18 September 2022
Well, it is Sunday morning and I did not make it to Toronto this trip. I have been slightly unwell – nothing concerning – just a bad reaction to a new medication which I have not stopped using. Still, it makes you feel like you just want to get under the duvet and sleep for a week. I want to spend superior time with that Harris Hawk so soon. Until I am back to normal, the blog will probably be a little shorter than usual.
So, like many of you, I spent Saturday anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ervie’s sibling. It seems that this pip did not emerge into a crack as soon as some of us might have hoped. Here are some images from today. It is now after noon in Port Lincoln. Perhaps there will be a little osplet by evening – and, perhaps, just perhaps, its cheeping will bring the second one along!
Mum will be very tired. Dad blew in and gave her a break at 12:16:17 until 12:26:41. Good for you Dad. Mum was hungry! Here is an image of the changeover! (Thanks Renie for that timestamp!)
The first egg pipped on the 17th of September at 20:53:37. Hatch was on the 18th at 21:27:30. The second egg pipped at 19:53:00.
Making News:
The male intruder at the Melbourne Peregrine Falcon nest has made the news along with the nest and the wonderings about how this might end.
It remains unclear what will happen at Melbourne, however. The arrival of the second male has clearly caused a disturbance in what should have been a routine incubation and hatch with the old male and the new female. The fact that the old male has not been able to rid his territory of this second male is very worrisome. The old male began breeding at this site in 2017 which makes him at least 8 years old now. The average life span, according to Victor Hurley, is 6 years. There is definitely competition for the nest site and the female which might prove to create a very difficult season for hatch and raising chicks. There has been a lot of ‘racket’ in the background. The competition will probably not end well as normally the males will fight to the death.
Meanwhile things are fine at the Sydney Sea Eagles cam. Lady Hawk posted a video of a great feeding with the eaglets flapping and getting stronger every day as we enter week 9. SE 30 continues to get some really good fish, too. Both sea eaglets doing well. Expect much more flapping..
Everything is rock solid at the scrape in Orange, thankfully. We do not need the drama that Melbourne is experiencing – just a strong healthy eyas or two in about 12 days.
Handsome Xavier.
Loch Arkaig has produced their season review. Have a look. Enjoy the bag pipes! Thanks Mary Kerr for all the great memories from arrival to departure.
Thank you for joining me for this short blog. Stay tuned to Port Lincoln as the second hatch will probably come quicker than the first. Then we wait for three and hope that they are grouped together closely. Let us all hope that Melbourne can settle and save this years clutch. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, videos, or posts that make up my blog today: Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Lady Hawk, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Mary Kerr and Friends of Loch Arkaig, the Woodland Trust and the People’s Post Code Lottery.