Tag Archives: Intruder at Loch of the Lowes

Wow…the weather! And three great bird dads.

At 5:24:46 pm Diane, the mother of the three osplets on the Achieva Osprey Nest almost got blow off!

There are several thunderstorms coming and going with the winds gusting very high to the wee hours of the morning. The little ones were well fed before noon.

Just so you can see precisely where this Osprey nest is on the western coast of Florida, here is a map:

I hope that your screen will enlarge this image so you can see it better. If not, I want you to look on the left hand side of the state about halfway up to the panhandle. You will see an inlet. That is Tampa Bay. Now continue up the coast. Find Clearwater. The Osprey nest is actually in Dunedin, Florida which is slightly north of Clearwater. [Note: The toxic dump that made the news last week is around Sarasota, south of Tampa Bay.]

Ospreys are, of course, not afraid of water but Tiny does not have all of his grown up feathers yet. The older siblings will want to snuggle too but I hope that Tiny got right in under Diane. Thank goodness it is not cold.

Around 6:09:59 there was a break in the water. Diane and the babies are soaked but, bless his heart. Jack arrives with what looks like a Gar – long needle like fish. It isn’t big and it won’t feed everyone but, gold stars for bringing that in. The seas had to be very rough.

The weather indicates several more hours of thunderstorms. Maybe Jack can get out and get another one before dark. It’s raining now but there is to be another thunderstorm in 45 minutes, a break and then another storm at 8pm (if the weather is correct). Sunday looks like another stormy day. Then two good days. Hopefully the weather will not disturb the feeding schedule too much on this nest. Things have been going really well for Tiny Tot.

You can barely see Tiny Tot’s back behind the chick on the left. It doesn’t look like anything will be left. We all hope for another fish to come in. A glimpse at Tiny Tot shows that he does still have a crop from the huge feed this morning. Still, it is much better if he eats because of the bad weather in the area. With the rough seas who knows when Jack will be able to bring another fish in – or what size it will be.

You can see that crop on Tiny Tot better here after that Gar disappeared. Tiny didn’t get any food but he is still full from the morning. One of the nicer things that is also happening on this nest is that Tiny Tot is being accepted more as being part of the family. When he was ‘starving’ (is there any other way to put it?) and many felt that Tiny Tot would not make it, he was ‘apart’ from the family. Sleeping alone, etc. It is good to see them together.

There is another fish delivery at 8:01:48. The light on the nest is going and it is hard to tell who specifically delivered it as Jack and Diane landed on the nest at the same time. It is also hard to see how big it is. Hopefully there will be something for Tiny Tot. He appears to have been trying to cast a pellet all day. That can sometimes interfere with any interest in food. But, let us hope the little guy is up to eating if there is fish for him. Tomorrow looks like thunderstorms again in the area.

Tiny is up to take advantage of the feeding if there is fish left. You can just catch Tiny’s head at the far right of Diane.

So hard to tell. No IR on this camera so the light can cause great difficulties in trying to tell who is who. One thing that did happen is that 1 and 2 have been at one another. #1 was always dominant but #2 is trying to take top position. #1 is not going to give it up easy. As long as the two of them battle, that is fine. They are nearly the same size. Tiny Tot is too small. It needs to eat and the older ones battling could work in its favour. The thunderstorms have started again and Diane has stopped feeding.

It is worth having a look at a different problem. Let’s head over to Loch of the Lowes. If you follow my blog, you will remember that the male, Laddie LM12, inadvertently gave a female intruder who was sitting on the nest cup a nice size fish. Laddie intended it for NC0. Why would he think another female would be in her place on the nest, right? Well, there was one. NC0 flew in madder than a hatter and kicked Laddie from the nest. To make up for his indiscretion, Laddie has been bringing in nice sized fish for NC0 to make up.

Look at that nice big fish! Laddie wants to keep NC0 happy.

Awwww. Blue 33 (11) is giving Maya a break from incubating their three eggs. What a hair cut! He is such a sweetie. Loves to cuddle with Maya and is just one of those super dads.

Thank you Jack, Laddie, and Blue 33 (11) for taking such good care of your mates – regardless of the weather.

And thank you for checking in again. Send positive wishes to the Achieva Osprey nest because this is not the end of the bad weather for them, it is just the beginning.

Thank you to the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, Achieva Osprey, Scottish Wildlife and Friends of Loch of the Lowes for their streaming cam. That is where I get my screen shots.

Maya lays first egg of the UK Osprey season

Maya is a untagged/unringed female Osprey. She is the mate of Blue 33 (11) at Rutland. For the 2021 Osprey season in the United Kingdom, the pair returned from their winter migration to Africa on 19 March. They were the first two to arrive back! Blue 33 (11) arriving at 12:29 and Maya (unringed) arriving at 12:56. That was fabulous timing. The pair actually mated at 1pm. And no sooner than the couple had finished their nestorations than Maya laid the first egg of the 2021 Osprey season. It was around 21:00 on Sunday the 29th of March. Congratulations Blue 33 (11) and Maya!

You can see the pair on the nest and Maya laying that historic egg here:

Maya left the egg to take a short break. There it is!

And while Maya and Blue 33 (11) will be contemplating a second egg, others are just arriving in from their migration. The list of the arrivals is growing and instead of making a lengthy list, you can check the arrivals on the following link:

http://ukospreys.uk/arrivals.htm

The list is updated including the column for eggs, chicks, and ring numbers daily. The United Kingdom loves their Ospreys and they have an amazing network to monitor arrivals and departures.

Here is a gorgeous shot of Blue F5 called Seren. She arrived back on the 29th of March. She is the mate of Dylan (unringed) on the Clywedog Reservoir Nest. Located near Llanidloes, Wales at the head-waters of the River Severn, it is truly an area of great beauty. In the winter 5F spends her time in the Tanji Marsh in The Gambia. She has been photographed there for the past seven years by Chris Wood.

Here she is with the sun setting looking out over her territory. Isn’t she gorgeous?

What a view Seren has!

“Llyn Clywedog” by Darryl Hughes is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Loch of the Lowes in Scotland is equally enchanting and is home to Laddie and NC0, we think. NC0 did return to Laddie’s nest after her migration to Africa and they have mated. We will have to wait to see how this goes! They are sometimes a bit awkward with one another.

“Loch of the Lowes” by Graeme Pow is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

It’s such a gorgeous place that Laddie and NC0 (in the nest) have had to chase off intruders! Too few great nests in good prey territory.

Here is beautiful NC0 all by herself on the nest:

Sadly, the third osplet on the St Petersburg nest has been shut out of all food deliveries today, thus far. There were two small fish and then one huge one. 3 or Tiny Tot got 1 bite. You can see him leaning over the rim of the nest at the back right behind one of the elder ones. The two older kept it from eating even when they were full.

The biggest one went over when it thought the mother would feed the small one and made sure it did not get up to get fed. It is a sad reality when there is a sense that there is only enough food for 1 or 2. If you could scoop Tiny Tot up and take it to a facility and it could eat and get bigger and stronger and put it back on the nest, this chick might survive. The issue is that no one is ready to intervene in that way – yet. They did at Rutland and I am very impressed. They even brought a food table for the mother. I often think of Spilve’s nest in Latvia. If someone had placed a food table for her, Klints might have lived and fledged. But the rules of engagement with wildlife have to be changed in order for these things to happen. If we can only help wildlife when something that a human did has caused the issue, then what about habitat loss, toxic water, and pollution reducing prey?

Will Tiny Tot survive another day with one bite of food in three days total and temperatures of 28 degrees C? I will remember this clever little one for the energy he drew up in himself to figure out and walk around the rim of the nest, to get under the mother to eat. He is too dehydrated today to do that. He is too worn down and he cannot PS anymore which means his body is shutting down. I hope his suffering ends. It feel utter despair and I hope that there will be a conversation of the role that humans need to have in helping the non-humans.

So when you see me say that I wish all nests had only two eggs hatch, Tiny Tot and Tapps from the PLO Nest and the third one of Iris’s osplets a couple of years ago are the reason.

We need to see a couple of other happy bird moments and there are so many. I want to close with two. The first is a picture of the two chicks in the Black Kite Nest in Taiwan. Their mother is feeding them. It is such a peaceful sight and to think they survived a fire just two weeks ago. They are simply adorable these two.

The two youngsters on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources nest are doing splendid. This is the nest of four year old Harry and his mate, unknown age, Nancy. Harry struggled and he has even caught on to feeding the little ones. It is magnificent.

Look at this girl. This is Legacy from the NE Florida Bald Eagle Nest in Jacksonville. Oh, this wee one had an eye irritation and then got Avian Pox and over came it to turn into this big strong eagle. Oh, how I wish we could put a coloured ring and number on these kiddos so we would know what happened to them. Sadly less than 50% of all juvenile eagles survive. She looks like a survivor to me!

Thank you so much for joining me. The birds bring us great joys and deep, deep sadness. Who would have thought? Take care everyone. Stay safe.

Thank you to the streaming cams where I took my screen shots: the NEFL Bald Eagle Nest and the AEF, The Black Kite Nest in Taiwan, MN DNR, Achieva Osprey, Scottish Wildlife, the Rutland Wildlife Trust, and Clywedog.

Featured image is Mrs G and Aran at the Glaslyn Nest in Wales.