5 May 2022
It is 8 degrees C and will be 18 Celsius today in Winnipeg. Our City is a bit of an island with areas north and south flooded and communities being evacuated. It is also the height of bird migration. So we truly did go from winter to summer. Crazy.
News of the morning. We have a pip at Cal Falcons for Annie, Alden, and Grinnell!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, fantastic.
Baby Steps! USS4 took its first baby steps. How sweet. Just look at those strong legs!
If you missed it, Spirit branched! Jackie and Shadow have done a fantastic job raising this super ‘spirited’ eaglet. What a joy it has been to watch her grow from that first pip to now.
Many of you watched the satellite/GPS tracking of Karl II as he returned from his winter home in the Chad and Sudan areas of African. Karl II arrived at his nest n the Karula National Forest in Estonia on 8 April 8. His mate, Kaia, arrived on April 12th. This couple – who fledged three last year – have four eggs this year. They were laid on 24, 26, and 29 April and on 1 May.
The image below is of Kaia aerating around the eggs. You can distinguish Kaia from Karl II not only because Karl is bigger but also he is banded and also has his satellite tracker on his leg.
Nancy was in the nest with E1 last evening. She is doing a great job at being an only parent.
We all love Shadow and Jackie. Here is an interesting story from yesterday but more interesting is the image of a young Shadow on the bottom right!
It was a foggy morning at the nest of Big Red and Arthur. Gosh I love that dark morph of Big Red’s plumage. She is so gorgeous.
L4 continues to delight. Here he is climbing over the gang from the back to get some breakfast. L4 was also seen having two crop drops by Cornell staff this morning. Way to go little buddie. No worries ever about Big Red and Arthur being able to handle four!!!!!!!!
It is not entirely clear what has gone on at the UFlorida-Gainesville Osprey nest this morning. Mom was on the nest and there was a fish delivery. Was it Dad returning? or was it the intruder and the Middle wanted to be fed?
The chicks are standing and walking better. They are also growing with all the good fish that has come in. Just look at the size of that wing!
It is really a beautiful morning with the sun rising over the nest. This is Mum with the chicks.
There is what appears to be a remnant of prey but that is not Mum and that bird is not feeding the little ones. Note the design on the back of its head.
Is this Dad? I admit to not having looked at his plumage as carefully as I should have. The kids would like some fish. It is going to get hot on that nest this morning.
There you can see that design better. I wonder who this is? And where is Mum? Has she gone fishing? I will check back later to see how these two are.
I wanted to let everyone know about the pip at Cal Falcons. This is so exciting. Annie and Alden can hear the cheep-cheep of Grinnell’s chick and the egg tooth pecking away. Tears.
Bird World needs some good news and it is happening. Here is the link to their camera:
Thank you for joining me this morning. I will be back tonight with check ins on your favourite nests! Until then, I will be watching this pip while I ready the garden for summer today. 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: Cal Falcons, Cornell Bird Lab RTH, UFlorida-Gainesville Ospreys, Big Bear Bald Eagles, Pix Cams, MN-DNR, USSteel Eagles, and The Estonian Eagle Club.