Tag Archives: Daisy makes nest in sea eagle tree

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 9 – updated

It is actually still Day 8 for Daisy as I write this. The clock on the streaming cam says that it is 19:28. It is 02:28 on the Canadian Prairies. Daisy remains on her eggs.

Does she know that the two Ravens are on the branches above the nest? She must. They are right above her. One on one side and one on the other.

Every once in awhile they make a noise. They know that sooner or later Daisy is going to have to leave the nest. When she does, they will take her eggs. I am hoping that Daisy can sleep a bit and conserve all of her energy. She has not left the nest for at least 14.5 hours. Unlike raptors that have true crops to store food, ducks have an enlarged esophagus that is capable of handling large amounts of food before it moves into the a thin-walled area of the stomach called the proventriculus.

The White-Bellied Sea Eagles, Lady and Dad, are not at their River Roost.

Daisy has been very vigilant about the Ravens but she had another intruder. That was the Ring-tailed Possum who has its own nest in that big nest. This possum will not harm Daisy’s eggs. It might scare her – which it did but it is the Bushtail Possum that likes the eggs. That possum wanders around at night. Daisy remained on the nest until the possum quieted down. Poor thing they will wear her out by not letting her eat! I wish there was some type of sci-fi invisible protective dome we could place around Daisy and her eggs.

Daisy flew off the nest at 1:40:55. She waited for the Ravens to leave and then had to wait for the possum. By leaving in the middle of the night she outwitted the Ravens. She will have a few hours to forage before she has to return to her eggs. I hope our little duck got lots to eat. She must be tired fighting off all these intruders who want her eggs!

It is now 03:50 in the Sydney Olympic Park Forest. Daisy should be returning to her eggs within an hour. It appears that the on line camera continues to go on and offline. I cannot access live after 01:59 – so, for now, this is my Daisy report. So many of you have dropped all your other bird watching to cheer Daisy on. Continue to send your good wishes to her. She needs all she can get. Will the little duck outwit all of them? We wait. It appears we have 8 eggs – hopefully no more. Daisy did a bit better covering. Fingers crossed.

Daisy returned to her nest at 04:59 ahead of the Ravens. Our little girl is smart!

Our girl looks good and the down coming around the nest will make it easier for her to cover. Cloudy today but no rain forecasted for Daisy.

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. Be safe out there.

Thank you to SeaEagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 8 The Ravens return AGAIN

No more had Daisy relaxed along with the other nectar eating birds in the forest than the Ravens returned.

Daisy is OK. As you can see from the images, she had to reveal the eggs twice trying to thwart off the Ravens. The Ravens were actually moving sticks which made Daisy a bit nervous. I was hoping they would loosen up some leaves.

Our little duck is very brave. But will more than two Ravens return.

Daisy shows everyone just how brave a little duck she is in the following segment.

It is nearing 11:30. Daisy is able to relax. The winds are picking up quite a bit and you can hear some distant thunder. I hope that the poor weather coming on will keep the Ravens home and not out plotting those lovely duck eggs. Rain should start at noon and continue until sunset. If Daisy stays on the nest like she has the past days – leaving about 15 minutes before sunset, the eggs should be safe til she returns. Sunset is at 19:56. I hope.

The winds are picking up.

Still it is not yet noon and Daisy has had two visits from the Ravens. They want those duck eggs. They did manage to get them last season but only when Daisy was away from the nest. Perhaps the timing will work this year?

Daisy has chosen this nest and she must feel that it is safer than being down on the ground by the river.

You can watch Daisy here:

Thank you for joining me again as we watch the brave little Pacific Black Duck who laid her eggs in the big Sea Eagles nest – Daisy.

Thank you to the Sea Eagles@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots and my video clips.

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 8 The Ravens Return

The Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre’s streaming cam was off line. It came back on line at 07:49 on 10 December, Day 8 for Daisy.

Daisy is on the nest and has been removing more down for the nest cup. I am going to have to presume that she arrived as she would any typical day, before sunrise which was at 05:38 today. She would have laid egg 8 and it would have dried. She is now incubating the eggs as she has for the past couple of days.

The wind is starting to pick up. It is 08:49 and the forecast is for an 80% chance of rain beginning at 09:00 changing to 100% chance of rain for the rest of the day. Certainly the rain will not bother Daisy and as long as she is on her eggs they are warm and dry. The rain might help keep the predators away – I am not sure. As you know I have been wondering about the amount of down that Daisy has and I was reminded this morning by a good friend that Daisy is actually laying these eggs one month earlier than the last time she attempted to hatch eggs here the beginning of January 2021.

You can see the big duck eggs in the egg cup. Daisy is removing down.

She tucks it in around the edge of the eggs.

Once Daisy finishes tucking, she rolls around on the eggs.

Except for the visit by the two Ravens and Lady and Dad arriving one evening when Daisy was gone, it has been relatively quiet for our little duck. Last time she played tag with Dad. He was determined to find out who was using his nest. They would only miss one another by seconds. I ‘think’ that might be more difficult this clutch because of the lack of nest material to cover the eggs. It makes it very worrisome. Once Daisy finishes laying all of the eggs – oh, geez, I really hope she is done – she will have another long month of incubation.

Daisy was not more than comfortable and the Ravens came to the nest. Here is a video. You need to hear the distant sound, see Daisy hunker down, and see her protect her eggs.

Oh, Daisy is such a brave and determined little duck! As long as there is only one or two Ravens, she just might be able to hold her own. And as long as she is on those eggs I do not think they can get them – unless, of course, they come with 5 or 6 friends. Whew. That was nerve wrecking. I cannot even imagine how Daisy felt when she heard those Ravens coming and had that one right on the nest. My goodness.

Keep sending your positive wishes to Daisy. As long as everything stays OK on the nest with Daisy, you will not hear from me until tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for joining me. Stay safe.

Thank you to the SeaEagles@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures and video clips.

The Daisy Chronicles Day 7-8

I have had some marvellous questions about duck breeding behaviour and questions about the ducklings. I hope that the following information is of good use. I am not an expert. But I have a stack of books on my desk by people who are! The comments are generalizations for all waterfowl and might vary a little with Daisy, our beautiful Pacific Black Duck.

In December of 2020, Daisy and her mate came to inspect the nest of the White-Bellied Sea Eagles. It is the only time – to the best of my knowledge – that he has been seen on the streaming cam. Daisy will have chosen her mate several months before breeding. The pair stay together and, when the time comes for breeding, they will have travelled to the female’s territory. The term for females returning to their home nesting area (as opposed to males) is called philopatric. Daisy will have picked the spot to nest. Daisy has laid one egg a day. When Daisy has laid her last egg, she will incubate the eggs day and night with no help from her mate. After several weeks the ducklings will begin peeping inside the shells and all will hatch at about the same time.

So what do these ducklings do once they hatch? They will remain in the nest with Daisy for approximately 24 hours. Daisy will stand on the rim of the nest and jump down. She will call to the ducklings who will each jump from the nest to the forest floor. They will then follow Daisy to the Parramatta River. They hatch with fluffy down and the ability to feed themselves. This is known as precocial – leaving the nest with the ability to take care of oneself soon after hatching. The ducklings are fully capable of feeding themselves. Daisy will stay with her brood until they are able to fly. At that time, they are on their own. While the ducklings are with her, they will gather around for protection and warmth.

It is now 16:19 in the Sydney Olympic Forest. The wind can be heard on the camera and the nest is moving about noticeably. There is thunder and it is getting closer. The time for the thunderstorm and high winds, according to the local weather in Sydney, is right now – and for the next hour. Yesterday Daisy stayed throughout the storm before leaving the nest at 18:04:04.

So far there are no predators today and several times the cam operator has checked to see if the WBSE were at the River Roost and they weren’t. That does not mean that Dad could not fly in at any moment.

Here are some images from the late afternoon of our beautiful Daisy.

Daisy looks so tiny in the big WBSE nest.
Daisy continues to try and find down to line the nest both to cover the eggs and to make it easier on her body as she rolls and moves around the eggs with her feet.
No sign of the WBSE at the River Roost today.

At 17:37 a single Lorikeet arrives to see Daisy.

There is a forecast for a thunderstorm at 18:00 and rain for at least the next while.

At 18:22 a lone Noisy Miner comes to visit. Goodness.

It is only a few minutes after the Noisy Miner that thunder can be heard along with some big drops hitting the camera. By 19:15, Daisy is very wet as is the nest.

I thought maybe Daisy had laid all of her eggs and was now into hard incubation but she began preparing to leave.

You will see that Daisy is having trouble covering her 7 eggs.

Someone did a short video of Daisy trying to cover her eggs.

Daisy was lucky that the weather has kept the Ravens away. Her eggs are still there in the middle of the night.

We must hope that Daisy is not going to lay many more eggs — or that a large number of leaves are blown off that tree. Once she begins hard incubation she will have to leave to eat and take a break. That is when she had problems with Dad and Lady last time and then the Ravens saw the eggs because of not enough material, once it got wet, to cover them properly. They were close to hatching. An hour at a time. Daisy should be arriving for Day 8 before sunrise. She will get a chance to get on the eggs before any of the predators come around. I will bring an update on Day 8 later today. Send Daisy lots of good energy!

Thank you so much for joining me. It is nice to have you hear. Take care, see you soon.

Thank you to the Sea Eagle@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.

Wednesday in Bird World

Daisy has laid her 7th egg in the nest of the White-Bellied Sea Eagles in Sydney’s Olympic Forest. She has spent the morning trying to get more down from her breasts and sides – without a lot of luck – and looking for more natural materials to cover her nest. She may have to dig around on the other side of the nest. She seems reluctant this year to cover the eggs and leave them to go over and root around.

So much down last year so little this year.

Here is a video of Dad, the WBSE that owns the nest, flying in at night. Oh, so lucky none of Daisy’s eggs were not broken.

The Port Lincoln Osprey fledglings have been neglected. It was so fantastic to go and check on them and have some great close-ups of Ervie! Oh, he is a handsome young man.

That is a gorgeous crest. That white V that we looked for when he was small is so prominent. He has a nice crop.

Janet Forster says that the trio have been flying circles around the barge. They have also been seen chasing the parents screaming for fish! Good lads.

Here is Janet waving to everyone on camera. She is on the shore with her long lens. You can just make her out about 3/4 of the way over in the background. Thanks Janet for all you do so we can enjoy the Ospreys!

So far everyone is doing fine including Daisy. It is a long haul for our little Duck compounded with the predators and the lack of material on the nest. Still, we hope. The three Osprey lads are magnificent. I am so proud of this nest. Bald Eagles continue to lay eggs and work on nests. And, of course, the Great Horned Owls are looking for nests. There is a pair on the Savannah Osprey nest thinking pretty hard about using it for their breeding season.

There are a lot of people waiting to see if the GHOWs will also use Farmer Derek’s Bald Eagle nest. Will keep you posted!

Take care. It is nearing noon on Daisy’s nest and so far all is well. Thank you for dropping by.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Sea Eagles@ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, and Cornell Bird Lab and Savannah Ospreys.

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 6-7

My news of Daisy the Duck who has taken over the nest of the White-Bellied Sea Eagles in Sydney’s Olympic forest left off at noon on Day 6. Daisy had laid her 6th egg at 06:42:50. As I begin writing it is 15:56. Periodically, Daisy has taken down from her breast, rolled the eggs, pushed the egg cup with her paddles to enlarge it, and pulled tiny twigs and some leaves closer to her.

The weather forecast is not favourable. It says, “Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Large Hail from Wed 15:46-Wed 18:46.” damaging winds, large hailstones, heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding was part of the warning. No wonder Daisy did not want her nest by the edge of the Parramatta River. This forecast is not good but it might, again, work in Daisy’s favour. The tree canopy might protect the eggs and Daisy, if she remains. Lady and Dad are not at the River Roost. But, they, too might want the protection of the forest. We will have to wait and see. Several times I thought Daisy was leaving and she hasn’t. Here are some images from the afternoon of Day 6. Oh, this little duck is so vigilant. I continue to say that I want to dump a basket of leaves on that nest. Oh, it might make all the difference in the world. If the down gets wet and inevitably it will, it shrinks. Indeed, it shrinks like dryer lint which is why they do not recommend you leave dryer lint for the birds to line their nests in the spring.

We are now within the weather warning zone. The old Ironbark Tree is swaying a little and the wind is picking up as evidenced by the leaves on the nest blowing a bit. The Ironbark Tree is strong and flexible – like bamboo. No worries there. They have changed the warning to extend to 19:36. It is currently 17:07. Either a large drop of rain or a hailstone has just hit the camera. Daisy is wet. She is still on her eggs. Loud bird noises from the forest.

I have just received a note from a friend that says that there could be duck boxes in or around the Olympic Forest. If so, I wonder why Daisy didn’t use one of them?

I am curious about something, however. Daisy has been vigorously trying to get down from her chest and from the back of her body under her wings. I went back to look at Daisy’s nest from a year ago on Day 6. Here are three images of that nest. Please notice the amount of down.

To me, this nest was a beautiful work of art. Daisy could fold the down and leaves in on themselves when she left and cover with more leaves.

Notice the covering over. This is Day 6 in winter 2021.

Daisy was approximately a year old last January. She has pulled more down off for the nest. Notice it fluffying around here. You can see the down that Lady tossed around the nest. Last year there was more down and more plant material.

So, I will be watching. I am wondering if Daisy did, in fact, prepare a nest elsewhere and laid some eggs. Something happened to that nest and she decided to try the Sea Eagle’s nest even though it wasn’t her first choice. Did she use most of her down on the other nest? and how will this impact the likelihood that these eggs can be hidden? Just questions tossing around my head as I compare the egg cup from last year, day 6 to this year.

There were no intruders for Daisy on Day 6. She covered her eggs as best she could starting at 18:02:34 flying off the nest at 18:04:04.

The rain had been coming down for awhile and everything was wet.

It continued to rain after Daisy left. You can see one egg and you might also see the down which is wet and has shrunk.

No one has disturbed Daisy’s nest since she left. That is a big plus. She is going to have to pull leaves on other part of the nest and twigs if she lays more eggs which seems likely now.

Daisy is due to arrive back at the nest in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I will post my next report after she has laid her egg on Day 7. You can watch Daisy here:

Thank you so much for joining me. Send all of your best wishes to Daisy, our adorable little duck.

Thank you to the Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 6 continued

The Pacific Black Duck Daisy laid egg 6 at 06:42:50.

Since then she has been very alert. She has rolled her eggs often and pulled down off her breast adding it to the egg cup. It is nearing noon and so far there have been no predators. The cam operator checked the WBSE River Roost and saw no sea eagles there. And, so far, I have only heard the cawing of the Ravens around 08:11. They have not come to the old Ironbark Tree – yet – today. They did not show up yesterday either!

Here are some images from the morning with Daisy.

I will bring updates on the afternoon and evening happenings tomorrow. Daisy may stay until nearly 15:30 like she did yesterday. Today is the first day that she has removed significant down from her breast. Poor thing she has pulled in leaves and twigs as she finds them. I see some behind her. She will need to bring those over, too. Those are huge eggs. She is extremely alert, listening to every sound in the forest – it could save her life and her eggs.

I am hearing the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos in the distance but no Ravens. Maybe Daisy will have another quiet day. We can only hope and take it one day at a time.

Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone!

Thank you to Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 6

It is 13:32 at Daisy’s nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest on Day 5. The Ravens came and Daisy thwarted them for an entire 13 minutes. At least one Raven returned a couple of hours later and Daisy sent him packing. I also found out that WBSE Dad had come to the nest and stomped around on the egg cup the evening of Day 4 for Daisy. The eggs were not damaged.

Daisy has been rolling the eggs many times. I wonder if this is it – if these are the last 5 eggs and she was frightened from her first nest and rushed here to try and at least save some. It is curious. Sometimes waiting to find out is not easy.

As I am writing this, I do not know if Daisy’s eggs will survive to reach Day 6. Sunset on Day 5 is at 19:56.

Will she stay til it is dark and then go and take a break and forage? Neither the WBSE or the Ravens should come at night and from last year, we know that Daisy can come and go in the dark.

The weather forecast for the Sydney area is not good. There is a thunderstorm for today. You can see below.

The winds were already starting. Daisy became ever so alert. She was plucking at her breast, adding leaves – any she could find – and rolling the eggs for the entire afternoon of Day 5.

Daisy covered her eggs flying off the nest at 15:59. You can hear the rain falling on the leaves.

I hope that our little duck gets lots of food while she is foraging and that the ongoing thunderstorm keeps the predators away.

Besides the predators Daisy has that other problem of a lack of material to cover the eggs. Maybe the winds will blow some leaves off the tree and cover those eggs. We can wish!

DAY 6: It is 03:49:00 and Daisy will be arriving back at the egg cup for Day 6. No one disturbed the eggs during the night, so far.

Daisy laid egg number 6 at 06:42:50.

She stood very still after the sixth egg.

The duck eggs are so big. Daisy seems to be having a bit of a time trying to stand up so the sixth one will harden.

Daisy has settled down comfortably.

I wonder what she will do. Will she stay for the normal two hours, cover the eggs and leave? or will she remain at the nest til around 16:00 and depart? We wait.

There have been two very brave birds on this nest. Today we are looking at one of them – Daisy. She should give us all hope that we might not be big but we can be brave and protect that which is dear to us. She is an inspiration. Of course, the other one was WBSE 26 whose leg was broken early in the nest and who endured pain and suffering to meet all of the milestones so that she could fly. What an amazing bird. They both bring tears to my eyes. They were inspirational to so many who have/had challenges. I will personally never forget Daisy or WBSE 26 – ever. I am certain that many of you feel the same.

WBSE 25 holds and comforts its little sister, 26, after its leg is fractured. WBSE 25 will go on to encourage 26 to meet all the milestones and will help her to reach them.

If I had three wishes –

  • The first would be for the WBSE nest to be near to the shore of the river so that the sea eaglets had a better chance of survival. They would be near to their parents after fledge to be taught how to hunt, to be fed while in training and building their flying skills. Not run out of town by the Pied Currawong and left to their own devices.
  • WBSE 26 to have had a very special veterinary surgeon give it a chance.
  • For someone to have built duck boxes for Daisy and the few other female ducks in the river so that their eggs might survive to have ducklings jumping out. They could do a large Pacific Black Duck display and put in permanent binoculars for interested parties to watch – and capture the video of the ducklings jumping and swimming in the river. It would really add to the study of the nature in the area. (Perhaps they already have this????).

I clearly believe in intervention. Humans have destroyed habitat and have built buildings where duck nests used to be and maybe WBSE nests as well. They have also poisoned the Parramatta River and the waters around Sydney. We owe the wildlife a chance. Just this morning I had this vision in my head of the forest caretaker taking a long pole and dumping a basket of leaves on that nest. Now wouldn’t that be grand? Obviously when she was not on the eggs…yes, I do daydream about the birds like you!

I will continue to monitor Daisy throughout the day. So far she is fine. I have not heard any ‘cawing’ from the Ravens so far. There will be an update later this evening.

Thank you so much for your interest and love for this brave little duck! Keep sending positive energy and warm wishes. We can hope. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the SeaEagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.

Tuesday in Bird World

Daisy arrived at her eggs in the Sydney Olympic Forest at 04:47:25. She is a little earlier than yesterday. There will be a full report on Daisy later today. She is alert and perhaps slightly nervous with what happened yesterday with the Ravens.

Ventana Wildlife Society have posted the release video of Iniko. Here it is:

The Port Lincoln Lads continue to fly around the cove and their parents continue to provide them with lots of fish to keep them in fit shape. Deliveries after noon include: 12:32 for Ervie, 14:45 for Bazza (a huge fish), 16:29 for Falky, and Ervie picks up the 16:34 delivery.

Ervie is on the left and Falky is on the right eating their fish. Look at how good those feathers are. These three are just doing fantastic!

I have to admit that I really miss the little Ospreys. Jack and Diane have been working on their nest at Achieva and the Osprey couple at Captiva were trying to mate yesterday.

My friend ‘S’ has sent me a great video showing Osprey fishing. It gives you some good insight into how physically fit these birds have to be to fish. Think about it. The male fishes all day long when there are eggs and chicks on the nest. Incredible.

Ken Phung is from Taiwan.

In Bald Eagle world, everyone is waiting for Anna at the KNF Bald Eagle Nest in Central Louisiana and Connie at the Captiva nest in Florida to lay their second egg today. Indeed, all of the Bald Eagle nests are busy – one way or the other. Gabby escorted the sub-adult female off her nest yesterday.

This is a short report. Daisy seems to have taken over my life – and I am happy but the other nests sure don’t get much attention. In our garden are 27 European Starlings and several hundred sparrows. It is cold today, -16 C. Feeders are full and everyone is depleting them!

Take care everyone. Full report on Daisy later today but for now the eggs were safe over night. Rain and storms predicted again which might help our little Duck. See you soon!

Thanks to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project. A big shout out to ‘S’ for the Osprey video. That is fantastic.

The Daisy Chronicles, day 5

Daisy, that little Pacific Black Duck, arrived at the old Ironwood Tree deep in the Sydney Olympic Forest at 05:10:31 on 7 December. She is due to lay her fifth egg today.

Little is Daisy aware that a Raven came to the nest on Day 4, yesterday, and became curious. It did not, however, disturb the eggs. I am led to believe that this is because they cannot smell them. So if Daisy is able to gather more leaves – these are large eggs – she will be able to thwart the Ravens until such time she runs out of leaves and twigs and must use her down.

Also unknown to Daisy is the fact that Lady and Dad have returned to their River Roost from Goat Island. The streaming cam picked them up today roosting. Will Day fly into the nest to check today? He often does a quick security run.

See the two white dots on the tree in the middle. That is Lady and Dad.

The camera could not focus in on them but it is definitely the White-Bellied Sea Eagle couple that own this nest!

Last year Dad broke one of the eggs and ate it. He did not like the taste. Neither sea eagle likes the down – it sticks to their beak. They simply do not understand it – it is foreign to them. They were curious as to who was using the nest and Dad understood that eggs are not bothered. Indeed, one time I thought Dad was going to incubate those eggs of Daisy’s!

Daisy arrived at 05:10:31. Once again she was very cautious approaching her eggs.

Look who has come to see Daisy! Last year 8 or 9 Rainbow Lorikeets would come and visit Daisy every morning. They were all over the tree surrounding her. It was simply beautiful.

The bird coming down on the top right is called a Noisy Miner. Noisy Miners are members of the Honeyeater family. They are grey with a black head, a yellow-orange beak and feet with a light yellow patch behind the eye. There are also white tips on the tail feathers. They will not hurt Daisy or her eggs. They are curious but it is possible that they could draw the attention of other birds, like the Ravens, that could predate Daisy’s eggs.

The Lorikeets seemed to come every morning like they were saying hello to Daisy. And here they are today. The one must have told the others that their friend, the little Duck, was back in the nest of the sea eagles.

I don’t know about you but I had to run and get a tissue.

No words necessary as the Lorikeets continue to gather around Daisy.

We are nearing the time that Daisy laid her egg yesterday. I can still hear the Lorikeets and the Noisy Miner.

Oh, how grand it was to see the Lorikeets come to welcome Daisy!

Yesterday Daisy laid her 4th egg at 06:19:36. Egg 3 was laid at 06:55:07. I am hoping that it is earlier for Daisy today so that she can wait for the egg to harden, cover the eggs well, and get away from the nest before the Raven or the Sea Eagles arrive. Fingers crossed they stay away!

Daisy began gathering leaves around 06:23.

With the Sea Eagles back at the River Roost, I am so nervous for Daisy. Last year Dad visited often – curious to find out who was using his nest. I do not believe they would harm Daisy but Daisy and Dad certainly played tag with one another. I hope it is more peaceful for our little duck this year but who knows! Wonder when Dad will come and check on this nest?

It is 06:28 nest time. Daisy hasn’t laid her 5th egg. You can still hear the Lorikeets in the tree. Last year they seemed to be around when the larger predators weren’t. Come on Daisy, hurry! Lay your egg and get out of the forest.

At 06:32:55, Daisy lays her 5th egg!

Daisy moves around in the nest bowl clockwise.

She is moving the eggs about but she appears also to be using her paddle feet to enlarge the egg cup. How smart is that?! She needs those eggs to sink down low especially if she is going to lay several more. Notice how big those eggs are. It takes a lot of nutrients out of Daisy’s system to lay all those eggs.

Daisy has settled down lower than on previous days. She has also brought in some more leaves closer to the egg cup.

Daisy is trying to rest. If today, follows what has happened on the previous four days, Daisy will stay on the eggs for about 2 hours, cover them and depart. Let us hope that she is not disturbed and has time to get those leaves over so that nothing seems out of place if Dad or the Raven come calling.

At 06:42, there was only one Sea Eagle at River Roost. Is Dad fishing? or is he coming to the forest? We wait.

Daisy is way down on the eggs, her head tucked in. So far no Sea Eagle coming. Sometimes last year Daisy just got away in the nick of time. She needs to cover those eggs well though and not be in a rush.

Thank you for joining me today. I will continue to monitor Daisy until she departs and check on the nest throughout the day. If anything happens, I will let you know. Take care. Keep sending your positive wishes to our little duck, Daisy!

Thank you to the Sea Eagle@BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took these screen captures.