4 May 2022
Gosh, it was sure nice to end the day on Tuesday seeing the Mum and the two osplets at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest with huge crops.
Food coma for the kids and some fish leftover for Mum! Nice. I really hope that today turns out as good as yesterday for these two.
It really is unclear again what is going on this morning. A headless piece of fish was brought to the nest by the male around 09:00. He did not feed the youngsters. Middle was right up there hungry chewing on the edge of the fish. Once again he is looking around. Is it another day of intruders causing havoc with fish deliveries and feedings? Is Mum off chasing the interloper away?
The chicks ate well and went to bed full. Ideally they are fed more often and early morning would be ideal to keep them hydrated. This is also a nice size fish so everyone gets some.
We wait to see how this sorts itself.
Intruders or interlopers are causing mischief at the nest of Richmond and Rosie, still. Indeed, there were five! They have not let Rosie or Richmond alone this breeding season and soon there will be three osplets to feed.
Miss a day or two and there are more falcons hatching! There are four at the Salisbury Cathedral in the UK. Oh, so well-behaved and cute.
There are now five eyases at the Peregrine Falcon scrape in Manchester, NH. The three oldest all hatched on the 28th of April with the wee ones on 1 May and 2 May. Often all the eggs will not hatch, – but, they did this year.
They will all be fine.
It is 11:16 nest time and there have already been three feedings!
Here is a link to this camera at Manchester.
Nancy has been on and off her perch this morning at the MN-DNR Bald Eagle nest. I have not seen a feeding. There appears to be a little food left on the nest for her and E1.
Lady Hawk did a tribute for Harry and E2 at the MN-DNR nest. He has now been away nearly a full 8 days. Another interloper/intruder is assumed. And another siblicide.
Iris, the oldest Osprey in the world, has an egg. Right now she is just as happy as she can be! Sometimes go off in this fantasy that maybe Louis will actually help her this year and not just feed Star and her chicks at the baseball park.
I wonder what the status of the Clark Fork River is this year? You might recall that last year it was almost dry in places with lots of beautiful trout dying because of the hot water. I would love to give them some of our water if it would help! If only it were that easy.
The two Red-tail Hawks at the Presidio in San Francisco are fine this morning. They are a little itchy and both of them are waiting for breakfast.
Everyone is soaked at the Dulles-Greenway Bald Eagle nest in Virginia. Our tiny eaglet of Martin and Rosa grew and is now self-feeding. Blink.
Prey delivery for the eaglet came at 09:07.
The Pittsburgh-Hayes triplets are drying out after being soggy yesterday like the Dulles-Greenway eaglet.
Spirit is getting almost as big as Mama Jackie! What a gorgeous nest they have at Big Bear Valley.
Do you remember sitting and holding your breath wishing that the egg would hatch successfully after Jackie and Shadow not having any chicks for two years? Now look at her. Spirit did hatch and it was 3 March. She is 62 days old today! Wow. Not ready to fledge but getting there. In California, the average age for fledging is 12 weeks. This also depends on the amount of prey, the sex of the eaglet, and the timing of the hatching.
There is an excellent report on the different times of hatching and fledging for Bald Eagles by latitude. Go to avianreport.com/baby-bald-eagles
One of the eaglets is self-feeding at the West End and doing a pretty good job of it. Looks like Kana’kini to me as she is larger than Sky or Ahota.
River brought a fish in and fed the two eaglets on the Dale Hollow nest. Big is really beginning to flap its wings while sitting on the railing. 66 Days old.
Most of us can’t be in San Francisco on 6 May for hatch day for Annie, Alden, and Grinnell. No worries. Sean and Lynn of CalFalcons will be holding another one of their great Q & As. Here is the information:
We are actually one day away from the first anticipated hatch day at Rutland Water’s Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 (11) and Maya. The window on the three eggs hatching is: Egg 1: 5th to 12th May; Egg 2: 8th to 15th May; and Egg 3: 11th to 18th May.
For those of you that do not know this couple, they are considered super Osprey parents! They consistently fledge all of their chicks. They have been together since 2015 and in six years they fledged 20 chicks – that doesn’t count this year!
It has been drizzly in Ithaca at the Red-tail hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur. Big Red has the four wee ones comfortably under here so they will not get wet. They cannot regulate their temperature yet and this is so important! Warm and Dry.
Fingers crossed for the osplets at the UFlorida-Gainesville nest today. Let us hope that Mum returns to feed the babes soon. (Gosh, I wish these dads would also feed the chicks…it would be so helpful).
Thank you so much for joining me today. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures today: Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Pix Cams, Montana Osprey Project, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, MN-DNR, Cal Falcons, Rutland Water LRWT, DHEC, Explore.org and The Institute for Wildlife Studies, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Peregrine Networks Live, Salisbury Cathedral Falcons, Presidio Trust, and Dulles-Greenway.