It’s late on 1 July, Canada Day and by the time I finish writing this it will be 2 July. The week has been wrought with extreme heat and now a wildfire in British Columbia has left the citizens of Lytton with only 15 minutes to evacuate. My friends in the Kootenays tell me that this is just the beginning of a long, hot hard summer. Our thoughts go out to everything – non-humans and humans alike.
I had a question from a reader and I want to answer it here because everyone might be wondering, too. The question: Do female Ospreys always rely on the male Osprey to bring them fish even when they are not taking care of chicks or incubating? The answer is that it varies by female. Some female Ospreys do not fish at all and rely on their partner completely for their food and the food for the chicks. Those female Ospreys never fish. Some go fishing once their chicks are older. This past week we have seen NC0 on the Loch of the Lowes Nest go fishing. Indeed, in a short part of one day, she went out four times. She brought fish to the nest and ate them herself and fed some to the Bobs. Mrs G is known to be a formidable fisher. She is known for catching whoppers! Maybe she is in competition with Idris from the Dyfi Nest. Mrs G relies on Aran when she is incubating the eggs and brooding the chicks to supply the fish. Otherwise she likes fishing herself. Right now the couple are bonding after Aran’s injury and the traumatic death of their chicks, so she is enjoying Aran delivering some fish to her and likewise, he is happy that Mrs G is accepting his gift. That said, she caught a big one this afternoon and sure didn’t share it with Aran!
Mary Kerr did a short video clip of the historic moment when Aran delivered Mrs G the first fish after his injury:
As I write there is a severe thunderstorm warning for Missoula, Montana where Iris, the oldest Osprey in the world has her nest. They are expecting torrential rainfall, heavy winds in excess of 45 mph which is higher than what is forecast when Tropical Storm Elsa hits Florida. The system in Montana is moving NW at 10 mph.
I just checked and the skies are getting dark in Missoula and there is a little wind. Iris is not on her nest but she was there this morning. This is the scene at 21:33 at the nest:
This is Iris this morning. How many times can you say gorgeous?
Send positive thoughts out to everyone in the area of this system as well as our beloved Iris. There are many other Osprey nests in the area, too.
It is now 23:30 at the site of Iris’s nest and all is well. Let us hope it stays that way during the night.
Several days ago I announced the ringing of the three chicks on the Foulshaw Moss Osprey Nest of White YW and Blue 35. This is the nest of Tiny Little, Middle Bob, and Great Big Bob. Many did not believe that Tiny Little would survive but being clever and determined like Tiny Tot on the Achieva Credit Union nest in St Petersburg, Florida, Tiny Little did well. Of course, he won all of our hearts. As it happens, Tiny Little is now a very special chick in the history of Cumbrian Ospreys. Tiny Little got the honour of being the 100th chick ringed since 2001. Well done, Tiny Little!
There is their official portrait posted on the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust FB. Just look at the difference in size between Tiny Little and Great Big Bob. I would be afraid of that monstrous sister if I were Tiny Little. But, being clever, Tiny Little figured out how to manage rather well.
Blue 462 weighed 1.6 kg and is a female, Blue 463 weighed 1.5 kg, and the gender is unknown, and Tiny Little is Blue 464, the 100th chick ringed, andis a male weighing 1.6 kg.
The oldest chick, the male, on Rutland Water’s Manton Bay Nest fledged at 12:12pm today. Someone on site, later in the day, sent word out that 096 was sitting on the camera perch while Maya and the female, 095 were on the nest. Blue 33 had just brought in a nice fish.
By the time I went to check on them, 096 was on the nest and 095, the female, was flapping and hopping. Looks like she will fledge shortly!
I also checked in to see if Electra was on the Cowlitz PUD Osprey Nest and she wasn’t. The wind is picking up a bit and it is only 18 degrees C. So much cooler than the heat that killed her last chick.
Tiny Tot is sleeping up on the perch. There is a 40% chance of a thunderstorm in the St Petersburg, Florida area. However, other models showing the rain moving NE did not indicate any systems coming near Tiny’s nest. I never know whether to trust the weather maps or not. With all the technology they should be spot on but, sometimes they aren’t!
I took some images of Tiny Tot during the day thinking that it might be the last time to see her. I sincerely hope that is not the case. Indeed, I hope that she stays around like Izzi, the juvenile Peregrine Falcon son of Xavier and Diamond, in Australia. She could give Jack and Diane a hand. It wouldn’t be the first time a juvenile stayed home and helped.
Tiny is incredibly beautiful, even when she is mantling because of an intruder. There is an intenseness about her.
Tiny’s plumage is beginning to change slightly on her body. Look at the necklace that is getting darker. Remember the white ‘V’ on the head. She will always have that and the white making a heart along with the very symmetrical espresso lines from her gorgeous eyes going to the back of her head.
She is even lovely when she is squawking at intruders! Go Tiny! Let them have it.
Tiny will be really anxious for Jack to deliver a fish in the morning as she went to sleep without her regular evening dinner. She won’t starve. The raptors often go for a day or more without prey. Still, for all the efforts today – even with Jack coming to help with the intruder – Tiny needs her fish payment for doing security duty! Don’t you think?
Little Kindness is truly a sweetheart. Here she is sitting with Mom on the nest in Glacier Gardens late in the afternoon on 1 July. Just precious!
There are several things that people look for when they try to determine the gender of a Bald Eaglet. One is the size of the feet and the second is how far the back of the mouth goes in relation to the back of the eye. The farther back that yellow line extends and the bigger the feet indicate a female. Kindness has very large feet. Just look at them! And that yellow line of her mouth goes far back. By this method, that would indicate that she is a girl. Of course, nothing but a DNA test or seeing an eagle lay an egg is 100%. I wonder if they plan to ring Kindness? Must ask! And I did ask and got an answer quickly. It appears there are no plans to ring little Kindness. I could give them ten good reasons to ring this eaglet. I wonder why ringing and keeping data on the birds is not as ingrained in North America like it is in the United Kingdom and Europe?
The three white storklets remain on their nest in Mlady Buky, Czechoslovakia. They are growing and growing and now are as large as Father Stork.
It is time to say goodnight to all of the birds and to you. But before I do, I want to leave you with a video that Lady Hawk posted today. It is the Golden Eaglet in the Bucovina, Romania Nest. The mother brought in the 6th roe deer today and the baby ate it all! That eaglet looks like it will explode. Enjoy!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I get my screen shots: Achieva Credit Union, Cowlitz PUD, Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle Nest, LRWT and Monton Bay Ospreys, Rutland Water, Cornell Bird Lab and Montana Osprey Project, and the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust. Thank you Lady Hawk for doing your videos!