It happened shortly after the Bald Eagle took the second osplet from the Cowlitz PUD nest. It returned for the third and last of the 2022 chicks.
There is something so terribly sad about seeing an Osprey couple doing well and then in the blink of an eye – three times over – to loose the eggs that they incubated for over a month, the chicks that had been fed and brooded. All gone.
We will never know if the couple had any experience dealing with intruders before – like this. We will never know if the Mum had stayed on the nest would the Osplets have been saved? or might Mum have been injured?
It has been a very sad week in Osprey world. The three osplets – older than the ones at Cowlitz starved because of other Osprey intruders – at the Cape Henlopen State Park nest in Delaware that might have killed the male and injured the female. The third hatch at the Loch of the Lowes was starved and then attacked and killed by the eldest. The third hatch at Loch Arkaig got its foot caught and couldn’t get under Dorcha and was out in the cold rain and died of hypothermia. The third hatch died at Llyn Brenig. It could not get out of the nest cup to eat. All so very, very sad.
Let us all hope that the tragedies at the nests are over.
My sincere condolences go out to the entire Cowlitz PUD family – the Ospreys and all the people behind the scenes that made it possible for us to watch their lives – the good and the bad.
My heart goes out to the wee chicks. Fly high little ones, fly high.
Wednesday came with some surprises – each of them involving a Bald Eagle. A Bald Eagle visited the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey Nest for starters.
The way the eagle looked over and down at the nest it appeared that it understood ‘something’ had happened. The eagle did not stay long but it was a surprise to many seeing it on the Osprey nest.
Of course, the second incident with a Bald Eagle was the predation of one of the three osplets at the Cowlitz PUD nest by an eagle. Compared to former years this nest was doing really, really well this year. I believed that the youngest was to the right of Mum when she was feeding with the Middle to the left and Big behind. I have seen mention that it was the youngest taken elsewhere so it is unclear if it was Little or Middle Bob. Regardless this is very sad, indeed.
One reader ‘L’ wondered if the Bald Eagle might have been after the fish that Mum brought to the nest and was feeding the chicks.
The third is the ongoing raising of the hawklet by the Eagle family on Gabriola Island just off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. That is one very lucky little hawklet. It arrived on the nest on 4 June as a prey item and by that evening was being cared for and brooded by the female eagle. It looks like it is going to be a good outcome just like the Sydney nest in 2017!
GROWLS just got the funds for the streaming cam last year – and what an interesting first year it has turned out to be.
The hawklet is flapping its wings – the eaglet has also fed the hawklet so it has been fully adopted into the family. In an online discussion yesterday, Christian Sasse does not believe that the hawklet’s life is in any danger because there is plenty of food for the eagles in the area.
@GROWLS
Ferris Akel had a wonderful tour of the Cornell campus last night. It was purposefully to see Big Red, Arthur and the four hawks. He found every one of them! It is nice to be able to share some images with you.
I believe this to be L1. She was the only fledgling not on the nest but was out hunting – or sitting and watching from a lovely pine. Isn’t she gorgeous? A mini-Big Red with that amazing necklace.
Arthur was moving about. He had been with Big Red on the Bradfield Building (where they sleep on the ledge) and then moved to one of the light stands. Both parents were actively watching the Ls from a distance.
Of course, not all of the family cooperated with the lighting situation for the camera!
L4 was a sleepy baby. He kept nodding off. What a little cutie. I will never ever forget this wee babe clamouring over its big siblings to get right up front to eat. L4 was fearless!
L4 has not fledged. L2 just flew onto the nest joining L4. It seems that everyone is encouraging L4 to fledge today! We will see. It has been rainy and mention of a storm system moving in makes me want L4 to stay put. 🙂
What is with the Ls loving to run up and down the rails? This is L4 last evening around 19:30.
Like L4 at Cornell, Sky is the only eaglet not to have fledged at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta. Here he is doing a great job of hovering. Will they both fledge today?
Harriet (E1) at the MN-DNR nest of Nancy (and Harry) is now branching.
It is hard to see little Love and Peace in the Glacier Gardens nest of Liberty and Freedom. They are both still there and they are both fuzzy – sweet. Mum has a dirty beak from aerating that nest!
Osplets watching Idris as he takes off after delivering a fish to Telyn for their lunch.
Have you noticed that some of the Ospreys are leaving the greenery growing in the nests this year? It is thought to help against predation (supposedly). The lovely Mrs G and her three osplets at the Glaslyn nest – they have quite a bit of grass growing around the sides of the nest cup.
Dylan loves Brown Trout. Today at 12:12 he delivered a whole on to Seren and the three Bobs at the Llyn Clywedog nest. He didn’t even take a single bite! Oh, the family is going to love that fish.
Poor Dorcha. The wind and rain only let up for awhile it seens at the Loch Arkaig nest in Scotland. Thankfully Louis is a good fisher. The surviving two Bobs are doing well it would appear despite the cold and wet.
There has been continuing concern over the Loch of the Lowes Osprey nest of Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0. Laddie has only been bringing in twiddlers – tiny snack fish. The question was – what is going on? Some felt that Laddie had another eye injury. At any rate, we can take a breath for the moment. He brought in a substantial fish and the chicks and Mum got to eat. Well done Laddie.
Three gorgeous osplets at the Foulshaw Moss nest of White YW and Blue 35 are growing and getting those beautiful juvenile feathers. All three are almost identical in size, too!
Blue 33 is a great provider. He arrived at the nest and there was already a fish there that Maya was feeding the trio – so he had a nice lunch himself. Well deserved for sure! I have never gone to sleep at night worrying about this nest.
It looks like the two wee surviving Bobs at the Llyn Brenig nest are doing alright. Positive energy for continuing growth and success for Mr and Mrs AX6 and family.
Both up at the front of the nest looking off to the world beyond.
Wow! One of the Bobs at the Poole Harbour nest of CJ7 and Blue 22 has grown enough for us to see it!!!!!!!!! Yes.
So far, the food deliveries at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest have alluded Little Bit 17. I am hoping – beyond hope – that prey arrives at the nest and our third hatch gets some food. Send positive wishes please.
The three storklets in the care of Dr Madis Leivits in Estonia are doing great. While everyone would prefer that they could have been raised successfully in the wild by a single parent, it was not possible. The three surviving storklets continue to thrive at the Vet College. Mum has been put back in place and the wee ones can sense when fish are coming! Have a look.
And here is their lunch today!
Here is their latest feeding – a few hours after lunch.
The two Eastern Imperial Eaglets ate side by side – . Fantastic. I always worry about the Golden Eagles and the Imperial ones because of siblicide. Both of these chicks look good. The feeding is quite pleasant.
Bernd-Ulrich Meyburg wrote a paper titled, “Sibling aggression and mortality amongst nesting eagles” in 2008. In that paper he states, “In certain eagle species it is not the availability of food that effects the chances of survival but the interval between hatching. If the interval between hatching is short, the second chick can develop normally and fledge.” The two below are closer in size and it is hoped that they will both thrive and fledge.
We are two days into fledge watch at the scrape of Annie and Alden in The Campanile on the campus of UCalifornia-Berkeley. Cal Falcons have provided another great growth chart on their FB page.
We continue to have some fledge watches at various nests and lots of wishes for prey items to land on the ND-LEEF nest.
Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today. See you tomorrow.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, videos, and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Liz M, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, GROWLS, Ferris Akel Tours, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, MN-DNR, Glacier Gardens, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, CarnyXWild, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lotttery, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, LRWT, Llyn Brenig, Edith P, Eagle Club of Estonia, and Cal Falcons.
I wanted to yell as loud as I could, ‘Go Tiny Little!’. There was a fish drop at the Foulshaw Moss Nest. Blue 462 had it in its talons.
Oh, what I forgot to tell you was that Tiny Little kept trying to steal that fish from Blue 462. Look at Blue 35 (mum) watching what is going on.
Tiny Tot finds the tail of the fish between Blue 462’s legs and trys to eat the fish from there! My friend ‘L’ says that Tiny Little is a ‘hoot’ – he is!
Tiny Little bothered his big sister so much that she moved the fish to the other side of the nest! But Tiny Little did not give up. He was more determined to try and distract Big Sister and grab that fish. Look how mum is watching everything that is going on. Tiny almost gets that fish a few times but he is not fully confident nor aggressive yet.
It must have been uncomfortable for Blue 462 to have Tiny right up there by his face. That is probably the point. At one point it looked like Tiny Little tried to grab the fish out of 462’s beak as he was pulling it off the bone.
Tiny Little pleads with mum to do something about that fish because he wants some of it and Blue 462 won’t share! Now Tiny Little didn’t do this just once, he went to speak to mum several times. There was, of course, no mention of Tiny Little finding that entire fish and not sharing it with anyone earlier!!!!!!
Blue 35 watched everything. What a smart mum she is! She waited and checked and then waited and when Blue 35 felt that Big Sis had enough fish, she walked over, took it, and flew away with it.
Here she is moving in to take it from Blue 462’s talons.
She pulls it over and once she has that fish secured she flies off the nest.
Why did she take my fish? says Blue 462. Tiny Tot is bewildered. He figures that is it for his bedtime dinner. Even Big Sis can’t figure it out. They stand there staring into space wondering what just happened.
Ah, Blue 35 wanted Big Sister off the nest. She took the fish and when the older sibling had left she returned to feed Tiny Little.
Ah, what a good mum Blue 35 is. She makes sure every one of her three babies has some fish.
When Tiny was full and off cleaning his beak, Blue 35 enjoyed a few bites of fish herself before Blue 462 flies in to try and get the precious fish tail! Mom starts feeding 462 again.
Wonder where 464 was? Did White YW give him a fish off camera?
Looks like Tiny Little won’t be sleeping alone tonight. Blue 462 is tired from all that flying! Both of these big babies have full tummies. Time to go to sleep.
As the sun was setting in Wales at the Dyfi Nest, Idris was out on his perch, Telyn was on the nest perch, and both Dysynnis and Ystwyth were on the nest ready for night-night as the train speeds by.
Over in the Clywedog Nest, Seren 5F was feeding Only Bob, Blue 496, his late night snack. He earned it today – he made a proper fledge this morning and he must be awfully tired. Gosh, this kiddo is big. Look at those legs!
As the pink of the sunset was coming over Loch of the Lowes, NC0 was on the nest watching her children, LM 1 and LM 2 as they flew around the loch.
Hopping to North America, Wattsworth and Electra were on the Cowlitz PUD Osprey Nest in Longview making a few nestorations. They lost both their chicks this year. The first to siblicide and the second to heat stroke during the 28 June extreme heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest.
What will the Ospreys do as our planet heats up?
I don’t know if there are any repercussions on the Ospreys in Alberta from the smoke and fires to the west of them in British Columbia. Let us hope not. Legacy is growing and growing at the Red Deer Nest. It was hard to get a good image of her today but she had just finished a nice breakfast when I took this one.
And the two on the Fortis Exshaw Osprey Nest are progressing nicely as well. They are also growing really well now that the extreme heat is gone.
Kindness is 89 days old. She is on the Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Nest up in Juneau, Alaska. She has been practicing her standing and is getting really good at it. Kindness is a ‘Northern’ Bald Eagle – not a specific species but because she is higher north in the Northern Hemisphere, she will be heavier and bigger than birds in the southern US. This is called the Bergman Allen Rule. Northern animals are typically heavier and larger than the southerly ones. This is related to the climate and physiological differences and their needs. The female Bald Eagles in the north, like Alaska, weight 4.5-6.35 kg or 10-14 lbs while in Florida the top weight for a female Bald Eagle would be 6.35 kg or 10 lbs. The males in Alaska are 3.62 -4.9 kg or 8-11 lbs while in Florida they are about 2.7 kg or 6 lbs. The average day for fledging at this nest is 89 days. (The average age for Bald Eagle nestlings in the rest of Alaska to fledge is 80 days). So we have some time yet with Kindness! Terrific.
Thank you so much for joining me. It was great fun with Tiny Little today. If you watch that nest check out Tiny Little’s rather ‘fat’ legs. Tiny Little is growing so much now that there is this notion that Tiny Little is a girl. Maybe we will find out one day. Take care everyone.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Cam, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, Scottish Wildlife and Friends of Loch of the Lowes, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyX Wild, Fortis Alberta ExShaw Osprey Nest, Fortis Alberta Red Deer Osprey Nest, and Cowlitz PUD,
The situation of Electra at the Cowlitz PUD Nest has had individuals concerned since her last chick died. Concerned and wondering about her behaviour. Today Electra has been on and off the nest food calling to her mate, Wattsworth. Her two dead chicks remain on the nest, face down.
I posted a question about Electra’s behaviour to help me understand and in turn, I wanted to help you. Tiger Mozone came back with an example of EJ incubating an egg shell after all her eggs had been broken at Loch Garten in 2015. Here is a link to Chloe B and Tiger’s website with the details of that instance if you missed it:
A virtual friend from Brazil, Etj Andre, also posted a response to my query. He remembers when Thunder returns to nest with Akecheta, the West End Bald Eagle Nest, to find the eggs all broken. It was 11 March 2021. The video from the streaming cam decidedly shows that deep urge to continue incubating eggs even if they do not exist. Have a look.
I hope that by finding many examples it will lead us to understand the behaviour of our beloved birds more. But there will always be, as Nan Shepherd, knew – the mystery of it all that we will not be able to comprehend.
Take care all.
Thank you Etj Andre and thanks again, Tiger! And thank you to the Institute of Wildlife Studies and Explore.org for their streaming cam where I grabbed my screen image.
The heat has not dissipated in British Columbia. It was 51 degrees C in Osoyoos. The Town has turned off the Osprey cam. All three chicks died from heat and it is hoped that the mother is now taking care of herself and rebuilding her strength. The pavement is boiling and you could, literally, fry an egg on it. It is hot on the Canadian Prairies but nothing coming close to 51 C. It is 31 C. Once, many years ago, my son and a high school mate of his and I were in Delhi, India. It was 46 C. You could hardly breathe. It was the monsoon and it was raining and the heat combined with the humidity was unbearable. We headed for the mountains and monkeys in Simla. 51 C is, of course, not typical for Canada in the summer! Not only have our beloved osprey chicks died but also many humans.
I am surrounded by books on my desk, some written two decades ago, warning about heat death. Newer ones like, The Uninhabitable Earth. Life after Warming by David Wallace-Wells, will scare people about what can or is coming. The world did not listen when the warnings came decades ago. Will we listen now? Stopping DDT use is a focused effort. The climate issues are interconnected with everything. It is complicated but needs some really insightful people to figure out how we can really help, if it isn’t too late.
The heat in British Columbia where one of my dearest friends lives is unbearable. Her pottery studio and wood kiln are close to the US border like Osoyoos. I worry for her as the trees get hot, the creeks and the well she depends on gets lower and lower. And, of course, our hearts wrench for the wild life. And then there are the fires.
For now, most of you reading this blog know how to help. Keep your pets cool. Rub an ice cube over them if you have one. Sprinkle them. Maybe skip the long walk and -and of course, keep those precious darlings out of the cars. Leave more water out for the birds. Shallow bowls work! The birds in our garden get many seconds that I have made. But one of their loves are quiche dishes. Don’t ask me why. Maybe they are shallow enough to wade and splash and drink at the same time. The Blue Jay family has been in the bowls almost all day. They have kept me busy running in and out but I don’t mind. The male really likes the little bird sprinkler! Extra treats have been put out too.
I have checked on Electra. She is coming and going on the nest today. Perhaps by Friday, the brooding hormones will be gone. The temperatures have dropped in Washington compared to BC but it is still hot and she needs to get her strength back. Laying eggs, incubating, and trying to feed chicks and yourself when there isn’t enough food will have depleted her reserves. Keep wishing she will find a cool place in the shade and catch fish! Honestly, she cannot count on Wattsworth. What is wrong with him?!
It’s about 2:30 pm and Electra has returned to the Cowlitz Osprey Nest. She stands over her little ones fish crying to Wattsworth. I started thinking about his name. If he were a wattage, it would sure be low. Like a 15 watter instead of a 150 watter. How many of us just want to scream out to Electra to give up on this really dead beat dad. Too many hungry dead babies.
I wanted to check in on some other nests and the first video that came up on YouTube was an old one of Father Stork and the chicks on the Mlady Buky Nest in Czechoslovakia. This is the stork family where the mother was electrocuted. The community came forward to feed the babies and the dad and well, they saved their lives. Lovely, generous people.
This was then:
This is now – these are the babies!!!!!!! Aren’t they just incredibly beautiful? It will not be long until they leave the nest. Father Stork and people of Mlady Buky – you did well! I hope that blessings come to all of you.
Speaking of storks. My son has travelled to Spain from the Caribbean and he sent me images of storks on the old railway station in Caspe. The Ebro River is full of fish including the gigantic Wells Catfish. He tells me that there are storks everywhere along this beautiful river below. He did see a couple of Osprey.
Just look at that one nest on the far left – it is huge! That nest is really incredible.
The camera on the Black Stork Nest at Karula of Karl II and Kaia has been down since there has been a big thunderstorm. I cannot show you an image of the storklets. They are 31 days old today. From the forum in Estonia it appears that everything is OK. Karl II has brought in food five times and Kaia twice. If there is an error in the transmission system, then the camera will come back on line but if the problem is with the hardware, then it will wait. The fear of staring the storklets off the nest before fledge time is simply too great. The average time for the little ones to stay on the nest is 65 to 73 days so we are not yet at the halfway mark.
Tiny Little Bob on the Foulshaw Moss Nest of White YW and Blue 35 is continuing to try and make nest improvements. This afternoon she spent quite a bit of time working, sometimes upsetting Middle Bob, the male, while he was trying to sleep. It seemed that the sticks she required were always under him! Great Big Bob, also a female, prefers to exercise her wings!
Tiny Little is on the far left in the top image. She has been trying to get a stick from under Middle Bob, the male, with no luck.
It is a little warm here. Tiny Little is doing some panting to keep cool. Nothing like North American though.
Great Big Nasty Bob, the other female, is on the far right doing her wing exercises. I sure wish I could get Tiny Little and Great Big Nasty standing up next to one another so you could see the size difference! We all got fooled. Tiny Little is a girl too. In that image you would see a female at the top end of the growth scale and the other at the bottom. However, we are no longer worried about Tiny Little. She has a crop today and will fledge, maybe just a little later, like Tiny Tot at Achieva. I still like to check in on her every day to see how she is doing.
If you would like to watch this Trio while they get ready to hover, here is the link to the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust Osprey Cam. There is no rewind function. Click on the square at the right top to enlarge the image.
Beautiful Tiny Tot has been on and off the Achieva Osprey Nest. As far as I know there have been no fish today but, of course, Tiny has been eating several large fish for the past couple of days, she is OK. My phone tells me that it is raining in St Petersburg, Florida is 29 C. That is hot! Not in comparison to the Pacific Northwest but the fish could be going down deeper and might not be caught til later in the day.
Tiny in the late morning waiting for fish delivery before the rains hit. Seems she will be waiting til it cools down maybe. We love you Tiny!
It is 5:21 nest time. The rain has come and gone and Tiny Tot is calling Jack wanting her fish! She is persistent and I am sure Jack will turn up with a nice one for her before dark – or maybe even after like the other day.
At the Osprey Nest in the Clywedog Reservoir in the Hafren Forest in Wales, Seren is feeding Only Bob – great Big Boy Bob – his late dinner. (20:50). Look at the size of that Osprey chick. Gracious.
The sun is setting and it is just gorgeous landscape. Just one healthy chick. Thanks so much, Dylan! You are a great dad! I often wonder what it would be like if there were only one healthy chick on every nest. Like most of you, I get terribly upset when the third hatches are beaten on and starving – or die.
The Two Bobs at the Loch of the Lowes Osprey Nest are waiting for NC0 and Laddie to come in with a nice big fish for the end of the day. The sun is turning them golden as it starts to fall behind the horizon. Oh, they are so big!
The evening fish came in at the Rutland Water’s Manton Bay Nest of Blue 33 and Maya. The male chick, 095 nabbed it! Won’t be long til fledge. The hovering is really good on this nest. Indeed, it can be a nail biter.
And then he wasn’t paying attention and he lost his dinner to his Sister!!!!!!!! There is no love when a fish dinner is at stake.
Idris is resting on his perch tree after delivering a really nice fish to Telyn and the Two Bobs. Life is good on the Dyfi Nest!
It rained heavy on the Red tail hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell University campus. It started just before 15:30 and lasted about half an hour. It was pouring and there were no Ks on the nest! I will keep an eye out now that the torrents have stopped. Those two will be soaked! Lucky for them they have feathers, layers and layers of feathers, and don’t need a rain jacket or umbrella!
Yesterday afternoon someone posted a short video clip of K1. She is so cute.
And have you ever wondered how much weight a Golden Eagle might carry? Eagles are opportunistic hunters. If they see something edible, they will not leave it. In this case it was a fox that was carrion (already dead). And this happened in really heavy winds in a storm:
Wishing for fish for Tiny Tot and any of the other hungry babies out there. Also wishing for an Arctic Cold front to come pouring through for the folks in the extreme heat area.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Stay well, stay safe. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots: Mlady Buky White Stork Cam, Cowlitz PUD, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam, Achieva Credit Union, Clywedog Osprey Nest and Carnyx Wild, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of the Loch of the Lows, LRWT and Rutland Water Manton Bay Osprey Nest, Dyfi Osprey Nest, and Cornell Bird Lab and RTH Cam.
Credit for Feature Image to Cris Martin. Storks on old Rail Station in Caspe, Spain. 30 June 2021.
In one of the most definitive books on Ospreys, Ospreys. The Revival of a Global Raptor, author Alan Poole addresses the issue of migration challenges of those Ospreys whose breeding grounds are from California to British Columbia over to Manitoba and the areas in the US adjacent to Canada, such as Montana. Written in 2019, Poole stresses that these summer breeding grounds offer easier migratory routes, ‘less challenging ones’ to the winter homes. One of the big advantages is the fact that they do not have to cross large bodies of water like those in the United Kingdom. Another is that the distances are shorter than those of the UK Ospreys. All of that is true and I highly recommend Poole’s book to anyone who wants to learn about Ospreys.
In 2021, the challenges that these birds are facing with the extreme heat – the second time for some places before July even begins – is having a devastating impact on the chicks (as well as other animals and humans). One dead at Cowlitz, two at Osyoos and another looking very unwell, and several chicks at various nests on Vancouver Island. Within this extreme heat area of the Pacific Northwest in the US and Canada, the chicks are at risk. Perhaps even some adults. The heat has yet to dissipate. As we have witnessed, the Ospreys cool themselves by panting and they are hydrated by fish. In the area of this extreme heat the water channels are low. In British Columbia the salmon are not able to go upstream, and the fish are having to go lower and lower as the water heats up. One other aspect is the glaring sun. It makes it extremely difficult for the Ospreys to fish. Which brings me to something interesting. Night Fishing.
Streaming cams and satellite trackers on the birds are changing what we thought we knew. Last year on the cameras of Loch Arkaig, watchers of the nest saw Louis fishing at night and bringing in fish to Aila and the three chicks. Louis was quite amazing. He fished around the clock. Of course, there could be thousands of others that have fished at night for eons and we do not know about them because their nest is not on a platform with a streaming cam!
What surprised everyone last night was Jack coming in with a fish for Tiny Tot at 2:09 am!!!!! Seriously he had delivered a monster fish to Tiny at 6:41:16 on Monday evening but in the middle of the night?! In many regions of extreme heat, such as Washington and British Columbia, it might well be that Ospreys, who were accustomed to fishing at dawn and dusk, might be fishing earlier or later because the water is hot and the fish are deep. So now we know that it is a myth that Ospreys do not fish at night. If you watched the Tiny Tot or Loch Arkaig cam, you witnessed this ability with your own eyes. And, ironically, if you Google Osprey night vision to find out about the birds, ads for the most powerful night vision scopes with some part of their brand or style name being Osprey appear!
Tiger Mozone uploaded an academic 10-page article on how Ospreys thermoregulate during these heat waves. I am attaching it here for you – even if you glance through the first few pages you will learn a lot! Thanks so much, Tiger. It is a topic on everyone’s mind!
Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria: Little Tiny Bob or Blue 463 ate first and then went over and started rearranging and helping with nest rebuilds while Great Big Bad Bob and Middle Bob enjoyed some fish with mom. Now how did he get to eat first? It seems the other two were still full from an earlier fish. Always helps!
Cornell Red Tail Hawks: There were some beautiful close ups of K1 and her huge crop on the nest of Big Red and Arthur around 12:30 pm. Gosh, she is such a beauty. Look at that peachy chest. Everyone believes that she is just a mini-Big Red. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?!
Here she is looking up. I thought it was K3 she was seeing but no, K3 is having a bit of a nap at the end of the nest ledge out of camera view. Wonder what K1 is looking at? Is it Big Red?
There is K1 resting!
SF Bay and Golden Gate Audubon: The three male chicks of Richmond and Rosie are doing great. Poppy (ZP) hatched on 1 May, Sage (WR) hatched 3 May, and Lupine (VZ) hatched on 4 May. Sage has fledged. He took his first flight on 25 June at 7:05pm. Here are all three preening on the nest of the Whirley Crane in the Richmond Ship Yards today. They are all there. One is behind Poppy.
Rutland Water Manton Bay: Home to Blue 33 and Maya. The kids are starting to be really good at hovering but neither has fledged.
Clywedog: Dylan has certainly been bringing in the fish and that Only Bob is getting the benefit. The other wonderful thing about Dylan is that he loves to feed his chick!
This is Dylan below feeding Only Bob his second breakfish of the day. It was 7:30 am in Wales. Seren is looking out wondering what she can do while these two boys bond. Dylan also likes to feed Seren when she is incubating the eggs. What a sweetheart!
Dyfi: Telyn and Idris are over on the tree. Dysnni and Ystwyth are on the nest. They should be thinking about hovering real soon! This nest is still dripping wet in Wales but what a gorgeous setting for Ospreys!
Margaret Blakeley wrote the following poem about the Dyfi Nest. Here it is for you to enjoy:
Telyn, these chicks are getting too big
Ystwyth is like a feathered pig!
It used to be comfy on the nest
Now, where can I go to get some rest?
Idris, dear, it’s all your fault
Look at the size of the fish you’ve caught!
There isn’t room for you in here
So go and sit on the perch, m’dear.
I hope that you had a good laugh. It looks like both Idris and Telyn are on the perch! With all the sadness we can certainly use a giggle. Margaret’s poem is great! It certainly does sum up this nest with those whoppers Idris has been bringing in.
That is it for this afternoon. All of the UK nests are doing fine. The Ks, Savannah, Tiny Tot, Lake Murray – they are all grand. Kindness, the eaglet in the Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle nest is really hot and panting but there appears to be no problems with fish. The worry is for those in the Pacific Northwest. Sadly, Electra has returned to the Cowlitz PUD Osprey Nest in this heat. A reader wrote to tell me that she was brooding the last chick to die last night. I am worried for Electra. Is she grieving? is she still in the hormonal state of brooding? Send her your warm wishes. Let us all hope that no more Osprey lives are claimed. Thank you so much for joining me.
Just a note. I normally try to answer all of your mail within 36 hours. However, my laptop’s hard drive died. It is in for repairs and the desk top computer I am using doesn’t seem to want to handle e-mail. So thank you ahead of time for being patient. I will definitely answer! We have a holiday in Canada coming up for 1 July. I am hoping to have my computer back in 9 days.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Byrwd Gwyllt Glasly, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Clywedog and Carnyx Wild, Rutland Water Manton Bay and LRWT, Cornell Lab and RTH, and SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon. I also want to thank Tiger Mozone and Margaret Blakeley. Great article for everyone and wonderful poem.
Featured image is Big Red and Arthurs chick, K1. 29 June 2021.
After the extreme heat and the death of the second and last chick on the Cowlitz Osprey Nest due to heat stroke, we all need some good news to come out of Bird World and we have it! Thank goodness.
The fantastic news comes from the Glaslyn Osprey Nest in Wales. In early June, in the midst of storms that had force 11 winds in the area, Aran, the mate of Mrs G, the oldest osprey in the UK, injured himself. The damage was to his primary wing feathers and was caused by battling intruders. That incident meant that Aran could not provide fish for Mrs G and the three chicks and, subsequently, those three chicks died of starvation despite the community gathering to bring in fish for the family on a feeding table. The fish donated by the community enabled Mrs G and Aran to heal. Still, everyone worried that Aran would not be sufficiently fit and healed for the late summer migration.
The couple are being monitored closely by the staff and volunteers. Today, at &:35 am, Aran brought Mrs G a fish! Now that might not sound like much of ‘anything’ but this is a really big deal. It is the first time that Aran has provided Mrs G with a fish since his wing injury occurred. It is also a significant step towards Aran’s complete recovery. There were tears in Wales but – they were tears of joy!
Here is that historic moment:
Mrs G is delighted and quickly accepts Aran’s gift. It isn’t just the food or Aran’s healing, it is also the bonding of the couple.
Now only was she delighted, but Mrs G was waiting at the nest until late still hoping that Aran would bring her another! Just lovely.
The camera is so hazy but I can tell you that Jack has been bringing in fish for Tiny Tot today. So everything is OK on the Achieva Osprey Nest.
Cute little K3 was over on the Cornell Red tail hawk nest had a prey drop.
K3’s self-feeding is getting much better and that is a good thing!
Don’t worry. A short time later K1 got some prey, too! Here she is eating as the rain begins to fall.
And it began to pour. It is 16:00 nest time and there are two very wet Ks. Both have eaten and really, everything is right in the world. Both are safe and sound sitting out the rain.
Sadly, Electra has returned to the nest where the bodies of her two chicks are. She has brought the same piece of fish she had last night – or that is what it looks like. Is she driven to want to feed the little one? Is it those same hormones that keep her tied to the idea that the male brings the fish keeping her here in her duties as mother to feed? I think she understood the death of the first chick. But, last evening she went out to get fish to feed her seemingly well chick that had a crop from an earlier feed. She returns and that chick is dead. How could she process that it was the heat that killed her baby?
Electra is panting and it has to be over 100 degrees up on that nest. Let us all hope that she leaves the nest and goes down to cool off in the water. I cannot tell from the camera angle if Electra has a crop of if her chest is extended from the heavy panting she is having to do. I am worried about her if that is the same fish. It would have been hot last night on the nest when she returned after 9pm. She stood looking out in the distance keeping the fish in her talons for some seven hours. She did not eat anything. If she has not eaten today yet – and it is around 1pm nest time – I wonder what kind of physical (and mental) state Electra is in. It has been a very traumatic year for this nest and the heat is not going to help. Electra has to be exhausted. ——— I recall being in India when it was 46 C. If humans do not stay hydrated they can become disoriented and confused also. Is this happening to Electra?
I just went to check on Electra again. It is now approximately 13:40 nest time. Her condition appears to be worsening. Her eyes do not look right and she is panting heavily. This poor mother. Will the heat get to her before her own survivor instincts kick in? or is she already damaged from the heat yesterday that she is simply not responding appropriately.
We know that Mrs G and Aran lost all three of their beautiful chicks. Mrs G processed that. She had rain and cold to deal with but what is this heat doing to this fish eagle?
UPDATE: 2:22 Cowlitz Nest Time. Electra has flown off the nest with the fish. I do not believe it is the same fish from yesterday or it was the tail section. I hope the large crop is from eating the other fish. Electra needs to heal. However, the important news is that Electra is no longer in the heat of the nest. Will keep you posted.
Because of the heat I went up to Juneau Alaska to check on Kindness on the Bald Eagle Nest in the Glacier Gardens. Everything is fine there. It has been hot and the eagles have been doing a lot of panting along with Kindness but the fish deliveries are constant and consistent. They will be fine.
This morning I was looking at the drying up of water and it sent me to check on Iris. Sometimes Iris, actually quite often, is on her nest. She is constantly doing nestorations and this year she has had a lot of intruders. Today was no exception. An intruder came to the nest about 11:35:31 this morning.
Note to everyone: Look at the beautiful nest that Iris has been constructing even after her eggs were taken by the Raven. She has brought in soft moss and built up the sides. I really do wonder if the state of the nest says something about the mental state of the Osprey mother??? I know it sounds out of left field but I always wondered about Electra and the state of the nest at Cowlitz. Birds have memories. Iris certainly has memories of lost chicks and hope. Raises so many questions! But, nevermind, I am rambling off in another direction.
About 1.5 or 2 minutes later, Louis flies in to help Iris.
This is not the first time that Louis has heard Iris and come to assist her with intruders. While he might not be a good mate to Iris and I have called him lots of names, he has shown himself in the last month to be willing to come and protect that nest. Is he protecting Iris? or is it the nest in his territory?
There he is below, facing towards the front. Iris is at the back. her wings still in the mantling/alerting position. For now, things have calmed down.
I am not sure how the heat is impacting the Bald Eagle and Osprey Nests in British Columbia. They are being impacted by it also. Will try and see if I can find out some news.
Thank you for joining me. It is wonderful to see Aran’s improvement! That should give us all a bit of a glow. Send all your warm wishes to Electra. She is confused and the heat is not helping her. Hopefully she will go and get in the shade and have a bath in the water to cool down. Sadly, no humans will go up and help her even if they understand that the extreme climate change has been caused by us. It is beyond sad.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Glacier Gardens Bald Eagles, Cowlitz PUD, Achieva Credit Union, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Cornell Bird Lab and Montana Ospreys, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife.
It took me a moment, shaking my head. The Cowlitz camera was not focusing. The temperature is 44 degrees in the area and it has to be much hotter on the nest.
There is the poor little tyke with its full crop looking for its mama. Getting hotter by the minute. The best I can figure is that the chick died around 6pm nest time. One minute he is looking for Electra walking around the rim of the nest and then he collapses.
Electra returns with a big headless fish. It appears that she is confused and doesn’t understand that her little one is dead. The poor thing could not regulate its temperature in that kind of heat and despite having some fish, it did not have enough to hydrate it. Even then it might not have made it on the nest in the blazing sun all alone.
Wattsworth, of course, came to try and get the fish but Electra did not give it to him.
Electra has been standing for hours holding on to the fish.
It is always sad when chicks die. These two wee little ones never had a chance. Born onto a nest that repeatedly does not have enough food and now with these temperatures, it would have been next to impossible for these babies to survive. Electra knew that her and the baby needed food. She went to get fish for them not realizing that the heat could kill the little one, too.
Fly high baby!
It is always difficult to post stories like this one. These two poor little babies, undernourished, both dead. One of siblicide and starvation and the second by dehydration/sun stroke.
Thank you to the Cowlitz PUD for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
It is 42 degrees C in Longview, Washington. It is much hotter on the very high, exposed nest of the Cowlitz Ospreys. There have been two fish deliveries today that I am aware of – that was up to the afternoon. The area is under an excessive heat warning until 11pm on Monday.
Both Electra and Little Bob ate well. You can see Little Bob has a nice crop in the image below.
Electra is doing all she can to keep Little Bob and herself cool. She has mantled and even flapped her wings to try and get the air to stir. Oh, please send your warm wishes for these two.
Sad news is coming out of the Kakapo Recovery Team. Today they began their annual transmitter change on Whenhua Hou Island. When they arrived they found two deceased Kakapo, Xena and Ihi. Zena hatched in 2019. She injured her leg early on and had to have medical treatment. She was returned to the island but they found her, today, with her leg stuck. Poor thing. Ihi hatched in 2011 and bread in 2016. She was the mother of Hondy and Galaxy. This now brings the total Kakapo to 202, down from 208 a year ago.
The photographs below were taken by Lydia Uddstrom. The top one is Ihi and the bottom is Xena.
Please, again, send warm wishes down to those working on this small island where these non-flying critically endangered parrots reside. Let us hope that they do not find any more dead or sick birds.
And, now, for some good news. The heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest did not happen in Alaska. It is 26 degrees dropping and will be 28 tomorrow. Still, it is hot on that Bald Eagle Nest at Glacier Gardens. Little Kindness who is 38 days old today is regulating her temperature by panting and she is panting a lot! The average fledge age for this nest is 89 days with the national average being 80 days.
Parents, Liberty and Freedom, are making sure she is hydrated. Today, six fish have come to the nest – yes, you read that right – six whoppers!
Speaking of whoppers, Idris appears to have set a fishing record for the Dyfi Osprey Nest. The staff have calculated that he is bringing in mullet in the 3-4 lb range. This means that they weigh more than he does. It appears that he will now hold the record for the largest fish brought to the nest.
Here it is! The staff also understand now why Dysnni is also the largest male chick at this nest ever – at the time of ringing! All that fish. You just have to look at the underdeveloped little one on the Cowlitz Nest to understand how important it is for these birds to have sufficient nourishment to grow healthy and strong.
The graph was posted on the FB Page of the Friends of Loch Garten Osprey Page today along with the image above. Look at the graph below. You will see Dysynni coming into the weight range of the females. Ystwyth is not the heaviest female, however, but she is four days younger than Dysynni.
There has been a bit of a leak of information from the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest. It seems that our precious Tiny Little Bob is a female! She is Blue 463. I was shocked! I suppose we all assumed a tiny little male. It seems that Blue 463 is also getting interested in self-feeding. Those of you that watch the Achieva Osprey Nest will remember that Tiny Tot also was self-feeding before the two bigger siblings. It is part of survival and Tiny Little was caught on camera trying to sneak fish today.
Here is Tiny Little in the front. You can just see a bit of her Blue bling. Apparently, one of the two bigger Bobs is a female and the other is a male. I am going to make a guess that Great Big nasty Bob is a female and Middle Bob that hangs out with Tiny and didn’t bother her eating is a male.
It has been a particularly sad year for the Osprey Nests. Today, a friend, sent me news that both chicks on the Newfoundland Power Company Osprey Nest have died. I have not watched that nest this year. It is reported that after the youngest hatched today, it got trapped under the older chick. The mother tried to get the big one off the little one by pulling its leg and sadly, both chicks died.
There were questions about Ospreys and their ability to ‘fight’ intruders. A reliable source tells me today that the talons of the Osprey have developed over millions of years to carry the fish, not to fight like eagles. When the intruder was on the Achieva Osprey Nest, Tiny Tot learned to get on the intruder’s back, just like they would if they were mating, and beat the daylights out of the head of the offender with its beak.
Almost all of the Osprey nests have had intruders. Some are just annoyances but others are more deadly. It was only two days ago that the mother, Alma, and one of the three chicks was killed in Finland. That same day, there was a relentless attack on Iris and her nest by another female. Louis comes to Iris to help protect her. Here is a video of that encounter:
Good news comes in from the Dahlgren Nest of Jack and Harriet. Both of their chicks have now fledged. Congratulations!
Speaking of fledging, any day now and the two Bobs on the Rutland Manton Bay Nest will take off. The hovering has gotten intense on the nest of Blue 33 and Maya the last couple of days.
Over at the Achieva Osprey nest with Tiny Tot and Jack has been busy delivering some nice fish for the little one. Thanks, dad! I have seen two deliveries but there could have been more. Tiny seems to have a nice sized crop.
Beautiful NC0 has taken such good care of her chicks this year. They have grown beyond belief and soon, they will begin their hovering, too, just like those on the Manton Bay nest.
I stopped in to check on the Ks for everyone and found K1 on the nest. Within a blink, she was off. I wonder if Big Red and Arthur were delivering a meal over on the Rice Building?
She’s off!
Checked back later and the Ks are not sleeping on the nest tonight.
Thank you for joining me this evening. Send cooling thoughts out to our lovely birds who are in the extreme heat area. We can sit with fans or AC but they are exposed. If you live in the area please put bowls of water out for the song birds living near you. Every little thing helps. Take care of yourself. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen shots: Achieva Credit Union, Cowlitz PUD, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Friends of Loch of the Lowes, Dyfi Osprey Project, and Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Cam.
The featured image is Xena. The photo credit goes to Lydia Uddstrom.
There is good news. K3 is alright. The little one was blown off the Red tail hawk nest on the Cornell Campus today. K3 is the third hatch of the 2021 season. Suzanne Arnold Horning who takes beautiful images of the hawks has located both K3 and K1 and says that Big Red and Arthur are fully aware of where their kids are. This is wonderful news. That little K3 is going to give us all quite a few worries it seems! So glad he is OK.
It has been a very sad week in Bird World. The death of Alma and one chick in the Finnish Osprey Nest today is a tragedy. My friend T thinks that the Raven, had it been able to get to the fish tail under the chicks, might have taken that food and left everything alone. But that was sadly not to be the case. The surviving chicks are now in the care of a foster mother. Then there was the death of the chick on the Cowlitz Nest and the announcement that K2 had to be euthanized due to a severe beak injury. The week ended badly.
There are still, however, many things to celebrate in Bird World so let us hop through the nests and see what has been happening.
Little Tiny Bob and Middle Bob were eating a good sized fish on the Foulshaw Moss Nest this evening. Great Big Bob was over wingersizing. It is always nice when she is preoccupied so the other two can eat in peace. Look closely. Little Tiny Bob looks like an osprey! There he is with his juvenile feathers on the right. Mom is busy giving them both bites. These two are not competitive and get a long really well. That is so nice.
Mom and Dad have been on the barge in Port Lincoln, Australia and things will be ramping up there soon. In the image below, Mom is still on the nest and you can see Dad’s ‘man cave’ lower down. This nest is known for siblicide. When things begin to happen, I will post a link so you can watch if you like.
During the 2021 season, the third hatch, little Tapps, was so so tiny compared to the other two and there was clearly not enough food for Mom and three babies. Tapps died when he was 18 days old. It was hard to watch. Solly, the eldest and a female, received a satellite tracker. Dew was the middle chick. We have been able to follow Solly and she is changing the understanding of how far Ospreys go when they leave the nest. Dew was ringed but has no tracker. To my knowledge there have been no sightings of Dew.
Solly is 278 days old today. Let us see where she is staying.
Solly really does love that area around Eba Anchorage. Maybe this will be her forever home. She has shown no interest in returning to Port Lincoln.
Tiny Tot had two nice fish meals today compliments of dad, Jack. The first came at 11:26 and the second was at 4:56. Spaced out nicely!
This image shows the last fish delivery. It is quite a big fish and if you look carefully you will notice that Tiny Tot still has a crop from the morning’s meal. Nice.
There was a big storm near the nest of the Black Storks in Estonia today. The trees were swaying in the forest but oddly, the nest wasn’t. It was an odd sensation. The rain was just beginning to come down when I took these images.
Look how much the storklets have grown. Their beautiful juvenile plumage is starting to show through.
The Black Storks are fine. There continue to be three and that is such good news. Karl II and Kaia are very good parents!
The White Storks at the Mlade Burky nest in Czechoslovakia are really growing, too. The community really worked together to make certain that this family thrived. Just look at these beautiful storklets today.
I am, however, just hoping that it is the angle of the camera and the light outside that is causing the stork’s left leg to appear grey or black – the one at the back on the right. Could that band be too tight? Otherwise they seem impressibly healthy. Hats off to everyone in the community for their kindness!
The remaining chick on the Cowlitz nest had some fish today and has a bit of a crop. Whether there was enough for the chick and Electra is unknown. I did not watch this nest that closely today. I was happy, however, to see the baby ate. So small and so undernourished. It is supposed to be extremely hot on this nest on Saturday – it is the heat wave that is hitting that part of the Pacific Northwest. This chick is going to need lots more fish! Electra, please forget about Wattsworth. Go and get the fish yourself – unhook 65 million years of hardwiring that tells you to stay on the nest and feed the babies the fish Wattsworth brings. Just go. You can fish.
Idris brought in a late day fish for Dysnni and Ystwyth on the Dyfi Osprey Nest in Wales. When he arrived Telyn was not on the nest. Ystwyth was hungry. So what does any good dad do? He feeds his chicks! And that is precisely what Idris did – great guy.
By the time Ystwyth was finished, Dysnni decided he would like some fish, too! Way to go Idris!
And someone at the Falcon Cam Project on the UC Berkeley Campus, put together a compilation video of the Fifth Season of Annie and Grinnell and their chicks – Fauci, Kaknu, and Wek-Wek.
Gosh, by the time the chicks fledge you have forgotten what it was like at the beginning when Annie and Grinnell were just thinking about chicks. So this video is a bit of fun! Not sure about the choice of music but you can mute the sound if you like. Enjoy.
The Muscovy Duck has returned to her eggs and seems to continue building up the nest higher and higher using the bark mulch. Glad to see the bamboo fence to protect her did not frighten her away.
Thank you for joining me today. So glad to hear that K3 is safe – and K1. We can all rest a little easier tonight.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grab my screen shots: Parkland Florida Duck Cam, Cowlitz PUD, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Dyni Osprey Nest, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Mlade Buky, The Eagle Club of Estonia, Achieva Credit Union, and the Port Lincoln Osprey Project. I would also like to thank the Port Lincoln FB Page for posting the images of Solly’s satellite tracking.
