29 April 2022
In all the flurry of the goslings jumping at Decorah yesterday and the fourth egg hatching for Big Red and Arthur, there was one thing that I missed. Please send your positive wishes to Nancy and the two eaglets on the MN-DNR nest. Sadly, Harry has been missing since Tuesday evening, the 26th.
The two eaglets are old enough for Nancy to go out hunting. No doubt she will take care of them and her. Harry was such a fantastic mate. This is very, very sad news.
Everything is going great at the nest of Big Red and Arthur. Big Red is such a fantastic mother. She has them all lined up to eat and she knows to get L1 fed full so it goes to sleep and the three others can eat. They are all doing well and Arthur has the larder packed with prey.
They are adorable. Big Red brought the greenery in this morning. The needles and the bark have oils and vapors that discourage the growth of fungal spores. They also retard bacteria growth and repel insects. Big Red and Arthur tend to get their greenery from Hemlock, White Pine, and Cypress while hawks in other areas, such as the West, select Juniper and Douglas Fir.
The blood on the back of the wee one is from prey. It is not injured!
Precious. They hatched on the 21, 24, 25, and 28 of April.
Here is news from Winnipeg. Isn’t she gorgeous? This is Ella and Dennis Swayze – an excellent wildlife photographer – caught this image of her and posted it giving us an update on Ella’s scrape. We have four eggs! I will be posting the link to the streaming cam as soon as it is live.
Out of habit and concern, I continue to check the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta and the Two Harbours nest of Chase and Cholyn to make sure all of the eaglets are present.
There is Chase with TH1 today. That bush blew in and will probably leave when gusts arrive. The baby is fine from its fall. Hungry and growing and losing the few dandelions that were on its head.
All three eaglets are at home with Thunder this afternoon. Hopefully they will all stay on top of that cliff nest until it is time to fledge.
I am not 100% certain but I believe it was Middle that got the fish. He saw the adult coming and immediately was ready to mantle the delivery! Good work. Big looked on from where she was perched on the nest rim.
The eaglet was quick – hungry! Notice the crop on the eaglet perched on the rim of the nest. You can see that crop better – and how big it is – in the second image below.
That was a great mantling job!!!!!!!
Middle is really going to enjoy that fish.
Why do I think it is Middle? Middle never stops chirping when it is eating. Everything looks fine at Dale Hollow.
There is still a bit more of a white terminal band on Middle – not really a band as in hawks and falcons – but enough of a white ruffle to still identify.
There are three eaglets at the Notre Dame St Patrick’s County Park nest in South Bend, Indiana. ND15 is the oldest. ND16 is one day younger than ND15. ND17 is 5 days younger than ND15. So there is a span of five days between the oldest and the youngest. So far they have had a squirrel and a turtle today.
Little Bob is sound asleep with a really nice crop!
Here is a link to their streaming cam:
Still having eaglet withdrawal, there is also the Decorah North nest of Mr North and Mrs DNF. The eaglets are approximately one month old and cute as buttons! Are buttons cute? Who started that saying?
Here is the link to the Decorah North camera:
It is really hot on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest today. The two osplets had crops early on but I cannot rewind the camera to find the time of the feeding. It appears that they would very much like more fish brought in!
You can see the filled crop squish out at the side as the osplet presses against the twig.
Trying to stay cool.
They sure can make one nervous hanging over the edge of that nest like that!
Today, there are two nestlings at the Osprey nest of Jack and Harriet in King William, Virginia. Congratulations!
Something to put a smile on your face for a Friday. The smallest at Pittsburgh-Hays has discovered ‘the Quarterback Sneak’. Look at it grab those bites between Mum’s legs!
Lori Covert has been watching Andy and Lena and Middle (LittleO) and Little (MiniO). Andy brought a fish to the nest for Middle (Little O). Little or MiniO was seen right on Andy’s tail by Lori when he was diving. He made the dive about 10 ft or 2.5 metres from her kayak!!!!!!! What luck. He subsequently got a fish for Little or MiniO. Both kids fed. Everyone is OK at Captiva. Fantastic.
This is how Lori described it: “And MiniO was literally right on his tail feathers for the whole dive! Afterward they circled around for a couple of minutes then MiniO went back to the perch and Andy delivered the fish to LittleO.”
An article from The Smithsonian Magazine on H5N1 Avian Flu:
Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams, FB pages or Twitter feeds where I took my screen captures: MN-DNR, Cornell RTH, MB Birding, Explore.org, DHEC, ND-LEEF, UF-G Ospreys, Dahlgren Ospreys, Pix Cams, and Captiva Ospreys and Window for Wildlife.