Tag Archives: Durbe White-tail eagle nest

Thursday Morning at Dale Hollow and other news in Bird World

24 March 2022

Please pardon any spelling or grammar issues today. I have not had time to proof this report, unfortunately. Thank you!

So far it is a pretty good morning even at Dale Hollow Lake Bald Eagle nest on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky in the US. I turned on my computer just as a small fish was brought in my River, with its head, at 08:11:14.

Big goes to intimidate Middle at 08:23:49 but it is not the level of frenzy that Middle experienced late on the 23rd. Big ate all of the fish that came in. It was finished at 08:35:16. Then River moved over to the piece of Sucker that was still on the nest at 08:36:29.

I was encouraged by River’s actions as she clearly seemed to have feeding Middle in her mind. Middle turned to River to eat at 08:37:23 and then Big entered the picture pushing herself between River and Middle after she had a PS.

It was evident that both Big and Middle had eaten earlier as Middle had a nice crop.

River began feeding Middle at 08:38:25.

Eight minutes later, at 08:46:15, Big decides it wants to eat and starts intimidation. It ate a few bites.

River tries again to feed Middle at 08:47:33. River stops feeding at 08:47:25. There is still a piece of the sucker left. The nest is quiet of any animosity. At 09:03:38 Big turns and towers over Middle and does nothing! River returns to the nest. She is aerating the area by the small piece of remaining sucker. Big moves down at 10:01:20 and River feeds Big all the Sucker.

By 10:11:40 Middle is up at the top of the nest on the left being fed the rest of the old fish tail (not much on it). Big ignores the whole thing! Both eaglets are full. It is just after 10:15 on the nest.

Despite the modest attempts of intimidation, Middle ate this morning and has a nice crop when I stop watching. Big also has a crop. Hopefully more larger fish will come on the nest. Indeed, I hope that obey knows where to find more suckers! We can be joyful. This morning has been good for Middle!

River returns to the nest later to aerate. It is now 11:35. No more food items but not expected. Both Middle and Big have big crops still!

Middle had a really healthy PS at 11:32:41.

There is Big’s Crop. Because Big is such a large bird – no doubt she is a she – her food requirements are probably twice that of Middl now. Continue to send positive wishes for this nest. We are not out of the woods yet but I sure hope we are in a week. Both chicks cast pellets this morning and both had at least one PS. Enjoy this morning. It has been a good one at Dale Hollow.

Here is the first view of the newly hatched chick at Harry and Nancy’s MN DNR (hatched yesterday).

I have received word from ‘S’ in Latvia that a female interloper White-tailed eagle has destroyed the two eggs that Milda had laid on her nest in Durbe County. This is what ‘S’ conveyed: “Just a quick update. Yesterday evening a ringed strange female came to the nest and destroyed/ate Milda’s eggs while Milda was away feeding. Voldis did not stop her. It’s clear Voldis is not in any nesting mode yet, since his incubation skills also did not improve significantly. The intruder female is a Latvian WTE who was ringed in Latvia, near Jaunpils in 2016.”

Here is a video summary of the events:

As ‘S’ points out, many of the experienced watchers of Milda’s nest believe this to be better as it is clear that the situation could have gotten worse – no care for hatchlings, lack of prey to nest, etc.

‘S’ also included a message sent out by the Ornithologist, Jan Kuze:

“Today we have witnessed a very interesting turn of events – at least I am not aware of any other such cases. The role was played by the fact that the male is young and inexperienced, its connection with the territory and this partner is not sufficiently strong yet. The female continues to incubate due to inertia, but it cannot be ruled out that another egg will be laid in this nest, the next week or two will show.

I ringed the egg-eating female bird in the vicinity of Jaunpils on 25.05.2016. It is a young female who has reached the nesting age and is looking for a nesting area, it cannot be ruled out that we will continue to see her here and that some conflicts will continue.”

In Montana, members of the Raptor Resource Project are installing some ‘goose exclusion’ mechanisms to the Osprey nests. Here is the message from Dr Ericke Green:

It is not an Osprey nest but an unused Bald Eagle nest at Decorah, Iowa. The Canada Goose that has been checking out this nest has now laid her first egg. This is going to be a terrific nest to watch as long as there are is no predation. Imagine all those little goslings jumping off the sides.

The goose laid the egg and then covers it. Did you watch Daisy on the WBSE nest? If so, you might remember that the goose or duck will lay their eggs and then begin to add down from their breast to make the soft nest. After 24 hours, the goslings will all jump down! They have quite a ways to go but video has been taken of goslings jumping 106 m or 350 feet. They bounce! It is really exciting. They will then follow their Mother to water where they will begin eating. Ducklings and goslings are precocial – covered in feathers and able to eat on their own after hatch. Amazing.

On the Cornell Campus yesterday, 19 year old Big Red surprised everyone when she laid a 4th egg! Perhaps most surprised was her 6 year old mate, Arthur. Cornell called it “unprecedented” on Twitter. Red tail Hawks can lay up to 5 eggs. Since the camera became operative in 2012, Big Red has consistently laid 3 eggs. It is not know how many she laid in years prior.

I will alert all of you as pip approaches for Big Red and Arthur as well as for the Peregrine Falcon couple, Annie and Grinnell. If you are used to watching eagles, it is very educational to observe the smaller raptors and how they manage larger clutches.

Speaking of Falcons, it is not time for any egg laying by the Australian falcons at CBD 367 Collins Street or Xavier and Diamond at Orange. That will come in late summer. For now, there are several nests. That said, I am playing close attention to Annie and Grinnell (as much as Dale Hollow allows for). This morning Grinnell was in the scrape at 06:44:05 calling Annie. I sure hope he had her breakfast! In terms of hunting, Peregrine Falcons, the fastest birds in the world flying up to 370 kph, capture their prey when flying. That prey can range from parrots, doves, pigeons, Starlings, to geese and herons depending on the falcons location.

For those just starting/thinking about observing this scrape, there is one quick difference between Grinnell and Annie. Grinnell has a black ID on his left leg and a standard silver band on the right. I would also like to draw your attention to the hue of Grinnell’s legs, cere (the yellow part above the beak), and the yellow around his eyes. Notice how the colour appears to be an orange-yellow. This deep colour indicates that Grinnell is extremely healthy.

At 08:48 Annie returns to the scrape. Peregrine Falcons may have first laid their eggs in twig nests but, if they did, they evolved to using cliffs with sand or pebbles. It is believed that this allows for few, if any, diseases unlike Eagle nests that constantly have to be aerated.

The eggs that Annie will lay are some of the most beautiful in the avian world with their rich red-brown colour. Indeed, because of their beauty and size they became the target of egg collectors. Once Annie begins hard incubation, her and Grinnell will take turns for 33-35 days. On occasion, as at the CBD Collins Street Nest in 2021, all three of their eggs hatched within a few hours. It helps to avoid the issues that we have seen at Dale Hollow and with Eagles and Ospreys in general. Once hatched, it is 5 to 6 weeks til fledge. The parents will then train the eyases to hunt and feed them for about another month. On occasion, the fledglings return to the nest area.

I sure hope Grinnell had a good breakfast for her. Annie appears to be ‘thinking’ about laying eggs. We wait.

Here is a recap by CalFalcons of the 2021 year. You might want to turn the sound down a little – the music is quite loud (or maybe not). It compresses the season from mating to banding to fledge.

At the Berry College nest of Pa Berry and Missy, B15 is one sweet and energetic eaglet! The nest has become a launch pad for ever higher jumping. B15 loves the wind between its wings. This morning he was up checking out the DVR. Fledge could come any day now. It has been a terrific year for this nest.

About four hours ago, Harriet at the Dahlgren Osprey nest laid her second egg. Jack continues to bring in toys. Oh, dear. Last year an egg got lost in all the items on this nest. Poor Harriet.

As we wait for Richmond and Rosie to finish their nest and the arrival of Iris in Montana, the Ospreys heading to Europe are on the move. A couple of days ago there were 51 on a site in Senegal and today only 10.

I want to check on Karl II, the male at the Karula National Forest Black Stork nest who is making his way home for the spring and summer breeding season in Estonia. Yesterday, 23 March, Karl was making good progress and was feeding at Lake Beysehir in Isparta Province in Turkey.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Karl II would normally be heading for an area around Odessa in the Ukraine on the Black Sea. Is it possible that he might revert and fly slightly West? We wait.

The day is half over on the Dale Hollow nest and I would suggest that it was a good start. River is currently on the nest shading the eaglets.

Thank you so much for joining me. I have skipped around checking on other Bird news this morning. All of the other nests are doing well and there is a lot going on. A storm is heading to Captiva that might put fishing off for Andy because the air pressure drives the fish deeper in the Water. Jackie and Shadow have been dealing with intruders. I may not get to all of those today. It could be a very late report. Take care everyone!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab and the Montana Osprey Project, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Cal Falcons, Berry College Eagles, Looduskalender, Google Maps, Dahlgren Ospreys, and Explore.Org. I know that there are more pressing concerns in the Balkans but I am extremely grateful to ‘S’ who took the time to alert me about Milda’s eggs being predated. Thank you ‘S’, I know the birds are your solace right now.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

22.2.22

Most of you know by now that I am not a great owl fan especially those that take over nests belonging to successful Osprey couples. That doesn’t stop me from thinking that they are also cute and adorable. This is a sweet little video of Mum eating a rodent and chewing it to a fine mush and feeding the owlet at the Savannah Skidaway Island nest.

The plumage of the female Great Horned Owl is simply gorgeous. The camera close ups of the feed are wonderful. You will note that the eyes of the owlet remain closed. It will be a couple more days before they are open.

Before I was able to post this, Cornell made a video of this Mum defending her nest. She really opened her wings fully. She had a look like ‘You had better not mess with me today!’

Ithaca, New York is in line for some of the rain in the system that is going through the Northeastern US. It has already started raining at the nest of Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell University campus.

Andy and Lena’s trio had a really nice feeding – several of them – and they are now sound asleep!

There were four feedings in total today at the Captiva nest according to the chat moderator. I caught the times for three of them: 6:52:18, 08:59, 12:48. The last must have been later and for the life of me, I can’t find it but I know it has to be there. Four feedings. If you want to do a comparison, the average number of feedings per day at Port Lincoln was seven.

Lena had a break. Andy took over brooding and did a pretty nice job.

Lena continues to dry off.

Diane is busy incubating three eggs on the Achieva Osprey Nest in St Petersburg, Florida. Those eggs will be looking to pip the middle of March. Oh, it is exciting. This is Tiny Tot Tumbles nest!!!!! I hope the third hatch is as determined and creative as TTT. If so, it will thrive.

At the Minnesota DNR nest of Harry and Nancy, Nancy was shocked to find a racoon coming up to eat the eggs. Harry successfully defended the family!

R1 and R2 both had big crops this afternoon. R2’s was large when he started getting fed. It is just so nice to see these two doing well. I worried for awhile and my friend that watches this nest said not to – it would all work out – and it did! Thank you!

These two little darlings are Fern and Thunder. They are chicks of Blazer and Abby over at the Eagle Country nest. Adorable. Just look at them staring straight at the camera! It is nice to see a couple of bobbleheads! All of the other eaglets are growing so fast!

Before I close, it is time to start paying attention to some of the White-tailed Eagle nests in northern Europe. One of the ones that I follow is the nest of Milda near Durbe in Latvia. Last year Milda last her mate and her two miracle chicks to very unfortunate circumstances. She has arrived at the nest and there is another ‘new’ (?) male with her or is this is a dangerous interloper? I really hope that she has a reliable partner like she had in Raimis and we get to see some lovely little chicks this year.

Every nest does seem to be doing well. Bella and Smitty have been alerting and chasing an intruder – probably the new female that fought with Bella. It is so nice to see Bella feeling well, healed. Life is good!

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Window on Wildlife and Captiva Osprey, Cornell Bird Lab, Achieva Credit Union, Eagle Country, and the WRDC.

Friday in Bird World

The Lost Words is a book by Robert MacFarlane, Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Its focus is on the words that the editors of the Oxford Children’s Dictionary removed. Its 128 pages, 27.9 x 37.6 cm in size, are gorgeously illustrated with the watercolours of Jackie Morris, writer and illustrator, who lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The missing words that concerned MacFarlane are the following: acorn, Adder, Bluebell, Bramble, Conker, dandelion, fern, heather, heron, Ivy, Kingfisher, Lark, Magpie, Newt, Otter, Raven, Starling, Weasel, Willow, and Wren. At a time when our focus as adults should be to strive to install the wonder of the natural world and our responsibility to it in the children, why, then, would anyone choose to remove words that are directly connected with our environment.

I mentioned this book awhile ago. I have returned to it many times always admiring the illustrations, such as the images of the Ravens on the forest floor amongst the fallen conkers. Conkers are the fruit of the Horse Chestnut Tree, Aesculus hippocastanum. Horse Chestnut trees can grow quite large. Ironically, the conkers are poisonous to horses and I believe, all other animals. The type of poison is called esculin.

That illustration conjured up a beautiful memory of the time my family spent in England. Up on the gorse was a Conker Tree. We had never seen conkers – it was something wonderful and new. The children played a game with them. First you had to drill a hole and run a cord through the conker and secure it with a nice big knot at the bottom. The children would then ‘conk’ their conkers trying to see whose would break first! It was free entertainment and kept them busy for hours.

“Conkers on a string” by MrsEds is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Creative Commons had this historical picture of two young lads trying to break the others’ conker.

“Its conker time” by theirhistory 

The rolling hills with their public paths were marvellous places for the children and the adults to take walks and breathe in the air. We were fortunate to have a ‘gorse’ within 50 or 60 feet from where we lived. It was full of butterflies and birds and the most delicious blackberries. It was a time when children played outside with their mates. No one set in front of the telly or spent hours looking at screens. Bikes were ridden and trees were climbed. In the three years we lived in Lincolnshire, it snowed once. There was about 4 cm on the ground – just enough. Still, everything stopped. Children stayed home from school and anything and everything that could be used as a sled was used to slide down the hills of the gorse. I wonder what all those children would think about the snow in my garden today?

The nice thing about snow is that it can cause people to slow down. To enjoy a cup of hot tea and a book. To stop running around worrying about things that are not always that important, to pause long enough to take in the moments.

It seems like it is rather quiet in Bird World but, is it really? Eaglets are growing bigger by the day all the while their plumage is changing. Thankfully, none are ready to fledge. E19 and E20 spend time flapping their wings as does the Osceola eaglet. Other eagles are incubating eggs. It is not time for Osprey season unless they are in Florida. Diane is incubating 3 eggs at Achieva in St Petersburg while Lena, laying hers a month early at Captiva, will be on hatch watch this weekend. Annie and Grinnell are only dreaming of eyases. Today Grinnell had to tell a 2 year old juvenile female to get off the ledge of The Campanile. Cal Falcons posted a video of that encounter.

Ervie continues to fish call off the barge at Port Lincoln. We can hear him but we cannot see him.

Kincaid is 29 days old today. He is starting to walk. It is so cute to see those first ‘baby steps’. Louis brought in what looks like an egret (or a part of an egret). When it looked like Louis might want to eat some of it, Anna promptly arrived at the nest. To Anna, prey brought to the nest belongs to her and Kincaid, not Louis who brought it! Anna is pretty strict in that regard. Not all female Bald Eagles behave that way. Anna proceeded to try and remove one long leg while Kincaid, with an already large crop, waited patiently.

Kincaid is mimicking what Anna is doing as he grabs the other leg and pulls on it. So cute. Kincaid also keeps himself busy moving around nesting material. These little eaglets learn from watching the adults.

Kincaid is already making attempts at self-feeding.

Kincaid is, of course, not the only one trying out eating by itself. I posted an image of R2 at the WRDC nest a week ago eating a fish. The eaglets of Harriet and M15 are also attempting eating on their own. E20 has become a bit of a pro. It seems like all of the eaglets grew up faster than they have ever done previously. Does it seem that way to you?

At the White-tailed Eagle nest of Milda and her new mate near Durbe, Latvia, the snow has melted. Milda will be laying her eggs about the same time as Big Red in Ithaca, New York – the third week of March – if all goes to plan.

There is more snow forecast for Big Red’s territory. The temperature in Ithaca is 1 C.

What I like about the image below is that you can see the nest cup area that Big Red and Arthur have been working on. In Milda’s nest sprigs of pine with their cones line the area of the egg cup. It is so fascinating watching the couples prepare for the upcoming breeding season. It is so intriguing. I would love to ‘speak hawk’ and sit by Big Red and Arthur when they discuss what needs to be done!

At least five eagles poisoned, one dead, four in serious condition in Manchester Maryland. Was this lead poisoning? or was this something else more sinister to impact all of the birds at the same time? There is an investigation underway.

Multiple bald eagles poisoned after scavenging on deer carcass in Manchester, Md.

Here is a short informative video of why eagles eat carrion in the winter.

https://fb.watch/b6jnYJByKa/

There is good news coming out of Australia about WBSE 27. You might remember that twice, after fledging, 27 was taken into care. 27 was not taught by the parents to take care of itself. Once 27 fledged, it was taunted and chased by the Pied Currawong. Both times 27 was extremely dehydrated. The last time the Currawong had gathered and had pecked 27s head. When 27 was taken into care the last time, I hoped that rehabilitation would include flight training as well as training for getting prey. This takes longer than a two week stay in a clinic. Some wildlife rehabbers keep birds for 2 years to make certain they are capable of caring for themselves with confidence. It looks like 27 is getting that great training. The news is excellent!

Isn’t she lovely? And – yes – 27 is a she!

I wish that all of the sea eagles that fledge from the WBSE nest in the Sydney Olympic Park would not be harangued by the Pied Currawong. They chase them out of the forest. They never learn to fly or to catch prey. How many of them survive, if any, unless they wind up in care?

The camera is now working again at Port Lincoln. Ervie was on the nest and, at various times, in the shed with Dad. Sometimes he was in the shed alone. I cannot tell you if he had a fish but there was definitely a lot of fish calling.

Checking in on Jack and Diane at the Achieva Credit Union Osprey nest and Jack is busy delivering fish and helping incubate the eggs.

If you are into garden animals and song birds, with a few surprises, you might want to check out Wildlife Kate. She has several wildlife cams and is featured on Springwatch in the UK. Have a look. You might find something really interesting like Yew Pond, or the Kestrel Box, or the Woodland Pond.

This is Woodland Pond. The cameras are live with no rewind. Enjoy.

https://www.wildlifekate.co.uk/

I haven’t posted anything about the eaglet at Berry College for a few days. Thermal down is coming in nicely. Pa Berry did a great job feeding the little one this morning. B15 is still walking around on its tarsus (not yet with its feet) and doing a lot of preening. B15 is doing great. Missy and Pa Berry are doing a great job raising this baby.

B15 is a sweet little eaglet. You can see how its plumage is beginning to change.

I will leave you with a gorgeous image of Jackie incubating her eggs at Big Bear Bald Eagle nest in California. Fingers crossed for a great season for her and Shadow!

Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Friends of Big Bear, Achieva Credit Union, Wildlife Kate, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, Berry College, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, KNF, Latvian Fund for Nature, and Sea Eagle Cam FB Page.

Thursday in Bird World

It is still super cold on the Canadian Prairies. You don’t even have to look at the temperature on the phone when you hear a super loud crunch when you walk on the snow. It is so dry, the snow, that you cannot even pack it into a snowball or a snowwo/man. The European Starlings were waiting for the first food drop, all lined up on the tips of the Lilac Bush branches. Surprisingly, the Sparrows beat them out. Four sparrows to one Starling. They will all eat but, most of the time, the Sparrows get shut out. The other day Little Woodpecker was here. He just stays away from all of them. Which reminds me – I need to go and fix his suet!

Looking back on the history of the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge, I realize that we probably have another month with the three lads. Last year DEW was last seen on 17:01 25 January. He was never sighted again after that time. Solly departed and flew West on 2 February. We know from her tracker that Solly thrived until that tragic day this fall when, after catching a fish, she landed on a power pole and died. I know that Port Lincoln has lobbied hard to get those poles covered and I understand that the power company is cooperating. For those who wrote letters to the Minister, thank you. Public pressure can help.

Ervie had advanced from flying to the fishing ramps to hanging around the commercial shipping yards over at the Marina!

That is Ervie on his perch. You can see that is crop is full.

Ervie and Falky on the nest hoping to get a fish from Dad.

The nest of White-tail Eagle, Milda, at Durbe has been covered with snow. Still, nest visits have taken place. Just look at the forest and the view. So beautiful. This nest will not become active until spring when I will be reporting daily on the happenings. Looking the White-tail Eagles raising chicks and the return of the Black storks.

Kindness’s nest is all covered in snow up at Glacier Gardens in Juneau, Alaska.

If you are wondering what Kindness might be doing, please have a look at this 2 minute video. It is a bit dated in the sound but the information is correct to the present time. The images of the eagles flying and eating are gorgeous. The video ends abruptly. I would have loved to hear about the two clans but, another time! There are so many Eagles in Alaska. They sometimes take over small trucks delivering fish to the canneries.

The Roe Deer feeder is in Latvia. Yesterday, for the first time, they caught a female deer cow and her calf coming to eat. You can see them arriving on the right to try and get some food. The males are the ones with the antlers and from my reading it can be dangerous. The mother and her baby will wait after being escorted by the leader of the bucks and return.

You can see the little one eating here. There is a hierarchy in all of the groups. This is, of course, why our birds try so hard to be dominant and why Ervie, once he established himself, expected to get the first fish of the morning. E19 and E20 are going through this process currently.

Andy and Lena were both alert and alerting at the Captiva Osprey Nest this morning.

Of course their eyes are so good. All I could hear were people below. I wonder if that is the issue? They sure have a beautiful site for a nest! Hopefully it will be a successful season for this lovely pair who continue to try and continually have the Crows steal their eggs.

You can watch Andy and Lena here:

Harriet and M15 are being kept busy by E19 and 20. You can hear the little ones chirping away to Mum and Dad.

The pair got started on all the beaking as soon as Harriet got up to feed them. Oh, my.

There are over 4000 people watching these two at any one time and a myriad of videos coming up on YouTube. You won’t be able to miss them!

Everything is just fine in Bird World. The eggs at Taiaroa Head have been candled and OGK and YRK’s egg is developing normally. We are a month away from hatch. Gabby and Samson are taking turns up at NEFlorida and you will see me getting pretty excited in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, Daisy has not yet returned to the WBSE nest that I am aware. The latest news was awhile ago on WBSE27 who is currently in rehabilitation. The two chicks at Hilton Head are doing great. My copy of The Season of the Osprey arrived in the post this morning. That is on the agenda for today. It is far too cold to be outside for very long.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Stay warm, stay safe and take care until I see you again.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Glacier Gardens, Roe Deer Feeder in Latvia, SWFlorida Eagles and D Pritchett Family, Port Lincoln Osprey, Captiva Osprey Cam, and the Latvian Fund for Nature.