Tag Archives: Explore.org

Early Friday in Bird World

27 May 2022

As the sun goes down, we say soon say goodbye to the Captiva Ospreys – Lena, Andy, Middle Little, and Little Mini O. What a delight this Osprey season has been. We were sad for Big to die so quickly and mysteriously but, we all rejoiced when it was not Avian Flu and the rest of the family members were healthy. The chicks grew and grew. Middle Little’s legs are like Aran Daddy Longlegs and he had quite the loud call when he wanted Andy to deliver. Little Mini O turns out to be a big sister. Both flew and fished with the parents and we wish them a long successful life.

We will look forward to the 2023 season with you, Lena and, of course, with Daddy Door Dash, Andy. What a great parents you are! Thanks to Lori Covert for sharing her raptors with all of us.

Little Bit 17 went to sleep with a full tummy. Mum brought in a nice fish at 21:18. By 21:20:40 Little Bit 17 was up there being fed on one side while a big sibling was on the other. In fact, Mum move the fish and it helped 17. The fish was finished at 21:30. Little Bit 17 had a crop and was ready for the day to end.

Mum has brought the fish in and one of the older siblings is pecking at it. Little Bit is at 9 o’clock. Mum will take the fish and move it up to the opposite side of the nest.

It takes Little Bit 17 about 10 seconds to get himself situated in a nice spot so that he will get fed but not pecked (the older siblings have been quite good lately, generally).

Little Bit ate for a good 10 minutes. Would I have liked it to be 20? Of course! You can see he has a nice crop and he will sleep good tonight. There is forecast for a lot of rain tomorrow. Let us hope a couple of good sized fish get on the nest.

At 09:12:48 Little Bit takes his turn at the prey item on the nest this morning.

A little earlier he was sharing that unidentified object with another sibling. It is so nice this nest has turned around.

It looks like there are now four storklets on the White Stork nest of Bukachek and Betty in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. They are so cute!

Kana’kini has been really getting some air under her wings as the two brothers look on.

Cody at the Kistachie National Forest Bald Eagle nest put together a great video showing Kincaid at various ages throughout the 2022 season. So many memories – we forget them. Thanks, Cody. This is awesome.

Are you a fan of Xavier and Diamond, the Peregrine Falcons at Charles Sturt in Orange? The three cameras are now being integrated with the CSU web site. The first one to be integrated is the nest box. Here is the new URL: https://youtu.be/su_eumVDeBs

The two osplets of Richmond and Rosie have been eating well. Richmond has been bringing in some nice striped bass and Rosie has been catching some huge fish, too, and bringing them to the nest. Rosie is one of the few females that – at this stage – goes out to fish when the male is doing brooding. It could be the secret to the success of their nest.

The four Ls are really getting their juvenile plumage! There is little L4 who is a month old today! Big Red and Arthur have also done an amazing job. Do you remember when people thought they could not handle four eyases? Arthur is also Daddy Door Dash and he sure kept the prey on the nest even in those torrential rains.

One of the things I love about Mrs G is her long experience raising chicks. Aran is a fantastic fisher (when he is not injured) and here they are together, proud of their first healthy hatch for 2022.

Idris and Telyn are doing fantastic at the Dyfi Osprey nest. There are two chicks! It looks like the males are busy catching flounder. There was a running joke at the Glaslyn nest – Mrs G hates flounder. She will only feed it to the chicks if there is absolutely nothing else. Aran brought in a flounder and Mrs G left it. Aran finally took it away! Reminds of Diamond in the CSU falcon scrape – Diamond hates Starling! Interesting.

Dorcha and Louis have been experiencing horrific weather at the Loch Arkaig nest. Louis brought in a big fish for Dorcha regardless. Oh, I hope this weather settles down before those babies hatch!

Louis is an incredible provider. Dorcha seems like she will be a formidable Mum. Last year the camera was set on the other nest and we could not watch Louis with his new mate. They did fledge two chicks. Can’t wait for this year!

The weather is so bad – high wind gusts and rain – that Dorcha has taken to eating her fish on the nest.

Laddie has just brought a big live fish to the nest at the Loch of the Lowes. I hope that Blue NC0 feeds all of the chicks including Little Bob. He missed out on an earlier feed. I am not staying to watch. The ringing at the Cal Falcon scrape at The Campanile is taking place in a few minutes. I do not want to miss it and the Q & A. I will being news of that later today.

I am a little nervous about this nest. Fingers crossed.

Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Take care everyone. Have a lovely end of the week.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Cornell Red Tail Haws, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, ND-LEEF, Captiva Osprey Project, Mlade Buky, Explore.org for the video on Kana’kini’s hovering, and to Cody for that great video on Kincaid from footage at the KNF Bald Eagle Nest.

Friday Morning in Bird World

13 May 2022

Good Morning Everyone! I hope that your Friday is a very good one.

Have you seen this old film titled Osprey?

In the Q & A discussion at Cal Falcons, one big difference between Grinnell and Alden that has been noticed is that Alden hunts at night. He also seems to be hunting in exotic places bringing in various prey items. Last evening the kids and Annie had a bed time snack at 22:00.

Alden on the left and Annie, who has just taken prey item, on the right. Look at those two smiling eyases! How grand. Both ate extremely well, the little one falling into a food coma first.

All are wide awake first thing in the morning and ready for fish at the Manton Bay Osprey nest at Rutland. Blue 33 (11) has been flying in with more and more fish during the day. The three are doing very well with the flapping perch incident well behind them! A great way to start a Friday.

At 11:50 Blue 33 took a turn feeding his chicks as Maya looked on.

More food around 14:00. Maya is pretty much feeding the chicks every two hours. The trio will grow fast!

The streaming cam to the nest of the Lesser Spotted Eagles, Anna and Andris in the Spruce Tree in a forest area at Lemgate, Latvia is back on line. The couple are incubating one egg which is set to hatch in June.

Both eaglets are still on the nest at Dale Hollow. They are 75 days old today if you count hatch day (28 Feb). Gorgeous birds who are now filling in almost the entire nest. They are definitely within fledge range which is normally 10-12 weeks for Bald Eagles.

The eaglet at the Duke Farms Bald Eagle nest is four days older than the pair at Dale Hollow.

Middle Little was on the platform at the Captiva Osprey nest this morning early calling for dad, Andy, to bring in a fish. All four of the family can be seen flying around the area and since Middle Little and Little MiniO are the only fledglings, Lori has been able to take images from her kayak and is certain it is them screaming for the parents to bring fish. Lori is returning to Canada today. If you have enjoyed watching the Ospreys and all her help finding them to reassure us all are alright, why not go to the chat today and just give her a little thank you. It has been a great year at the Captiva Osprey platform – a first in a long time to have osplets fledge! Thanks, Lori.

At 07:25:29, Dad delivered a fish to the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest. Middle started cheeping right away and managed to get into position quickly, on the opposite side of Mum, to get some nice fish. That is a great way to start the day at this nest. It is 22 degrees C, winds were at 6 kmh at the time of the delivery with the pressure rising. The weather forecast is for a thunderstorm later today.

Nice to see that fish this morning before the weather turns bad.

Big did not seem threatening but Middle still got around the back of Mum and over to the opposite side calling loudly for food. Good for you, Middle.

Mum did give Big the first couple of bites before Middle got up front but then she fed both. I hope Middle is getting his confidence back!

Oh, this camera can be annoying. That is Middle with its wings spread. Growing. Getting to the point that Big really cannot do too much damage other than throwing Middle off the nest — which I hope is not going to happen. The thunderstorm is forecast to begin around 16:00 nest time.

Nancy and E1 – Harriet – were rearranging straw on the nest this morning. There continues to be a sub-adult around the nest. Both Nancy and E1 continue to do as well as expected as a nest with a single parent. Look at Harriet help her Mum!

Cholyn fed TH1 at 05:33 from the fish that was left overnight.

Just look at that beautiful golden glow over the nest shining on the face of our beautiful Mum. It won’t be long til Dr Sharpe climbs up the cliff to band the eaglet. I will see if I can find out when that is going to be for everyone. If you know already, let me know!

They have fledged but both Jasper and Rocket are still hanging around the nest tree getting food from Samson and Gabby. Gabby normally migrates north when it gets hot while Samson stays in the Jacksonville area. Last year he kept feeding Legacy for some time. It is so nice to see the birds on the nest. Look close. One of the eaglets is on a branch almost at the left bottom corner.

The two eaglets on the Decorah North nest of Mr North and Mrs DNF are well and doing just fine. Bad weather has been going through the area with a Derecho or Inland Hurricane with winds of 100 mph going through South Dakota and area yesterday. Fingers crossed for all that were in its wake.

Big Red and her gang of four eyases are doing just fine this morning, too. The chicks are relaxing after having breakfast and Big Red has been on the nest doing some allopreening.

Big Red is so beautiful.

This has been a great way to start a Friday morning. All of the nests appear to be doing well. In Canada we traditionally plant the annual flowers on the May long weekend which is connected with Queen Victoria’s birthday. That is next weekend. Everyone will be at the greenhouses stocking up on flowers and vegetables and mixed in there will be me today. Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Latvian Fund for Nature, LRWT, Cal Falcons, Captiva Ospreys and Window for Wildlife, Dale Hollow Eagle Cam, Duke Farms, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, MN-DNR, Explore.org, NEFlorida-AEF, and Cornell Bird Lab RTH.

Thursday Afternoon in Bird World

For more than a week now I haver been wondering what is going on at the Dale Hollow Lake Bald Eagle nest. There was torrential rain and then snow. At the beginning of the season, I saw tandem feedings and was so hopeful that this was another great nest. Sadly, that just simply does not appear to be the case. While other raptor mothers are covering their chicks from the hot sun, nothing is happening at Dale Hollow. Little Bit does not have all its thermal down. Little Bit is also crying out for food. I want to be wrong because you always hear ‘The Eagles Know Best’ but with the case of River and Obey, I am not sure. Did the rain stir up the lake and it is so murky that they cannot get fish? did the snow send the critters underground? At any rate, I am very worried about Little Bit surviving. I do not wish to cause undue alarm but what happened here?

A small fish was brought in to the Dale Harbour nest around 14:30. You can see for yourself what is happening. I suspect that the Big sibling might well eat all of it – and yes, that is what happened.

Are River and Obey eating off camera?

If the fish brought on to the nest is only one of these a day or two, then it is possible that the other two siblings will not get any food. It is so sad. They might well be beyond getting up to the table.

Little Bit is at the bottom of the screen. Both of them know not to get near the food until Big is finished. Little Bit is really suffering today. It has had nothing to eat for approximately 30+ hours and is crying and crying. At any other nest, this wee babe would be getting 8 or 10 small meals a day.

Middle is walking away towards Little Bit.

Neither Little Bit or Middle had any food to eat. Neither made any effort to go up to the table. They are dehyrated and lethargic. The fish is all gone. Big has an enormous crop. Sadly, unless another fish comes on the nest and Little Bit gets fed full, I do not believe this poor little nestling will survive. The middle chick might have a better chance. Are both Little Bit and Middle too dehydrated, too hungry, too tired – and too intimidated by Big – to ever get up to the table again? We wait.

It is a hard reality. The eagles only need one chick to survive. Watching this nest is extremely difficult when we look at the others. I continue to wonder what is going on.

This is the last image I have today of the Dale Hollow Bald Eagle nest. It pretty much says it all. Big is over by River at the opposite side and Middle and Little Bit are together sadly alone, beyond hungry.

In comparison, Thunder and Akecheta were feeding the three chicks on their nest before daylight and several times after.

We can also compare what is happening at Big Bear Valley with Shadow and Jackie. It is 11:55 and the wee only Bob has been fed four times. There have also been multiple poop shots.

The two eagles of Abby and Blaze at Eagle Country hatched on the 11th and 14th of February. Gosh, they have grown and are lookin’ good.

What a beautiful sight at the Duke Farms Bald Eagles. You might recall that the second hatch was so tiny and died. The surviving eaglet is doing very, very well. The nest is full of fish and Mum is there not only shading but keeping the chick warm.

Mark your calendars. Pip watch begins on the 19th for Liberty and Guardian at the Redding California Bald Eagle nest. Last year the couple fledged three lovely juveniles.

Here is the link to the streaming cam at Redding.

There were sure some beautiful images coming out of Iowa at the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest of Mr North and DNF today. Eggs were laid on 16 and 19 of February and we are about a week from pip watch!

The top image is of Mr North.

This is DNF. You can compare her with Mr North above so you can recognize who is on the nest.

A close up of DNF below.

The nest is on top of a White Oak Tree near a small forest area with a stream on private farmland north of Decorah, Iowa. The nest is 17 metres or 56 feet above the ground.

I love how the different regions provide such a variety of nesting materials. In Florida and Louisiana there is Spanish Moss and in Iowa it is corn husks and wheat stalks.

This is DNF on the nest below. She has grey eye shadow.

Here is the link to the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest.

The nest of Martin and Rosa at Dulles Greenaway Bald Eagle nest in Virginia is also covered with corn husks. Wow. The couple laid two eggs. The first on Feb 1 and the second on Feb 4. The first little eaglet hatched on the 13th and is now 4 days old. If the other egg is going to hatch, we should be seeing a pip soon.

Andy brought in some nice fish for the family so far today. In fact, Andy has made three fish deliveries so far today. A Sand Perch at 08:32:40; a Sheepshead at 10:20:31, and this Ladyfish at 14:41:53.

Little (Mini on chat) has a big crop now. Compare with the image above.

These two are doing really, really well. I am quite optimistic for the two of them. There is no news yet on the cause of Big’s death.

If you missed it, there are now two eggs at Cornell’s Red-tail Hawk. One more to go!

There is the beautiful Big Red with her dark morph incubating those two eggs. She will leave the nest periodically to eat. Normally, Arthur will have her meal ready for her off camera.

There are the two precious eggs. The second was laid today.

Here is a close up with markings that was posted on the Cornell Twitter account so you can tell the difference between the eggs.

Big Red is giving Arthur, her mate, more incubation duties! Fantastic. He is a great mate.

Arthur is also very handsome! It will be interesting to see which of the populations of chipmunks or squirrels are the most plentiful on the nest this year.

That is it for my Thursday afternoon report. All of the nests are doing quite well except for Dale Hollow which, sadly, is a tragedy in the making. Thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to having you with me again. Take care.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife, Dulles Greenaway Bald Eagles, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, Explore.org, Redding California Eagles, Eagle Country, Friends of Big Bear Lake, and Duke Farms.

Sunday in Bird World

The wind has not let up at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest of Gabby and Samson. Gabby has gotten up twice to make sure the little NE26 and 27 are fed. Thank goodness that Samson filled up the pantry because he would not be able to go and fish in these winds.

The babies are growing and need more food. You can see the white dot of the ear on NE26 standing up.

These two still do not have their thermal down and Gabby has to be very careful to keep them warm and dry.

I feel for all of the birds who have these intense storms. They, on the other hand, just get on with life as best they can!

There are now two eggs on the Achieva Osprey Credit Union in St Petersburg, Florida. Congratulations Jack and Diane. Jack has been bringing fish to the nest and taking his turn at incubation. That nest looks a little wet, too.

It is hard to believe it, sitting here in frigid Canada, but the first Red Kites have begun their northerly migration from Africa passing over Poole Harbour today! Gosh, golly. Red Kites are beautiful raptors. They are about 66 cm or one foot in length with a very distinctive forked tail, angular body, and reddy-brown body.

“Flying red kite” by Tambako the Jaguar is licensed under CC.

Just look at this gorgeous under carriage.

“Flying red kite” by Tambako the Jaguar is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

I am getting excited for the streaming cam to come on line in the Taiwan cemetery that has a Black Kite nest. That should be about the middle of March.

It is a gorgeous day in Pittsburg. We continue to be on egg watch at this nest.

Liberty and Guardian have both been on the nest in Redding, California and there is egg watch there, too, just like at Pittsburgh-Hays.

Thunder has three eggs at the West End Bald Eagle nest. Her and Cheta keep taking turns incubating them. Oh, I so hope these two have a successful season but they are going to have to be diligent! Those Ravens are intelligent and they sit back and wait and watch. We know this from Daisy the Duck’s experience on the WBSE nest.

Connie and Clive, as mentioned in an earlier blog, have buried their last unviable egg. The first broke. Both have brought greenery into the nest and covered the place where the egg is buried. Will there be a second clutch? or is this greenery a way of bringing closure to a lost season for this new pair?

It is a gorgeous day over at the Duke Farm Bald Eagle nest in Hillsborough, NJ. Gosh, I bet everyone was glad that storm was gone!

There is a really beautiful Snowy Owl over on the Mississippi Flyway Streaming Cam today.

Lena is on the eggs over at the Captiva Osprey Nest on Santibel. There are fire trucks in the background and oh, she is loud! You can easily hear human voices over the nest microphone, too. That is really something folks should be aware of when they walk by these nests!!!!!! If they know they are by a nest.

The eggs were laid on 8, 11, and 14 January. Can you believe we could be on hatch watch? To my knowledge, the streaming cam on Andy and Lena will be turned off if the eggs hatch. It will be kept off until such time the owner believes that the Crows are no longer a threat. I will try to keep you posted.

It is early Monday morning in Australia and it looks like Ervie is the only one on the barge. Individuals continue to ask where Mum is. Traditionally, in migrating Ospreys, the Mum leaves the nest and the Dad feeds the chicks til they leave. At that point he begins his migration. Australian Ospreys do not migrate. That said Mum has done her job and is probably over on the Old Barge resting and getting her strength back. There is no need to worry! She probably got tired of Ervie’s very loud prey calling. Dad hangs out on the barge with Ervie some of the time. Dad definitely provides food for Ervie.

I want to leave you today on the happiest of notes. It is a courtship display by our two favourite North American Peregrine Falcons, Annie and Grinnell, on The Campanile today.

Thank you for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Captiva Osprey Cam, Mississippi Flyway, Duke Farms, Explore.org, Captiva Bald Eagle Cam, Pix Cams, Redding Bald Eagles, Achieva Credit Union, and NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

My goodness. What a blizzard! I returned to Winnipeg 24 years ago and gosh, golly. I have not seen this much snow in all those years. Oh, we need it! Surely there will be no droughts this summer. My hair thanks me for getting out, too. The main roads were clear enough but it took 3 times the usual amount of time to get from one spot to another. Whew. Done for another two months! What really cheered me up was walking to the car and looking over and there was Mr Woodpecker on the new suet having a good old feed. The Starlings had not arrived and he had the place to himself along with Mr and Mrs Chickadee and Dyson and Little Red. The House Sparrows never bother the other little birds but I do believe some are intimidated by the Starlings. At any rate, he was enjoying the new suet. I keep saying ‘new’. I bought several slabs of suet and the birds would not touch it. Not for anything. So I went back to the brand sold by the nature centre and there he was this morning. I had just put it up yesterday. Yippeeee.

When I checked on Ervie earlier, there was an Osprey down on the barge floor in Dad’s nest/cave. I wondered if it was Ervie because it looked like the bird had a sat-pak. And guess what? It was Ervie down in Dad’s nest this morning! Here he is now down there with Dad still!

Ervie looks like he has a nice crop. I don’t know if it is the angle of the camera that is making that chest area look puffy or if he had a big fish for breakfast.

Dad does not seem to mind sharing his special place with Ervie.

Gosh, they look nice down there. The wind is really whipping around and I bet this is why both of them are down below.

If you are a fan of Thunder and Akecheta at the Channel Islands West End Bald Eagle nest, Thunder just laid her second egg.

I sure hope that Cheta can stay on that nest. He has already left egg 1 alone! Can you hear me screaming. I thought he would have learned. Admittedly, him and Thunder got their messages crossed last year. As the mod at the KNF nest says -“maybe the third time will be the charm”. I hope so.

Gary has posted another great educational video about the Redding Eagles and egg watch. He talks about 23 year old Liberty and her egg data since 2009. It is really good and will get you ready for what is to come!

Thinking of eggs arriving I decided to check the White-Bellied Sea Eagles nest and our dear Daisy is not on there and has not laid any eggs. Isn’t it wonderful?

I am not seeing any weather happening at the Berry College Bald Eagle cam yet. Baby is a little chilly and is wanting under Mum Missy and she is determined to aerate that nest! I was hoping that she was going to dig a deep cup for the eaglet to be in under her if their weather turns nasty. It looks from the recent tracking that the storm said to deliver 30 cm of snow or a foot could be heading north of them and east so will hit Duke Farms, Big Red, etc.

Anna continues to provide less feedings but much more food. Little eaglet was full to the brim and had trouble again with its big crop. It must be really tough to move around with a crop bigger than your head!

This baby is simply sweet. You can see how quickly its thermal down is coming in. That little head is still covered. The size of the cere I am finding interesting. This could well be a very large eagle… a nice big female!

If you are interested in other Bald Eagle streaming cams in Louisiana, Metro Aviation has one in Shreveport. The couple are visiting the nest frequently but have not yet laid eggs. There had been a nest but it was damaged and there is no historical data on these eagles. However, it is really nice to have such staggered egg laying so that we can enjoy the behaviour and the development of all the eaglets. Here is the link to their cam:

That is it for me today. The driving in the blizzard conditions was quite silly but, for one reasons or another, my stylist and I have not been able to connect since late October. I can even feel my neck now!!!!!! I hope everyone is well. Stay warm and stay safe. Thank you so very much for joining me and the birds. Keep all of the birds and animals in your warm thoughts so that this big snow storm does not harm them.

Thank you to the following streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Explore.org, KNF Bald Eagles, Berry College Bald Eagles, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, and Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park.