Tag Archives: Cumbrian Ospreys

Bird World 9 September 2021

WBSE 27 and 28, the two little sea eaglets in the old Ironbark Nest in Sydney’s Olympic Park, had an early morning breakfast of bird.

Ah, just guess who was the first one up at the breakfast table? If you said, 28 you are absolutely right.

The little bird filled up their empty tummies but it wasn’t big enough -like a grand fish -to fill their crops, too. After breakfast the pair did some wing flapping, standing, and attempts at walking. They still need their wing tips to help with their balance.

Look at the tail that is growing on WBSE27! 27 is the one flapping its wings below.

Well, the Australian Magpie was not giving the White-bellied Sea Eagles a break today. For a couple of hours after feeding the eaglets, Lady defended the nest ducking and honking as the Magpie swooped down trying to hit her.

In the image below, Lady is honking at the Magpie.

Here is a good image of the bird as it goes to land on a branch of the nest tree. This bird is cheeky – they must taste terrible or Lady could have that Magpie for lunch! I would not blame her.

In this image you can see the Magpie caught in flight right above Lady’s head.

Here the Magpie is flying around Lady. It is right over her head.

Dad came to help Lady. All of the big raptors – at the top of the food chain – attract all the small birds and owls. It is surprising how much physical damage these small feathered creatures can do. Last year, BooBook Owl injured Lady’s eye. They can, of course, knock the eaglets out of the nest.

Tiaki looks out to the world that awaits her. Her name means protector of the land and the seas. I hope that they also protect her.

As Albies fly around her in the strong winds, Tiaki raises her wings. She will be off on her big adventure soon.

The chicks are all hovering in the strong winds. In a blink they will be gone. I think I put down 12 September on the guessing game but it could just be any time. Quarry Chick fledged 3 days ago.

Tiaki received her GPS tracker today. Ranger Sharyn Bronte said, “A wider study of the entire Northern Royal Albatross is being conducted this year. And in a first for a Royalcam chick Tiaki as received a tracker. Trackers have deployed on northern royals on the Chathams where 99% of the world population of this species breeds.We are extremely lucky to have 20g devices are available to track LGK, LGL and Tiaki. Although LGL’s device failed it has provided valuable data. Devices are extremely light compared to the weight of the bird and attached to back feathers. These feathers molt within a year and the device will fall off. The device is solar powered and will remotely send data until molting.”

If you read my column regularly, you will know that I am a big supporter of GPS trackers. I also support Darvic bands. Much new information on the migrations, winter and summer breeding grounds – and yes, deaths, are revealed amongst other things. Studying birds or watching them in their nests is never for the faint of heart. Their lives are full of challenges, most placed on them by humans.

Last year, a lovely Polish woman wrote to me to tell me she didn’t know how I could be so calm when ‘bad things’ happened to the birds. Those were not her exact words but that is what she meant. I was not the least bit offended. The truth is I feel for each and every one of them. That caring is inside a bigger box that is now labelled ‘ avian activist’. I want to help stop those things that cause the birds injury or death when it can be avoided. Rodenticides, sticky paper traps, lead shot, lead bullets, lead in fishing equipment, fishing line, fishing nets, windows, garbage dumped on the roads, habitat loss, wild fires caused by arson, electrocution, bread fed to the birds —— and simple neglect or oversight. Like having emergency contact numbers for the streaming cams where there is no 24/7 chat with knowledgable moderators.

I am working on a way to remember Malin, the Osprey nestling at the Collins Marsh Nature Centre, whose life was needlessly cut short. The Malin Code. Osprey streaming cams that follow The Malin Code would have either 24/7 moderators who can access emergency help immediately or emergency numbers at the top of the historical information on the nests. Individuals who are in charge of parks or areas with nests would be trained to recognize the physical signs (11 of them) from food begging to alerting and the 8 vocalizations. It is the least requirement. The other is that they pay attention to what is happening on the nest. They need to know the difference between a juvenile and an adult. Etc. Whew. Yes, I get worked up. If you can think of anything else that these organizations should be doing, let me know. Don’t be shy! At the end of the year, the streaming cam that best implemented The Malin Code would get a donation, big enough to motivate them to do what is right for the birds.

OK. On to what is happening in some of the scrape boxes:

Diamond and Xavier spent some time in the scrape box together today. There was a bit of a conversation between Diamond and Xavier. I need to learn to speak falcon.

There is a real soft spot in my heart for the little male Peregrine Falcon in Melbourne. Maybe it is the ledge where he comes scurrying in to take his turn incubating the eggs or when he brings prey to the eyases.

He is the cutest thing and makes the biggest messes plucking pigeons right in the nest with the eyases. But, last year, I noticed that those three girls really knew what to do with a feathered bird. They were not shy. By the time they fledged, they were professional pigeon pluckers. Can you say that fast 10x?

What a cutie! Our stealth raptor.

Have you ever wondered about the black faces of the Peregrine Falcons? Did you know that the size and intensity of the black varies by region? Have a read.

Photos Reveal Purpose of Black Facial Markings in Peregrine Falcons

Cody and the lads down in Kisatchie National Forest have done a great job with the camera for the Bald Eagle Nest of Anna and Louis. Cody says that the sound is going to be fantastic.

Isn’t that a gorgeous sunset over Lake Kincaid? Such a lovely spot for a Bald Eagle nest —- and, of course, there is the lake that is stocked with some really nice fish. Couldn’t get much better. Everyone is just waiting for the Eagles to return.

Speaking of Bald Eagles returning, both Samson and Gabby are at home in Jacksonville and Harriet and M15 are in Fort Myers. All that reminds me I have to check and see what is happening at Captiva.

I want to leave you with an image of Tiny Little. She is one of the fledgling Ospreys in my long time study of third hatch survivors. She has a Darvic ring-Blue 463. Here she is as a wee one.

Blue 35 is feeding Tiny Little by herself. Look at ‘big nasty sister’ in the middle. It really is thanks to excellent parenting that Tiny survived – and became the dominant bird. Gosh, I wish she had a tracker. Is she at Poole Harbour? has she made it to Brittany? will she go to The Gambia? or Senegal? or Southern Spain? My ‘wish list’ includes getting someone to look for her if I can’t be there myself during the winter of 2022.

That’s it for me tonight. Tomorrow I am off in search of a Green Heron. Take care everyone. Stay safe. Be kind. Remember: Life is for living.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I take my screen shots: 367 Collins Street Falcons, Sea Eagles @ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, The Kisatchie National Forest Bald Eagle Cam, The Falcon Cam Project Charles Sturt University at Orange and Cilla Kinross, Cornell Bird Lab and NZ Doc Royal Albatross Cam and FB Page and The Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest.

Worries…and Hope for the Black Storklings of Latvia and Estonia

Sometimes the good news in our Bird World gets suppressed by horrific news or concerns – and in that moment, we begin to lose hope that anything is being done to protect our feathered friends. Today, we are going to start off with the worrying news and end with some really positive happenings.

The real worry centres around one word: migration. Normal migration brings enough troubles to the birds – winds, lack of prey, predators but this year underneath that big umbrella of migration are two other concerns: the wildfires that are impacting birds already in the midst of their migration and those who will be starting their journeys to Africa from Europe and the UK and the late hatches. For those of you that do not know, the fires around the Mediterranean are causing birds to fall dead from the sky or to go into care for smoke inhalation. It is heating up in France and Spain with record temperatures. High atmospheric pressure is fanning the heat. It is extremely dangerous for the birds to fly through the fires to reach their winter homes. The second worry are the birds that were born late – some three to four weeks after the others. Will their parents stay and feed them? or will they die on the nest? will the father who remains while the mother has already left be able to find enough food for these large birds nearly ready to be on their own?

The latter issue is pressing down on stork nests in both Latvia and Estonia. We have had the pleasure of watching Grafs and Grafiene feed their three Black storklings on the nest in the forest near Sigulda.

Grafiene last came to the nest to feed her babies on 13 August. The Storklets were normally getting 10 feedings a day. On the 13th of August they had four feedings but, on the 14th, the next day, there were only two. It is, as we all know, extremely difficult for one parent to maintain the level of feeding when they are also preparing for migration. There is fear in the Latvian community for these beautiful birds.

My friend ‘S’ in Latvia advises me that through the efforts of the community – the calls for help for these birds – the ornithologists in charge of the area have set up a food table for the father near to the nest. This is very similar to the help given to Bukacek in Mlade Buky when the female was electrocuted. Let us hope that Grafs will accept the food and feed his nestlings. They will not be ready for fledging for at least another two weeks. Please send your warm wishes for these beautiful birds that they survive.

You can follow what is happening at the nest of Grafs and Grafiene here:

At the Black Stork Nest in Jegova county in Estonia, the storklings were fitted with satellite transmitters late on 13 August. This is the nest of Jans and Janika. The banders left a pile of frozen fish on the nest that they hoped would last a few days. Janika was last seen feeding the storklings on 6 August. The father has managed to bring some big fish to the nest but ‘S’ tells me that these fish have been difficult for the nestlings to eat because of their size.

Two things you will notice in the image below taken on the 15th. You can see the transmitters on the legs of the three storklings but you will not see a pile of frozen fish – the storklings ate all of the fish provided! This is wonderful news and gives one hope that the efforts of everyone in both Estonia and Latvia will prevail and the six rare Black storklings will fledge and survive to return to their home countries.

Here is the link to this nest:

The pandemic which began in 2019 and continues to take lives around the world also contributed to some projects that have brought much hope in regard to the natural world and our bird friends. James Aldred, an award-winning documentary filmmaker was given an assignment to document a family of goshawks living in the New Forest. The New Forest is in Hampshire in southern England. It is the largest area of forest and pastures in England consisting of 71,474 acres.

The natural landscape of the New Forest consists of areas of open fields and heavily treed forest areas.

“New Forest Landscape” by davidgsteadman is marked with CC PDM 1.0
“New Forest – River At Mill lane Brockenhurst 2” by Chalkie_CC is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Aldred was there to study the Goshaws who are medium large raptors that live in the forest. They are larger than the Sharp-shinned hawk that comes to my garden and the Cooper’s hawks that I see at the park but they are significantly smaller than eagles. They are known to be fiercer in temperament than the Sharpies or the Coopers. Because they live in the forest very secretively – not liking to be around humans – they are often hard to find. Stealth hunters they are known for their excellent flying skills seeking out both bird and mammal.

The females are, like other raptors, larger than the males. The couple build a very large nest in trees using twigs where the female will lay between 2-4 eggs that are incubated for a period of 28-38 days. Fledging normally takes place after 35 days.

So what was our documentary filmmaker doing with the goshawk family in the New Forest? Aldred spent 15 hours a day in a tent recording the comings and goings of the goshawk family. He created lots of notebooks about the intricacies of their lives often unseen by humans. Aldred said it was like going back in time a thousand years. There was silence in the New Forest which is normally underneath the flight paths of thousands of airplanes every day. He said what gives him hope is that “Very soon after humans deserted the forest last spring, wild animals started reclaiming it.” In addition to the goshawk family, deer, badgers, and fox cubs came out to play.

“Stag at Bolderwood, New Forest National Park” by Chalkie_CC is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

“The sheer emptiness of the place…It felt weird, being out there in that paradise on my own.” What he saw and experienced is now in the book, Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other.

The brilliant take away from all of this is that once pandemic restrictions were eased people flooded the area with what Aldred calls their ‘pandemic puppies’ killing and scaring away the birds whose nests were on the ground. The arrival of so many humans scared all of the animals back into hiding and leading their lives in a very different way than during the period when no persons were allowed into the forest. The Forestry Commission listened to Aldred about managing visitor numbers and the woodland paths so that the animals would not be harmed by humans who visit the area.

Each of these stories brings us hope and encouragement. I am delighted to hear that the ornithologists -after hearing from so many people – are providing food to the storklings. It is hoped that those in Estonia will return and place more fish on the nest or nearby for Jans. That nest is wide enough. The Latvian nest is problematic because it is too narrow and might collapse if someone tried to place fish directly on it. Let us hope that the feeding continues and that it is successful.

We also have a late hatch – little Malin at the Collins Marsh nest in Wisconsin. So far, Malin has had only one fish and that was delivered by Collins around 8am. I really hope that he is going to get enough food today. This is another nest that needs someone to supply fish for the family because of the drought and heat that has happened.

Malin is getting some air beneath his wings in the image below and those feathers look good. Oh, he is so tiny!

Over in Cumbria, big sibling 462 got the fish and there is Tiny Little hollering for White YW to bring her one! And, of course, she is giving her big sibling ‘that look’.

It is another hot day on the Canadian prairies. My resident Blue Jay has learned where to sit to tell me that more water is needed in the bowls or that the ‘buggy’ suet is all gone. Him and his mate plus another Jay have been coming to the garden for several years. They live in a tree just across the back lane. It is always lovely to see them playing in the bird bath!

Thank you so much for joining me. Send all of your best wishes to the birds who are in the process of migrating. It could be catastrophic if all of them perish in the fires trying to get to Africa. At the same time, take a cue from what has happened in Latvia and Estonia – support those that want food tables set up to help the birds survive. Donate fish if you have them to give. One other thing is to thank those who helped and are continuing to help. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Collins Marsh Nature Centre, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam, the Latvian Fund for Nature and the Eagle Club of Estonia. Thank you to the banders in Estonia and the persons supplying fish to Grafs in Latvia. We appreciate your stepping in to show how much you care at this critical time for the birds. Thank you ‘S’ for sending me all of the news. It is much appreciated.

Tiny Little – you had a great day!

It doesn’t really matter what you call him or her, the third hatch on the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest in Cumbria has had a really great 24 hours. Everyone was waiting for Tiny Little (aka Little Bob) to do some more flying, to get a little aggressive towards nabbing a fish drop, and for her to sleep like an adult. Well, all of that has now taken place.

Last night, for the first time, Tiny Little slept on the perch, head tucked in sometimes – and sometimes standing on one leg. Grown up style.

Between 6:00 and 18:00 (a long period of time) I did not see what Tiny Little accomplished.

At 18:25:41 Dad, White YW, delivered a fish. 464 grabbed that one. By 18:34 Tiny Little had moved up and was trying to get that fish. Tiny Little is so funny. He was trying to take bites out of 464’s mouth and was doing his usual ‘stare down’. 462 had arrived on the nest but he was hanging back from the action around the fish. At 18:53 sibling 462 moves in for the steal and takes the fish from 464. Tiny Little then focuses its sight on that fish.

In 37 minutes, at 19:02 White YW flies in with another fish! This time Tiny Little fights Dad for control of the delivery.

White YW must be looking down at Tiny Little feeling very proud. These are the lessons these parents want their children to learn and do. It will be a hard world out there for Tiny Little and White YW and Blue 35 need their youngest to be able to survive.

Tiny Little uses her beak to try and tear that fish off Dad’s talon. Dad just wants to get out of the nest!

Tiny Little has moved around and opened her wings to keep sibling 462 from the fish.

Tiny Little did not win the battle but she did not get injured either. Sibling 462 won this one but, it is the very first time that Tiny Little has shown any aggression during a fish drop. Bravo, Tiny Little!

At 19:04, Tiny Little moves over and finishes eating the last of the first delivery. There is still a bit of fish and the tail for her.

Once she finishes that little tidbit, Tiny Little is still hungry. Sibling 462 is chomping away at that big fish dad brought in. So what does Tiny Little do? You guessed it right – she starts doing her antics. She stares, she picks up sticks, she moves around the fish getting right close to the face of her sibling.

Wouldn’t you just like to share a little, 462?

Then Tiny Little tries pulling pieces of fish out of 462’s beak when she is pulling the pieces from the fish to their beak. That must be very annoying. And, of course, that is precisely what Tiny Little wants to do — annoy their sibling to give up the fish without having to have a fight and get injured.

Tiny Little begins to focus more on the location of the fish and the balance of 462. Look at how Tiny Little is staring between the legs of its sibling.

Tiny Little is beginning to remind me of Tiny Tot on the Achieva Osprey Nest. She is getting smart. She is moving in to get that fish. She has spotted that 462 does not have complete control of the fish.

Feeling very confident, Tiny Little steals the fish from sibling 462 at 19:20:49. Wow. Tiny Little, your fan club is cheering you!

Tiny Little gets the fish and pulls it over to the other side of the nest so that 462 will not try and take it back.

Yum!

Tiny Little is focused on eating. She knows that at any moment the other sibling could arrive on the nest and want some fish. Tiny Little is learning to eat fast and not be distracted.

Despite sibling Blue 464 arriving on the perch at 19:32, Tiny Little pays no mind and continues to eat.

Ah, nothing like eating almost an entire fish to warm a little one’s tummy.

It looks like Tiny Little is going into a food coma for the night. Nite nite Tiny Little. Happy fish dreams!

It has been a great day for Tiny Little. That is about as much excitement as one can take in a day! Thanks so much for joining me. Please take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest for their streaming cam where I took my screenshots.

You can watch the antics of Tiny Little and her Osprey family here:

https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/cams/osprey-cam

Oh, Tiny Little…and other tales

More rain has come to the Canadian prairies and that is good. There are wonderful things happening at the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, too.

Earlier today 462 was eating on the flounder that came in. Tiny Little wants some and she is doing her usual wing flaps and playing with sticks, even pulling on the tail of the live fish to get at it. What a character. The two older siblings have become very tolerant of the ‘little one’ that isn’t so little!

It is Tiny’s usual look towards the tail before getting back there and pulling on it. Gosh, these birds are gorgeous.

Tiny Little has been moving sticks getting back by the tail and pretending to give it an accidental yank once in awhile. Too funny.

Tiny Little takes over from 462 eating the fish. 462 flies off the nest and 464 is quietly waits in the wings.

Tiny Little is really doing a great job of that self-feeding. She has been working on that flounder for quite awhile.

White YW flies in and delivers another flounder to 464 who begins mantling and telling the parent how happy they are.

Of course, 462 sees all the action on the nest and decides to come and check it out. They don’t want to miss anything — especially a parent on the nest to feed them. Yes, even the older ones love to still be fed by mum. But mum is not doing it. This is tough love Osprey style.

Tiny Little will not be distracted! And 464 is holding on to its flounder as best it can. Gosh those heads are hard to open. Wonder if 462 will get this one later?

These kiddos are pretty polite. I am glad that White 35 has stopped rushing in to feed Tiny Little. That might sound cruel but TL needs to become really good at self-feeding to survive. These are terrific parents. 462 has eaten earlier and both TL and 464 along with 462 will have nice full tummies for nite-nite.

Earlier Tiny Little did some great hovering.

After Tiny Little finished all of the flounder she could eat, White 35 flew in quickly and took it to the parent tree. Those adults have to be watching everything these kids do – like a hawk! The removal of the fish inspired Tiny Little to do more great hovering. I thought she was gone! If not, tomorrow. Tiny Little is now inspired to self-feed and fly. The confidence is really growing.

Tiny Little also seemed to enjoy the hovering and looking down – the fear from earlier days seems to have dissipated.

I just checked and 464 is still working on its flounder. Tiny Little is staring 464 down and 462 is simply waiting. These three are so funny. Did I tell you that 462 actually fed Tiny Little some bites earlier she begged so much!? And if I told you twice, laugh twice. That is just a hoot.

No one is rushing 464 anymore. Tiny Little and 462 have decided to become ducklings and wait!

There is a lot of worry about the Collins Marsh Reservoir Osprey Nest in Wisconsin. It is hot there. They are now experiencing some of that relentless heat that hit the Pacific NW a couple of weeks ago and the Canadian Prairies last week. It is close to 45 degrees in the nest. That could easily account for the deaths of the other two chicks. The little one was fed at sometime. I rewound the tape. I could not see the mother protecting that chick from the sun. I really hope that this is not another Electra-Wattsworth scenario! There are some Osprey parents that are ‘the greats’ – Monty and his mates Nora and Glesni, Blue 33 and Maya are up in the super strata. There are others who are normal average and some who, are not good parents. Maybe they came from a nest where food was not brought in regularly. Who knows what is the difference. Some of us believe it is good DNA. The Cowlitz nest is an example of a nest that is not that good. If taking care of your family and fledging chicks who survive migration and return to breed is the measure, Cowlitz fails. Sadly, we cannot expect every nest to be like that of Blue 33 at Rutland. Maya and Blue even fledged a nest of four chicks in 2018. Some of the others can hardly keep up with two. Still. we all want to help if we can.

There have been any number of questions about intervention to save the chick at Collins Marsh. At the present time the archaic laws of the US – those of 1948 – do not allow for interventions unless it is something clearly caused by humans. Think monofilament line in the nest. That said I will go over some interventions this year. In the early spring, the two eaglets of E17 and E18 on Harriet and M15s Bald Eagle Nest got conjunctivitis. There were probably more than a 1000 people who called in about the eaglets and their eyes. Action was taken. CROW retrieved the eaglets with the help of Joshua Tree and they were off the nest for 5 days. They returned well. Conjunctivitis is not caused by humans. At the Captiva Bald Eagle Nest, CROW removed a monofilament line. However, when the two eaglets ate a rat that was brought to the nest that had eaten rodenticide, the youngest died and the oldest lived until they were flapping and jumping and broke a blood feather and bled out on the nest. Help did not come for the eaglets when the first one looked ill. Citizen watchers warned of the rat on the nest but there was nothing happened. It was extremely frustrating. Both of the eaglets died. This was not the fault of CROW. You need action by the bodies that govern the nests. Lately a number of chicks have gone to foster parents which is also an intervention. A chick was rescued that fell into a river. That is an intervention. Laws are applied differently by different people. The laws need to be changed and brought up to date. There should also be laws against lead in hunting and fishing equipment and Minnesota is taking that on. Every state should ban the use of these because that lead is killing the birds or making them severely ill. Every day there are examples on the rehabbers sites. Hawaii just passed a law banning helium balloons because the albatross get entangled in them. Then there is the entire issue of rodenticide – which kills wildlife as well as domestic pets. Research shows that raptors kill more mice and rats than poison. Perhaps the answer is to begin at the State level with copies of appeal letters to the Under Secretary of State for the Department of the Interior.

I checked on Kindness and her dad had fed her and within fifteen minutes he was flying back in with more food for his little girl. It might seem lonely but there are benefits to being an only child on a great nest. Freedom and Liberty are fantastic parents at the Glacier Gardens nest. It is a wonder Kindness did not pop her crop today.

I have really watched Tiny Little closely today and just popped in to the other nests. The only other news I have is that the Albatross is still at the RSPB Bempton Cliffs in the East Riding of Yorkshire as reported by Sally White on the FB page. Maybe that Albatross isn’t lost. Perhaps they know something we don’t!

Thank you so much for joining me. Great progress has been made at the Foulshaw Moss. It is wonderful to see Tiny Little getting some confidence. Our rain has stopped but everything is green! It’s a good day. Take care all.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Collins Marsh Reservoir and Neustadter Nature Center, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam, and Glaciers Gardens Bald Eagle cam.

Saturday 17 July in Bird World

I promised some updates on Big Red, Arthur, and the Ks. Right up front I want to thank Suzanne Arnold Horning for allowing me to share her images of Cornell’s birds with all of you. She lives in Ithaca and once or twice a day she heads out with her family looking for the Ks. Thank you Suzanne!

This first series is from 16 July. Both of the Ks are on the corner of this unidentified building. K1 is on the left and K3 is on the right at the corner of the building.

Isn’ she gorgeous? This is K1, the mini-Big Red.

On the 15th, the Ks were hanging out on Weill.

K1 is doing the hawk walk! So cute.

She stops and looks for her brother, K3, who has just flown away.

K3 flew over to the middle of the hockey rink roof and landed! Good gracious.

Later, K3 rejoins his sister on Weill.

Meanwhile, where are Big Red and Arthur?

Big Red is on top of the Cornell Clock Tower.

Here’s a much closer look at Big Red.

And here is an image showing the position of Arthur and the Ks. The green arrow is where Arthur is on the light stands and the purple arrows points to the corner of the Weill Building where the two Ks are located.

Thanks Suzanne for the arrows and the images. It is reassuring to know that everyone is safe and sound.

There is some other news today. K1 caught her own prey. I know it happened but I do not have an image I can show you. Of course, no one knows if this is the first time or not but this is incredible. She is certainly related to Arthur who is like the stealth bomber of hunting! And Big Red is really good herself.

The Ks will be leaving their parents territory in August. They need to be able to fly well and hunt. As you can see Big Red and Arthur have now moved them around Weill and other areas farther from the nest. Soon they will have them hunting in the fields out by the Holey Cow Barns. Why holey and not holy you ask? The cows have clear tubes inserted in their sides so that the students in the Vet School can see what is happening inside the cow’s body. I have to admit the first time I heard this I was quite happy not to be there seeing it. But then wow – how would these students learn otherwise?

Suzanne Arnold Horning also went out to the Cornell Osprey nests and took some images. She believes that the nestlings are about to fledge!

There is only one Osprey nest on the Cornell Campus. It is located on the university athletic fields on a light tower at the soccer field. The adults there fish in Cayuga Lake, Beebee Lake, and Six Mile Creek. Those are within a few miles of the nest. The adults are Olin and Olive.

Off the Cornell Campus there were 38 Osprey nests around the Cayuga Lake Basin. While it isn’t a steadfast rule, most male Ospreys do return to the area of their natal nest. I am assuming then that when Olin showed up as a bachelor and began building a nest that he had hatched from one of the nests around Cayuga Lake several years earlier.

Olin would fly around the soccer field and people began to wonder if he was going to build a nest on one of the light towers. He made several attempts with sticks at the Game Farm Road soccer field. Olin did attract a female – Olive.

The nest you see in Suzanne Arnold Hornings’s images is the new nest that was built for Olive and Olin.

There are three little ospreys ready to fly in that nest this year.

Don’t you just hold your breath when they are hovering? I do! Wings everywhere. Looks like Olive needs to duck.

The Hornings and the Sedlaceks wrote a lovely article about the first year with Olin and Olive. There are some good images. I will attach it below this. Olin and Olive originally had a nest on a light and it was precarious. This is a wonderful nest that was constructed for this Osprey couple. Just look at it. They figured out the height, the measurements the nest should be and made sure that it was storm proof. Amazing.

Here is the link to the article. Please read it, it is lovely.

https://sites.google.com/site/cornellssurpriseospreys/

On the earlier part of the Ferris Akel Live Tour, there was a lovely juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. I think I have a couple of reasonable good screen shots to show you. What a lovely bird. We have Cooper’s Hawks that come to breed on the Canadian Prairies in the summer. They are protected under the Manitoba Wildlife Act of 1994.

Indeed, when I first encountered the hawk that comes to my garden, it was not clear if it was an adult Cooper’s or a Sharp-shinned. Turned out to be a Sharpie Adult, Northern. Like the Sharp-shinned, the Coopers are a medium sized Accipiter. These are the green-blue-grey (or celadon if you want to describe them like a pottery glaze) of a juvenile. The eyes of the adult male are red and they have a white breast/belly with ochre streaking, blue-grey hood and wings. You can see those red eyes in the image directly below.

“Cooper’s Hawk” by airboy123 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

This juvenile might look like a Red-tail Hawk if you only saw its back. Like my Sharpie and the Red-tails, the length of the wings attributes to the silent stealth manner in which they hunt. They live in forests and even in urban back gardens and they need to be able to turn quickly which they can also do with their wings and their medium size. You can see those celadon eyes of this juvenile in the image below.

Look at the image below. Do not peek at their blue Darvic rings! Which one of those birds is Tiny Little?

It might be a surprise to you. Tiny Little is the bigger chick at the back!

I watched Tiny Little for several hours. He is absolutely hilarious. For awhile I wondered if he had forgotten how to fly. He hovered, he flapped his wings and he really wanted to go but he couldn’t get it in forward gear. But never mind. White YW brought a fish on to the nest and thoughts of flying went right out the window. Tiny Little was up to his old tricks. What you are seeing in the image below is the second sibling that Tiny Little has tormented over the evening fish. BTW. Tiny Little had a huge breakfast! His MOD is to stare at the fish, then do some flapping, go back and stare and make the sibling nervous til they walk away and leave the fish. And guess what? He is really good at it.

Blue 464 gave up the fish! Because of his behaviour you will know which one is Tiny Little below but please look at the size and look at the other bird. This is the female, that big female that tormented Tiny Little, Blue 464. Unfortunately I took about 300 images of this nest today (maybe more). I have one of Tiny Little standing next to Blue 462, the male. 462 has the thinner longer legs of White YW. Tiny Little’s legs are stout like a female and she is a big bird.

Just like she wanted. Tiny Little gets a nice feeding by Blue 35. Indeed, I think the two of them shared almost half a fish after 464 and then 462 tried to self-feed.

Here is an earlier image of the Foulshaw Moss family minus Blue 464. White YW is on the front left. Then Blue 35 is next at the rim of the nest. Then don’t peek, which one is Tiny Little? If you said the one on the far right, you are correct. Now necklaces in themselves do not indicate a female but with those stout legs and her size. Well..

‘Silo’ chick on the Patuxent River Osprey Nest 2, the one who fell out of the nest into the water last evening, was up and moving about in the afternoon so everything seems alright there. Fabulous.

Thank you everyone for stopping in today to find out about the birds. It is great to have you with us.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots or who gave me permission to use their images: Suzanne Arnold Horning for the images of Cornell’s Red tail Hawk family and the Osprey Nest of Olin and Olive, Ferris Akel Live Tour, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust and Foulshaw Moss Osprey Cam, and Patuxent River Osprey Cam 2.

Oh, Tiny Little….and friends

I thought I would check on the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest in Cumbria. That streaming cam does not have a rewind and so it is hit or miss as to what the chicks are doing. All three were on the nest and Blue 35 was feeding them. And bless his heart, Tiny Little was right there getting many bites – lots. It was magnificent. He was pecking for bites at Blue 35’s beak before she was ready!

Blue 35 is finished feeding in the image below. Honestly, if you can’t see the bands it is getting difficult to tell which chick is chick. Can you believe it? Tiny Little looked like a mere babe two days ago!

Blue 35 gave 464, who waited patiently without being a nuisance, the skin and the fish tail. Tiny is not taking his eyes off of that tail! 462 has moved up to the front where she is moving a branch. All Tiny Little wants is that fish tail!

Then 462 gets rather exciting and starts doing wing exercises. Tiny Little is still staring at the fish tail.

Tiny Little ducks when 462 starts flapping but his eyes are locked in on that fish tail, still. 464 seems to be having trouble eating. Tiny Little is probably saying, “Let me have a try!”

462 got some good lift. I thought she was going to fledge but she didn’t. I don’t think Tiny is next. To me his tail is not long enough! Tiny Little isn’t so Tiny anymore – almost overnight this third hatch changes. He is going to bed with a nice crop. Well done, Tiny ‘Not so’ Little.

Fledgling 464 left the nest and Blue 35 returned. She moved over and found the fish tail and some fish and just guess who was right there beak to beak wanting some more dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is why Tiny Little is not so Tiny anymore.

It is very interesting. There were individuals who thought that Tiny Tot on the Achieva Nest would to be doomed once the older siblings started self feeding. You know – we need to give these Osprey mothers some credit. They try and make sure everyone is fed. Tiny Tot blossomed before our eyes at Achieva once the other sibling 1 and then sibling 2 were flying – and it looks like having one off the nest (sometimes) at Foulshaw is helping as well.

I reported that one of Monty and Glesni’s chicks, Merin, was breeding in the Lake District. Emry Evans posted some images of Merin and his beautiful daughters in his blog. You can have a read and see the lovely images, too. If the link does not open automatically, do the old cut and paste method. You should also be able to sign up for Emyr’s blogs at the bottom if you wish to do so. Emyr includes a very helpful family tree on his blog today.

http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/emyr-mwt/2021/07/07/merin-breeding-england?fbclid=IwAR1X6b1Qy5bYFNfXyFVgib_ah941eRBYXjaumRJsAZxMexV5xIGLknUz9wg

Janet Sampson is working on a very nice chart of the Rutland relatives in Wales. She has not polished it off completely but she said we can share as long as we give her credit. So thank you Janet Sampson! This is really brilliant.

Someone sent me a note and asked me if I had a favourite Osprey. Oh, my goodness. That is a difficult question to answer. So let me tell you a story first and then I will try and answer this for you.

I have always wondered what makes a ‘great’ Osprey. I have, in fact, praised the two nestlings daughters of Merin’s as being the most beautiful osprey chicks I have ever seen. Their picture is in Emry’s blog. That led me to wonder if it is performance or appearance or both. So, in that wonderful chat the other evening with Tiger Mozone, I asked him what makes a ‘great osprey’. {Tiger has an encyclopedic mind on Osprey history and Ospreys}Tiger answered with a question: “What do you know about horses?” “Well, some”. At one time I lived on an acreage and there were five horses. Had I heard of Northern Dancer was Tiger’s second question. I ask you, is there anyone who hasn’t heard of Northern Dancer? So there was my answer. Performance. Then one day my friend ‘T’ and I were chatting. If we came back in another life as an Osprey female who would we want our mate to be? Now there is the heart of the answer to my original question. I knew that ‘T’ would say Monty. I am actually quite fond of Blue 33 (11). Today I realized for me it would be a toss up between Blue 33 (11) and Idris if I were ever to return as a female Osprey….of the choices currently available. They perform for their families. These are the guys – Monty, Blue 33, and yes, Idris will prove himself – that get the fish out of the water and on the nest. There are lots of fish. Someone said today they thought that Idris could feed a four chick nest. I think he could, too and I think Blue and Monty could as well. Take good care of the females and the chicks, fledge those babies, and then have them return to breed successfully. That is a ‘great’ Osprey. I think Tiger might agree. Of course, every great male needs an equally great female. Nora, Glesni, Telyn, and Maya are doing fantastic. So think about your favourite Osprey.

There is Telyn feeding Dysynnis and Ystwyth late today. But this appears to be a first —— Telyn caught the flounder and brought it to the nest for the chicks! Yippeeeee.

Ferris had a great tour today. These are a few shots from the beginning to end.

There were two Green Herons along the drive.

When Ferris got to the Cornell Campus, he spotted K3 right away on top of the Rice Building.

Looking for K1, there was a lovely Mourning Dove family in the trees around the Fernow Building.

Big Red was up on Bradfield. Word came to the group that she had delivered prey to both K1 and K3 just a little earlier so they are both full and not food begging.

Isn’t she beautiful? She is already beginning to moult. In a week or so we will call her Big Blonde!

There she is again, same place.

Ferris looked in the pines. He could hear Robins vocalizing and thought K1 might be around. What he found was a lovely very young Robin. Oh, I wish this little one would hide! Those hawks would like you for breakfast – maybe. Robin is not their favourite treat for sure.

K1 was discovered on one of the light towers.

And then something happened and K3 came to join K1. K1 is on the top left and you can just see the little duckling, K3 laying flat out.

Arthur has joined Big Red. All four hawks are accounted for and they are fine. Good night Big Red, Arthur, K1 and K3. Have lovely hawk dreams.

That is it for a late Saturday evening. It is once again in the 33-34 C range on the Canadian prairies. The birds are draining the water bowls every couple of hours.

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone and oh, tomorrow my blog will appear in the late afternoon or early evening. I have promised myself to clean out my office for several months —— it is now time! Stay safe.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots: Ferris Akel Live, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn.