Glacier Gardens – Mary Ann Steggles

DH23 knocked off nest…Late Sunday in Bird World

31 May 2026

Hello Everyone,

The end of the weekend and the beginning of June tomorrow. Summer is feeling like it is here. Children are still in school in Manitoba for a few more weeks but I suspect summer holidays have begun in the US. Please take care if you are out on the roads!

At the Dale Hollow Nest, there was almost a problem. DH23 was knocked from the nest. It is on a branch lower in the tree calling for food and flapping.

Images before:

A young eagle sitting in a large nest among green tree branches.

Two young eagles sitting in a nest on a tree branch surrounded by green leaves.

Fish has come to the Dewey Beach nest and Mum and Only Little Baby are so full and happy. Thanks, ‘PB’.

An osprey standing on a nest with chicks and eggs in a coastal setting, with buildings and people visible in the background.

An adult osprey feeding its chick in a nest made of sticks, with a scenic background of a waterway and a building.

Such a cheeky little one. Oh, please keep the fish coming.

An adult osprey sitting in a nest with a chick and several eggs, surrounded by twigs and branches.

It is raining again in Missoula and the Clark Fork River is once again raging – dirty and fast. It will be tough fishing for NewGuy2 again.

A graph showing the water flow levels of the Clark Fork River over time, with peaks and valleys representing fluctuations in cubic feet per second.

An osprey chick resting in a nest made of sticks, situated above a parking lot with vehicles and greenery in the background on a rainy day.

Despite this, Iris’ ‘man’ brought her a fish. He is incredible.

An adult osprey flies above a nest containing a chick, surrounded by branches, with a parking lot and greenery in the background.

Two juvenile ospreys are standing in their nest made of sticks and branches, with one stretching its wings and the other appearing to look at the camera. In the background, a parking lot is visible, and there are trees and buildings around.

Monty and Hartley’s four fledglings are keeping absolutely everyone busy chasing, tracking, and taking back to the roof! Those volunteers must be worn out.

The latest post cut and pasted as it is long:

The San Jose City Hall Falcons

·
And another more detailed report of Day 2 from BOG:
Yup, still late, but here is my recollection of Fledge Watch day 2.
After a few hours atop the Rotunda (starting from around 6AM), working his way up and down and all around, Walton takes off south from the Rotunda. It looks like he’s going to land near Stewart on the elevator shaft but keeps on going. He ends up in a palm tree on 6th street, where he’s harassed by crows. An adult followed him and briefly attempted to drive off the crows.
Walton eventually takes off first heading west then heads southeast where he lands on the roof of the SJSU Student Union. He eventually takes off and heads back toward City Hall, heads around the east side then the north side, and is next seen on the southern tan perpendicular under a satellite dish. He eventually makes it back down to the nest area.
Sometime after 1PM Stewart departure from the Council Chambers elevator shaft has him flying low to the east, at one point going up against the western slats of the elevator shaft on the southern part of City Hall. He ends up on the exterior walkway that runs on the north side of the corridor that connects City Hall to the Council Chambers. As collectors approach from both sides to try to pick him up, he flees through some bars and ends up mothing and trying to grab hold of a window edge on the west side of the North tower. Eventually he gives that up and floats to the ground where he is surrounded and picked up for a ride up to the roof.
While he is being brought up, Scout departs from the nest area. He flies over the garage and is last seen heading west. I head in that direction and catch a glimpse of a falcon flying past the east side of the 88 building, going north to south, at a down angle then going up around the south side and disappearing around the west side While this is happening Jet takes off. I circle the 88 building but don’t see anything. But from the library, Deb spots a bird on the roof of the 88, behind the glass wall above the penthouse. Paula H confirms the sighting and it is later verified as Scout.
Scout makes it to the top of the glass wall on the 88 and takes off heading south. He goes about a block or so before turning back to disappear behind the west side of the 88. I find him on top of a white wall on the southern part of the roof and right when I do, he takes off and heads toward City Hall to land on a louver on the south side.
While out looking for Jet, Animal Control contacts Falcon Central that someone reports a bird on the ground on Second Street, just south of San Fernando. A person there tells us it was sitting on a railing, was spooked by someone and flew a short distance into the glass wall of a business. The business had told Animal Control it was there about 30 minutes. Thankful that they reported it! We picked him up and returned him to the roof to join Stewart.
At some point Scout departs City Hall and lands on the roof ledge on the north side of the business center. A crow harasses him for a bit but he pays it no mind.
At some point he takes off and makes it to a northeast roof edge of the library. Hartley brings in a big meal and lands on another nearby northeast edge, but Scout shows no interest. But Walton does and takes off from the upper front ledge of the nest area and makes straight for Hartley and claims the meal.
Walton begins to pluck and eat. Hartley is often perched nearby, constantly complaining about something. At one point Walton drops the meal over the edge but quickly grabs it with a talon before it is lost and pulls it back to the roof. Hartley lands later and attempts to take the meal from Walton but he has none of that and Hartley takes off. Later, Hartley lands and is able to take the meal and starts feeding Walton. When Walton has had enough Hartley continues to eat.
When Hartley is done she takes off heading north toward the Miro building. She starts circling to gain altitude, then heading south of City Hall and then she turns back to deliver the meal to Stewart and Jet on the roof of City Hall where they share the meal.
Scout and Walton spends some time together on the library before Scout takes off toward City Hall. He tries for the southern louvers but hits the wall, slides down trying to grab a hold, and turns away. He ends up on top of the bars that partially encase the rotunda.
Walton soon takes off from the library and heads toward City Hall, but ends up turning south and lands on the northeast tower of Clark Hall. While no one is looking, he suddenly appears back on the library roof. After a short appearance he takes off toward City Hall and lands on a 17th floor louver on the south side.

Three osplets at Clark PUD in Washington State are entering the Reptile Phase.

A view of an eagle's nest made of twigs and branches, with young eaglets visible inside. The background shows a railway track and greenery.

At Allin’s Cove East, there is at least one osplet. The nest is high and deep and we cannot see to confirm how many babies there are.

A bird resting in a large nest made of twigs, perched on a wooden structure against a backdrop of green trees.

For those of you asking about Scout, the last news I saw was five days ago on 26 May.

Two young raptors sitting in their nest surrounded by greenery, with a tree trunk visible on the left.

As we wait for Geemeff’s excellent report and videos from Loch Arkaig, it appears that there is a pip at the nest of Louis and Dorcha. We are hoping that Aurora’s single egg is viable and there will be another chick at nest 1 soon.

We are on Pip Watch at Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle nest! “@LadyDeeagle55
5/31/26.. Egg #1 is 35 days old..Pip watch has begun on egg#1..https://www.tickcounter.com/countup/5…”

A bald eagle resting on its nest, with a background of green grass and tree bark.

Fish is coming to the nest. Snow is adjusting beautifully and the parents are so careful and gentle. Snow is 50 days old today. We need a good three weeks for her to fly. Keep sending very positive wishes. So far the nest is holding.

A bald eagle nest with two eagles; one adult is standing while the other is peeking into the nest, surrounded by branches and near a clear body of water.

Just look at that wee baby at Poole Harbour.

A group of baby birds huddled together in a nest made of straw and debris.

If you have not heard, I want to tell you about an amazing situation taking place in Minnesota. A female osprey lost her mate. She incubated her three eggs all by herself for 37 days. The three have hatched and she is feeding them herself – flying off briefly and returning. Imagine. I thought Jill was incredible, but here is yet another female this year that is doing amazing things without a mate.

Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch

OMG….my heart! I visited the female who is raising chicks alone today….she has THREE beautiful bobble heads….and I was overwhelmed with love and anxiety. How will she feed three chicks alone….and get enough food herself? She left for about 7 minutes to get a fish….and during that time I saw one little head pop up briefly….but when she came back with a fish at first I saw two heads and then OMG three…. Wow. I was mesmerized watching them. It was so damn hard to move on to other nests….
So this post will just be about her. That males other nest has not hatched yet….
Why do these pictures make me cry? So many big feelings….
I love what I do, I love these birds, I love THIS osprey in particular, and I am so lucky to be skilled enough to even know what’s going on each nest.. how many people would even know her story without following that male, reading bands, watching her so closely. I have been challenged lately by trying to explain what is going on to many of the volunteers….somehow I notice more….and I can’t figure out why. I understand behaviors after all these years….and I am patient, and I am still deeply curious about what is happening, so I often add up behaviors differently, I spend more time, I come to different conclusions, I have a good scope….I ran into a lot of new people today and shared a lot of stories…I LOVE teaching people about ospreys!
I literally feel so much in my chest right now looking at these photos and thinking about this female and all she has faced, endured, and is up against in the coming days and weeks. On two different nests in my 33 years of studying them, ( only two) I have seen an unrelated male bring fish to a nest where he was NOT the father. I remember talking to my mentor Sergej about this and he explained to me it is an unusual behavior, but it is a way for a male to secure a territory. He gets a territory and a female….but he has to bring food to chicks that do not carry his DNA. It’s also unusual for a female to allow an unrelated male anywhere near her nest.…but if he has a fish….and she is desperate, well maybe. Dare I hope for this? I do have a monitor, Pat, who witnessed this several years ago on a nest she was monitoring. My goodness we witnessed a lot and learned so much as we both put in many extra hours observing and documenting this unusual behavior. ( too long a story and too much to write now).
I also witnessed an unrelated male bring fish to a nest many years ago, in the beginning of my researching days…..after a male was hit by a car and killed when the female had young chicks. He never actually fed the chicks or brought fish directly to them, but he brought fish to the female, as a courtship behavior, which allowed her and her chicks to survive….and he became the territorial male at that for many years after that. But that first year, she never let him stay on the nest with the chicks….he would just drop a fish at her feet and she would say, scram, and he would leave.
I am hoping for something miraculous to happen for this female and her awesome little family. Think about her, incubating alone for 39 days, leaving to feed herself without being gone too long. She had a perfect success to hatch three chicks.

Find the positive energy and send it to this mother who is going beyond what anyone might believe. No mate, nothing, three little babies to feed and herself. Fishing for an osprey is not easy. Oh, my.

An osprey perched on a nest made of twigs, looking down intently.

Mum at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is keeping her eggs dry on a soggy day.

An osprey resting on its nest made of sticks and twigs, situated atop a structure with green fields and a dirt path in the background.

The difference in size at the Pitkin County Trails Osprey nest in Colorado is incredible. There is bonking that has begun.

An osprey overlooks its nest filled with chicks, surrounded by a green landscape with shrubs and trees.

There are three babies on one of three ospley platforms at the City of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

It is unclear to me if this is the same female. She lost her mate in a previous year and chicks died but one (if I remember correctly – perhaps all did – it was sad). I hope they get lots of fish. Three little cutie pies.

A close-up view of an osprey standing in its nest made of sticks, with a lush park and playground visible below.

They are doing an amazing job in introducing ospreys to South Australia – think Port Lincoln, Ervie and his family and all the others. A few people can make a huge difference! Also remember that these are the fish fairies.

A pair of ospreys perched on a large nest made of sticks, with a rocky background, highlighting the breeding season for these rare birds in South Australia.

Geemeff’s Woodland Trust daily summary for Loch Arkaig Sunday 31st May 2026
Today’s big news is that one of the eggs is pipping! Louis & Dorcha’s first chick is on the way! And just in time, Nest Cam Two was zoomed in to give us great closeups of all the action at the heart of the nest. Nest Cam One will also be zoomed in soon, Aurora 536 laid her egg four days after Dorcha’s first, so there are a few more days before we’ll be on double-nest pip watch. Louis delivered two fish to Dorcha, including the season’s first Silver Tourist, and the Nest Two tally rises to ninety seven, while Garry’s single fish takes his tally to ninety. It was damp today, it rained on and off, and it’ll be

11°C,wet and windy overnight and continuing with heavier rain tomorrow and a high of

17°C. Dorcha is going to have to do her best mumbrella to shelter the little one when it hatches.Today’s videos:https://youtu.be/dLfbf8qndhg N2 Louis is in charge when Dorcha departs with fish one 10.24.59https://youtu.be/A9s1lx_2yG4 N1 Both Aurora with her fish & Garry depart but he quickly returns 15.40.40https://youtu.be/-ert550qbjw N2 Nest cam is zoomed ready for hatching but is there a pip already? 20.04.58 (zoom)https://youtu.be/0BKHmOZJwgs N2 A second fish for Dorcha – this one’s also very silvery 21.41.34 https://youtu.be/4LHyxhrugEE N2 Louis stands guard as the pipping egg starts chupping (zoom, audio-boosted) 22.12.45

Come and join the friendly community at Woodland Trust’s Osprey forum, it’s fun, free and everyone’s welcome:

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

We know nature heals, but have a read and then – go outside! Please – do some self-care. You will feel so much better.

Nature’s a great healer’: why being outdoors in nature means so much to us
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/31/why-being-outdoors-in-nature-means-so-much-to-us?CMP=share_btn_url

Thank you so much for being with us today. Take care as we end the weekend and start the week. See you soon!

Thank you to all the individuals today for chasing down what is happening to the birds in our world. I am so very grateful to those who post on FB, send me notes, create videos to highlight the amazing adventures of our birds and their families and to Geemeff and SK Hideawys and ‘PB’ for all their contributions over the years. Thank you also to the owners of the streaming cams and to the newspapers that continue to write about nature and the environment.

Iris is still here and more news on Tuesday in Bird World

13 September 2022

Good Morning Everyone! It is 11 degrees C (51.8 F) and will only rise to 17 C (62.6) – a great day for a long walk! As the temperatures begin to fall and the summer clothes make way for sweaters, it is a reminder to enjoy every moment outside that we can – here on the prairies of Canada. Winnipeg has been known to actually be colder than Mars in the winter so every precious minute outside is a gift.

Oh, it was a nice day yesterday. The best treat was I found the little duck. It is the tiniest wild duck I have ever seen in my life. There is still a lot of down and its wings seem ‘small’.

5 September:

12 September. The head is larger and it appears that some more feathers on the back have grown in. The little one was so busy scooping up what looks like confetti made out of leaves. It is called Duck Weed and is not the best thing to have growing on the ponds but – the ducks love it!!!!!!! In fact, ducks will eat whatever food is in front of them including pondweed, sea weed, reeds and flowers as well as berries and seeds and we have seen them eat frogs, too.

The Canada Goose couple that had lost one another the other day and were honking up a storm had taken possession of the only island in the pond. It seems that the water level is rising due to the staff at the centre draining one area to move the water to another. The geese were sharing with some Mallards but they were not moving and giving up their lease!

Aren’t they a gorgeous couple?

In past years there seem not to have been as many juvenile American Coots. They are everywhere at the nature centre – hiding in the reeds, riding on pieces of branches, or just standing quietly around a corner this year and I have seen others at ponds around the city.

You can see how thick that duckweed is on the pond. Someone of it should be cleaned with a filter – and maybe that is what the staff are doing.

Over the years the Mallards have just gotten more beautiful to me. They are common and often over-looked because of it. So many sweet little females around the edge of the pond.

Most looked nice and full from their foraging. It was bottoms up everywhere!

Oh, look at those beautiful primary and secondary feathers. Let us all hope that our wee one will have as many by the end of October.

In the Mailbox:

No questions just outpourings of love for Izzi who was the subject of yesterday’s archival photo. Oh, what a character he was and each of us that watched Xavier and Diamond’s scrape and Izzi so intently has so many stories of his antics.

Making News:

A Bald Eagle death in Canada attributed to Avian Flu. This is very sad. It was believed that the H5N1 was slowing down. Now it might be spread again by migratory birds.

The EU is being heavily criticized for not protecting marine life from overfishing. Why is this in a bird blog? Well, the birds that eat fish need them so the setting up a moratorium for fishing for human consumption might help.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/12/eu-slammed-over-failure-to-protect-marine-life-from-destructive-fishing

One of my favourite books, Goshawk Summer, has won the Wainwright Nature Writing prize. James Aldred spent the early part of the pandemic in the New Forest. His assignment was to document the life of a Goshawk family. Written like a daily diary, Alden captures the solitude of the forest and the magical experiences of the chicks. “The wood holds its breath, the only sound the begging of the chicks and the gentle breeze through trees. The forest hasn’t been this peaceful for a thousand years.” Despite Aldred being a wildlife photographer there is not a single image of the Goshawks in the book but, they are not necessary. Through his words their presence is evoked as clearly as a newly cleaned window.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/07/wainwright-nature-writing-prize-goes-to-inspirational-goshawk-summer

Two lucky Bald Eagles were helped in Maine when they were relieved from being entangled with one another. They were mid-air and crashed into the water. Both could have died with out the help of the kind couple.

Maine couple frees entangled bald eagles that crashed into the water

Nest News:

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this wonderful news. Many of you will have already heard that Iris – thought, perhaps, to have migrated from her spring and summer home in Montana – was eating an enormous fish she had caught on the Owl Pole today in Missoula. The oldest Osprey in the world looks magnificent.

Here is a 4 minute video of this magical event.

12 September is a very special day. It is the day that Gabby normally returns to her nest near Jacksonville, Florida that she shares with her partner, Samson. Out of 4 years, 3 of the returns have been on the 12th of September. How incredible. Samson has been waiting and looking and bringing in some sticks. Gabby did not disappoint! She arrived today!!!!!!!!!!!!! The couple got busy working together getting ready for the wee eagles this year. Oh, it is so wonderful to see you home, Gabby.

Good night Samson and Gabby. All is well with the world. See you tomorrow.

Lady Hawk caught the reunion on video!

Padarn appears to still be with Idris at the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales.

Blue 497 is still on the nest at Glaslyn and Aran delivered a really nice fish for tea time.

Did you know that both Padarn and Blue 497 hatched on the same day? It was 26 May. 497 is the oldest and Padarn is the middle chick. Both, as we can see, are still at home.

Idris brought a flat fish later and is looking around for Padarn. Is she gone?

Everything seems to be fine on the Sea Eagles nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest.

The eaglets had an early breakfast. Looks like one of the Silver Gull chicks from the old barge down the Parramatta River.

Even with a great big nest SE29 and 30 prefer to snuggle together. Lady keeps watch.

A lovely family portrait.

At the Port Lincoln Osprey barge, Mum has been rooting around in the nest and rolling those three precious eggs. It is the 14th of September in South Australia. Is it really possible that in 4 more days we could have a hatch? At times it felt like it has taken forever and on other days it seems like we just had the last egg laid. Does it feel that way to you?

At the 367 Collins Street scrape, Mum got up to stretch her legs. Gosh these birds must get stiff sitting on those eggs for so long —- yes, I am projecting human needs on them! If they had a little buzzer to remind them to stand up and get the circulation moving it might help. Oh, she made me ache as I watched her raise off those eggs. She was hardly gone…someone played a trick on this female. They told her that she had to do all the incubating herself. Hopefully she will give Dad some more time.

Oh, just when you say the birds eat off camera, someone brings a nice juicy pigeon and there you go – eaten on the nest! It is like having a sick child and taking it to the doctor and your little one is immediately well on arrival!

Migration News:

Just imagine 428 million birds making their migration flights tonight.

Remember it is time for lights out. If you want to check your own area of migration, go to this link and put in your postal code or the name of your city – sadly lower mainland US only.

Home

Karl II’s family migration – Waba is still around the area of Manachyn and has flown a short distance south where he has discovered a little lake.

Bonus is still in the wetlands along the Prypjat River south of Makarichi.

Kaia is still around the Desna River. So all three appear to be doing well. What a glorious relief. No news from Karl II.

From the Archive:

Do you know my name? I was the only eaglet on an enormous nest. My parents names are Liberty and Freedom. When I branched and started jumping and flapping my wings, your got very worried.

I hope that your day is as lovely as ours on the Canadian Prairies. Thank you so very much for being with us today. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their blogs, tweets, videos, and streaming cams that make up my screen captures: Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Wreckhouse Weekly News, The Guardian, Bangor Daily News, Montana Ospreys and Cornell Bird Lab, NEFL-AEF, Lady Hawk, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, BirdCast, Looduskalender, and Glacier Gardens.

The eaglet was Kindness who hatched in Glacier Gardens, a large botanical garden within the Tongass National Park, Juneau, Alaska. The year was 2021.

Early Sunday in Bird World

4 September 2022

Oh, Good Morning Everyone. I hope this newsletter finds you well and happy.

It is a beautiful holiday Monday on the Canadian prairies. The sun is shining bright but the temperature is not going above 24 C today – a great day to go out and continue checking on the ducks and geese. Autumn is one of my most favourite times of year despite the fact that it leads us directly into winter and is often too short!

Yesterday the Cormorants and American White Pelicans were enjoying time in the shade near the dam at Lockport, Manitoba. The image below is one tiny section. There were more than 60 pelicans and 45 Double-crested Cormorants swimming and drying off in the sun.

If you live in or around Winnipeg, Fort Whyte will begin staying open Wed-Sunday beginning 21 September so that you can watch the Canada Geese arrive in the thousands at dusk. It is an amazing sight. There will be food trucks or you can bring your own picnic. The cafe might be holding its Goose Flight dinners but this is uncertain due to the same staffing shortages that are hitting the hospitality industry worldwide.

From the Mailbox:

‘H’ writes to ask me if I am familiar with moon_rabbit_rising on Instagram? Oh, yes, I am and if you love the Cal Falcons then you need to head over and see Bridgette Ahern’s incredible – and I do mean incredible – images of Annie and Grinnell and their family and now Annie and Alden and their family.

‘D’ wrote as did several others following my UK Osprey postings and information about the female departures: “Are the Dads usually the last to leave the nest?” Yes, the males are normally the last ones that leave the nest. The females usually depart about two weeks prior to the fledglings leaving and then the male stays, eats well getting his strength back, and then departs. There are always exceptions to the rule! I just had a couple of notes from ‘N’ who comments that the nests she normally watches generally have the males leaving first! It is a very poignant moment when the male arrives with a fish and waits – and waits some more – and no one comes to collect it. By now, Louis is wishing that Sarafina would fly in the same way that Idris would like to see Padarn off the nest.

Making News:

There are many times that I am proud to be a Canadian and today, it is so reassuring to see that the people in Callander, Ontario care about their Bald Eagle and its nest!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/callander-bald-eagles-1.6568714?fbclid=IwAR28VsUDKWDWjy5S-uop8h2WKVcyL8DVLdS-cV5llN-id623Kb0QHuE-hvg

If you missed the video that Ojai Raptor Centre posted of Victor flying – here it is. It is also worth a second or third viewing. Victor is doing so well.

Another juvenile eagle – this time caught up in fishing line is saved!

https://www.uticaod.com/story/sports/2022/09/03/eagle-rescue-canadarago-lake/65470809007/?fbclid=IwAR1CnT1OpPF1U68N8_S3q017q5b8WjnF56qr1ElgZt-RgvVTg9E0JePjfpk

The citizens living in the NE of England are demanding answers from the government on why hundreds of thousands of lobsters, crabs, and sea birds wound up on the shore dead.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/03/we-just-want-the-truth-british-coastal-towns-fight-for-answers-over-mystery-sealife-deaths

Raptor Persecution UK is calling out Natural England as being compromised in the handling of the killing of Asta, the Hen Harrier. This is their description of the crime:

“The level of depraved brutality involved in this crime is quite shocking, even to those of us who have become hardened to the relentless illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK. It’s virtually impossible not to look at these images of Asta and imagine the horror she faced at the hands of her killer.

The calculated deviousness of whoever committed this crime deserves the full attention of the statutory regulator, Natural England, and widespread publicity about the lengths these criminals will go to hide their ongoing, appalling violence towards this species and other birds of prey.” After 18 months nothing has been done and birds of prey continue to be killed over the grouse moor hunting estates. It is not just the brutality of the killing of this single Hen Harrier but also the other 72 that have been killed and the lack of accountability that is worrisome.

Natural England utterly compromised on tackling hen harrier persecution

Along this same theme, the Countryside Alliance is waging an all out campaign to get Chris Packham removed from the BBC because of his views about ending grouse hunting and thus, the illegal killing of raptors. If you live in the UK and have a view on this matter, please make it known.

The raptors are moving and Cape May, New Jersey likes to call itself the ‘raptor capital of North America’. See what is happening and why people are getting excited.

Cape May Hawkwatch

A win for all the sea birds comes as a South Africa court refuses to give Shell permission for offshore gas and oil drilling.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/01/south-african-court-bans-offshore-oil-and-gas-exploration-by-shell

Nest News:

It is the 10th anniversary of the Bald Eagle nest at Berry College. Who didn’t love Ma Berry? and who of us did not lose their heart to B15 this season? The Bald Eagle experts take you on a trip down memory lane with the Berry Eagles but, you have to go to the Berry College FB page. They will – despite saying I can embed the link – well, it doesn’t happen! Regrets.

Suzanne Arnold Horning posted some great images of our lovely Red-tail Hawks on the Cornell Campus over this past season on the FB banner! I have not seen a new update on L3 or L4 and in this case, no news is good news.

This is one of the last shots Suzanne took of L2 before his/her migration. L2 has not been seen in a week and so she/he is off to find their own spot in the world. L2 was the first to fledge and the second to catch her own prey. Often noted as being a ‘mini’ Big Red. Beautiful hawk. Soar high and always have a full crop!

Following Karl II’s family on their migration:

Waba is in Ukraine where he has been exploring the banks of rivers for food.

Kaia remains in Ukraine in des Desna near Vovchok. She only flew 47 km – around the area feeding.

Bonus is still in Belarus in the Prypjat wetlands near Makarichi.

There is no current tracking news for Karl II.

Thunder visited the West End Bald Eagle nest in the Channel Islands at 10:38 Saturday morning. Listen to her calls. You will notice another bird flying around – you can just see the silhouette.

The Sydney Sea Eagles did not have to wait until afternoon for their breakfast today. I caught several feedings for these fast growing eaglets. Notice how well behaved they are!

It had rained and Lady is offering some comfortable out of the rain for SE29 and SE30’s heads. Poor things. They are too big to fit under her.

Dad brings in a nice fish. Lady jumps down from her parent branch to feed the wet youngsters.

Dad comes in with another prey item. It looked like a small bird but I am not entirely sure.

Ranger Sharyn posted the following information for viewers of the Royal Albatross streaming cam on Taiaroa Head, NZ after the fledgling of the Royal Cam chick QT yesterday.

It should be relative quiet while birds are incubating eggs but yesterday, there was an intruder at the scrape on the Charles Sturt campus in Orange. Cilla Kinross caught it in slow-motion:

Xavier has spent some time on the ledge protecting Diamond and their eggs.

At Port Lincoln, all is well. Mum is sleeping and incubating the eggs and Dad is down in his shed, a place he spent having some good old’ chats with Ervie. It is the 5th of September with hatch expected in a fortnight (2 weeks).

It is quiet in Melbourne at the 367 Collins Street scrape. Where is Dad you ask? He will be perched nearby – sometimes on the camera.

The amount of detail that people keep on the UK Osprey nests is truly impressive. If every nest in the world had a dedicated group keeping every single detail for each season what an impressive amount of information we would have on the breeding and behaviour of Ospreys. Llyn Clywedog just posted the number and type of fish and what this means in comparison to average deliveries elsewhere. Well done, Dylan!

Peace and Love, the two fledgling Bald Eagles of Liberty and Freedom at the Glacier Gardens nest, were on the natal nest this morning watching the traffic along the road. How lovely to see them.

Thank you so much for joining me today. Please take care. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and their posts that made up my screen captures today: moon_rabbit_rising, CBC, Ojai Raptor Centre, Cape May Hawkwatch, Cornell Hawk Chatters and Suzanne Arnold Horning, Looduskalender, Explore.org and IWS, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, NZ DOC, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Cilla Kinross, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Llyn Clywedog Ospreys, and Glacier Gardens.

Featured image is L2 taken by Suzanne Arnold Horning.

Early Sunday in Bird World

21 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone. It is a gorgeous sunny day – a good day to go out checking on ducks! It did get a little excited and a little tragic. There was a scratch scratch behind one of those switch covers. For awhile I worried that a squirrel had gotten into the wall but listening carefully you could hear the flutter of wings. All light had to be shut out, all doors closed and two layers of plates and plugs had to be undone…and we still could not get to a cavity where the bird could fly free out the open door. If the birds make their way down the chimney in the wood stove, we have a fool proof way to deal with this but…not where this little bird got itself. I have to admit that at first all I could imagine was as squirrel leaping out. The key now is to find out how that bird got where it did so that no others get themselves in this predicament. Sadly we cannot save it.

As many of us wait with much ‘impatience’ for eggs to appear at either the Charles Sturt scrape in Orange or the ledge scrape on the 367 Collins Street skyscraper in Melbourne, I will try and find as many short video presentations or articles so that we can learn more and more about the Peregrine Falcon, the fastest raptor on Earth. In this less than four minute video, David Attenborough shows us how the Peregrine sets about to catch its prey in Rome.

Cal Falcons caught Annie and Alden doing some bonding in the scrape….and then Alden saw a moth!!!!!!!! It is so amazing how a parent’s behaviour influences eyases (or human parents on their children). I had never seen any of the chicks at the UC-Berkley scrape box in The Campanile ever chase moths until his year! ‘B’ commented that it is a great strategy for teaching eye-talon coordination – essential to being a falcon.

Stephen Basly worked for a very long time cleaning up the images that he took of Little Bit ND17 on his perch at the St Joseph River so we could really see this fine juvenile. There are two other images on the Notre-Dame Eagle FB page.

It is so wonderful to still be able to see this amazing fledgling. So grateful.

Someone else is still coming to her nest, too, and that is Iris! Every visit to her nest and every time we see her is so very, very precious. Iris is possibly 29 or 30 years old this year and she lives in the wild. She migrates. No one knows where but it is often thought it could be the south of Texas. Other Ospreys from this particular Montana area have transmitters and either go to Central America or parts of Mexico.

Many of the females on the Osprey streaming cams are still at home. Maya, the mate of Blue 33 at Rutland, is still home as of Saturday morning, the 19th. It appears that 1H2 and 1H3 have begun their migration leaving the eldest daughter, 1H1, at the nest with Mum and Dad.

At the nest of Rosie and Richmond, Rosie is the only one of the couple that migrates. Richmond remains in the San Francisco Bay area. Here is Rosie in the golden glow of a fine August morning.

During the week of 11 August at the Dyfi Nest in Wales, it was 30 degrees C – the exact same temperature that the Ospreys will have in Africa. Emyr Evans says that he never remembers this happening before ever. Telyn, the mate of Idris and the daughter of Rutland’s Maya, was still at the Dyfi nest as of Friday the 19th. Yesterday she flew to the nest with a mullet which Padern and Paith were very much interested in…

Meanwhile, the first hatch of Idris and Telyn for the 2022 season, Pedran, has not been seen at the nest since the 11th of August. She was 77 days old and it is believed she started her migration earlier than all.

Mrs G is also still with us, too. Here she is with all three of her 2022 fledges on the Glaslyn Valley nest she shares with her mate, Aran.

Mrs G is the oldest UK Osprey – at 23 (?).

In the world of Bald Eagles, Chase & Cholyn were caught perched together. They have been raising chicks at the Two Harbours nest together for at least 19 years. They are the parents of Thunder who is breeding at the West End nest with Akecheta.

Their fledgling this year was Lancer — and thanks to Dr Sharpe, Lancer got a second chance at life when he fell off the nest and was clinging to the side of the cliff for 24 hours. Thank you Dr Sharpe for always taking such good care of the Channel Island eagles.

The camera at Two Harbours – the one for the old Overlook Nest that they used to use – has Lancer on it. The camera cuts in and out of ‘Highlights’ but Lancer can be seen around 0702, 0710, and 0721. Here are some of those lovely images this morning of Lancer looking out to the sea.

What a lovely wild place to hatch — and return to, Lancer.

Andor is spending the night on the Fraser Point nest that he shares with his mate, Mama Cruz. They are the parents of Victor who is in care at the Ojai Raptor Centre and Lilibet.

I have seen no other mention of the three year old, Trey, who returned to her natal nest (parents Mama Cruz and Spirit). Mama Cruz had taken exception to her being at the nest while Andor had ignored the visit. At one time Trey was under the nest like Victor. Many of you wrote and asked me if Dr Sharpe would rescue her. I have written to find out the status of Trey. I will let you know if I hear anything. If, however, you are aware of Trey’s status, please let us know.

Speaking of Victor in rehab because of heavy zinc toxicity. ‘C’ writes me today to tell me that one of the serious issues with bird cages. He asks, “Did you know that cockatiels raised at home have a problem with zinc in the body? There is an interesting research done by veterinarians in Brazil. It is common to find a lot of zinc in cockatiels when they go to the vets. They found in the research that the source of zinc was in the cages. There is a lot of zinc in the cage bars. And when the cockatiels are biting the bars, they consume zinc.” This is very, very interesting. Victor would have been larger than a cockatiel so how much lead would he need to consume to be so sick? And wouldn’t all caged birds including Budgies be threatened by the zinc in the bars?

Mark Avery was with the RSPB for nearly 30 years. He writes a blog about many things including governmental policies, the end of grouse hunting calls, etc. in the UK. Yesterday, however, he published a blog by Les Wallace. The focus was the promotion of a documentary film looking at what wildlife would have been in the UK if humans had never existed. It is all about rewilding and Wallace draws some very interesting connections on which species should be introduced first. It is a good read.

Guest blog – Blue Frogs and Scimitar Cats by Les Wallace

Kaia is still in Belarus. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be for the Black Storks of Estonia if there were no humans living in any area on their migration route. What will happen? where will she go? The Ukraine is dangerous for the wildlife and many of the natural areas that the storks visited to eat and eat and get their strength to fly to the centre of Africa have been destroyed.

Big Red and Arthur were spotted by Suzanne Arnold Horning. Big Red is in her stage of moulting where I often call her ‘Big Blond’. L2 has not been seen since Thursday and it is now fully possible that s/he has left to find their own territory. Big Red and Arthur do not migrate. It is entirely possible that the other hawks in the region do not migrate either. Must find out!

Karl II has brought fish in for Iks, Waba, and Voog. Bonus was not at the feeding. You will remember that Bonus is the only surviving chick of Jan and Janika. He was fitted with a transmitter. If he has begun his migration the information should be showing up on one of the migration charts. Will check and report later today or tomorrow.

Hatch is not expected to happen at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge until the 18th or 19th of September.

This is the latest satellite tracking of Ervie. There is some speculation as to why he might have headed to the same area as Calypso.

Port Lincoln has also posted some information about their new Friends of Osprey FB and Website. As many of you are aware, Port Lincoln could not take donations as much as everyone asked to help pay for the streaming cam. They formed this group as a response and it has morphed into a good site for information. There is a $20 AUD charge.

We are expecting eggs at the CBD 367 Collins Street scrape any day now. If you want to check out the status there is a 367 Collins Falcon Watchers FB group. Victor Hurley has said they will turn on the camera the minute eggs are laid. Yahooo.

The Sydney Sea eaglets are doing great. SE30 does not always trust 29 and for good reason. Yesterday it found some ingenious ways to eat including between Lady’s legs – something seen on numerous Bald Eagle nests.

The only eaglets on a North America streaming cam left to fledge are those at the Glacier Gardens nest in Alaska. The larger eagles take longer to fledge than those in the south. Love hatched on May 29 with Peace hatching on June 1. Historical records indicate that GG1 fledged on day 86, GG2 on day 83, GG3 on day 85, GG4 on day 97, GG5 on day 98 and Kindness, GG6 last year, fledged at 86 days.

Unfortunately there is a branch that always seems to make it impossible to see the entire nest. So GG7 Love is 84 days old if we count hatch day and Peace is 82 days old. It is entirely conceivable that both will fledge within the next week.

I want to thank you so much for joining me today. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB posts and websites where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, Notre Dame Eagles, Montana Osprey Project, LRWT, Golden Gate Audubon and SF Ospreys, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bwywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Explore.org and IWS, Mark Avery, Looduskalender, Suzanne Arnold Horning, Eagle Club of Estonia, Port Lincoln Ospreys, Friends of Ospreys, and Glacier Gardens.

Late Sunday in Bird World

7 August 2022

It was a lovely trip to a small town on the Canadian Prairies to check out waterfowl – which turned out not to be Greater Yellow Legs – but, a small variety of ducks. What is so nice and relaxing is a single area around Crescent Lake and Island Park. There are walking and biking paths as well as benches to look out over the water and watch the ducks. It was beautiful and quiet, something someone living in a big city does not realize they need until they are sitting surrounded by the sound of hardly anything.

As it was nearing dusk, the water glistened with silver striations. The ducks were quite camouflaged. You could only spot them when they were moving. All of the bird ID technology available to me identifies this as a pair of Common Goldeneye. They were about 100 m or 328 ft away.

The duck in front with its wings raised preparing to fly is a female. She has a chocolate brown head, lighter grey breast. You can sometimes see a thin white collar.

This Eared Grebe was finding food and feeding this little one. It had two with it and this is a male.

This cute little female Wood Duck with her tear-shaped eye-ring did not seem to mind having her picture taken.

The Duck at the back of the group is a Northern Pintail. She almost fooled me but her bill is grey while that of the Mallard in the front right is orange. The Pintail does not have the eye line of the Mallard either.

Another American Pintail on the rock.

The American Coot came along and stood on one of two large stones at the edge of the marshy area. If you look carefully you can see the black ring at tip of the white bill. Coots have red eyes, long green-yellow legs and a charcoal grey plumage all over their body.

Mallards.

What surprised me the most was the fact that there were recently hatched ducklings! I started counting the months til they would migrate and began wondering what on earth. It is possible that they will not fly away for winter. There is a river called the Assiniboine that is south of Crescent Lake. There are several dozen ducks that remain on that river near to where my daughter lives in Winnipeg.

The way that the ducks camouflage themselves in the reeds was simply remarkable – just like the striations on the river in the evening when you cannot see them.

It was a lovely day away and it was nice to get home having the Crows complain that all the peanuts and cheesy sausages were gone!

It was nice to come home to have an update about the Poole Harbour Ospreys. Here is the official announcement if you have not seen it.

CJ7 and H51 along with Blue 022 have now been on the nest. These images are from the 6th.

H51 eating a fish.

CJ7 came in with a fish for H51. They will be careful of the nest now that they know there is a Goshawk in the area. Just like Ospreys are being introduced so are Goshawks. These Ospreys then will always need to take great care.

The family is not sleeping on the nest at night.

Annie and Alden certain are enjoying their quiet time when Lindsay and Grinnell Jr don’t pop out of a corner chasing them. This is a four-minute bonding ritual complete with many kisses! If this doesn’t put a smile on your face, I do not know what would. They start off with what appears to be a conversation or a long permission to enter the scrape and amp it up from there.

The Sea Eaglet chicks have crossed over that stage of beaking and bopping and are now teasing one another.

This is just too funny!

Then a beak kiss. Lady just takes it all in stride. Notice that their crops are rather full and squishy providing the perfect cropillow.

The pin feathers can be seen much easier on the eaglets today.

There were six feedings on the Black Stork nest in the Karula National Forest of Karl II and Kaia. The storklets have been jumping and hovering and preening as well as eating. In fact they ate really well today.

The storklings can tell that an adult is approaching with food. They begin their begging dance which helps to stimulate the parent to bring up the food.

Karl II delivers a lot of fish. The basket must have been replenished.

Bonus is 77 days old today. Under normal conditions, Bonus would have fledged. Urmas believes that maybe it is delayed development due to a lack of food. The longest recorded time to first flight for Black Storks comes from China at 76 days. Bonus broke a record! The record for earliest fledge is 56 days (Saxony). Generally the chicks fledge before the female leaves for migration. But will this happen this year? Kaia left on 11 August last year. When they leave we must send them positive thoughts – it is a long, long journey through an area of war. I wonder what the nature refuge at Odessa looks like? was it shelled? or just the port area?

Titi at the Janakkalan nest has been really eating and growing – he seems to have caught up with Boris in size in a couple of days. He has not fledged and both osplets hatched on the same day. I wonder if the difference in feeding – like that with Little Bit 17 and Bonus – has really impacted his development too? All of us were aware that Boris was getting much more but how much we could not easily measure.

Titi hovering.

I understand that Titi is now sleeping alone on the nest while Boris is perched in the trees – near Dad?

The Osoyoos Osplets of Soo and Olsen are still on the nest! Whenever you go away you hope that chicks do not fledge but — that can’t be controlled! You also hope to come home and have all safely in the nest just as it was when you left. The family continues to deal with the heat domes they have experienced. This is the second one. It is currently 36 F and will climb to 38 tomorrow. It seems Olsen is still able to find fish.

Love and Peace remain on the nest at Glacier Gardens. They should be branching soon. Love and Peace will not migrate. They will remain in Alaska where they will feed off the local Salmon just like their sibling, Kindness, from 2021.

If we want everyone to respect nature and wildlife we have to make an effort to educate them, to get them to ‘love’ and ‘respect’ the birds like we do, to get them to understand their challenges — and to get them involved. Port Lincoln Osprey just posted an event that is intent on doing just that!

It looks like Mum and Dad at Port Lincoln Osprey Barge could become grandparents this year. This is Calypso on the left watching her mate eat a fish…I presume he knows that he is supposed to feed her, right? Calypso was the 2020 hatch with Star. Star has not been seen. —— She is Ervie’s sister. Gosh, I wish there was word about Bazza and Falky.

It is a very foggy morning on the grounds of Charles Sturt University in Orange, Australia. You can just see the trees below the water tower where the scrape of Xavier and Diamond is located.

The fog goes away quickly. Diamond looks out over her territory. We should be having eggs in what? 3 weeks?

There is news that L3 is doing well with her flight training. That is great news. L2 has been hanging out with Big Red and Arthur learning more hunting techniques. I do not have an update on L4 but I am assuming that the soft tissue injury will heal rather quickly. The Boathouse was back on ‘Highlights’ so if you go there to check on the three osplets just make sure you look down at the left corner….Highlights often shows an empty nest! Good way to get a heart attack. :))))

Thank you for joining me this evening for a quick check up on the birds. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB posts where I took my screen captures: Friends of Poole Harbour, Cal Falcons, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Osoyoos Ospreys, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Charles Sturt University falcon cam, and Glacier Gardens.

Late Monday news in Bird World

25 July 2022

Oh, I hope that you had a good day wherever you are. Everything ‘seems’ to be fine in Bird World.

The rain has started pouring down – just a couple of minutes ago. Before that the three every-growing-larger Crow juveniles were having fun in the Bird Bath, eating their sandwiches and peanuts along with Dyson, the Blue Jays, and a host of sparrows. Dyson has to have a nest somewhere. She has a very short tail and I was told that she would line the nest with the fur. She is ‘quite large at the back end’ my daughter responded when she saw her. Baby squirrels soon? We hope. Lots and lots of peanuts were put out so everyone had plenty.

I just checked on the Osoyoos Osprey nest. I could not see the time stamps but Olsen apparently brought in at least one large fish to Soo today! There was an early one and one later and maybe some in between. The chatters were happy.

The smallest eaglet on the White-bellied Sea Eagles nest, SE30, needs a shampoo. There is fish juice stuck to all of the soft down on the top of its head. You can easily identify who is 30 and who is 29. 29 is also bigger. That extra day surely makes a difference at this stage. I stayed with the feeding to make sure that 30 got fish and it did! Lady tried 29 and its beak was closed and 30 moved to the other side for bites.

I am always asked if the female Ospreys bring fish to the nests. Oh, yes, they do! They normally do not do this until well after the chicks have fledged unless there is a need (for example, the male disappears or the fish deliveries are not enough). Rosie brought Brooks a nice piece of fish today. Brooks has been doing a lot of flight training.

Blue 33 landed at 17:52 with a really large fish – including the head. Two of the female fledglings had been on the nest fish calling to Dad when the third flew in wanting any leftovers on the Manton Bay nest.

It was delightful seeing all three girls on the nest and Dad. It is always nice to ‘see’ that everything is going to plan. It is not often you catch them on the nest and all seems well.

That is such a nice fish. I wish that Soo could have just one that size for her and the Osprey chicks in Osoyoos every day. What a difference it would make in their development.

Watching Osprey and Eagle families is very educational. You do not appreciate the necessity for good plentiful food until you have seen a nest suffer from lack of prey with stress lines in the feathers of the chicks and babies dying from starvation. It is the same with human animals.

There are so many Osprey nests and Daisy and Duke at the Barnegat Light nest have fallen off the radar. There the two surviving osplets are – goodness, full plumage – ready to go! (The third was accidentally pulled out of the nest cup at a very young age and died).

Every year I remember a friend telling me that if I really loved the plumage of the Red-tail hawk juveniles then just wait til I saw the fledgling Sea Eagles! But…I know we all have our favourites – there is nothing for me that can improve on the plumage of the fledgling Ospreys. I think they are much more beautiful than their parents! And wish they did not have to change. I would say the same for the Sea Eagles – juvenile sea eagles with their creams, golds, coppers, browns are smashingly beautiful.

The three osplets of Dory and Skiff are simpy adorable. They line up nicely for dinner and no one seems to want to cause the other any big problems. They are now standing and learning how to walk on their feet instead of their knees.

Oh, just look. Kissed by the peach at the nape of the neck and on the ends of the feathers with that dark eye line. How many young women wish they could get their eyeliner to look like that?

Dory did a great job – a big shout out – for this first time Mum. Skiff did, too!

The camera at Two Harbours in the Channel Islands panned around and caught one of the adults perched. Then they did nice close ups of Lancer waiting for a fish!

Lancer waiting patiently at time for a fish delivery – until she sees an adult and she really lets them know she is hungry!!!!!!!!!!

At the West End, Thunder was out on the Lookout Rock. Yesterday Akecheta brought Kana’kini a fish on the natal nest. I did not see any of the juveniles today. Did you?

At Fraser Point, Lilibet was on the perch and then on the nest eating a small piece of prey. Gosh, she’s gorgeous.

Ah, if you go to the Glacier Gardens Eagle nest and re-wind you can find spots where the camera does not have moisture on the lens. Peace and Love are getting big and they have been working their wings! I did notice that the rain has caused them to look a little ‘rough’. They will fluff back up quickly.

It is gently raining at the Big Bear Valley nest of Shadow and Jackie. Gosh it looks lonely without Spirit and her parents. Did you know that this is the one of the highest Bald Eagle nest in the US? The nest itself is 44 metres or 145 ‘ up in a Jeffrey Pine. The elevation is, however, 2164 metres or 7100 ft.

This is just a hop, skip, and jump through a small number of the nests we are watching. The nest of concern remains Osoyoos and it is doing well today. Fingers crossed and positive wishes for tomorrow and the next day. Thank you so much for joining me. It is such a nice change when the news is all good. Thank you so much for joining me. Please take care of yourselves. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their FB posts and streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, SF Bay Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Glacier Gardens, Explore.org and the IWS, Explore Audubon, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, and LRWT.

Life and Death in Bird World…

18 July 2022

We are going to start off with the good news…a hatch! Sydney’s Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre is giving the official hatch time of WBSE 29 at 1426. There is also a pip in WBSE30’s egg.

Beautiful Lady. By the time we wake up tomorrow morning there should be two healthy White-bellied Sea Eaglets in this nest getting ready to bop and bob.

I thought I might make it through Sunday evening without finding out about another Osprey death. Not so. A much loved male Osprey of a long time mated pair in Bitterroot Valley, Montana was shot with a soft bullet and died. Local animal right’s activists have issued a reward for the identity of the shooter.

Shootings of protected raptors are on the rise in the area. There were 7 last year and already there are 5 this year in this single area of Montana. Reports from wildlife rehab clinics often cite either shootings or – heavy lead toxins due to the eating of prey with bullet fragments – as the major reason for eagles to be in care or dying.

It is, of course, illegal to shoot a protected species but, it doesn’t seem to matter. It has happened in my City, all over the US, in various countries in the EU such as France and Malta. And, of course, there are the ongoing issues in the UK on the private estates where grouse hunting is permitted.

https://mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/bitterroot-osprey-shooting-leaves-activists-looking-for-answers/article_fe7ff6c8-f90b-535f-98b6-9a3826e123ee.html?fbclid=IwAR3qVHQb8gMmqRYhFw6CQZX24PHNfYuaFMh57p_EOndiZBTT7NLxDI5dwno

There is good news coming out of the Osoyoos nest. One look at the image reveals the remains of a large fish still on the nest. ‘A-M’ mentioned on the chat that both chicks had eaten well today and Little Bob even had a really full crop. Apparently both parents brought in 2 big fish. It is wonderful to see Mum with a big crop, too. Oh, we could not ask for anything better coming out of the heat in the area. Fantastic.

With all the sadness, the fact that this nest got 2 great big fish and everyone is full and there is still fish is something to celebrate. I wanted fish to fall from the sky but coming in from the lake is just as good.

To also put a smile on your face, Lilibet at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Mama Cruz had something to say to the fox cub that keeps getting on her nest! And she was very vocal about it.

There is other good news. The youngest osplet of the trio at Llyn Clywedog fledged at 10:22 on Sunday the 17th. Congratulations Dylan and Seren for another successful year and to all those at Llyn Clywedog in Wales.

Seren on one perch and two of the fledglings on the other perch.

The two osplets on the Llyn Brenig nest in Wales have not fledged. They certainly have grown since I last checked on them! Mom looks happy and I bet that fish Dad brought in really tasted good.

Dorcha looking over her two osplets as the sun was setting on Loch Arkaig.

and dawn over Loch Arkaig. I has been impossible to tell how Dorcha is doing. Hopefully she will go for a good swim and get the blood off from her injury – continuing good thoughts for her to heal quickly.

The area is so beautiful.

The Glaslyn Valley nest of Aran and Mrs G is so very different than Loch Arkaig and Loch of the Lowes. The cows and the sheep make the entire scene look like it could be a 17th century painting.

At the Loch of the Lowes, one of the fledglings slept ‘adult style’ on the nest perch all night. There is another (or two?) osprey/s on the dead tree at centre left. Where is everyone else? Laddie? Blue NC0?

Later. Waiting for a delivery!

Dad delivers fish to the Janakkdan Osprey nest on a regular basis. Here is the last delivery for the 17th at 19:28. The osplets will take turns self-feeding.

I have not seen the female on the nest for some hours – from 1900 to 0700. The chicks have not fledged. Some on the chat questioned if she has begun her migration. No, it is too early. Let us hope that she is well.

It is possible there is a perch and Mum is there. She was on the nest at noon today. Both chicks appear to be capable of eating on their own. One better than the other but it has had more practice.

‘H’ reports that it is Smooth Dogfish Shark for breakfast at the Mispillion Harbour Osprey nest! Dad brought in two in quick succession. Everyone was hungry – one fledgling trying to self-feed and the other being fed by Mum who eventually feeds both.

While the ospreys in Delaware were enjoying their Smooth Dogfish Sharks, Karl II was delivering large fish to the Karula National Forest Black storkling nest – that includes Bonus, the adopted storklet of Jan and Janikka. I am so happy that the four are doing so well and so grateful to Urmas for his fish basket! Thank you, Urmas.

The camera was down at Glacier Gardens for part of the 17th. NitBot reports that there were four fish deliveries with Peace getting 1 fish and Love seeming to get the other 3. It is so hard to see the eaglets – is it condensation on the camera? and the cars racing up and down that road are making me nervous. But…Liberty and Freedom know best!

There is no word yet on what caused the 9 day old osplet of Tom and Audrey at the Chesapeake Conservancy to suddenly die. Will keep you posted on any news. Its death was entirely unexpected. There was lots of fish and it was eating well.

Everything seems to be fine for Dory and Skiff and their three osplets on Hog Island in Maine.

Here is a short video of Dory feeding the three just a short while ago.

Like everywhere else, it has been hot and stormy on the Canadian Prairies. If you are in an area of high heat and have shallow bowls (no deeper than 2 or 3 inches), put some water in them if you do not have a bird bath. All manner of raptor are coming to cool down including the local crows and owls – even the rabbits have been in to drink water and get in the shade of the lilacs and ‘the bush tunnels’. I will try to get a photo if I can but Mr Crow was on top of the sunroom/greenhouse this morning telling me that he wanted breakfast!

An osprey expert in the UK told me that never rule out dehydration in the death of Ospreys. He was talking about Molate. But, remember that all of the birds can suffer in the heat without water!

The image below is (I believe) Hedwig’s baby. It is really cropped and blown up – the rabbit is tiny. Those are dandelion leaves and they are not long. He thought he was hiding behind some of the builder’s garbage! But we saw you, cutie pie. Caught in the act. You can eat all of the dandelion leaves you want!

This is Hedwig the Elder over eating the seeds that the birds spill everywhere! What they are really enjoying are the tender shoots.

Bye Hedwig!

Hedwig and Little Hedwig took off together to go to their burrow which is across the back lane underneath a garage.

It has been a week since Victor was rescued. I have not seen an update but it is early in California. Looking forward to some news. Things are rather quiet in Bird World — and goodness, gosh, golly…quiet is welcome. There will be more fledges in the UK and another baby Sea Eagle tomorrow. Something to look forward to….

Thank you for being with me today. Take care Everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Sydney Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, Osoyoos Ospreys, Explore.org and IWS, CarnyXwild, Llyn Brenig Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Wildlife Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and the DDNR, Eagle Club of Estonia, Glacier Gardens, Chesapeake Conservancy, and Explore.org and Audubon.

Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

6-7 June 2022

‘R’ sent me a lovely note. She had trouble with the link that I provided for the fundraising by the Eagle Club of Estonia for the three surviving storklets of Jan and Janika. If you had difficulties, too, please try this link that ‘R’ sent to me:

https://www.leetchi.com/c/kotkaklubi

There is good news coming from Robert Fuller. The first of the six kestrels raised by Papa Kestrel fledged on 6 June. Oh, what a joyous day! No one knew what would happen when Mum Kestrel did not return. The males are so tuned in to providing prey and security that feeding and brooding chicks can be problematic. Imagine trying to be both Mum and Dad to six fast growing Kestrels. You might recall that Robert Fuller removed the youngest and smallest three. They were kept warm and fed regularly to give them a good start when they would be returned to the nest with their bigger siblings. Father Kestrel learned how to feed his chicks and brood them. The first flight of one of the six really shows how working together -humans and raptors – success can be achieved.

Here is a quick video of that first fledge:

So far, Bukacek and Betty are still feeding five White Storklets on their nest in Mlade Buky. No brood reduction has taken place yet despite the youngest being substantially smaller than the others.

Bukacek has returned to the nest allowing Betty to go for a break and to get some food while he feeds the storklets and broods them.

Here is another feeding. You can see just how quickly the little storklets grow – and it is so nice that the sun is shining and the nest has dried out.

Karl II and Kaia have all their storklets as well. Karl arrived and fed the storklets an enormous feed! You would almost think he found Urmas’s fish basket! Notice how yellow the beaks are. It is a sign of a healthy storklet.

Liberty and Freedom seem to be liking their new nest in Glacier Gardens in Alaska. Didn’t we just get news of a pip and then a hatch and now – . Well. GG7 is named Love and s/he is 8 days old. GG8 is called Peace and s/he is 5 days old. Both are doing well. Gosh, I really appreciate those names. The world could seriously use much more ‘love’ and ‘peace’. Very appropriate for the times we live in. Oh, so delicate. Look at that teeny little flake of fish being held by that huge beak. So cute.

Takota is 70 days old. Mr President and Lotus have been busy bringing in food to their bouncy branching eaglet at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC.

The fledge times for Bald Eagles is normally 10-12 weeks so Takota is right at the beginning of that range. Males normally fledge earlier than females. Takota has really been working those wings! They are getting stronger and stronger.

Was it a fludge? or a fledge? When Ahote took off from the West End nest and wound up on Transmitter Hill? Ahote returned to the natal nest and to his siblings, Kana’kini and Sky on Monday after being off nest for 4 days. He stayed 7 hours before taking off again. Don’t blink. The video is short but it shows Ahote totally in command of his flying. Well done, Ahote!

A fish was delivered and Ahote took it so he has eaten -. Well done. You might well notice that the parents do not always fly right in with the kids after fledge. The fledglings are as large as their parents – actually slightly larger – and could injure them in the transfer of prey items. The adults are, thus, very cautious.

It looks like it could be a fledge for L1 today at the nest of Big Red and Arthur in Ithaca, New York. The little red-tail hawk has been antsy for days. The winds are strong. She has been up on the rails doing cute faces to the camera and on and off the fledge ledge all morning.

Just look at that face – sweet. And that beautiful peach plumage. Red-tail hawklets are gorgeous! (OK. They all are!).

So far, Middle has not fledged at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest since all the hovering and flapping activity yesterday. It rained heavy and the nest is soaking. Middle did get the fish off of Big this morning that was delivered at 11:11:01. This is the second day in a row that Middle’s confidence is up and he is taking what he wants.

R2 paid a visit to the nest of his parents Ron and Rita at the Miami Zoo. Normally a parent would fly in with food. R2 waited but nothing was delivered.

Grinnell Jr and Lindsay are losing their baby down quickly. Breakfast came at 0533 and the morning was spent flapping and running and exploring around the scrape. Annie and Alden have done a super job with these two.

Grinnell Jr has the blue leg ring.

It could be building up to be an exciting day with so many set to fledge. It is not clear if Little Bit 17 at the ND-LEEF has had any food. There is the possibility of some when 15 got the fish this morning. The lack of camera coverage on the porch area means that we just don’t know for certain when the little one gets food – or not. Hoping for fish, lots of fish.

Thank you so much for joining me. Have a lovely day! See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: The Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky Storks, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, WRDC, Explore.org and the Institute for Wildlife Studies, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Glacier Gardens, and the NADC-AEF.

Late Tuesday in Bird World

31 May 2022

I wish I could tell you that ND 17 our very own Little Bit was stuffing its face with fish right now but, that is not what is happening. So far as I can tell only a small fish has come on the nest today. Hoping for more fish later!

They are not raptors but I adore the Black Storks (and White ones) and I like to mention them now and again. The Black Storks are extremely rare in Estonia and Latvia making their nests mostly in the southern areas of the countries. These countries are the northernmost areas for Black Storks to breed. They are, thus, very special. Jan and Janika started out with six storklets in their nest in Estonia – five have survived. All five are doing well. The fifth one is small but it is right up there with the others eating well so I am hopeful — if food is plentiful that all will fledge. That nest is going to get awfully small when they start jumping around and flapping those wings. Janika brought in a large meal for all five!

The weather around the MN-DNR is gusty and wet like it is here. They are getting this same system that has moved north and east from Colorado. Nancy is on the nest feeding E1, Harriet. There appears to be a sub-adult on the perch. Nancy appears to be ignoring it at the moment.

Nancy leaves after feeding E1. The visiting sub-adult remains on the perch.

Later, Nancy is gone and so is the visitor.

It was hard to see Spirit take her first flight this morning. Spirit loves her food and I am pretty certain that Jackie and Shadow will lure her with prey. We will see if it is to the nest or off nest – time will tell. Spirit is 88 days 12 hours and 35 minutes old when she flies off the nest.

Remember when? What a beautiful couple with their miracle baby, Spirit.

Deb S caught Spirit’s fledge in a really short video clip. Oh, what a fabulous first flight. Soar high Spirit, stay safe, wishing you lots of fish and a long, long life.

The first sighting of Spirit caught after her fledge:

The three eyases at the Spartan Stadium scrape at the University of Michigan are losing their baby feathers just like the ones at Cal Falcons scrape.

The five eyases at the Manchester New Hampshire are watching as Mum is flying in with lunch!

Are you a fan of Tom and Audrey at the Chesapeake Conservancy Osprey Nest? If so, there is reason to celebrate. Audrey laid her fist egg of her second clutch today!

The Ls are getting bigger and restless. L1 ventured out to the fledge ledge today and anyone watching probably needed a double handful of worry beads. The chicks will run up and down the grate, stand and look out at the field and the trees from the fledge ledge days before actually flying. Big Red has been going and sitting there showing them where to take off so this is a good thing. L1 has been trying to climb the light box – a bad idea. J2 did fledge from there in 2020 but it is much easier to take off from the grate! at the ends! or in the middle between the bars in front. Fledge watch opens for L1 on Friday!

Gosh, I know it is nice to have the freshest fish but goodness it is scary when a live flappy one comes on the nest. That just happened to Telyn when Idris brought in a Flounder. You can hear her little cheeps when she is looking at the fish breathing.

Louis and Dorcha at their Loch Arkaig nest.

The newest addition to the Louis and Dorcha family! What a sweet little bundle.

Every chick got fed – again – at the Loch of the Lowes. Little Bob is doing good, holding its own there in the middle of its two big siblings who, if you look at the back of their heads, are changing plumage.

Aran has been getting the fish to Mrs G who is busy feeding the little ones.

It is hard to see the babies at Glacier Gardens but you sure can see the cars driving by!!!!!!! Would love to get in the head space of the Bald Eagles when they pick the site for a new nest.

They are beautiful and they are the Pittsburgh-Hayes trio! All have branched and they are flapping those wings just like the Three Amigos at the West End. Fledge is approaching!

Need to keep an eye on the US Steel Eaglets too. They have just received a prey drop and one of the adults is out on the branch giving some hints.

Fledge watch is officially on for Liberty and Guardian’s Star and Sentry at the Redding California Bald Eagle nest. Fledge should be from 29 May – 15 June. I love the wide window. That is about the same for the Pennsylvania eaglets at Pittsburg-Hayes and US Steel, too. They are all beautiful birds and we can knock on wood – none had the Avian Flu. What a relief.

The chicks at Cal Falcons are almost out of the scrape following the shade. They are hot and panting in the California heat. Look at the bottom and please go and vote so they have two great names!!!!!!

And last, but never least – the two Osplets on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest. At one time I thought we might wind up with only one chick on this nest. Big Bob was quite the terror. Middle persisted and we now have two beautiful birds getting ready to fledge. I counted six plus dark bands on Big Bob today but it is Middle Bob that looked like he would take off if a gust came!

Gosh these are beautiful raptors! Just stunning.

That is it for today. I just checked. It is nearing evening at the Notre-Dame nest. I wish beyond anything that two big fish come on that nest tonight. If not, Little Bit is still OK. Tomorrow evening if no fish have come in – or other prey – I will start to fret.

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

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB pages: The Eagle Club of Estonia, ND-LEEF, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Pix Cams, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Woodland Trust, Friends of Loch Arkaig, People’s Postcode Lottery, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cal Falcons, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Friends of Redding Eagles, MN-DNR, Glacier Gardens, Explore.org, Peregrine Networks, and Spartan Stadium Peregrine Cam.

Glacier Gardens, Ervie on the nest, and other news in Bird World

19 May 2022

It has been a rather dreary damp day. The garden has been full of Orioles, Chipping Sparrows, European Starlings, and Harris Sparrows. They sure bring a lot of joy. At the same time, they let you know that your place is to fill the feeders and then get inside and do not disturb them. They can be rather loud about that. Little Red was about a metre from his new home. I do not know if he found it. Will continue to watch on and off. Fingers crossed!

Glacier Gardens Bald Eagle streaming cam is now live at the new nest of Liberty and Freedom! It is also a brand new camera.

Here is the link to the Glacier Gardens camera:

Big and Middle (known as Warrior by some) were both on the Dale Hollow nest this morning. Then Big left and Middle has been flapping his wings. Our time with them could be limited. So nice to see these two beautiful juveniles.

Yesterday it seemed that Big was up on a high branch. Middle kept looking up. If there is a fledge the camera might not catch it if they are up on those high branches.

Look how big Warrior is. After Big killed Little Bit, we did not know if Middle would make it. We can now rejoice that all is well and we can hope that he or she has an amazing and long life.

I have not seen a prey delivery today at the MN-DNR nest of Nancy. The weather is not great and it is unclear if there are any intruders about. Nancy has been up on the branch watching over the territory.

Nesting material is being delivered to the Barnegat Light Osprey nest in New Jersey today by both Duke and Daisy.

Lady and Dad both spent the night on the old Ironbark nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest where they raise their little White-Bellied Sea Eagles. Sea Eagles are the second largest raptor in Australia with the Wedge-tail Eagle being the largest. Lady and Dad normally have two eggs and fledge both chicks. That said there are birds in the forest that chase them far away so they cannot map the route to and from the nest in their GPS systems. This means the fledglings do not learn from the parents how to fish or have the opportunity to be fed on the nest and get their flying stronger. Last year WBSE 27 went into care twice and was finally trained to hunt and get their flying strong before release the last time. 28 is believed to have returned to the nest recently – to everyone’s surprise – but it was very gaunt. There can be some food competition.

If you have never heard the ‘Dawn Duet’ by the White-Bellied Sea Eagles you are in for a real treat. I taped it last year on 22 June – have a listen. The couple do this every morning at dawn to wake the forest. The chicks also join in!

Many have commented that it looks like the Manton Bay trio of Blue 33 and Maya grow right before our eyes. They are certainly moving from the soft fluffy new born nestling phase and will soon enter the dark wooly period. As the plumage changes the osplets do tend to get a little edgy. Those feathers must be really itchy and irritating. No worries – it is just ‘feather stress’ (that is what I call it). There will be no problems with siblicide on this nest!!!!!! Blue 33 has spent a lot of time on the nest with Maya and he has been feeding the chicks every once in awhile.

They are considered to be a Power Couple in the Osprey World. They are certainly very strong together.

Maya was first seen at Rutland in the summer of 2009. She is the only Rutland osprey to have a name. The letters for Maya come from Manton Bay (first and last two letters to form Maya). The Greek word ‘Maia’ means ‘coming of spring’. Maya successfully bred with 5R (04) from 2010 to 2013. They raised 11 chicks! At least five of those have returned to Rutland – if not more. I have not checked the last two year’s stats. Sadly, Maya’s mate did not return in 2014. She waited and then finally paired with 28 (10). She laid three eggs. But Blue 33 (11) wasn’t having it. He wanted both the nest and Maya as his mate and he persisted – finally kicking the other males eggs out of the nest!!!!! Blue 33 and Maya have been together ever since. They are utterly devoted to one another and with the exception of this year, have often arrived from their winter migration within minutes of one another. They first raised successful chicks in 2015.

So why are they considered a power couple within the Osprey world? In addition to the 3 chicks in 2015, there were 17 chicks from 2016-2020 including two years of clutches of 4 chicks raised to fledge!!!!!!!!!!! Two years of four chicks. Think about that. 2019 and 2020. In 2021, they fledged 2 making a grand total of 22 chicks fledged with three now in the nest. In total, Maya has fledged 33 chicks. Incredible. I love this nest. This year will make that 36 chicks.

Here is a video of Blue feeding the chicks. I should mention that Blue is quite different to other male ospreys; he likes to be involved in every process, spends a lot of time on the nest, sometimes feeds Maya and brings in a heck of a lot of fish!

I am a great fan of the California condors and have followed the trials, tribulations, and the victories of both Redwood Queen 190 and Iniko 1031. Everyone was waiting for Iniko to be reunited with her mother after they were separated because of the Dolan Fire. Indeed, if you do not know the story of Iniko – it is beautiful and it should give us hope that things do work out. Iniko was in the Redwood nest that her father, Kingpin and Redwood Queen shared, when the Dolan fire ripped through Big Sur in 2020. The fire raged around the nest tree. Iniko survived but was knocked out of the tree by Ninja 729. Redwood Queen came to the rescue! Iniko was taken into care at the Los Angeles Zoo supported by the Ventana Wildlife Society. Redwood Queen has a new mate, Phoenix, and they had an egg this year that was believed to be non-viable. Iniko was released on 4 December and this is the first time Mum and daughter have been seen together. Both females dive into the pack and get close to the carcass!

The only surviving chick on the Dahlgren Osprey nest of Jack and Harriet has a nice crop at 1800 today. The heavy storms and rain caused the waters to rise and be murky. Not good if you are an osprey trying to catch a fish. The water is now clearing and let us hope everything stays on track with this one Bob.

It was nice to see Louis cuddled up with Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig Osprey nest in Scotland. The weather has been terrible – that along with a mess of intruders have really not made it a good start to the year for these two.

I can hear rain falling on Theo’s nest in Latvia and see that some work continues to be made on the nest but no Theo and no mate. Beautiful birds singing in the distance.

Black Storks are very, very rare in Latvia and Estonia. Because of this conservation status, they are much loved by the people – and many of us. Karl II and Kaia have four eggs on their Black Stork nest in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. The first egg was laid on 24 April with the last on 1 May. We should be looking for a pip in what? Incubation is normally 32-38 days (varies by author). So we are at 25 days with the oldest egg.

Here is the link to Karl and Kaia’s streaming cam:

The Black Stork nest of Jan and Janika is also in Estonia in Jogeva County. There are five eggs. The couple are, according to the chat moderator, on day 34, 31, 31 and 30 (counted from laying). Here is the link to their streaming cam:

There was one Black Stork nest that was monitored in Latvia. It was the nest of Grafs and Grafiene. I have not been able to confirm any activity for this couple this season.

There was a scary moment on the nest of Big Red and Arthur when Big Red brought in greenery at 11:47 and L3 looked as if she would fall backwards off the nest.

There is tug-o-war with some prey and the inklings of self-feeding with bits of prey left on the nest. Too cute. L4 looks on and wants to join in the fun.

I checked on Ervie a few minutes ago and he was not on the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Then ‘B’ checked after me and Ervie flew onto the nest and is now sitting in Dad’s cave!!!!!!! Oh, we are truly blessed. Thank you ‘B’. Now anyone can go to the Port Lincoln streaming cam and see our beautiful boy!

Seeing Ervie brings tears of joy! So happy for this third hatch. He is much loved and adored by so many. Thank you ‘B’ for taking the time to send me a note! It is much appreciated. Ervie might well bring a puffer back. He seems to find them around the barge.

Thank you for joining me today. It was a whirlwind around the nests. Too many. Too much going on. It is hard to keep up with them. Take care all. If you want to see Ervie, here is the link to his camera:

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or their FB pages: Ventana Wildlife Society, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Glacier Gardens, Cornell RTH, Eagle Club of Estonia, Latvian Fund for Nature, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, Barnegat Light Ospreys, Sea Eagles @BirdLife Australia Discovery Centre, MN-DNR, Dahlgren Ospreys, DHEC, and LRWT.

Tag Archives: Glacier Gardens

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