Tag Archives: Cornell Bird Lab Cams

An evening with Big Red, Arthur and the Ks

If you hear the name Ferris Akel, you might recognize the individual that gives a regular Saturday afternoon virtual birding tour of the area around Montezuma National Park, Wildlife Drive, Sapsucker Lake, and the Cornell Campus at Ithaca. Ferris also surprises us with ‘pop up’ tours of the Cornell Campus at other times so that he can see what is going on with Big Red and her family and share it with us. Tonight, we got a special tour and were able to see all four members of the Big Red family.

For those of you unaware, Big Red is a Red-tail Hawk. Red tail hawks are easily identified by their bright orange-red tail feathers once they are adults. The females are larger by approximately 30% than the males. This is called reverse sex size diamorphism. Red tail hawks have amazing eye sight. They will scan for food while they are soaring or are know to sit quietly on a perch for long periods of time watching for their prey. They will immediately fly to get it. Unlike the Peregrine Falcons who take their prey in the air, Red tail hawks normally fly down and get their prey on the ground. They do not normally eat carrion (dead animals) unless they are really starving. Their wing span is 1.2-1.5 metres for both males and females or 3.9 feet to 4.9 feet.

Big Red is a huge celebrity within the birding community. Big Red is now 18+ years old. She was banded near Ithaca, at Brooktondale, on 20 October 2003. Her current mate, Arthur, hatched in a territory next to the Cornell Campus in 2016. He has been Big Red’s mate since her mate, Ezra, died in March 2017. Arthur was first spotted visiting the nest in April of 2017. Big Red and Arthur were an ‘item’ by the fall. Their nest is on one of the light boxes across Tower Road from the Fernow Building. This year they hatched three chicks, the Ks. Two of the three fledged – this is the only time that Big Red did not have all of her chicks that hatched fledge. K2 sustained an injury to her right cheek and beak in the nest and had to be euthanized. She would never have been able to live in the wild nor would she have been able to have any quality of life in captivity. The two surviving chicks, K1 and K3, have already proven themselves to be excellent flyers and it looks like K1 has already had some successful hunts.

K3 on the nest. 21 June 2021. She was taken into care the following day.

Big Red was named after the territory she dominates, the Cornell Campus. She is also a large Red-tail Hawk with a lot of the beautiful rusty brown colour and bring orange-red tail feathers. In the image below she is beginning to become ‘Big Blond’ as she is moulting.

She is the matriarch. It is estimated that she has probably hatched chicks for fifteen years. Ezra was probably her first mate. If she hatched three chicks per year, that means that she has fledged 44. That is an incredible record! Sadly none of the chicks were banded so there is no knowledge of their whereabouts or status. A small number are known to have died after fledging. One was injured and is an ambassador bird for Cornell, E3.

Big Red is noted for her very dark plumage and that amazing red feathered apron.

Ferris first spotted one of the Ks on a light tower.

Big Red was spotted on the Water Cooling Plant.

You can see that her feathers look a little ruffled, untidy. This is the moulting.

Those piercing dark eyes just make you melt.

Can you spot the hawk? Seriously I believe that Ferris Akel has ‘hawk eyes’!

Oh, look it is Arthur! He is Big Red’s mate and is one of the most amazing hunters I have ever seen. He is also moulting!

This is K1 looking out. She is a really good flier and is also believed to have already made a couple of ‘prey kills’. Yesterday she had a little chipmunk and was doing a war cry when K3 came around hoping to get some of it. Normally if the bird is war crying they are the ones that caught the prey and will not share! Even if it is their cute little brother.

At first Ferris and the gang were not sure but once we saw the stripes on the tail, we knew it was K1. K3 has a muddy tail almost verging on red – a first for all of Big Red’s chicks.

K1 is gorgeous and very dark. These images are soft not because Ferris could not focus but because of the heat shimmer off the buildings.

And here is cutie pie, K3. All those little third hatches just soften my heart.

Oh, you wanted your sister to share her chippie and she told you to go and catch your own! Poor little thing.

And that was a wrap. Ferris persisted in finding all of the Ks and trying to get some good images of them despite the heat shimmer and the fact that it was getting dark.

Good night Big Red, good night Arthur, good night K1 and K3.

Big Red and Arthur are moving the Ks around the buildings on the Cornell Campus. They can now be found around the Water cooling buildings, Bartels, and across the ravine. It will not be long til they have them out by the buildings with the cows and the open fields. It is part of their training – enlarging their territory bit by bit. How do they do thus? Food is a great motivator and the adults will carry prey to different areas of the campus and the Ks will follow! It is that easy.

If you see the hawks coughing and shaking their heads and necks and something gets ‘thrown’ out of their mouth, this is called a ‘cast’. It is the bits and bobs of the prey that cannot be digested that is sort of compressed into a small pellet. The raptors cannot digest this and so they throw it up. This is properly called ‘casting a pellet’. This is with the exception of the owls that have a gizzard for digesting these parts of the prey.

It is now getting towards the last week of July. The Ks will be with us for a bit longer. I remember last year. Once J2 and J3 had been catching their own prey around the barns they began soaring. It was not long after that that J3 went poof and was gone with the winds to be followed by J2 the following day.

The last bit of news this morning is that Tiny Little and siblings were fed by White YW (dad) this morning. 462 was first followed by Tiny Little.

It is now around tea time, late afternoon, and Tiny Little has been like a ducking food crying in the nest for a bit.

Thanks so much for joining me. It was a great evening with Big Red and the Ks. They are progressing so well towards their own independence. Sadly, they do not get bands and we will not know where they go or what they do. Lucky for us Tiny Little is Blue 463! Take care all.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Ferris Akel’s Livestream and Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest.

Thursday in Bird World

There are a number of Ospreys named Louis but the one that I am writing about today is the Louis of the Loch Arkaig Osprey Nest. His mate, Aila, did not return from migration this year and there is a new Mrs Louis. Her name is Dorcha. Louis chose not to make their nest on the one that he had shared with Aila. As a result, news of Louis and Dorcha comes from those who have access to see the nest. Today’s news is from the person who ringed the chicks. They report there are two healthy 4-5 week old nestlings. How grand. Louis is a fabulous dad – he even went fishing at night for Aila and the three chicks last year.

I am doing a bit of nest hopping. For whatever reason I am unable to access the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest. Others are having difficulties too but some seem to have some success. It is, of course, slightly frustrating because this is the nest of Tiny Little!

The eaglet on the Bucovina, Romanian Golden Eagle nest is hungry. Yesterday he only had a small bird and a bone. There seem to be days of bounty and then not much of anything on this nest. Is there enough prey? how far to the parents have to travel? are both parents still delivering food for the baby? For many this is the haunting memory of Spilve and Klints last year. The young Golden Eaglet cannot live on a little bird. Zenit is a beautiful bird and it will not be long til fledge. Let us all hope that Zenit gets a large prey drop today.

Zenit saw his reflection in the camera for the first time yesterday. It is so cute when they do this – the reactions to seeing another bird like them! Lady Hawk caught this precious interaction.

Wishes come true! I checked on Zenit just a minute ago and Zenit has an enormous crop! Looks like he swallowed a softball.

Scrolling back, Zenit’s mother came in to feed him. This was at 14:12. It also appears that a bird delivery was made around 17:00. It is not clear what the mother brought but as you can see above, Zenit has a very large crop and this is a good thing. It remains unclear to me how much prey there is in the area. Let us all hope it is good!

When the Royal Albatross chick was weighed on Tuesday (NZ time), she had dropped from 8.2 kg to 8.0. The rangers were monitoring Taiki’s weight and were considering whether or not she needed a supplementary feeding. Perhaps that won’t be necessary after today because her mother Lime-Green-Lime flew in for two feedings and her dad, Lime-Green-Black was there for one. Three feedings in a single day at 9:58 (LGL), 13:57 (LGK), and LGL arrives twenty minutes after LGK departed at 14:17. These were quick in and outs but it looked like Taiki got a lot of food.

LGL is so happy to see her daughter. Taiki would like her mum to dispense with all the formalities – the sky calls, the welcome – but LGL will insist. Her daughter needs to learn all of these and imprint them in her mind. Taiki will fledge in mid-September. She will not return to land for 4-6 years. At that time she will do a skycall just like Mum is doing now. Can you imagine being at sea and never stepping foot on land for that long?

Taiki is so excited to have a parent come in for breakfast.

LGK saunters in after Taiki has had her breakfast and is ready to feed her lunch at 13:57. It always looks like the adults have difficulty walking – and maybe they do if the chicks are digging holes and building play nests everywhere. Here comes dad!

It is so interesting that these little Albies stay put on their nest without moving about so much (at least at this stage). LGK does several sky calls but Taiki just wants food!

Taiki settles down to work on her play nest after LGK leaves and gets dirt all over her beak. It sure doesn’t matter. Look at how beautiful she is.

This is LGL’s second visit to feed her daughter. Taiki is so excited to see her again. I wonder if she told mum that she just missed dad? LGL does several skycalls when she greets her daughter.

The baby down is falling off and revealing a beautiful pattern on the back of Taiki.

LGL always looks like she is smiling.

Taiki must be about to pop after three big feedings! LGL must be fishing near to Taiaroa Head as she is returning so often. Taiki is lucky.

It was a golden morning on the Loch of the Lowes. No one was on the nest- they were all out flying and learning to fish. There are some trees around the nest that are apparently good perches for the birds. What a beautiful place. It looks so tranquil —- and safe for Ospreys.

It was just as beautiful at Mlady Buky in Czechoslovakia this morning. There is a mist, low lying clouds, or a fog hugging the mountains. The three storklings are on the nest. Everything is so quiet – you can almost hear the stillness.

Father Stork arrives at 6:19 with breakfast for the three almost fledging storklings.

The three continue to find small morsels on the nest after the frenzy when dad arrives.

The feeding gives them energy. The sun is up and they are warm and two are flapping madly on the nest.

The female is really covering the nest and moving her wings. She was getting some lift this morning as well. Father Stork and the people of Mlady Buky have done well. After the loss of the female, it has been simply a miracle to watch these three thrive. In a way, the people of the community stepped in and took over when supplementary feeding was necessary – just like the New Zealand Department of Conservation rangers.

Sadly, there is no one stepping in for Zenit if it is needed. I wonder if the people who operate the camera would consider setting up a food table if it were needed?

My goodness. Blue 022, the two year old who returned from his migration and stopped off at the Poole Harbour nest of CJ7, is so enthusiastic. He has been helping fix up the nest and has even provided fish for CJ7. He has also been seen ‘sky dancing’ on several occasions. This morning was no exception!

They make such a lovely couple. Oh, goodness. Everyone is already crossing their fingers and toes that these two return from their migration safely. The months will not pass quickly enough. Imagine – no chicks born in this area of England in 200 years! Incredible. There will be lots of celebrating!

Dylan and Seren are both on the nest at 7am watching and waiting for Only Bob to come and have some breakfast. He loves to go and fly often landing on the camera stand. It is so different when they fledge – at first babies always on the nest and hungry and then parents having to wait with food as they fly about.

Kindness is getting her legs stronger every day. She is standing straight and walking some on the nest. She is certainly growing fast – an advantage to being the only chick on the nest.

Kindness loves to do kissey-kissey with Mom. It is so funny watching these two.

At the Osprey nest on the Port Lincoln barge, Mom is on the nest and Dad was over on the ropes. Eggs arriving soon.

Oh, it is a bit like a bad joke. The camera at the Foulshaw Moss Osprey nest just started working. Both 462 and Tiny Little are on the nest. It is around 7am and they are watching for a parent to arrive with breakfast. Look at that nice necklace that Tiny Little has. Interesting. (TL is on the right) They are being kissed by diamond rain from the sun.

And when he wasn’t watching for a delivery, Tiny Little was flapping his wings dreaming of flying.

The more flapping he does the more the last tidbits of baby down disappear. It won’t be long Tiny but you were four days younger than everyone and you were behind in growth. You will get there just like Tiny Tot!

Hopefully that fish arrives! These two are both hungry. And it did. Tiny Little went over and ate some of the remaining fish and Blue 35 comes in and removes what is left (piece at the front) and will fly off with it.

The camera was still on the blink. I just checked and Tiny is fine. It is tea time and both Tiny and big sib are waiting for a delivery. It is so interesting that the big siblings know when to show up for food.

And last but never least, a lovely picture of Aran and Mrs G on the Glaslyn Nest together. This is a beautiful sight. There has been some bonding over the last few days. I was concerned that Aran was not in top form and Z2, Aeron, of the PC nest might want to take over this one. They are being kissed by golden raindrops, too! Mrs G doesn’t look like she is 21 years old, the oldest osprey in the United Kingdom. She is in really good shape. So sad that they lost their three chicks this year. That can cause issues but they seem to be a solid couple.

Thanks for joining me everyone. It is lovely to see the Golden Eaglet doing well today. That nest is a constant worry. And speaking of worry. The comments section on my blog seems to not be working all the time. It is like Tiny Little’s camera. Please feel free to send me an e-mail: maryannsteggles@icloud.com. I know that some of you had concerns and I regret that technology has caused you any worry. For the next while, til things step up in Australia, there may be only one blog per day. I hope to get more local Osprey news for you this coming week.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams. This is where I grabbed my screen shots: Bucovina Golden Eagle Nest Cam, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, Cornell Bird Lab and NZ DOC, Mlady Buky, Port Lincoln Osprey Cam, Glacier Gardens Eagle Cam, Dyfi Osprey Project, Clywedog Opsrey Cam and Carnyx Wild, Byrwd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Poole Harbour Ospreys, and Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of Loch of the Lowes.

Tense Day in Bird World

It has been one of those days. Two things happened that were expected. One was a good expectation that almost turned into a tragedy – and sadly, the other one was the siblicide of one of the chicks on the Cowlitz Osprey Nest in Longview, Washington.

K3 fledged from the Fernow Light Tower at 13:42. K3 is 49 days old and is a tiny little hawklet standing at just a little less than 30 cm (12 inches) tall. The flight was dramatic. K1 had been visiting the nest. Indeed, the K1 had spent the night on the nest with her little brother, K3. They were sooooo cute.

K1 is a great big hawklet – a big female and a cute tiny little male. K1 flew over to the Oak Tree where she had fledged yesterday at 13:38. I don’t think K3 wanted to be left out of the action that his big sis had described. If you missed it, here is that fledge:

K3 flew around the Oak tree where K1 was, did a turn, and tried to grab onto Bradfield and missed. But he was not injured and has spent the afternoon exploring the ledges and being dive bombed by Robins.

Here is an image of K3 after fledging taken from the nest cam:

K3 has even had a rest. Meanwhile K1 flew back to the nest where a chippie was dropped off for a tea time snack.

After all the stress I thought that I should just follow it up with a check on Tiny Little Bob on the Foulshaw Moss Nest. There are three chicks on that nest and Great Big Bob is a bully. It was not certain that Tiny Little Bob would survive but it seems like he will. Fingers continue to be crossed. The older and bigger that Tiny Little gets the more chance he has.

When I turned on the nest cam the chicks were looking around and you just knew something was happening. They were looking around everywhere. Mom landed on the nest followed by White YW, Dad, with a Flounder!

Here is that video clip of the arrival of that fish:

Tiny Little was not comfortable eating first as you can see and then Tiny Little Bob realized that Great Big Bob wasn’t pushing for food so Tiny Little went for it. He ate for about 4 or 5 minutes without stopping. You could tell he kept wanting Blue 35 to hurry up before Great Big got hungry!

Great Big and Middle let Tiny Little go first.

Seeing Tiny Little eat made me feel really good but, of course, I am still uneasy about the size difference between Great Big and Tiny Little. I needed one of those feel good moments and that sent me checking on Richmond and Rosie. Richmond and Rosie are the equivalent of going over to check on the Royal Cam chick in New Zealand. You just know before you look that everything will be alright.

Richmond and Rosie had three boys this year. Gosh, there are a lot of male ospreys being born! I also wanted to see what names were selected for the trio. There they are on the natal nest on the historic Whirley Crane on the Richmond Shipping Yards. The third chick is on the other side of Rosie.

The Golden Gate Osprey FB – the SF Bay Ospreys – posted the image below with pictures of the boys, their ring numbers, and their names. Over 700 people voted. That is pretty amazing. Now look at the beautiful necklaces on those boys! Don’t let anyone tell you that only female ospreys have necklaces. 022 on the Poole Harbour nest has one of the best necklaces I have ever seen! And look here at Sage.

Richmond and Rosie always make me feel good. They are a stable couple with a male who provides well for his mate and children. There is never the issues of sibling rivalry and siblicide as we have seen on the Cowlitz Nest. It is refreshing and calming.

Jack brought Tiny Tot a fish at tea time so everything is all right with the world on the Achieva Osprey Nest. Oh, Tiny has grown into such a beautiful bird and a great protector of the realm. Who ever would have believed this in March? A whole lot of love went out to this third hatch – so many people wanted 3 to survive and well…just look!

There is Tiny mantling really big and tight! S/he wants that fish. Thanks, Jack!

Thanks for joining me today. Looks like it could be a stormy evening on the Canadian prairies. Take care everyone. Be safe!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my video clips and screen shots: Achieva Credit Union, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, and the Cornell Bird Lab and RTH.

It was..and then it wasn’t a good day to fledge

The Red tail Hawks and, especially Arthur, have been giving aerial demonstrations for their three eyases, the Ks, today. The weather was lovely and the winds were fantastic. K3, the youngest was really getting into having that wind go underneath his wings.

Some, much more experienced than me have shared their wisdom with me. Large female birds take longer to get their feathers. The females are already larger than the males. As a result, it takes longer for the feathers of the female to come in and for her to be ready to fledge. This certainly was correct last year with J1 who fledged last and was determined to be a ‘she’ at her autopsy. The youngest, J3 fledged second with J2 fledging first. Ironically, J2 was the second to hatch but the first egg laid if I remember correctly. Now we will see what happens this year.

There is a bit of a spanner in the works because of K2. There is something wrong with K2’s beak area and eye on the right. She has been scratching it today which is not making things any better. No one knows what is wrong but if K1 and K3 fledge then an attempt will be made to take K2 into care.

For now, though, K3 is really having a bang up time jumping, flapping, and watching Arthur do his aerial stunts. I did short videos to show you the action.

In the first one you can see K3 watching Arthur flying around the nest and getting excited. At one time he tries to go upon the light box. That is, in fact, the way that J2 sort of fludged last year – climbing on the light box and being forced to fly off as he fell off it.

In the second, K3 really gets going with the wind under its wings and jumping high. Just look at those great legs and that little one go!

Stop and count the dark lines on K3s tail. You will see if you look carefully that there are six! K3 has enough tail length to fly nicely.

And then, as quick as a wink, the rains came. Fledging will have to happen another day. No one wants these Ks trying to take their first flight with heavy wet wings across that road!

If you want to watch all the action of Big Red, Arthur and the Ks as fledge gets closer, here are the links. There are two cameras.

This is the normal camera which can be moved and zoomed in by the camera operators:

This is the Fixed Camera. It looks down towards the fledge ledge.

In other news, Tiny Tot has been defending his natal nest in St Petersburg today. Jack has brought him or her a fish. The Cowlitz kids were eating the last time I checked on them and sadly, if you did not see my earlier news, all three chicks on the Urdaibai Biosphere Park Osprey Nest have now died. It is a very sad day for everyone celebrating the success of the translocation project. And in Australian news, Lady has laid her first egg at the White Bellied Sea Eagle Nest in the Sydney Olympic Park. Another one will be laid in 2 or 3 days.

Thank you for joining me. Take care. Enjoy your weekend.

Thank you to the Cornell Bird Lab and the streaming cam at the Red Tail Hawk Nest on the Cornell Campus. That is where I took my video clips.

Happiness in Bird World

It seems like it has been a pretty good day in Bird World.

The two little ospreys on the Cowlitz Nest had plenty of food today and nice crops albeit one of them had a bigger crop than the other. But, hey! I am not complaining. Fish is fish and they both ate really well. So did their Mom! Yippeee.

The little ones really blend into that nest with that bright sun. The one is in profile and the other is still being fed by Electra. And, of course, Wattsworth is hovering in case there is fish left! Can you hear me growling? Electra has done really well eating along with the two chicks and using up every morsel of the fish.

Now this Bob has a bit of a crop, too. He is going to drop it shortly. Wish he had done now and turned to get some more fish. For some reason this chick does not eat as much as the other.

Little Bob on the Foulshaw Moss Nest was right up there today with his big siblings – all standing in line nicely. Blue 35 is doing a fantastic job keeping those kiddos in line.

Little Tiny Bob has figured out where the ‘sweet spot’ is for feeding. Good for him. He has a lot of growing to do but, already, he is getting his beautiful curved feathers. What a cute little one.

Jack brought Tiny Tot a fish at 11:57:26 and then the rain started falling. Tiny really earns that fish. All day he has had to contend with adult intruders. He is doing an amazing job keeping those adults moving off that nest. Here is a short video of Tiny Tot getting one adult off the nest. That adult had the nerve to dive bomb Tiny!

Over at the The Landings Nest on Skidaway Island (Savannah) the second chick has fledged. That happened this morning at 6:13:51. By 8:50 both were on the nest having some breakfish. Scarlett and Rhett do not seem to be in any hurry for these two gorgeous ospreys to leave the area. Food arrives in good time to keep them on the nest and practising their flying skills before taking off for good.

There was quite a bit of excitement over in the UK today related to Ospreys. The 150th juvenile to fledge from Rutland Water has returned today for the first time. It is Male 056 hatched on the 13th of May 2019, one of four chicks of Maya and Blue 33 (11). 056 was seen in January 2020 in The Gambia. Wow! That really points to the success of their reintroduction programme.

Now to celebrate the translocation project of Poole Harbour. Translocation is when young birds are taken, at a certain age, and moved to a different location to try and establish an osprey colony where there is none. Such was the situation of Poole Harbour. In an earlier blog, I told you how Roy Dennis worked with the Poole Harbour Ospreys to introduce birds from Scotland to Poole Harbour. Remember, male birds normally return to the area of their natal nest to breed while females go elsewhere. The celebration is not happening at Poole Harbour per se but over in Glaslyn in Montgomeryshire Wales. There is the nest of Mrs G and Aran and then there is the PC nest. Z2 is the 2019 hatch of Monty and Telyn and his mate is Poole Harbour 014. And, while there are no images available, boots on the ground note that the behaviour in the nest has changed and it looks like there could be two hatches now! There is really good DNA in those chicks – lucky youngsters!

And everyone is wondering what in the world is going on in Missoula, Montana. Iris had the most handsome visitor – a three year old juvenile returnee visiting on her nest. His name is Congo 4C and he was hatched at the Dunrovin Nest in Missoula in 2018 just when Iris was taking care of her last ever chick, Le Le. This image shows Iris on the nest. She has been doing all manner of nestorations this morning. Then Louis has gotten a whiff of the visitor who is flying overhead with a fish! Like everyone else, I would love for this to get interesting!

Iris is on the left and Louis has just landed on the right. Overhead you can see Congo 4C coming with the fish – possibly for Iris? Now wouldn’t that be an interesting match? The oldest Osprey in the world with a 3 year old. And he is trying to show her he can fish.

Someone once told me that Ospreys do not have territories since they all fish in the same spots. That said, I have always understood that Iris’s nest is on Louis’s territory – that Louis more or less inherited it when Stanley died. But can a territory be divided? what about Starr and her chicks? My answer to that is that I wish Louis would take good care of his family at the baseball park and let Iris find herself a young man who wants to take care of her!

Here is Congo with Iris on the nest earlier:

Wow. Lots of things happening and then there is the fledge watch at the Redtail Hawk Nest of Big Red and Arthur. Laura Culley says it isn’t going to happen til next week. I hope she is right. K3 almost fludged today! But K2 has a bit of a sore or something causing its mouth not to close and a problem with an eye which Cornell experts are monitoring. I am really hoping that she has not cleaned her beak well and this is dried prey. The eye issue could relate to the chicks pecking at one another when they were younger???

K2 is on the left and K1 is on the right. K1 is distinguished by her very dark and thick belly band.

And then there is the adorable K3.

I am a real sucker for these tiny third hatches – for sure!

Thank you so much for joining me today. The ten goslings at Schloss Benkhausen in the White Stork Nest hatched and jumped to the ground this morning. You can see it here again:

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots and video clips: Schloss Benkhausen, Achieva Osprey, Cowlitz PUD, Cornell and Skidaway Audubon, Cornell and Montana Osprey Project, and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

Sunday in Bird World

The news on Tiny Tot is not so good. The last time he had a good feed was 9pm the 16th. Tiny Tot ate off bones yesterday and despite opportunities to feed him today, Diane gave him a piece of fish skin. Then she fed him 9 bites of fish and could have continued but stretched her neck to feed one of the big ones when they were full and not wanting fish. It does not bode well for our little one. Tiny Tot has not given up and he reminds me so much of WBSE 26 who was determined to be a normal sea eagle.

Diane feeds Tiny Tot 9 bites. 18 April 2021

At the Dyfi Nest in Wales, Idris and Telyn welcomed their third egg at 7:05 am this morning.

Three eggs for one of Wale’s favourite Osprey couples. 18 April 2021

It is still a lonely nest up at Loch Arkaig. Louis is waiting for Aila. Will she return? There remains some hope because KR3 (male) returned to Balgavies Loch yesterday so birds are still returning from Africa.

There were, however, two Ospreys on the Loch Arkaig nest in the very early morning. Not quite sure what is going on. Not Aila. A pair looking for a nest???

The little eyasses of Annie and Grinnell at the University of California campus at Berkeley are adorable. Both healthy and doing well. Two more to come. Grinnell will make sure that all are fed and plump! No worries on this nest. Gosh, I love falcons and hawks.

The two osplets over on the Savannah Osprey Nest are doing great, too. After so much issues with the third, believe it or not I am hopeful that this mother will have only two hatch with two healthy fledges!

Dylan has been delivering nice trout to Blue 5F Seren on Clywedog. Doing a hand off right at sunset on incubation duties. That first egg in the nest was laid on 16 April. We should be expecting the second tomorrow!

Kielder 1A with White YA and Mrs YA, an unringed female, laid their third egg today.

@ Forestry England. 18 April 2021. Kielder 1A Nest

So the United Kingdom Osprey Nests with three eggs currently are: Dyfi, Foulshaw Moss, Glaslyn, Kielder 1A, Loch of the Lowes, and Rutland Mantou.

Over in Taiwan at the Black Kite Nest, the eldest hatch, Pudding, fledged yesterday, 17 April. Pudding will return to the nest for about a month to eat or until their hunting skills are well established. In the image below, Pudding is coming down from the branch on the left while Brulee is being fed by mom.

Pudding fledged on 17 April 2021 and is joining mom and Brulee for lunch. 18 April 2021

We woke to a morning snow on the Canadian prairies. The birds are calling and there are new visitors to the garden, a few Brown Thrashers. Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me. Send the warmest of wishes to Tiny Tot. He is a rack of bones and has such a will to live. In his short life, he has now missed almost 13 days of food where the others have stuffed themselves.

Thank you to the following nests and their streaming cams and sponsors. This is where I get my screen shots, Taiwan Black Kite Camera, Achieva Credit Union Osprey, UC Berkeley Falcon Cam, Woodland Trust, Post Code Lottery, Cornell Bird Labs and Savannah Osprey, Friends of Loch Arkaig, and Clywedog.

Feature image is from the Taiwan Black Kite Streaming Camera.