Tag Archives: Clydewog

Fledging is tiring – and other catch ups in Bird World

I am going to start off with an answer to a common question: How is K2? The last update was from the Cornell Bird Lab on the 22nd. It takes time for test results to come in and it is hard to wait when you are worried. Many of you will have watched the adorable eaglets, E17 and E18, at the Fort Myers Nest of Harriet and M15. You will remember that they had conjunctivitis and were taken into care by CROW. Let me say it for the 1000th time – I am so grateful to the Pritchett Family and CROW for getting a permit and getting those two babies into care. They were in the clinic for five days. Still the test results were not back but the staff was so knowledgable that they treated them for conjunctivitis because that is what they believed was the issue. And they were right! E17 got feisty enough to have to go into its own ‘time out towel’. Those two were so cute and inseparable. So we have to wait and trust that K2 is getting the best of care. The minute I hear anything I will let you know!

Here is the video of K2s retrieval:

K1 and K3 are absolutely flat out pooped. Fledging is hard work. They have to solve problems – physical ones – that they are not used to. Seriously it is so nice to be on the nest and be taken care of by Big Red!!!!!! It is scary out there. They might even decide to stay with mom a whole lot longer!!!!! K3 and K1 have been on the nest together since around noon. I just checked on them at 18:38 and they were both still there. Love these kids. Glad they feel like staying home.

Earlier….While K1 hunkered down and slept, K3 is back in the trees over by the Fernow Building. He looks pretty cute there in that tree.

@ Suzanne Arnold Horning

K1 sleeping on the nest. You can tell it is her because of the wide white terminal band on her tail and the clear black lines on her tail.

Now K3 is back and K1 is off the nest. K3 is listening and looking at K1 upstairs.

Big Red or Arthur left at least one chippie on the nest in case someone was hungry. Remember – Big Red’s kids never go hungry for long – if they ever do!

Resting in the sun.

Adorable K1.

K1 24 June 2021

There are so many who would love to see a photograph of Big Red when she was banded. The only thing I could find out was that she was banded on October 20 in 2003 in Brooktondale. Maybe someone reading this will know a student who had a project or the bander in the area at that time. I would love to know if they took a photo of Big Red. Many banders do take photographs of the juveniles they ring. OK. But that brings me back to the picture below of K1. To me she looks exactly like a juvenile Big Red would look. Isn’t she just adorable?

So the Ks are fine and the minute there is word on K2 I will let you know. K1 and K3 might just decide to stay on the nest all night.

Over in Wales, the two chicks of Idris and Telyn on the Dyfi Osprey Nest were banded and given their names today. Chick 1 is a male. He weighed 1600 grams and his ring number is 490. His name is Dysnni. It is pronounced Duh-suh-knee and is a river in mid-Wales at Gwynedd. Chick 2 who is four days younger than chick 1 is a female. She already weighs more than the male – she comes in at 1690 grams – and she is a full 4 days younger so they know she is going to be a big girl. Her ring number is 491. And goodness, her name is going to take some time. It is Ystwyth and it is also a river valley in Wales. I was told you take the ‘Aber’ out of Aberystwyth and that is how you pronounce her name. Wow.

Here is beautiful Ystwyth with her new bling! I might just call her Blue 491.

Well, here is the ‘Only’ Bob on the Clydewog Nest of Dylan with mum, Blue 35 Seren. Now this is one – can I use all caps – BIG – chick. Just look at her. This bird has to be a female. Oh, I do hope they get around to ringing her! These parents had lots of food and really took care of their only little Bob. The other two eggs which are still on the nest were nonviable.

Oh, I had to close my eyes when I went to check on Tiny Tot at the Achieva Osprey Nest. There had been a huge rain storm with big winds and Tiny was holding on for dear life on the edge of the nest. Of course my mind went back to the tornado that cut through the lakes in northern New York State with the Osprey nests. Hang on Tiny!

I have found it hard to check on the Cowlitz Nest. I thought the little one that was dying had died around noon on the 22nd. But it suffered through the afternoon and did not die until close to 6pm nest time. Some big fish came on that nest that day but it was too late for that little one. Yesterday I only saw one small fish – there could have been more- I didn’t see them and I do not see any significant growth in the remaining chick, sadly. Today the other chick had a fish this morning and must have had something to eat later as its crop was bigger. Electra has not moved the body of the other chick off the nest. She may not. The female at Port Lincoln left the little one there and it became part of the nest. If the chicks are bigger they need to be removed so they do not decompose in the nest. This takes a human and a permit.

This chick is so far behind for its age. But I hope that it survives and does well otherwise the death of the other one was just futile. I am still baffled by this Osprey Nest. This is not the first time that Electra has lost chicks. Is it really down to Wattsworth not bringing in fish? does he have another nest? or is it that there are just not enough fish? It reminds me too much of what Iris went through trying to raise chicks with Louis. [And note- Louis is good to Starr and their chicks. They have 2 this year.]. Is it the same situation? If you have any insights please write to me.

I just checked in on the Achieva Osprey Nest and the wind and rain have stopped. Tiny Tot is not on the nest. K1 and K3 are getting a little antsy. Big Red and Arthur like to do prey drops across Tower Road on the Rice Building. Maybe they are trying to lure them for a meal? Hard to say.

That’s a wrap for now. Tomorrow I hope to introduce you to a mother duck who has decided to use a person’s flowerbed for her nest! Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam where I grab my screen shots: Achieva Osprey, Cowlitz DUP, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Carynx Wild. I also want to thank Suzanne Arnold Horning for posting the image of K3 in the tree on the Cornell Red Tail Hawks FB page. That reminds me – go to the Cornell Red Tail Hawks FB Page and sign on. You can see lots of wonderful images there!

Featured image is K3 on 24 June 2021.

Friday in Bird World – the good and the darn right maddening

It doesn’t ‘feel’ like there is much happening in Bird World today which probably means that a lot will take place just when I finish writing this!

Roy Dennis’s new book was released today. You can get a signed copy with a dedication if you order directly through the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. The form has tabs for calculating the postage and the funds will go directly to Roy and his projects. Not to you know who. Perhaps that person would like to fund some Osprey Projects – just a thought.

Dennis is featured in an article, Conservation Legend Roy Dennis: We’re facing an ecological crisis, but it’s exciting too in The Guardian’s Environmental section. Dennis is eighty years old and for the past sixty years he has been at the cutting edge, the pioneer in conservation action. Without his efforts, there would be fewer raptors – or any wildlife – for that matter in the United Kingdom. In 1961, he was working hard to protect Osprey eggs from collectors! He was at Rutland Water in attempts to reintroduce the Osprey with translocations from Scotland. His most recent triumph is the reintroduction of the White-tailed Eagle. Dennis says that over the years he has learned something about ecological restoration. “When you suggest something, you get all this opposition,” says Dennis. “When you start doing it, the difficulties just disappear. Once it’s successful, the opposition claim they were supportive at the beginning.” Everyone thought that the eagles would disturb the sheep or starve to death. Neither has been true. The people of the Isle of Wight where the White-tailed Eagles were placed are thriving and Dennis gets news of the delight as people watch them soar and fish. Many say they didn’t know there were so many rabbits in the fields for prey or fish in the seas. Dennis is not-retiring. He has many, many more projects. The book is 18.99 GBP.

As anticipated, Mrs G laid her third egg today at the Glaslyn Nest. Aran was on the nest doing some additions to the walls at the time. Do you realize that this is Mrs G’s 18th season in Wales? Amazing bird. The grand dame of the Welsh ospreys.

16 April 2021

And then…there were 3!

16 April 2021

Blue 3J Telyn and Idris welcomed egg 2 yesterday at the Dyfi Nest in Wales.

There is number 2 egg. 15 April 2021

Now to the Osprey Nest that sends me yelling like someone is pulling out my fingernails. There have actually been three fish delivered on the Achieva Osprey nest today. One came in at 10:43:36. No worries about 2 being sick. It had to have been a pellet because 2 is back to being its normal self – aggressive towards Tiny Tot. While the others are busy being fed by Diane, Tiny Tot looks over and sees a fish! Seriously. A fish just laying in the nest. He must not have believed his eyes. There it is – look!

It wasn’t long until 2 noticed that Tiny Tot was mantling something and went over to investigate. Tiny Tot turned almost an entire 360 degrees protecting ‘his’ fish before 2 took it away. I wish Tiny Tot would get rewarded for being clever.

But no. Diane took the fish and fed it to 1 and 2 while Tiny Tot got nothing – not a single flake of fish.

Later he found a piece of bone in the nest with some flakes of fish and chewed at it.

There is another fish delivery at 1:40:25. Of course, 1 and 2 are still not full form the two other fish they have eaten. Tiny is waiting as I write this. It is 2:26:42, forty-seven minutes into the feeding and he is up trying to get a few bites. The question is: will there even be a morsel left for Tiny? We need steady fish deliveries today if Tiny is to be fed well.

By 2:39:40 Tiny Tot has moved away. There is fish left but the two are still eating. All I can do is hope and breathe. Tiny Tot needs food today.

At 3:10, Tiny is still chewing on his bone and the others are still eating. That fish is almost gone. What we need is another fish delivery quickly so that Tiny can have it all to himself. Not a long wait with a delivery at 7:30 pm and the others are hungry again. Hang in there Tiny Tot.

At 3:14:40 the fish tail was in Diane’s mouth and Tiny Tot had not eaten. The last good feed to fill Tiny’s crop was that early morning fish at 3:21:36 on 15 April. He still had a crop yesterday at 12:04:16. Breathe, Mary Ann. Maybe if another fish comes in he will get some of it. It is very disappointing.

Ever since the 12th of March when the competition on the Achieva nest began to fester – yes, it has been going on that long – I have thought an awful lot about the third hatch on these Osprey nests. As I have said many times, the male is called the tercel in falconry terms because it was believed in medieval times that the third egg was always a male. Tiny has survived what Tapps at the Port Lincoln Osprey Nest, one at Hellsgate, another at Savannah and on and on did not. Tiny Tot is still alive. Yes, he is small, yes his growth is stunted. In the 42 days that he has been alive – ten of them or nearly 25% of the time he does not get fed. It is no wonder that he is smaller. Good feeds like he had on a couple of days would make a world of difference now that he should be growing faster.

I began to think about all of the younger sibs that survived some extremely brutal attacks by their older sibs to become great hunters and flyers. Clearly Tiny understands mantling, being alert, keeping his head down so he does not get physically injured. I still say that 2 could kill Tiny Tot if it set its mind to it. Indeed, I have seen 2 intimidate Diane, the mother. But what about this runt business? ‘The Survival of the Fittest’? Is the fittest the larger one, the more aggressive one? what about being clever and figuring out all the work arounds.

So I began to ask people about the runts who surprised everyone. Thanks to my friend ‘T’ in Strasbourg who contacted someone else in Wales they came up with two examples, out of many, to debunk the myth that I did not know about. One example is Green 5R (04). Green 5R (04) was the son of White 03 (97) and female, Green 05 (00). Was treated with great aggression by its older sister, a female. But Green 5R (04) goes on to make history. He was the first osprey to return to England in 150 years! Green 5R (04) did this in 2006 at the age of two years. Green 5R (04) went on to breed at Rutland’s Mantou Bay from 2010-13. He failed to return from his winter migration in 2014. — I am sure glad he didn’t get tossed over the edge of the nest! Then there was Blue IZ (2016) beaten up badly by Blue 24. His father is Monty who at the time had two females on his arm. Blue 24 is on one nest and Glesni is on another. Monty eventually abandons Blue 24 in favour of Glesni. But Blue 24 was a tough bird. We all know how hard it is to hatch an egg being a single bird mom. Blue 24 had three eggs but only two hatched. It is a wonder they survived. One was Cerie Z0 (16) and the other was 1Z or Tegid. Tegid fledged when he was 50 days old on 18 July. He began his first winter migration on 26 August. Tegid returned as a fierce Osprey on 19 May 2018. Two days later, on 21 May, he visited the nest where he had hatched.

In 2019, Tegid challenged Aran for the Glaslyn Nest. He got Aran off the nest for a bit but, in the end, Aran is still at the Dyfi nest with his mate, Mrs G, in 2021. So where is Tegid?

On 4 April 2020, Tegin had landed on the Clywedog Nest and was there with Blue 5F. Watchers thought it was great that the two were together and maybe they would strike up a partnership but they needed to find their own nest! Another noted, ‘Blue 5F and Blue Z1 were together most of last year and spent a lot of time together at two different platforms , one being the Pont Croesor at Glaslyn’.

So what did Tegid do after the sighting above and where is he in 2021? If you know, please do send me a comment. It is possible that he is alive at an unmonitored nest?

Thank you for joining me and thank you to ‘T’ and her source for the information on runt ospreys. We all continue to wait. I am waiting for the hatch at UC Berkeley Peregrine Falcons, the arrival of Alia at the Loch Arkaig Nest, and for Tiny Tot to get fed. It is going to be a long night!

Thank you to the following streaming cams where I grabbed my images: Achieva Osprey, Clywedog, Cors Dyfi Wildlife Reserve, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife.