Tag Archives: first flight

Amber fledges at Loch Arkaig amongst others…late Tuesday in Bird World

28 July 2026

Hello Everyone,

My life has always been made richer by the people who are part of it, and that includes all of you. I appreciate your notes, your quiet recommendations on the best stain cleaner, thunder jacket, vaccinations – what a caring community. You let me know about any news I might have missed and your wishes for me when I am sick and very tired are so appreciated. I am blessed. I am also fortunate to have readers/followers/Bird World friends who either volunteer or work at many of the rehabilitation centres where our raptors wind up staying and getting help.

I know that everyone is anxiously watching for updates on Jackie. I have also been annoyed by those who are impatient and rude. I am sure you have seen their comments. I know that our local wildlife rehabilitation centre is now taking in twice as many patients as it did before the other facility in our province closed. So what I am asking you to do is simply sit back and wait. Imagine a few people trying to create miracles with new patients coming in and the world watching them. Can you imagine if that patient was our dear Jackie, the most famous bald eagle female in the world, perhaps?

Most wildlife rehabilitation centres work on a shoe string. They do incredible things with very little, to the astonishment of everyone. I still recall E17 and the flight area at Humane Indiana. They didn’t need a fancy enclosure to get that eaglet back into shape – they just needed dedicated staff and volunteers who refused to give up. E17 was returned near the nest in South Bend. It was remarkable.

Jackie is in the best place she can be. I know that the Ojai Raptor Centre has received numerous donations to help with her care. But let us not forget that every test for an exotic toxin, every IV bag, every transfusion – it all comes at a great cost. Just the testing for lead is so expensive, never mind everything else. So if you are still considering donating, please do and label it for Jackie’s care.

The Ojai Raptor Center has very humble beginnings. The Founder, Kim Stroud, who retired in January, started taking care of sick/hurt birds in her backyard and in a wood shop behind her place of business in 2000. In 2010, Kim was able to move her operations to the Ojai Honor Farm; four acres on a former minimum security honor farm facility. With the help of generous donations, they were able to transform some buildings into a medical hospital and added a number of flight cages.

In 2023, ORC brought on board Dr Kat (as she is called), who brought her own specialised training to the centre, including infectious disease management. With a small full-time staff and a host of volunteers, they focus on the care and treatment of all winged birds.

Like all non-profits, ORC struggles with the costs of running a full-scale wildlife hospital and depends on local support to maintain operations. In 2024, ORC was in deficit because they needed to replace flight netting and repair water lines. And today, more and more patients are coming into care as rivers and lakes dry up, habitats are lost, or accidents occur.

So please help, if you can. [I know that everyone and every organisation is struggling, but I mention this because Ojai is an exceptional centre. It is where Dr Sharpe took Victor!

But please wait for updates. Limited staff and volunteers are needed to help clients/patients and are not answering phones. We know that Jackie had a blood transfusion and that she improved and then had a setback. They are working tirelessly to determine the cause of her anaemia, but she is beginning to eat independently, which is a big plus. Send Jackie all the best wishes that you can.

CBS LA gives us the latest: https://youtu.be/-0XUI4plX-8?

Louis and Dorcha’s second hatch, Amber, Blue 8P6, fledged today. It was a magnificent flight. Amber stood on the edge of the nest looking towards the loch and began flapping her wings. She flew like a pro to a nearby pine tree – seen in the distance in the video. The landing appeared to be perfect as well.

Geemeff has the video of the flight: https://youtu.be/_D4wW_-SVS0?

Amber returned to the nest just like a pro – what a strong chick! Geemeff has that landing: https://youtu.be/9BQRF4ykYeI?

At the Pont Cresor nest, Aeron Z2 is proving that he is quite the fisher. He once again brought in two fish at a time! There is clearly not a problem with food in Wales for the ospreys.

It is quite a different story in the US, where females abandon their chicks in the nest before fledging to find food to build up their bodies for migration, before they starve. At South Cape Meadows, Hera was last seen more than two weeks ago. Zeus was delivering fish to the single surviving osplet, Uno, but has not been seen in two days. The situation is dire, as the organs of the osplet are already beginning to shut down. If the food isn’t delivered today, this chick will starve in place. I cannot tell you how much that breaks my heart.

I am afraid that if I lived there, I would load a backpack with ice and fish and deliver it to the nest. Then I would argue in court that the human cause of this great disaster besetting this region of the US and its ospreys.

They have turned the camera off on Uno at the nest of Zeus and Hera. The chick will starve without any help. Why not feed it? They know the cause. The fault lies with the State of Virginia, which takes political donations and a handful of jobs over the entire region’s ecosystem and its other employment – ospreys die. The whales and dolphins have left. This is simply more than tragic.

Despite the high temperatures, the two osplets at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum are doing well because the amount of fish is keeping them hydrated.

A fish for the only surviving osplet at Cowlitz PUD.

All of the osplets have fledged at Clark PUD in Washington State.

An adult arrives to help with the fish and another fledgling shows up at Clark.

The surviving two have fledged at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, also. Well done!

Mum came and took the leftover fish.

All is well at Blackbush and I believe that is Tiny 4 flapping its wings.

At Oyster Bay, there is a lot of fish calling while one fledgling enjoys a fish.

I wonder if the fishing is hard near Charlo. Charlie really needs to get a fish on the nest for Winnie and C22.

There was a bit of a fish fight over a small one at the Poole Harbour nest of CJ7 and Blue 022.

I love the look of Dad in the background. It looks like 6T7 has it for sure but…wait..

6T9 ultimately keeps the fish.

At Upper Newport Bay, Ripple arrives and Dad delivers a breakfast fish.

At Salmon, Idaho, Dad delivered a nice fish and everyone was able to get a share.

At the Usk Valley in Wales, the second chick that had often been aggressively treated by its older sibling took flight today at 53 days! Congratulations 0U1. The older sibling, 0U0, fledged on the 19th of July at 53 days.

I want to close with some more happiness. At the Osprey House Environmental Centre in Griffin, Australia, two little osplets hatched to George and Hope. I understand that big sister, Maria, who helped last year, has dispersed.

UTU has fledged at Seili in Finland! Congratulations. https://youtu.be/PzDWEAGh7Zg?

And, last, Geemeff brings us the exciting news from Loch Arkaig today!

Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Tuesday 28th July 2026

Amber did it – she fledged today! With a quick check of her wings, Loch Arkaig Osprey chick 8P6, AKA Amber, opened her wings fully and launched off into the big wide world. She made a perfect landing on the Scots Pine tree, stayed there for a few minutes, then took off again and didn’t return for five hours. Her return was as elegant as her departure, she landed smoothly from a hover over the nest and then walked forward and cuddled up to her sister Juniper 8P7. Louis brought three fish today, taking the Nest Two tally to three hundred and forty two, and Dorcha and Juniper shared two of those while Amber was away enjoying her new found freedom but she’d had a good meal from the first fish. Aurora 536 on the other hand got no fish at all from Garry LV0 despite calling loud and long, but each time he turned up, his talons were empty and she eventually departed. A year ago today was her last appearance on nest cam in Season Nine – it will be interesting to see if she turns up tomorrow. Garry’s total remains at one hundred and eighty four. It started raining this evening before night cam came on, and the forecast is for heavy rain and a gentle breeze with a low of 13°C overnight, changing to light rain with a high of 17°C tomorrow.

Today’s videos:

https://youtu.be/wp0EydNwzCo N2 Louis delivers breakfast and stays despite Dorcha’s displeasure 05.05.40

https://youtu.be/8MYq1V7Hfu8 N2 Only Juniper and Dorcha are there to share fish two 16.42.30

https://youtu.be/PYcuxxSKZNQ N2 Louis brings a third fish and Amber’s still not back 17.31.41

https://youtu.be/9BQRF4ykYeI N2 Amber’s triumphant – and elegant – return 18.16.46

https://youtu.be/dGhvVpbhgWU N1 Garry arrives but still no fish so Aurora departs 19.10.51


You’re invited to join the friendly community at Woodland Trust’s Osprey forum – all levels of knowledge welcome!

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam

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Thank you for being with us today! Take care – and remember, please put out water for wildlife. See our little visitor looking for food who had a drink from the birdbath last night!

Thank you to Geemeff, the wonderful folks at Ojai Raptor Centre, everyone who posted on FB with information and images, and the owners of the streaming cams.

I just wish everyone was as brave as Viki and a few others who are out there providing fish because they understand that the lack of food is human-caused.

7:46, June 12. J2 fledges.

It is the day that everyone has been waiting for – the first fledge off the Fernow light tower at the Cornell Campus in Ithaca, New York. The winner of the honour was J2.

J is the designation for the year, 2020. The camera began recording the activities at the nest in 2012. Knowing that Big Red had, at least, two earlier years raising successful chicks prior to the cameras, they began with the letter C in 2012. The ‘2’ is because this hawklet was the second to hatch but was, ironically, the first egg to be laid. Which if you are good at math and understand the counting indicates that this chick is actually the oldest.

J2 has beautiful blue eyes which will eventually turn darker and a wide white terminal band. Notice how the breast (or crop area) is covered with the typical peach colour for these hawks. At fledge it also had a line of ‘dandelions’ remaining on the top of its head, like a mohawk hair-cut.

J2 sitting in a pine tree across the street from the nest but within view of his mum, Big Red. Notice the little dandelions on his head. How cute! Their talons have tendons that enable them to sleep or sit standing up without fear of falling over.

J2 set a first in the recording of fledges from the Fernow Tower nest. He fledged off the back of a light box. It was, actually, more of a fludge. He/she spent some wonderful time sitting on top of the light box balancing nicely and then slipped but recovered beautifully flying under the tower, across the street, landing by its talons on Bradfield to steady itself in a nearby Ginko tree.

For nearly twelve hours, until the camera stopped rolling, J2 kept us on the edge of our chairs. I tell you it was better than a good thriller on Netflix!

He/she flew keeping the legs tucked tight like a pro. J2 spent some time on top of the Rice Building, flew back near Bradfield and played around on the steps and railings to the entrance, flew off again to another building, and finally wound up near to where it started, back in the tree. Throughout Big Red was watching from the southeast corner at the top of Bradfield while Arthur soared whenever J2 got out of sight so that the chick could be located. Nothing gets by these two parents. Parenting is a well orchestrated sharing of duties.

Big Red on the left (17 years old) and Arthur on the right (4 years old)

When I first began watching the hawks on the ledge at NY University, I naively asked the chat group what kind of dangers hawks experienced. The Washington Square group were very patient with me describing the use of rodentcides that cause blood not to coagulate as a prime poison for the hawks in the parks of NYC. This is because their primary prey are the rats of the city. And then there are cars, buses, trucks, windows, air vents between buildings -. The list was extensive.

This morning J2 flew over a street with little traffic but still the cars and buses were moving at a clip and well, who knew that he could steer itself to the safety of a tree away from the road? He/she could have also, just as easily, flown into a window. There is a box of worry beads in the chat room and I suspect most of us were helping ourselves today. The sad truth is that 1 in 3 red-tail fledglings do not live to see their first year. I hope, for these in rural New York, that is not the case.

So tomorrow will be another nail biter as we wait to see what J1 and J3 will do. Will they both fledge at the same time? on the same day but at different times? will either of them try to go over the light box like J2 or will they find some new entry way to this next stage in their life?

Stay tuned! I am now officially a hawkaholic.