It has been ten days and, yet, it seems like yesterday that we lost our beloved Grinnell. His stature amongst the falcon community and the abundance of people that loved this small feathered stealth flyer are, along with the continuing tributes, a testament to how our raptors can touch and melt our hearts.
Megan Fradley-Smith wrote one of the most moving tributes for the Golden Gate Audubon Society. I wanted to share it with you in case you had not seen it.
Thank you for joining me. I wanted to share these tributes as I know so many of you watched Annie and Grinnell from the time they were first raising eyases on The Campanile at Berkeley. It is so difficult when such a beloved bird dies. Grinnell was part of our families, our lives. We looked forward to seeing him everyday. It has been a huge loss to us all since his death on 31 March. Thankfully, there is not a lot going on in Bird World. It is, thus, a wonderful day to reflect on all the joy that Grinnell brought to our lives. Grinnell will continue to live in our hearts forever.
Viewers of the Decorah North Bald Eagle nest of Mr North and Mrs DNF were frightened today when 47 mph gusts hit the nest. Those winds will continue until tomorrow. Hatching is never planned and that little one is making keen progress from its pip this afternoon at 12:46. It is being rocked and kept warm.
In 2018 this nest collapsed. It was rebuilt and re-enforced so despite the winds, everything should be fine. Hope.
And then it snowed at Decorah North! The baby is hatching. Dad has come in to take over so Mum can have a break.
It is still unclear what is happening at the Sauces Bald Eagle nest on Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands. This is the nest of Jak and Audacity.
View of the egg this morning. It is getting more possible that the egg is non-viable. Too bad they couldn’t have one of of the 4 and one out of several triplet nests that have hatched.
If you missed it, the big news today is the discovery that there are four eaglets on the nest at the PA Farm Bald Eagles. This is extremely rare. I knew about 1000 Islands in Wisconsin last year. Someone wrote that Norfolk had four eaglets in 2011.
Congratulations to to Mr President and Lotus and the National Arboretum Bald Eagle nest. First hatch after 3 bare seasons. Here is the announcement.
Congratulations Mr President and Lotus. Meet the newly hatched DC8!
Thunder has been bringing in crib railing to the West End nest and wow, it is working in one area of the nest. Thunder watches to see if these three lively eaglets will remain contained!
Sometimes but not when Dad Akecheta wants to feed them the Cormorant that Mum brought in today. Sweet babies. Seriously sweet babies.
We are all going to have to get our worry beads out. These kids of Thunder and Akecheta’s do not sit still!
Sorry for all the videos. The wind doesn’t really show in the stills and it is nice to see the four eaglets bobble. In this last one for the day, put out by Cal Falcons, Annie and Grinnell get down to business. Eggs tomorrow? Sunday? Gosh, I hope the romance drama has settled out on The Campanile.
Since the last feeding right after 12 noon when Little Middle had a huge crop, a fish head was brought in at 12:59:56. River fed Big until 13:08:18 and stopped. Little Middle did not bother to go up. It was more than full and why set off Big? River moves up to the fish head at 15:01:11.
River steps on Little Middle’s head and he pulls back, frightened.
Little Middle looks up at the feeding at 15:16.
Little Middle isn’t quite sure what to do. He has looked eyes with Big. (Often never a good idea as it sets the larger sibling off).
At 15:16:48, River pulls the fish head between the two eaglets. It is now closer so she can feed Little Middle.
A bite to Big and then a bite to Little Middle.
Same again, one for Big and one for Little Middle.
Then several more bites for Little Middle. More for Big and then the feeding stops by 15:30. It was slow. Not much fish on the head. But slow is good. Big gets full faster!
At 16:50;56 River flies in with a teaser fish?? Like a 3 or 4 bite fish??
She offers the first bite to Little Middle who was the closest at 16:51:31. I am watching this live and have no idea how well that gesture is going to play out with Big.
At 16:53:59 Little Middle moves cautiously and with head down away from the feeding. Big has done nothing that I can see – other than her sheer presence – to frighten the little one. I cannot imagine what it is like being that so frightened.
River obviously likes this species of fish. She is taking big bites and eating them herself. I wonder what it is?
Big gets full at 16:55:59 and River begins feeding Little Middle off the fish head.
Little is still being fed at 17:10. Life is good. River returns to clean up scraps around 18:00. Feeds Big a few bites. Little Middle doesn’t bother.
I checked on Estonian Black Stork Karl II’s progress and note that he has flown west. I wish that he would fly a little more west and head to his home in the Karula National Forest through Romania.
On the 23rd of March, Karl was feeding at the north end of the Beysehir Lake in Turkey. I so wanted him to turn west and not go straight north to the nature reserves around Odessa in the Ukraine. He left that feeding area and flew NW! 285 km
Today, he flew 308 km. He is west of Istanbul, west of the Black Sea.
Here is another map. Will Karl II turn to feed along the shores of the Black Sea or will he continue to fly north away from the war in the Ukraine? If he continues to fly west away from the conflict this is quite wonderful. How did he know?
The sun is setting on another good day at the Captiva Osprey nest in Florida. Lena and Andy have done well. Both Middle and Little are getting beautiful juvenile feathering. So happy for them. There continues to be no word from the second lab on what suddenly killed Big on the 15th of March in the morning. You can clearly rule out some physical cause such as choking on a pellet. I believe you can rule out Avian Flu, too as the UGA Vet School would have been able to test for that.
Mum and Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge have been making more and more frequent appearances there. Both were on the barge today and on the 23rd I did get a shot of Mum eating a fish. Would love to see our Ervie again. He is staying close to home. Here is Ervie’s latest tracking.
It is a good day in Bird World (except for Sauces, sadly). Little Middle is going to sleep full even if nothing else appears on the nest. Big settled during the afternoon but Little Middle remains scared. That is probably for the best. He recovers faster than last week and has eaten almost all day.
Thank you for joining me. Take care everyone. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Thanks to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, Explore.org, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Looduskalender, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, Cal Falcons, West End Bald Eagles and the Institute for Wildlife Studiews, AEF NADC, and the PA Game Commission.
No one knew til it stuck its little head up that there are four eaglets on the PA Farm Nest!
I do not normally watch this nest but a friend alerted me. The issue is the ads that appear that drive you nuts and there is no re-wind. It is run by the PA Game Commission. Here is the link:
We will wait to see how they do. The oldest is already bonking but these are early days and hopefully, it will settle. Last year a nest in the 1000 Lakes Conservancy area of Wisconsin had four fledge so it is possible! Fingers crossed.
There is a sand storm moving over Southern Spain and it is cold in the Alicante Region. This might count for a slow down in the return of some of the Ospreys migrating north from Africa.
Yesterday was a very good day for Little Middle at the Dale Hollow nest. No, the intimidation did not stop but it was not as frenzied, at all, like it was on the 23rd of March. Little Middle is growing and it is harder for Big. From past experience, I think Little Middle has 5-7 more days and this might be over. Always fingers crossed and positive wishes. He is clever but sometimes he forgets!
At the Dale Hollow nest, Little Middle has no crop. It is nearing 11:30 nest time. At 08:32:07 River comes on the nest. Big wants to eat the piece of fish from last night. She attacks Little Middle at 09:28:27. Little Middle immediately went into submission. He got no food.
You can see how much larger Big is than Middle Little still. There is the piece of fish left from last night.
River feeds Big only. Little Middle in submission.
Middle had a magnificent PS at 08:32:07. Good one. Middle is not starving. He is hungry but he ate a lot yesterday. Let us all hope the fish come on the nest – a bucket of suckers please!!!!
No one eats Suckers where I live except for a family that we met from Labrador living where I was teaching in Quebec. They canned the Suckers.
You can see Big’s crop. You can also see Little Middle has none. It is nearing noon. It looks damp and cold at the nest.
At 11:30:01 River arrives on the nest with a very large fish with its head still on. Little Middle is right up at the landing pad.
River offers the first bite to Little Middle. He is scared and he refuses to eat before Big. In fact, in the image below, Little Middle is pulling back from the offer of food in fright.
River then offers the bite to Big.
At 11:31:02 Little Middle moves up near to Mum and the fish. River continues to feed Big.
From then until 12:02 River feeds both of the eaglets with Big getting the majority of the fish. Little Middle will have a nice crop. Little Middle does not need to eat nearly the amount of food to fill its crop as Big but…it would be nice if he were stuffed to his eyeballs so if the day goes sideways, he had a good feed.
At 12:02:28, almost 2/3 of the fish appears to have been consumed. Little Middle makes a slight gesture to say it would like some more and Big goes on the attack.
Big continues to eat. It is hard to tell but be assured, the attacks on Little Middle are not over. It needs to eat and eat to grow. Fingers crossed for more big deliveries today.
At 12:11:30 Little Middle is up and is doing the snatch and grab. Go Little Middle, Go!
The other adult will arrive on the nest at 12:14. It even looks like the two parents had a chat about the eaglets. At 12:16:40, no feeding is going on but you can see the big crop of Little Middle.
River seems to drag the fish head around and then returns to feed the eaglets at 12:18:27. By 12:19 Little Middle, well over his fear of Big for the moment, does the snatch and grab!
Big passes out and River will continue to give small bites to Little Middle before stopping the feeding at around 12:27. There is some fish left but not enough for both probably. We need another fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favourite Bald Eagle nests with another young male is the MN DNR nest. Harry was 4 years old last year and proved himself to be a good provider. He is doing the same this year for Nancy and their two nestlings – loading up the nest with prey items.
Here is the link to Harry and Nancy’s streaming cam:
That Minnesota nest is going to do just fine. It is a prey rich area with a stream running through. Perfect for Eagles to get a variety of fresh prey.
The young man that has melted my heart this year (besides Arthur as always) is Akecheta at the West End Bald Eagle Nest in the Channel Islands. He stepped up to the plate, protected the eggs, and now has turned into the best ‘Mum’ you could ask for! Thunder might be enjoying a bit of a break doing security duty and prey capture. I haven’t actually counted the time that Akecheta is on the nest brooding or feeding but 9 out of 10 times he will be there doing one or the other when I check – which is often.
It is really foggy out on Catalina island this morning. Babies are all sleeping in a cuddle puddle.
The first breakfast just as the sun kisses the horizon.
Another feeding! The oldest is large and has a huge beak. There is no discord on this nest. Some have wondered if nests of 3 eaglets that have a younger male as a Dad – like here or at Redding – do better than those where the parents are both on the side of elderly in eagle terms. I have not researched this but clearly Big Red selected the vastly younger Arthur because he demonstrated how good a hunter he was and a devoted partner. Arthur is 6 and Big Red is 19. It is something to consider as we watch the Dale Hollow nest where both parents are 24 years old.
Liberty and Guardian are getting used to feeding their two Bobble heads. The baby is gradually learning what it is supposed to do. What a couple of cuties at the Redding nest.
There is a hatch happening at the Iowa Bald eagle nest of Mr North and DNF at Decorah North.
Many of us have been worried about Grinnell and Annie. I even wondered if falcons go through a mid-life crisis since Grinnell was flirting with one of the 5 juvenile females the other day, again. So is this Grinnell and Annie this morning? Did he bring Annie a prey gift? Will there be eggs in the scrape? We wait!
I began wondering about these SF males. Richmond has been feeding himself instead of Rosie at the SFOspreys nest on the World War II Whirley Crane in the Richmond Shipping Yards. Hopefully, Richmond and Grinnell will get their acts together!!!!!!!!
Our melt as stopped. It is -11 C. Ice crusts the remaining snow and water and most here are being careful not to go out walking if they don’t have to. I am enjoying a nice warm wood fire!
There is so much happening in Bird World. It is so difficult now to keep up with all of the nests. I did a quick run through of the Captiva Ospreys and Florida Bald eagles and all is good. I note not much osprey movement into the UK monitored nests yet. Loch of the Lowes and Rutland Water Manton Bay are the two I watch constantly and both couples are home. Fingers crossed for all the Welsh nests. Maybe tomorrow. We are also waiting for Iris! Despite the beaking and intimidation, I am thrilled that Little Middle went back up to eat and had a huge crop at noon. We take it a half day or a day at a time. Today, we rejoice – for now.
I hope you are all well. Thank you for being with me today. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: MN DNR, Dale Hollow EC, PA Game Commission, Redding Eagles, and Explore.org
In my excitement about the eaglets this morning at the KNF and the NEFlorida nests, I really did forget to say thank you to the people and the companies or government departments that sponsor and take care of the streaming cams so that we can learn about wildlife. My great hope is that by learning and caring about these amazing creatures and the challenges that they face, the more each of us will do to help out the environment whenever and wherever we can so that the lives of these beautiful raptors and seabirds continues.
Some of you might have seen the posting elsewhere but I want to mention it here in case you did not. A fully grown adult Bald Eagle flew into a plate glass window in a house in PA. It is in care.
This is nor the first time an Eagle has flown into a window although you are probably more familiar with the smaller birds that hit the windows and either get stunned and are alright or their necks are broken. There are solutions to this problem. The first one is to not clean your windows so that you can see reflections in them! Yes, I am inviting you not to make ever window in your house spotless. What a concept. The second is to install decals to prevent bird strike. Some of these work better than others. The third is to have ultraviolet barriers put on your windows. The last is something ingenious that I saw at our nature centre yesterday. They had 2 x 2 wooden boards cut the width of the window. Holes drilled in the bottom of the boards every 3 inches. Inserted inside were 1/4 inch nylon cords cut to the length of the window. They were glued into the holes. You could easily put the hole all the way through and tie the cord. These were hung outside the windows of the nature centre. The cords blew in the wind and they have never had a window strike despite having so many windows. I will take a photo the next time I am out there. I have so many birds in my garden and they all go flying madly in all directions if Sharpie arrives so, my windows are never spotless clean – never. I also have vines that hang down and the birds sit there and eat the berries or build their nests so – so far, any window strike problem has ceased.
In other Bald Eagle news, R-7, nicknamed Rover by the people of Brooklyn, was in Central Park giving everyone an absolute delight. How many Bald Eagles have you seen in Central Park? Incredible.
If you love urban raptors as much as I do and want to keep up with what is happening in New York City, I highly recommend Bruce Yolton’s blog urbanhawks.com
Everyone knows that I have a huge soft spot for the little eaglet of Anna and Louis. How could you miss it? At 15 days old this little one is a real charmer. What a beautiful image of it looking so lovingly up to its Mum.
The pantry is full of the most amazing things – all freshly provided by Kincaid Lake – Coots, ducks, all manner of fish including a large Bass today, and yes, turtles. With such a varied diet, this little eaglet and its parents are super healthy.
I am getting more than curious. Anna is feeding the eaglet on the KNF nest and there are 50 people watching.
Just look at that little one’s crop. No shortage of food, great parents, beautiful setting, super mods on the chat, super cameras, and great sound! That is what KNF has to offer.
There are 2129 people, as opposed to 50 at the KNF nest, watching the Bald Eagle incubate eggs at Big Bear.
What makes one nest more popular than another? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Feel free to write me a comment or send me a note at maryannsteggles@icloud.com I seriously do not understand and want to!
The streaming cam at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge is still on the blink. For a few minutes Ervie was caught on the nest sleeping so all is well there.
For those of you that are fans of Xavier and Diamond, you might be aware that the temperatures in parts of Australia have hit all time highs of 50.7 C or 123.6 F. That heat really impacts the wildlife including the Peregrine Falcons who are being brought to the wildlife rehabbers for care. The one below is doing well!
Speaking of falcons, one of the pair (I could not make out which ones) was on the NE ledge of The Campanile just now at UC-Berkeley.
Diamond was on the ledge of the scrape. It was a bit foggy early in the morning with what looks like some rain. I checked and the temperatures seem to have cooled down considerably.
Well, I said it was civilized but despite an overflowing pantry provided by Samson, NE26 wants to be a bit of a ‘not so nice’ big sib at the most recent feeding. AWWWWWW.
Samson is really in competition with Louis for the most items in the pantry! Gabby is fabulous mother. “26, you need to settle down. Everyone gets fed.”
The eaglet at the Kisatchie National Forest just ate.
Anna filled up its crop. That baby is sound asleep in slumberland.
So if you don’t want to watch 26 bash 27 a bit, tune into the cutest eaglet at KNF. Here is the link:
Jack and Diane at the Achieva Osprey Nest were caught on camera mating on the nest today. Everyone is on egg watch as Diane settles. There is certainly excitement brewing amongst the chatters as Osprey season in Florida quickly approaches! Jack and Diane are the parents of Tiny Tot Tumbles – the third hatch no one though would survive last year but who did and became the dominant bird on the nest.
After watching Port Lincoln this year, we know that the atmosphere on a nest can change from year to year depending on the fish availability, the health of the adults, the temperature, and the gender make up of the chicks as well as the difference in hatch times. We wait to see how it will go.
The link to that camera is:
Thanks so much for joining me today. All other nests are doing well. We wait for Port Lincoln’s camera to get up and working again although there is no guarantee that Ervie will be there very much. Take care. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or their FB pages where I took my screen captures: NEFlorida Bald Eagle and the AEF, KNF Bald Eagle Cam, Falcon Cam Project at Orange and Cilla Kinross, Achieva Credit Union, and Minton Farms Animal Rescue FB, and Cal Falcons.
First, let’s head down to Port Lincoln in Australia. Falky’s reservation for the nest on the Port Lincoln Osprey barge included yesterday afternoon, evening, a bed for the night and the breakfast fish which arrived around 06:15. Ervie tried to steal it from Falky but failed so he got on the perch and was a little pouty! Poor Bazza doesn’t have a chance with these two.
Honestly, these birds are more entertaining than most things on the telly including the streaming movies!
Just look at Ervie all puffed up. He won’t even look at Falky. Too funny. We know that Ervie doesn’t remember the agreement, right? Spend the night on the nest and you get a free breakfish.
Ervie is very good at stealing fish. Falky gets a little nervous he is going to lose out so he moves over to the corner and eats his fish on the ropes. Ervie takes the nest.
Ervie is still on the nest. Falky is gone and Mum is on the ropes. All of the boys must be fishing themselves, too. It is, however, much easier to have Daddy Door dash!
I wonder who has the next reservation? Ervie looks like he thinks it is him.
Dr Cilla Kinross and Charles Sturt University in Orange just installed a cam that shows a view of the water tower where Xavier and Diamond hang out and where their scrape box is located. There have been a few storms and one yesterday. Cilla posted an image of lightning around the tower stating she was thrilled it has a lightning rod. Wow!
The storm is over and Diamond spent the night in the scrape box. Here she is in the morning. All is well.
There has been some chatter about the WRDC nest of Ron and Rita. Terry Carmen posted the announcement by the WRDC. Here it is.
While we mourn the little one, there is nothing at fault. The nest cup was narrow and deep – a great way to protect young eaglets from GHOW attacks. The other two, R1 and R2 are doing very well.
I had a question sent to me. Yes, Rita removed the chick from the bottom of the nest cup and placed it at 06:00 on the nest rim. Yes, she did feed R1 a bite and took a bite herself. The remainder of R3s body will become part of the nest if it is not moved or consumed completely. This practice is quite normal within the eagle species. I simply chose not to show what happened in graphic detail.
Both Ron and Rita have been undertaking some nestorations. Meanwhile, R1 and R2 are in food coma, sound asleep. They are doing great.
Now say awwwwww. Isn’t he handsome? Sharon Pollock posted this screen capture. I would say that Grinnell has fully recovered. He has a nice crop and his beak has grown back. But what really interests me is that yellow orange cere and legs. This is one healthy peregrine falcon! We love healthy. Glad to see you back in great shape, Grinnell.
I have not seen Daisy the Duck return to the Sea Eagles nest in the Sydney Olympic Forest since her visit a week ago with her mate. This is a good think! She is adorable and has brought a new interest in ducks to my life. I wish her and Mr Daisy well and I just hope that after I post this, they do not show up!
Thank you for joining me. Everything else is clicking along at all of the nests. Get ready for pips and hatches over the weekend! Take care.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey, WRDC Bald Eagle Cam, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre Sydney Olympic Park, Cilla Kinross and Charles Sturt University Falcon Cam, Orange, Australia Peregrine Falcons FB, and Bald Eagles Live Nest Cams and News FB.
Yesterday we celebrated the arrival of R3 on the WRDC in Miami-Dade County. The third hatch of Ron and Rita did not make it and died. It would be seriously impossible to tell what caused the death. The nest cup is so deep and narrow that it might have just been suffocated. We will not know for sure. Rita removed its body from the nest cup at 11:18 this morning and placed it along the rim of the nest at 06:00. It will probably become part of the nest unless Rita or Ron remove the body completely from the nest.
R1 and R2 are healthy and growing. Let us celebrate that! As you know I had hoped that R3 would not even hatch. It is always better to have strong healthy eaglets, fewer of them, than more not so healthy.
It is also wonderful that the adults continue to work on this nest. Spanish Moss is coming in to fill up the nest cup and make everything soft while branches are going up on the side. I was a little worried about these curious Rs climbing on what appears to be chicken wire like construction. Yes, just another worried auntie!!!!
Rita looking lovingly at her two surviving chicks, R1 and R2 after R3 passed.
At the time, I actually thought that R2 might have been dying but it was only in a deep food coma. Seriously, I almost panicked. Thankfully, both chicks are fine as you can see from the time stamp above. They have been eating a green parrot and fish.
As the day progresses, the heat comes on the nest. Rita is busy helping R1 and R2 stay cool. As we know from the heat wave going through the Pacific Northwest in May and June of 2021, heat can cause bird deaths. In Canada, many jumped from their nests to avoid being ‘cooked to death’ during that heat wave. It is currently 27 degrees C in Miami with a chance or rain. These two little ones are unable to regulate their own temperatures so the parents must help them.
Here is the link to the WRDC nest:
Anna and Louis are approaching pip watch and official hatch watch (is there a difference?) tomorrow. The KNF Wildlife staff posted this notice on their FB page this morning. Steve and Cody, the Rangers who maintain the cam, appear to be super excited. So am I!
Here is the link to the KNF nest. There is one egg for Anna and Louis as the second egg was broken by accident when Anna landed one day. They fledged their first chick last year, Kisatchie. Kistachie was the first eaglet to hatch at this nest since 2013. Incredible. It is a beautiful nest close to Kincaid Lake in central Louisiana and belonged to an elderly Bald Eagle couple that quit using it in 2013. Louis and Anna arrived and then last breeding season returned to take over the nest and raise their family. Louis is an excellent fisher! No shortage of fish. Indeed, last year this pair could have started a fish exporting business to other eagle nests as they had way too much food!
Here is the link to their camera:
Well, gosh. There are going to be a lot of little eaglets hatching in the next week. I could not even begin to count them but we have Captiva and, of course, my faves, Samson and Gabby up at NEFlorida.
It is windy and there are showers near the Jacksonville nest of Samson and Gabby today. It is currently 15 degrees C – wow. That is a whole lot cooler than Miami or Fort Myers who are both reporting high 20s today.
Here is the link to Gabby and Samson up at the NEFlorida Bald Eagle nest near Jacksonville. They are a great couple to watch. I put them and Harriet and M15 right up at the top of the ‘do not worry’ list. For those of you that do not know, this was the adult male, Samson’s, natal nest. He has great DNA. His parents were Romeo and Juliet. Samson hatched 23 December 2013. He returned with his mate Gabby after the 2018-19 sadness with his parents. The American Eagle Federation gives this account, “However, the 2018-2019 season was very different, as several large mature eagles disturbed the peace and tranquility of this nest. The expectations of the season ended in heartache as Juliet returned to the nest with an injury and was subsequently driven from the nest by a rival just days before the eggs were to hatch, leaving Romeo to do the work of two. When an egg hatched on Christmas Day 2018, a female eagle following Romeo to the nest swooped down and took the hatchling. This was not A2.” The A2 they are referring to is Gabby who later partnered with Samson. Romeo and Juliet raised 19 eaglets to fledge in 10 seasons.
Gabby and Samson raised two their first season, Jules and Romey. They fledged Legacy – one spectacular juvenile – last breeding season. I am really looking forward to this year. Can you tell?
It is hot on the SWFlorida nest of Harriet and M15 today. All I can say about E19 and E20 is that they are absolutely precious. Harriet is keeping them cool.
You can see that Harriet is shading them but the two eaglets have moved into shady patches on the nest, too. They are older than Ron and Rita’s chicks and are moving quickly around this large nest.
Down in Port Lincoln, Australia, there are wee showers. It looks like Falky did have the nest reservation. He spent the afternoon, all evening on the nest, and he will be there, hopefully, to get the morning breakfast fish in about 3 or 4 hours.
Falky and Ervie had quite the dust up yesterday. Falky might have thought Ervie was not going to honour his reservation departure time!
Falky decided to lay down duckling style late in the day.
It is hard to see him but he is on the nest, nearly in the same spot. For some reason they all stand or sleep there. Must be something magical about that space.
Just look at this beautiful fledgling. Se McGregor posted a recent image taken of WBSE 27 by the National Parks and Wildlife Services of NSW. Gorgeous. She is doing well. Let us all send warm wishes for continual improvement. Many rehabbers believe it takes two years to fully train an eagle that has not been trained by its parents. I wonder how long they will keep 27? I hope a long time til this bird is confident and strong.
Annie and Grinnell continue to bond and have total control of their territory. Cal Falcons posted an image of Grinnell with a large crop on the ledge on National Bird Day.
Other than the death of R3, things in Bird World are looking pretty good at noon on a Friday. It is -27 C on the Canadian Prairies dropping to -32 later today. That is exactly 54 degrees C different than the temperatures Harriet and M15 and Ron and Rita are experiencing in southern Florida today. That is a 129.5 degrees F difference! Whew. Temperature extremes.
Thank you for joining me this morning. I will continue to monitor the reservation rota at Port Lincoln! Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: WRDC Eagle Nest, SWFlorida Eagle Cam and D Pritchett, NEFloridaEagle Cam and the AEF, KNF Eagle Cam, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Center FB Page, and Cal Falcons Twitter Page.
I hope that anyone celebrating Thanksgiving today had a wonderful meal with friends and family. All of us have so much to be grateful for – including our beloved birds – every day.
So, let’s start with the not so great news and move into the good, shall we?
Everyone has been waiting for Grinnell to step up to the plate and stay in the scrape box on The Campanile or on the ledge waiting for Annie. So far that has simply not happened. Today, however, it was the ‘new male’ that was there. Grinnell may still lack the confidence to engage with the intruder that injured him. Here is that video:
Port Lincoln has posted that the official autopsy on Solly, the 2020 fledgling of the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge and the first Osprey in Australia to have a tracker, was, indeed and very sadly and unnecessarily (my words) the victim of electrocution.
Oh, just look at her. What a beauty. Her necklace would have been the envy of everyone. She reminds me, so much, of Iris. Stunning.
Port Lincoln also posted the following information on their FB page. I am delighted to see that they are going to use the information gathered by Solly’s tracking to understand where to put protectors on the hydro poles.
Thank you to all my readers who wrote to the South Australian Minister of the Environment and Water, David Speirs. You may remember that Speirs travelled to Port Lincoln to help band the chicks there and at Thistle Island. Ervie is named after the town in Scotland where Speirs was born. Every letter and every phone call does help. It is a tragedy and one that did not need to happen!
Blackland Prairie Raptor Rescue posted the following image of a hawk caught up in fishing line. Look closely at the outward damage that line caused and imagine the pain and suffering. This was in Lucas, Texas but it could be anywhere people fish and do not care to clean up after themselves. Please spread the word to anyone you know who fishes. And if you want to do something to help, put bags in your car and pickers (those tools people use to pick up litter) along with gloves. Go for a walk along a shore and clean it up. Take the family. The birds will thank you. They really will!
And now for some really good news.
Port Lincoln has a couple of items. The first is a posting about Port Lincoln fledgling from 2019, Calypso. It seems that she has been spotted a few times with a male. Could this be pair bonding?
And lastly out of Port Lincoln, Ervie is doing more flying and getting stronger. He even flew over houses! The trio – Ervie, Bazza, and Falky – are doing great. All are flying and eating and life is good on the barge.
Ferris Akel’s tour meant a lot to lovers of Big Red today. About a week or ten days ago I posed the question on the Cornell Chatter’s FB page: Has anyone seen Big Red since 16 October? No one had. News came on the Cornell Twitter Page that Karel and Bogette had seen Big Red on 21 November at Beebee Lake. There was a lot of worry.
Everyone on Ferris’s tour were overjoyed to see her back sitting on the building where her ‘throne’ is located.
Oh, she is a beauty and is so dear to everyone. Such joy she has brought to people from around the world. Indeed, at one time, she was said to be ‘the most famous’ Red Tail Hawk. I am certain she still is! Ferris also spotted Arthur so everything is right with the world in Ithaca.
Soon the NZ DOC will select the Royal Cam family for the 2021-22 season. I wonder who they will choose?
And remember to mark your calendars. #1031 Iniko will be released back into the territory where she hatched in Big Sur on 4 December. It will be so exciting to seeRedwood Queen and Kingpin’s daughter return to the wild after surviving the Dolan Fire in 2020. This is one of those events that will warm your heart. No one believed Iniko could survive that fire. Her father, Kingpin, is believed to have perished but the wee one lived. Jubilant is the word I am looking for – everyone associated with the rescue and the release will be jubilant for a long, long time.
Take care everyone. I am thankful for each and everyone of you because you love and care for the environment where our beloved birds live and hunt and raise their families. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or their FB Pages where I took my screen shots: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Ferris Akel Tours, Blackland Prairie Raptor Rescue, and Cal Falcons.
There has been no specific information on the precise time that Grinnell will be released on the grounds of the University of California at Berkeley. The numbers of viewers is beginning to pick up on the three streaming cams at The Campanile belonging to Annie and Grinnell. Everyone is watching and waiting to welcome Grinnell home.
This was the latest posting regarding his health:
I know that everyone is excited and hopeful that Grinnell will reclaim his territory and Annie.
Here is a link to the cameras:
It is just coming up to 9am PT. Good luck Grinnell! All of our eyes are on your today, little buddy. Stay safe. Find Annie!
Will bring updates later today. I am really, really hopeful that Grinnell will be successful and not injured in his retaking of his territory today.
It was a great discussion by Lynn and Sean from Cal Falcons and Cheryl from Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre on Grinnell. I taped it to post here but the file size is too large. Lynn and Sean archived the discussion. Here is the link:
Grinnell is the male Peregrine Falcon whose mate is Annie. Their territory for the past five years has been the campus of the University of California at Berkeley in San Francisco. Their scrape box is in the most iconic building on campus, The Campanile.
On 29 October, Grinnell was observed to be in a territorial fight with two intruder falcons. He was found 1.5 miles away from the Campanile grounded. The eight year old falcon was taken into care. Grinnell had minor surgery related to an injury on his wing. He also had a significant injury to one of his legs, his top beak end was also broken and there were other injuries related to the fight. Grinnell is on medication twice a day that includes anti-inflammatories, anti-parasites, as well as antibiotics. It is not clear if Grinnell could have survived without human interference since he was grounded. He was given fluids and was very hungry and ate on his own instead of being fed by clinic staff. This means that they put food in his hospital cage and he eats when he wants. They checked the sutures in his wing and the wound has not completely healed. They will continue to check that and Grinnell’s parasite load. All birds have parasites at various levels and of various kinds. They do not know for certain but Grinnell will be in care for another week to a month. He has to be fully healed and capable of hunting and flying before he will be released. His beak tip is keratin like our fingernails and will grow back. It is not like a broken bone. At this time they do not know where they will release Grinnell. The experts note that if Grinnell wants to return to his territory even if they released him 100 miles away with the falcon’s keen navigation systems he would find home. So there will be continuing discussions about an appropriate location.
One of the most asked questions was: what about Annie? First, Annie and Grinnell have been together for 5 years raising chicks. Grinnell is an excellent falcon dad partaking in many activities raising the chicks – more than most falcon males who simply do the hunting. This is a big plus for Grinnell. Annie does not know where Grinnell is. He is just gone. Not there. Annie is currently maintaining her territory on top of the Campanile. Annie has been scraping in the scrape box, displaying breeding behaviours towards the ‘new guy’. The falcon experts say that Annie will not likely enter into a fight with the interloper. She does not want to get injured and not be able to breed next year. If Grinnell returns to fight the interloper, she will likely stay out of it to avoid injury. Someone asked if Annie would know Grinnell if he returned. The answer was ‘certainly yes’. Annie would know Grinnell by a sound of his voice miles away. But right now, Annie just knows that Grinnell is not there. She does not know where he is.
Annie in the scrape box. 5 November 2021.
I hope you will listen to the discussion. The questions and the responses were quite informative.
There has been an update on the Joburg Spotted Owls – the foster owlet put in the box with a mother and her two. It has been returned to the box once and has jumped out again. It is now in the garden of the owners. There is a carport and the parents will continue to feed it. They are opting not to return it to the nest box because it will only jump out again.
The weather was grand. 10 degrees C. I visited two of our parks in search of Wood Ducks and was not disappointed. At one there were 25 Mallards, 2 Wood Ducks, and about 400 Canada Geese. At the other there were 6 Wood Ducks, a few Mallards, and about 50 Canada Geese. I will post images tomorrow.
Take care everyone. I hope your weekend is starting off well. See you soon.
Diamond slept in the scrape box last night. She continues to limp and her wing feather was drooping a bit this morning when she was feeding Yarruga. That said, the fact that she fed Yarruga instead of having Xavier undertake it seems, in my untrained eyes, to indicate that she is feeling a wee bit better.
It is a bit foggy in Orange. Diamond and Yarruga are waiting for Xavier to deliver breakfast.
Here comes Xavier! Yarruga is 28 days old. She knows when the parents make certain sounds that a prey delivery is coming. Look, she is calling with Diamond.
Xavier has arrived.
Sweet Xavier. Diamond is pulling the breakfast over. Yarruga doesn’t think she is going fast enough and wants to help! Diamond did not stumble nearly as much as she did yesterday. That is so good to see.
Bye Dad. In the image below you can see that the right wing is a bit droopy.
However, in the image below, taken 5 seconds later, the wing tips are crossing as they should. This is very good.
Breakfast is over. Both need to clean their beaks.
Ah, Yarruga has found some scraps on the gravel. It will not be long until she is wanting to self-feed all the time. She is really growing fast.
Is there another word for cute? Maybe it is Yarruga.
At this stage she reminds me of a Christmas ornament I have that is a fluffy sheep.
Grinnell who is 8 years old and has been the mate with Annie for 5 years on University of California at Berkley’s Campanile had to undergo minor surgery and is being treated with antibiotics. One of the spokespeople said, ““Raptors heal relatively quickly … so Grinnell might be fit enough to start working on moving and flights so that he can be released,” Schofield said. “He will need to put on some extra weight to make sure he can fly strong enough to be released.” The clinic at Walnut Creek will release Grinnell back on the UC-Berkeley Campus but not at the Campanile as the intruders are there.
I have quoted ‘intruders’ as indicated in the news bulletin. This morning UC Cal Falcon cam is only stating one male falcon and that it went into the scrape and is wanting to court Annie.
UC Cal Falcons will hold a Q & A session giving updates on Grinnell’s condition and the territory issue on Friday at 2pm. If you are interested, you can set a reminder on the link below.
I will be reporting on the announcement as soon as the session is over if you cannot attend on line.
Send good positive energy out to these two amazing birds. Swift recovery and back home with Annie, Grinnell.
It is sunny and just a lovely cool day on the Canadian Prairies. All of the Slate Eyed Juncos are gone from the garden but 3. Junior got to enjoy the corn cob this morning without Dysons’s interference, and there are still some Canada Geese on the golf course nearby. Most of the migrating birds have now left despite the fact that it will be 10 degrees C on Friday.
Take care everyone. Thanks for joining me.
Thank you to Charles Sturt Falcon Cam and Cilla Kinross for their streaming cam where I took my screen shots.
