Late Saturday afternoon with our Australian nests

24 September 2020

Good Evening!

It has been a gorgeous 17 degree C afternoon in Manitoba. The dreary morning left around noonish, and it was lovely to be outside without a jacket. I cleared up some plants and have not gone to work on the images of Little Red eating up the suet cylinder, but I will try to get to that sooner than later. He has just about finished it today! The Crows have had lots of their sandwiches and dry corn, the squirrels are still about but, there have been fewer and fewer songbirds.

I thought we would just check in on the Australian nests as their day is beginning.

The breakfast feeding at Port Lincoln was terrific. Mum rose around 06:29:19 and found an old piece of fish on the nest sufficient to fill up the three youngsters and she could get a couple of bites herself. Hopefully another nice fresh fish will land on the nest shortly.

Little Bob was sleepy. It took him a few seconds to figure out what was happening and get himself turned around the right way.

Ervie learned really quickly that you need to be up front if you are the short one. Let’s see how long it takes Little Bob to figure that out.

It wasn’t a huge piece of fish that Mum found and Big and Middle sure put down a lot of huge pieces. I thought they would eat it all.

Little Bob got 4 bites while Big Bob had about 17. Then…Little Bob got a couple more.

Then for a second, Big Bob had a food coma. Middle Bob is still standing and it sure put down the fish early too – and some big pieces. But Little Bob is right up in the sweet spot. Let’s hope he remembers where it is.

Mum filled Little Bob up and ate some of the skin herself. All of the kids were full and out in food comas. Now she can brood them until Dad comes in with the fresh fish. He has been having some trouble getting there early. I wonder if it is windy seas or gulls??

What a gorgeous morning in Melbourne. Mum is waking up.

This is the old dad. He has come to tell her where her breakfast is stashed.

He looks over the eggs for a bit – from a distance – and then flies off. I am noting that the second male has not made an attempt to rid the nest of the eggs and this is a good thing.

Mum is back safely on the eggs. We are two days from hatch watch! The 27th. OK. Technically that is less than 2 days. Oh, goodness.

It was a misty morning in the Sydney Olympic Forest. SE29 and SE30 spent a lot of time looking over the rim of the nest. At the point in the first image below, it looked like the pair were having a great conversation. Perhaps they are wondering if Mum will bring in a fish and eat it all herself again?? Or almost eat it all.

Look at that adorable face.

Some wing flapping going on. The wings of the eaglets are almost as wide as the nest. Amazing.

As the sun comes up in Orange, Australia, Xavier is on the ledge of the scrape box hoping that Diamond will give him some time with those eggies. Did I say that hatch watch is now only 5 days away!

Thank you for joining me at this quick peek of what is going on in Australia. Take care everyone. See you soon!

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

Diamond, Xavier, and the eggs

Whew! It was a terrifically busy day yesterday in Bird World and it was all good. To recap Yurruga did a beautiful fledge at 6:03:54 Monday 22 November (camera time). Bazzy officially flew a little over three hours later at 09:25:45. If that was not enough, Cornell’s Red Tail Hawk couple, Big Red and Arthur, were spotted on a branch together at BeeBee Lake. It was all together amazing. Bazza did cause a search party to go out but, in the end, he returned safely to the nest at 10:24:48. Ervie had left quite a large piece of fish and Bazza was very happy to finish it off.

Cilla Kinross posted this news about Yurruga.

Dr Kinross also posted this video of the event.

Everyone has been concerned about Diamond and her eggs. It seemed the closer Yurruga came to fledging, the more broodier Diamond became. We know that one egg was unviable. There is indication that the other egg had a chick that tried to break out of the shell but was just not strong enough as evidenced by the egg-tooth make a hole in the shell and seeing the beak.

Diamond used up a lot of her good health making those three eggs. She would have depleted her calcium and lost about 20-30% of her weight. Now that Yurruga has fledged it is time for Diamond to get herself back into tip top form.

Around 11:47, Dr Kinross removed the two eggs from the scrape box. She is going to check to see if the National Museum would like them for their collection. Diamond was not happy hearing voices inside the tower.

It seemed each time Cilla tried to get one of the eggs, Diamond would come calling loudly. Cilla tried to shooo her away. In the end both eggs were retrieved. Diamond returned to her scrape now devoid of eggs and began ‘scraping’ the area.

It is difficult not to feel sorry for Diamond. Her chick has fledged and she is still feeling the urge to mother.

Even Xavier has returned today to the scrape box to look for the eggs.

It is very sad trying to understand what Xavier and Diamond are feeling. I am busy reading Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff’s Ten Truths and Bekoff’s The Emotional Lives of Animals. Can the actions of Diamond and Xavier be anything but a sense of confusion – where did the eggs go, they were here? and sadness. They were ‘potential chicks’.

Decades ago there was a guinea hen that arrived at the little acreage in Southern Manitoba. Having not see her in the attic of the barn for some time she was found incubating at least two dozen eggs. She had made a nest cup in the grass. There was no mate; the eggs were infertile. She would have risked her health or life as she was broody. They had to be broken. This past spring we witnessed Milda, the White-tailed Eagle in Durbe County, Latvia try and incubate eggs after her mate, Ramsis, had not returned. For eight days she remained much to the detriment of her health. It is with delight that Milde is back with a new mate Mr L working on her nest.

This is the latest report on Annie and Grinnell. It is from the Instagram Feed for Cal Falcons:

Oh, I so hope that Grinnell will come to the scrape. He might not feel 100% secure in taking on the interloper. Only time will reveal what will happen with this love triangle. I am reminded when I say that of the very happy Bald Eagle Nest on the Mississippi River with Star and the two males, Valor I and II. For several years that nest has benefited from having three parents. I wonder?????

And with that thought I am off. It is a horrible grey white day on the prairies. It is -8 C.

Thank you so much for joining me. I will continue to monitor the news on both of these peregrine falcon nests. Take care everyone. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to Charles Sturt University and Cilla Kinross for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots and the Instagram account for Annie and Grinnell.