Tag Archives: Jasper and NE27

Early Friday in Bird World

11 March 2022

The sun is shining down on the snow that blew and fell over night. It is -22 degrees C with the wind chill at -32 C. The birds are arriving early! We are all hoping that spring will be here soon. Yesterday I put out two seed cylinders. If you have not seen these they are fantastic for the birds who have difficulty eating at some of the ‘normal’ feeders such as the European Starlings. Of course, Dyson likes to sit on top of the cylinders and munch away while the Black-Capped Chickadee flies in with the speed of Sharpie getting seeds. I really like the Starlings and the Old World Sparrows, many do not. It feels good to supply them with supplemental food in the winter. My City is nothing but a building site and the habitat where the birds foraged is no longer.

I know someone else who likes Starlings! Ferris Akel has posted a short video of the European Starlings on his deck at the feeders. Have a look.

That is not the kind of action that my daughter is getting at hers! She is taking care of this squirrel and rabbit who seem to have worked out how to help one another and keep the birds away. It is funny and wonderful!

I went to bed worrying about the Captiva Osprey nest.

In my head I kept hearing my grandmother say, ‘Everything works out the way it is supposed to’ with the saying, ‘Change what you can, accept what you can’t, and be smart enough to know the difference.’

There is a huge issue of fish delivery at the Captiva Osprey nest. The last time that the Mum, Lena, and Middle and Little Bob had more than a few bites of fish was 8 March. Big has had all the fish for the 9th and 10th. We are entering the third day. As much as all of us might want to pull a tank of live fish to the dock at Lori’s for Andy and Lena, I cannot do this. This area of Florida is experiencing hot and humid weather. There is no quick fix for the weather patterns that are impacting many nor can I put a halt to the intense competition for food (fish) in this particular area of Florida. In other words, if I am smart, I will recognize that I have to accept the situation and just hope that there is a turn around at this nest.

Well, Andy has brought in three fish so far this morning. They were a Sheepshead, a Lady Fish, and the last one is a Spotted Trout. brought in a big fish. Big has been eating and eating and eating.

Big ate the first two fish. Little and Middle who had to have been starving each kept out of the way.

We are now on the third fish. Big is obviously full. Look at that crop. Lena fed him slow. Good for her. That will allow the other two fish to settle and send Big into a food stupor. Hopefully there will be fish left for Mum and the other two siblings, Middle and Little.

Lena has eaten some bites and given at least one to Middle. Big is keeping Little from going to eat. Let’s wait a few minutes and see if Big will pass out and ignore the others.

No. Big has gone back to the table! We saw this type of behaviour at the Achieva Credit Union last season when Sibling 2 would eat til it was almost sick to keep the others away from the fish.

Lena must eat and so must the other two including Little. The heat will have dehydrated them over the past three days.

It is 11:56 nest time. Big is out for the count and Little is being fed. Middle is looking out to the water. Interesting.

Little Bob is eating for the first time in 72 hours save for a couple of scraps on the 9th. Look at how open his beak is. Oh, I hope this wee babe gets good and full.

Little has been eating for 19 minutes. This is so good. Tears and more tears.

This has been a very good fishing day for Andy. I hope that he continues to bring in the fish so everyone, including Mum, goes to bed tonight full to the brim. There is bad weather coming for the weekend and that will cause the fishing to drop. (See map below). As I finish, there is still fish. Lena is feeding Middle along with herself and more bites for Little. What a relief.

Little ate for 24 minutes. He is ready to have a nice nap. Lena and Middle will finish up the fish.

It is difficult to decide which nests to check there are so many now. If you follow the VGCCO Osprey nest (the Venice Golf and Country Club), they now have two hatches and Denton Homes in Iowa has eggs. I completely missed both of those.

The West End Territory or West End Bald Eagle nest on Catalina Island just makes me smile. It is in a beautiful location and it is the home of Thunder and Akecheta.

In the image below, Thunder is on the nest in the middle. Akecheta is to the left on the tall peak guarding the area.

Akecheta has grown up. He is learning how to feed his babies and he seems to fully understand the importance of working with Thunder to keep the Ravens away from the nest! This is huge.

Yesterday a couple of really good videos were posted. If you have time take a peak. Shadow has been watching the way Thunder feed the chicks. Here we get to see his progress! This is our proud first-time Papa wanting to be involved. It is simply precious.

Lady Hawk took the second video clip:

It looks like the sun is really helping to dry out the nest of River and Obey. River also has the chicks out in front so they can get the warmth of the sun, too. There are fish hiding underneath the grasses for lunch.

River has fed all of the kids several times this morning. Little Bit is getting around so much better today. That warm sunshine is really helping. Life is good at Dale Hollow Lake.

Oh, the nest of Jasper and NE27 is a soggy mess. The rains on the 10th, yesterday, were torrential. Mum Gabby tried to keep her sweet way-too-big-to-brood babies dry! What a fabulous Mum she is, too.

Gabby trying to get a little sleep while brooding the kids.

Today, Jasper and NE27 are still wet and the nest is a soaking mess. Both eaglets have been self feeding.

The parents were in and out feeding the two after leaving them to try for themselves.

NE27 has been self-feeding for some time. He will still remain submissive if the parent is only feeding one, Jasper. But, when he is ready, he will do the old snatch and grab if necessary.

Both eaglets are developing fine. There are no issues save for the weather and it looks like they are in for more rain over the weekend.

Big Red and Arthur were both working on the final touches to their nest on the campus of Cornell University. Arthur was in first with Big Red coming in after and ‘tweaking’ his efforts.

Arthur brought in some greenery.

If you have watched the Royal Albatross nests on Taiaroa Head, you will know that the NZ DOC rangers spray for fly strike. Big Red and Arthur use pine boughs to ward off insects.

The nest as Arthur left it.

He flew back in with a twig – working on the side rails so the little ones do not roll out of the nest cup accidentially.

Arthur is very handsome!

Gorgeous deep brown eyes! looks like he has also had some breakfast or made a prey drop to Big Red off camera.

Big Red comes in a few minutes later to check on the decorating.

She will work and get it all tweaked.

When she is finished, she looks out to see if she can see Arthur with her ‘eyes like a hawk’. LOL.

The weather forecast shows a ‘weather bomb’ headed for Big Red and Arthur’s nest over the weekend with more rain for the nests in Florida and the SE.

The nest of Jackie and Shadow should get a break from the weather this weekend. The strong winds from yesterday – winds that almost blew Shadow off the nest – have calmed today. Thank goodness. That beautiful chick is 8 days old today. Wow. Where did the time go?

First feeding of the day around 05:42. The sun is just coming over the mountains in the distance.

Just look at that little one sitting up so straight and tall. This is the second feeding and there will probably be at least six more today. Jackie and Shadow have done an amazing job with this wee babe. We are so fortunate to be witness to their job, just like Thunder and Akecheta at the West End.

Thank you so much for joining me today. We can all rest easy. Everyone at Captiva has eaten! Take care everyone. Stay safe.

My thanks go to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Friends of Big Bear Valley, Dale Hollow Lake Eagles, Cornell Bird Lab and RTH, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, CNN Weather Tracker, my daughter, Ferris Akel for his video, and Explore.org

Late Monday and early Tuesday in Bird World

Let’s have some fun first thing!

Ah, you can really enjoy a birder’s sense of humour and their love of music with this video of some Red-winged Blackbirds taken by Ferris Akel:

There is super news coming out of Cal Falcons. Annie and Grinnell’s 2020 fledgling Sequoia has a mate! This is just wonderful news. Here is the announcement.

So how far is San Jose from the scrape box in San Francisco? How far did Sequoia travel in her dispersal?

The wonders of banding birds can give us this kind of information.

This is really good news. Did I say that twice? or three times? The population of Peregrine Falcons in the Bay area is returning.

The Dale Hollow Eagle nest looks like it needs more straw! Reminds me of the wet and muddy nest of the storks at Mlade Buky in The Czech Republic. Obey has delivered lots of fish and he stepped in and helped River with the trio.

The little one at Duke Farms got a really good feeding and both of the chicks had a nice crop. Hoping that this wee chick gets much stronger and does well. This nest fledged two last year.

There is plenty of time for more feedings at Big Bear (it is 15:00) but, already, Jackie and Shadow have fed the little chick 9 times. Ten is about normal for this age – 4 days old. They eat such a little amount. Jackie can continue to increase the size of the fish flakes and the length of the feedings. Next week, we should be seeing fewer but longer feedings as the chick grows.

Shadow came in before bedtime and seems to have brought one of his famous sticks and placed it very near the little one to the left. Shadow is certainly thinking about crib rails!

Some images from Tuesday morning at Big Bear. The wee chick has already been fed at 05;35 06;35, and 07:29 – all by Jackie. Shadow has been in and out. A Red-tail hawk has been buzzing around the nest keeping everyone alert.

Jackie and Shadow and their ‘miracle’ baby are making all the papers and televisions stations it seems.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-07/big-bear-bald-eagles-jackie-shadow-welcome-new-eaglet?fbclid=IwAR3pnk8Hdd9S6PpBVDv4LLM1nnP3IRkIYKZdANjWxAt_Ndme1_pM-ZCuot4

I know that the storks are beginning their migration northward to their spring and summer breeding grounds just like the Ospreys are doing. You can see the route that the birds migrated to Africa in the late summer of 2021 below. It goes through Belarus and the birds stop over at various places in the Ukraine including spending much time on the Black Sea. Somehow I thought if I willed them to take a more westerly route they would but, of course, that is simply being nonsensical. Karl II is on his way home and this is what he will be facing.

The map below shows Karl II’s routing in royal blue that he took in the early fall of 2021 get to The Sudan.

The top map shows the different nature reserves that the storks rest and feed at clearer than the second image which shows Karl II and Pikne’s routes for migration south in 2021.

Karl II spent much time on the Black Sea resting and eating. This is currently a war zone.

The last update was on 4 March. It is believed that Karl II is in a desert area north of Sudan and is out of GPS range.

Karl II is a Black Stork whose nest is in the Karula National Park in Estonia. He is equipped with a satellite tracking GPS and is ringed. His number is 715R. His mate is unringed Kati. Last year they fledged three storklets. The oldest was the male Udu, the middle was the female Pikne, and the baby boy was Tuul. Both Udu and Pikne migrated successfully. Sadly, Tuul was lost.

If you want to follow this fabulous and much loved Black Stork, please go to the Looduskalendar Forum that is following his migration home. There are also good discussions and images of the terrain where the birds are staying. Here is the link:

https://www.looduskalender.ee/forum/viewtopic.php?t=945&sid=ce860736f3960a78ca3fec577fa3c5fa&start=12280

There were heavy rains at the nest of Gabby and Samson near Jacksonville. Gabby did the best she could to keep Jasper and NE27 from getting too wet.

Gabby flew off later and Jasper and NE27 are preening. Looks like the weather is improving. Poor wet babies.

These two are growing and walking and self-feeding, well E27 is doing a great job. Jasper is still in kindergarten stage. Gorgeous eaglets. Samson and Gabby make beautiful babies.

Both Harriet and M15’s eaglets have branched. E19 is 10 weeks and 1 day old and E20 is 10 weeks old today putting them right at the beginning of the fledge range. Will they fledge today? Probably not. Hopefully they will wait for another week or more developing their branching skills.

Do you follow the West End eagles on Catalina Island? There is a pip in the first of the three eggs!

Here is the link to the cam:

Things are really beginning to pick up! In the UK the first official sighting of an Osprey returning from winter migration was today. The fish eagle was flying over the Loch of Clunie in the south of Scotland in Perth & Kinross. They are coming home!

Little and Middle Bob have learned to steer clear of Big Bob. This morning they let him eat, then they started eating and he got a second wind. Probably 90% of the fish went into Big. I would hope that Andy will get another fish on deck so that the two others can eat if Big finally passes out in food coma. In the image below, Big is getting his second wind and Little and Middle have moved away and not challenged for food.

At 11:25 Big passed out and the other two rushed up to get more fish! Oh, thank goodness! It is hot and these two need food. Big has dominated the nest since the weekend making life miserable for the other two.

Lena is working hard to find some meat on the skin of the fish that is left. Little Bob is hungry and still does not have a crop.

That is the quick summary of the early morning nest review. I hope that you have a wonderful day. Take care everyone. See you soon.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams where I took my screen captures: Explore.org, Captiva Osprey Nest and Window on Wildlife, SWFlorida and D Pritchett, Dale Hollow Lake Bald Eagles, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, Friends of Big Bear, the Looduskalender Forum, Google Maps, and Ferris Akel Tours.

Late Monday in Bird World

Any worries about the bopping that Big Bob seems to want to inflict on Little Bob as of late should be cast aside. Little Bob is a survivor and he won’t let anything Big does keep him from his favourite fish! At the feeding around 15:00, all three Bobs had enormous crops. Little Bob was the last one to leave the table.

Each of the trio looked like they would just about pop.

Everyone is hot at the Captiva Osprey nest. The chicks are panting to help thermoregulate.

Lena decided to go for a dip in herr own private area of the Gulf of Mexico to cool down. Lena has a pretty enormous crop, too. She went for her dip right after feeding the chicks. One thing Lena seems to really dislike is fish oil on her feathers. She has returned and is trying her best to keep the babies shaded, too.

It’s Monday and the fishing is good.

Meanwhile in Big Bear Valley, Jackie has fed the wee babe again at 13:01. I sat and giggled at the size of the pieces she was offering the eaglet.

Would you like some fish tail, darling?

Or, perhaps this is a better size????

It was quite humorous. I had a feeling, at one point, that Jackie was trying to demonstrate horking to the nearly four day old chick. Horking meaning to eat very quickly a large piece that would otherwise be eaten in smaller bites.

Jackie then settled into feeding the wee one smaller bites til it had a nice crop and was ready for another nap and some more growth.

Adorable.

NE 27 continues to do the snatch and grab rather well. He stole an entire fish from Samson today. 27 was already full, almost to the brim. Perhaps Jasper will get some time to practice his self-feeding if and when 27 gives up on the fish. Meanwhile, this is a short clip (don’t blink) of NE27 walking and doing some wing exercises.

B15 at the Berry College nest of Pa Berry and Missy is the sweetest little eaglet. It still has that adorable face it had when it was wee and a great big curiosity about the world around it. Pa Berry has been bringing in all manner of prey items. A squirrel landed on the nest for breakfast.

It scares the wits out of me when the eaglets look over the rim of the nest like B15 is doing below!

I missed him! Did you? This is the most recent tracking report on Ervie.

Awwww. Would have given anything to see Ervie. Bet I was watching Big Bear at the time.

There was a report of 130 Mallards and 1 American Black Duck at an open piece of water in one of the two big rivers that flows through our City. This one was the Red River. And, yes, they were there. Hard to see as I was scandalously far away and didn’t have my 2x adaptor.

Just before I took off to find the ducks and that small open piece of water, Little Red had been waiting, warming himself in the sunshine, while another Red squirrel had their eyes on his penthouse. Little Red wanted some of the peanuts I put out before Dyson got them but he decided to protect his territory instead.

Dyson, on the other hand, was being a right little trouble maker today. I put out a new square hanging feeder full of a mixture of Butter Bark, peanuts, and Black Oil seed. So what does Dyson do? He creeps through the Lilac bushes and takes a flying leap at it! About 2 litres of seed fell on the ground. What a mess!!!! Dysonnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!

Dyson saw me watching. Whether or not he was concerned is another story as he sat and stuffed his cheeks for more than ten minutes. Then when I moved to another window, he decided that sitting inside the lilacs and eating his prize seeds was best. He was still going in and out for quite a long time.

As it warms up the squirrels seem to be coming out more. There are rabbit tracks all around the garden so we know that Hedwig is around and the Little Woodpeckers – both Mr and Mrs Downy – have been around most days at the suet feeder. Sharpie even flew through at least once yesterday causing everyone to flee hither and yon. Thankfully the European Starlings have dropped considerably in numbers at the feeders. There are now only about 7 or 8. It gives the other birds a chance to flit in and out including the Black Capped chickadee who visits daily.

I hope that this quick and short newsletter finds you well. Again, most of the bird nests are doing fine. There seem to still be intruders about at some nests and the wee one at Duke Farms still has trouble getting to the table. I am going to hold my breath and check on it and Dale Hollow in a couple of days.

Thank you so much for joining me. Take care.

Thank you to the following streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Friends of Big Bear, Berry College Eagles, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, and Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Monday in Bird World

It is -10 C on the Canadian Prairies on a day that can only be described as white. There is no colour in the sky and while I had anticipated including images of a different landscape due to melting, well, that hasn’t happened. The snow appears to be melting from the inside of the snow banks and tunnels slowly – which is a good thing! Today and for several days this week, we will continue having yet more of the white fluffy flakes. It has – weather wise – been a winter we will not forget for a long time.

I have been reading Mark Avery’s blog. Avery spent his life working with the RSPB in the UK and is an outspoken defender of ‘nature’. He was their Conservation Director for 13 of the 25 years he worked for them. I will include the link to his blog at the end. The current topic is ‘Alternatives to grouse shooting’.

Avery also includes a short list of books he has read and their reviews at the bottom. One of those was The Consolation of Nature. Spring in the Time of the Coronavirus. Three nature writers – Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, and Peter Marren – keep a ‘nature’ diary running parallel with happenings with the pandemic for the period of spring 2020. They begin with the astronomical beginning of spring on the 21 March running through 31 May when summer begins. (Meteorological beginning of spring is 1 March). My interest in this book is the emphasis on the healing aspects of nature and how, during the beginning of this horrific virus, people turned to nature for solace. All of us watch bird cams. Did you know that in the UK from the period 23 March to 31 May 2019, there were 20,407 page views of bird cams. During the early period of the pandemic this increased to 433,632 views! It was a similar situation at Loch Arkaig where 400,000 people watched Louis and Aila raise their three osplets. Indeed, it was an amazing year for nature as we isolated ourselves. Few if any planes, few if any cars. When we stopped, nature thrived. “Fish returned to the canals of Venice, no longer churned up by tourist boats. In parts of northern India, the Himalayas became visible for the first time in thirty years as air pollution fell. Baby sea turtles made it safely to the water on Brazilian beaches empty of sunbathers, joggers, and dogs. Wild boar and deer came back into car-free European cities.” As the authors demonstrate, some of those events were significant including “a colossal fall in the carbon dioxide emissions” driving climate change. While the coronavirus spring brought many human losses and great stress, nature gave each of us hope and comfort.

It is a remarkable little book. I highly recommend it but, even more so, I recommend that you begin keeping your own diary of how much joy our beloved birds bring to your life – or it could be the animals or the plants in your garden or a green area you visit. In years to come, it will be a treasure, I promise.

https://markavery.info/blog/

Many of us have never looked back after first watching our bird families on the streaming cams. By watching the daily lives of these families struggling to survive sometimes, we have learned much and it is hoped become more empathetic and prone to fight for a better environment for all of us.

Our first family up this morning are the Captiva Osprey family of Andy and Lena and the three Bobs. Lena was up at day break calling Andy to bring in a fish. She is incredibly loud and Andy could have heard her if he had been in Fort Myers!

I picked the image below not for its compositional beauty but because this morning for the first time, we can clearly see the difference in development between Big Bob and Little Bob. Look at the top of their heads. Little Bob, on the left, still has his soft light grey down. Big Bob has lost his. Soon his head will look like it has been dipped in a pot of black oil with a few copper flecks at the bottom. Big Bob is entering the ‘Reptilian Phase’.

While Lena wanted that fish before 07:00, it was, in fact, delivered at 08:14:39. It was a live Sheepshead.

Lena had a bit of a time with that fish – getting it opened and not flipping about on the kids. Big and Middle Bobs are right up there when she begins feeding. You will see that Middle Bob also has a greasy black Reptilian head like Big Bob. Little Bob is just waking up. Get up there Little Bob!

Little Bob is definitely our ‘Captiva Ervie’. It didn’t take him long to get the sleep out of his eyes and get up under Lena’s beak. Look at him stare at the fish. At least for today, we can easily tell Little from the other two if the trio are in a clump.

Lena was really hungry. She fed the kids for more than an hour and then finished off the fish and ate the tail at 09:49. All of the chicks were passed out in a food coma.

Andy returned hoping there would be some fish left just as Lena swallowed the fish tail! The chicks woke up and were thinking about a second feed. Too late! Big Bob did root around in the nest for scraps eating them as he found them. Wow. That is fantastic.

Lena is currently busy keeping the osplets cool by shading them. She is also hoping that Andy will ring another fish in!

Cornell Bird Lab put together a 15 minute video of Big Red and Arthur frantically working on their nest on the Cornell Campus this morning. It is much better than any still captures I could show you!

Squeezing some of the somber in with the joy, HH3, one of the Hilton Head Island Trust eaglets has died. HH4 is fighting for its life and hanging on by a thread. The test results to determine the cause are not ready yet. The adults are being monitored closely and the Birds of Prey Centre has brought in the Clemson University Vet School to help with the determinations as to cause.

There was a lovely kerfuffle at the NEFlorida Nest of Samson and Gabby this morning. It was fantastic, actually. Jasper (NE26) was eating all of the food. This has been the typical pattern for these two. This morning it was the same- NE27 is on the left with its head down and Jasper is at the beak getting all the food.

NE27 moves closer and does the old snatch and grab and horks all of the remaining prey! He was hungry and was tired of waiting. Way to go 27!

Jasper has been doing a lot of standing and wingersizing. She is definitely getting much more stable on those legs.

Gabby and Samson sure make beautiful babies. I just love the pantaloons on Jasper.

The more I watch the Dale Hollow nest the more I am loving this family. Obey comes in to check on River and feeds her. That reminds me of Blue 33 feeding Maya at the Rutland Osprey nest. Then River and Obey feed the chicks in tandem. The life experience of these two eagles, well into their 20s in age, really shows when dealing with the health and welfare of their chicks. Just wonderful. The third egg is 36 days old today and it is almost hatched!

Another tandem feeding this morning.

Continual aeration of the nest cup to keep it soft and bring oxygen in.

River feeding the twins.

Oh, just look at them. They are so cute, fluffy, and a little chubby. Perfect!

There are currently more than 3,044 persons watching and waiting for a pip at the nest of Jackie and Shadow in Big Bear Lake, California. The eggs were laid on January 22 and 25. That makes them 34 and 37 days old. The average time for pip is between 34 and 40 days so we are still right in the sweet spot for hatching. Good luck Jackie and Shadow! Your fans are cheering.

It is difficult to avoid the news. My heart goes out to any person caught in a conflict zone. It is difficult to avoid the war zones in Africa where our birds migrate to for the winter and now, as they begin to return to their homes in Latvia and Estonia, many have historically spent time eating and resting in the Ukraine. This is the map of Karl II’s family migration this past summer. Many of the other birds that migrate to Africa follow a similar route. Wildlife suffers irreparable harm, like ordinary citizens, in times of war.

Here is a detailed study of wildlife in conflict zones and the need for conservation. It is a good first read to understand the challenges that nature and wildlife undergo when there is war. I hope that you are able to open it.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1002/fee.1433

I will close as we wait for a pip at Big Bear and the final hatching at Dale Hollow with a closeup of Dad at the Port Lincoln Osprey barge. Dad spent considerable time on the ropes yesterday. I cannot help but imagine that he was hoping to catch up with Ervie and see how he is doing. You can certainly tell where Ervie gets his good looks from!

It has warmed up to a balmy -8 C. Serious spring weather and I am off to get more bird seed and go for a much needed walk. Please take care everyone. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you to the following for their streaming cams or FB pages where I took my screen captures: Port Lincoln Osprey Project, Dale Hollow Bald Eagles, Captiva Ospreys and Window on Wildlife, NEFlorida Bald Eagles and the AEF, Cornell Bird Lab, Friends of Big Bear Valley, Bald Eagles 101 FB, and the Latvian Fund for Nature Forum.