The beautiful day gave way to heavy rain and dark grey skies. Manitoba is water logged.
It was fantastic to have the commentary of someone actually watching Idris catch this fish – it took him 5 tries to pull it out. I do wish the cameras gave us a better idea of the size of some of these amazing catches. The ‘girls’ of Dyfi were appreciative of his efforts.
The three females now take up more than half of that big nest. Eating, sleeping, growing, and getting their flying muscles stronger. Sleeping now!
Hi Dad!
Telyn arrives to feed the girls.
One of Wales Osprey couples – Aran and Mrs G. Mrs G is the oldest osprey in the United Kingdom. She is very dark with a large necklace. Dorcha at Loch Arkaig reminds me so much of Mrs G. I love Aran with his penetrating eyes.
Dorcha has, perhaps, even slightly darker markings than Mrs G.
Louis does not fail to deliver the tea time meal to his Loch Arkaig nest – he is an extraordinary fisher.
Speaking of crops – the female osplet at Loch of the Lowes has quite a large one this evening! Blue NC0 looks tired to me this season. I hope these two fledge and give their Mum time to replenish the weight and fat that she has lost caring for them before she leaves on her migration. The females leave about a fortnight before the others. That is, however, an average as nests can vary greatly.
The two chicks at the Mispillion Harbour Osprey nest were happy when a fish arrived too…what is with feeding them when they are resting duckling style??
Wonder what they are looking at?
Neither of the two appear to be overly hungry. Thank goodness. It looks like a teaser.
At the Boathouse on Hog Island, Skiff brought in a really nice fish. Big was full and Middle and Little got a really nice feeding from Dory. This is just wonderful to see!
In Montana, they are ringing/banding all of the Osprey nests. If I recall there are about 200 along the Clark Fork River. Those who make up the Montana Osprey Project will also test the birds for toxin residues that remain in the water and the fish from the mining around Missoula. Here is an article with some images of the events.
How many successful Osprey nests fledge 4 chicks? Maya and Blue 33 did it two years in a row. This year it is a Kielder nest and there is a short but nice article in the BBC celebrating this great achievement – and it is. Some nests do well with 2 but give them 3 chicks and there are often problems. 4 chicks would keep Mum and Dad busy 24/7. Ironically the literature on siblicide notes that the % of events is higher in nests with 3 chicks than with 4.
Two of the fledglings at the West End nest have locked talons and fallen off the nest! I am not 100% sure who the pair were but I think that it is Ahote on the nest and Sky coming in but – without seeing those bands it is so difficult to be certain.
The talon tumble happened yesterday and as far as I know both fledglings are fine – just their pride wounded a little.
The other fledgling can be seen flying in the distance. The one on the nest is alerting.
The one on the nest goes up and lunges forward.
Talons engaged.
They go down and then without having good footing both tumble down the cliff talons engaged with one another.
There is something very strange going on in Mlade Buky. Bukacek is building another nest! The storklets are watching him. This could get interesting. Does anyone know about this behaviour?
There is Bukacek down below the nest. Some of you may remember that the two engineers that set up the camera and saved the storklets last year when Bukacek’s mate died, did sometimes put fish down in that area. I wonder what is going on??
What is a crop? The crop is a muscular pouch. It is part of the bird’s esophagus and is used to store extra food before going being digested. Often birds will eat and eat and eat – because they do not know when they will find more food. Thank goodness that crop is expandable. Vultures and condors are known for filling their stomach and then eating – if there is enough prey – until their crop is entirely full. Some birds that regurgitate food for their young often use the crop to soften it so the wee chicks can eat easier. Hawks, vultures, condors, eagles, falcons – they all have a crop. Pigeons and doves use the crop to produce ‘crop milk’ – pulverized food – that they feed to their babies.
One of Karl II and Kaia’s storklets today with an extended crop.
Do you live in the UK? Near Rutland? ‘L’ just reminded me that the annual Birdfair will take place on the 15, 16, and 17th of July. Here is the information in case you want to attend. Thanks ‘L’! If you do ever find yourself at Rutland, please go on the water tour. You might be lucky enough to see Blue 33 land one of those huge fish he brings to Maya.
This has just been a hop, skip, and a jump to check on our nests. It appears that all of them are doing alright. No strange events – unless I have missed them! In that case, please feel free to let me know.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Wildlife Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Mlade Buky, Looduskalender and the Eagle Club of Estonia, Boathouse Ospreys and Audubon, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
Good Morning Everyone. It isn’t raining!!! The weather forecast was entirely wrong (so far). The sun is shining bright and it looks like it is going to be a fantastic day on the Canadian Prairies.
I mention Daisy the Duck quite often. It was Daisy that got me into loving ducks — despite the fact that I had a pet duck as a toddler – as an adult. She tried so hard – against the odds of a forest full of Crows and Ravens – to raise those little ones. I think it is why I am always out checking on the ducks at our local parks. But, today, I found a very interesting streaming cam and I thought I would share it with you. A female Wood Duck (oh, those females are so cute and sweet) has taken over an owl box and is sitting on eggs! Here is the link:
Fireworks. No one will ever invite me to their party! When we had our Canada Day celebrations there were fireworks set off 3 blocks away from the Peregrine Falcon scrape. I was equally upset and vocal locally – my comments could apply to any City.
Tonight, ‘B’ sent me a note about the fireworks and poor Takoda. 45 minutes later, they are still going off but are closer to the nest in the National Arboretum. Takoda is not the only wildlife impacted – every bird, every animal, every pet – and even humans – could have their hearing and/or breathing compromised. Tonight, I am ‘Miss Stick in the Mud’. At the same time I also wonder how much these big displays cost and how those funds could be used elsewhere. The US Government Accountability Office said that the display cost 19 million in 2019. Wow.
These are not silent fireworks either…just in case you were wondering. No, as ‘B’ said – it sounded like a battle zone. They started at 2109 on either side of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and I still have screen captures near to 2200.
Someone may ask you ‘What is the importance of Raptors or Birds of Prey anyway?’ In 2013, the British Columbia government did a study on raptors titled, Guidelines for Raptor Conservation in Urban and Rural Land Development. Section 4.2 lists the benefits that raptors have for all of us – not just the residents of British Columbia. Indeed, there is a lot of wisdom in these 151 pages. Do look at section 4.2. It is quite interesting and not so long.
Checking in on the Black Stork intervention by Urmas, Kaia was caught on the camera finding the fish basket today. She returned and fed the four storklets who are growing and growing. Bonus appears to be fully integrated into the family.
You are doing great, Kaia. Look at those beautiful babies with those gorgeous black feathers. Just imagine. These four will take to the skies and fly all the way to the centre of Africa – and hopefully, return to Estonia.
The two chicks of Mr and Mrs AX6 at Llyn Brenig were ringed yesterday. One is showing off its new bling. Were we not just worried about these two in the cold rain last week and they were so tiny? Ringers think it is one female and one male. That gives the Welsh Osprey nests 6 females and 5 males so far.
Idris and Telyn have three big girls to feed and get off the ground. Some of the running jokes is that they are too heavy to fly! Pedran, Padarn, and Paith will do just fine. They will return in two years time looking for a Scottish mate, perhaps, or maybe they will check out any Rutland males that are about.
Aran and Mrs G have been keeping close watch over their territory today as it appears there are intruders about.
All of the nests seem to be doing very well. Dylan has brought a fish in and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog are being fed by Seren. It is a good way to keep one of them from taking over the fish – at least at the moment.
It looks like Blue NC0 has a nice crop – she looks so tiny compared to the two big chicks. So grateful that everything is going well on this nest after losing Little Bob. Should be two successful fledges soon.
Does everyone know Iris? the oldest Osprey in the world? She is, I believe 29 years old this year. Her nest is in Missoula, Montana and just look at that nest. Iris no longer has chicks. Her partner, Louis, since her devoted mate Stanley did not return, also has another nest in the baseball park with Star. Louis takes care of Star and her chicks. Every year Iris lays eggs and because one parent can’t do it all, the Crows or Ravens get them. Iris then spends the summer fishing, working on the nest, and taking care of herself. With the toll that chick raising takes on the female, this could be part of the secret to Iris’s longevity.
This morning Louis joined her early to keep intruders at bay but what interested me the most was how much work Iris has done on her nest. Just look at the amount of twigs! I wonder if Dr Green is going to gather up twigs from under the nest and have pens made as a fundraiser? The two I purchased from last year are beautiful and you can easily buy refills which makes them very sustainable.
Iris is a great fisher. Just look how strong she is. She has been working on this nest every day and it is so nice because we get to see her!
There is a lot of new nesting material arriving on the Mispillion Harbour Osprey nest in Delaware. The kids were hoping for a nice big fish but it looks like new straw. Is Mum going to weave a basket?
I was interested in this image because of the dark bands on the tail. For Red-tail Hawks, you check to make sure that there are 5 dark bands. It is a simple trick to see if the chicks are near fledging. It seems to also apply to Osprey. These two are getting very close to being able to fly. Whether or not they will want to is another story.
At the Boathouse Osprey platform on Hog Island, everyone seems very happy with the morning feeding. Dory did a crack up job making sure all three were absolutely full – including Little Bob.
‘H’ sent a screen capture – so happy that the wee one had a bit of a private feeding filling up its crop. Yeah for Dory our first time Mum. Thanks so much for this great image, ‘H’. — Look at those little fat bottoms.
At the Osoyoos Osprey nest, it looks a little drier this morning. The kids have already had a small fish for their breakfast and are cuddled under Mum.
I don’t remember a pair of Cal Falcon fledglings that have loved to spend so much time together. It is such a delight to see Lindsay and Grinnell Jr play together – and what a welcome to relief to catch them on the camera of The Campanile.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Everything ‘appears’ to be quite fine in the nests that we have been watching. Fingers all crossed and toes, too, that it stays that way. Take care everyone — stay safe.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: NADC-AEF, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender Forum, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, Friends of the Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Montana Osprey Project and Cornell, Mispillion Osprey Project, Audubon, Osoyoos Ospreys, and Cal Falcons.
I hope that you have had a really lovely weekend. Thank you for taking the time to join me this evening.
There are two important moments in a young Red-tail Hawks life. Their first flight marks them as a fledglings. They need to fly out and return to the nest for the proper definition to apply. They become juveniles only after they catch their first live prey item by themselves. So everyone give a big shout out and congratulations to Big Red and Arthur’s L4 (that little cracker) and L 2 who officially became juveniles today. Wow. Didn’t I say that L4 is amazing. No fear. I will never forget him climbing right over those big siblings to get at the front of the food line. No worries about siblicide on Big Red and Arthur’s watch.
Across the pond, Osprey parents are working hard to get their chicks in perfect condition for migrating. While Osprey chicks will fledge and fly and return to the nest for a feeding from Dad, they normally do not catch their own fish until after they have begun their migration. The parents do not teach them. Fishing is hard-wired into 60 million years of Osprey DNA and memory.
Blue NC0 flew out and brought in a whopper to her two – a big girl and a boy.
Idris is trying to beat every Welsh record that there is for fishing! This is an unbelievable catch! Three big girls and Seren to feed plus himself! Idris is up to the challenge!
Dylan took the approach that more deliveries are the best so he recorded 8 fish deliveries for Seren and the kids before 1700. Wow. It looks like a perch this time.
It was very sad news to learn of Pikne’s demise on the 6th of June on a hydro pole in Turkey. Searchers for her body and the transmitter could find nothing so she has been taken by humans or larger animals. My immediate concern after hearing this is where is Udu, the only surviving juvenile of Karl II and Kaia of 2021. Finally some indication of his transmitter on 16 June but questions lately. He was in the Central African Republic at the time. But this was April 2nd…with battery power at 0%. Since Urdu’s tracker tries to send data but the location is the same as April 2nd. Perhaps someone will be able to establish what is happening. My fear is that Udu’s transmitter is in the hands of a human playing with it and Urdu is no longer with us. Please let me be wrong.
I continue to watch the experiment of Urmas and Dr Madis V with the Black storklet chicks of Jan and Janika with much interest. Bonus was been placed in the nest of Karl II and Kaia and this morning Bonus was not defensive when Karl II brought food. It would appear that Bonus has now accepted he is part of Karl’s family. Amazing news. Bonus has been in the nest for 4 days.
As you know I believe in intervention when it is more likely to benefit the bird. This is the first time that anyone has tried to raise Black Storklets in a clinical setting and then foster them with other Black Stork families. Urmas and Dr Madis V went to great lengths to try and ensure the success including decoy parents, the feeding Toto and making certain that sounds of the forest was present. Urmas also distributed fish baskets to try and take the burden of feeding an extra storklet off the parents. We celebrate today that Eedie has found the fishing basket provided by Urmas. Jan and Janika’s storklet, Janus, is in Eedie’s nest. There is a picture of Eedie going to the fish basket to get food for the family. Thank you ‘T’ for sending us this confirming image. Tears! So many are learning about the behaviour of the Black Storks in these circumstances — this will prove important in the future should another nest lose a parent during the breeding season.
When there were statements about the Bald Eagles feeding ND17 it was important to have ‘proof’ in some form. There wasn’t any. In fact, ND17 was either fed little or nothing due to his condition when the rehabbers picked him up. To demonstrate that the intervention is working and what aspects are helpful to the storks, photos are being taken. This photo proves that Eedie found the fish and now will return to the nest to feed the four storklets.
At the nest of Karl II and Kaia, there were 5 feedings today – 3 by Karl and 2 by Kaia. Bonus has now been part of their family for 4 days. Is he eating enough? Yesterday his ‘ps’ was thin but today there is an image of a healthy ps by Bonus proving that he is eating well.
At 12:12:55 Akecheta flies to the nest with a fish. He looks around wondering which one of the fledglings was going to fly down and grab it.
It was Sky!!!!!!
That is a great mantling job!!!!!!
At 16:02 it is Ahote’s turn to get the fish drop! Oh, I so admire these parents who continually risk their legs and talons to feed their fledglings. It is amazing.
If you see an empty nest at Two Harbours, do not despair. Lancet has been seen eating on the overlook cam.
This is a very short report. It was warm on the prairies today with a beautiful blue sky and lots of happy people. I was out counting American White Pelicans and Double-Crested Cormorants. I will not bore you with the panorama of photos that I took to ensure the count was accurate but..they are such beautiful birds. It is an honour to see them fishing and raising their little ones in the summer. There are places where sport fishing is popular where the pelicans are not appreciated. Authorities can, even with the Migratory Bird Treaty, give permission for people to shoot them! Pelicans were fishing out of the rivers long before people were sport fishing. If people needed to fish for their survival that is one thing (and some do) but…I will let you finish the sentence. You know me well and what I would say.
If you are ever sent to help out with a bird count, it is much easier if you take various shots of the stationary birds and then try, as best you can, to count those flying about.
Take care everyone. Thank you for being with me this evening. See you soon.
Thank you so much to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or forum pages: Looduskalender, ‘my friend T’, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Services, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, Scottish Wildlife Trust, and Ferris Akel Tours.
What a busy day in Bird World and sadly, another entry on ‘that list’.
I want to start by thanking one of our readers, ‘AM’. She left her home and pushed through all kinds of Canada Celebrations and a parade for an hour to get to the Osoyoos Osprey Nest the minute she learned of the chick’s fall. Sadly, the little one did not survive. ‘AM’ found a quiet restful place for him near the nest. Thank you ‘AM’. I also want to add that she went prepared with all the things needed to drive him to a rehabber – gloves, towels, a box, etc. Fantastic.
It is always tragic to find a wee one dead or badly injured. It was a big fall and unlike goslings or ducklings, osplets just don’t have the bounce. Sadly, we cannot stop the ospreys from bringing material to the nest but, we can urge farmers to use best practices and different baling materials. Dr Ericke Green at Montana Raptors (Iris) has been studying this problem for a long time and has found a different material for baling that is less problematic for the Ospreys — if farmers would only use it.
I am very thrilled to see all of the donations and thank you’s to Humane Wildlife Indiana. For all of you that pushed the staff at St Patrick’s Park to get help – through your e-mails, phone calls, and in chat, thank you. It takes an army of people to get help and you are a great army.
If you want to send a direct thank you to Delilah Ruiz, here is the e-mail: druiz@humaneindiana.org
Our beautiful Little Bit in care, thankfully. Tears.
There is, however, some really super news in Bird World. It comes from Cal Falcons. Annie and Alden were doing a courtship ritual in the scrape box. Alden proved himself to us over and over again as being very capable of taking good care of Annie and any chicks but – Annie had to really make that decision. Alden passed – and Annie and Alden are a couple. Yes.
Alden figured out how to overcome a physical limitation and he now has Annie and the best territory in San Francisco. I hope that their lives together are long and productive.
Looks like we are going to see the chicks doing a lot of moth chasing and loafing just like Lindsay did today! Isn’t she gorgeous? Look at those eyes and those feathers. I hope that we see Little Bit 17 get his feathers into good condition now that he has regular food.
You know. Human animals should watch some bird cams before they have children so they learn that everything one does makes an impression on children.
Other good news is coming out of Cornell. Here is today’s update on L3 who was taken into care a week ago.
“We received a brief update from the Wildlife Hospital today, reaffirming that L3 continues to do very well. The veterinarians will be performing additional radiographs in another 1-2 weeks to check up on the fractured coracoid bone, at which point they should be able to better predict a future timeline for continued healing and rehabilitation. They also shared that, based on body weight, L3 is likely a female. We will plan to post another update following the next set of radiographs — thanks for sharing all of your concerns about L3’s continued healing!” Thank you ‘SAH’ for seeing that L3 was found and was in care quickly.
Dylan has just brought in the last fish for the day to Seren and the three Bobs.
The three at Llyn Clywedog have been ringed. They are 553 a big female weighing 1710 grams at 40 days, 554 a male weighing 1485 at 40 days and 555 another male weighing 1410 at 37 days old.
The parents lose weight when they are busy raising chicks. Just look at how small Maya looks compared to the three big gals that her and Blue 33 have been feeding. Maya lost about 33% of her body weight taking the great care she did of her chicks.
Idris brought in another whopper to the Dyfi nest despite the rainy weather. Him and Telyn (Maya’s daughter) are feeding three girls, too.
It hasn’t all been rosy with the four Black storklets in the nest of Karl II and Kaia. At first Bonus was hissing at Kaia. That got better. Then the biological storklets were biting Bonus’s legs. Karl II has brought in a meal a few hours ago and things look good. Urmas needs to observe the nest closely so that the biological osplets do not get in a position of not having enough fish due to the size of Bonus.
Fingers crossed that all of this gets worked out. The biological three are looking for more fish and there is Bonus busting his crop.
I intended to include more but a kestrel has a broken wing about an hour and a half away and needs to get to Wildlife Haven – so I am off!
Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me. Donate if you can – even $5 for Little Bit. Every $ helps. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and FB pages: Eagle Club of Estonia, Humane Wildlife Indiana, CarnyXWild, LRWT, Dyfi Osprey Nest, Cornell Bird Lab and Cal Falcons.
It is a hot sunny and beautiful day on the Canadian prairies. The Farmer’s Markets are opening up, there are still lilacs blooming, and well…I wish the ice cream truck would come down the street!!!!! I did my walk. 5.8 km and it was way too hot!!!!!! Dreaming of winter. LOL.
SF Ospreys posted a video on YouTube showing Molate incubating the nonviable egg. Just look! Perfect aerating, rolling, and incubation! They asked viewers if it was an accident or deliberate. What do you think?
ND16 has joined fledgling ND15 up on the fledging branch at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest in Indiana. Little Bit 17 is still enjoying being the baby on the nest!
Update: ND16 has fledged. It has not been located as far as I know.
Little Bit 17 is doing just fine. With the two older siblings having fledged and thinking about flying, Mum flies in at 15:57 and 17 gets a private feeding. So far the nest is holding fine. Dad and Mum have some work to do. I wonder if they will rebuilt this nest??
Can you tell the difference between Idris and Telyn’s chicks? I sure can’t anymore. Ringing next week and then names given!
All three of Thunder and Akecheta’s fledglings (doesn’t that sound nice?) can be seen. Some nice soaring in the thermals this morning by at least one of them. I think it was Ahote but not 100%.
‘H’ reports that Mum brought in a Horse-shoe Crab yesterday late and arranged it on the nest – and Dad brought in 9 fish, too. Wow. ‘H’ also had a screen grap that shows what is in that second plastic bag – a water bottle! I wonder where she finds these things. This female does like to decorate her nest. Oh, I would love to get into her head about that love of yellow. It is striking and certainly brightens up the nest. Thanks, ‘H’!
That worrisome piece of yellow mesh wire was still on the nest. One of the chicks was using it as a pillow!
Mum is very smart. Maybe she is worried about that mesh as well.
She removes it from the nest!!!!!!!! The raptors are extremely intelligent. Never think that we are smarter than they are. Some of you will know my huge respect for falconer, Laura Culley. When Big Red’s daughter J1 had been killed by striking a window, someone asked her if Big Red knew. Culley’s answer was, “And why wouldn’t she!”
She has returned unharmed and Dad can be seen, too. It is extremely windy. I am hoping those plastic bags will fly off as well.
Cal Falcons has posted the cutest video clip of Grinnell Jr – loudly saying he wants his breakfast!
If you are following Jan and Janika’s three surviving storklets that are in care at the Vet School at EMU (Estonia Medical University), they have done exceptionally well in care. They are all standing (only one not completely steady is the smallest storklet) and are flapping their wings an getting their juvenile feathers. In two days they should be going to an outside location to help prepare them for when the fledge.
The storklets of Karl II and Kaia are also growing and are doing so, so well. Notice how they form an immediate circle when it is feeding time.
Betty and Bukacek’s storklets are doing fantastic, too. So all three of the nests that I follow – Karl II and Kaia, Jan and Janika (in care), and Bukacek and Betty are progressing well in order to fledge in August. They will return for feedings and then they will fly all the way to the central part of Africa! Incredible.
It is pretty quiet in Bird World – for a change! Thank you so much for joining me for this check on some of the nests. Do take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures or their videos: EMU, Capio Hnizo- Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Cal Falcons, ND-LEEF, Mispillion Harbour Osprey Cam and the DDNR, Dfyi Osprey Project, SF Ospreys, and the West End Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studies.
In the northern hemisphere, this is the day when the earth is tilted at its maximum to the sun – the longest sunny day. It has been pitching down rain and now….the sun is shining bright and the temperatures have dropped from the blistering 38 to a mere 20 C. The birds are active and the air conditioning is turned off. Nice. Today I will be sorting through all the things that were in Little Red’s penthouse looking for tomato cages. With the heat and the rain, the tomato plants are almost as tall as I am – seriously. But, let’s see what is happening with our birds, first.—–Oh, and now it is clouding over again and the torrential rain is back. Goodness. I sure hope our City imported a lot of Dragon flies this year to eat those mosquitoes.
The Canadian celebrities continue to be the little hawklet who is living with the Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. Malala is very cute – and one lucky Red-tail hawklet. Of course, he thinks he is an Eagle! Doing well. Branched the other day. Can you imagine? This wildlife rehab group just put up the camera a few months prior to the eagles arriving and now they are the talk of Bird World? This is a good interview by CBC radio.
The fledglings at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey platform continue to return to the nest for food and sometimes just to have a quick rest. Gosh, these two are doing really well after a very rocky start on this nest. They are waiting for the tea time fish drop!
What gorgeous birds these two have turned out to be. They know where home is. I wonder if they have been trying to fish on their own yet?
I was able to get some more information about the history of the Mispillion Harbour Ospreys. The woman at the DuPont Centre is not certain that this is the same couple that were on the nest when the camera was installed. Lynn Pussey said, “We’ve generally had good success with our nest, with 2-3 successful fledgelings each year. The only exception to that was 2017 when we lost one chick early on to siblicide and the other two to illness. This year was odd because we had 4 eggs but only 2 hatch. But those two are healthy and growing. Other than that, we usually see all eggs hatch and all chicks successfully fledge.”
I wonder if these chicks will be prone to bringing bright coloured material to their nests in a few years?
Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF nest just proves that being small is not a hindrance when you are confident. Mum landed with something – I could not see it – and Little Bit mantled right away. One of the big siblings came and took a little piece but Little Bit held on and ate ‘it’! So impressed. 17 is so quick – just like the hawklet in the Bald Eagle nest at Gabriola Island.
Here is Little Bit 17 mantling and hanging on to its food. Take that 16!
Bukachek and Betty’s four White Storklets at Mlade Buky were ringed this morning.
Whatever was happening at the Loch of the Lowes dissipated yesterday when Laddie delivered 7 fish. He has already gotten a good start to this morning and Blue NC0 and the chicks are very happy. They should be ringing these two osplets soon.
The Welsh sunrise is really beautiful. There is always a soft pink glow over the Glaslyn Valley and the nest of Aran and Mrs G.
Aran has been letting out intruder calls in the afternoon around 15:50 but it didn’t stop him from getting Mrs G and the kids a nice fish.
101 votes have been cast guessing the gender of the three osplets at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. It is a record. GGB is still out ahead with 40 of those votes! We will find out next week when they are ringed. So happy for the interest in this great Osprey family in Wales.
As KG and I said on the chat – the guessing of the genders adds a bit of fun to ringing day — it does. We can all use a smile these days.
It was a beautiful morning at Loch Garten. Mrs AX6 is looking good. She is a great mum.
Later in the day you can see the unviable egg and the two little Osplets.
Just look at those three big females with their bling at the Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya. I would sure welcome some of that sunshine!!!!!!! It is interesting. At Manton Bay there was no aggression this year — three females. At Port Lincoln Osprey barge last year, no aggression — all males. It is often when you have a female chick with males where you see all the beaking. Females require more food because they have to grow 1/3 larger and they are often very aggressive. Think ND16 at the LD-LEEF Bald Eagle nest.
June 20 was Bald Eagle Day in the US. I forgot. For all who celebrated, belated Happy Eagle Day!
Mr President has brought in two fish already to DC9 Takoda this morning! This is the second delivery. Everything is going as it should. Takoda fledged and is returning to the nest to be fed while getting those flying muscles strong — and take off and landings improved.
As the sun comes up on the Channel Islands, Sky is home alone at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta.
It isn’t long until Sky is joined by his younger brother, Ahote. Everyone is waiting for Akecheta to bring in some fish for breakfast. And never fear, Kana’kini is somewhere around the island and will no doubt fly in hoping to get some fish, too.
Chase and Cholyn’s Lancer has been getting some good air and doing some high hovering in the past few days. She is sure a beautiful eagle!
I am really glad that Kaia was not successful in eliminating one of the three healthy chicks on the Karula Forest Black Stork nest. They are all doing well and Karl II just brought in a heaping load of fish for them. What is interesting is watching them now as they stimulate the feeding by doing a special wing flap and lowering and raising their heads. So cute! And they are so nice and fat. These are doing super well and food does not seem to be an issue!
Jan and Janika’s Black Storklets in the care of the Vet Clinic were ringed. They should be moved to the forest enclosure soon – they are thinking 24 June. Today they are 30 days old. How lovely – so grateful to those folks who made it possible for these three to survive.
This morning Lindsay returned to The Campanile and she is chasing a moth! Look at the influence of Alden – both Lindsay and Grinnell Jr love chasing moths. So cute. It is also nice to know that both are safe and doing well. They certainly are loud!!!!!!!!
It continues to pour – just like the monsoon rains in SE Asia. Incredible. I am going to turn the AC off and get a sweater. The thunder is rolling and the temperature has really dropped.
Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures and their videos: Cal Falcons, Liz M and the EMU, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky Storks, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, NADC-AEF, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and the Woodland Trust, RSPB Loch Garten, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Mispillion Harbour Osprey Cam and DDNR, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and the ND-LEEF.
We needed some good news in Bird World after Big Bob plummeted Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes to death earlier this morning. That nest, by the way, is not any happier. Laddie brought in what looked like a minnow. Blue NC0 and both chicks will be quite hungry. I wonder what is up?
But, never mind! At the ND-LEEF nest there were two fish brought in before 10:00. The first was a Sucker delivered by Mum and the second was a Blue Gill brought in by Dad.
At 05:53:51, the sucker arrives. Little Bit 17 gets it first. What did I tell you. Then he loses it. Then he steals it again — twice!
At 09:45:53 Dad brings in the Blue Gill. ND15 gets it. At 10:01:03, Little Bit 17 steals it. Boy is this kid good. He grabs it, does the most amazing turn around and runs to the porch to eat it!!!!!! Wow. Is happiness spelled fish???????? It is cooler – 78F. Yesterday it was 96 F at the nest. Let us hope more fish arrive if it is to be ultra hot later.
The sucker arrives at 05:53:51. Little Bit will get it first, lose it and steal it again twice!
Little Bit 17 is very clever. He has had to be to survive on this nest with two much larger siblings and often, little prey. His head shows that he has also paid for trying to steal food to live. So, he sits and watches 15. 15 is not hostile to Little Bit like 16 is.
Little Bit watches and listens and plans its attack.
When he sees the right opportunity – meaning he can see that he can grab the prey and get out – he goes for it. He grabs. Turns back to the right like a ballet dancer doing a pirouette. Then he moves quickly to his safe spot – the porch.
ND15 raises its wing. Little Bit 17 has the rest of the fish and is getting to the porch. What is really incredible is we are talking about an event that only took seconds.
This is thought to be ND16’s first branching – at 10:06. We don’t know what happened when the camera was off. This is good. 15 has already branched and maybe 16 will be more concerned with flying than with Little Bit.
The temperature has now jumped and it is hot. Thankfully – due to his great stealing skills – Little Bit 17 has had some food and hydration.
It is week 4 at the Osprey nest of Richmond and Rosie on the Whirley Crane. San Francisco Ospreys posted their weekly update video of the family. Do we have names for these? Not yet, in a few days. Should I mention that there is no problem with fish delivery at this nest?
Congratulations to Pittsburgh Hayes 18 who fledged this morning at around 11:17. (or is it a fludge?). Upper left branch – lots of leaves and flies off from there! Well done.
We are into day 2 of fledge watch at Cal Falcons. It is hard to believe that Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are really ready to fly!
They can look through the openings to see the world outside that will soon be theirs.
L4 was on the nest with L3 this morning. Beautiful little hawks of Big Red and Arthur. There is a storm coming in on Thursday so fingers crossed that L4 decides not to fledge! What a cutie pie.
The storklets of Jan and Janika had a good feed not that long ago. They are doing extremely well. The staff and all those involved must be terribly happy so far.
We now know that Betty at the Mlade Buky White Stork nest eliminated the youngest chick, the 5th, a couple of days ago. Now Kaia, the mate of Karl II, has tried to eliminate one of the storklets. They are all big! Everything is currently normal on this nest. Kaia might perceive that there is not enough food. She does not know that Karl II has been bringing in lots and lots of food. Let us hope that all stays normal with all the chicks! Send positive wishes.
Today there will be an on line presentation and Q & A about the Bald Eagles on Gabriola Island in British Columbia that have adopted the Red tail hawklet. It was brought in as prey on 4 June and is currently being fed and cared for by the eagles as if it is their own.
Go to this YouTube site to set the reminder if you wish to be part of this discussion. I cannot tell you the time in your zone as YT automatically sets the time remaining to my specific zone which is 15:00 CDT.
There is super news coming from the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G. Aran fed his three chicks of 2022 for the first time today.
It was pitching down rain at Loch Arkaig. Poor Dorcha and the two surviving chicks. Louis was able to bring in a fish as things began to clear. Please keep this nest in your thoughts.
Seren and Dylan on the perch together with the three Bobs in the nest below. What a gorgeous family portrait and what a beautiful site in Wales for an Osprey nest. All is well here.
Telyn and Idris have been keeping intruders away from the nest. Gosh these returning two year olds can be a nuisance that can also cause harm to a nest. Reminds me of the juveniles returning to Taiaroa Head when the chicks are on the nests alone and they dance and sky call and pick on the little ones.
There has been the osprey in the image below briefly visiting the Cape Henlopen Osprey nest. I cannot identify it other than it does not appear to be the Mum because her necklace was very faint. I could not see the feathering to tell if it was the intruder female that removed all of the osplets.
Spirit spent the night with Jackie at the Big Bear Valley nest in California. How reassuring is it to see these beautiful fledglings return home – safe and sound?
I really wanted to give you the good news about ND17 so I am posting much earlier than planned. While 17 didn’t get a whole fish – and it is getting hot – he did get food and he is definitely not lethargic like the Loch of the Lowes osplet.
It is the first sunny day we have had and rain is to come again at 1800. My plan is to be outside in the garden listening to the birds! Thank you so much for being with me today. I will be posting again on Thursday morning. Take care all.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Pix Cams, ND-LEEF, Cal Falcons, Cornell Bird RTH, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery, and the Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, SF Bay Ospreys, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, CarnyXWild, GROWLS, and the Eagle Club of Estonia.
The Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest kept me occupied for a large part of Monday . It is a very complicated situation. There are two intruder birds. They are distinctive in the very thick eye band. One has quite a good necklace and the other does not. Their eyes are close and often look like when we say ‘snake eyes’.
As the sun was setting both of the adult birds were on the nest. You can see their distinctive eye bands that are thick and go right to the shoulder. Except for their necklaces you might want to think they are twins.
One of the birds has some feather damage. It is the one who moved the chicks out of the nest. At first I thought the little chick had its wing caught in the talon but watching the bird try to remove and then in a second try achieve getting one of the bigger chicks off the nest – it was deliberate. She just didn’t have a good hold on that wee third hatch and it is probably – or was – at the base of the platform.
This bird has some interesting feather damage in at least two areas. I hope to get someone who knows about feather issues to examine the photo. It looks like a section around the scapula V on the right has been cut or torn or there are feathers missing. You can see the feather on the right hanging. The bird has flown on and off the nest carrying the chicks but returns quickly so she is just dumping them close by.
It appears that there is a third bird that is around the nest that these two are concerned about and it could be the Mum of the three dead chicks. Of course, this is simply speculation on my part. We have not seen that bird and none are ringed.
There are no adult ospreys on the Cape Helopen Osprey nest tonight, 13 June.
I have received word from ‘A’ and ‘EJ’ that the two intruders were at the Henlopen Osprey nest this morning and at one time a fish was brought and removed. The female intruder has also removed the third dead osplet from the nest. ‘A’ mentions the third osprey that has been bothering me. Is it Mum? is she injured? If it is her – our hearts go out to her. She has sadly lost her entire family.
I remember in an online discussion and chat with Sean and Lynn at Cal Falcons, they mentioned that the problem with the success of reintroducing these species is that there are too many birds. There are territorial fights, etc. Perhaps also it is the amount of habitat loss due to population growth and building, climate change and being able to get adequate food that is also a problem. For the Osprey there is then the issue of trees. Unlike Bald Eagles, Ospreys like to have their nests at the top of a dead tree. So many trees have been lost to deforestation and wildfires and in my community if someone sees a dead tree, it is cut down. Only in the marshes and mangroves do I see them. In South Australia they are busy building platforms in good places for the Ospreys if they have seen Ospreys nesting like Turnby Island. The new platform is up and the Ospreys are already on it along with most of their old nest. Do we need to get building more platforms? And if lakes and streams can be stocked for people to go fishing, what about the birds? It does appear – from many nests – that the success of both the Osprey and Eagle reintroduction programmes have caused issues for established nests – some outright tragedies. There must be some solutions.
Little Bob at the Loch of the Lowes was shut out from the evening feeding. Indeed, he had not eaten all day Monday that I am aware. Both Little and Middle stayed well out of the way of Big and just let him eat. Then Middle went up. By the time Little got up to the table the fish was gone. If this is a problem with Laddie not bringing in enough fish now – then Blue NC0 needs to step up the game and go fishing.
Big ate almost all that fish and has a big crop and so does Middle. Poor wee Bob. They can last for several days. We have seen this on many nests but it is time Little Bob had a good feed. Fingers crossed for Tuesday.
This is Blue NC0 defending the nest and chicks against the intruder.
The situation at the Loch of the Lowes has not improved. There is a ringed intruder and as such Laddie and Blue NC0 are both dealing with that. A fish finally came in at 16:00 but both Little and Middle Bob are getting pounded. Little Bob did not even raise its head and beg for food. There are any number of people worrying about this nest. I will be checking on it later. Some of the Osprey groups are already posting thoughts for Little Bob – he cannot go much longer if he is to live. I do not think he will make it either. So sad. Middle ate yesterday.
I started making a list of all the sadness at the nests this year and will post it later today. It has been a year of tragedy.
The West End fledglings – Ahote and Kana’kini – are really using their wings and learning how to land. Two of the chicks on the natal nest watch one of the siblings (I believe it is Kana’kini) fly off the nest and land on Transmitter Rock.
Perfect landing.
Kana’kini was still on Wray’s Rock Tuesday morning. She had flown there on Monday. Tuesday morning Ahote and Sky were on the natal nest when a fish delivery came in at 05:42. Waiting for Sky to fledge.
Kana’kini and Ahote have since flown off leaving Sky on the natal nest.
At the Two Harbours nest of Chase and Cholyn, Lancer will be 10 weeks old (70 days) tomorrow, the 15th. Cholyn is still flying in to feed their big girl!
There are big storms moving through the area of the ND-LEEF nest. The camera is out of sorts. This could seriously impact any prey deliveries for tomorrow. Little Bit 17 really needs a good meal tomorrow.
The system is going to impact a large area that have nests.
The camera is down because of the storm at the ND-LEEF nest. The eaglets are ND15 75 days old, ND16 74 days old and Little Bit ND17 is 70 days old. It sure would be a shame to lose this little fighter now. What a time to have a storm – backed up with days of little food. My goodness.
I haven’t checked on E1 and Nancy at the MN-DNR nest lately. Nancy made a prey delivery, E1 mantled quickly and was very aggressive to the adult. This is normal behaviour in eaglets getting ready to fledge.
There was a lot of strong winds and rain over night at the MN-DNR. The system is due to be about the same as the one in my city. It will calm down and may begin again. E1 survived it fine – thank goodness.
At the nest of Big Red and Arthur, it appears that the only eyas left to fledge is L4. Little cutie pie. And little cutie pie took advantage of having its big siblings off flying and getting prey elsewhere to eat up two prey items on the nest and get an enormous crop! Sometimes there are advantages to having your other siblings fledge. This might also work for Little Bit if everything came come together to get the parents able to find prey to deliver. I understand that this time of year at this particular nest prey deliveries suffer.
Big Red’s kids do not have that problem. Arthur is excellent at delivering food and Big Red is often hunting herself. They did a marvellous job this year. Amazing.
L4 could fledge. He has 5 going on 6 dark stripes and he is 47 days old. remember the average age of fledge is 46.5 days at this nest.
I love the stretching exercises after the meal. He stretched both sides like this.
The UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys are not sleeping on the natal nest tonight.
The adults are dropping off fish on the nest and both of the fledglings, Big and Middle, make their way there when they see the parents flying in that direction. Big had the fish and then Middle got tired of waiting and took it. Both had a decent feed. These two are doing fantastic.
It is always good to remember that what you want to see are the chicks being fed by the parents on the nest after fledge. At other times, they will feed them off nest like they did with Little MiniO at Captiva. Often times the fledglings bolt and well, they need to get home. You might recall if you watched the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest that Legacy (2021) was missing for about six days. She was so glad to find home she didn’t leave for another month!
It is early morning in The Czech Republic and Betty is feeding the four White storklets at the Mlade Buky nest. Oh, look. They are getting their pin feathers. Fantastic. Note: The smallest, the 5th storklet was eliminated on Sunday.
It is also lousy weather in Estonia but Karl II has been out fishing for these babies. Did you know he flies 10 km to get the little fish? It is monitored by his tracker.
Liz did a lovely – and short video (I always appreciate her short videos getting right to the heart of the matter) – of the three Black storklets of Jan and Janika’s in care late Tuesday having a meal. They are doing so very well. I think that you are witnessing an intervention that is going to go very, very well.
All three osplets on the nest of Aran and Mrs G in the Glaslyn Valley are doing quite fine. Just look at that face of Mrs G. I certainly would not want to mess with this Osprey Mum. In the second image all have crops after their afternoon tea time meal.
Idris taking the head off of the tea time fish for Telyn and the three Bobs. There is definitely not a problem at this nest!
Little Bob is in the middle and Telyn has been feeding him – and he will be fed til his crop is full! (or they run out of fish)
Llyn Brenig Ospreys have had their troubles. The third hatch died but the two surviving osplets appear to be doing very well. Let us hope that the horrible weather that has swept through the nests dissipates and gives these families a break!
The two surviving osplets at the Loch Arkaig nest have been enjoying all that nice fish that Louis brings in. The tea time one was a little too close to the lads or lasses but both got fed. Big Bob looks like he could be a problem. Let us hope that he isn’t! There is always fish on this nest of Dorcha and Louis.
They have had their problems up at Llyn Clywedog but it looks like those are behind them. Dylan brought in a huge Mullet for Seren and the three Bobs at 16:00:03. Just look at their crops after their tea.
That is a hop, skip, and jump through the nests with troubles and some of those that are doing so well. Seeing those three at Llyn Clywedog after the fear that Dylan was missing just warms the heart.
Last, Alden delivered what appears to be a pigeon. Annie gets it and this translates into a food fight between Lindsay and Grinnell, Jr. Neither have fledged yet but it is just morning in California! Fledge watch at Cal Falcons.
We may never know what ultimately happens at the Cape Henlopen State Park Osprey nest until we see who is on the nest for the next breeding season. If it is Mum who has been trying to get her nest back, let us hope that she either does so safely or she leaves the territory in good health to find another nest and mate.
I am working on two different pieces for you. One of Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres and their importance and another on the birds that we have lost since last 1 July. It is sadly a very long list. I had hoped to have the one on the rehabilitation centres finished this week but the events at some of the nests took over.
Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages or videos that I have captured and used for this blog: Liz M, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Cornell RTH Cam, ND-LEEF, Friends of the Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Osprey Project, MN-DNR, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and NOAA.
UPDATE: The smallest, the 5th hatch storklet, at the Mlade Buky nest of Betty and Bukacek was eliminated on Sunday. I had missed this.
It looks like it could be another rainy day on the Canadian Prairies. We are certainly making up with moisture this spring for 4-5 years of drought. Everything is green and beautiful.
Well, the weather is taking its toll on other nests in Scotland and Wales on Sunday. Those long, cold rainy days with a dip in fish deliveries are making some of the Bobs cranky – and aggressive. Big Bob on the Loch of the Lowes almost pushed both Middle and Little Bobs off the nest. Little Bob has also missed out on some meals. I sure hope this weather changes and these chicks settle down.
At tea time on Monday, Telyn went out of her way – finally – to make sure that Little Bob had fish. I was terribly happy to see this as the biggest Bob is working hard to exclude Little.
Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi nest made sure that all three of the Bobs were fed well before bedtime on Sunday. It has been a stinker of weather over in Wales, too.
Monday’s tea at Dyfi was a Sea Bass followed by the delivery of a mullet by Idris to Telyn and the kids. The weather had considerably improved.
My goodness. Aran caught one of his whoppers! He cleaned off the head before delivering it to Mrs G and the kids.
Mrs G fed herself and the kids. Big Bob is in food coma and Little and Middle are up at the table.
There was lots of fish left over when Mrs G finished so Aran decided to have a really good meal before he got on the perch. All appears to be good.
The wind is still blowing a bit on the Glaslyn nest at tea time. All of the chicks are wide awake. Look at how good Little Bob is doing. He is standing at the back.
We have learned that a good nest can change in the blink of an eye – or weather, intruders, lack of prey. So far the osplets on the nest of Blue 33 (11) and Maya are doing fantastic. They are now all at least five weeks old and they will be ringed soon. Ringing normally takes place between 35-43 days in the UK. Any later and the osplets could bolt and any earlier and the leg would still be growing.
The weather has improved at Loch Arkaig – thankfully. Louis has brought fish in and has covered up Little Bob with some sticks brought in and from the nest. The surviving two Bobs appear to be fine this morning. They benefited from being under Dorcha during the cold rain and winds.
The rain appears to have stopped at the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren. Dylan is on the nest and in the early afternoon there was a male intruder with a blue Darvic ring that was flying around the nest. He was quickly sent off.
The three storklets continue to thrive in the care of the Veterinary School. Forest sounds have been added to their environment.
A very good article has been translated and placed on Looduskalender with the Forum for the Black Stork nest of Karl II and Kaia. The information could be applied universally to nests that depend on fish for their main food item. The specific nest that they are talking about is, however, that of Karl II and Kaia in the Karula National Forest.
“Black Stork – Ciconia nigra
The older chicks hatched on 28 May and turned two weeks old today. The third chick is considerably smaller but hatched three days later than the older two. Mother Kaia and father Karl are managing to feed their chicks well, despite the youngest being significantly smaller than the others. We know and have observed that Black Storks sometimes carry out infanticide, i.e. the parent birds remove the weakest chick from the nest. The main reason for this is a lack of food. Chicks must be very well fed because they will embark on a long and dangerous migration in August on their own, but this is how black storks do it. Less than a third of this year’s chicks will be alive in a year. What are we not seeing on the webcam? In Karula National Park, where this black storks nest is located, Kotkaklubi has been organising clean-up campaigns for many years to clear the banks of the brooks of the Koiva river basin of undergrowth so that the birds can access them. Small natural streams quickly become overgrown with vegetation, but black storks are happy to feed in such remote places. Adult birds will also look for food in ditches where fish can be found during the breeding season. Still, these ditches may dry up during both spring and summer droughts, threatening breeding success. Therefore the birds need to be able to visit different feeding areas. Adult BS also forage in meadows, catching frogs and occasionally rodents. We can see on the webcam that fish is their primary food. In addition, Urmas Sellis has installed a fish basket with live fish in a stream about ten kilometres away from the nest, and a trail camera has recorded the visits of black storks there.
Today, 13 June, the chicks are respectively 16, 16 and 13 days old.
The three storklets of Karl II and Kaia are waking up to a whole new day!
PLEASE NOTE THAT ON SUNDAY, BETTY ELIMINATED THE 5TH STORKLET. It looks like another rainy mucky day for Bukacek and Betty and their five little white storklets in Mlade Buky. I cannot look at the adult standing there without thinking about the plastic decoy with the storklets of Jan and Janika. Looks just like that decoy!
The storklets are getting their juvenile feathers.
A prey item has been brought to the ND-LEEF nest at 08:36:54. ND 15 stole it from ND16 and at 08:57:49 Little Bit 17 steals it, eats some, and then 16 gets it. They are all hungry but Little Bit is right in there!
Little Bit 17 is still ‘the king of the snatch and grab’. Fingers crossed for a lot more prey today!
It is extremely sad to see the Cape Henlopen nest with the three dead osplets of the long bonded pair on an empty nest. It remains unclear what happened to the 20 year old Dad and Mum from the nest after the intruders took over late Friday. An entire family lost because of intruders? So sad.
Will the intruders return? We wait.
Both fledglings were on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest this morning. Middle had control of the fish delivery. The parents have been excellent at bringing the two lots of fish during the day. They look to be in great health and their flying skills – and landing – are improving every day.
At 08:41 all four of Big Red and Arthur’s hawklets were on the nest. L2 fledged first followed by L1. L3 spent Sunday up on a higher level of the tower but it has yet to fledge along with the youngest L4.
L3 is 49 days old today and L4 is 46. The average of fledge at Big Red’s nest is 46.5 days. We could be looking at another two flying today or tomorrow.
Takoda is 69 days old today. On Sunday he had branched up to the height where Mr President normally perches. Early this morning he made it up to the cam which made for some lovely closeups just for us! Fledging is close at hand.
All eyes are on Star at the Redding Eagle nest. She is branching farther up and this early morning seems to have put out the sound on the streaming cam. As far as I know, there has been no sighting of Sentry since he fledged.
Could this be your day to fly Star?
Spirit is so beautiful. She is 3 months and 9 days old today. She hatched on 3 March and fledged on 31 May. She came down to visit the nest before taking off into the Big Bear Valley at 06:13. She might have been looking for breakfast!
There is one more fledge to go at the Pittsburgh-Hayes Bald Eagles nest and that is H18. Both H16 and H17 fledged on the 10th of June within an hour and a half of one another (06:20 and 07:50). That third fledge could happen any time.
Both eaglets at the US Steel nest are considering branching! What a gorgeous view.
Ahote and Kana’kini were on the move this morning. What a beautiful camera view of both of them. Sky is still on the natal nest. The time is o7:03.
An early morning view of the San Jose City Hall Peregrine falcons.
At 03:58 Annie was sleeping in the scrape with Lindsay and Grinnell Jr. Precious moments. Fledge will come before we know it. Goodness. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Alden came into our lives???? It sure seems like it. Annie and Alden have been super parents and I am thrilled that these two chicks got a chance to make their own way in the world. It could have been dramatically different without Alden.
Fledge watch begins for Lindsay and Grinnell Jr tomorrow – 14 June!!!!!!
It is early morning on the Canadian Prairies. We have had so much rain that the landscape could be the green of Ireland! It is impossible to see the birds and squirrels and even the small bunny in the jungle that has grown. Birds can be seen flying in and out and the feeders are empty by noon so they are in there – just covered by all the branches and leaves.
There may be several fledges today. There are eyes on many, many nests!
I hope that your Monday is a good start to the week. Thank you for joining me. Take care!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or websites where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, LRWT, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and Scottish Wildlife Trust, CarnyXWild, Eagle Club of Estonia, LizM, Mlade Buky, ND-LEEF, Cape Henlopen State Park Ospreys Cam, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, NADE-AEF, Friends of Redding Eagles, Pix Cams, FOBBV, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, San Jose City Falcons, and Cal Falcons.
UPDATE: THE DEATHS OF THE THREE OSPLETS AT THE CAPE HENLOPEN STATE PARK NEST IN DELAWARE WAS CAUSED BY INTRUDERS TAKING OVER THE NEST. THE FEMALE WAS LAST SEEN ON THE NEST ON THE 10TH. ALL CHICKS WERE FINE. BOTH PARENTS ARE MISSING AND THE BIRD ON THE PLATFORM NEST IS NOT EITHER PARENT.
Oh, Saturday was just such a beautiful day. We all must treasure them and get outside and listen to the birds singing and smell the freshly mowed grass and the flowers. Our summers are so short in Canada that it is such a pleasure just sitting and listening, sometimes. Today the wee rabbit found itself underneath the square feeder by the lilacs. It was certainly enjoying those Black oil seeds and millet that had fallen to the ground. Mr and Mrs Grackle have fledglings and they are very noisy if you go anywhere near the lilac bushes – and then there is Mr Crow who arrives demanding bread, cheese, and sausages. It was quite the afternoon. I will try and take my phone out and get some photos another day for all of you. My big camera doesn’t quite understand that when it is set to CQ mode it is supposed to be ‘quiet’ and instead the noise frightens everyone within ear shot.
Saturday was not, however, a great day for Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. But it was not all bad, either. In fact, there was so little food brought to the nest that for Little Bit to have a crop was a blessing. He spent various times through day working on a raccoon that had been brought into the nest. He started working on it once at 14:39 and was still eating on it at 14:58. It looks like he ate the entire head which would have had lots of meat and fat. There were two other times that he worked on it. A fish was brought in but the older siblings seem to have been fed all of it. At one time, 16 tried to hurt Little Bit 17. It is over and Little Bit is fine. Let us all hope that there is more prey tomorrow. The nest is really relying on road kill it seems. Perhaps the river is still too high with all of the rains and too murky for the eagles to fish. Last Sunday saw a lot of fish brought to the nest – will the same thing happen tomorrow?
16 (I think it was 16 because of their actions towards Little Bit) came up wanting some of the remaining raccoon.
Mum flew in and fed the two older siblings. Little Bit stood by the side rails hoping there would be a little left but, alas, no.
All spread out and sleeping with the turtle shells. Someone said that there are at least 50 of them somewhere in the nest. You can see Little Bit’s primaries growing and his tail. I wish his head feathers would grow back. Poor thing. Any sore spots seem to have healed, thankfully.
Wish for fish everyone!
And the fish came Sunday morning. Mom brought in a Walleye at 08:28:21. At 08:40:11 Little bit 17 steals that walleye from one of the older siblings! He takes it to the porch to eat it.
You can see Little Bit pulling that fish to the porch. There is no head and he is going to heat for several minutes (7 or 8) and then 16 is going to steal it back.
At 09:59:47 Dad brought in a Blue Gill. Little Bit 17 stole the whole fish. He took it to the porch and ate the entire thing!!!!!!!!!! All by himself. Can you believe this kid? Bravo Little Bit.
Little Bit ate all of the fish and returned to look out at the world while the older siblings are up on the branches. He flapped his wings – they are growing – and stopped. You can only get a sense of how big his crop is over by the edge but he is one happy full little eaglet this morning and I have tears rolling down my eyes. He has been super brave pulling that last fish right out from under the older sibling!!!!!!
Both fledglings at the UFlorida-Gainesville have been on and off the nest eating or hoping for a delivery. At one point it started raining (or was it hail?). Middle was trying to hover off the nest and was having difficulty – of course Middle you can’t fly in pouring down rain!!!!!!! Just look at those beautiful, beautiful wings! These osplets are simply gorgeous. The feathers are absolutely perfect. Oh, I wish Little Bit was as healthy as the two fledgling ospreys.
It is rainy and windy in Gainesville Sunday morning and Middle is on the nest thinking it is a good day to stay home.
Ferris Akel has wonderful Saturday bird tours around Montezuma, Sapsucker Woods and Ithaca. At the end of the tour today, everyone lucked out as the Ls and Big Red were quickly located. I cannot tell you which chick is which from these images – so just enjoy a basket of cute little hawks.
Big Red was over on the other light stand. An adult is always around close watching the hawklets. Arthur was not spotted. He was probably off hunting!
All of the storklets still remain on the nest of Bukacek and Betty in Mlade Buky. They are growing and growing. While there is a significant difference in the size between the oldest (front right) with the youngest (back left), each is holding their own and as I have mentioned several times, there appears to be no effort to do any brood reduction by the adults. Fish must be plentiful – wonderful news!!!!!
It was a feeding fest Sunday morning in Mlade Buky. Watch how the two little ones get in there to get those fish.
Karl II and Kaia’s storklets are also growing and are being very well fed. There appears to be plenty of fish at their source in the Karula National Park in Estonia.
Kaia has fish and is getting ready to regurgitate them on the moss so the storklets can eat.
They are grabbing them with their little beaks.
Just look at the little fish in their bills. So sweet. The moss nest keeps these babies so nice and white compared to the red iron soil of Mlade Buky. The eaglets are always looking a little dirty there.
Bywyd Bwyllt Glaslyn posted some information on the osplets of Aran and Mrs G today on their FB feed. Little Bob is certainly smaller than Big Bob at the front!
There is much sadness at the Henlopen State Park Osprey Nest. One of the osplets appears to have died. I did not see it move at all today. The other osplets are weak and very hungry. Mum came in with a tiny fish. I thought she would feed the other two and they did too but, she didn’t. I fear that all will die.
It is a tiny fish. In raptors, it seems that their first priority is the protection of their territory, then to keep themselves fed and alive, and lastly the offspring. Mum has to be strong enough to fish. I do not know what if any was delivered after the 8th in terms of fish til this morning. It was not enough to keep the osplets alive and the two surviving have very concave chests.
On Sunday all three of the osplets have died. What a tragedy. The poor Mum – she lost her mate and all her lovely once healthy chicks in a few days. Incredibly sad.
There appears to be no attempt by anyone to provide a fish table for this family. Just sayin’. Most of the issues related to getting fish or other prey to the nest including those at the ND-LEEF nest can be attributed to human interference in some way or another. Changing weather patterns causing torrential rains, floods, and mudslides is impacting the rivers so that the Bald Eagles and Ospreys cannot ‘see’ to fish. Most of you are very much aware of the impact that we have had whether it is habitat destruction, rising sea temperatures due to a heating planet, etc. There isn’t much that we haven’t caused so I will not accept the answer that it is ‘just nature’ not to help out these lovely raptors.
In contrast, we have the surviving three Black Storklets in Estonia. They are being well fed and taken care of and every aspect of their future well being has been considered. Please note that they do not see ‘human animals’ very often – just the decoy mother, the step-father who feeds, and themselves. This is so they will not imprint on others.
The smallest chick even had a private feeding to ensure that it gets enough to eat with the two much larger siblings. Just like at the size of its crop when it is returned!
Everyone has been talking about the Bald Eagles raising the hawklet in their nest on Gabriola Island. Here is a delightful discussion of another Bald Eagle adopting a Red-tail hawklet a couple of years ago. Here is the complete story from beginning to successful end. Please listen. This is such an informative discussion with live footage in the nest showing the eagles and the hawklet.
The Dyfi Osprey Project posted an excellent bit of information on their FB site this morning about Osprey growth.
These are the osplets that Dyfi is referring to – the three of Idris and Telyn. We should know their names soon! Over 200 suggestions – wow.
I often wonder if the change of the plumage and the itching makes the osplets crankier during the Reptile phase that then causes them to start pecking one another????
It has been very windy up in Alaska at the nest of Liberty and Freedom. The two little eaglets don’t seem to even notice! They are having a nice meal.
The winds are raging at Loch of the Lowes too. The wee chicks are calling for food as Blue NC0 waits to see if Laddie will have some luck fishing Sunday afternoon.
Dylan brought in a perch at 16:04 at Llyn Clywedog and Seren is happily feeding all of the Bobs. The weather does not look as windy – thank goodness. This nest in the Cambrian area of Wales has been wet for several days now.
The third hatch, Little Bob, at Glaslyn is really starting to catch up. Aran is bringing in lots of fish. No one is hungry. There is even a fish sitting on the nest waiting for the next feeding. That is Little Bob by the side of Mrs G.
Poor Dorcha. The Loch Arkaig nest seems to be getting all of the bad weather. It is rainy and windy. Louis, thankfully, prevails in getting fish on this nest in the most dire of times. He is literally amazing.
I want to leave you with something beautiful. Andris has come to the nest and he is feeding the small eaglet! Mostly the males do not do this so it is very special. Oh, such a sweet little fluff ball. Andris and Anna have their Lesser Spotted Eagle’s nest in Zemgale, Latvia.
Anna is feeding the wee eaglet later. Oh, how precious.
Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are sure keeping Annie and Alden busy at the UCalifornia-Berkeley scrape. They are running all over the place chasing any adult food begging – even if they are full – and are beginning to self feed. Adorable. Being the pests they are meant to be!
Grinnell Jr has a blue band and Lindsay has a gold one.
Last but the falcons are never least, the wee little peregrine at the Manchester New Hampshire nest, Colby, woke up watching everyone fly around. At 06:52:49, Colby fludged just like Clem. I am certain the volunteers will be out to make sure he is OK and perhaps he will be returned to the nest with Clem tomorrow!
The weather certainly changed on the Canadian Prairies. We had thunderstorms all during the night and much more rain. My garden is beginning to look like a thick forest – which is what I have wanted for years – a forest in the city! The sadness at Henlopen weighs heavy today.
Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me today. See you tomorrow!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB posts and video clips: ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Ferris Akel Tours, Mlade Buky, Eagle Club of Estonia, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Henlopen State Park Ospreys, Christian Sasse, Dyfi Osprey Projects, Glacier Gardens Bald Eagles, Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Post Code Lottery and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cal Falcons, Peregrine Network, and the Latvian Fund for Nature.
