Tag Archives: Captiva island Ospreys

Pips and Popping Crops…Early Thursday in Bird World

29 September 2022

Good Morning Everyone,

The news coming out of Sanibel/Captiva is not good. (see below) Our thoughts remain with all of those who were so heavily impacted by Hurricane Ian.

In Manitoba we continue to take in the full beauty of autumn with a temperature of 12 degrees C. And it seems that today, I will have hydro in the conservatory. Just in the nick of time as nighttime temperatures continue to drop near the freezing point. All of the Crows and Blue Jays continue to come to the garden and it will be a few weeks til we know whether they will winter here or leave.

In the Mailbox:

Lots of people are asking: Is there any news about Captiva Ospreys?

As you probably know Sanibel/Captiva took the direct hit of Hurricane Ian when it hit landfall at 155 mph. There is no communication between Captiva and some of the images coming out of Channel 8 news in Florida touch on the devastation. The individual who owns the property that the Captiva Bald Eagles and Ospreys have their nest is Lori Covert, a Canadian from Nova Scotia. Lori has reported that Captiva is under 12 feet of water and there is no communcations. It will be some time before things are restored because sections of the causeway are completely wiped out. Access would be by boat or helicopter.

The video clip is Sanibel.

Making News:

Catastropic damage to the number of birds and raptors due to the climate crisis.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/28/nearly-half-worlds-bird-species-in-decline-as-destruction-of-avian-life-intensifies-aoe

Nest News:

There is nothing like a trio of ‘full to the brim’ osplets to set your mood to ‘excellent’. That big fish that Dad brought into Port Lincoln certainly started the osplets off on a good day, too. The cam operator obliged by giving us some fantastic close ups of the three. Look carefully at their plumage.

You can easily tell the three osplets apart. Big Bob has lost almost all of its down on the head and back. The back of its head is black on top with a copper bottom. Middle Bob is losing its down on the head and Little Bob is not yet started like the other two.

Soon Big Bob will look like its dinosaur relative. Poor thing. I feel sorry for it with all those itchy feathers.

Look closely. See the coppery colour plumage coming in below the black on Big Bob. You can also see the pin feathers coming on the wings and back.

Little Bob is still soft and sweet. He is beginning to remind me a bit of Ervie.

Those beautiful baby blues of the osplets will change to an amber and then yellow when they are adults. One exception that is know is Monty, the infamous Welsh Osprey, whose eyes remained amber.

In this image you get a clear look at Big Bob in the front and Middle Bob with its huge crop in the back. Little is in-between. Middle is one to keep an eye on – not sure it will not turn out to be the dominant bird. We wait to see.

They all had a good feed. There was another feeding and this time Little Bob got caught behind the two big ones. He tried to get up so that Mum would see his beak but to no avail. Little Bob will not starve. He has had lots of fish this morning and no doubt, he will have more!

The next feeding came at 1550 and Little Bob was right up front. He ate and ate and quickly went into a food coma. And then..there was another feed around 1830. It seems that Mum is keeping them absolutely packed with food until their crops could pop. Then she sits on them! That is a good way to stop any fighting nonsense.

The rumour has it that there are three pips at the Melbourne scrape box.

The Sea Eagles are still in the nest, hopping and flapping. They are big and beautiful and so very healthy. It seems like they just hatched yesterday and now in week 10 they are all grown up. They can fly. They just don’t know it yet.

We are now in Pip Watch for Diamond and Xavier. The time from pip to hatch varies from 24 hours to 72. Dr Cilla Kinross, the lead researcher at Orange for the falcons and their angel like Dr Sharpe is to the Channel Island Eagles, cleaned the camera yesterday at 1518. Diamond had a look of surprise in her eyes. She must be used to Cilla coming and going over the years because that look in the falcon’s eyes was all that happened.

All eyes are on Melbourne for a hatch today and for pips coming at Orange.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Channel 8 news, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, and Charles Sturt Falcon Cam.

Ervie? and other news

Last night Michael Aird took some amazing images of Ervie fishing. Please go to the Port Lincoln Osprey FB page to see them – and thank him. You do not have to be a member of FB. Just do a search for Port Lincoln Osprey Project.

Ervie did not sleep at the barge last night. Dad brought in a fish at 20:44 for Ervie. Dad waited a bit and then ate the fish on the ropes. Dad slept on the perch. Will Ervie return to the barge? The last image I have of him is the one below on the nest.

Everyone knew that we were overdue for Ervie to leave. That the minutes were precious.

This is the nest today – very lonely without our boy. Dad is on the perch.

If w do not see you again, fly high and safe, Ervie. Catch lots of good fish. Live long! You brought us much joy.

Falky was seen and photographed on 19 February at Port Augusta, 350 km north of the barge nest. There have been no sightings of Bazza.

In other Bird World News, Richmond has been coming to the nest on the Whirley Crane on a regular basis to check to see if Rosie has arrived from her migration. She is expected any time. Come on Rosie. Richmond is anxious to see you as we all are.

The two osplets on the Captiva Osprey nest on Santibel Island, Florida are doing well. There were five feedings yesterday and at least two so far today.

It looks like it is going to be a nice day on the Captiva nest. There have been some alerts. Let us continue to hope that predators stay away.

Both are eating well.

Lena is very loud and Andy responds to her request for fish for the babies by bringing a nice one in for them.

There. Just look at the two of them. Adorable.

So cute. It doesn’t take much fish to fill these two up!

At the Great Horn Owl nest on Skidaway Island, a pip on the egg has occurred. Mama Owl is quit beautiful albeit a we bit wet this morning.

Cornell Lab supplied this video showing the pipping egg:

There are now three eggs at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagle nest. Here is a clip of Dad seeing egg three for the first time.

You might recall that I have been in constant praise of Louis on the Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle nest. There have been 10 fish on the nest along with a turtle and a Coot. Well, Louis broke the record with 20 fish yesterday!!!!!!!!! What in the world is his thinking? Many are covered by moss, some still flapping!

Louis and Anna have one eaglet, Kincaid. He is there inspecting the fish getting his beautiful juvenile feathers. Lots of fish for him and Anna. Kincaid was up there trying some self-feeding, too.

I could be wrong but I haven’t see NE26 or NE27 be fed today and it is nearing 13:00 in Florida. Those two might like of that fish on the Kisatchie nest! These two had big crops in the middle of the night so there are no worries – none at all.

The snow has been blowing about the Canadian Prairies. It looks like only a small amount is falling now. Incredible drifts everywhere. It is a good day to hunker down at home.

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 captures: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, NEFlorida and the AEF, KNF Bald Eagle, Golden Gate Audubon and SF Bay Ospreys, Window on Wildlife, and Cornell Bird Lab.

Thursday in Bird World

It is still super cold on the Canadian Prairies. You don’t even have to look at the temperature on the phone when you hear a super loud crunch when you walk on the snow. It is so dry, the snow, that you cannot even pack it into a snowball or a snowwo/man. The European Starlings were waiting for the first food drop, all lined up on the tips of the Lilac Bush branches. Surprisingly, the Sparrows beat them out. Four sparrows to one Starling. They will all eat but, most of the time, the Sparrows get shut out. The other day Little Woodpecker was here. He just stays away from all of them. Which reminds me – I need to go and fix his suet!

Looking back on the history of the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge, I realize that we probably have another month with the three lads. Last year DEW was last seen on 17:01 25 January. He was never sighted again after that time. Solly departed and flew West on 2 February. We know from her tracker that Solly thrived until that tragic day this fall when, after catching a fish, she landed on a power pole and died. I know that Port Lincoln has lobbied hard to get those poles covered and I understand that the power company is cooperating. For those who wrote letters to the Minister, thank you. Public pressure can help.

Ervie had advanced from flying to the fishing ramps to hanging around the commercial shipping yards over at the Marina!

That is Ervie on his perch. You can see that is crop is full.

Ervie and Falky on the nest hoping to get a fish from Dad.

The nest of White-tail Eagle, Milda, at Durbe has been covered with snow. Still, nest visits have taken place. Just look at the forest and the view. So beautiful. This nest will not become active until spring when I will be reporting daily on the happenings. Looking the White-tail Eagles raising chicks and the return of the Black storks.

Kindness’s nest is all covered in snow up at Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska.

If you are wondering what Kindness might be doing, please have a look at this 2 minute video. It is a bit dated in the sound but the information is correct to the present time. The images of the eagles flying and eating are gorgeous. The video ends abruptly. I would have loved to hear about the two clans but, another time! There are so many Eagles in Alaska. They sometimes take over small trucks delivering fish to the canneries.

The Roe Deer feeder is in Latvia. Yesterday, for the first time, they caught a female deer cow and her calf coming to eat. You can see them arriving on the right to try and get some food. The males are the ones with the antlers and from my reading it can be dangerous. The mother and her baby will wait after being escorted by the leader of the bucks and return.

You can see the little one eating here. There is a hierarchy in all of the groups. This is, of course, why our birds try so hard to be dominant and why Ervie, once he established himself, expected to get the first fish of the morning. E19 and E20 are going through this process currently.

Andy and Lena were both alert and alerting at the Captiva Osprey Nest this morning.

Of course their eyes are so good. All I could hear were people below. I wonder if that is the issue? They sure have a beautiful site for a nest! Hopefully it will be a successful season for this lovely pair who continue to try and continually have the Crows steal their eggs.

You can watch Andy and Lena here:

Harriet and M15 are being kept busy by E19 and 20. You can hear the little ones chirping away to Mum and Dad.

The pair got started on all the beaking as soon as Harriet got up to feed them. Oh, my.

There are over 4000 people watching these two at any one time and a myriad of videos coming up on YouTube. You won’t be able to miss them!

Everything is just fine in Bird World. The eggs at Taiaroa Head have been candled and OGK and YRK’s egg is developing normally. We are a month away from hatch. Gabby and Samson are taking turns up at NEFlorida and you will see me getting pretty excited in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, Daisy has not yet returned to the WBSE nest that I am aware. The latest news was awhile ago on WBSE27 who is currently in rehabilitation. The two chicks at Hilton Head are doing great. My copy of The Season of the Osprey arrived in the post this morning. That is on the agenda for today. It is far too cold to be outside for very long.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Stay warm, stay safe and take care until I see you again.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Glacier Gardens, Roe Deer Feeder in Latvia, SWFlorida Eagles and D Pritchett Family, Port Lincoln Osprey, Captiva Osprey Cam, and the Latvian Fund for Nature.