Tag Archives: Daisy makes nest in sea eagle tree

The Daisy Chronicles, day 4 – ‘The Raven Arrives’

Our beautiful little Pacific Black Duck, Daisy, laid her 4th egg in the old Ironbark Tree in Sydney’s Olympic Forest at 06:19:36. She was more nervous today than usual. Something had caused her to be overly cautious today. Still, the little duck worked with as many leaves as she could find to cover her eggs and stayed for almost the entire 2 hours that she has done on previous days. She flew off at 08:15:17.

Daisy covered the nest really well— as best she could bringing in leaves from behind her this morning. There is no indication that she has used any of her down and that is a good thing. The predators would smell it and find the eggs!

Did the Raven see Daisy on the nest? or did he just happen by and was curious?

The Raven lands on the nest at 09:29:30. He actually looks like one of the Crows we have that come to our garden as opposed to a Raven in North America. I know that it is difficult to identify between the Australian Raven and Crow. It is not a Pied Currawong – there is no white.

Whatever – a very dangerous bird has landed on Daisy’s nest of the variety that consumed her eggs last year.

The Raven looks right at the nest cup but cannot see anything. Daisy did do a good job covering those four eggs.

The Raven almost steps on the nest cup! But he doesn’t, thankfully.

He jumps over to the rim of the old Sea Eagle nest.

All the while the Raven is on the nest it is making very strange calls.

I wonder if it was calling the other members of its family. Last year several arrived but not today.

He stares but obviously cannot smell those eggs and he certainly cannot see them. Oh, Daisy, you little Duck. You did do a great job covering them.

It simply felt like he was going to tear that nest up but he moves over to the parent branch of the tree where the juvenile sea eagles often branch.

And then he is gone. I think my heart sunk to my toes. It is too early for the predators to be sniffing around Daisy’s nest. —— Any day is too early until the ducklings hatch and jump!

At 09:31 ‘something’ chased ‘something’ out of the forest from the top centre to the lower left side. It happened very fast and I could not decipher what it was. I wonder if our little Duck chased that Raven? Has Daisy been watching?

I hope that Daisy only lays one more egg. If there are fewer she will be able to cover them adequately or maybe a big wind would come and rain down leaves on that nest. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Everyone send all your good wishes to our little Pacific Black Duck, Daisy. She needs all the positive energy she can get as she continues to try and keep her eggs safe.

Other Bird World News: There is no further news on Yurruga. Ervie picked off the first fish of the day at 06:33. If you watch Jackie and Shadow, the Bald Eagles at Big Bend, they have been working on the nest. Yesterday Connie at Captiva laid her first egg at 05:55:37.

There have been two welcome visitors to our garden. Hedwig, the short tailed Cottontail Rabbit, has been photographed.

Shortly after lunch, Sharpie, the Sharp-shinned Hawk dropped by.

The European Starlings, the Black capped Chickadee, and numerous varieties of Sparrows, mostly House Sparrows, filled up the feeders. I think that each of them knew that there was a weather advisory out and that they would be hunkered down by snow and blowing snow with little visibility in the late afternoon.

Oh, I hope that Raven forgets about Daisy and her eggs!

Take care everyone. Thank you for stopping by to check on the birds. It is nice having you with us.

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

The Daisy Chronicles, Day 4

Going back to Day 3, Daisy duly stayed on the three eggs for a bit. The third egg was laid at 06:55:06. Daisy began preparing to depart, moving leaves and twigs over the eggs at 08:17. Within two minutes, she was gone — after checking that no one was around watching.

Oh, she is such a beautiful brave little duck!

This programme seems to have put the images backwards! The top row and one on the second shows Daisy covering up her precious eggs.

Day 4: 6 December 2021

Everyone’s favourite duck, the Pacific Black Duck, Daisy, flew into the nest at 05:21:51. You might be able to see her fluttering and flying up in the image below. She is the blurry mark above ‘2021’.

Daisy landed on the nest a second later.

Daisy seemed a tad more nervous this morning. She is extremely cautious taking almost two minutes before she waddles over to the egg cup.

I wonder what sounds from the forest Daisy is hearing that are making are nervous? Are Lady and Dad back from Goat Island? Has Daisy seen them?

Daisy was still nervous after she settled. She did not remove the leaves. She laid down on them and used her paddle feet to stir them around and the eggs.

At precisely 06:19:36, Daisy laid her first egg – about half an hour earlier than the day prior.

There it is. You can see that it is wet and shiny. It will need to harden and Daisy will hope that predators stay away so that she can cover up her clutch of four eggs completely today.

Daisy is allowing the air to harden the egg as she stands over her clutch. If she follows the same routine of previous days, she will remain on the nest for not quite two hours.

So far Daisy’s luck has held. We hope that the Sea Eagles remain on Goat Island. And Daisy may resist putting down with the eggs until there is hard incubation so as not to attract the Ring-tailed Possums who have made a nest also in the sea eagles’s tree.

Good Luck today, Daisy! Cover the eggs really well. You have hundreds of people watching you and sending you much love and luck!!!!!!

Thank you for joining me today. I will bring updates for other nests later today that will include a final check in on Daisy. Take care all.

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

The Daisy Chronicles, day 3

Daisy appears to have established a routine coming to and from the nest. I will check this today once it approaches dawn in Sydney.

Yesterday she arrived before dawn and checked on the one egg. She cautiously returned later and laid her 2nd egg. Once it was hard and she had warmed it for a short while, she began bringing leaves from all around the nest – stretching her little neck to its fullest. If she heard a predator, she would stop everything. Slink down into the nest cup as best she could and wait. Then she would begin gathering leaves again. Then she departed.

The images below are from the time Daisy arrived til she left on day 2.

Today is Day 3! Oh, our brave little duck. She arrived before dawn. Egg 3 was laid at 6:55:07. You can see that moment in the images below. Oh, this little duck from last year learned so much in a year. Many of you have written to me remembering that last year we felt that if Daisy had arrived a month earlier the eggs might have all hatched. Well, this smart duck did that this year. This would be her first clutch of the season. She can lay eggs twice. Last year Lady and Dad spent the month of December at Goat Island for the most part rarely checking on the nest. We will never know if Lady hadn’t tossed the down all over the place if those eggs could have remained hidden from the Ravens. But, if Dad and Lady are away from the nest ———— well, Daisy, we are all sending you the best energy that we can.

You could hear the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos and the other birds in the forest. Daisy is extremely cautious – as she should be.

It looks like there are a few sprinkles on Daisy’s feathers. Our beautiful little duck is standing above thee eggs so the third will dry and the shell harden.

Daisy will do what she has done the other two days. Allow the shell to harden. She may stay on the three eggs a bit before covering all three and leaving the nest. She appears to not have removed any down from her breast yet for the eggs.

The egg is now dry enough to Daisy to lay down on all of the eggs.

I wish Daisy knew how many well wishes she has from around the world including her good friend ‘I’ from Poland.

Thank you so much for being here for Daisy today. Stop in tomorrow for Day 4 of The Daisy Chronicles. Stay safe!

I will continue to monitor the situation — and, of course, you can, too. Here is the link to the streaming cam!

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

The Daisy Chronicles, day 2

We are going to start off with a check on what is happening in San Francisco – before moving on to Daisy.

An absolutely adorable 4 min 16 sec radio discussion on The Love Story in the Sky at The Campanile.

Did you know that Peregrine Falcons were virtually wiped out in California? In the late 1970 there were only two nesting pairs? This was the result of DDT. There is lots of literature but reading Rachel Carsons, Silent Spring, is a very good start.

DDT might have been banned after the revelations of Rachel Carson and others but it remains in the soil in various places. One of those is Big Bear California where DDT was sprayed on Big Bear Lake to kill the mosquitoes. It is still a contributing factor in thin egg shells which may be part of the problem with Jackie and Shadow, the Bald Eagles that have their nest at Big Bear.

Daisy the Duck did not spend the night on the White-Bellied Sea Eagle nest.

She arrived before sunrise to check on the nest. No one else was there. Daisy will be very cautious. She does not want to draw attention to the egg cup where her first egg was laid.

She goes over to where her egg is and checks. It is still there. Safe.

We can see where Daisy’s egg is because we know it is there but it is nicely covered with leaves and nest material so the predators cannot find it.

Daisy leaves right as the sun is rising and the forest is waking up.

Daisy carefully waits on a branch when she returns an hour and a half later. Can you see her?

She is checking and rolling her egg.

Daisy is very still. When she is in labour, her tail will move up and down.

There are now two eggs! Look you can see them both. Daisy is holding herself up so as not to break the second egg. When the eggs are laid they are soft. The air will dry off the surface and make them hard.

Daisy has settled on the eggs nicely. She is having a rest. Daisy will not do hard incubation until all of the eggs are laid. That is so they will hatch at the same time.

This last image of Daisy was taken a few minutes ago. It is nearly 08:30 in Sydney, Australia.

So far Daisy has been lucky. Lady and Dad did visit the nest tree a week ago and then on the day that WBSE 27 was released from care, they were not at the River Roost. They will often go to Goat Island if there are no eaglets to look after. Still, we know that they do come to check the nest.

Someone asked me why Daisy does not stay on the eggs now all the time. If she did they would not all hatch on the same day. Secondly, she is a very smart little duck. Her presence on the nest makes all of the other forest animals and birds curious. Last January they had never seen a duck on the big sea eagle nest — and neither had anyone else! I think Daisy will try and protect her eggs really well this year from the Ravens. She is almost a year older and she is ‘wiser’ now. Her breeding and the laying of eggs normally coincides with plenty of food and water. Her mate, who came to inspect the nest last year, only takes part in the mating ritual. The rest is up to Daisy. That is why she is so vulnerable. Only 20% of Pacific Black Ducks live to be 2 years old. Indeed, the average life span is only about two years. Oh, I so hope that she is successful this year! There are so many people hoping for Daisy!

You can join in and become a real Daisy fan. She needs all the love and positive energy we can all send her. Soon the name of the streaming cam will be changed from Sea-Eagle to Duck Cam! Here is the link to the streaming cam. Daisy arrives about 13:15 CDT or around 05:15 Australian Time. I am not expecting her to stay all day but she might surprise me.

Once Daisy lays all of her eggs (there could be 11), she will begin her hard incubation. Incubation will last for 29 days after the laying of the last egg. This is the difficult time. Daisy still has to eat and have some relaxing time. Last year she even went out during the night. It is then that the eggs are vulnerable. As long as she is incubating them, the Ravens seem not to bother. Our fears of the sea eagles proved to be nothing. They could behave differently this year but they were not a threat last save for the fact that scattering the down nesting material allowed the eggs to be seen. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon!

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

Daisy is back!

Daisy is a Pacific Black Duck. This past January Daisy laid her second clutch of eggs in the old Ironbark Tree used by the White-Bellied Sea Eagles for their nest. She has now returned to lay her first clutch for the 2021-22 season. She laid her first egg today!

Last year we held our breath watching Daisy pick the nest with her mate, lay her eggs, be frightened off by Dad and Lady only to find out their were curious – not harmful. WBSE do not like duck down! It sticks to their bills and must feel ‘fuzzy’. The Rainbow Lorikeets came to visit Daisy every morning. The culprits were the Ravens.

The female Black Pacific Duck normally lays their nest on the ground. Daisy might believe or know for certain that is unsafe. So she tried this high tree deep in the forest. I wrote blog after blog about this brave little Duck that outwitted the big sea eagles. Sadly, the WBSE scattered the down lining the nest cup that had come from Daisy’s chest. She was able to replace it once but then it rained. When she got up off the nest to get food for herself (her mate does not help her at all), the Ravens saw the eggs and ate them. They were within a couple of days of hatching. It appears that Daisy wants to take her chances again using the nest of Dad and Lady. My goodness. Welcome back, Daisy!

Can you see her?

There it is!

You will notice that Daisy has not lined the egg cup with the down from her breast. She will. It seems she was in a hurry to get into this big nest and lay that egg. I wonder if she laid eggs elsewhere and was frightened away? Isn’t she beautiful?

This is so exciting. Daisy renewed my love for ducks last year. The camera operator at the Sea Eagle nest is very good at getting close ups of the beautiful nest cup she will make. The image below is from day 13 of incubation. Daisy was half way to hatch. She is listening for the sea eagles. You can see the mess that Lady made with the duck down – that precious lining and covering, scattered.

Daisy’s beautiful lined nest in early 2021

Daisy was always very cautious when she returned to the nest. She would listen and look around for a long time. She did not want anyone to see where her clutch of precious eggs was.

Satisfied that no one is around, Daisy sits on her eggs.
A friendly Rainbow Lorikeet curious about the little duck in the big sea eagle nest.

This morning I wrote that there wasn’t much happening in the Australian nests and wow – Daisy, you just changed all of that. So everyone even if you think you do not like ducks you will want to watch The Chronicles of Daisy – the little duck that thwarted the great big sea eagles! Here is the link to the camera. Oh, I am so excited I can hardly sit still. Seriously, this is better than ice cream or your favourite mystery thriller.

Just a note. Daisy will not do hard incubation until all of the eggs are laid. There will be between 7-12 normally. The ducklings will all hatch at once and jump off the nest when they are 24 hours old. They will then follow Daisy quickly to the Parramatta River where she lives and where they will immediately forage for food.

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