the right talons??? But that is anything but 100%.
It is 12:44 and Little Middle has made no attempt to move to get any fish.
The fish is all gone at 12:45:24. Little Middle is still maintaining submissive posture. While it had been hoped that the attacks would stop, they continue because of the erratic fish deliveries. Like children, eaglets on the nest need some stability or they go into survival mode. Remember, Big wants to survive so it protects what it sees as a low supply of food. Middle Little protects itself for another time by being submissive and putting its head down. No sense in fighting a sibling that is twice your size.
A nest that is much calmer is that of Big Red and Arthur, the Red tail Hawks at Cornell who continue to incubate their four eggs which will hatch later this month.
And the last check of the day, the two eagles that hatched on March 20 and 23 are doing remarkably well at the Redding Bald Eagle nest of Liberty and Guardian. They have sure grown out of the cute fluff ball stage now.
It has been a busy day at the nests, many I did not get to check. Hopefully later. Thank you to everyone who has commented or sent me an e-mail. The inbox is full. I plan to have responded to everyone by tomorrow (Monday) at noon. Thank you so much for your patience and for your caring for Little Middle and all the birds. Your kind gestures bright light in a world that feels somewhat dark right now. Each of the nests seems to be doing exceptionally well. Dahlgren needs its garbage cleared, Richmond and Rosie have a good nest structure, West End babies fed well, and I have to check in with Chase and Cholyn to see if Thunder has a sibling. We continue to wait for the arrival of Ospreys Dylan, Aran, and Idris in the UK and for Iris in Montana.
Take care all. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and FB pages where I took my screen captures: Eagle Club of Estonia, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Cal
Falcons, MSU Fisheries and Wildlife Club, Lansing Board of Water and Light Peregrine Falcons, Berry College, KNF, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, CROW, Cornell Red Tail Hawks, and NADC-AEF.
