Tag Archives: environmentalism

Late Wednesday in Bird World

8 June 2022

We are continuing to have the most beautiful days with bright sun and blue skies and no rain. The ground is actually spongy the water table is so high and there remains clear evidence of how high the river continues to be when I drive through the park. For the past week I have attempted to find and count goslings and ducklings. In the beginning it was very frustrating as all I could find were six goslings with two other Canada Goose couples incubating eggs. Then a couple of days ago I decided to go ‘somewhere else’ to see what was happening! There sure won’t be Guinness World Records broken this year for the number of goslings and ducklings in our City. It is quite sad! At the same time, when I hear someone interviewed about the issue of Canada Geese down by our Legislative Building and their solution is to tear up the nests and break up the eggs, I go wild! What they have now is a loud speaker projecting the sounds of hawks that are keeping the geese away from the water and the grass. Why not hire workers to clean the sidewalks? One day we will wake up and there will be no songbirds singing or geese honking or little ones scurrying to catch up with the attitude that it is simply alright to destroy their nests. It isn’t alright. They are protected by our 1994 wildlife protections for migrant birds.

At any rate, I found spawning fish, an Osprey flying overhead, a single American Pelican, and lots of geese along with a couple of duck couples at one site.

A female Mallard with her 9 ducklings. She never took her eye off me. The male left the edge of the pond first and then she went in with the 9 ducklings. I was approximately 37 metres or 120 feet away.

One Canada Goose family with four little ones.

At another park, I found a couple of Mallard and Goose families along with a lot of male wood ducks and only one female in sight.

These little ducklings were having so much fun racing ahead of their Mum.

At the other end of the pond, a single gosling constitutes the ‘family’ for these two geese this year. Back on the island scattered about are abandoned eggs that would have been destroyed by the flood waters at the pond.

The Wood Ducks were not at this park the last time I visited. It was very disappointing as the pond is normally full of them. There were some this time, thankfully.

The little female Wood Ducks are adorable.

Mixed in with the geese and ducks was this one particular shape that did deep dives into the water. The light was not good but what you are looking at is a very wet Common Goldeneye below.

What is interesting to me is that Common Goldeneyes will seek out tree cavities or stumps – even chimneys. The females have also been known to lay their eggs in another duck’s nest (if they do not have a suitable one). This is known as ‘brood parasitism’. Thankfully ducklings are precocial – they can take care of themselves once they hatch! There could be as many as 30 in a single clutch! Since ducks return to the site where they hatched, it is common for them to be related to one another.

This is the first time I have seen this species at this pond. It is a female. It is possible the floods have caused a variety of species to come to the city where it is dry than stay in the rural areas where the fields are totally flooded.

At another park this afternoon, there was one group of goslings totalling 11 with both parents and another younger group totalling 9 with no parent visible. It felt odd to see them alone and not a single goose with them!

It was, however, great to see those fuzzy little bodies on the water paddling or eating grass.

Let’s take a spin around the nests and see what has been going on.

At the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest, ND17 Little Bit 17 does an amazing steal at 13:08. Little Bit just seems to be coming into his own – much more confident. Today at 13:08:53 he made a major steal from one of the big siblings. I believe it was 15.

In the beginning Little Bit went up between the two sib siblings looking to snatch and grab. That didn’t work so well.

He crept closer to the beak but the big sibling only started flapping its wings.

Little Bit went back by the porch when 15 started flapping. Meanwhile 16 is looking to see what is going on.

Little Bit wasted no time getting up on the other side of the big sibling.

The kid is lighting fast – he grabbed that prey item and off he went to the porch. Both big siblings look on in dismay. Dismay because Little Bit actually pulled the prey item out of the beak of 15 and ran with it!

Little Bit ate all of it! Great steal. This kid is really getting so confident. When he wants something he has been able to get it – at least for the past couple of days. Just imagine if he had food everyday. This eagle would be a very formidable opponent – long ago. He is getting there now.

As evening arrives, it is pitching down rain on Little Bit 17.

All three Bobs are growing and doing well at the Loch of the Lowes nest of Laddie LM12 and Blue NC0. Even Little Bob is growing – still smaller but right up there.

Aran has a huge Perch for Mrs G and the trio at the Glaslyn nest.

Come on Little Bob get up and get some fish before bedtime.

The winds are blowing a gale up at the Llyn Clywedog nest. They even sent Seren flying over the edge of the nest earlier. Here Dylan (on the right) is helping Seren feed the three Bobs so that everyone eats. There has been some nonsense on this nest in the past couple of days.

Idris just keeps catching whoppers for Telyn to feed their three Bobs at the Dyfi nest. Just look at that fish! And they still have big crops from an earlier feed.

Idris takes the fish he just brought and Telyn gets a piece from the nest and they do a tandem feeding. Everyone gets fed – once again before bed – including the littlest Bobbi who goes over to Dad!!!!!!! Do you find that the males seem to empathize with the small little males having to fight sometimes for food? like they might have had to do once?

The three Bobs are still lining up like a perfect choir for Maya to feed them at the Rutland Water Osprey nest she shares with Blue 33.

Besides L1 and Clem fledging, Jack at the Cromer Peregrine Falcon scrape fledged yesterday.

Speaking of Clem fledging. They are keeping an eye on her and Maria, the local Wildlife Rehabber, will return her to the scrape if she can. A big shout out to all the wildlife rehabbers that help these wee ones.

Middle has dropped his crop at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. For several days, many of us have watched intently believing that now was the moment he would fledge. Middle is still with us! He will fly off easily, just like L2 as if he had been flying all his life.

That is just a quick stop at a few nests this afternoon. Everyone of the Ospreys nests in the UK appears to be doing fine. Lots of eaglets wanting to fledge in the US. Different events happening all over the place! Looking for more fledges at Cornell this week and surely Middle at UF-G will let the wind carry him upward and forward. I am working on an article on a couple of amazing Wildlife Rehabilitation Centres for the beginning of next week. If you have a favourite send me a note and tell me how they pulled your heart strings!

Thanks so much for joining me this afternoon. Stay safe. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: ND-LEEF, Dyfi Osprey Project, Llyn Clywedog and CarnyXWild, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Loch of the Lowes and Woodland Trust, Cromer Peregrines, LRWT, and Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn.

Helping the birds and animals

Oh, be careful for what you wish for! It is 14 degrees, grey, 84% humidity day in the ‘Peg. An overnight rain has made the leaves smell like fall but the cool reminds us of what is to come. Today as I look out the window few of the big old Maples have any leaves left on them and the lilac hedgerow, of sorts, is almost bare. Today, I am missing those 28 degree temperatures of two days ago!

The Superb Fairy Wren won The Guardian’s Australian Bird of 2021. They are such beautiful little birds.

“Superb Fairy Wren” by James Niland is licensed under CC BY 2.0

These gorgeous song birds are rapidly declining in numbers with the loss of territory due to human construction. There are many other birds that are dropping significantly in populations also – everywhere!

Some are dying due to the lack of water. An article in today’s Guardian, ‘The water used to be up to your armpits’: birds starve as Turkey’s lakes dry up provides a stark warning to all of us. This migratory period between 3,000-5,000 flamingos died of starvation in Turkey in July at Lake Tuz because the shore of the lake had receded so far from their nests that they could not reach it. It also caused mass gull deaths and our raptors are getting sick because they are having to change their diet. Many are having to eat rubbish and carrion to survive. Others are killing one another they are so hungry. The deaths have been caused by lack of water and food resources as well as parasites. Unmitigated agricultural practices, large construction projects using the lake water, and pollution are causing all of the wetlands to dry and this is a primary corridor to Africa for migrating birds. This past summer there were also the wild fires. Environmental researchers categorically state that there must be a balance between humans and the natural world if we are to hope of avoiding catastrophic damage/extinction to the planet.

Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin have packed a lot of good information into their book, Back to Nature. How to love life- and save it.

It is a great book and everyone should have a copy. It is choked full of ideas on how we can help our planet. The book is excellent at provoking thoughtful responses to the challenges that the authors put forth. At the same time, they provide easy and sensible solutions and a backdrop of positivity that makes us understand that acting together can produce great benefits to all life. The paperback is $20 in the US and Canada and 8.99 GBP. Well worth it!

I only want to mention two things. Turkey is often called the dumping ground for the EU as plastics are sent there for recycling. According to today’s article in the Guardian about the lakes drying up, much of that plastic is burnt causing pollution or simply left to clog up the earth for millions of years. In one section, Packham and McCubbin write about the Scavenger works. These worms that have existed for 100 million years eat everything from bones to maggots and mealworms to organic matter in our gardens. “Scientists have recently tested the larvae of these superworm species called Zaphobas atratus to determine whether it could successfully consume styrofoam.” The scientists were shocked at the ability of the worms to survive completely on plastic. They are hopeful that the use of these superworms could stop the plastic apocalypse in the world. And that is good news!

Packham and McCubbin also address the issue of the lack of proper ‘avenues’ if you like for birds. Since the studies by Robert MacArthur and Edward Wilson in the 1960s, it has been recognized that large parks and nature reserves are better ecosystems than small parks or nature reserves. They developed the concept of ‘island biogeography’. “Species richness will be higher in larger areas and the species richness will decrease with increasing isolation.” A good example would be Central Park versus the little parks scattered throughout my city that are a city block square. The landscape of almost every country is fragmented. Hedgerows used to be a way for the wildlife to move but much of those are being cut down for development. Packham and McCubbin suggest that it is up to the members of the community to now create these areas of species richness through their own gardens. It can be private gardens, public gardens, or even balcony or patio gardens. They argue that adding up the land areas of the private gardens gives you a huge area but people must work together. Plant trees, native grasses. The idea is to create a series of gardens so that the wildlife and insects can move around freely. One house on one block will not create this. You have to get your neighbours involved by educating them to the importance of greening and wilding. Some cities, such as Portsmouth in the UK, are wilding their streets. People are adding insect hotels, bird boxes, hedgehog highways (holes in fences) and greening their yards not cutting them and fertilizing them to be manicured lawns. It is expected that these wild streets will have a very positive impact on the insects, animals, and birds —- and, ultimately, on us! If you want to find out more, I am including the link to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. They say their goal is: “In the next ten years we must create a much wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight. We want nature’s recovery to be at the forefront of tackling the climate crisis. We want broken ecosystems to be restored and missing wildlife to return. We want people to benefit from a healthy natural environment.” Maybe you can take a page from them and start your own wilding!

https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/our-strategy

It is true that we can all do something but working together in our communities can have an even bigger impact.

A quick check in on Xavier and Diamond, the adult Peregrine Falcons waiting for their second hatch today, sees Xavier sleeping on the ledge with Diamond brooding the first hatch and incubating the two remaining eggs.

The second feeding of the chick will be coming soon. If there is a crack or a pip, I cannot tell.

Enjoy your day everyone. Take care and pick up a copy of Back to Nature. It is full of ideas and great things happening around the world to save our wildlife, our planet, and us!

Thank you to Charles Sturt University at Orange for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.