Despite the presence of the Sea Eagles, Lady and Dad, at the River Roost on the Parramatta River, Daisy has been blissful since she returned from her morning foraging trip at 07:11:00
The Sea Eagles have not come to the nest. The wind is beginning to really pick up. I have not seen any predators on the nest. That said, the sound is off on the main camera and the Ravens could have been in the branches above like they have been lately or simply flying by. The strong winds might keep them at home!
It is currently 30 degrees in the forest and the winds are blowing at 19 km/h with gusts up to 39 km/h. It is hot and humid for Daisy with the confirmation of thunderstorms (90% chance) from 15:00-18:00. Hopefully Daisy will wait til the rain and winds have calmed before going out for her evening foraging. I am not concerned about her. She has been through many storms but, rather, for the priceless down covering those eggs.
It is nearing 11:30 on the old Ironbark Nest. The wind is rocking the tree but Daisy does not seem bothered. I have no noted any predators around and it is unclear if the Sea Eagles are still at the River Roost. The sound is still off line.
Other Nest News. A video has been posted of the thunderstorm that hit Orange last evening. Lightning, hail, thunder, and high winds. Diamond is in the scrape. You can see she is frightened. This morning Xavier arrived on the ledge of the scrape box and there was much relief he was alright. You can imagine that was this type of storm that also hit Daisy in Sydney.
Need an Osprey fix? Lena can see Andy in the distance and she is fish crying. Here is that video:
Samson is so happy that him and Gabby have their first egg as of yesterday. Just look at those two!
Over at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge, Ervie picked up the first delivery of the morning -despite the choppy water and winds – from dad at 06:30:41.
Falky got the 07:39:44 fish.
Last time I checked Bazza was alone on the nest wishing for a fish.
Thank you so much for joining me. There is not much to report about Daisy which is, after all, a good thing. Hopefully the weather will not be as bad for her as it was for the Peregrine falcons, Xavier and Diamond, at Orange. I will monitor her throughout the rest of the day. Take care everyone. Stay safe! Look to the birds for joy!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: the Port Lincoln Osprey, the NEFlorida Bald Eagle Cam and the AEF, and the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.
The main camera was off line til right before Daisy returned from her early morning foraging at 07:11:50. Daisy did not spend as much time drying off as usual. Her esophagus is enlarged so it looks like her foraging went well.
After sliding down on the nest, she has spent some time arranging the down and the leaves.
Daisy is tucked and sleeping. She has no idea that the Sea Eagles are near by.
Both of the WBSE are at the River Roost this morning. They were caught on camera just now.
The cam operator has kept the camera on the Sea Eagles. I wonder if she is waiting to see if they will leave and come to the nest in the forest.
You can follow Daisy on the Livestream at
I wanted to let you know that the streaming cam is up and running and that Daisy returned to the nest and is alright. The concern is the Sea Eagles. What will they do?
Well, no more than I wrote that the streaming cam was working and it has gone down again! Here is the link to the Twitch cam – remember it has no sound and it has no rewind function.
This is concerning because of the Sea Eagles. Fingers crossed that they fly off to Goat Island!
Ah, Cam 4 just resumed streaming. Daisy is fine! The wind and the weather must be having an impact but it ‘looks’ fine at the nest. The early morning sun is filtering its way through the leaves. My calendar says there are possibly 16 days to hatch (the most 20).
The Noisy Miners are about and now the sound has gone off the main camera. Daisy is sleeping.
I will continue to monitor the situation as best I can. Thank you for joining me and for sending all your love and positive wishes to Daisy. Please take care of yourselves. Stay safe.
Thank you to both the Twitch Sea Eagles cam and the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discover Centre Sydney Olympic Park.
After having a busy morning with visitors – the Ring-tailed Possum, the Rainbow Lorikeets, the Noisy Miners, the Pied Currawong, and the Ravens – our beautiful little Pacific Black Duck Daisy had a very uneventful day. What a blessing that is – a calm, no drama day. If we could link the next 17 or 18 days together into boring bliss for Daisy, she just might beat the odds.
The forecast for thunderstorms and a drop in temperature changed periodically. The sky got dark and Daisy decided to leave the nest for her evening foraging 20 minutes earlier than last evening. She flew off at 17:51:55.
Daisy tucked and folded the down over the eggs while using her bill to scrape up leaves and nest material around the edges.
The sky turned dark. It is difficult to tell if there is any light rain falling. Despite the forecast for thunderstorms no thunder can be heard. At least not yet. The storms are supposed to last until 22:00.
My only concern is if all that beautiful fluffy down were to get wet. It would mat and shrink. Would Daisy have enough down to replenish it? so that it would completely cover those eggs like it is now?
Sadly, the male ducks do not provide security when the female is away like Canadian Geese. While the male CG do not help incubate the eggs, they do provide security and certainly help with the goslings after they hatch. Daisy has absolutely no help with either. With all the odds against her, she is really managing well this clutch. Each day I am becoming more cautiously optimistic.
Daisy returns from her evening break at 20:18:35. She spends some time on the rim of the nest drying her feathers.
It appears that the weather that was forecast did not do anything to damage Daisy’s down. Yahoo.
Just look at Daisy in all that down! It shows up so much better with the IR camera.
It is 04:42 nest time. The main camera went out just after the last image above.
This is the view from the Twitch camera. There is no sound and I cannot find any rewind mechanism. As you can see, we cannot tell if Daisy is in the nest or not.
I will catch up with Daisy as soon as the main camera comes back on line. Thank you for so much for joining me as we begin Day 17 for our favourite duck!
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park for their streaming cam and Twitch Streaming Cam where I took my screen captures.
Is that Ring-tail possum responsible for Daisy not leaving the nest to go foraging til later? It was spotted on camera at 04:27 climbing around the rim of the nest and on the branches and again at 04:47.
Ring-tail Possums are not a direct threat to Daisy’s eggs – they will not eat them. That said, the possum is looking for nesting material and Daisy does not know if it is friend or foe. She must be uneasy because she has always stayed on the nest not leaving for the foraging until the possum goes into his hole in the base of the big nest and goes to sleep.
They are a Marsupial – not like the opossums in North America.
Once the possum is not moving about, Daisy prepares to leave for her foraging. She covers the nest well with all that soft fluffy down.
She flies off at 05:08:41 for her breakfast.
How many of us get tense when Daisy does not return from her foraging? I sure do in the morning. Scared to death that those Ravens are going to set the alarm and be out in the forest early.
While Daisy was away, the cam operator gave us a really nice close up of that nest! It is so beautiful. I never thought a bunch of duck down and old leaves could be so stunning.
Daisy returned at 07:01:38. She took her time, checking around to see if any predators were near, and drying off her feathers.
Daisy had settled in nicely and those fabulous Rainbow Lorikeets could be heard arriving to wish this amazing little duck a good morning.
It is certainly difficult to see Daisy on the nest unless you know you are looking for a duck!
I have heard the Ravens in the distance at 07:50:11 but they have not come to the nest – yet. The Rainbow Lorikeets did return again. They have such a sweet voice.
Daisy, like all ducks, did not get serious about taking off down until she was finished laying eggs. Every day the amount of down seems to grow making that lovely cloud bigger and bigger. She is an amazing Mum.
Daisy’s nest is really quite comfy looking. Look at her extended esophagus or crop, it is quite full. She had a nice foraging venture this morning. That is good. It is set to get warmer today on the nest – up to 34 C. She will need the hydration.
Daisy heard them before I did —— the Ravens flying through the forest. They landed on the high branches of the nest tree but did not come down to the nest near Daisy. They are definitely checking to make sure she is incubating those eggs. I must plot their fly through times. It seems that it is always around 09:00 or so in the morning with possibly 2 others pass throughs later.
Daisy got still and put her head down a bit when they were up in the tree. Her eyes change. You can tell she is afraid but she certainly does not let the Ravens know that. She gave it to them twice. So interesting they don’t bother trying to get her off the nest with their threats.
Other Bird News: I feel so guilty not checking on the Port Lincoln Osprey fledglings. So, after Daisy returned this morning I went to their streaming cam to see how the boys were doing. Mum and Dad are still delivering meals and Ervie, dear Ervie, is still dominant. At the end of the afternoon, yesterday, Ervie had finished one fish. He was so full. Then he got the next fish. He literally ‘sat’ on that fish for an hour and a half before he started eating it. Today, Ervie got the first fish at 06:06:21. Falky got the next delivery at 06:21. Bazza is waiting his turn. What do you want to bet that Mum brings her baby boy a nice fish?
Gabby has been on the nest this morning. Will this be the day for an egg for her and Samson at the NE Florida Bald Eagle nest near Jacksonville?
And Gabby did! It was 17:19:21. Congratulations Samson and Gabby! I think that they count the egg that did not hatch – so Legacy was NE24, ‘Eggie’ was NE25 so this must be NE26. So excited.
We will check back on 20 December for egg 2. This is splendid. This will be Samson and Gabby’s third breeding attempt as bonded mates. They fledged Romey and Jules (2020) and Legacy (2021). Samson is using the nest that belonged to his parents, Romeo and Juliette. — and where he hatched.
Harriet and M15’s eggs are set to hatch at the Bald Eagle Nest in Fort Myers in a week (egg 1). Can you believe a snake came on that nest?! They love eggs. Harriet was able to stomp on it and kill it without harming those two precious eggs. Here is the video:
So for something a little different. Need a holiday pick me up? The other evening I found the most amazing site – a feeding station for Roe Deer. Every day the same man brings pellets and hay but he delivered carrots today! Here is the video of the delivery.
Here is the live stream to this amazing site. It warms one’s heart to see the generosity and caring for these beautiful animals. The deer live around Saaremaal, the largest island in Estonia. They are a small reddish-brown deer that live in the coldest of climates.
It is -13 degrees C in central Canada with snow due to start falling at 23:00. Everything is grey or brown! We woke up to a fresh white blanket covering everything. There were 29 European Starlings sitting on the tips of the lilacs waiting for the Bark Butter delivery! Squirrels were scurrying everywhere and there was evidence that Hedwig had been out at night eating the birdseed on the ground. I should have called her Dyson, too!
The morning light is filtering through the branches of the Old Ironbark Tree and Daisy is illuminated. Just gorgeous in that light.
No sooner had I taken this image than a few minutes later Daisy is frozen in fear. She will remain like this until 09:52:43 – almost three minutes. It was hard to see her even take a breath.
Daisy remains cautious. You can see the shadow of a bird flitting around. The vocalization sounded like a Pied Currawong – the bird that harasses Lady and Dad and the fledglings, the bird that sent WBSE 27 into care from a mob attack. I hope they move along and leave Daisy in peace.
Daisy appears a little more relaxed but she is very alert. Fingers crossed that things settle down in the forest and the rest of her day is uneventful. I will monitor Daisy throughout the evening here in Canada and the wee hours of the morning.
Thank you so very much for joining me. I am so grateful for all of these amazing birds. They give me joy (and anxiety) each and every day. I hope that they bring the joy to you! Take care of yourselves. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, and RMK Hirvekaamera.
I had a question from a reader. It was a good observation about Daisy and the multi-tasking she has to do such as security, nest cup maintenance, incubation, and feeding herself. You might have noticed that no one relieves Daisy when she needs a break. It would be ‘monumental’ in terms of security if that were the case but, it isn’t. The Pacific Black Ducks are similar to the Mallards in that the males might go with the female to look at nesting sites but it is her choice. If the nest is down in the reeds by the water, they ‘might’ provide some security. Indeed, Daisy is responsible for nesting site choice, nest cup creation and maintenance, incubation, brood rearing, and getting her own food. Dr Mike Brasher in his article, ‘Understanding Waterfowl: Drakes and Ganders’ points out one of the issues when he says, ‘In North America, nearly all duck populations consist of a higher proportion of males than females…This gender imbalance is mostly caused by higher rates of mortality suffered by females while nesting and brood rearing.’ In other words, it is dangerous for Daisy to be left alone and yet the species has not developed behaviours that would see the female protected or assisted. Daisy is most vulnerable when she is incubating her eggs. David Sibley says that in many studies, ‘…up to 30 percent of adult females did not survive the four weeks of incubation.’
Daisy and other ducks spend approximately 23 hours a day incubating eggs for 26-30 days. She relies on her camouflage, be alert, puffing up to enlarge her size, and travelling quietly to avoid predators. I think she also needs a great deal of luck. Sibley says that ‘A nesting attempt has only a 15 percent chance of fledging any young.’ Once fledged, he adds that only about a third of those that fledge survive the first 2 or 3 weeks.
In other words, we are witnessing something rather miraculous if all goes well and those eggs of Daisy’s hatch and fledge. There were some who thought Daisy was ‘crazy’ selecting this nest but with the odds maybe she isn’t. Indeed, maybe Daisy was not ‘a crazy duck’, at all, selecting the WBSE nest. She tried last year and even with the Sea Eagles coming often, they showed no intent to harm the duck. They were curious. Dad seemed to be concerned about who dared to lay eggs in Lady’s nest cup and his nest. Daisy and Dad played ‘nest tag. She would often fly off the second he landed. One day he sat on the camera tree waiting for the bird to show up that owned those eggs. Daisy stayed away. She would have noticed him from a nearby tree and the second he left the forest she flew to her eggs. Dad broke one of the eggs – perhaps by accident. He didn’t like the taste of the egg but he was very curious about the down as was Lady. They didn’t know what it was – they had never experienced it. Neither of them liked it! The down stuck to their beaks and just about drove them crazy trying to get it off. No, it was the Ravens wanting the eggs when they saw them. While there were a few days to go to hatch, Daisy had held out that long. She learned something, I hope. That is not to leave the nest unattended during the normal daylight hours. That is when the Ravens could come and predate the eggs. So far, she has left on average around sunset and before sunrise. The last set of breaks was an exception – there were three in a 14 hour period – shorter in duration than the longer break days. With the cooler weather and what Daisy learned from last year, we can only hope that she does not leave the nest during the prime daylight hours when the Ravens are about.
The cam operator zoomed in and there are some wonderful closeups of our darling Daisy.
It is 16:00 on the nest and all is well. It is 23:00 on the Canadian Prairies. I have a nasty habit of getting up to check on Daisy constantly even though the sound is on quite high to alert me if any Ravens or WBSE come to the nest. Fingers crossed the time from now until Daisy departs the nest for her evening meal will be blissful and free of any incidents.
And all has gone well. Daisy left the nest at 18:11:17 – well before sunset at 20:03. That made me a bit nervous. However, Daisy pulled it off. As luck would have it neither the WBSE or the Ravens came to the nest while she was away that I could see. She returned at 20:25:37.
She has lots of down to cover the eggs. The down is quite visible but maybe the WBSE will leave it alone since they don’t like it on their bills – if they come and then if they notice.
Daisy had that enlarged esophagus or ‘crop’ when she returned. It looks like she had a very good foraging!
It is Day 16. It is now 04:14 on the nest. Daisy seems very content. Sunrise is at 05:40. The weather forecast is for a ‘possible’ scatter thunderstorm in the Sydney Olympic Forest area around 16:00. The temperature will rise to 34. Much hotter than Daisy has seen on the nest. I hope those storms with their rain are scattered. Daisy really is relying on that gorgeous down to protect those eggs.
Thank you so much for joining me. I will have an update in early evening of all the day’s happenings for Daisy. Continue to send your positive energy to this amazing duck that just might defy all the odds. She certainly has a huge support group that love her so much.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles @ Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre at the Sydney Olympic Park for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
It is 15:00 in the Sydney Olympic Forest. You can hear the old Ironbark Tree creaking as the 23 kph winds twist the branches about. It sounds like old doors that need to be oiled. The gusts seem to be more. Daisy seems undaunted. I cannot hear any bird vocalizations in the forest.
The camera operator checked to see if the Sea Eagles were at the River Roost. There was one bird – WBSE or Gull? – flying over the Parramatta River. It is that white dot against the far dark trees up at the top – almost in the middle of the background.
I continue to keep in my mind that last year we kept saying, ‘If Daisy had only come in late November or December.’ Gosh, we surely got that wish this year. But, this year feels like a ‘cake walk’ compared to last year. (Still I do not want to get complacent – anything can happen!) I don’t think anyone slept while Daisy was on the nest. We did not know how the Sea Eagles would react – we didn’t know when they would be coming to try and catch Daisy. You could almost see the steam coming off the top of Dad’s head last year trying to ‘catch’ whatever bird was brave or stupid enough to lay their eggs in ‘his’ nest. I am posting one of my blogs from last year. Every moment was tense. In the image below, Dad has landed on the nest. You can see that Daisy had no time to cover her eggs!
Daisy had only a split second to get off the nest and no time to conceal her eggs.
People from around the world were cheering this brave duck. There is another difference this year also. The temperatures. It is 23 degrees C today. Last time Daisy had eggs on this nest, it rose to 40 degrees C. The sun was so hot she had to leave frequently for breaks and she often left in the middle of the afternoon. That is how the Ravens got the eggs. This time it appears it is after sunset and before sunrise that could at least hold off the Ravens. Maybe there is a ‘finishing school’ for future duck mothers???
The weather forecast has now posted a 40% chance of a shower – not rain – with the winds gusting to 30 kph. Here is a very short video clip of our little Daisy – gosh, she looks tiny in that big tree – as it is swaying with the gusts.
I am not expecting anything to happen – famous last words – until Daisy leaves for her evening break. Sunset is at 20:03.
Daisy surprised me and left at 17:22:30 for her evening foraging. This was two and a half hours before sunset! This is unusual compared to her pattern. She did spend considerable time covering up her eggs and she appeared to be looking for more leaves.
Off she goes! That blur of feathers under the branch on the right.
I had convinced myself that I could fall asleep and wake up and check that Daisy had returned and the eggs and her were both alright. The problem was she left too early. Who would come to get those eggs? Would the ravens be around on a quick fly through before roosting? Normally Daisy departs for her break right at sunset. So I waited with a pot of spiced tea, a box of shortbread, and Mark Bittman’s recipe for No-Knead Bread from TheNew York Times. Our forecast was for thin layers of freezing rain – the kind that covers everything but you can’t see it. Black Ice. And then snow as the temperature plunges from -1 to -14. Daisy is enjoying cooler temperatures than her incubation time last year. It was 19 C during the evening and early morning hours.
Daisy did return and no one bothered the nest. She was a very lucky little duck. She landed back on the nest at 19:43:23 ——- 20 minutes before sunset.
Oh, I hope we get some close ups today. Just look at the down – it must feel good compared to those hard sticks.
Doesn’t she look adorable?
It is 04:16:00 and Daisy has not left for her morning break. She fooled me yesterday by slipping out for a quick foraging trip at 04:46. I wonder if she will do that today?
Daisy flew off the nest at 05:09:04. She spent considerable time before leaving covering up her eggs.
And she is off! Daisy is a Dabbler. I hope that she finds lots of yummy plants to enjoy.
In the background you could hear the Noisy Miners and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo easily over the hum of the camera. The forest is waking up just as Daisy is leaving. They are particularly loud this morning. I wonder if they alerted her that she should get going?
The cam operator gave us some beautiful shots of Daisy’s nest covering. Thank you!
Sunrise is at 05:39. Yesterday Daisy was back on the nest a little after 06:00. Fingers crossed.
It is Day 15 of the Daisy Chronicles and so far all is well.
Thank you so much for joining me. I will bring an update on Daisy in about six or seven hours. Let us hope that today is as uneventful as all the others. Please 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.
Daisy left for her break at 04:46:45 and returned at 06:08:22. Since then she has had visitors. The Noisy Miners came at 07:31 and the Rainbow Lorikeets arrived at 08:03 to say good morning to their favourite little duck.
The cam operator checked to see if the White-Bellied Sea Eagles were at the River Roost early this morning. No. They were not there!
You could hear them before they arrived. The Ravens cawed at 09:29:51. They flew by and then it sounded like they landed on an upper branch. They never landed on the tree. Made a small racket and flew off. Poof. They are smart. They know the eggs are there and they will continue to check hoping to catch Daisy off her nest!
Besides the visitors, the morning has been peaceful. Even the weather forecast changed to cloudy with no rain. Seriously, this is wonderful news. I am not sure it could be any better unless the Ravens went for a holiday to Singapore, the WBSE stayed at Goat Island til mid-January, and somehow we were able to make a bit of a ramp for those ducklings. “Hope for the best, stay positive but prepare for the worst.”
It is nearing 11:00 and all is well with our beautiful Daisy. She has the most fluffy nest – like laying on a cloud.
Other Bird World News: The Duke Farms Bald Eagle Cam went live today for their fans. Oh, last year, I ached for the Mum. She seemed to spend all her incubation duties buried under snow and ice. Here is your link to that cam:
The State of Pennsylvania has raised the fine from $200 to $2000 for killing a Bald Eagle. I might have added another zero on to that figure and included ‘any raptor’.
The Bald Eagles really need protecting but so do the other raptors whose body parts are considered trophies or good luck charms. Sadly to say that in the state where I grew up, Oklahoma, there is a reward out for any information leading to the arrest of the person who mutilated a Bald Eagle.
People are just beginning to understand the damage from the tornados last Friday. In Tennesse, the Bald Eagles have lost their homes in the 210 year old Cypress Trees that were ripped up.
Wisdom, the oldest living Albatross in the World at 70, has returned to Midway Island for another breeding season. Yahoo!
Gabby is still making us wait. No egg at the Northeast Florida Bald Eagle nest yet. Nine days to go til hatch watch for Harriet and M15 though! Yes.
Daisy’s day will be quiet providing the Sea Eagles do not arrive and make a ruckus. The Ravens will return at least once more to check Daisy is on the nest. So thankful for no rain and so far, everything is good. We just need some more leaves to fall. I will continue to monitor Daisy til she leaves for her evening break. If everything is quiet, you will not hear from me again til tomorrow.
Take care everyone. Stay safe. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
It is the middle of the afternoon in Sydney, Australia – Day 13. Daisy, the Pacific Black Duck who is incubating 8 eggs in a ‘borrowed’ nest from the White-Bellied Sea Eagles has had a quiet day.
Daisy still has a substantial amount of food left in that extended esophagus or crop. Just look at it. That is wonderful. She must take care of herself. It will give her the strength to take on the Ravens again if the pair of them should show up on the nest proper.
Daisy has removed a substantial amount of down in the last little while. That nest of hers is amazing. It is so beautiful.
Some down, a little wiggle and some egg rolling, and Daisy is settled in for more incubation and sleep.
I have just checked the weather and there is a 40% chance of rain at the nest at 19:00 and a 100% chance beginning at 20:00. That is the time that Daisy normally goes foraging. The rain is scheduled to continue throughout the night until 13:00 tomorrow afternoon. Why am I mentioning this? Well, it is important. Duck down shrinks or compacts. Daisy has had to rely on the duck down to not only insulate the eggs and make a nice comfy nest but she has also used it to cover the precious eggs. There are sadly not enough leaves on the nest to do that this clutch. Fingers crossed that Daisy is able to manage coming and going so that the down is not that impacted.
Gosh, she is a very special little duck – just beautiful. So sweet. The breeze continues to rock the old Ironbark Tree ever so gently.
That beautiful blue bill really sets Daisy apart from many ducks.
At 15:58 Daisy turned her head and listened. Something caught her attention. She was alert for a few minutes and then…nothing. She settled down and relaxed.
In a surprise move, Daisy flew off the nest at 18:36. Sunset is not until 20:02.
Oh, if the wind would only send some more leaves down right by those eggs!
Did Daisy leave because she needed to so that she could return before the rain begins? Did she need a comfort break after all the foraging before sunrise? Will the Ravens come while she is away?
The camera went offline and it is unclear to me when Daisy returned to her eggs. But at 02:02, her and her eggs are fine. Fantastic.
Daisy, you really are amazing –and we worry so much about you!
Daisy has been able to leave the nest untended during the evening/night with no worries. The cam operator caught a visitor to the nest that has the potential to cause our Daisy some serious problems, Boo-Book Owl and his mate! This was taken the night prior to this posting so all is well with the eggs.
I have not been able to determine if Boo and his mate actually eat eggs. The Duck eggs are quite large. While they might not, they could definitely wreck havoc by pecking at them or removing down which, at this time, is precious as it really is covering everything. Ah, I wish they had not noticed. These little owls cause such mischief when they fly through hitting Lady on the head or the nestling sea eagles.
The forecast for Day 14, 16 December 2021, is for it to be 22 degrees C and cloudy with a 40% chance of rain around 09:00. I wonder if Daisy is going to go on a break? It is getting close to when she should leave. Sunrise is at 05:39.
Daisy continues to wait to leave for her break. I wonder if those pesky possums are running around on that tree?
Daisy finally left for her break at 04:46:45. You can see her preparing to leave in the image below. She has pulled some more down off her breast and will be covering the eggs with the rest of the down and a few leaves.
There she is plucking off that down.
With the eggs covered as best she could, Daisy leaves to go and get some food.
Daisy returned to the nest at 06:08:22. You can just see her wings fluttering to the right of the rim of the big Sea Eagle nest.
Daisy is all settled and at this moment, everything is alright with the world. Take a deep breath everyone. Send all your good energy.
I will monitor Daisy through the rest of the day providing an update in about six or seven hours. Fingers crossed! We are on Day 14. Daisy has been incubating her eggs now for 7-8 days depending on how you want to count. This means that with the hatch watch from 26-30 days, we continue to look around the 4-6th of January, possibly as early as the 3rd. She is doing so well.
Thank you so much for joining me and for sending all your very best wishes to this little Pacific Black Duck who dared to make her nest in the big Sea Eagle tree nest. Stay safe. Be careful. See you soon.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.
The Sydney Olympic Forest is quiet. The wind is rocking Daisy and her eggs as she gets some sleep in the quiet of the afternoon. By the time she leaves her nest for her break to eat and go to the bathroom, she will have been on the nest for almost a solid 22 hours. Without a break. Not one. I think the possum frightened Daisy this morning right when she should have left for foraging. I hope that it doesn’t happen again.
By normal calculations this is day 6 of hard incubation. Duck eggs take from 26-30 days. This means Daisy has three more weeks to thwart all that would wish to eat those eggs or get her off their nest. Those bookmakers that take bets on almost anything probably have the odds flat against our little duck. I don’t want to get my hopes up – it is true that everything seems like it is against her but, just in case, I think I am going to dream up something nice to have on hand ‘just in case’. As I said in my earlier blog, seeing Daisy and her ducklings leap off that nest would really start 2022 off right.
I am very anxious for Daisy today. It is all because she did not go off the nest to forage before sunrise. It is now 16:21 and she has three and a half hours until sunset. I think that she would be safe to leave a wee bit before then. I notice that the birds in our garden have left the lilac bushes and feeders about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset each day. Maybe the Ravens do that as well?
Every time Daisy starts gathering leaves or moving about as she did about ten minutes ago, I think she is going to leave. The Ravens are smart. They haven’t come on the nest after Daisy fearlessly protected her eggs but they have been around several times to check to see if she is there. They know those eggs are in that nest and they would not hesitate if our little duck was away.
The light changes on the nest continually. Half an hour ago Daisy was hidden in the shadow of the branches and now she is fully illuminated. It is now three hours until sunset. This feels like the slowest day of the week.
This is the forecast for the Sydney Olympic Park for tomorrow and Thursday.
Daisy waited as long as she could waiting til the sounds of the forest told her the others were roosting. She flew off at 19:10. She returned at 20:42:42 so she was off the eggs for about an hour and a half.
I love this view of Daisy and the nest tree. There she is ready to take off.
Off our darling Daisy goes to a well earned meal and break!
Daisy returned refreshed and hopefully a little full.
Daisy did not leave the nest for a morning break on Day 12 but she prepares her nest and flies off at 02:23:38. I am so glad that Daisy has taken this break. The forecast for rain still stands and Daisy will be on the down so that it does not get wet.
Today the weather will be moving from the 16 degrees C to 29 degrees C right before the rains are expected at 17:00. The morning light is starting to filter through the forest and sunrise is at 05:39. Daisy has not returned from her break. She has been away for three hours.
As the birds start to wake up in the forest I am starting to wish that Daisy would hurry back to the nest.
Daisy arrived back at the nest right around 05:59:28. She was followed by a Noisy Miner. Not taking any chances, Daisy went up to the parent branch until it left.
Once the Noisy Miner leaves, Daisy carefully walks over to the egg cup and starts incubating those precious 8 eggs.
Gosh, Daisy just looks so tiny.
Whew. Daisy is still a little wet. You can see the feathers on the top of her head. I hope that the time she spent foraging and paddling in the water will energize our beautiful little duck. No one knows what the day will bring but fingers crossed that it is as uneventful as yesterday. Keep sending your best wishes to her. Just because it is quiet does not mean that something horrific could happen any moment. She needs all the positive energy she can get.
I will monitor Daisy during the day and send an update this evening. All eyes are on the Northeast Bald Eagle Nest of Gabby and Samson. In fact, while I have been waiting for Daisy, Gabby might have laid her first egg. She has not left the nest for a long time. Take care everyone. Thank you so much for stopping by to check on this marvellous Pacific Black Duck, Daisy.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen captures.
It is 17:01 nest time on Day 11 as I begin writing. It has been a relative quiet afternoon for Daisy, the Pacific Black Duck incubating 8 eggs on the large White-Bellied Sea Eagle Nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest. Daisy alerted once and within a minute was relaxed again. The camera operator zoomed in on Daisy nestled over her eggs with the sun filtering through the canopy, she glowed.
I took way too many screen captures but who doesn’t love to look at Daisy? And I included some larger versions that are easier to see!
Sometimes, like in the bottom image, it is hard to make out where Daisy is. She is quite camouflaged at times. She spent much time rolling the eggs and plucking more down off her breast. She is a devoted little Mum.
If the pattern continues, Daisy will take her next break right after sunset returning in about two and a half hours. I wonder if she will do the same thing tomorrow morning? The noise in the forest will alert me to the arrival of predators but for now, it is past midnight on the Canadian Prairies, and I am blissfully tired. Oh, that the rest of Daisy’s day is simply uneventful.
Daisy left the nest at 19:48:59. There were no issues prior to her leaving to get a break and eat.
She carefully covered up her eggs with all that fluffy down and the few leaves she has.
There she is flying off to the right – a blur with that beautiful blue scapular showing.
Daisy was gone less than normal. She returned to the nest of 8 eggs at 21:24:44.
It is now 03:46:45 on day 12 and Daisy has not left the nest. I tried to figure out what was keeping her – she needs to eat and there it was – our old friend Ring-tail Possum. Oh, I hope he goes away! Daisy needs to leave so she can have enough food to keep her til sunset.
Daisy doesn’t realize that her eggs are too big for the little possum to carry. They normally eat fruits and flowers. But this possum could steal that lovely down and that would be tragic for Daisy as there are not enough leaves to cover the eggs. Too bad they can strike a deal – the little possum could send leaves falling from the branches above to Daisy in exchange for some of that soft down for its nest.
The problem with the possum is that it is infringing on Daisy’s need to forage so in that way it is troublesome. We don’t want Daisy to need to leave during the day to eat.
It appears that Daisy has chosen not to leave the nest and get food and take a break. Oh, I so wish that possum had not come. Daisy had a very good pattern going – being away during the dark when the predators were sleeping. Will she have to leave during the day and risk her eggs? We have to wait and see.
Dawn is at 05:38. You can see that the forest is getting lighter.
There is some very good weather news. It is to go up to 25 C in the Sydney Olympic Park today with no rain forecast until Thursday.
I will continue to monitor Daisy during the day. She had a good afternoon and evening yesterday. We will all hope for the same today — and that she does not have to leave the eggs til sunset, not even for a comfort break. Send all your positive messages to our favourite brave little duck – Daisy!
Thank you so much for joining me. I will have a Daisy update in 6 or 7 hours unless something untoward happens. Take care everyone. Keep smiling. So far everything is good with Daisy. She is a great little Mum.
Thank you to the Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
