It has rained again so hard in our area that many farmers will simply not be able to plant anything this year. The flood that was here is still present in several locations and has now also flooded other areas. This is the wettest it has been in the history of our province! Several months ago I was longing for the sound of rain. It can stop now, please!
Right now there is a break. It is gusty but the animals have been coming to the garden. Mr Crow has been here for breakfast, Dyson has come to help eat the food put out for Hedwig (Dyson seems to want to eat everyone’s food but his own!) and Hedwig is here somewhere. There is lots of grass. We have been doing ‘No Mow May’ to help the insects get established so Hedwig can hide in the grass in certain areas! The rain has really made everything grow. I also noticed that the baby Chipping Sparrows have come for their White Millet. They want to eat in the sort of house feeder on the top deck on the red carpet. Go figure. Perhaps they don’t like to be lower with the adults???
After seeing ND-17 with a huge crop and knowing he ate well yesterday evening, I slept well. I checked and no food deliveries yet at the nest so I am hoping that lots of food will come in the afternoon and evening.
Little Bit sitting like a Buddha on the left. Conserving energy. Waiting for food. The winds are blowing 15-25 mph so not sure what the condition of the water at the river is like.
Congratulations go out to Jackie and Shadow and to Spirit for that beautiful fledge early this morning! No worries. Jackie and Shadow will keep close tabs on their fledgling teaching her everything she needs to know to survive in a world she has just entered.
There she goes! It was 05:40 ish.
More congratulations go out to Louis and Dorcha for their first hatch of the 2022 breeding season at Loch Arkaig! Louis sees his baby for the first time and immediately gets to brood! What a great dad he is! So happy. Two more eggs to go!!!!!!!!
He was called ‘Lonesome Louis’ til Aila came along and what beautiful families they raised. Now this is his second year with Dorcha. Speaking of Aila, everyone who watched her raise her chicks with Louis loved her. A tribute has been put together (get the tissues) for the three years she was at Loch Arkaig.
If you didn’t catch it in my blog yesterday, the only eaglet at the National Arboretum nest, the last chick or Mr President and Lotus has been given the name Takoda which means “Friend to All”. Wonder when DC9 will fledge?
Takoda is a beautiful eaglet. It is sad that his mother, Lotus, is not here to see her chick leave the nest. Mr President has really taken over all the jobs and has made sure this eaglet is thriving despite not having two parents.
Gorgeous Bobs at the Dfyi Osprey nest of Idris and Telyn – so much fish on the nest that sometimes they don’t wake up to eat! Seriously.
CJ7 is higher in the nest today and she is busy moving nesting material around her in the front. We might just have a hatch coming at Poole Harbour! It will be Cj7’s first – she waited a long time for a mate, just like Louis at Loch Arkaig.
Blue 022 has arrived at the nest but CJ7 isn’t getting up yet. Both will be first time parents. Blue 022 is just three years old! He arrived too late as a 2 year old first returnee at the Poole Harbour nest to have a clutch last year. So thrilled the two joined together again this year. A historical first when that egg hatches!
Dylan has been bringing trout to Seren and the three Bobs at the Llyn Clywedog nest. Everything seems to be going fine there.
I watched Blue NC0 at the Loch of the Lowes and Little Bob definitely got fed lots of bites. So everything is going alright at that nest. Thank goodness. She is going around to every beak with fish checking. Big Bob is full and little got food before mom horked the tail. Little Bob would have liked a few more bites but he waits til the Big ones eat, often.
The one to watch. Kana’kini at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta will be one of the juvenile bald eagles to fledge this week amongst many.
Hatches and fledges. Names. There will be more of all three all week! I am off to try and beat the next bout of rain and get my walk in at the nature centre. Take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this morning!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: ND-LEEF, Friends of Loch Arkaig, Woodland Trust and the People’s Post Code Lottery, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Dfyi Osprey Project, Explore.org, FOBBV, CarnyX Wild, NADC-AEF, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
This has been the wettest year in Manitoba history. Today we are in another special weather situation with the expectation of 30-55 more mm of rain in a province and City where there is hardly room for water to go. There will certainly not be any wild fires we hope this year!
At 20:01:24 the adult at the ND-LEEF leaves the two larger siblings and moves over to where Little Bit 17 has been feeding. Both big sibs were left behind.
They do not take any prey with them. In my last post, I was certain that Little Bit was self-feeding on something while Mum fed the other two elsewhere. When Mum gets over to Little Bit she starts feeding. On occasion she gives the larger sibling a bite. So Little Bit 17 did feed itself some fish and then Mum came to help it keeping the other two back.
At 20:04:34 a big sibling reaches in and grabs the tail. It is possible then that Little Bit 17 for 6 or 7 minutes. Going from nothing to that – we will keep it and hope that there is more food tomorrow. It is very much apparent that the female is aware of what is going on – . I do love how she shut the two bigs ones out. They have eaten today.
I also got a chance to get some images of Little Bit’s had. 16 has definitely been pecking and pulling. More feathers are gone and there is also one beak hole. This is what E1 did to E2 at the MN-DNR nest. ND17 Little Bit can fly without its head feathers but we don’t want an infection.
A half day at a time. Deep breaths.
On Monday morning, Little Bit pulled a chipmunk over to eat it at 09:08:50. I thought – bonus – he can do this! But only a minute later he was attacked by 16. Today the eaglets on this nest are 60, 59, and Little Bit is 55 days old.
Later Little bit 17 played tug-o-war with 15 for the chipmunk. I know it is 15 because 17 and 15 get along well. 16 is the odd one out – the most viscous which leads me to believe that 16 is a female.
Continue to send your warm and positive wishes to this little one. At 55 days old and having gone through a period of 10 days of good eating, the issue is clearly the amount of prey delivered to this nest. It is quite insufficient. I know it is a holiday and it might not be quiet on the river and the trails around this nest. We live in hope that something good will happen. That good would be the Dad bringing in something for the older ones and the Mum arriving and getting Little Bit at the other end feeding it. This is a brave little eaglet and there is no reason for it to be in this condition other than lack of food deliveries.
Someone posted that there had been a ‘dust up’ (my wording) between a couple of the siblings at the Manton Bay nest of Blue 33 and Maya. This seemed interesting to me and I went to check. The time indicated was 17:33. Blue 33 had delivered a fish and it was alive. The fish flapped and hit Big Bob. She straightened up thinking that it was Middle Bob on the other side that had hit her!
That is a pretty big fish!
Notice that huge crop on the big sibling to the left of the fish and Maya.
Big Bob is startled by the flapping fish and pulls back.
He looks over to Middle Bob and tells him what for for hitting him. And then a tiny dust up??
No reason for any of the Bobs to fight on this nest. They are always full. I do imagine the itchy feathers add to them being slightly touchy especially if they think another sibling has hit them on purpose.
Maya has them all full and tucked. Angels. Little angels.
Richmond and Rosie would like you to help name their two chicks for this 2022 season! Here is the announcement and you must post on the SF Ospreys FB page thread.
Aran and Mrs G welcomed Little Bob today!
While Big and Middle were ready for their afternoon tea, Little Bob would rather sleep. Hatching takes a lot of energy and we all know that they have enough to eat from the egg for about 24 hours.
We are now waiting for Louis and Dorcha at Loch Arkaig and for CJ7 and Blue 022 at Poole Harbour!!!!!
It was raining earlier at the Dyfi nest of Idris and Telyn. Looks like Flounder has been on the menu most of the day.
A Mullet just came in for the Bobs afternoon tea. No surprise. Big Bob is up at the table first!
All up at the table now.
At the Loch of the Lowes, everyone is up having their tea. You can see the difference in ages between Laddie and Blue NC0s little ones and Idris and Telyn’s. The oldest at the Loch of the Lowes is now changing plumage to go into the Reptile stage. Middle and Little Bobs are doing well.
Seren and Dylan continue to keep up with the fish and the three Bobs at Llyn Clywedog are up there for their tea. So cute!
CJ7 looking over the edge at Poole Harbour. Her and Blue 022 have been caught staring down at the nest. Can they hear the chicks now? Bets are being taken on when the first egg will hatch – many say today or at the latest tomorrow.
The other nest that is being watched closely is Loch Arkaig, the home of Louis and Dorcha. It could be a race between them and Poole Harbour on who has the first hatch of the two nests.
It is 37 days today for the first Poole Harbour egg. I am thinking tomorrow!
The Ls are restless. They want to flap and run and it is pretty crowded on the light stand nest of Big Red and Arthur at Cornell. Their lovely juvenile plumage is looking fabulous.
Big Red and Arthur are welcoming Monday morning by sitting on the light stand together while the chicks use up some of their energy flapping and running.
Just look at those cute Ls. So who is who? Bottom Row: L1 (left), L4 (right). You can still tell L4 because of the white head easily. Top Row: L2 (left) and L3 (right). These babies have the most beautiful peachy bibs and look at the rust coloured belly bands. Lovely.
Iris slept on her perch last night. She has really been bringing in some whoppers. What a great fisher she is. I am so thrilled that despite the eggs being gone Iris returns to the nest so we can see her. It is extremely reassuring.
‘S’ took some great screen captures of Iris on 25 May. I meant to share them with everyone that day and well – somehow they got a little down in the pile. Forever grateful for these great close up images to share. Thank you ‘S’.
Want to give a shout out to the Manitoba Peregrine Recovery Project for their great work. You can follow Pip and Ella and their three chicks on Twitter @mbperegrines
Ella is feeding three little chicks – imagine posted by Peregrine Chick on Twitter if you want to follow the action. Chick 1 and 2 are 24 hours apart and chick 3 is 36 hours apart. Nice and close!
This is Dad, Pip, in the scrape on top of one of our local hotels.
At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest and Mum has been in and fed the kids. They are so gorgeous, so alert, and so civil. Oh, how I wish this for ND-LEEF.
Ironically she pulls that fish up and it seems as if by magic fish come out of the side of the nest.
Mum continues to feed until all of the fish is gone at 08:51 – both chicks are happy. She was with her two big babies feeding them for about an hour. Terrific.
The Peregrine Falcon chicks are being fed. What a noise inside the scrape at Manchester NH. You cannot see anything in there anymore the chicks are so big.
Eyases have been fed at the San Jose City Hall scrape and one of them is looking like a big Hulk.
Wow! Just look at the size of the Presidio Trust’s Red-tail Hawks in San Francisco. At one time we were concerned about the second hatch – no more. Great image of these two. you can see the tail very clearly (there are several smudges on this camera – ugh). Four clear dark bands. We have a bit to go til fledge.
We are on fledge watch for the Dulles-Greenaway chick of Martin and Rosa today.
We are also on fledge watch for Spirit at Big Bear. Spirit is picking and food crying at Jackie.
Shadow brings in breakfast and both parents and stay with their beautiful daughter while she eats. These moments must be bittersweet.
It will not be long til we are waiting for the Three Amigos at the West End nest of Thunder and Akecheta to fledge.
Mr President has been in to feed DC9 at the National Arboretum nest in Washington, DC. Dad has done a great job being a single parent.
Lots to come, lots happening. Thank you for joining me this morning. Take care. Continue to send all your positive wishes to the ND-LEEF nest. Hopefully fish will come and Mum will feed Little Bit 17. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB or Twitter posts where I took my screen captures: Cornell Bird Lab RTH, LRWT, SF Ospreys, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Loch of the Lowes and Woodland Trust, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Lock Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, Montana Osprey Project, MB Peregrine Network, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Dulles-Greenaway Eagles, FOBBV, San Jose City Hall Falcons, Presidio Trust, Explore.org, and NADC-AEF.
Saturday was an incredible day for a long walk at the nature centre. Thankfully individuals have donated benches in their loved one’s names and they are scattered about the trails. Much of Ft Whyte has been covered with water and there are areas that are more wetlands than anything else. Those are the interesting places. The Red-winged Blackbirds and the Yellow-rumped Warblers seemed to love eating the seeds? of the bull rushes. It was a fascinating day. Way across the lake were two adult Double-breasted Cormorants and nine juveniles. The Cormorants make their nests on islands or in the tops of trees or platforms. Normally there are 5-7 eggs that are incubated for 25-59 days. This couple seems to have hatched 9!
They were at a great distance and the sky was getting very dark. Not touched up but a lovely scene.
The usuals were around – beautiful Yellow Warblers, American Goldfinches, the Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker.
What a striking difference between the male Red-winged Blackbird and their female mates, below. She is having a wonderful time gleaning for insects and seeds on the ground.
This female American Redstart flitted around the Cattail branches. She was very difficult to photograph! She was hovering around the pools of water foraging for insects.
The Canada Geese are still incubating. No one seems to know when the eggs are due to hatch at Ft Whyte! (or not anyone that I could find).
You often see evidence of the woodpeckers presence but, most times, you do not actually see them. So to see both a Hairy and a Downy over by the songbird feeding station was quite a treat.
A female Hairy Woodpecker.
The female Downy Woodpecker.
In fact, today was a fun day because so many of the female birds were out feeding. What a joy!
I had hoped to head out today, Sunday, but right now it is raining. The birds in the garden are not happy! Hopefully the sun will come out later for them and they can dry off and I can go for my walk.
Sadly, Saturday was not a good day on the ND-LEEF nest. The lack of prey coming to this nest is becoming highly problematic. The two older siblings have figured out how to self-feed. Little Middle 17 had an advantage when they didn’t know how to do this! There was someone on chat that made a comment that Little Bit 17 had some food from Dad last evening – a heron?? I did not see it. Perhaps some of you did. My notes indicate 48 hours without substantial food. Let us hope that the fish get on the nest tomorrow and are plentiful. In fact, one of the older siblings – I do think it is the Middle one 16 – attacked Little Bit today and Mum flew down from the branch and intervened. We need fish on this nest quickly. Send all positive thoughts to Little Bit 17.
Two fish have so far come to the ND-LEEF nest on Sunday morning. The second one right before 10:58 when Mum flies down and feeds 17. Originally the fish was left on the nest but no takers and Little Bit seemed reluctant to eat it. He is staying back in the part beyond the camera. After a few minutes Mum comes down and takes the fish. Little Bit eats. Then in a few minutes 16 steals the fish. How much did Little Bit get? It isn’t clear but when 16 stole the fish, there was only about half of it left. I know Little Bit can eat fast – he has had to. Let us hope he got enough and that another fish comes and then another. We need to get out of this bad loop on this nest. 16 continues to attack Little Bit. 16 is one nasty bird.
If you are at all sensitive, I would not watch this nest for a few days. Let it sort itself out. I am very concerned about the level of hunger and the attacks by 16 on Little Bit.
The eyases on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur are changing by the day. Those juvenile feathers continue to grow and grow. Watch their tails. It is best if they have 5 or more dark tail bands for fledging.
That is little L4 showing off his beautiful wings. Big sister is in front. It is awhile til fledge from the look of the tails!
At the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest, Middle was busy eating a really nice fish. And guess what? He did not share!
This nest is so civilized now. If you just tuned in you could never imagine that the third hatch died from siblicide or that the Middle chick had been beaked and stopped from eating. It is a lovely nest to watch.
Middle was making some headway 9 minutes later. It is hard for the osplets to figure out how to hold the fish down and unzip it at the same time. They need to watch Mum carefully when she digs her beak into the skin and pulls hard!
Both of the osplets have been eating on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest Sunday morning. Each has had a turn at a fish and there are fish on the nest if you look closely – well, pieces of them. These two are healthy and doing so well.
As the sun went down on a beautiful Saturday at the Loch of the Lowes, Blue NC0 was feeding the three nestlings. I am cautiously hopeful for this third hatch. It is a nice strong little one.
It was so windy earlier in the day that Blue NC0 was literally blown off the nest.
It is Sunday morning and Blue NC0 and the trio of Bobs are waiting for Laddie to deliver a fish!
Laddie came through – of course, he did! They have all eaten well and Little Bob felt like he wanted to start a fight. He is a little toughie. LOL. You can see the plumage changing on Big Bob.
Telyn had gone for a break at 0503 and Idris flew in with the breakfast fish two minutes later. He thought he was going to get to feed the Three Bobs but, no. Telyn had a different idea. Gosh, they are so cute…I wish they would stay this soft grey downy chick for awhile longer before becoming a Reptile-Dinosaur showing their DNA chick.
It is quite amazing how quickly they get stronger. Adorable. Nice dark bands around those eyes.
The Dyfi Osprey Project created a video log of the hatching.
Aran and Mrs G now have two Bobs at the Glaslyn Valley Osprey nest. One more egg to go!
These two look like they will be a hand full.
CJ7 and Blue 022 have already made history by laying the first osprey eggs in a nest at Poole Harbour in more than 200 years. The eggs were laid on 23, 26, and 29th of April. That means that the first egg is 36 days old now. I am thinking pip watch in a couple of days?? This morning CJ7 ate her fish off the nest so no hatch yet! Gosh this is going to be a difficult nest to see those historical hatches!
Oh, those three Bobs on the Manton Bay nest of Blue 22 and Maya are getting huge. It seems it was only yesterday that we were worrying that the flapping Perch had killed one or both of the nestlings. It was 13 days ago!
This is such a good nest. A fish is right there when Maya gets the chicks up in the morning. It must surely help to have a stocked lake that is free from leisure vehicles and people.
You can almost hear Maya saying, “Oh, please, just have one more bite.”
Maya looks like she is in shock as Blue 33 arrives with a fish.
And what a fish that was!!!!!!!!!! Oh, gosh, is it going to land on the chicks?
All lined up like the Osprey lads at Port Lincoln last season. No need to fight over food on this nest – everyone is fed regularly til they are full. Would love to send this fish to Little Bit 17.
Blue 33 also brought in some nesting materials this morning and dropped them over the chicks. The look on Maya’s face was priceless!
After Blue flies off, Maya turns and looks at the camera. My goodness she is a beauty.
I haven’t mentioned them for awhile – shame on me. There are three osplets in the Osprey platform at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. They are doing fine and from their heads you can see they are now moving into the Reptilian phase.
Bukachek and Betty have five White Storks this morning in their nest in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. Everyone is so excited. There is one more egg to hatch.
Here is an adorable video of the six storklets at the nest of Jan and Janika!
There are wee ones on the nest of Karl II and Kaia, too. With all the nesting material it is hard to see how many.
It is rainy and blowing at the MN-DNR nest. Nancy has gotten food on the nest and E1, Harriet, continues to do very well. Hopefully Nancy will have a new mate next year. So many of us still miss Harry. What a real shame to lose him – he was only 5 years old. Just starting his life really as an adult. And what a wonderful mate he was while he was with Nancy!
There are way too many nests! And too many things happening. There is Annie looking up at us at 05:53 this morning in San Francisco. She is asking you to pick ‘nice’ names for the two chicks that her and Alden have raised. Suggestions stop and then there will be a vote…it seems that there will not need to be a run off for the name of the male. Grinnell is running away with the numbers! How could it not be Grinnell, seriously?
To suggest a name go to https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu and click on the Facebook tag. Scroll down a few entries and put in your desire names. Suggestions end on the 30th with voting starting immediately for the finalists once they are listed. They are giving us a short time so do not delay choosing your favourites of the short listed. I will try and remind everyone, too.
Take care everyone. Have an absolutely fabulous Sunday. Thank you for joining me today. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Cal Falcons, MN-DNR, Eagle Club of Estonia, Mlade Buky White Storks, Osprey Webcam for Cape Henlopen State Park, LRWT, Poole Harbour Ospreys, Brwyd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Cornell Bird Lab RTH cam, and ND-LEEF.
Do you like condors? If so, then you should be listening to the once monthly Condor discussions and updates from Ventana Wildlife. They take care of Central California’s Condors – Big Sur and Pinnacle. The home of Iniko 1031!
Part of today’s discussion touched on the issue of lead toxicity. The Bay Area has high levels of lead caused by the old mining industries. Because the California Condors and the Buzzards in the areas feed on carrion – dead carcasses – they are susceptible to the lead from the ammunition used in hunting. Did you know that part of the programme of thee Ventana Wildlife Society is to get lead-free zones? Since 2012 they have been providing lead-free ammunition to the farmers and hunters in their area to attempt to eradicate the problem in their area.
Before the pandemic there were 100 California Condors in the Central California area. Today there are 87. That is the bad news along with stories about those special birds lost – some just turning 2 years old, others just getting to their prime and ready to breed. Condors normally live to be 50-60 years old in the wild so these were significant young loses. Those who work with the birds talk about how each is such an individual and how they get to know them so well – losing one is a very personal issue. The good news is that the hatch rates in Central California are catching up with those in Southern California and they are hopeful that next year will be better.
The next discussion is slated for the 30th of June. Here is the link to the presentation of 26 May. Very informative.
Little Bit 17 really deserves a standing ovation. I am so impressed with this wee eaglet on Friday! Little Bit 17 had some big meals on the 26th – the last being an overly stuffed crop at 21:25 Thursday night. Indeed, Little Bit had full crops every day from the 16th of May to the 26th.
It was rainy today. A small fish was dropped off by one of the adults after 20:15. The oldest ND15 got the fish – it was not that big. What was significant was that Little Bit 17 went right up into 15’s face for the entire time Big Bob was eating the fish. Little Bit 17 really earned his name as the ‘Snatch and Grab King’ today, though. Yes, he got a little fish that was dropped – actually one nice piece. But the heroics was when the snatched and grabbed and got the fish tail!!!!!!! I know you don’t believe me. It is true.
There is 17 moving to get right up at the front where the action in. Little Bit is clearly a very brave eaglet that given half a chance can survive in the wild because he is not afraid of the hard work in getting food.
Little Bit 17 showed no fear when ND16 was coming up from behind.
Little Bit has the tail – it still has a nice bit of tender fish left! Go 17!!!!!!
Little Bit 17 is mantling his cache. So far 16 has not noticed that 17 has the fish tail. Remember 16 is also hungry.
Then 16 notices and starts to try and get the piece of fish. 17 mantles harder. 17 will also keep the fish in its beak and mantle turning around and around.
Little Bit gets his treasure over to the other rim of the nest away from 16. However, he is alongside 15 and 15 would very much like to have that fish tail as well.
Little Bit 17 was able to get a few bites of the fish before Big Bob took the tail back but, what a brave little eaglet to go up against both wanting his food. I am so proud of Little Bit. That is really something to go up against these two – just look at how big they are compared to him.
We really need more fish brought on to the nest. If the adults just drop off small fish Little Bit might lose out. He does better when Mum comes in and if he can feed on an opposite side. Little Bit can also self-feed as good or better than the older siblings. So if they are full and there is fish available there is no issue with this ‘Little Eaglet Who Could’ feeding itself! We just need fish!!!!!! Lots of fish. No time for parents to be cutting back the fish. Both of the adults should be out fishing and providing 5 or 6 fish to the nest. We would really see a huge growth spurt in 17 because the other two are levelling off now.
Saturday morning has not been good for Little Bit. The big siblings are really hungry today with so little food since the evening of the 26th. There have been three deliveries: 08:44, 09:01, and 10:54. The power of the bigger siblings was really pronounced. At 08:43 Little Bit was attacked by one of the big siblings. We are now assured that it is not a lack of feather growth on its head but a bigger sibling – I suspect 16 – pulled it out!
The parents at the ND-LEEF nest need to come in with a huge fish and then another one and another to get this back on track after that single day of bad weather.
The two osplets at UFlorida-Gainesville cannot blame the parents for being hungry today. A catfish with its head came on the nest a little after 08:00. Catfish are problematic for the best self-feeders until they figure out how to unzip them. Both chicks had a bit of a go at it and then the fish was moved over to the rim of the nest.
Their looks were priceless. Think they learned a lesson today – keep the fish in the middle of the nest!
Thankfully Dad arrived a few minutes later, at 08:13:52, with a nice chunk of fish.
Looks like Big Bob gets it.
Middle is sniffing around for that fish. Stop for a moment though and look at the dark bands on their tails.
Middle gets it! Remember Middle is really good at snatch and grab. Meanwhile the adult was watching everything that was going on with its kids. There will be more fish today. Th adult did not have a crop so he needs to eat, too.
Middle really enjoyed that chunk of fish. Big did not try to take it nor did she try to attack. This nest really turned around with two nice osplets that are healthy and will fledge. Middle finished the fish tail at 08:48.
I wish every eaglet, storklet, eyas, or hawklet – whatever you wish to call them was fed as well as the two osplets on the nest of Richmond and Rosie in the SF Bay. Today the duo were fed for over half an hour – you can compare this with the length of feeding at some of the nests with much larger offspring. They were so full that when one rolled backwards with a flake of fish in its mouth – it could not get up!
Mom is on the nest at the Port Lincoln Osprey Barge. Is she thinking that Ervie might be going to land with one of his puffers and she wants to be there to chase him away? While it is true that other parents like Diamond and Xavier had to chase Izzi away as breeding season approached, I lived in some kind of ‘delusional’ hope that Mum and Dad might tolerate Ervie at the barge.
Ervie’s talon has not grown in but he has brought a significant size fish to the nest, not just puffers. That demonstrates that he can catch larger fish. We should not worry about that. We will just miss him as he has been such a character – and oh what joy he has brought to our lives!!!!!
Hats off to Dylan and Seren who did a tandem feeding at the Llyn Clywedog Osprey nest today. I had said that I was concerned about the third hatch on this nest – it looks like they were, too. Well done – great parenting! Now if we could only get Laddie to stay in that nest and feed Little Bob (Loch of the Lowes).
This is just wonderful to see. Tears!!!!!
As the sun rises, Seren is feeding the trio. They are all lined up and it looks like everyone will have a wee crop. Nice.
Idris has the fish on the nest and Seren is doing the first feeding of the day at the Dyfi Osprey nest in Wales.
And then – there were 3 at the Dyfi nest! I love how Emyr Evans at the Dyfi Osprey Project collects and puts the data out there. Chick 1 hatched on 25 May at 39 days in the shell. Chick 2 hatched on the 26th of May at 36.9 cays in the shell. Chick 3 hatched on 28 May at 35.7 days in the shell. All look great and all hatched within the normal range with the eldest being the longest and the third being the shortest gestation period. Let’s see if this impacts their growth over the season. The closeness of the hatches will certainly bode well for the third osplet as it is only two days younger. Telyn really ‘nailed’ that incubation. These three should thrive. Congratulations Telyn and Idris!
Daddy Longlegs (Idris) has brought in a nice fish for Telyn and the trio.
Good Morning Dorcha at the Loch Arkaig nest. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day! Now where is Louis with the breakfish?
Blue 33 has the fish on the platform as the sun rises over the water at Rutland. Maya is waking up but the Three Bobs seem to be wanting to sleep in on Saturday!
Blue NC0 had to take a personal break at the Loch of the Lowes. There are the three wee ones in the nest. They look good.
She is back and is waiting for Laddie to bring the first fish of the day. Just look at those lovely rose gold kissing everything at the loch. Beautiful.
Sometimes Blue NC0 makes it difficult to tell who has been fed and who hasn’t. At one feeding where I could clearly see, all three chicks were fed. Nice. I do not think that Little Bob is out of the woods yet. Fingers crossed.
The falcons at the Manchester NH scrape are really losing their baby down. The flapping of the wings sends it flying all over the scrape. Their legs are strong and – well, this has been an amazing nest to watch in terms of the sheer effort by the parents to make sure that each of the five survived and thrived.
Spirit hatched on 3 March. She is 86 days old today. Bald Eagles generally fledge from 10-14 weeks. Spirit is certainly looking out to the territory!
Kana’kini has been doing a lot of hovering and today she actually did that with a stick in her mouth. Here they are the three of them – whoever dubbed the trio ‘The Three Amigos’ is so right. What a fabulous group of eaglets to watch and the thanks goes to Thunder and Akecheta who kept feeding them and kept bringing food to the nest! Great parenting.
Those little ones at Cal Falcons are so adorable. I was sooooo shocked at the little male. He reminds me so much of the male at Captiva Ospreys – Middle Little. He was really loud too. You could hear him fish calling in Fort Myers. Alden and Annie are doing a fantastic job. It was very interesting to me that Cal Falcons noted that Alden was ferocious in his protection of the scrape with Annie yesterday whereas Grinnell used to leave that to Annie.
Want to take part in the naming. See the band at the bottom of the image.
The sun is beginning to come out. The weather forecast is for rain for four days but I am hoping to get out to our other nature centre sometime. Maybe today! Thank you so much for joining me. Wish for fish for ND-LEEF. The river should be going down and clearing after the storm so Suckers and Catfish will be easier to catch for the eagles. Little Bit 17 needs a lot of fish to be delivered so that it can get some. Take care everyone. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Ventana Wildlife Society, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, Port Lincoln Osprey Project, CarnyX Wild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the People’s Post Code Lottery, LRWT, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Peregrine Networks, FOBBV, Explore.org, and Cal Falcons.
I have been away most of the afternoon and have not been able to check on all the nests on my return. It was raining on the two osplets on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest and it looks like they have been at the hair salon, too!
It has been terrible weather at the ND-LEEF Bald Eagle nest. As I understand it the last big feed for ND17, Little Bit was last evening at 21:25. Little Bit was quite full. Eagles do not have to eat every day but 17 would benefit from having more regular food. I saw a discussion about the feathers on Little 17s head. Chicks show stress in their feature development if they have not had regular feedings or as much food as they should be having. In addition, siblings can during beaking pull out feathers. For 17 it could be a combination of both. He will be fine when food comes in later – except that the big siblings will also be hungry. Fingers crossed for lots of fish once the storm passes and the waters clear for fishing.
Sean and Lynn have posted the banding and Q & A session for Cal Falcons. There is some really interesting information in there and if you are interested, please do take the time to listen. Make sure to start it back at the beginning.
Mrs G and Aran now have two chicks as of 20:42 at the Glaslyn nest in Wales! This is the 51st chick for Mrs G and the third egg is cracking!!!!!! These three will be very close together. Fantastic. I continue to worry about the third hatches at both Loch of the Lowes and Llyn Clywedog.
Idris and Telyn have two of the cutest little osplets on the planet at their Dyfi nest, also in Wales.
Idris has two fish on the nest for Telyn and the kids. He is eating some of the second fish before departing for security duty.
There are three chicks on the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren. Yesterday, Dylan had been missing and the weather was terrible. A fish finally came to the nest. Everything seems to have been fine since then. Things have dried out. The third chick is quite small. A nice fish was delivered at 20:51.
The chicks at Manton Bay are so big compared to these wee hatchlings. They no longer fit well to be brooded by Maya.
Blue 33 was acting like there were intruders around. He kept looking around with his snake eyes.
I can hardly believe it. The rain and wind are gone. Dorcha has been able to dry out. We should be on hatch watch by the 31st for her and Louis’s chicks.
I am very concerned about the third hatch at Loch of the Lowes. Blue NC0 has a tendency not to feed them if they are not right in her face and beak. The two oldest at Llyn Clywedog are a bit of a handful, too. This was the early morning feeding at Loch of the Lowes. The wee one did not get any food and I haven’t seen it get fed today – I hope I missed it and please tell me if I did.
So the worries are Llyn Clywedog and Loch of the Lowes. A great nest to watch, if you are looking for one with little drama is going to be Idris and Telyn at the Dyfi. They are as steady as you go, just like Blue 33 and Maya at Rutland. Mrs G and Aran are the favourites of many and I personally like Foulshaw Moss with White YW and Blue 35 but I do not like their camera – no rewind!
Take care everyone. It was great to know that Annie was in the scrape with the two eyases – a daughter and a son – five minutes after the banders left! That is fantastic. Thank you so much for being with me today. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages: Cal Falcons, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch Arkaig and the People’s Post Code Lottery, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, and LRWT.
As the sun goes down, we say soon say goodbye to the Captiva Ospreys – Lena, Andy, Middle Little, and Little Mini O. What a delight this Osprey season has been. We were sad for Big to die so quickly and mysteriously but, we all rejoiced when it was not Avian Flu and the rest of the family members were healthy. The chicks grew and grew. Middle Little’s legs are like Aran Daddy Longlegs and he had quite the loud call when he wanted Andy to deliver. Little Mini O turns out to be a big sister. Both flew and fished with the parents and we wish them a long successful life.
We will look forward to the 2023 season with you, Lena and, of course, with Daddy Door Dash, Andy. What a great parents you are! Thanks to Lori Covert for sharing her raptors with all of us.
Little Bit 17 went to sleep with a full tummy. Mum brought in a nice fish at 21:18. By 21:20:40 Little Bit 17 was up there being fed on one side while a big sibling was on the other. In fact, Mum move the fish and it helped 17. The fish was finished at 21:30. Little Bit 17 had a crop and was ready for the day to end.
Mum has brought the fish in and one of the older siblings is pecking at it. Little Bit is at 9 o’clock. Mum will take the fish and move it up to the opposite side of the nest.
It takes Little Bit 17 about 10 seconds to get himself situated in a nice spot so that he will get fed but not pecked (the older siblings have been quite good lately, generally).
Little Bit ate for a good 10 minutes. Would I have liked it to be 20? Of course! You can see he has a nice crop and he will sleep good tonight. There is forecast for a lot of rain tomorrow. Let us hope a couple of good sized fish get on the nest.
At 09:12:48 Little Bit takes his turn at the prey item on the nest this morning.
A little earlier he was sharing that unidentified object with another sibling. It is so nice this nest has turned around.
It looks like there are now four storklets on the White Stork nest of Bukachek and Betty in Mlade Buky, The Czech Republic. They are so cute!
Kana’kini has been really getting some air under her wings as the two brothers look on.
Cody at the Kistachie National Forest Bald Eagle nest put together a great video showing Kincaid at various ages throughout the 2022 season. So many memories – we forget them. Thanks, Cody. This is awesome.
Are you a fan of Xavier and Diamond, the Peregrine Falcons at Charles Sturt in Orange? The three cameras are now being integrated with the CSU web site. The first one to be integrated is the nest box. Here is the new URL: https://youtu.be/su_eumVDeBs
The two osplets of Richmond and Rosie have been eating well. Richmond has been bringing in some nice striped bass and Rosie has been catching some huge fish, too, and bringing them to the nest. Rosie is one of the few females that – at this stage – goes out to fish when the male is doing brooding. It could be the secret to the success of their nest.
The four Ls are really getting their juvenile plumage! There is little L4 who is a month old today! Big Red and Arthur have also done an amazing job. Do you remember when people thought they could not handle four eyases? Arthur is also Daddy Door Dash and he sure kept the prey on the nest even in those torrential rains.
One of the things I love about Mrs G is her long experience raising chicks. Aran is a fantastic fisher (when he is not injured) and here they are together, proud of their first healthy hatch for 2022.
Idris and Telyn are doing fantastic at the Dyfi Osprey nest. There are two chicks! It looks like the males are busy catching flounder. There was a running joke at the Glaslyn nest – Mrs G hates flounder. She will only feed it to the chicks if there is absolutely nothing else. Aran brought in a flounder and Mrs G left it. Aran finally took it away! Reminds of Diamond in the CSU falcon scrape – Diamond hates Starling! Interesting.
Dorcha and Louis have been experiencing horrific weather at the Loch Arkaig nest. Louis brought in a big fish for Dorcha regardless. Oh, I hope this weather settles down before those babies hatch!
Louis is an incredible provider. Dorcha seems like she will be a formidable Mum. Last year the camera was set on the other nest and we could not watch Louis with his new mate. They did fledge two chicks. Can’t wait for this year!
The weather is so bad – high wind gusts and rain – that Dorcha has taken to eating her fish on the nest.
Laddie has just brought a big live fish to the nest at the Loch of the Lowes. I hope that Blue NC0 feeds all of the chicks including Little Bob. He missed out on an earlier feed. I am not staying to watch. The ringing at the Cal Falcon scrape at The Campanile is taking place in a few minutes. I do not want to miss it and the Q & A. I will being news of that later today.
I am a little nervous about this nest. Fingers crossed.
Thank you so much for being with me this morning. Take care everyone. Have a lovely end of the week.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Friends of Loch of the Lowes and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Cornell Red Tail Haws, Friends of Loch Arkaig and People’s Post Code Lottery, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon, ND-LEEF, Captiva Osprey Project, Mlade Buky, Explore.org for the video on Kana’kini’s hovering, and to Cody for that great video on Kincaid from footage at the KNF Bald Eagle Nest.
The morning started off terrible in Bird World. Dylan was believed to be missing at Llyn Clywedog with three hungry chicks on the nest and Seren calling and calling — and another floppy fish covered the oldest Bob at the Dyfi Nest. Things turned out well and I thought it was a good idea to tell everyone immediately!
The weather is very bed at the site of the Llyn Clywedog Nest. The wind is blowing strong and it is raining. Dylan did manage to get a fish on the nest for Seren and the chicks. Fantastic. The babies were so hungry. You can see one of them at the left.
John Williams says the weather and fishing are set to improve tomorrow. Thank goodness. Most of you will recall the horrific storms, the damp and cold last season.
Telyn got up to eat the Flounder and there was Big Bob. There was also Middle Bob!!!!!!
What a relief.
Just look. Big Bob was so strong when it hatched and so is Middle Bob. Middle Bob is still a little wet from hatching. These two are going to be a handful and we have egg 3 to go.
A look at Aran and Mrs G’s first Bob at the Glaslyn Osprey nest. Cutie Pie. This is chick # 50 for Mrs G.
It seems that the Racoon event at the Fort St Vrain Bald Eagle nest is not a one off revenge attack. EJ searched and found a 2019 incident at a nest in Washington DC involving a Raccoon and an Eagle.
It doesn’t look like there has been a fish delivery at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest before 1430. These are such gorgeous chicks. That is Middle flapping his wings this afternoon.
Things are still going well at the Loch of the Lowes!
Here is a good look at that eye. Looks perfect to me.
There continue to be six storklets on the nest of Jan and Janika in Lativa. No elimination so far.
At the nest of Bukachek and Betty, there are three storklets and two eggs. So far everyone is doing well.
The eyases at the Manchester NH scrape are going in and out of the scrape to the ledge. If you go to the streaming camera and only see one or two chicks, do not panic!
Oh, Annie, Grinnell, and Alden’s chicks are getting their beautiful feathers too. Look at the eyes beginning to reveal those steel blue-grey feathers. Gorgeous. There is a reminder at the bottom that the banding is at 0800 tomorrow – Friday the 27th. Set your clocks!
Cal Falcons posted a great growth chart of these two chicks on their Twitter and FB feeds. I am certain that they do not mind if I share this with all of you. Everyone is here to learn!
Mum and chicks doing well at the Great Spirit Bluff Peregrine Falcon scrape.
If you do not have it, here is the link to the Spirit Bluff streaming cam:
Life on the Red-tail Hawk nest of Big Red and Arthur at Cornell is changing rapidly. Juvenile feathers are coming in. Indeed, with the sticks in the nest you can see how well camouflaged the eyases are compared to a couple of weeks ago.
Self-feeding is happening! Lots of little chippies on the nest for the Ls.
Gorgeous peach feathering coming in along with the belly bands!
Every time I go to the Big Bear nest, I fear that Spirit will have taken the leap. She spends a lot of time on the balcony and is now able to go back and forth from the front porch to the back. For viewers this means that she could be on the nest tree and just out of view of the camera.
Today is the last day for the Captiva Osprey cam and chat to be operational. If you would like to be notified of any videos posted by Windows for Wildlife be sure to go and subscribe – it is the bell under the streaming cam image on the right.
The streaming cam at the West End Bald Eagle nest of Thunder and Akecheta is running again! Fantastic. Many of us were afraid we would miss the trio – Kana’kini, Sky, and Ahota – fledging. Oh, how grand.
We are also able to watch Lancer on the Two Harbours Alternative Nest of Chase & Cholyn.
It feels like we can all go whew but the weather at Loch Arkaig is not good. Poor Dorcha. It is great to have the cameras running at West End and Two Harbours. Remember that the banding for the Cal Falcons is at 8am Pacific Time tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for joining me. Take care everyone!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: CarnyXWild, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, ND-LEEF, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, FOBBV, Cornell RTH, Mlade Buky, Peregrine Networks, Cal Falcons, and Explore.org
Whew! I am still scrambling from looking at so many streaming cam nests this morning. There are so many different things happening from pips to hatches to fledges to deadly intruders. I took the afternoon off and went out to our nature centre for the 3 km walk. It was just beautiful – not too hot and the rain that came didn’t happen until later.
I was greeted by the cutest little Yellow Warbler the minute I stepped on the path.
One of the real treats was a lone Pelican flying overhead with its fish in its mouth. It was so high in the sky and the image is so very cropped but still, it is recognizable as an American White Pelican. At least 50% of North America’s American White Pelicans come to Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba, and Winnipegosis during the summer. There is also a significant population at Lockport, Manitoba at the dam. I photographed those last year and will do so soon again.
There are several Canada Geese incubating eggs either in the nest boxes or in sites that are raised up close to water. These goslings are so lucky that they will be hatched inside the fence of the nature centre. They will not have to contend with concrete highways and parking lots like so many that have lost their habitat do.
One of the most intriguing images was a tree that had a number of birds on it. At first it appeared that it was only Double-crested Cormorants but then…you begin to see three other species – 2 Bald Eagles (it really is their tree) and a Hawk. There were, in addition, two more Cormorants I cut out of the image so that I could blow it up enough so that you could see the ones that aren’t Cormorants. So on the top left is a Baldie. Central Bottom is a hawk it appears. And on the bottom right is also a Bald Eagle. The eagle couple live year round in Manitoba.
There were Purple Martins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Black Capped Chickadees and some Mallards today.
In other Bird World news today, there is a pip in one of Mrs G’s eggs at the Glaslyn nest.
Mrs G is sleeping and not giving away any news but part of a shell has been seen on the nest.
There are now three osplets at the Foulshaw Moss nest in Cumbria. I might have mentioned this earlier. This is a favourite nest of mine. Blue 35 is a great mother – especially if the third hatch is small. Thanks to her and to the great fishing of White YW Tiny Tot, Blue 463, became the dominant nest on the bird and fledged. I think White YW is quite handsome.
The fish deliveries and eating were good at ND-LEEF. Little Bit 17 isn’t quite so little anymore. Thankfully.
Alden delivers another moth to the scrape in The Campanile at UC-Berkeley. He is calling to tell Annie. The chicks were much more civilized this time. So cute. So innocent. Annie and Grinnell certainly picked a kind friend to help out if something happened to Grinnell.
Idris and Telyn with their first Bob at the Dyfi Nest in Wales. Just look at that fish Daddy Longlegs brought in for the family! Congratulations again Dyfi!
Here is a video of that happy moment when the first hatch at Dyfi in 2022 became real.
Laddie’s eye looks amazing. He is delivering fish and Blue NC0 is feeding all three chicks! Life is good at Loch of the Lowes.
Father Kestrel at Robert Fuller’s Kestrel scrape in Yorkshire, UK has done an amazing job feeding and providing security for his eyases since the female was lost.
Lots more nests to check on tomorrow! Remember that Cal Falcons has changed the time for banding Annie, Grinnell, and Alden’s chicks to 8am Pacific Time Friday the 27th of May. Thanks so much for joining me this evening. I hope that each and every one of you had a fabulous Wednesday. See you soon!
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Robert Fuller, Dyfi Osprey Project, Brywd Gwyllt Glaslyn, Friends of Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, ND-LEEF, Cal Falcons, and the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust.
There is so much news that it is difficult to know where to start sometimes. But today it is going to be in Port Lincoln, Australia on the Osprey barge. Mum and Dad were sitting next to one another on the ropes. Mum then went to the nest and was looking around. She was not happy. One of the long time watchers of the barge of this Osprey family, ‘M’ suggested on the chat that Ervie had been trying to land to eat a puffer, like he has done now for nearly 5 months. The camera did not pull back so that we could have a clear view. Something was definitely making Mum quite upset and ‘A’ writes this morning and confirms that at 0952 Ervie was trying to land.
This is, indeed a sad day for all of us that loved Ervie and wished beyond anything that the parents might let him come to the barge. Maybe he will go to the old barge with his puffers – the alternative for Mum and Dad. (Is it still there?)
Mum was still preening at 11:10 on the nest.
The feeding of five little storks! They have grown so much in a week!
While those White Storks have been growing, Betty and Bukachek at the Mlade Buky nest in The Czech Republic are welcoming their newly hatched storklets. Congratulations!
At the black stork nest of Jan and Jannika in Estonia, frogs and fish were brought in to feed all of the storklets. If you have never seen storklets fed, this is a great way to start watching. The parents regurgitate the fish for the little ones.
There is a very confusing situation at the Latvian Black stork nest of Grafs and Grafiene. The ‘real’ Grafiene returned late and now there are three on the nest with mating and fighting.
The second eaglet on the Fort St Vrain Bald Eagle nest in Colorado, US is sleeping quietly. The eaglet is 6 weeks old and I am so hoping that there is a parent near by. Last night a raccoon climbed and pulled an eaglet off the nest to feed it and possibly its babies. I hope this eaglet stays safe!
Before night, Little Bit 17 was flapping its wings on the ND-LEEF nest. They are getting bigger and he is getting stronger with every bite of fish that he eats.
A fish arrived on the ND-LEEF nest at 0820. Little Bit 17 began moving up to eat and was at Mum’s beat at 08:21:37 where he got fed. Yes! That is a very good way to start a Wednesday morning.
It got a bit wet on the nest this morning and Mum is there with the eaglets.
Lady and Dad are busy working on the nest first thing in the morning. Dad has been bringing fish to the nest every day for Lady. Lovely.
‘S’ was kind enough to forward a statement from the Scottish Wildlife Trust on the issue relating to Laddie, LM12’s eye. They said, “
Our breeding pair, LM12 and NC0 have made an incredible effort to provide for their growing offspring since the first chick hatched on 19 May.
If you’ve been watching the webcam you might well have noticed that resident male LM12 has an injury on his right eye – this may have been caused by an abrasion sustained when his protective, translucent, third eyelid, also known as a nictitating membrane, was open.
Fortunately this injury seems to minor and it doesn’t seem to have affected his ability to fish. LM12 brought two perch to his hungry family at 20:05 and 21:20 this evening.”
Laddie’s eye appears to be perfect. He has brought in a big fish for Blue NC0 to feed the babies!
The two osplets of Dylan and Seren at Llyn Clywedog are almost the same size. They are terribly cute. It is pitching down rain there today and the third Bob has hatched. Congratulations Dylan and Seren.
Both eggs have hatched at the nest of White YW and Blue 35 at Foulshaw Moss in Cumbria. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Idris and Telyn on the hatch of their first chick of the 2022 season at 1628 on the 25th of May! It is Tiffin Cake all around in Wales today I am told.
Both of the osprey chicks on the UFlorida-Gainesville nest were fed by Mum this morning. They were both full with Mum betting a chance to eat the tail at 1105. Later images show them with a nice crop each.
Look at the size of Middle’s beautiful wings!
The only surviving osplet on the Dahlgren Nest in Virginia US used to be the size of the Bobs at the Loch of the Lowes and Llyn Clywedog. Just look at how big that chick is today!
It was heart warming to learn that the Friends of Big Bear had so many letters of support to stop the development in Big Bear Valley. Jackie and Shadow are much loved. In terms of social media stars, they have the highest number of visitors to their streaming cam than any other Bald Eagle nest. This is fantastic news.
The day that Spirit flies off the nest is coming. It could even be today. She has been on the branch flapping her big beautiful wings and standing on one leg this morning.
Was Spirit getting some advice for the future?
DC9 has been sitting on the rim of the nest looking out at the world from the National Arboretum nest in Washington DC. Mr President is doing a great job taking care of his only eaglet this year. Mum Lotus has not been seen for several days now.
The triplets at Pittsburgh-Hayes are starting to get out on the branches!
The oldest US Steel Eaglet is 50 days old today while the youngest is 47 days.
Liberty and Guardian have been making regular prey deliveries to Star and Sentry throughout the day. Some viewers have worried. There is a chat associated with the nest and the moderator will list the times of prey deliveries and visits from parents. The two eaglets are so large they take up the entire nest!
The eyases at the Manchester New Hampshire scrape continue to loose more of their fluffy down revealing their beautiful feathers.
The San Jose City Hall falcons are so cute. They are starting to lose their fluff revealing some nice feathers, too. Such cuties sitting there like little Buddhas. They are 20 days old today.
Here is a short video of Pedro meeting those chicks. Look at how much they have grown.
Talk about losing baby down! The two Red-tail Hawks at the Presidio Trust nest in San Francisco sure look a lot different this morning. I have not checked on them for awhile and they are big hawks!!!!!
It is a crazy time in Bird World. So many nests and everything happening from mating to fledging – with lots of intruders! Let us hope that all of our feathered friends have uneventful days. One of our readers asked about the Berry College eaglet. B15 fledged – if my memory holds true – on the 28th of April. She was still visiting the nest to everyone’s delight at 110 days old. Good solid eaglet. Pa and Missy continued to provide food for her.
Gorgeous picture that someone sent me of Pa Berry and Missy. (Do not know who to credit). They are a beautiful couple and did a fantastic job this year with B15.
This has been a long blog today. Please pardon any crazy typos or wording – I tried to cover too many nests! I will do a short check in on some of the nests with recent hatches later today. Take care everyone. Thank you for joining me.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Berry College Eagles, Presidio Trust, San Jose City Hall, Peregrine Networks, Redding Eagles, Pix Cams, NADC-AEF, FOBBV, Dahlgren Ospreys, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Dyfi Ospreys, Cumbrian Wildlife Trust, CarynXWild, Loch of the Lowes and Scottish Wildlife Trust, Sea Eagles@Birdlife Australia Discovery Centre, ND-LEEF, XCel Energy, Mlade Buky Storks, and Port Lincoln Osprey Project.
Oh, it was around 23 degrees C and just a gorgeous sunny day for a walk around one of our nature centres. Earlier, when we had snow, there was a Canada Goose on one of the artificial nests. She was not there but evidence of the downy lining remained. I wonder if the eggs hatched? No sign of the adults. In other areas, geese were incubating eggs – some on the ground and some in the artificial nests. I wonder if these are second clutches? or first? There was no one to ask. The American Goldfinches, Yellow Warblers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow Rumped Warblers were everywhere along with lots and lots of Purple Martins. The whole forest was a symphony of bird vocalizations!
Mr Goose was being for security guard for his mate in the basket nest.Mother Goose incubating her eggs.Mother Goose out on the island incubating her eggs.Yellow WarblerYellow-Rumped Warbler
It has been such a sad day for some of the nests and if it is happening on the streaming cams, I wonder how often these occurrences happen in the wild. A raccoon scaled the pole to the XCel Energy Bald Eagle Nest in Colorado and took one of the juveniles. This is the latest report on that incident:
‘A’ was watching the Fort Murray Osprey nest when an owl flew on to the nest. It killed and ate one of the osplets right there! There is the owl landing on the nest at Lake Murray.
These are incredibly sad incidents and in both cases, it appears that there was not an adult at the site.
Raccoons are known to eat all manner of things including rabbits but I have personally never heard of them pulling an eaglet off a nest and eating it. Are we seeing the beginning of a huge problem with the depletion of available prey?
The two larger siblings on the ND-LEEF nest really like to be fed by Mum. Little Bit 17 is very happy to have a fish that has been unzipped to eat. A fish came on the nest around 17:00. Mum fed the two big siblings. Little Bit is very good at watching and reading its environment. The older siblings have been cranky due to the heat. He got a few pieces of fish at the beginning and then moved way around the side and was getting fed when Mum moved. In one instance, an older sibling grabbed a piece of fish and Mum grabbed it back and Little Bit got it. Very interesting. Little Bit had a nice crop at the end – that is perfect.
Little Bit is making its way cautiously along the rim of the nest. Watching. He will snatch and grab some bites of fish.
Can you find Little Bit 17?
So everything seems pretty good at the ND-LEEF nest! Wonderful.
Laddie, LM12’s eye, is much better. He has been delivering fish to the Loch of the Lowes nest where him and Blue NC0 have three nestlings. It is not clear to me but it has been mentioned that in at least one feeding the third chick did not get fed. Just a warning about this nest. That is what happened last year and the wee one perished. Mind you, Blue NC0 is a relatively new mother. She is fantastic at fishing so fingers crossed.
That eye of Laddie’s looks as good as new.
At the Dyfi Nest in Wales, Idris is not only know for his great fishing skills but he loves to incubate and take care of the chicks. Today, when the first was hatching, Idris was insisting on incubating! He has a lot of tactics to try and get Telyn up off those eggs.
And Telyn has her tricks to try and get him up!!!!! These two are way too funny.
Mum has been on the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest this afternoon. I could not find a big fish on rewind but both chicks appeared to have eaten recently. No worries about them.
Rosie and Richmond’s two osplets are 8 days old now. Most of the time they behave themselves but there has been some bopping between them that seems to have started yesterday, on day 7. I am not concerned. Richmond is a good provider and this behaviour will stop. Notice that they are losing the fluffy baby down and will be moving into the Reptilian phase soon, too soon.
They look so adorable when they are being nice!
The two little eyases at Cal Falcons scrape of Annie and Alden are loving flapping their wings.
They are also getting curious about what is outside that open door!
The Manchester NH eyases are also flapping their wings. Sometimes there is downy fluff flying everywhere adding to the feather fed they already sleep on.
Here is a lovely video of the three Peregrine Falcon chicks at the Great Spirit Bluff scrape having dinner. So cute.
Nancy and E1, Harriet, have eaten today. Thank goodness the intruders that have been around allowed Nancy time to go out and get some prey. It is hard being a single parent to a growing eaglet with sometimes dangerous intruders.
Beautiful Lena from the Captiva Osprey Platform. It was a good year despite the mysterious death of the eldest osplet, Big. Middle Little and Little Mini fledged and are doing well. Mum desires a good rest and a day at the spa!
Big Red and Arthur’s four eyases at the Red-tail Hawk nest are really getting their juvenile feathers. Several are wing flapping and all are eating very well!
Unlike Blue NC0 at Loch of the Lowes, Big Red will stretch to get to a hungry chick!
Rita and Ron are still providing fish for R2 on the nest in the Miami Zoo. How wonderful. You can pop in there early or re-wind and see them.
R2 will eventually arrive and another big fish will come to the nest at 1330.
Thank you so much for joining me for a spin around some of the nests. still more to check on! I hope everyone has had a lovely day. See you soon.
Thank you to the following for their streaming cams and/or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Lake Murray Ospreys, ND-LEEF, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Captiva Ospreys, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, Explore.Org, MN-DNR, Wildlife Rescue of Dade County, Cal Falcons, Bald Eagles 101, Dyfi Osprey Project, Peregrine Networks, SF Ospreys and Golden Gate Audubon.
