It took me a moment, shaking my head. The Cowlitz camera was not focusing. The temperature is 44 degrees in the area and it has to be much hotter on the nest.
There is the poor little tyke with its full crop looking for its mama. Getting hotter by the minute. The best I can figure is that the chick died around 6pm nest time. One minute he is looking for Electra walking around the rim of the nest and then he collapses.
Electra returns with a big headless fish. It appears that she is confused and doesn’t understand that her little one is dead. The poor thing could not regulate its temperature in that kind of heat and despite having some fish, it did not have enough to hydrate it. Even then it might not have made it on the nest in the blazing sun all alone.
Wattsworth, of course, came to try and get the fish but Electra did not give it to him.
Electra has been standing for hours holding on to the fish.
It is always sad when chicks die. These two wee little ones never had a chance. Born onto a nest that repeatedly does not have enough food and now with these temperatures, it would have been next to impossible for these babies to survive. Electra knew that her and the baby needed food. She went to get fish for them not realizing that the heat could kill the little one, too.
Fly high baby!
It is always difficult to post stories like this one. These two poor little babies, undernourished, both dead. One of siblicide and starvation and the second by dehydration/sun stroke.
Thank you to the Cowlitz PUD for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.