Glaslyn Ospreys – Page 2 – Mary Ann Steggles

An inspiring wildlife photographer, Little Bit 17 and more…Bird World on Saturday

3 August 2022

There is not a lot happening in Bird World right now other than some of the last ospreys leaving their nests in the UK, the just perfect fledge of the QT Chick off Taiaroa Head in New Zealand yesterday, and perhaps a season’s goodbye from Iris and Louis at Hellgate Canyon. Birds are flying and each of us has that ’empty nest’ syndrome. At the same time, there are a few Osprey dads in the UK that might wish their darling daughters were on their way!

I paid a visit to a couple of the local ponds yesterday afternoon. It was not so hot and many of the birds were quite active compared to what they had been in days prior.

The local Egrets fooled everyone last night choosing to stay at another roosting site and leaving photographers dismayed!

One flew over the pond. Noticed that no one else was on the roosting tree and took over for another pond about a kilometre away.

Meanwhile, I found one of the little ducklings – oh, the tiniest little things last week – in the water yesterday. There were originally two. I wonder if the other is hiding under the board walk. This one was out diving and eating. You can still see the downy fluff. It is also hard to tell from the image but the duckling is about 15 cm long or 6 inches.

In the evening, the geese were flying over in their perfect ‘V’. Did you know that the leader changes positions when it gets tired and moves to the back allowing another to take over while it rests at the back?

From the Book shelf:

The book stack is growing. I am so excited to introduce you to a wonderful wildlife photographer, Oliver Hellowell. Do you know him? Born with Down Syndrome, his mother was told that Oliver would never be able to accomplish anything. Thankfully, Oliver’s mother did not listen to the doctors and she created opportunities for him in sports, taught him sign language, gave him the gift of the love of reading. His Mum has worked tirelessly from the time Oliver had his first open heart surgeries, to find new ways for Oliver to communicate. She never gave up and her believe and the support circle that grew around this young man are inspirational in that they show us what ‘defying the odds’ really means. When he was 11, his stepfather put a camera in his hands ——-Oliver never looked back! The introduction of the camera changed Oliver’s life giving him a wonderful way of communicating with the world. Oliver is now 25.

Oliver’s book and a packet of cards arrived yesterday morning. It was a delight to see the postmark from the UK.

Oliver Hellowell’s book, Birds, is one of the nicest coffee table books I have handled. The cover and the paper are first-rate, the images are crystal clear and amazing. Oliver loves water and he often captures the finer water droplets on a shore birds beak or wing. Each bird is identified often with a comment by Oliver on what it was about that particular bird that interested him. He loves gulls and wrens!

Oliver has his own website where you can meet him and see his images of birds and the landscapes where he has traveled. There is also a ‘shop’ section. If you are looking for beautiful cards that fit in their envelopes, different from those on the racks at your local shop, check out the ones that Oliver has for purchase. I picked a landscape pack and have no regrets! Keep Oliver Hellowell in mind if you are looking for a special holiday or birthday gift for a birding friend.

You can find Oliver’s books and cards at his website and I have also included a BBC article about this very talented young man who is living his dream to be a wildlife photographer.

https://www.oliverhellowell.com/

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-29107894

Making News:

As more and more wildlife become extinct, researchers in Hawaii are working hard to keep the K’auai Creeper -who is predicted to go extinct because of mosquitoes carrying Avian Malaria – alive.

Nest News:

Stephen Basly continues to post the most wonderful images of Little Bit ND17 on the Notre Dame Eagles website. So grateful to him and all the birders on the ground who continued to chase after our adored Little Bit supplying us daily with information when he was near the nest territory. These images now are of course so welcome – fly high, Little Bit. Stay safe. Eat well.

These are just beautiful images. Thank you, Stephen!

One of these is going to be a magnet on my fridge. Several years ago, my Sea Eagle contact, suggested that magnets are a way of remembering those special birds. Of course, at the time, I swore that there would not be bird items all over my house…who was I fooling? The magnets are fantastic. I still say good morning to many including Legacy, Big Red, and others. Room will be made for Little Bit and Victor this year!

Checking the trackers from the north of Europe and Bonus is still in Belarus. No check in from the others. Salli, the Finnish Osprey, is in Ukraine. Some have suggested that the birds might be safer flying through a war zone than being shot over Malta and Lebanon deliberately. That person has a point.

At the Dyfi Nest of Idris and Telyn, Idris continues to deliver fish to his daughter, Padarn who joined the 100 day club today. What is the 100 day club? Well, normally, the mum and fledglings are all departed by 100 days leaving Dad to gather his strength for migration. But some of them – three in fact – have been slow to leave and have made the ‘Century Club’ at the Dyfi Nest. They are Berthyn in 2019 who stayed 101.4 days and Dysnni who stayed 100.1 days in 2021. Padarn looks pretty comfy with Dad bringing her good meals. Maybe she will stay the longest!

No signs of leaving in the late day. Idris can hear her fish calling down at the Dyfi River!

Aran is still chasing after the chicks and sometimes Mrs G, too, at the Glaslyn nest.

Dear Louis at the Loch Arkaig Osprey nest is still providing nice fish for Sarafina, too. I think Sarafina is a bit like Padarn – they love being the ‘only ones’ in Dad’s life!

That is it for Saturday. The Australian birds are still napping. Every nest seems to be fine – looking forward to hatch at Port Lincoln in 2 weeks…oh, let us hope the time does fly.

Thank you for joining me today. Please take care of yourself. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their posts, videos, or streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Oliver Hellowell, The Birding Project, Notre Dame Eagles and Stephen Basly, Laji.Fi, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, and Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust.

Ervie, rare spine surgery for a Bald Eagle and more… Thursday in Bird World

1 September 2022

The temperature in Winnipeg rose to 32 degrees C Wednesday evening. It was unbelievably hot and the birds were making full use of the layers and layers of vines and the thick lilac bushes to keep cool. They would occasionally come out for a drink and a bath.

I saw a photograph of a converted wading pool. It was covered with a coated mesh pulled taut – small enough so that the birds could not get their feet caught and they could not drown in the water. A pump with a sprinkler system was positioned in the centre…it was full of little birds having a party. What a great idea. I have just the place for one of those for next summer so the garden visitors can cool down even more. I wonder if the Crows will try it out? or Dyson?

Making News:

Vet team in Canada performs rare spinal surgery on Bald Eagle, Buddy.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-eagle-spinal-surgery-1.6565558?fbclid=IwAR1JFvPcwTJYalzVwZp7cbqMgJUJI7BFifSdNEY73mcu4E_7ItO2FmDzURo

Did someone say Ospreys do not do well in care? Smedley did great at the Audubdon Centre. Now there is Charley!

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pinellas/charley-the-osprey-finds-a-new-home-at-moccasin-lake-nature-park-in-clearwater?fbclid=IwAR2BPuhQgSbMuGj2m3EUV2JJijZzEAO_06oKhp1bmX7qa-wB8xYnogWmJLQ

BirdCast has all the information on migration. You can go and find out how many birds flew over your region at any time in the United States. I checked on Minnesota because it is close to Manitoba – gosh I wish this map worked for the entire planet! They also tell you the birds that are migrating.

For your own information, go to birdcast.info

The Stellar’s Sea Eagle was first seen in Newfoundland/Labrador Canada some time ago. It made its way down the eastern coast of the US causing a stir in Maine. It is back up in Canada now! Some images were posted by Wade Jones. It will surely be making the news here again. Everyone was excited — and yet, there are more and more birds ‘far from home’. I often wonder if they are scouts for the species testing out new locations for living.

James Lovelock died on the 26th of July. Trained as a scientist and known as an early environmentalist and futurist, Lovelock suggested in 2007 that “we might actually choose to contaminate land to keep people out and make it safe for wild animals and birds” (quoted in Marren 274). Marren notes that there has been no mass movement to take up Lovelocks suggestion but that areas around Chernobyl and Fukishima Exclusion Zones are showing promise in this regard.

Jean-Marie duPart counted 54 ospreys fishing at the Langue de Barbarie Park. He will travel to the other areas in Senegal shortly. He says the 54 is the same count as he had in June. Thank you Jean-Marie!

Nest News:

So thrilled that the intruding male did not bring any harm to this beautiful Peregrine Falcon family. Annie and Alden continue to bond…and their little delicate kisses are just lovely.

Llyn Brenig says goodbye for the season. It is an empty nest!

https://www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/kim-and-giuseppe-boccato/their-wintering-grounds?fbclid=IwAR2fo5Cv8K_Ba8nMrEcW5h0DKgg0ovxO-KiFDzBjCHLwFhmADHe6PhgaYQQ

The entire Glaslyn clan is still at home! Mrs G, Aran, and the three kids.

Aran hasn’t lost any talons yet.

Mrs G had her own fish over at the Oak Tree perch. Eating in quiet is important. Mrs G is the oldest osprey in the UK and she has had a busy year with those three fledglings. She needs her strength for her own migration.

Louis is still feeding Sarafina at the Loch Arkaig Nest.

Is Iris still with us? These are the departure dates for past years at the Hellgate Canyon nest in Missoula, Montana. Based on her past history, even thought she has not been seen, it is believed she is still around. Keep checking the nest!

Xavier and Diamond are so cute. Xavier cannot wait for the eggs to turn into chicks. He even brought prey to try and feed them this morning! What a darling. Then he stashed it for Diamond in the corner and she enjoyed it after a full mating ritual on top of the water tower.

Golden sun over the scrape as morning breaks in Orange, Australia.

Diamond flies off for a break.

Xavier arrives with some prey.

Would you like some pigeon?

Decides the eggs aren’t hungry so he will enjoy a few bites before stashing the snack in the corner for Diamond.

Diamond finds Xavier’s treasure.

Xavier loves to incubate the eggies and often, you will have noticed, Diamond does not give him a lot of time. Was it on purpose then that he brought the unprepared Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike in for Diamond’s tea? Imagine the time it will take her to prepare the bird and consume it? Meanwhile Xavier is in Daddyland Bliss.

So what is a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike? These large grey birds with their distinctive black masks are a protected species in Australia. They belong to the passerine family, eat mostly insects, and are found just about everywhere in Australia.

“2010-08-19 15-10-21 – IMG_0359 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike” by Degilbo on flickr is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

It is after 1200 noon and I still have not seen any prey items brought to the nest. An adult has landed twice with nothing in the talons? Are there intruders? are the prey deliveries arriving later in the day? what particular reason?

Only one fish was delivered yesterday. Dad brought it in at 1508. Both eaglets were fed, according to my source, but 29 got more than 30. It was thought that Lady might start fishing but she didn’t and the spotters on the ground saw Dad at the River Roost. He flew to the nest and the kids started telling him they needed food. It has happened in the past – “feast or famine” ‘P’ calls it. They had eaten lots but 30 had cast a pellet and its crop was completely empty so the little one was really hungry. It is like their life in the wild but sometimes, worrisome to us watching.

The Sea Eagle chicks are now in week 6 and entering week 7. They continue to develop quite well despite my worries about prey deliveries. I hope this worry is for naught. I have written to my contact. One of the adults is in the tree looking out and I think it is Lady. I hope to find out if there are worries also in Sydney. If you do see a prey delivery from Dad, please do let me know.

During this time you might still see a few of the fluffy feathers. The eagles are doing a lot of preening, wing flapping and sitting and spreading themselves. They are standing slightly more steady and they continue to move the twigs in the nest about. By the end of week 8 – coming soon- they should have all of their juvenile feathers even covering their head, chest, and tail. They will be mantling and attempts at self-feeding will continue.

Dad is on the nest on the Port Lincoln barge while Mum has a much needed break and some fish. We can start counting down now…18 more days!

Ervie is out and about doing what Ervie does! Just look at his travels. Oh, just imagine. You will be one year old soon, Ervie. No balloons but we will make you a fish cake.

Hi there handsome, Ervie.

Your talon is slowly, ever so slowly growing back in but look at that green band. Soon you might be two silvers!

Little Dad watched over his new mate and the four precious eggs at the 367 Collins Street scrape in Melbourne.

In California, the Condor chick in Tom’s Canyon is doing fantastic! I don’t often write about the condors and that is a ‘shame on me’. Just look at how big and healthy this chick is.

Karl II remains in Estonia at the nest getting his strength and having some rest from feeding the four fledglings. Bonus remains at the Priyapat River in Belarus. Here is his tracker and an image of the area.

I am worried beyond belief for Kaia who entered The Ukraine near Chernobyl on the 30th. No updated tracking information for the past two days. Data due at 19:45. Will see if anything comes in. as of September 1, then no word on Kaia after landing, for the second time, in The Ukraine. Waba has sent in no data tracking. Karl II remains in the Karula National Forest in Estonia. Bonus was last in Belarus. Send them your warm wishes on their travels.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. It is going to be another 32 C day here in Winnipeg which means it could go a little higher. The tropical plants on the deck are doing marvellous. So strange. Take care of yourselves. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, videos, and posts where I took my screen captures: CBC, BirdCast, Wade Jones, Cal Falcons, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Montana Ospreys, Charles Sturt Orange Falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Ventana Wildlife, and Looduskalender.

It’s 3 for Diamond and Xavier and Bonus and Kaia were 25 km apart…Early Wednesday in Bird World

31 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone.

The sun is once again shining bright on the Canadian prairies. There is not a cloud in the sky and it is getting hot. By tea time the temperature will have risen to 29 degrees C from the current 22. It is a day to make certain that there is plenty of water for the birds in the garden — and lots of food. The migrants are moving through.

Yesterday, I went for a ride to check the birds in the countryside. The gulls were enjoying the fields that the farmers had just plowed and a single Ring-billed gull thought that it could share my lunch.

There was a quiet stillness over the wetlands at Oak Hammock Marsh. A few geese, a handful of ducks and shore birds were around but nothing like what will begin to happen as September begins. Migratory birds will be landing at dusk and taking off in the early morning hours.

In the Mailbox:

This letter comes from a local friend but, it could be from anyone: “Every time I reach out to help the wildlife, I get told to leave nature alone (in the rudest way), nature will take care of itself. What is your advice?”

I wonder what you would say to this individual?

My advice is to ignore the negative comments. Lead by example. We have destroyed the habitats and, thus, the lives of the wildlife. We poison their water and have caused the oceans to warm. We throw our garbage into their ponds. We have destroyed their food supplies…we shoot them. It is time to embrace caring and understanding. Wildlife – the whole of it – are sentient beings, they have feelings and emotions. They deserve the best we can give them. We need to become selfless and put wildlife first, not ourselves. Putting humans first has caused us to be in the present state we find our planet in. Peter Merren says, ‘Care for Nature begins at home.’

Making News:

The plans to stop two pairs of Bald Eagles from being able to access their nests is causing a lot of outrage in British Columbia. You can sign the petition, too, by copying the link into your browser!

BirdGuides finds many human-induced changes to the environment that are killing the migratory birds. Of these infra-structure, hunting, and earth warming are the top three.

https://www.birdguides.com/articles/conservation/built-infrastructure-hunting-and-climate-change-linked-to-huge-migrato/

Nest News:

The birds are on the move and I found a super guide to Osprey migration. Everything you wanted to ask and were afraid to…It will give you some great insights as to what is happening at all the nests.

https://birdfact.com/articles/osprey-migration

Loch of the Lowes has an announcement:

While Loch of the Lowes is empty, the Glaslyn nest of Aran and Mrs G still has three chicks yelling at Dad to bring in the fish!

Louis has delivered a nice fish to Sarafina at the Loch Arkaig nest this morning.

Idris brought a nice fish to Padern who appears to be the only fledgling at the Dyfi Nest. Paith was last seen at 1700 on the 29th.

I got a little emotional when I saw that Bonus and Kaia were just 25 km apart in Belarus. My heart beat a little faster wondering if it was possible that they would fish together along the shores of the Priyapat River. It was not meant to be…Kaia flew into the Ukraine again and then set a trajectory quickly east. Meanwhile Karl II remains in Estonia enjoying an empty nest (yes, parents do love their children but it is also nice to have some quiet and fish to one’s self). I want to give a real shout out to those that are posting the maps and images on the Looduskalender site for Karl II and his family’s migration. I have included their comments and image notes so you can see where Bonus and Kaia are in the image below.

Moving forward, on the 31st, here are the locations of the individual Black Storks.

The other big nest news is that Diamond has now laid her third egg. It happened at 0525 on 31 August 2022. Historically, Diamond has only laid 3 eggs and for the past two seasons, only one of those has hatched.

You could tell things were happening. Diamond was focused and standing.

Xavier comes into the scrape box and he is so excited!!!!!!!!! Diamond is happy to show him the three precious eggs. The bowing and the rituals fascinate me…oh, to be able to speak falcon!

In celebration, Xavier brought Diamond a very nice breakfast. Now we can get a good look at those three beautiful eggs.

Diamond took a break and Xavier comes into the scrape to incubate the eggies…he loves doing helping out. Diamond does not always oblige him but he can incubate those eggs with the best of them!

“Oh, she’s back….maybe she won’t see me here!”

The Sea Eagles are picking up sticks and 29 is standing stronger and doing some wingersizing. Both are fine.

The light on SE29 really shows off the variation in plumage colours. One year I was thinking that everyone should go to their stylist and ask for a 26…the little eaglet at the time but, this year, right now, it could be a 30. They just get more and more beautiful.

As many know, my first love was hawks. There is nothing cuter than a precious Red-tail juvenile. One of the moderators of the Sea Eagle cam who also was the admin on the Cornell Chatters kept poking me and telling me that I would change my mind the minute I saw a sea eagle juvie. ‘TCR’ you were positively right, of course.

This eaglet just makes me melt. So gorgeous. Talk about clown feet! Whoaaaaaa. Did I hear someone say they would like to cuddle with this cutie pie??? Now before you hold up your hand, just look at those very sharp talons and think about your answer carefully.

This image shows the difference in the back plumage. SE 30 is on the left and SE29 is on the right. Plumage progress is going well for these two.

But if SE30 sits differently, it is hard to tell them apart!

SE 29 flapping those wings! SE30 is watching carefully.

I should warn you…when they both start flapping on that nest -at the same time – you are going to need some worry beads!

Everything is fine on the ledge in the CBD of Melbourne. Dad is really enjoying getting some incubation in the warm Australian sun.

All is well at Port Lincoln. As the month changes from August to September, we are now only two and a half weeks away form hatch. It has just been too long since we have seen a little osplet with its back stripe in a nest.

Just like it was at the marsh, it is pretty quiet in Bird World today. Everyone is on the move, incubating eggs, or enjoying a time not raising chicks and getting strong again.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Take care of yourselves wherever you are. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, posts, and videos which make up my screen captures: vancouverisawesome.com, LOTL Visitor Centre and Wildlife Reserve, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Looduskalender, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam at Orange, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, and Friends of Osprey.

Ervie goes fishing, Egg 2 for Diamond and Xavier and more…Sunday morning in Bird World

28 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone. I hope that each of you had a lovely Saturday. Thank you so much for joining me today!

From the Mailbox:

‘A’ asks: What is the average time difference or gap for Peregrine Falcons to lay their eggs? Diamond looks like she is ready today. Thank you, ‘A’. That is a very timely question as we sit staring at Diamond’s bottom for her tail feathers to begin to go up and down when she is in labour. In the nest notes that Cilla Kinross, the researcher at the Orange Falcon cam compiled, it says that the average time difference is 56 hours. As I write this, the time in Orange is 13:21 on Saturday. That egg is due anytime.

‘L’ asks: What is the purpose of molting? The feathers of our bird friends get damaged just like our clothes from normal living. They break and get tears. Moulting is the annual replacement of the feathers. In fact, think about it. Feathers are so important to birds – they keep them warm and dry and, of course, are needed for flying. They should be in tip top shape which is why birds spend so much time preening. Some birds begin to moult in the spring. Others wait until nesting has finished. Moulting is really hard on the birds and it is normally done when there is an unusually high level of prey so they can keep their energy up.

‘C’ writes: “I’m glad I helped with that information about galvanized steel that contains zinc. But in stainless steel, the component is chromium. Is it also bad for the health of birds? I searched very quickly, and in a very superficial search, I didn’t find anything that chromium is also bad for.” The information you provided was very useful. As one of our other readers ‘L’ writes there are some uses for zinc that are also helpful such as in ‘Zinc Ointment’ for baby rashes. I do not know a lot about chromium. It is also used in ceramics to make certain shades of green glazes and is highly toxic in its powdered form. It is not toxic after the pottery has been fired to a specific degree, however. — We assume that the things that we use for cooking are all ‘safe’. Sometimes it is only later we discover that there could be connections to specific ailments. However, if I had a beloved bird that lived in a cage – the cage wires would be stainless. We have a metal shop in our city that made all the SS backings for my kitchen and my island top. I am certain there are similar facilities in other cities where they could make the wires. I am still finding this whole zinc toxicity that impacted Victor very curious. I wish I knew more!

In the News:

The UK is still celebrating the arrival of more than 100 Hen Harriers.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/26/more-than-100-hen-harriers-fledge-in-england-for-first-time-in-a-century?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco&fbclid=IwAR30RuoawzBXrW4pE6NlXv4HMzTu-zyE7KQLFx9JBz509CutnnxTndk6TYg

The New York Times published the following article about how climate change will impact the birds we love and which are more likely to go extinct first. The cover shows the Kakapo and my readers know that the Kakapo Recovery Group is working hard to make sure that the flightless parrots survive. Today there are 205 of them on a couple of mall islands of New Zealand.

Nest News:

Chase showed up with a nice big fish and waited and waited on the Two Harbours nest for Lancer on Saturday morning around 10:38. Lancer never showed up. What a change it must be for the parents from nearly getting their talons torn off to sitting quietly to see if anyone will arrive. If you have left the territory, Lancer – soar high, be safe and always have a full crop!

Such dedicated eagle parents. Did you know that Chase & Cholyn have been together for 19 years?

Ferris Akel had a terrific tour on Saturday afternoon around Ithaca, New York. I was listening and doing other things until he got to the Cornell Campus where he caught Big Red, Arthur, and L2 on camera. Oh, it is lovely to continue seeing L2. According to Suzanne Arnold Horning, the latest a juvenile has been seen at the Cornell Campus is 28 August. L2 looks pretty comfortable. I wonder if she will shatter that record?

Arthur was hunting.

L2 could see Big Red in the distance when she was on the pole and was prey crying really, really loud. Since L2 was the second juvenile to catch her own prey in June I am imaging that Big Red’s answer to that is: “Get your own!”

Big Red looks a little ‘rough’. She is moulting. Like other Red-tail Hawks, Big Red undergoes a complete moult once a year. Normally, hawks begin their moult in spring and every feather has been replaced by September or October. Big Red, however, appears to begin her moult after the eyases fledge.

Xavier has been bringing Diamond some extra special treats during Sunday to help Diamond keep her energy up for the egg laying. One was an Eastern Rosella which is a very colourful parrot and the other was a nicely prepared pigeon. Diamond was excited for both!

The arrival of the Rosella meant that cute little Xavier could have some time with ‘eggie’.

Diamond had a very large crop when the pigeon arrived but she certainly wasn’t going to turn her nose up at that special food gift.

It is 13:57 in Orange and Diamond is sitting on the ledge of the scrape box while we wait and watch for an indication that the second egg might be arriving.

Diamond is back on the egg at 1400.

Diamond is very focused and she looks ‘heavy in the rear’. Egg 2 could be coming shortly. Diamond normally lays 3 eggs. For the past two years, only one egg has been viable each year.

Diamond laid egg #2 at 17:27. Yippppppeeee. Why am I so excited? Well, falcon eggs do not always hatch and for the last two years Xavier and Diamond have had only 1 out of 3 eggs hatch so it makes the chances better of having a successful hatch.

Xavier arrives at 17:33 to see the second egg and to bring Diamond her dinner. Notice that Diamond is being very careful. Falcons lay their eggs standing up. She is protecting the egg while the shell hardens in the air. The gap between eggs is 57 hours.

Diamond did not want to eat. She had already had two big meals. She remained in the scrape box. During the night she would sometimes incubate or, alternatively, stand above the eggs protecting them. Remember the Currawong know there are eggs in that scrape and they will eat them if the opportunity arises!

The Melbourne couple seem to be finished with three eggs and each takes turns incubating. Dad was very anxious to demonstrate that he was well seasoned in incubation. The Melbourne crew even made a video of the persuasion.

It is a very short and cute clip. Oh, do you ever wish you could speak falconese?

Friends of Osprey have posted some photographs of Ervie near the Marina where he had dived and caught the lovely fish he is eating. They were taken by Alex Ditton. Oh, goodness. It is always such a joyous occasion when someone shows us that Ervie is doing very well indeed! Check out the Friends of Osprey for more images of Ervie.

Kaia remains in Belarus around the Priypat River. This is what the area looks like where she is resting and fishing.

Bonus, the only surviving storklet of Jan and Janika that was fostered with Kaia and Karl II has begun his migration. His tracker tells us that he traveled 109 km and is now in Latvia near the village of Vietalva.

Travel safe dear Bonus, fly high, stay out of the war zones, always have a stream full of frogs and fish — prosper.

There should be more news but it appears that all might have left for their winter homes from the Karula Forest nest of Kaia and Karl II. I will confirm this tomorrow.

Bonus was always a very special Black Storklet. He would not have survived without the intervention of Urmas and Dr Madis and his team. They would have died on the nest. Urmas’s foresight to provide fish baskets meant that everyone had lots of fish. A special thank you to all who donated towards the food for the nest.

The Dahlgren Osprey nest in the US has announced that the male, Jack, has not been seen for a few days so that now Harriet, the female, and the sole surviving fledgling from the nest in King George County are on their journey south.

No one has been seen at the Loch of the Lowes since yesterday. Laddie LM 12, Blue NC0 and both of the fledglings appear to also be heading south.

It was another successful year for Ospreys in Wales and John Williams gives us the run down in his last blow of the season for Llyn Clywedog. The numbers of Ospreys in Wales are growing. There are now 7 ‘known’ pairs who produced 17 chicks this year. John catches up with all the nest news.

Another successful year

John also produced a chart for all the chicks hatched at Llyn Clywedog – noting that there is simply too much grey. Were those chicks ever seen or not? Sometimes they do get missed.

Handsome Aran on the perch at the Glaslyn nest this morning. He remains bringing fish to the nest for the fledglings. Mrs G was still home as well today.

Handsome, Aran.

Emyr Evans has provided us with the data of the fledges at the Dyfi nest asking the question: what happened to Pedran? Emyr is great with statistics and this is a good read about migration and young fledglings.

https://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/emyr-mwt/pedran-what-has-happened-her?fbclid=IwAR2nZUelKdPCJFEW-3PIjKlcohXunU9JSBevJA8wFl4XpT1ICR9H8O8bepA

Rosie was still on the perch at the SF Bay Osprey nest this morning! Brooks has not been seen at the nest for some time now – this is not alarming. She is out exploring!

Congratulations to Glacier Gardens. Both Love and Peace have fledged. Here is a video of that moment on 25 August when Peace took to the air. Congratulations for another successful year Liberty and Freedom!

Thank you so very much for joining me this beautiful Sunday morning. I hope that you are doing well and I will look forward to having you with us again in Bird World.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, their posts, and their videos that form my screen captures: The New York Times, Explore.org and IWS, Ferris Akel Tours, Charles Sturt Orange Falcon Cam, 367 Collins Street by Mirvac, Friends of Ospreys, Looduskalender, Dahlgren Ospreys, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, John Williams and The Clywedog Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Ospreys, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon.

Early Thursday in Bird World

24 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone! Do you feel like autumn is coming? It is chilly in the house this evening (Wednesday), The evening temperatures are dropping on the Canadian Prairies but, it will be 28 C this week during the day. I watched the squirrels in the garden fetching peanut after peanut – storing them away in their nests and around the garden for the winter. They do not remember that there are plenty of peanuts and solid seed cylinders during the winter for them. In a week and a half many of us will be traveling to birding hotspots outside Winnipeg to see the beginnings of the arrival of large numbers of birds from the North. Already there are postings about long lines of Canada Geese flying South. Thursday turns out to be a crisp morning – sweater weather now but that will be shed shortly.

A young Least Chipmunk comes to visit. Least Chipmunks are the smallest of all chipmunks. They have five dark and four light stripes along their sides and three dark and two light stripes on the face. Their fur is orange-brown, and their underside is greyish-white. Their habitat in our neighbourhood was destroyed with the building of large condos and they are finding new places to live.

In the Mailbox:

From ‘P’. “We are always told that Ospreys do not respond well to being in care. Is this true?” The first example that I think of when I hear this question is Smedley, the Osprey with the droopy wing who lived in care for 28 years at the Audubon Centre. One of the care givers at the Audubon Centre, ‘L’ answered the question this way for us: “Many times, people assume Ospreys do not do well in care. They do overcome the nervousness that is characteristic of osprey. They’re known to be the lovers and not fighters of the raptor world but they show the same adaptation, feisty spirit and will to survive as all species do. We have had so many here at Audubon with injuries from the short term to severe long term….adults to juveniles to fledgling. I walked into the clinic a couple of weeks ago and saw half a dozen with hoods on so they stay calm just stood around waiting to be hand fed. You definitely can’t do that with hawks, eagles and owls.”

Many have written to ask what happened to the Osplet on the Finnish nest that was always attacking its mother? As a reminder that was the chick on nest #3. The parents are Ahti (male) and Nuppu (female). FYI: Nuppu had on a couple of occasions taken the fish arrival and not fed the chick which might have just prompted that aggressive behaviour.

Here is that famous video:

That very healthy chick fledged and here is a video of Tuulos returning to the nest to get a fish meal two days ago. Lovely juvenile Osprey. Oh, I hope this one is a survivor – he sure has the drive.

A Sparrow Hawk visited nest #3. As it happens everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is getting empty nest syndrome right now.

In the News:

Worrying news coming out of the UK this morning. A white-tail Eagle on the Isle of Mull has tested positive for Avian Flu. A number of eaglets have died on the nest or right at fledge. This is terrible news for the WTE population. Here is the article on the impact from the RSPB:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/mull-white-tailed-eagle-chick-dead-from-bird-flu/?fbclid=IwAR0ae5Qd6FSGEI9MFj5zxbPL4bIDracUna3nkCqj-dH7ktFu8CxO6V6cu1g

Port Lincoln Ospreys has made its mark in Australia for its efforts to save the Ospreys. They need no introduction on my blog for their tireless efforts to get platforms up and nests off the shores so that predators do not get the eggs, chicks, or the adults.

They shot the hen harrier. In order that its killing would go undetected, its wings were cut off with the tag and tracker attached to a Crow. It is not know if the wings were ripped off the raptor when she was alive or dead. Her name was Asta. “She vanished from a known raptor persecution hotspot, in an area managed for driven grouse shooting – an industry with an acknowledged filthy history of persecuting birds of prey, and particularly hen harriers, as demonstrated by decades of prosecutions, convictions and endless scientific evidence.” I have never suggested that violence was in any way the right choice in any conflict but I often do wonder what if the individuals who tear the wings off a helpless bird, or shoot an arrow through the head of an innocent goose or other bird or animal were to have the same treatment done to them – would it help stop this inhumanity! I am happy to attach the short blog that explains this story in full. We are at a time when we are celebrating the successful fledge of two hen harriers in the reintroduction programme in the UK. Will they also be shot over a grouse hunting estate ——or can we begin to hope that that archaic sport is pasts its sell-by date?

Hen harrier’s ‘wings removed’ & its satellite tag fitted to a crow in sick ploy to disguise the crime

There are growing calls to ban the killing of wildlife in the United States. Can you hear me saying, ‘thank goodness’! What happens in the US often has a reciprocal impact on us in Canada. Indeed, one of the wetland areas that I visit just sent an invite for a Zoom talk on this years numbers and how this will impact hunting!!!!!! No thank you.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/how-killing-wildlife-became-a-game?fbclid=IwAR2kwKSzHZXKlUpFN7RqWymrwbqz4WmXO0-40zkmdK3xNNy1YmV6FUik-9I

The BBC is asking people in the UK what it will be like where they live as our planet continues to heat up. I would love to see this for the rest of the world. My concern is – of course – the raptors. Will they arrive earlier? Will the intensification of rain along the coasts cause issues with osplet health and survivability in Wales? The whole story is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-d6338d9f-8789-4bc2-b6d7-3691c0e7d138

Alongside this news I am always asking how can we help our raptors and other wildlife mitigate or adapt? One of my dear friends lives in Singapore and before the pandemic, I visited this area often. Her father was the second President of Singapore from 1971-81, Dr Benjamin Sheare’s. Sheares’s predecessor, Lee Kwan Yew launched Singapore as a garden city in 1967. The idea was carried further in 1992 with the sustainable blueprint, Singapore Green Plan (SGP). This was updated in 2021. Today, half of Singapore is gardens and this is set to increase. Every family will live within 10 minute walk of a green space, cycling areas are being extended while car licenses will only go to clean green aka electric cars. The ash from the garbage collection will be used as an alternative for sand in concrete. Water, green spaces, and even more trees will provide a richer environment for the birds that live in this island City. Further clean ups of the environment will also benefit all of the large raptors that live by the docks and the marina such as the White-bellied Sea Eagles.

https://www.greenplan.gov.sg/

I have been increasingly concerned about heavy metal toxicity in our raptors since Victor tested positive for zinc. As many of you know our world seems to be full of galvanized materials. Yesterday my galvanized chain link fence put here by the previous owner in 1991 was removed. For those of you that have bird cages, last week I posted an article that ‘C’ had sent about the bars being zinc and Cockatiels showing a high level of zinc when tested. ‘C’ has sent me another article on the impact of lead. Thank you ‘C’.

https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/12701

Nest News:

In Winnipeg, there are some really late hatches. You have already been subjected to my concerns over the late-hatch ducklings at the nature centre where I walk and at a few other manmade ponds in the City. Last year I was taking photographs of the Cooper’s Hawk fledglings in late June at our Zoo. This year they had to wait for the owls to fledge their owlets (they used the hawk nest) to lay their eggs. The hawklets are so little. There are 5 of them. The crystal ball foresees some sleepless nites come October!

At Glacier Gardens, Peace has yet to fledge. Sibling Love as been flying around, on and off the nest early showing how it is done.

I have a new osprey nest for you with what appears to be a good camera. Put it on your list for next year as it seems the female has already left on migration from Maryland (30 July). The information page includes the history of the nest for the past 2 years.

It is the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Nest and they raised two chicks this year. Here is all the information:

https://www.friendsofblackwater.org/river-osprey-cam.html?fbclid=IwAR1oRNIiMjuYO8SgfVnAJV-jB-CaEBqLq_cJZ7qzIfgU53igmdIct-0xeuE

You might remember that Harry, the male at the Minnesota DNR nest was injured or died. Nancy had to raise the two eagles alone. The youngest was pushed over the nest by its elder sibling when food was in short supply and had to be euthanized. The eldest fledged. Now there is a new male suitor for Nancy. Lady Hawk caught him in a video with Nancy on the nest.

Rosie was on her perch this morning in San Francisco. Any day she will depart for her migration leaving Richmond behind who will be waiting for her return on Valentine’s Day.

The Birds of Poole Harbour posted a fantastic tweet. The one surviving historic fledgling from the Poole Harbour nest in 2022 was seen in the harbour fishing!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone that has ever watched the Loch Arkaig Osprey nest knows that Louis is quite amazing. Today he delivered two big fish – 9 minutes apart – so that both Sarafina and Willow would have their own. Incredible. Is this a record? Willow on the left and Sarafina on the right — two great fledglings for 2022.

Dorcha, Louis’s mate has left on her migration but Mrs G is still at Glaslyn. She was spotted eating a fish in the trees today. Aran continues to keep the fledglings fed. Today Blue 499 has had at least two very large fish!

Idris is not only keeping Padarn and Paith in fish but also himself as well as chasing off intruders today.

Blue 022 continues to deliver fish to H51 at the Poole Harbour nest. Happiness still abounds at the presence of their own ospreys despite losing one to the goshawk attack. CJ7 and Blue 022 did an amazing job as first time parents…a dream come true for CJ7 who waited several years to find a mate.

It is impossible to see the band but at least one of the female fledglings is still on the nest at Rutland waiting for Blue 33 to bring in the tea time fish.

No worries about SE30 getting enough to eat. Goodness. That crop is so full it isn’t even making a nice soft pillow! You don’t look very comfortable 30!

Lots of Kissy-Kissy going on early in the morning between SE 29 and 30.

When the pair turned around you can see some dramatic changes. Look at the plumage on the heads, the chest, and then notice…some of that incredible rusty brown is showing on SE29 under the wings and moving over the chest. Gorgeous.

Bets continue to be made on when Diamond will lay her first egg. If the number of mating attempts is anything, that nest should be full to the brim this year! Moderators are saying in less than 5 days. That would be 29 August. I will say 28 August. What do you think?

Bonding in the scrape…then mating on the tower and then Xavier returns with a nice juicy pigeon. Doin’ good today Xavier!

Diamond got out quick before Xavier could change his mind and want it for his breakfast.

You did really well Xavier – a nicely plucked and prepared fat pigeon for Diamond.

A video of a prey transfer between Diamond and Xavier.

Suzanne Arnold Horning caught Big Red and Arthur on the Cornell Campus Wednesday evening — and she also spotted L2. So L2 is still living with Mum and Dad in their territory.

So many things going on in Bird World but for the Northern Hemisphere, the birds are on the move…while many of us turn our attention to Australia. Thank you so much for joining me today. Please take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their videos, streaming cams and posts that made up my screen captures: Finnish Osprey Foundation, Port Lincoln Ospreys, CBC, BBC, Glacier Gardens, Blackwater Ospreys, MN-DNR, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Ospreys, LRWT, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Sea Eagles @Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, and Suzanne Arnold Horning.

2 Fledges in Bird World and more…Wednesday morning

24 August 2022

It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over. The teachers and students do not go back to class until after Labour Day here but they continue to have classes throughout June. There is a different look to the top of the trees and I noticed today that my tomato plants are looking a little rough. In his book Mistletoe Winter, Roy Dennis describes Autumn as ‘the altruism time of diligent creatures’. He is referring to the Blue Jays which “only reached the North of Scotland in the last 40 years” and who are busy storing away acorns for the winter. Dennis notes that some of their stash will be forgotten or overlooked. The acorns will germinate inside the bramble bush protected from the deer and will, in effect, grow nuts for future generations as well as the old Oak trees. Likewise, the Red Squirrels will be working away at the hazel nut trees. The animals in the garden are becoming increasingly interested in stashing food for the winter here in Winnipeg despite the fact that the day time temperatures are still in the high 20s C.

In the Mailbox:

‘P’ wrote: “Last year you and I connected when the chick was forced off the nest and died….Was there any nesting this season? I cannot find any thing on the site at all.” It turns out that the nest in question is Collins Marsh. To refresh everyone’s memory, one chick hatched last year at Collins Marsh in Wisconsin. The fish delivered to the nest were small and not always plentiful. One or another parent seemed to be absent at times. The little osplet was adorable. One of my readers ‘S’ suggested the name, Malin meaning ‘Little Warrior’ and it won. Malin would need to be a warrior to survive on that nest. Then one day an intruder came, Mum flew off and Malin, scared to death flew off the nest, too. Malin was not ready to fledge. ‘S’ and I spent hours on the phone trying to get immediate help. It did not come. (That is a long complicated story and I am still unhappy about the response of the naturalist at the time). The platform was on top of a moved fire tower. It had no perch and it was deathly hot. As a result, the ospreys did not make a nest there this year, 2022. Were they old? did they no survive migration? Or did they also realize it was not a safe place to raise their family? I was told by DNR personnel doing nest surveys that there was an unused nest about a mile away. They might have gone there. But with the intruder and a poor food source they might have moved out of that area altogether.

‘B’ wrote and wondered, awhile ago, if there was anything else that we can do to gather things up for the rehab clinics and what might they be? So who else better to answer that question that ‘L’ who works at the Audubon Centre in Florida. ‘L’ says “I often reach out to our neighbourhood communities because as you rightly say, money is so tight for so many but its amazing what we have in our homes that would just be thrown out. I ask for any donations that are paper related. Paper towel and toilet roll cardboard inserts, newspaper for lining crates and are used for enrichment will continue to become more and more scarce since the news is on the Internet plus old or ignored dog toys like kongs and ropes. Believe it or not, one of the most popular enrichment items are paper flowers and streamer type decorations (I swear I will make raptor friendly piñatas lol). They all LOVE paper in various degrees of thickness.” What an amazing list! I will continue to add clean loved but well used towels and sheets plus all manner of cleaning supplies. Sometimes the rehab clinics have their own lists on line. You can check for local needs. I wonder about having a sort of neighbourhood drive to gather up items. And I never thought of gently used dog toys!

‘W’ writes: ‘There is a nest of baby robins in my tree. I am disturbed by persistent distress calls from from one bird and then another. I don’t know why, and I feel helplessly alarmed. I’m sitting watching the nest, hoping to see one of the robins go to the nest, during this whole time of callings neither parent has appeared. What can it be? As it happens I have asked our local wildlife veterinary student this same question only with regard to another species. The parents will move away from the nest alarming to scare the intruder away but, at the same time, they do not go to the nest to show the predator where it is. —- I have noticed also when I am on walks in the nature centre that the Canada Geese are quite protective of their little ones. One will act as a security guard while some of the others will be decoys trying to get my attention elsewhere and away from where the goslings are located. That could definitely be what is happening with the Robin family. Have any of you had similar experiences?

‘S’ asks, “YRK has been coming in to feed QT very frequently. Do you think she is looking for OGK?” I think YRK is absolutely looking for OGK. They often came in or landed close to one another when they were raising Miss Pippa Atawhai. It was really delightful to see the two of them rejoice in being close to one another. I know that YRK has even gone up the hill to Pippa’s nest – she has to be wondering what has happened to OGK and why she has not seen him. The NZ DOC will not declare OGK officially deceased until he doesn’t return in October of 2023. He was injured once and was away for 40 days but he has not been seen since the middle of May. We wait with hope but, I am a bit of a realist and I believe he is no longer with us.

‘P’ asked: Do any of the raptors fish at night? What a timely question! Last night Dad at the Sydney Sea Eagle nest brought in a fish late at night. Alden at the Cal Falcons nest seems to always hunt at night. It is thought it could be his injured leg and he hunts then to avoid the other big raptors at night. Of course the song birds are about and with the light of SF he seems to do quite well. There have been others who have brought in fish at night. We certainly know that Ospreys do fish at night but the nests escape me this morning. — Then there are the Great Horned Owls and other owls who silently hunt at night. This is their time!

From the News – Digital and Broadsheet:

It may not seem like much but this is a major victory for the anti-grouse hunting movement in the UK. What is at issue is that pheasants and grouse are imported so they can be shot by visitors to the big estates where shooting continues to be a sport. The problem is that the game’s keepers often kill raptors that come on to the estate lands to hunt. Today, the Ritz in London announced that grouse is off the menu. Expect others to follow! Yes.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/aug/20/game-over-the-ritz-takes-grouse-off-the-menu-in-victory-for-environment-campaigners

Canadians are watching the geese and raptors and this morning lines of Canada Geese were seen flying south from 2 hours north of Winnipeg. This is early. Since 2019 the associations studying the climate crisis and its impact on birds have given us warnings that things are changing quickly. The insects that many depend on to feed their young are hatching earlier. If the birds arrive at the same time as what has been normal, there will be less food and thus, less offspring. The floods this spring and summer have left many moving to other areas and we have fewer and fewer ducklings and goslings in the City of Winnipeg this year. As I have noted in earlier blogs my concern is now with the few little fuzzy ducklings that are in some of the ponds. Will they survive to fledge? A heating planet means that we may well see many of the raptors breeding a month early.

In 2020, the UN had an autumn lecture on how the changing climate will impact raptors. Two years ago…things change quickly. I will be looking for an update for us for this fall but this is a good beginning to understand what changes we may see in our favourite raptor families as the planet heats.

Nest News:

Today, we have two fantastic fledges to celebrate. We have been waiting and waiting for LC to fledge from the Osoyoos nest of Soo, Olsen, and BC. This afternoon, after spending the morning jumping from the nest to a cable, LC flew!!!!!!!! The time was 14:29:24 the 23rd of August 2022. “H’ sent a video (thank you ‘H’ for this and confirmation of the time). Don’t blink. It is only seconds long.

‘A-M’ lives a bit of a distance from the Osoyoos nest. You might remember that she travelled to Osoyoos to search for the chick that fell off the edge of the nest. ‘A-M’ found the wee one dead but she placed it in a quiet spot in a very dignified way. Today, excited like everyone waiting for this moment at Osoyoos, ‘A-M’ drove in to see if she could see the family. This is her report: “I went to the nest around 4:15pm LC was on the camera pole and BC joined, they sat there for a good half hour chatting to each other. Mum flew on to pole around 16:37 and BC flew to nest. I watched Soo sit with LC on the pole and BC fly to the tree where Olsen hangs out. So beautiful to see BC fly around the area and to see LC out the nest, they both are stunning. I will check on them in a few days to see if I can capture a video clip of LC in flight.”

The other fledge was at Glacier Gardens. Love fledged. Now we will wait for Peace. Here is the video of her first flight:

There have been no sightings of the Notre-Dame Eagle family. ND15, Little Bit’s caring sibling, left the territory earlier. Little Bit has been easy to spot on his perch on the St Joseph River but the birders on the ground report that not even a squee has been heard anywhere. It is that time of year. If they have left for their migration may we all wish them strong wings, lots of prey, and a good long productive life.

There is a lot of curiosity about Trey, Mama Cruz’s 2019 fledgling with her mate, Pride. Someone has put together a video of the ‘dust up’ between Mama Cruz and Trey at the nest:

We are waiting for the first egg to arrive at the Charles Sturt falcon scrape in Orange, Australia. Today, Xavier brought in what appeared to be some road kill and Diamond was quite happy to eat it. The moderator added that the falcons are quite happy to eat road kill when other prey is scarce. All I could think of was — we don’t want a year where the prey is scarce!

The sea eaglets continue to do well. If you look at the other camera, rather than the one looking down on the nest, you will always get a good look at Lady’s fluffy white bottom! It is also nice to see the chicks in profile. Gives you a whole different understanding of their size.

They had nice crops around 1220.

And there was another feeding a few hours later.

In Port Lincoln, it has been rainy and a bit miserable. Mum thinks Dad is just taking far too long with the fish for her liking. She does do some screaming at him and is quick to get off the eggs when he arrives. Estimated hatch day is 19 September.

According to the Port Lincoln FB page, Ervie has been showing off his skills o visitors staying in the Port Lincoln Hotel! I wonder how many of us would love to be on the roof watching him????????

And just when I thought that all attention would soon be turning to the birds in Australia, look who shows up at their nest inside the Miami Zoo! Rita and Ron.

Look at that crop…it appears to be bursting the feathers at the seams.

The Papadam nest seems to have worked great for R1 and R2. If you are fans of Ron and Rita they might start working on getting it into shape for the next breeding season.

Cal Falcons caught Alden in the scrape calling Annie.

What a beautiful place to raise osplets – the Dyfi nest in Wales, home to Idris and Telyn.

It is a damp grey morning but, oh, so green and lovely. Quiet.

Earlier there was a Magpie on the nest and one of the fledglings eating a fish. I wonder if the Magpie was waiting for leftovers?

There has been an intruder on the nest today, possibly a Scottish juvenile on the move. The whole of the UK Osprey population (and all other migrating birds) are beginning to move to the south so there will be lots of visitors just stopping in at nests. I hope to have a good list of all the departures on Friday. Mrs G is still at Glaslyn. She stole a fish off one of the juveniles that Aran delivered not long ago.

Checking on Kaia, the Black Stork mate of Karl II who turned back from the Ukraine to feed in Belarus. I am watching Kaia’s movements closely as this could give us some insights into the other storks and raptors migrating from the north through the area of The Ukraine.

Kaia began her day near the Veluta Lake in Belarus where she has been for about a week. She then flew a distance of 143 km and is in the wetlands near the Pripyat River, a little northeast of Veresnitsa, and southeast of Povchin in the Gomel Oblast in Belarus. The small village has 1070 citizens. Looduskalender notes that Kaia is feeding within a few metres of another Black Stork with a tracker, Timmu. So she is feeding and remains safe. Relief. It is hoped that the storks and other raptors can find a way around the Ukraine. War has many sides and none of them are good for birds.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for being with me today. Congratulations to Osoyoos and Glacier Gardens on their fledges. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for the streaming cams and/or posts where I took my screen captures: Osoyoos Ospreys, ‘H’ and ‘A-M’, Glacier Gardens, Explore.org and the IWS, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Port Lincoln Ospreys, WRDC, Cal Falcons, Dyfi Ospreys, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, and Looduskalender and the Estonia Eagle Club.

Monday morning in Bird World

22 August 2022

Good Morning Everyone! The sun is out and it promises to be another hot day, 28 C. No rain forecast until tomorrow — and they might well change that. I am delighted to report that Dyson was seen in the garden this morning. One of the juvenile Blue Jays was screeching so loud – at Dyson – who was helping herself to ‘his peanuts’. The three juvenile Crows were in the garden on Saturday and again this morning. The little female was cooling her feet off in the bird bath.

I have also been out checking on the ducklings. Some are really growing!

Last week, there were 11 with this female. I am now counting 9.

This little sweetheart watched me quietly walk towards and around her. She never moved. How delightful.

If you are a duck and it is hot and humid, what do you do? Try to find some shade and/or a breeze. Duck Siesta time.

Then I found these two ducklings. They do not have their tails and are still sporting their downy fluff. Oh, I am going to worry about them and, hopefully, I can find them today or tomorrow when I am out checking again.

Update. There was some concern about the situation with AX6, Axel, at the Loch Garten nest. Yesterday, I posted that AX6 had not been seen on the nest and was feared to be ousted by the intruder, KL5, injured, or worse since 15 August at 0635. Good news arrived from ‘DV’ who wrote to tell me “AX6, Axel, was seen on the Loch Garten nest this morning (Sunday), according to watchers.” Oh, fantastic. I checked on the Loch Garten FB page and they confirmed the time as 0835. Axel remained on the nest for 5 minutes. There is YouTube video confirmation. Thank you so much DV! Now has he been feeding the sole surviving chick from the nest 1C2 off camera? That is the question. He looks good!

The nest was empty later.

From the mailbox. There are several nests that many of you might have been wondering about. First up, Titi and Boris at the Janakkalan Nest in Finland. I have heard nothing since the camera shut down quickly and abruptly. I do not know why a decision was made to go offline at that time.

The streaming cams operate for many reasons but research and education/entertainment seem to be the main categories. The owners of the streaming cams often do not take into account the impact that watching a family of raptors has on viewers. Each of us has our favourite nests. Some may be the same for all of us but there are always nest surprises. We have our favourite nestling and we cheer them on and yell at the screen, fret when the weather is bad often staying up with them. We worry when there is not enough food. We clap and jump when they fledge and then we worry about where they are and if they are alright Sometimes (and it was a lot this year), we cry when one or another or all die.

For me the streaming cams have always been a way for us to connect with nature. They became particularly important during the pandemic as shown by Loch Arkaig having over 400,000 viewers watch Louis and Aila raise JJ5, JJ6, and JJ7 in 2020. Many have written to tell me that they are in hospital dying and it is the birds that are keeping their spirits up. One of my readers who became a good friend had cancer. Anyone on the Sydney Sea Eagle chat will remember Phyllis. The sea eagles and the chatters kept Phyllis going much, much longer than the doctors could ever imagine. The birds enrich our lives. I have had people say why not go outdoors and watch the birds, why on screen. I always tell them that it is like going to a sporting event or a Formula 1 race – you actually get a better view on the telly. Of course we go outside and see the birds if we are able! But where could you see up close an Osprey, an Eagle, a Peregrine Falcon raising their chicks? I surely couldn’t! They have brought us joy and touched our hearts so when that camera is suddenly turned off without an explanation or warning, we wonder why. It is shocking.

And so it was with Titi and Boris. They had lost their mother and their sibling. Dad continued to bring food and the goshawk was around. We worried about Titi who waited so long to fledge and then boom…nothing. We never got the opportunity to see if Titi would return to the nest. Some of you have written to ask the Finnish Osprey Foundation why did they turned the camera off so early. You have not received an answer. I have written to one of my Finnish contacts and readers to see if they know anything. I will certainly post any news here for everyone if I should hear.

My inbox has been full of letters about Malalam the little Red-tail Hawk adopted by the Bald Eagle family on Gabriola Island, British Columbia. When her nest mate turned sibling, Junior, was electrocuted on a pole owned by BC Hydro, GROWLS posted all manner of information so that a campaign could be directed towards BC Hydro. Many groups joined in. I carried their request to you. Malala is not ringed. The Red-tail Hawks and hawks in general are beginning their migration. Will we ever know what happened to Malala? is anyone watching the nest to see if she returns? She could be heard on the cam on the 30th of July. That same day, GROWLS FB said that the season was closed and the camera was immediately turned off. No information has been posted since. It felt abrupt especially after so many wrote to BC Hydro on their behalf after the call to do so on July 22, ‘Justice for Junior’.

I am fortunate to have a friend and former student in the area. They have confirmed for me that there are a number of red-tail hawks and without any method for identification no one will know unless they happen to see Malala at the nest or eating fish. If I do hear anything – or if you do – please let us know.

Many of you fell in love with this family and the story. That is the missing link in the streaming cams that I am trying to emphasize. If we are to try to make any positive impact in the lives of wildlife, then it would be good if the administrators of the streaming cams would agree to post any updates and warn individuals when and why cameras are being turned off. Annual maintenance is one of the biggest reasons and well established cameras with high traffic always warn their viewers. I am thinking of SWFlorida Bald eagles. In this instance so many of you wrote to BC Hydro and it would be reassuring if we heard that the pole that killed Junior had been made safe for any future fledglings. I would love to see a FB post about that and if GROWLS had their new camera. I think you would, too.

Just when we should be expecting the nests to be so empty, there continue to be surprises. Lancer visited the old Two Harbours nest and the cam operators were simply fantastic, getting great captures.

The Channel Islands just look like a perfect place for Bald Eagles to live. What a magnificent view of the water.

A video was put together of Lancer’s visit to the original Two Harbours nest. No one is sure why Chase & Cholyn decided to move their nest. Here you go:

Thunder visited the West End nest with a fish today, too. She must be lonely without any one of the three fledglings not rushing her to grab that fish out of those talons!

I decided that perhaps there might be some luck checking on the other nests. There was no one to be seen at the Fraser Point nest of Andor and Mama Cruz. I have had quite a number of letters asking about Trey and what happened to her after Mama Cruz winged her. I have heard nothing and there seems to be no mention on any of the normal sites associated with the Institute for Wildlife Studies. This time it would seem that no news is good news – she has gone on her way. If I should see or hear anything otherwise, I will definitely let you know. I will also add that this is not the first time that Trey -who hatched and fledged from the Fraser Point nest – has returned home. She fledged on 6 June 2019. Her first return to the nest tree was 15 July 2021. She returned again on 25 July 2021 and then again this year on the 16 August 2022.

There was no one about the other nests in California that I could see. I then went over to Florida to the nest of Samson and Gabby at Jacksonville and got a pleasant surprise – it was a Red-shouldered Hawk having a rest.

Migration has begun, of course, and there will be many raptors (and other birds) stopping to rest along the way. What a beautiful, beautiful hawk this one is! And what a delight to get to admire the gorgeous plumage for a bit.

Karl II is still feeding the four Black Stork fledglings at the nest in the Karula National Forest. Bonus was there so all four are still around and have not left.

Meanwhile Kaia remains in Belarus near the fields and marshes near Lake Veluta.

If you are a fan of the Kielder Forest Ospreys, here is a full up-to-date report on each nest! It was joyful reading that Mum had managed to fledge her two chicks after losing her mate, YA. They flew on 9 and 13th of August. She remained another 11 days fattening up for her big trip.

https://kielderospreys.wpcomstaging.com/2022/08/22/departure-news-and-more/?fbclid=IwAR2Bzw_Y4Ot6japO38CRN5sgBvK7FjV830N3UDNctuJfwDgfDsIbyoEZtHA

Dorcha has not been seen at the Loch Arkaig nest for several days. I am presuming that she has begun her migration, too. Louis is keeping Willow and Sarafina satisfied with fish — as he always does. What a fantastic mate he is. Louis delivered a fish to both this morning.

At the Foulshaw Moss nest in Cumbria, Blue 35 and fledgling Blue 480 have not been seen for a number of days and, like Dorcha, are believed to be in the midst of their migration. White YW is supplying fledglings Blue 481 and 497 with fish at the nest.

Dylan is delivering nice trout to the Llyn Clywedog nest…and the fledglings are not always holding on tight enough and oops…off it goes. As long as the fledglings are around, Dylan, like all the males, will continue to bring fish to them. Then they will feed and go on their way to their winter home. Seren Blue 5F was still seen fishing on the 21 August.

Mrs G is still at the Glaslyn Valley nest she shares with her mate, Aran.

It is a little soggy at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. The information below the camera states that Telyn was last seen on the 20th. As it happens, however, Telyn was seen on camera at 16:08 today and there were great views of the second hatch, Padarn.

Here is a lovely video of Telyn bringing a Mullet to the nest with Padarn and Paith doing some loud fish calling!

It is raining with some wind at the Mlade Buky White Stork nest in The Czech Republic. I have seen only one stork on the second nest that Bukacek built. Awaiting confirmation that Betyhka has started migration along with the four fledglings.

In the UK Raptor Persecution news, the Moy Estate in the Scottish Highlands has lost its license (in an appeal) for the poisoning of a Red Kite on its estate.

Moy Estate loses appeal against General Licence restriction imposed for wildlife crime

There will be more and more prosecutions of estates where grouse hunting takes place and when the wildlife estate managers kill the raptors that the UK is working so hard to reintroduce. Indeed, there is a growing movement to end the practice of grouse hunting.

Dad brought Lady and SE 29 and 30 a nice big chunk of fish yesterday. All ate and then, surprisingly, Lady decided to brood the chicks. This nest appears to be doing very, very well this season.

Waiting for eggs at the scrape of Xavier and Diamond. The rejected Starling in the corner appears to be ‘past its sell-by-date’. If the amount of mating that these two have been doing is any indication of the number of eggs, this scrape should be full from top to bottom and side to side. I am hopeful that we might have the first egg in a few days!

367 Collins Street in the CBD (Central Business District) of Melbourne has not gone live so no eggs there yet either.

It is pouring down rain in Port Lincoln this morning. Mum is really tucked in so those precious eggs do not get wet.

It’s a wrap! Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope that the start to the week is a wonderful one for each of you. Please take care. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, posts, and videos that form my screen captures: Loch Garten RSPB, GROWLS, Explore.org and IWS, NEFlorida-AEF, Eagle Club of Estonia, Looduskalender, Kielder Ospreys, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, CarnyxWild, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dfyi Ospreys, Mlade Buky, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, UK Raptor Persecution, Charles Sturt Falcon Cam, and Port Lincoln Ospreys.

Featured Image: Thunder at the West End Bald Eagle nest, 21 August 2022.

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 Monday news in Bird World

8 August 2022

The condolences continue to pour into Poole Harbour for the loss of 5H2 due to the goshawk attack and to Loch Garten’s 1C1 to unknown causes. It is worse when the osplets are older and flying. The number of Osprey in the UK is very small compared to North America and the loss of these two chicks on significant nests took its toll today. Last year the osplets died due to weather issues when they were so little. This year we lost a wee one at Llyn Brenig, the third hatch at Loch Arkaig when its foot caught and it could not get under Mum during the worst weather. Siblicide at Loch of the Lowes. It is hard either way but raising chicks to fledge and then losing them is just tragic.

I have had many letters asking if Loch Garten is doing a post-mortem. Yes, they are! The cameras will be turned off during the removal of the chick and then turned back on. We have seen three ‘mysterious’ deaths this year on streaming cams of Ospreys -Big at Captiva, Molate at SF Bay, and now 1C1 at Loch Garten. I included Big because there was no confirmation of why she died. Molate was visibly unwell for a few days, just like 1C1. Is it the same? (It is unclear to me as to whether GG Audubon ever removed Molate’s body from the grid as fledglings Brooks and the Visitor continue to come to the nest. Speculation is a lung infection. I do recall Molate also had trouble breathing. Curious.

Elsewhere in Bird World, life seems reasonably stable but everything can change in a few seconds – without any warning – as was the case of H52.

The great experiment by Urmas and Dr Madis to save the Black storklets of Jan and Janika would have been significant if not for the loss of all the chicks on Eedi’s nest due to predation (possibly another Goshawk attack). There is one survivor, Bonus. Bonus is doing tremendously well. He is 78 days old today. Karl II and Kaia have found the filled fish baskets and the chicks are so full that when Karl II comes in with a delivery the four of them cannot eat all the fish. Yes, it is true!

Fledging could come at any time. Bonus is overdue but because of his delayed development due to stress and lack of food, he will fly once he is ready, not by a calendar. Kaia often leaves by 11 August so we are watching to see what will happen this year.

It is mostly quiet. Many of us are watching the females in the UK to spot on leaves when. Maya is still at Manton Bay in Rutland.

I could not get a good look at her face but this is that amazing female who raised three big girls with Blue 33 this year! She is the mother of Telyn at Dyfi.

1H3 has enjoyed a nice fish delivery today.

1H1 is screaming to goodness for Mum or Dad to get a fish on the nest for her!!!!!!!!! What a beauty.

All of the fledglings could catch their own fish. The parents do not have to teach them – 60 million years is hardwired into their DNA. The fledglings just do not know that they can do it! During migration they will have to begin to fiend for themselves.

These females are such characters. Blue 33 could hear his girl across the lake! “I want a fish now!” Blue 33 is one of my great loves as far as ospreys go. He is 11 years old this year and is ending his 9th breeding season. He has raised two sets of four osplets to fledge with Maya…They are a super couple in a realm of their own.

Remember that flapping fish that we thought had killed at least one of the little ones – they survived. All three nice big girls!

It is hot at the Dyfi nest in Wales of Idris and Telyn. Tomorrow it will be 30 C. Telyn is still here. She has been chasing off an intruder which appears to be annoying her to no end. I do not blame her. Now is not the time for an injury. Telyn will leave Wales and fly to The Gambia. According to Chris Woods who travels to The Gambia in the winter, he knows precisely where her favourite perch is. Brilliant. It is always reassuring to know she has arrived safely.

Just look at all the cameras.

Relaxing down by the Dyfi River.

Emyr Evans has posted a very interesting blog testing different hypotheses about the unringed visitor to the Dyfi Nest. It has some information about fledging ages and the start of migration. Thanks EE – we love the Dyfi Data!

https://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/blog/emyr-mwt/extremely-rare-visitor-unringed-fledgling

I see no word that Blue NC0 has left the Loch of the Lowes either. Both chicks have been flying for at least 3 weeks and they are doing some fancy landings and take offs from the nest. I was able to catch them on the nest today – one with a fish and the other screaming to Laddie LM12 (Dad) to bring another pronto! These males sure get a work out at the end of the season. No wonder their legs are so strong and muscular.

These two look to be in brilliant shape!

Mrs G is still here. She is on the perch to the left while Aran is on the one at the right.

Aran and Mrs G looking out on their territory from the Glaslyn nest. Aran is in the back, Mrs G, the oldest osprey in the UK, is in the front.

Fledgling eating a fish on the Glaslyn nest while Mrs G is at the nest.

I cannot read the Darvic rings but this looks like a different fledgling enjoying a meal earlier in the day.

I was also able to catch Seren and one of the chicks on the Llyn Clywedog nest in Wales. It is so rare to see chicks on the nest that I feel fortunate checking all of the nests and finding at least one today.

Dorcha and the two fledgling chicks were on Loch Arkaig! I did not see Louis but he is about bringing in fish.

This one desperately wants a fish!

They do not know that they are getting ready for the most challenging two years of their lives. If they live to get to the South of England or parts thereabouts, they will feed up. There are scores of birds that will be at Poole Harbour making their way to their winter homes. How many of them will survive? When we hear averages, it must be the entire raptor family, not just specific species. We know that the UK birds will either land on the Iberian Peninsula and winter or they will continue to Africa and winter in The Gambia and Senegal. I hope to get some figures for Ospreys only. It will be easy to get UK figures of 2 year survival – or thereabouts – as from the Dyfi note – all known birds have Darvic Rings except for a few nests in Scotland and maybe one hiding in Montgomeryshire in Wales. The figure is going to be low and it could provide us with more insights. Less than 1 in 3 I suspect.

Remember – send me the stories you remember about migration. I am particularly interested in the huge challenges these birds face. Get it to me by Thursday night. Thanks!

I peeked in at the Osoyoos and Fortis Exshaw nest briefly throughout the day. The heat dome is definitely hitting BC again but Soo and Olsen seem to be weathering it fine. I have also checked on Titi who has been hovering but has not fledged. Titi is in a very dangerous position if he cannot fly – he is literally the sitting osprey for that Goshawk that continues to fly around the nest! I wonder why he is not moving? We saw Nuppu try to beak her youngest to fly. Titi has no mother, only a sibling and Dad and he needs to work those wings and get out of there.

The latest updates on Victor came on 3 August. If you missed it, here it is. There has been nothing since. We must assume that Victor is continuing to progress. Treatments for heavy lead toxicity take a long time.

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 posts where I took my screen captures: Finnish Osprey Foundation, The Eagle Club of Estonia and Looduskalender, Dyfi Osprey Project, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the Woodland Trust, CarnyXWild, LRWT, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Wildlife Trust.

When feather loss is nothing short of beautiful!

6 August 2022

I am up writing this short blog after midnight. The weather has turned agreeable in a place where I desperately want to go and check out the shorebirds. I am not an early morning person like so many of my birding friends who rejoice in getting out to see the latest arrivals before 0600. Tomorrow, however, I plan to leave early for me which means…I need to check on our feathered friends on line sooner! I am also awake because of the worry over Poole Harbour and the attack. How is the family?

First of all ——– let’s have a shout out and a drum, roll. Stephen Basly understands that we will not be 100% certain that the fledgling photographs contain Little Bit ND17 without a clear view of THE BALD PATCH. It is only now that I want to thank ND16 because this is complete proof that our Little Bit is flying and is doing well. It is nearly three weeks since Little Bit was released. He is definitely eating – whether or not he is catching some of his prey or having it delivered is not clear and — is now utterly irrelevant. What a relief…Thank you Stephen Basly for keeping an eye out for this amazing juvenile for all of us.

I had a question and it refers to Finnish Osprey nest #4 but, in fact, it applies to all Osprey nests post-fledge. The reader was worried that neither parent had shown up on the nest with UNA.

We are going to begin to see the nests being empty for a lot more time than when they are occupied now. It is always worrisome. We do not know if something has happened to the parents and/or the chicks. More often than not everything is good. It is a natural progression. The adults initially feed their fledglings on the nest. Sometimes both parents bring food to the nest for the chicks…we have also seen this at the stork nests with Karl II and Kaia both feeding their four and also with Bukacek and Betty. At some point, the adults might begin feeding the fledglings ‘off nest’. Big Red prefers, after the eyases fledge, to only feed them off the nest. She first feeds them on a flat roofed building called Rice directly across Tower Road from the nest. Sometimes she gives in to feeding on the nest and Arthur likes to sneak food there! At some point the female disengages from feeding the fledglings. Dad takes over completely allowing the female to bulk up her weight and add some fat before she begins her migration. The chicks will continue to be fed by Dad. Then they will feel the call to fly and they will start a journey to a place they have never seen which will become their forever winter home. The males leave last – only once they are assured the fledglings have all departed.

The #4 nest is mostly empty now. I have caught UNA there a few times but no prey deliveries. The chick appears fine and can fly quite well. It does not appear that there is any cause for worry.

The absence from the nest might also lie with the fact that a Goshawk attacked it. Just as you will see that the Ospreys at Poole Harbour are stressed about returning to the nest – and have not so far.

Daylight is just coming to the Poole Harbour nest.

No one slept on the nest last night. None of the family members have been seen on camera since the attack including Dad, Blue 022, and the other fledgling, 5H1.

Here are two stills from the attack on the Poole Harbour fledgling who is eating a fish on the nest. In the first one you will see CJ7’s head and her talons extending in front of her from the top left. The fledgling kind of melts into CJ7’s image. You can see the intruder (dark shape) also on the left – at 0900 on the nest.

In the image below, from left to right: the fledgling 5H2, the goshawk staring at the throat of the fledgling. The goshawk appears to have at least one leg and talons in the side of the nest. Some people have thought that it had its right talon in the wing of the fledgling. That is not really clear from the image. That right foot might also be caught in the rim of the nest pushing the primary feathers of the fledgling outward. CJ7 is on the far right. It is possible that she has one of the talons on the left food catching the goshawk’s wing. The talons of CJ7’s right foot seem to be embedded in tip of the goshawk’s wing – but this could just be the camera angle. This attack takes place in a couple of seconds – not even a minute. Was the goshawk successful? That really is unclear. Everyone went tumbling from the nest. It is very hard to wait to find out what has happened.

MORNING UPDATE FROM POOLE HARBOUR: The fledgling 5H2 was located alive with an injury to its flank. It has been taken into care. Blue 022 and CJ7 were located and they are alright. They are monitoring for 5H1. Here are the announcements:

The latest news.

Camera glitches when the chicks are near fledgling cause a lot of stress. Thankfully the camera on the Boathouse Osprey platform is once again working. The change in the three osplets is remarkable. Dory looks so tiny next to Schooner, Slapjack, and Sloop. ‘H’ has reminded me that they are 49, 48, and 46 days old today. We are nearing fledge watch.

Soo and the chicks at the Osoyoos nest have weathered another day – thankfully not such a hot one but others are coming. The chicks have been fed and also practiced some self-feeding. We are some days away from fledge.

Fish deliveries continue on a nice pace at the Fortis Exshaw nest. The parents have been going on and off the perch today. If you watch eagles, you will know that ‘branching’ is the first step to fledging. I wonder if the adults are showing the osplets the perch for the same reason?

While Mrs G is both a grandmother and a great-grandmother, Glaslyn was so happy to announce that Mrs G current mate is now a grandfather. His female chick of the 2018 season KS1 (middle chick) has fledged two chicks this year at the Bolton Estate in Yorkshire with her unringed mate. Well done! Here is the official announcement:

What the announcement does not tell you is that this is the first time since 1800 that osprey chicks have hatched at Bolton! 222 years. Incredible. They made the news with photos of the two grand chicks.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/environment/first-osprey-chicks-recorded-in-yorkshire-since-1800-hatch-at-wensleydales-bolton-castle-estate-in-landowners-dream-come-true-3795431?fbclid=IwAR2AJF2zV0GGoz3xTLz8-TwEqV77gAznHdTfS7sdCz8ehFRoPeV3EoWSzOQ

If you are waiting for the banding of QT chick on Taiaroa Head, it will now take place Tuesday August 9 – Australian dates.

The Mispillion Harbour Ospreys have been given names. The adult female is Della and the adult male is Warren working its way into the state where the Osprey nest is located, Delaware. The two chicks are Bay (eldest) and River (youngest) representing the Bay and the inlet where the two chicks were raised this year. Super meaningful names. Thank you ‘H’ for always going the extra mile to get this nest noticed – and the family loved.

Next year, ‘H’ is going to start a Facebook group for this wonderful Osprey family. So everyone remembers this nest – the Mum loves yellow! ‘H’ has dressed them up.

While Lindsay was resting on the ledge of The Campanile she had a visitor – Alden! Oh, how precious. Be sure to also check out moon_rabbit-rising Instagram’s account for recent photos of Annie hunting in the area.

Thank you for joining me this morning. Like so many of You I stayed up waiting for news of Poole Harbour. Wishing 5H2 a quick recovery! I am heading off to areas west to check on shore birds. I hope to have my regular report on Sunday. Take care. See you soon!

Thank you to the following for their streaming cam, Tweets, or FB postings where I took my screen captures: Mispillion Harbour Ospreys and ‘H’, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Notre Dame Eagles, Fortis Exshaw, Osoyoos Ospreys, Audubon Explore, Birds of Poole Harbour, Finnish Osprey Foundation, and Cal Falcons.

Tag Archives: Glaslyn Ospreys

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