23 April 2024
Good Morning Everyone,
It was a beautiful spring day on the Canadian Prairies! The hundreds of Dark-eyed Juncos remain in the garden. They hop and hop, scratching and pecking trying to find seeds. They are adorable. We will enjoy them for awhile longer and then they will leaving, heading north to return again in the fall.
Calico has asked me to post her ‘new look’. She is now down a little over three pounds. She runs down the hall, through the galley kitchen and straight up to the top of the cat tree. The energy and the joy in play have returned!
In California, it was sheer happiness as the second eyas of Archie and Annie hatched on Earth Day, too!
Archie meets his chicks for the first time.
The chicks first meal.
Can’t get enough of Annie and Archie!
There will be a third one soon!
And then there were three for breakfast on Tuesday! Way to go Archie and Annie!
The first eyas has hatched at Cromer Peregrines, too!
At Mispillion Harbour, Della loves bringing things to the nest she shares with Warren. Sometimes it is something yellow, Della loves yellow. Sometimes it is something else..
The pair also have a full clutch of three eggs.
I did not get a chance to watch Tuffy as closely on Monday. He is definitely being fed. Ruffy is so big compared to Tuffy and requires much more food that it often feels as if Tuffy gets short-changed.
A nice meal at sundown and Tuffy will get a nice crop and go to sleep dreaming of more fish for breakfast.
Heidi reports that there is a possible pip in one of the eggs at the Captiva Osprey nest of Jack and Edie. This would be a welcome surprise. Some have said that they do not have late hatches in the Barrier Islands – so let us wait and see!
And it was a hatch! Welcome to the world little miracle osplet. We now know that opera eggs can hatch with a live chick this late in the season on the Barrier Islands.
Surprise! Two chicks at Lake Murray. Wow.
First egg or Mr and Mrs UV at Kielder Forest nest 5A on the 22nd at 19:47.
The Ospreys are returning to Finland. Some are finding open water with snow melting while other nests are covered with no ospreys yet (smart).
#1 Nest: The male, Ura, arrived on 14 April at 1516.
#2 Nest, Satakunta: Nothing
#3 Nest: Nothing
#4 Nest: Nemo, the male arrived on 8 April with Nuppu, the female, arriving on the 14th.
#5, LS: Roni and Sara are together. Sara arrived on the 16th with Roni arriving on the 21/22nd.
Janakkalan: nothing
Juurusvesi: nothing
Muonion: nothing
Aran and Elen at the Glaslyn nest in Wales have their first egg.
The second egg has been laid at Dahlgren for Helen and Doug.
What is happening at nest 1 at Loch Arkaig? What is wrong with Prince
Poor Affric. Two males. One female. One nest.
Meanwhile on the other Loch Arkaig nest, Louis is taking very good care of Dorcha.
This is the situation at Frenchman’s Creek Ospreys. The nest is full of fish, the older two osplets are alive and self-feeding. The streaming cam is up and running with notices from Frenchman’s Creek about stealing content, etc. You can go to their site on YouTube to check on the osplets. So far they are alive and it looks as if they are sleeping on fish!
In Latvia, Milda is in the midst of a snow storm. She is trying to care for her two eggs by herself since the absence of Hugo.
The female at the Trempealeau Eagle Nest in Wisconsin has done a top rate job caring for her two little eaglets all by herself! She had to leave alone to hunt for them so the three could eat. They survived that and now have their thermal down. Send positive wishes to this nest, please.
Oh, thank you Stephen Basly. I know we have talked about Meadow but let us go back to ND17. Starved by its two older siblings. We know that he had to eat skin and bones to survive and then he fell from the nest. Spent 3 full days and a bit more on the ground and then, thankfully, Humane Indiana Wildlife rescued ‘our baby’ – he was everyone’s baby. ND17 survived. They taught him to fly and hunt and returned him to a spot near the nest site where he engaged with his parents.
I want to thank Trudi Kron who has been keeping a close eye on the Mum at the JB Sands Wetlands Bald Eagle nest. You will recall that Mum injured her foot and was unable to care for JBS20 for a few days. Dad did a heroic job and continues to help out. But Trudi got a great screen capture and enlarged it and it is showing improvement and healing! Great news.
Watch for Swampy to fledge anytime! S/he is climbing higher on the nest and really working those wings.
The trio at Decorah North are getting their blood feathers. They are growing so fast. It seems only yesterday that they were white little chicks sitting in the morning sun.
There are three eggs at the Great Bay Osprey nest in New Hampshire. The third was laid on the 18th of April.
‘A’ has been keeping a wishful eye on the nest of Angel and Tom. “A male red-tailed hawk that we believe to be Tom just flew onto Angel’s nest. He left after 15 seconds, and there is some debate now about the tail markings, which were apparently different from those of the RTH that shared beakies with Angel on 5 April at 09:02:08. Others say it was definitely Tom, based on the confidence with which he entered the nest and based on the fact that this is Tom and Angel’s territory. There is a view that Tom’s plumage is still changing, even in a the two and a half weeks since 5 April, and that this was definitely Tom.
Obviously, we all very much want it to be Tom, and it does confirm the report I made of hearing RTH vocals when I was typing my earlier email to have been accurate. It’s now 11:42 on the Tennessee nest and I can again hear the sound of a RTH very nearby. This is probably what I heard originally when I lost the TS – it sure sounds like it. If I check the PTZ cam at around the 11:42 onwards TS (the noises are continuing), I may be able to spot whether it is Angel there or whether it is Tom. or even whether it’s neither of them and some visitor instead.
I will keep you posted, but I would call that a very hopeful sighting, and I am fairly confident it was Tom. Talons crossed. He (or she, if he was accompanied by Angel) is continuing to vocalise, and it sounds as though the vocals are coming from either the nest tree itself or somewhere within one or two trees either side of that microphone. It sure sounds extremely close. I am hopeful. “
The three Bald eaglets at the Sutton Centre in Bartlesville, Oklahoma are thriving.
Three Osplets at Venice Golf are all feathered and fine. Gosh, isn’t this a relief.
Our darling Ervie.
‘EJ’ wrote to remind me that Any Tan’s book on her backyard birds is being released tomorrow. There will be many articles and there is a wonderful interview with Tan on YouTube. My copy should be in the mailbox by Wednesday. I am so looking forward to reading it, but most of all seeing the drawings that Tan made of ‘her’ birds. She took classes, taught herself. That should encourage all of us to look closer, keep a nature journal, and get really involved with the wildlife right around us.
EJ sent this article:
Here is the link to the chat:
Another senseless death due to a power pole. This time a White-stork mother with five eggs on a nest. The male stayed for two days incubating and then eggs were removed. Power poles kill. Every new install should be safe at the outset – every old pole should be retrofitted so it does not harm wildlife. Yes, there are a lot of poles, but the solutions are often simple as shown to use many times by Dave Hancock of Hancock Wildlife Foundation and Christian Sasse. So sad. It happened in Germany.
Thank you so much for being with me today. Stop in and see Annie and Archie’s little fluff balls. Turn the sound up to get the full impact during a feeding. Smile. Little falcons can quickly take away the glum of the day. Take care everyone. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their notes, posts, images, articles, videos, and streaming cams: ‘A, Geemeff, EJ, H, PB’, Cal Falcons, SK Hideaways, Heidi McGrue, Sharon Pollock, Mooring Park Ospreys, Joanna Dailey, Lake Murray Ospreys, Finnish Osprey Foundation, Bywyd Gwylld Glaslyn, Dahlgren Osprey Cam, Geemef, Frenchman’s Creek, LDF, Aiva Vantere, Stephen M. Basly, Trudi Kron, Raptor Resource Project, Window to Wildlife, PLO, Npr.org, and VGCCO, NY Audubon.
