Tag Archives: Dunrovin Ospreys

Late Tuesday in Bird World

14 June 2022

I want to start this newsletter off with something wonderful! At the Redding California Bald Eagle nest, Sentry and Star are both on a high branch of the tree. Sentry has found his way home to Liberty, Guardian and Star who has yet to fledge. This is fabulous news!!!!!!!!

The weather in California is beautiful.

The bad weather returned to the Canadian Prairies and thus, also, to the MN-DNR nest of Nancy and E1. The tree is twisting around in the heavy winds at the moment and rain is pouring down.

There are floods in Montana and, we should check on Iris and her nest at Missoula. Iris did not spend the night on the perch or the nest that I could see. There is a wee bird that has made its home and nest under Iris’s big one. Can you see it?

The waters in the Clark Fork River are said to be rising. There are floods in various parts of Montana which means that it is difficult for the Osprey to catch fish. No wonder Iris did not want to share her fabulous catch yesterday with an intruder. Iris is simply amazing. There she is holding that precious fish and fighting off the intruder at the same time! Bless her heart.

The weather is quite bad at the Charlo Montana platform. (For Ospreys but occupied in March by geese…and not aware of current occupants, if any).

There are birds singing at Dunrovin!

Harriet continues to sit on her eggs even though they are well past the day to hatch. Swoop is supporting her. We wonder as do the folks at Dunrovin when they will quit hoping for their miracle.

Why do eggs not hatch? Dunrovin in their newsletter listed the following causes: cold weather, high humidity, lack of food, lack of egg fertilization. They noted that like many places it has been a very cold and wet spring in Montana.

The camera is still down at the ND-LEEF nest. It is 96 degrees at the nest – perhaps more higher up. Thoughts go to Little Bit 17 who desperately needs food (as do the other two but less so than 17).

The tea time feeding at the Loch of the Lowes left Middle and Big with gigantic crops. There was clearly enough fish for three. But we need fish for four – Mum has to eat, too.

Before Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was fish begging to Blue NC0 before she tucked them all in for the night. He first looked to see if Big Bob was in a food coma. He was. Little Bob is smart.

It would have been the perfect time for a fish to arrive. Little Bit would have had his fill along with Blue NC0! Sadly it was not to be.

Blue NC0 stood waiting and waiting for a delivery. Finally, everyone is in bed.

They are a beautiful couple – CJ7 and Blue 022 at the Poole Harbour Osprey Platform. Blue 022 brought in a nice big fish for CJ7 and the three Bobs at 21:08. These are first time parents making history in Poole Harbour. There have been no ospreys hatched in Poole Harbour for 200 years.

Know what? They are doing a fantastic job!!!!!!!!!

All is well at the nest of Idris and Telyn in Wales near the River Dyfi. Bobs are well fed and sound asleep. Another great Osprey couple. This is good news…we need all the good news we can muster. Good night Telyn. Good night Bobs. Good night wherever you are, Idris.

Gracious. Look at the crop on Mrs G!

Louis delivered a real whopper to Dorcha and the two surviving chicks at Loch Arkaig. What a monster. Everyone is going to eat well – a good time for it to come on the nest. Hopefully the weather will start giving this nest a break.

Middle Bob looks sassy!

The sheep are bleating. Aran is on his perch and the kids are asleep. It looks like Mrs G is going to go into food coma, too!

Notice the grass growing in the nest. In Finland they have noticed that grass growing in the Osprey nests actually helps hide the chicks from predators. Quite interesting.

At Rutland, the three osplets are fast asleep and Maya is going to take some time to enjoy some fish before lights out, too. Looking forward seeing these three ringed any day now.

The Bobs are still quite small compared to those at the Loch of the Lowes but everything at RSPB Loch Garten with Mr and Mrs AX6 and chicks seems fine.

It is 21:30 at the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales – the nest of Dylan and Seren and the three Bobs. Seren is giving Dylan grief and telling him to go and get some more fish. Meanwhile the Bobs have eaten very well today. It takes a lot more fish to feed these fast growing large Bobs – and Mum.

Did you know that there are less than 1500 ospreys in the whole of the UK? That includes juveniles, too. There are a little less than 100,000 in the US. I hope to find out the distribution in the US. There are many in the US and the Cape area in the NE area of the US.

At the Manchester NH Peregrine falcon scrape, Clem was returned this morning. It looked like she wasn’t going anywhere for some time and then – she fludged again.

Colum, one of the males, is at the nest now. Little Colby fludged too but photos of him doing well have been posted on the groups FB page.

Lindsay and Grinnell Jr were ‘loafing’ earlier this morning and now I can only find one of them playing hide and seek. Fledge watch is on.

Alden is doing some ‘loafing’ too. Once those two chicks fledge he is going to be even more busy! So glad he signed up for all of this. You are fantastic, Alden.

Gosh. Do you remember when Alden had no idea how to feed a chick? maybe he had never seen one! – most likely.

Both fledgling ospreys from the UFlorida-Gainesville nest were having a fish dinner at 18:00! Lovely. These two have figured it out perfectly. Fly and get your wings strong. Learn about landings and take offs. Fly to the nest and be fed by Mum and Dad. When you are ready, 60 million years of knowledge will have you catching fish without realizing it….if there are fish to be caught.

They are gorgeous!

Oh, those three Black storklets of Jan and Janika are doing fabulous in rehab care at the Vet Clinic. The plastic decoy mother fell into the nest and the chicks were delighted!

Notice also that a couple of times they work to stand on their feet not walk on the ankles. It will not be long til they are standing and walking. Lovely crops. So healthy!

Today has had some really good news. We will continue to watch the Loch of the Lowes nest as well as wait for word of the ND-LEEF nest and Little Bit 17. Did I saw it was 96 degrees on the ground at the nest – hotter above! I hope 17 got some food.

Thank you so much for being with me. Lots of fledge watches – Star at Redding, Star at West End, the Cal Falcons, L4 at Cornell, National Arboretum, etc. The list is long! Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I grabbed my screen captures, for their FB postings and for the videos uploaded: Liz M and EMU, Peregrine Networks, Cal Falcons, Friends of Redding Eagles, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Friends of Redding Eagles, MN-DNR, Montana Osprey Project, Owl Research Project Explore.org, Dunrovin, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, RSPB Loch Garten, Scottish Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, and CarnyXWild.

Thursday Morning in Bird World

07 March 2022

It is raining snow and snowing rain on the Canadian Prairies on Wednesday afternoon, 6 April. The huge mounds of snow that have covered every space available have melted from the inside out and are disappearing causing fears for a spring flood. Grey squirrels, Dyson and Scraggles, have come out only in the last light of the day to find food. Little Red must be tucked in nicely in his penthouse. So far only one of the Blue Jays has returned. I hope the others are just delayed. For years it has been the three of them – of course, birds do not live forever but when I look out and see my friends in the garden you want to believe that they will always arrive to say hello. Wildlife in an urban setting has many challenges. I am happy to report that my little corner of the world has four new families feeding the birds which, by the act of seeds falling, also feeds the rabbits and the squirrels. Individuals are now showing their toddlers the birds outside eating out of their feeders and together, we are building a bigger and bigger corridor for the wildlife. Our City no longer takes care of the boulevards in front of our homes and this year I want to encourage, where possible, the planting of bird friendly shrubs or trees on these sites. Wonder if I can get a grant from the City to help pay for the trees for everyone? It’s a thought! Will keep you posted.

You have asked me about Osprey nests with streaming cams now that the US birds are returning – some already have eggs in the nest. My friend ‘S’ loves Ospreys because they only eat fish. She knows the US nests; I tend to watch the ones in the UK and now Europe also. I asked her for her top list of nests to watch and she sent me quite a few. I am going to start with one or two a day. These nests are known to be successful. First up is the Dunrovin Nest in LoLo, Montana, home to Harriet and Swoop. Harriet is home; Swoop has not returned yet.

Here is Harriet on her nest looking out to the Montana hills.

Dunrovin Osprey Nest Cam

Do you want to learn more about Ospreys? Then there is a special programme for citizen scientists run by a graduate student in Conservation Biology from William & Mary College. You observe a different nest, take notes, and meet up in a virtual world every Thursday at 14:30. The programme for this year has not started. Check out this link for more information!

https://www.daysatdunrovin.com/awesome-osprey/

One of the biggest challenges on the Dale Hollow nest for Middle Little is Big and her previous intimidation. When food comes to the nest, Little Middle is frightened and becomes defensive. Little Middle is self feeding but there needs to be food on the nest so that it can do this. Wednesday evening at 18:23:23 River brought in a 2 bite teaser. Big shot up immediately, grabbed the tiny minnow, if you like, and horked it down. Little Middle did not, of course, have a chance.

It is Thursday morning and both of the eaglets have eaten well. The nest appears to be drying out, too. Now that Little Middle is nice and full, it is time to go elsewhere and check on all those other nests including Karl II’s movements over night.

While Dale Hollow is drying out, the National Arboretum Nest in Washington DC is getting a bit wet. That little fuzzy ball is sure changing!

Big Red is getting some of that rain in Ithaca, too!

tors

Need another Peregrine Falcon nest? Here is another with four eggs like Utica, like the Red-tail Hawks in Ithaca and Syracuse…Some think that the increase in the number of eggs is to compensate for the loss of birds due to Avian Flu this year.

There is a pip in egg #2 at the US Steel Eagles!

A beautiful image of Jackie and her fast growing baby, Spirit, from yesterday afternoon. It really is a lovely name the children chose.

If you are a fan of the oldest female Osprey in the UK, Mrs G at the Glaslyn nest you might be wondering why – since you know she has returned from migration – she is not on her nest. She is over visiting with Aeron Z2, one of Monty’s boys. She is waiting for Aran and he is waiting for Blue 014. If neither return will these two get together and what nest will they choose, we wait! Aeron Z2 and his brother Tegid, Z1 who has a nest in Snowdonia have been very interested in that Glaslyn nest. Oh, the soap operas of the birds.

https://www.glaslynwildlife.co.uk/where-is-mrs-g/?fbclid=IwAR1gZam2Zsd31n791zACd5Akxsd52QUiZ_jgaBMm6oHT8r8LllHnExNIWqA

I am extremely fond of Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi nest in Wales. If you want to watch an Osprey cam this is one of the good ones in the UK.

Here is the link:

Karl II was near Minsk last night. There is hope that he might be near the Latvian border later today. As well as Karl, his mate and all the other storks in Latvia and Estonia should be on their way and hopefully safe and away from the war. Waiting is hard. Champagne corks will be popping when he lands on his nest!

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources posted an image with a saying yesterday: “Rescuing Wildlife is Legal”. If you see injured wildlife, please notify your local wildlife rehabber. Don’t know who that is? Find out! Because of the spread of the highly pathogenic Avian Flu,, special protocols might be in place. So ask before you help.

The New Guy at the Cal Falcons nest is still doing what he does best — support Annie! Yippeeeee. The romance continues.

Have a wonderful day everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or pages where I took my screen captures: Google Maps, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Pix Cams, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, and Dunrovin Ospreys.